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This article is about the original MSX2 game. You may be looking for the NES version, the series itself or the titular weapon.

Metal Gear (メタルギア Metaru Gia?) is a stealth action game designed by Hideo Kojima. Metal Gear was developed and first published by Konami in 1987 for the MSX2 home computer and was well-received critically and commercially.

The game's premise revolves around a special forces operative codenamed Solid Snake who carries out a one-man sneaking mission into the hostile nation of Outer Heaven to destroy Metal Gear, a bipedal walking tank capable of launching nuclear missiles from anywhere in the world. Most of the subsequent games in the series follow this same premise, often changing the characters, locations, and weapons.

Originally released for the MSX2 in Japan and Europe, the game was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System during the same year, although with many significant changes made to the game. This was followed with ports to various home computers, such as the PC MS-DOS and Commodore 64. It was also ported to mobile phones and Nintendo GameCube (as part of the Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes Premium Package) in 2004 and for the PlayStation 2 in 2005 as a component of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, with several enhancements and changes, such as typo corrections and some grammatical changes. Its success led to the creation of two separately-produced sequels; the first one, Snake's Revenge, was produced specifically for the Western market for the NES and the other, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, was the canonical sequel developed by Kojima and released in Japan for the MSX2 in response to the former's creation. The latter was followed by a successful series of sequels and spin-offs.

The cover art of Metal Gear is based on a photo of actor Michael Biehn in character as Kyle Reese from The Terminator.

Plot[]

Metal Gear chronology
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (1964)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops* (1970)
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (1974)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (1975)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (1984)
Metal Gear (1995)
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1999)
Metal Gear Solid (The Twin Snakes) (2005)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2007/2009)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2014)
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance* (2018)

200 km north of the region of Galzburg, South Africa, lay the fortress of Outer Heaven, a fortified state that had been founded by a legendary mercenary in the late 1980s. In 1995, the Western world had received intelligence that warned of a weapon of mass destruction that was supposedly being constructed deep within the fortress. High-Tech Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND, commanded by the legendary soldier Big Boss, sent their best agent, Gray Fox to infiltrate the stronghold. However, days later, contact with Gray Fox was lost, his final transmission consisting only of two words: "METAL GEAR..."

With the goal of rescuing Gray Fox and uncovering the meaning of the cryptic message, rookie operative Solid Snake is sent into Outer Heaven alone.

For a full summary of Operation Intrude N313, see here.

Characters[]

FOXHOUND[]

Resistance[]

Civilians[]

Outer Heaven Mercenaries[]

Gameplay[]

The player must navigate the main character, Solid Snake, through various locations, while avoiding visual contact and direct confrontation with patrolling guards. If the player is seen, the game enters Alert Mode. In this situation, the player must hide in order to leave the mode. The method of escaping varies depending on the circumstances of the discovery:

  • If the player is seen and only a single exclamation mark (!) appears over an enemy's head, only the enemies in the player's present screen will attack and an escape can be made by moving to the adjacent screen.
Mgear

Snake infiltrates Outer Heaven.

  • If two exclamation marks (!!) appear over the enemy or the player triggers an alarm by being spotted by a camera, infrared sensor or by using an unsilenced weapon, reinforcements from off-screen will appear as well. The player can only escape by eliminating enemies until reinforcements stop, entering an elevator shaft, leaving the building, or entering a boss fight room.

At first, the player starts the game unarmed, but eventually gains access to a variety of firearms (starting with the Beretta) and explosives, working their way up to machine guns and guided rocket launchers. Ammo and supplies for each weapon are limited, but are easily replenished. Weapons can not only be used to kill enemies, but also to clear obstacles such as hollow walls or electrified floors. Snake can also use his fists to punch and defeat patrolling enemies and take any rations, ammo, or any other important items (such as keycards) that they leave behind.

The enemy base consists of three different buildings, with multiple floors, including basement levels, within them. The player uses keycards and other items to unlock doors or explore new areas. Doors will only open to their corresponding keycards. Bosses also appear throughout the game to interfere with the player's progress.

Information can be obtained by rescuing POWs being held captive within the buildings. After rescuing five POWs, the player is given a promotion, increasing their "Rank" (up to four stars max), allowing for greater ammo capacity and maximum health. However, if a POW is killed, the player is demoted to the previous rank.

A transceiver is available for the player to communicate with their commanding officer, Big Boss, or one of the Resistance members operating covertly within the fortress. Each of Snake's allies has extensive knowledge on specific subjects. The transceiver is completely room-oriented, as certain transmissions occur only in certain locations.

Development[]

In 1986, Hideo Kojima joined Konami as a planner, in which he had trouble fitting in with the company. In particular, he joined so he could make arcade and Famicom games (the former due to being inspired by Japan's arcade buildings), and was not fond of the MSX consoles especially regarding programming and hardware limitations, yet was required to work for the MSX1 due to it being the only department within Konami to have planners.[2] The sound director Kazuhiko Uehara gave a similar story regarding how he was hired.[3] Despite working on his game, Last Warld, for six months, Konami ultimately decided to cancel it. As a result of the cancellation, Kojima was the only one in the company at the time who did not have one of their games released. This led other developers within the company to tell him, "at least complete one game before you die." Afterwards, he was given another game plan. This particular game plan was about war, and was partly inspired by the Capcom game Commando, with Konami requesting he make a similar game, only for the MSX consoles.[2] Due to the hardware limitations of the MSX2, Kojima decided to develop a game where the main objective was to avoid the enemy rather than fight them directly (similar to the film The Great Escape). This decision was questioned by his bosses. This, along with the cancellation of his previous game, nearly led Kojima to leave Konami. However, one of his bosses encouraged him to stay and convinced him to continue the development of the game. Kojima did, and the game, which became Metal Gear, was released in Japan for the MSX2 in July 1987. The game was originally going to be titled Intruder, but the trademark rejected the name suggestion, causing him to settle with Metal Gear as the title after the main threat. A similar story would later occur with Snatcher as well as Policenauts.[4]

Regional differences[]

Two versions were released for the MSX2: a Japanese version and an English (European) version. For the English version, Konami edited a number of the game's radio messages and removed others entirely. Some of the removed messages include almost all of Big Boss's comments regarding an item and weapon, some of Schneider's messages, and all of Steve's calls. Reportedly, only 86 of the game's 116 messages were kept. In addition, some of the dialogue was also altered to accompany more European-based terms. For example, when boarding a movable truck, Snake says, "I goofed! The lorry started to move!" ("Lorry" being the British and/or English Commonwealth dialect for "truck").

The Japanese MSX2 manual contains exclusive content not found in the English MSX2 manual (nor in the Famicom/NES manuals), such as character profiles with illustrations, brief descriptions of the game's bosses, and the complete specifications of the TX-55 Metal Gear.

Ports[]

Nintendo Entertainment System[]

The NES version of Metal Gear was developed shortly after the completion of the original MSX2 version, although it was developed by a separate team without the consent or involvement of Hideo Kojima or any of the original MSX2 staff. Many substantial changes were made to the game during the conversion process, resulting in a drastically different game. Up until the inclusion of the MSX2 version in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, the NES version was the only version of the game that was officially available in North America.

For full details, see Metal Gear (NES).

Mobile phones[]

A mobile phone version of Metal Gear was released only in Japan on August 18, 2004. The game is based on the original MSX2 version, but includes several additional features and changes.

  • New Easy mode - The player can choose to play with the original MSX2 version's difficulty or with an easier difficulty setting.
  • Boss Survival mode - After clearing the game once (regardless of the difficulty setting), a new game mode is unlocked, in which the player can fight against all of the main game's bosses. The player will be awarded with a title based on their clear time (this is also the case in the main game).
  • Infinite Bandana - A hidden item that becomes available to the player after clearing the game once on either difficulty setting. Like the bandana featured in Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2, this will conserve the player's ammunition to the present amount while firing.
  • Rewritten script - The Japanese script has been rewritten to include hiragana and kanji, in addition to romaji and katakana.
  • Name changes - Several of the game's characters had their names changed in the mobile phone version:
    • Dr. Pettrovich was changed to Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar.
    • Elen Pettrovich was changed to Ellen Madnar.
    • Shoot Gunner was changed to Shotmaker.
    • Arnold was changed to Bloody Brad.
    • Coward Duck was changed to Dirty Duck.
  • Removal of passwords - The passwords that are featured in the MSX2 version have been removed. The passwords unlocked several things.

PlayStation 2[]

A PlayStation 2 version is included as a component of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. The game includes all the changes made in the mobile phone version, as well as further enhancements. The English version contains a rewritten script as well, with a more complete translation than the earlier European MSX2 version. The North American version also has an optional Spanish script. It also includes some sound effects that were originally present in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2, including the high pitched squeak that's uttered when a boss is hit, as well as the higher pitched version when their health is dangerously low upon being hit. It also contains descriptions for the various weapons which had been left out of the original localization.

Wii Virtual Console[]

A port for the Wii Virtual Console was released on December 8, 2009 for Japanese players only. It was primarily based on the MSX2 version instead of the NES version.[5]

Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1[]

The MSX2 version was released among the games included in this anthology set, alongside the NES/Famicom version, marking the first time both versions were made playable together, and also marking the first time the MSX2 version was made playable on a Nintendo console outside Japan (as the only other time it was playable on Nintendo, for the Wii under the Virtual Console, it was Japan-only). The MSX2 version in particular also have a master book/screenplay book included for it as well as its sequel Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. For the PlayStation 5 and Xbox X|S versions of the collection, it alongside Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake also include Trophy/Achievement support.

References in later games[]

MG-0

A tape in The Phantom Pain referencing the events of Metal Gear.

Metal Gear itself makes a brief audio-only appearance in Act 3 of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, where the "Theme of Tara" is briefly and faintly heard in one of the houses in Midtown. According to the Integral Podcast, the addition of the theme, besides as an Easter egg, was also meant to imply that the occupant of the house was playing Metal Gear.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain retcons the final boss fight and ending of the game, as the character defeated within Outer Heaven is actually a body double of Big Boss, thus explaining how the latter was able to escape the fortress's destruction. The ending also has Snake playing a cassette tape titled "Operation Intrude N313", although its connection to the events of Metal Gear, if any, are not made clear.

Possible remake[]

When interviewed following the development of The Twin Snakes, Kojima stated that he had no plans to develop remakes of the MSX2 games, although he did not dismiss the possibility of having a third party develop them. Kojima later reiterated this on March 23, 2012, feeling that it would necessitate that he rewrite most of the game's story.[6] He further stated this on Twitter on June 27, 2013.[7] However, due to Kojima's departure from Konami in 2015, any remakes for Metal Gear are left undetermined.

On May 31, 2014, a fan-made 2.5D remake of Metal Gear was given the go-ahead by Konami so long as the developers did not make money off the project.[8] It was eventually cancelled, however.[9] The project was "restarted" post E3 2014 but was officially cancelled on August 18, 2014. One reason is rumored to have been that the project wasn't as far enough along as Konami had hoped. Another rumored reason is that the developers had written the character Roy Campbell into the game without approval from Konami.

Gallery[]

Packaging[]

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Development document[]

References[]

External links[]

See also[]

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