With Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain a long way from release, Konami will give fans a little something to bide their time. Metal Gear Solid Legacy makes its way to PlayStation 3 this week, containing multiple classics in one package. These range from the original Metal Gear for MSX to the PS1 classic Metal Gear Solid to the concluding PS3 chapter Metal Gear Solid 4: Sons of the Patriots. In addition, you also receive a special collector’s booklet, along with special digital graphic novels.
To help ring in Snake’s gaming legacy, we’re looking back at some of his older adventures for this week’s Spoiler Alert.
Metal Gear (MSX)
A FOXHOUND agent by the name of Gray Fox is sent into a stronghold known as Outer Heaven to deactivate a weapon of mass destruction. Unfortunately, contact with him is lost, with his last transmission being “Metal Gear…” The team’s commander, Big Boss, sends in Solid Snake to see what’s up.
After making contact with local resistance members, Snake proceeds on his mission and manages to rescue Fox. It turns out that Metal Gear is in fact a bipedal walking tank that can take out combatants on the ground while maintaining nuclear launch capabilities. With it, Outer Heaven could easily call itself the world’s most powerful army.
In an effort to destroy the Metal Gear, Snake rescues one of its engineers, Dr. Pettrovich Madnar, along with his daughter Ellen. The doctor explains Metal Gear’s weaknesses and Snake proceeds on his mission. However, he soon learns through pre-set traps that he’s being watched, and Big Boss tells him to scratch the mission – breaking the fourth wall by telling the player to turn off the console. Shortly thereafter, Schneider, one of the resistance contacts, is killed.
Snake proceeds on his mission and successfully finishes off Metal Gear. He then confronts the man in charge of Outer Heaven – Big Boss himself – who’s been using FOXHOUND’s resources to steal military intelligence and fund his illegal operations.
Big Boss activates a self-destruct sequence and says he will take his former adversary with him. However, Snake is able to defeat him and escapes Outer Heaven as it crumbles. Following the end credits, it appears Big Boss has survived and will meet Snake once more.
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX)
Quick side note: this game did not get a U.S. release until it was packed in as a bonus for Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Another sequel, Snake’s Revenge, found its way to the U.S., but did not involve producer Hideo Kojima. Solid Snake is considered the true sequel.
Solid Snake, enjoying retirement after his successful mission in the original Metal Gear, is called upon by FOXHOUND’s new commander, Roy Campbell, to complete a new mission. It turns out that a Czech scientist named Dr. Kio Marv has tried to develop a new species of algae known as OILIX that could counter a major oil crisis affecting the global economy during the 90s. However, on his way to demonstrate it for the United States, soldiers of Zanzibarland, a Central Asian country that wants OILIX for itself, kidnap him. It doesn’t exactly help that it also has a nuclear arsenal.
Snake teams up with a CIA operative named Holly White, as well as Gustava Heffner, an StB agent who served as Dr. Marv’s bodyguard. Dr. Madnar also returns from the original game, as he has also been kidnapped to build a new Metal Gear project for Zanzibarland. Shortly thereafter, Snake learns who’s in charge of this new military faction – Big Boss, the man he thought he killed by the end of the original Metal Gear.
During their trip into Zanzibarland, Heffner is killed by a new Metal Gear D unit built by Dr. Madnar, which is being driven by another former ally of Snake’s – Grey Fox. Snake, now more personally driven than ever, manages to break through Zanzibarland’s military forces and makes it to Dr. Marv’s cell.
Unfortunately, the doctor has already been killed, a victim of torture administered by Dr. Madnar. It turns out that he wasn’t kidnapped but actually volunteered his services as a way to get even with the scientific community. Snake eventually comes face-to-face with the evil doctor and manages to kill him.
Grey Fox then steps in with the Metal Gear D and attempts to squash his former ally. However, Snake gets the better of him and manages to destroy the mech. Grey Fox escapes and gets into a fistfight with Snake – surrounded by mines – but eventually loses. Big Boss then appears, swearing revenge against Snake for all the events that occurred at the end of the original Metal Gear. Left with no weapons, Snake scrambles whatever he can from his leftover resources – a lighter and aerosol can. With these, he manages to create a mini flamethrower. He douses his former commander in flames and finishes him off for good.
With his former allies defeated and Zanzibarland left in ruins, Snake finds White and escapes with Dr. Marv’s leftover OILIX data, which he vows to deliver to Campbell.
Finally, we’ll cover the franchise game changer, the outstanding Metal Gear Solid.
Metal Gear Solid (PSOne)
The game takes place 10 years after the original Metal Gear. A military force has overtaken a remote island code named “Shadow Moses”, led by the vicious Liquid Snake. He’s managed to acquire a nuclear-capable mech by the name of Metal Gear Rex, and is threatening the U.S. government with an attack. Solid Snake ends his retirement and is sent by Roy Campbell to neutralize the threat and save his daughter, Meryl Silverburgh, who is on the island.
Upon entering the facility, Snake gets into contact with one of the hostages on the island, Donald Anderson, who tells him about Rex before collapsing of a heart attack. He meets up with Meryl, who has broken out of her confinement and helps him escape guards. As he attempts to rescue another hostage, Snake runs across Revolver Ocelot, who challenges him to a gunfight but then promptly loses his hand to a cyborg ninja. Baker manages to provide Snake valuable intel on Metal Gear, but also dies mysteriously of a heart attack.
Snake contacts Meryl and agrees to meet up with her, but only if he can talk to Metal Gear’s original designer, Dr. Hal “Otacon” Emmerich. Snake is then warned by a mysterious entity about a tank ambush he’s coming close to, led by Vulcan Raven. Snake promptly defeats the tank and moves on, eventually meeting with Otacon. It’s here where the ninja (also known as Grey Fox) reappears. He vanishes again, and Otacon provides Snake special camouflage to grant him invisibility.
Meeting up with Meryl, she pulls a gun on Snake due to the mind control from the vicious Psycho Mantis. He manages to disarm her and defeat Mantis, who just before dying explains that Meryl actually cares for Snake. Upon reaching a lower hallway, Sniper Wolf appears, wounding Meryl and capturing Snake.
While confined, Liquid appears and explains to Snake that they are actually twin brothers. Ocelot captures and then tortures Snake, and the player has the option to either succumb to or withstand the torture, as this has an effect on the ending. Later on, Snake manages to break free, making his way to the facility’s communications tower. Liquid confronts him in a Hind-D attack helicopter, but Snake manages to defeat him. He heads back to the snowfield and battles Sniper Wolf. This time around, he gains the advantage and kills her, leaving Otacon grief-stricken since he kind of liked her. He quickly gets over the loss and helps Snake proceed.
Snake makes his way to Rex’s hangar where Vulcan Raven re-emerges. He reveals that Snake is in fact a clone, insisting he’s from “another world”. The two fight, with Snake eventually winning and killing Vulcan. Upon his death, he says that when Donald Anderson died earlier, it wasn’t really him, but rather Decoy Octopus from the FOXHOUND team. He then dies with ravens feasting upon his body.
As he enters the hangar, Snake overhears Liquid and Ocelot as they prepare to launch the Rex. He attempts to use the PAL card given to him earlier by Meryl to deactivate Rex, but it actually does the opposite, setting it up for battle. Liquid then reveals his true plan, as he admits that Snake’s mission was nothing more than a manipulation by his fellow renegades to allow the launch of Rex’s nuclear capabilities.
Liquid then explains that he and Snake were part of a Les Enfants Terribles project, a top-secret cloning program to bring back Big Boss in the 1970s. Liquid managed to get all of Big Boss’ dominant genes, while Snake received the recessive genes. As for why the government really sent him in, Liquid reveals that the reprogrammed FoxDie virus would’ve killed all of FOXHOUND’s members, letting the government swoop right in and pick up Rex.
With Liquid at the helm, Snake battles against Rex. Gray Fox, in ninja gear, reappears and damages the Rex, but dies in the process. Snake is able to defeat the Rex once and for all, forcing Liquid to challenge him one-on-one, with Snake eventually coming out on top.
Here’s where your decision with the torture sequence comes into play. If you withstood the torture, Meryl appears. If you gave into it, however, Otacon appears. Whichever character you have, Snake departs with them through an underground tunnel with Liquid in pursuit. A vehicular chase ensues, with gunplay between the two parties. They crash at the end of the tunnel.
Liquid emerges from the wreckage and pulls a gun on Snake, but suddenly succumbs due to the effects of the FoxDie virus. Upon learning of Snake’s success, Colonel Campbell calls off a nuclear air strike that would’ve leveled the facility. He also reports that Snake was “officially” killed in the operation, so that the U.S. government would finally leave him alone.
In the post-credits, it’s revealed that Snake has an undetermined amount of time before the FoxDie virus eventually kills him. It’s also revealed that Ocelot was in fact a double agent for the U.S. president, seeking information on Metal Gear and killing anyone in his path – including Anderson, who was getting too close to his operation.
Metal Gear Solid Legacy will arrive this Tuesday for the PlayStation 3 console.
