I’ve never played a Metal Gear game because I figured that it was some military glazing action movie wannabe with a couple of wacky memeable moments here and there.
Well I was watching a someone play through the original and this shit actually seems right up my alley. It’s way, way goofier and less chuddy than I expected. It is very action movie, but it happens to mimic the style of the only type of action movie I like. The type that is so over the top and silly that you wonder if it’s taking itself seriously or not. Like Escape from New York in game form.
I can pirate legally acquire literally every game in the series easily, But where should I even start? There’s like a million of these games and remakes. Should I start with NES game? Metal Gear Solid PS1 or Twin Snakes? Which ones are skippable? What the hell is a Revengeance?!
what are some tips I should know?
love can bloom on a battlefield 😌
It’s like one of my Japanese animes!
Lucky you that psx, ps2, and ps3 emulators are pretty solid now.
Play the originals in the first versions that came out IMO, but you can find a copy of the HD collection for ps3 that has MGS2, MGS3, and MGS: Peacewalker on it.
I dont really recommend playing the remakes because Kojima was very intentional with what he puts into the games. He too is a bit of a character in the series.
Starting with the NES games
Honestly, I would recommend the Metal Gear Solid games in release order. If the gameplay doesn’t entertain you, but you want to see more of the world/story, ChipCheezum has pretty detailed Lets Plays of the games.
I would ignore remakes and remasters and play them as released, MGS3 is pretty well positioned to satisfy some of the questions and lore exposed in the previous two games, which is not as satisfying/memorable if you play it as an intro.
MG1 and 2 do contain quite a bit of lore but it’s ok to skip them if you’re not big into retrogaming. Both NES MG1 and twin snakes are mostly cash grabs that Kojima wasn’t involved in, the former only makes sense if you have trouble with MSX2 emulators and can deal with a worse port, while TS is just non-canon.
A small note: almost every game makes some “creative use” of the original hardware - discs, controllers, etc - which don’t translate very well to emulation. Of course they don’t impact the story and they are limited to a few moments, with one exception - you should really get a DualShock and an adapter if you can, as the game does use the analog face buttons quite a bit. Most notably, if you want to lower your weapon without shooting after aiming, you need to slowly release the square button. If you use almost any other controller that becomes impossible as no matter how slowly you go it will be read as 1->0 and it will shoot.
I am aware of how psycho mantis makes you use the second controller because that bit is so famous, and am worried about how that’s going to translate to emulation haha
iirc for the emulator I played it on it was fine to just digitally change it in the settings
Oh good! That’s simple
MGS1 is not too long and bangs from start to finish. Mgs2 can feel slow at times but then you get to mgs3 which is the best in the series and probably peak Kojima.
2 and 4 are where a lot of storytelling happens, 5 has the best gameplay of any game of this type, 3 does both.
The only thing I know about MGS3 is there is a guy that meows, which makes me already consider it the best
Playability and mechanics of MGS1 and MGS2 are ooooooold. After playing MGS5 (I know, the storyline sucks) I just can’t go back
After MGS2, you should read up on the awful discourse surrounding that game at the time, specifically the E3 trailers.
Look up what happens in the non-Solid games at some point before playing Ground Zeroes and MGSV
If you had not already mentioned it in the post, one of these tips would be “watch Escape from New York”
I love that movie. That’s the one where Kurt Russel wears an eyepatch and surfs on a giant wave through New York, right? If so I’m guessing Kojima or whoever designed Solid Snake was a big fan because Kurt Russels character was called Snake in that, had a mullet and I’m pretty sure Punished Snake wears an eyepatch like that character at some point.
In MGS2 there is a direct reference to “Plissken” that’s very on the nose. You’re not far off.
If you had not already mentioned it in the post, one of these tips would be “watch Escape from New York”
I love that movie. That’s the one where Kurt Russel wears an eyepatch and surfs on a giant wave through New York, right?
Wait, that surfboard scene is from Escape from L.A.
I’m big into playing the originals in release order. Only play the HD versions or remakes if you really can’t stand PSX/PS2 controls. NES and MSX games can be skipped (MGS is a stealth remake of MG2 anyway) unless you really like that era of games in particular. Revengeance is something totally different that manages to capture the same spirit, worth playing at any time. The handheld games are all skippable, EXCEPT for Peace Walker.
Sounds like a good plan. Thanks!
If you’re looking for the kind of storyline you described and you don’t mind clunky controls and old game mechanics you should start off with MGS1 and go chronologically. If you don’t care about storyline and you want a wonderful and tense stealth experience you should give MGS5 a try.
MGS5 with the HUD and the radar deactivated and using headphones is the most immersive and tense game I’ve ever played by far. Just lying down on the floor and listening to the footsteps, the smoking, the conversations of the guards around to know where they are and how to get to them stealthily and knock them out.
All MGS games can be played two ways: stealth or action. As action games they’re meh, the combat mechanics are clunky and unrealistic and not that fun. The stealth part is the juicy one, try and restart missions if you get caught instead of just shooting your way in, much more rewarding and tense.
You should start with Revengeance and then stop once you beat it
But where should I even start?
MGS1 and then go order of release, anyone who says anything different for this series detests art
Which ones are skippable?
Ghost Babel, MG1, MG2, both Ac!ds and Portable Ops unless you REALLY enjoy the MGS stories or peace walkers gameplay, Revengeance probably unless you like character action games
Metal Gear Solid PS1
Definitely the OG one, Twin Snakes is sort of a fine take on a reimagining but it loses much charm compared to the original one
what are some tips I should know?
If you come from MGS1 to 2, you might’ve never used the first person feature barring some forced gameplay sections or maybe to gawk at the cool artstyle. Use it in 2 liberally. You’ll understand.
Starting at 2 whatever bullshit you can think of to do with combining items and systems, the devs likely thought of it. You can just cover-to-cover-sneak and knock out or shoot people, but half the fun is in the odd things you can do
Definitely play MGS3: Subsistence over Snake Eater. The game does work better with OTS view.
Starting at 2, if you feel a cutscene of importance coming up, make sure you have time to actually view them. I think the worst of the worst is MGS4 at 90 minutes. Excluding Peace Walker these tend to be games that aren’t really well suited to 30 minute playing sessions
For a lot of later Peace Walker the absolutely most crucial, critical item is the resupply radio thingy. Keep it in mind.
Play MGS V on PC so you can easily load sick tunes in
Twin Snakes is a remake of the PS1 gayme, but they let Kojima loose with all the new cutscene tech. It’s very entertaining.
Revengeance is the last one timeline wise and a lot of fun, play it to get a magnetic ninja man talk to you about memes and listen to the banger soundtrack.
You can probably skip the NES games, the events in there do get mentioned later, but they’re old and show their age.
He hired the director of Versus (goofy ass Japanese action movie set in the suicide forest) to help with the cutscenes in Twin Snakes IIRC.
You can probably skip the NES games, the events in there do get mentioned later, but they’re old and show their age.
I would recommend the MSX games over the NES ports (Metal Gear 2 on NES is a different game altogether). Honestly, I’d recommend some of the other games in Kojima’s catalogue/periphery (e.g. Snatcher, Policenauts, Zone of the Enders) before going back to MSX games.
Looking through these comments I’d honestly put your expectations in hell. You might get more enjoyment. Especially for 2, I fucking couldn’t stand that game.
3 is my favorite personally. It’s my type of camp.
I just wanted to warn you that there is some serious rose tinted goggles going on in this thread as someone who didn’t play them growing up. The mechanics for some of the older ones was clunky as fuck. MG1 will have you go “well that is certainly one way to pad out game time”. And I won’t say what my problems with 2 are cause oh dear god does it never end. Also get ready for misogyny. That’s where the chud stuff is. It’s very Male Gaze 101 stuff.
Soundtrack always slaps through.
Before anyone gets on to me. I’m saying this as someone who went to play this after being around fans IRL and someone who LOVES these games. I’m seeing similar stuff in this thread. I wish someone had warned me before I attempted them. And oh god the hell that is MG2. Though my hatred for a particular character might be special Idk. But anyway. Kind of hoping this puts your expectations lower so you can actually like it.
As someone who plays a lot of old games, don’t worry, I get it. I first played the OG Final Fanasy 7 in my late 20s.
I am one of those weird people that finds jank charming.
It sucks about the misogyny, but if I can handle Cid Highwind being an ass to his wife in the aforementioned original FF7, I’ll be fine lol
ah then you have an advantage over me. Something about clanky games make me rage hard. Like something about me thinking i’m doing inputs correctly and they just don’t work really fucks with me.
Yeah most of the misogyny isn’t anything worse than normal anime bullshit. But watch out once you get to 5. I think that’s the number? It’s the one that I always side-eye hard. Also, I forgot to mention racism that at least starts around 2. But if you’re prepared for it then you’ll probably be fine. Especially since you have typical anime bullshit under your belt.
more like metal QUEER
I was told there was gay old man yaoi
the snakes be solid
I just started working through these myself a month ago or so, somehow never got around to them after all these years until now.
I know I shouldn’t give Konami money for these but I’m a lazy asshole who just wanted them all in one place on Steam, easy access. Master Collection versions are fine, but there are some mods out there to fix up a bit of the jank (MGSHDFix and MGSM2Fix mostly).
I was told to go mostly in release order, and that worked well enough. Could start with MGS or the MSX classics if you want to go that far back (those also fit in nicely right after Peacewalker).
I will say that playing release order made PW feel really weird, especially since 4 feels much more modern than it actually is while PW is very clearly a handheld game, but by the midway point it legitimately became my favorite so far.
Narratively I took so long to get around to these for a similar reason, just the military theme was offputting, but alongside the camp/pulp aesthetics they’re filled with, they’re very anti-military and anti-nationalism. But still gotta remember the earlier ones especially are products of the times, and Kojima’s never been able to write women characters.
I played them in roughly chronological order, and that was fun. I think it was 3, 5, 1, 2, 4, and then there were some non- numbered ones in there, too. Some of the non-numbered ones are better than others, but 3 is a pretty good starting point.
