During February 12’s State of Play, Konami confirmed an August 28 release date for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and teased that the Snake vs. Monkey crossover mode with Ape Escape would return on PS5. You may have missed that Xbox players will be getting a different crossover.
It looks like Xbox players can expect Snake to face off with Bomberman. Konami and Microsoft released a dedicated release date trailer for the Xbox version of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater shortly after the State of Play. In lieu of the shot teasing the Ape Escape collaboration, the Xbox trailer instead plays the iconic “alert” Metal Gear sound effect over an exclamation point. The square serving as the point on that punctuation then unfolds to reveal a cartoonish bomb, which then blows up and shows a camouflage version of Bomberman with the text “Snake vs. ???” overlayed.
While Konami isn’t saying anything more about this special mode at this time, it’s clear that this is a collaboration with another one of Konami’s biggest franchises. Bomberman predates Metal Gear, as Hudson Soft created it in 1983. Konami has owned Bomberman since it acquired Hudson Soft in 2011 and developed new games in the series, like Super Bomberman R and its sequel.
The top-down bomb-laying and maze-navigating gameplay of Bomberman is quite different from the hardcore action of Metal Gear, so we aren’t sure how Konami will combine the two gameplay styles into a special mode just yet. The Ape Escape mode on PlayStation is expected to be similar to the Snake vs. Monkey mode that appeared in the original PS2 release of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater launches for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on August 28. It’s now available for preorder, with the $80 Digital Deluxe Edition granted 48 hours of early access to the game.