Close Up: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Premium Package
On March 20th 2014, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was released in Japan. Aside from the regular version and a limited edition, a Premium Package version was sold through Amazon, available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The box it comes in looks great, dark and stylish, with a Shinkawa drawing of Big Boss printed in shiny silver. The back features the same artwork but without any text or logos.
Inside are two neatly stacked boxes, one with a figure and one with the other items.
The figure included is the Ground Zeroes Revoltech Snake by Yamaguchi. These figures are known for their articulation, which means you can display them in all kinds of poses. It also comes with plenty of accessories to further customize it, including a set of night vision goggles, the iDroid, multiple hands and even a red exclamation mark. You can move Snake’s eye as well by rotating his head.
It also comes with a novel retelling the events of Peace Walker, written by Hitori Nojima (a pseudonym for Kenji Yano, who now works at the new Kojima Productions). It’s a pocket size paperback book, about the size of a PlayStation 4 case, but obviously a lot thicker. It contains the entire story of Peace Walker in Japanese, with illustrations by Yoji Shinkawa created specifically for this book. Responding to requests from fans, Konami released a separate version of this book as well, though that one has a different cover and the illustrations are in black and white. The book that comes with the Premium Package however has full color prints. Nice for those unable to read Japanese, as Shinkawa’s drawings are always a treat.
Last but not least, the game itself, in this case the PlayStation 4 version. Contrary to the western cover, the Japanese release has Kaz accompanying Big Boss. In the western version he was removed from the cover, as the overseas publisher feared this character was too unfamiliar there.
All in all a very nice package for Metal Gear collectors. Of course this is intended purely for the Japanese market, and as such requires you to import it if you live outside Japan, adding to the already considerable cost of this item. But it is a nice looking item and a worthy addition to any Metal Gear collection.
