10 Greatest Moments in Metal Gear Solid History
With Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain on its way, we would like to reminisce about the 10 Greatest Moments in Metal Gear Solid History. After the explosive ending of Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, we decided we should help refresh everyone on some of the most memorable scenes throughout the Metal Gear franchise before we play as Big Boss yet again. Be prepared for laughs, tears, bodies, boxes and bullets as we explore some of our favorite scenes starring Big Boss, Solid Snake and Raiden. The Metal Gear series taught us that when it comes to patriotism, espionage is a necessity. Nevertheless, there's no need for stealth when it comes to the 10 Greatest Moments in Metal Gear Solid History.
Warning: Massive Series Spoilers Below
- 10
Elisa's Death and Big Boss' Fortune
Metal Gear Solid: Portable OpsStarting off our list of the 10 Greatest Moments in Metal Gear History is one of the more overlooked titles in the series, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. In Portable Ops, Snake encounters a psychic girl named Elisa whose powers manifested into an split personality named Ursula. Ursula acts a field operative in the FOX taskforce who assists Snake along the way. Upon her death, both Elisa and Ursula merged into a single psychic consciousness and delivered a haunting message to Naked Snake. With the amazing track of "Calling to the Night" by Natasha Farrow playing in the background, we were left in awe by Elisa's final words. Her cryptic dying message to Big Boss was "Snake, you will destroy Metal Gear and you will create a new Metal Gear in its place. Your children -- Les Enfants Terribles. Snake, your son will bring the world to ruin, your son... will save the world."
- 9
Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser
Metal Gear Solid 3: SubsistenceOh Raiden, we feel your plight that you deserve to be the main star of a Metal Gear franchise, just not when there is the word "Solid" in its title. Operation Snake Eraser was originally hosted on the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater website until it was added as bonus content on Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, which was an expanded version of Snake Eater. Raiden acknowledged that many weren't fans of the rookie stardom he gained in Sons of Liberty, but in Snake Eraser, Raiden comically travels back in time in order to prevent Naked Snake from taking the spotlight as the main star of MGS 3. In a hilarious turn of events, Raiden randomly travels to some of the key events in Snake Eater and has his plans blow up in his face again and again (literally). The meeting between Raiden and Volgin reminds us that you need more than strong grip in order to change the past.
- 8
You're Not a Snake, and I'm Not an Ocelot
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterA short time after the heart-wrenching confrontation between The Boss and Naked Snake, we get to experience one last showdown with Revolver Ocelot just before the Metal Gear Solid 3's final escape. What most gamers don't realize, is that we're seeing the sons of The Boss interacting with each other. Naked Snake is the prodigal son of her teachings and perfected combat skills, while Ocelot is actually The Boss' biological son with The Sorrow (the ghostly member of Boss' elite squad). While most players do not realize this while playing through MGS 3, it's still nice to see the sons of The Boss didn't end up killing each other. Furthermore, this scene starts an ongoing friendship between the two rivals that we will continue to see in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain.
- 7
Assemble the Men
Metal Gear Solid: Peace WalkerThis important piece of Metal Gear history is the revelation of Kaz Miller that Militaries Sans Frontieres, which would later grow into Outer Heaven, is on it way to becoming the world's first legitimate private military company. Those who remember Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots should be able to recognize that PMCs become an integral part of the world economy. Despite all of the horrible things Big Boss had encountered throughout his tenure as a soldier, he realized that his group of mercenaries are going to be forsaken by the rest of the world. In order to make sure that amazing soldiers such as The Boss don't die in vain, it is during this scene that Big Boss decides that he must change the times so that the soldiers actually matter. By making themselves an elite mercenary group that rivals an entire country's power, Outer Heaven just placed a large target on its back and Snake welcomes the challenge.
- 6
Gray Fox's Sacrifice
Metal Gear Solid: Twin SnakesWe sincerely hope that Frank Jaeger and Naomi Hunter appear in The Phantom Pain. After hearing Gray Fox tell the horrible story behind the death of Naomi's family and her reluctant upbringing, we really want to see the story of how Big Boss rescues Jaeger as a prisoner of war and takes Fox and his adopted sister with him to FOXHOUND. Fans of the original 8-bit Metal Gear should have been delighted at finding out that the mysterious, cybernetic ninja was actually Gray Fox, who was presumed to be dead after his fight with Snake in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Fox's selfless dying act in saving Snake from Metal Gear Rex was his attempt at redeeming himself for living a life of cold-blood and murder as he implored Snake to help take care of Naomi after he was gone.
- 5
Snake... Had a Hard Life
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the PatriotsWe're only halfway through our list of the 10 Greatest Moments in Metal Gear Solid History, and we've already reached one of the saddest memories we have of the series. Standing just a few feet away from one of the most important landmarks in Metal Gear history, Solid Snake sought to finally end his journey on his own accord. In front of the grave of his former friend and rival, Gray Fox, Snake decided that this was the best place to die with honor. Fortunately, this tremendously sad scene was interrupted by the shocking appearance of someone we thought was long dead. Nevertheless, that scene of Snake's whimpering as he put his 1911 handgun in his mouth left us cringing to see our beloved, legendary hero go out this way. Minutes later, Otacon's voice-cracking comments to Sunny about Snake's whereabouts (knowing that his best friend had gone to kill himself) were heartbreaking.
- 4
Emma's Death, Secret Handshakes
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of LibertyEvery game Otacon has appeared in throughout the Metal Gear Solid series has a tremendously sad moment where Hal has to deal with losing a woman he cared for tremendously. In Metal Gear Solid 2, it was his stepsister, Emma. Unlike losing his love interests of Sniper Wolf and Naomi Hunter in Metal Gear Solid and MGS 4, losing Emma was much, much worse. After her death, Otacon reveals to Snake and Raiden that his father, Huey Emmerich (who will be appearing in MGS 5: The Phantom Pain), married Emma's mother, making Emma and Otacon stepsiblings. One day, Emma's mother seduced a young Otacon, which triggered an ongoing love affair between the two. When Otacon's father found out about the love affair, he committed suicide by drowning himself as he tried pulling six year-old Emma down with him. Fortunately, Emma was saved by Otacon at the last second. Ever since then, Hal blamed himself for the suicide of his father and ruining the life of stepsister, to whom he never fully reconciled with. Poor Hal.
- 3
Raiden 2.0
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the PatriotsWe took back all the complaints about Metal Gear Solid 2 and all the laughter we had at Raiden's expense in Snake Eraser after seeing his return in Metal Gear Solid 4. Near the end of the Middle Eastern chapter of MGS 4, Snake, Drebin and Naomi Hunter are surrounded by dozens of bipedal Metal Gear Geckos. Out of the corner of his eye, Snake spots a man on a roof in a trench coat carrying a sword. This turns out to be Raiden, who Snake has not seen in over five years. It turns out that Raiden was experimented on by the Patriots and was outfitted with a fully synthetic, combat-ready body. The resulting fight between Raiden, Vamp and a dozen mini Metal Gears was nothing short of spectacular and reminded us to never laugh at Raiden's expense ever again... except for that strange synthetic blood he coughed out at the end of this epic battle.
- 2
Psycho Mantis Reads Your Mind
Metal Gear SolidWhile breaking the fourth wall of gaming had been done a few times in gaming history before the original Metal Gear Solid, the Psycho Mantis boss fight cemented Hideo Kojima as a genius of game development. A powerful psychic, Psycho Mantis would actually read the saves on whatever memory card (remember those?) was being used in order to progress through MGS. Additional lines of dialogue were added into his intro cutscene if players had specific saves, critiquing them on their history with other Konami titles such as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Sony's DualShock controller was released around the same time as MGS, and if you were playing with one, Mantis would tell you to put your controller on the ground and he would move it using his psychic powers (which triggered the controller's vibration mechanism to buzz as hard as it could, moving the controller in the process). These supernatural nuances, along with encouraging the player to change their controller from port one to port two on their actual PlayStation system, helped cement Psycho Mantis and possessed Meryl as one of the greatest, most intuitive boss encounters in gaming history.
- 1
In Memory of a Patriot Who Saved the World
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterHere we are at the pinnacle of our 10 Greatest Moments in Metal Gear Solid History with one of the saddest events to ever be told in the video game medium. After the smoke cleared, Snake and Eva were able to escape the Soviet Union into a reclusive cabin to finally relax. After a steamy night, Snake found that Eva had double-crossed him and stole his half of the Philosopher's Legacy (which turned out to be a fake), and found an audio recording telling Eva's side of Operation Snake Eater, which revealed everything The Boss confided to her. Earlier, The Boss betrayed Snake, her longtime student, and handed off two American-made nuclear warheads to Volgin, who fired one of the nukes at the Shagohod facility (which was on Russian soil, triggering a massive international confrontation). Upon meeting Snake, The Boss broke many of his ribs in a fight and threw him off of a bridge, to what most onlookers would have believed to be Snake's death. Nevertheless, Snake survived and ultimately fought his loving mentor, who eventually let go of her will to fight and had Snake kill her amidst a field of flowers. Eva's tape explains The Boss' side of the story, which broke Snake's heart. The scene of Snake saluting The Boss' unnamed grave and crying due to his mother figure's selfless sacrifice is one of the most tear-jerking moments we ever felt with a controller in our hands.