Gamertell

I can’t wait for my copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots but I don’t want to say goodbye to elite agent Solid Snake, whom we’ve grown to love while following his adventures.

We pray that rumors of an end are not true and continue to pose theories about why the series could never end.  Even so, as a preemptive memorial to help cope with the denial that this may be the absolute last game for Snake, here is a look at the MGS franchise.

Baby Snake: A Very Live Birth

For those who are not familiar with the Metal Gear franchise, it is a series of stealth games, created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami, that follows the mission of special forces operative Solid Snake.

The very first Metal Gear game, developed by Konami with Hideo Kojima as top designer and published by Konami for an old gaudy looking machine that looked like a typewriter called the MSX2 or Sony MSX2 home computer system in 1987. It was then re-released by Konami’s Ultra Games Division for the North American Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988 along with a version for the Commodore 64 and PC-DOS system.

Later, in 1990, a true sequel was released on the MSX2 system but Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake would only be released in Japan. But it wouldn’t be long before Metal Gear would later be transported over to the Nintendo Entertainment System where players followed a young rookie called Solid Snake who had just been recruited into an elite special forces unit called Foxhound. But soon the MSX2 system would fade out and the new NES would take over as the entertainment system of choice and the sequel to Metal Gear would be released in North America, simply titled Snake’s Revenge. But it wasn’t a true sequel, in fact, Kojima wasn’t even involved in the making of this game and was not even considered a part of the Metal Gear series. All references of this game are completely ignored in the PlayStation Adaptation of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake eight years later, even though Snake’s Revenge did inspire Kojima to create Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, according to Kojima’s interview with Gamer’s Today.com and even confirmed rumors as to where Kojima got the idea for Solid Snake, who some say looks and acts a lot like Snake Plissken from Escape from New York (pictured). It didn’t really matter where Kojima got the character idea from, it became a big seller.

In 1998, Metal Gear would find a new home adapting the sequel for the PlayStation console.

Adolescent Snake: Gathering a Group of Friends

In 1999, Metal Gear Solid was developed and released by Konami for the PlayStation console and Metal Gear Solid: Integral was developed by Digital Dialect and released by Microsoft for the PC-Windows version of the game. Both titles received an ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) rating of M for Mature. The game itself was an expansion to the original Metal Gear where the players were introduced to Dr. Hal “Otacon” Emmerich, a geeky scientist who would rather make peace than fight even though he’s in love with Sniper Wolf (who wouldn’t blink an eye to put a bullet through Snake’s head). Players would soon be introduced to a slew of characters who have either made cameo appearances in games to come or referenced to throughout the series to come. Characters such as Vulcan Raven, Revolver Ocelot, Liquid Snake (Solid Snake’s genetic twin) and Psycho Mantis to name a few. This is where you really get some of Snake’s background and gist of the real mission. In Metal Gear Solid, you learn that the Foxhound unit is a next-generation special forces unit made of genetically enhanced Soldiers ... mostly clones of the perfect soldiers the government wants to recreate. Even Snake himself is a clone according to Liquid Snake.

Also released in 1999 was Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions which basically helped build up your stealth, sneaking and fighting skills with more than 300 stage-based missions. Those who owned a PocketStation could download and play the mini-games that allowed players to control characters including Cyborg Ninja and Meryl Campbell and even got a sneak peek at trailers for Metal Gear Solid and preview artwork for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

In 2000, Metal Gear: Ghost Babel was released for the Game Boy Color. Totally ignores the Metal Gear storyline but uses the same familiar characters found in MGS: Integral. Using 2D overhead animations, Snake must infiltrate a base undetected with the help of Sgt. Chris Jenner, a female Delta Force agent. I managed to find a copy of this game and, believe me, it’s not easy. You can’t blend with your environment as well as you could in the current Metal Gear games. It took serious skills just to make it off the first level of the game without being spotted or caught.

In 2001, a sequel to the Metal Gear Solid series was released. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, introduces pretty boy Raiden who emerges from the ocean as Snake but had to quickly change his name to Raiden because the original Snake is rumored to be sneaking around the Big Shell tanker and may be working with the terrorists. Snake later shows up in one of the rooms as Iroquois Plissken (recognize the name?) and offers advice and tips to Raiden so he could finish his mission of locating and rescuing the President and people trapped inside the tanker.

In 2002, The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 was released as well as Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 was more of a documentary about the making of the Metal Gear Solid games.

Announced in 2003 and published in 2004, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes developed by Konami and Silicon Knights was released for the Nintendo Game Cube system and is a remake of the Metal Gear Solid game. The game received a mature rating as did the original for the PlayStation version.

Also in 2004, while Nintendo owners got a chance to play with Snake, Konami released a spin-off for the Playstation Portable called Metal Gear Acid. In this game, Snake is on a completely different type of mission, chasing down a dangerous terrorist and a set of baby dolls with a twisted thirst for blood. It’s more of a side-story to Metal Gear: Ghost Babel and uses a card-based turn system to move Snake and Teliko in the game. The game had an arena function that allows players to pit their skills against familiar enemies from the game series like Vamp, Liquid Snake and others.

Big Daddy Snake: Gettin’ Naked and Eatin’ Snakes

Also in 2004, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for the PS2 is released. Developed and published solely by Konami with a rating of M for mature, this game is set years before the previous games. In fact, in MGS3 Snake goes by Naked Snake which I personally take as meaning new and he is often referred to as “a child” by his mentor and lover, The Boss. This game is set during the Cold War in 1964, where Naked Snake is sent to the jungles of the Soviet Union to rescue a scientist named Sokolov and discovers that The Boss has defected and rejoined her team, the Cobra unit, with memorable protagonists including The Fear (can move through the trees like a spider), The Pain (controls hornets), The Fury (some sort of astronaut with a jetpack and flamethrower), The End (old man with an annoying parrot and an expert sniper) and The Sorrow (the spirit of a medium who protects The Boss and offers tips to Snake). In this game we also find Raiden, or actually Major Raikov a Soldier who looks like Raiden and is in fact Colonel Volgin’s other lover aside from Eva.

Moving on, in 2005, Metal Gear Acid 2 is released for the PSP using the same card-based turn system but this time more challenging missions and an easier story line to follow featuring cell-shaded graphics. A direct sequel to Metal Gear Acid, Snake is captured by a man named Dalton who forces Snake to obtain top-secret information within a SaintLogic research facility. But during the mission Dalton is captured by General Wiseman and Snake is now being forced to work with Venus to track down and eliminate key officials within the facility. The game came with a thin cardboard called the Solid Eye, which allowed players to watch movies in 3D that are unlocked by the cards you collect or use from the card shop in the game. The movies range from cut scenes from all the series CGI movies to a model showing off certain equipment used by Snake.

In 2006, Konami releases several games starting with Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence which offer extra missions and online capabilities that the original MGS3 didn’t offer.

Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel is released soon after Subsistence for the PSP. As an interactive comic book based on the Metal Gear Solid comic series in 2004 written by Kris Oprisko and illustrated by Ashley Wood which, as of 2006, has published 12 issues which fully covers the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty storyline. The graphic novel also featured a 3D interactive mode that allows the owner to scan, collect and trade items with other players.

Also in 2006, those who didn’t want to spend time reading the graphic novel could play Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP, which worked just like the games on PS1 and PS2. Portable Ops takes place six years after the events of MGS3, Snake’s former team, Fox Unit, has separated themselves from the CIA and have become renegades. After attacking and capturing Snake, the Fox unit torture snake for information and throw him in a cell next to Roy Campbell. Snake must enlist the help of defecting enemies to find these renegade members and stop them. If you played the Acid series, you can unlock those character cards for use in arena mode or use the Ops characters you find in the Acid arenas.

In 2007, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus is the standalone expansion of the first portable ops game. Difficulty ranging from easy missions to extremely hard missions. I’m still stuck in extremely hard myself. But if you save your game as often as I do, any previous Metal Gear games saved on your PSP memory stick duo will unlock special characters you can enlist into your team that will help you sneak past guards to the next mission. Old Snake, Solid Snake, Raiden, Venus and Null are a few unlockable characters you can control during the missions.

Now in 2008, just a few days from now Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will be released for the PlayStation 3. Published and released by Konami the game received the usual M for Mature rating. Just watching the trailers for the game and playing the beta version that came with my reservation order, this game is simply amazing and yet sad. Sad because if this is the last game, I wouldn’t want it to end. In this game we find a much older Snake, code name Old Snake and a more mature looking Otocan. We find Meryl Campbell is now a leader of a rag tag bunch of Soldiers who to me personally look just like the Cobra unit in MGS3. Many familiar faces from Para-medic to Col. Roy Campbell makes an appearance at some point in the game. Even pretty boy Raiden and his oh so bouncy blond hair sporting a cool cyborg ninja outfit. I simply can’t wait to rip the plastic off Wednesday night and toss MGS4 into the PS3 and totally vegetate.

Read [Konami History List] Portfolio [Hideo Kojima] Site [Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots site]