If it's on Switch 1 it's definitely not emulation. Switch 1 CPU is no where near powerful enough for PS3 emulation. Neither is Switch 2.

RPCS3 basically needs at least a Ryzen 3700x for a good time.

To be frank, given the poor state of the first volume, with even games originally built for the PS2 having technical hiccups on modern systems, I'm kinda expecting MGS4 to be disastrous here, as a more demanding game and one that was built around the PS3's convoluted Cell architecture.

It's certainly possible. I don't know what the hiccups were with the first collection and if they've been fixed but the patch they just did improved it a ton on Switch 2 at least.

It's not just that, but remember Volume 1 wasn't even going to release on PS4 until Konami saw there were a lot of fans asking for it. The game released in 2023 where PS4 still had way more players than PS5 and over half of game releases on PS still had PS4 versions. It wasn't until 2025 PS4 releases died down a lot. For the past 2 years we've seen a lot of games get Switch versions and no PS4/Xbox One versions. That should show most companies are done with PS4 and Xbox One, but not Switch.

Then how did they program it to run on the Switch? I'm almost a scholar when it comes to video game industry knowledge, but on the tech side, I'm not even in kindergarten. Basically, I'm as ignorant to how these games run as someone who's never even picked up a controller. And my understanding as to why games from prior gens can run on newer hardware is mostly due to the emulation process. NSO, for instance, is so laggy because the Switch has to emulate the original systems they ran on, so I figured that's what's going on here. After all, MGS4 ran on a PS3, not a Switch. Wouldn't that mean the Switch has to emulate the PS3's architecture?

You know, it's possible to just work on a game to make it run on other kinds of hardware as well. It's not like redoing the whole game or even anything close to that. The chances that that there's a fairly limited amount of code that needs to be updated. PS3 had kinda exotic hardware, so this work is probably trickier than in most other cases, but it's bound to be much easier than emulation anyway. Switch 2 is probably running Switch games natively, just like PS5 must be running PS4 games. If the consoles have similar enough architecture, it's as simple as that (there's probably some complications but also probably nothing too major). In this case, the game was almost certainly just modified to run on different kinds of hardware than it originally ran on.

They will have ported the game to run natively on modern systems. If they have the source code they can adapt it to run on a new architecture. Nathan Drake Collection on PS4 doesn't use emulation either. It's not that much different from any other porting process, eg. how they ported old PS4 games to Switch.

Emulation is often used for old games just because it requires very little work. Nintendo can just drop any SNES rom in and have it run on NSO. But there is currently no functional PS3 emulation on consoles.

Peace Walker in this collection might use emulation though as psp emulation has very low requirements and can run even on Switch.

Volume 1 of the collection used emulation for MGS1. 2/3 ran natively as ports of the PS3/360 HD collection, which itself was a port from the originals.

Well this is good to know. I am a huge OG MGS fan, but MGS 4 is the only game I never got to play because I've been dragging my feet on finding a working PS3. So if this versions isn't too drastically different to the original, and runs just as smoothly, I might just pick it up.

It's too bad about the older games, though. If something like SMB 3 can be programmed to run natively on newer consoles so there's no lag, and they're just not wanting to do it? Shameful. I mean, I get the costs etc, but you'd think Capcom, Konami, Nintendo or whomever would want to make sure their legendary IPs run flawlessly when introducing them to a new generation of people. After all, they represent your company. It's their names they're soiling. And when a kid can't make a routine leap over a pit of spikes that the rest of us on OG hardware/CRT are making in our sleep? That's exactly what will happen. He/she will think man, these old games suck and never play them again.

Crazy how MGS4 is one of the best games on PS3 yet it was stuck there for almost 20 years. This was long overdue.

Finally Metal Gear Solid 4 will be out of the PS3. Took long enough.

I'm quite bad at stealth games, but MGS4 looks like an incredible cinematic experience. I will give it a try.