# Metal Gear

Metal Gear is a series of action-adventure stealth video games by Konami centered around Solid Snake, a soldier in the high tech elite special forces task force FOXHOUND, as he attempts to infiltrate and diffuse politically sensitive crisis situations undetected and neutralize the non-state actors involved to prevent a global catastrophe.

## Metal Gear (1987)

* Big Boss: Solid Snake! I've been expecting you... I am the supreme commander of the FOXHOUND unit... And... The leader of the fortress of Outer Heaven, Big Boss! I gave this mission to you, a rookie, thinking I could use you to fool the rest of the world... But you were too good. You went too far! Solid Snake! I'm not going down alone. I'm taking you with me! Prepare to die!
* Solid Snake: This is Solid Snake... Metal Gear has been destroyed. Operation Intrude N313 was a success! No big deal, the job is done, that's all... No big deal... I'm coming back now... OVER
* Big Boss: ...can you hear me? Solid Snake... I'm not dead... Someday, I'll get even with you. Someday... we will meet again!

## Snake's Revenge (1990)

* [Intro text] Lt. Snake, we received information from our intelligence man at the enemy's base. They have a weapon. Is it Metal Gear, which you destroyed 3 years ago? Go to the enemy base with 2 men. The pilot knows the route.
* Big Boss: You destroyed Metal Gear 1 and made me a cyborg. Now I want revenge.

## Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990)

* Big Boss: The nightmares? They never go away, Snake. Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension... it all becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the warrior within... it never sleeps again. You crave ever bigger tensions, ever bigger thrills. As a mercenary, I'd think you would have realized that by now. You care nothing for power, or money, or even sex. The only thing that satisfies your cravings is war! All I've done is give you a place for it. I've given you a reason to live.

## Metal Gear Solid (1998)

    Gray Fox / Frank Jaeger: It is nothing so trivial as revenge. A fight to the death with you. Only in that can my soul find respite. I will kill you or you will kill me... it makes no difference.
    Psycho Mantis: And each mind that I peered into was stuffed with the same single object of obsession. That selfish and atavistic desire to pass on one's seed... it was enough to make me sick. Every living thing on this planet exists to mindlessly pass on their DNA. We're designed that way. And that's why there is war. But you... you are different... You're the same as us. We have no past, no future. We live in the moment. That's our only purpose. Humans weren't designed to bring each other happiness. From the moment we're thrown into this world, we're fated to bring each other nothing but pain and misery.
    Hal "Otacon" Emmerich: The secret behind the new nuclear weapon! Just as I thought, the nuclear warhead is designed to be fired from the rail gun, like a projectile... It doesn't use fuel so it isn't considered a missile. That way it can get around all sorts of international treaties.
    Naomi Hunter: Genes exist to pass down our hopes and dreams for the future through our children. Living is a link to the future. That's how all life works. Loving each other, teaching each other... that's how we can change the world. I finally realized it. The true meaning of life...
    Frank Jaeger: We're not tools of the government or anyone else! Fighting was the only thing... the only thing I was good at, but... At least I always fought for what I believed in...
    Otacon: The whole reason I got into science in the first place was that I was no good with people. I was scared of them. I was scared of life. I thought that I could never understand them because they're so illogical. But I've finally learned how to like people. I'm not afraid anymore.
    Naomi: Each person is born with their fate written into their own genetic code... it's unchangeable, immutable... But that's not all there is to life. I finally realized that. I told you before. The reason that I was interested in genes and DNA. Because I wanted to know who I was... where I came from. I thought that if I analyzed my DNA I could find out who I was, who my parents were. And I thought that if I knew that, then I'd know what path I should take in life.
    Liquid Snake: It was his dying wish! When he was young, during the Cold War, the world needed men like us. We were valued then. We were desired. But things... are different now. With all the liars and hypocrites running the world, war isn't what it used to be... We're losing our place in a world that no longer needs us. A world that now spurns our very existence. You should know that as well as I do. After I launch this weapon and get our billion dollars, we'll be able to bring chaos and honor... back to this world gone soft. Conflict will breed conflict, new hatreds will arise. Then! ...We'll steadily expand our sphere of influence.

### About Metal Gear Solid

* I was making games like Policenauts, and I heard rumors about a console on which polygons could be created in real-time. This really grabbed my attention, since one of the major attractions of games is the sensation of action, and I was intrigued to see what I could achieve with those polygons. Metal Gear is a hide-and-seek game and the thought of doing this while adding a camera that could change position really excited me. So I stopped making script-based games and went back to asking for favors from programmers for this 3D world.
   * Hideo Kojima "Hideo Kojima Reflects on 25 Years of Metal Gear" Lorenzo Grajales, Playstation.blog

## Metal Gear Solid 2 (2001)

    Revolver Ocelot: Americans are too in love with the sound of their own voice to speak the truth.

## Metal Gear Acid (2004)

* Hans: [to Snake] Are you familiar with the term "doppelganger"? Everyone has two personalities in them. One of them a persona for everyday public life, and the other the exact opposite. The personality lurking in one's subconscious is referred to as the "Shadow" in psychological terms. The Shadow negates its symmetrical opposite, the "Light" persona, and in some cases grows to the same level. If it manages to grow large enough, it takes on its own shape, separates from the body, and can walk around on its own. And that, my friend, is why we're both here.
* La Clown: If I die here, it means I'm not the hero. The hero is supposed to survive to the end. So... I guess that makes me the villain. The villain is always supposed to take the hero's side right before dying.
* Alice: The Children of Hamelin looked up to you as a hero. You were a man created by those in power and performed mighty works for them. The Legendary Hero—Solid Snake. That's what we were always taught. [...] Our pledge was, "May me someday be great like the honorable and mighty Snake."

## Metal Gear Acid 2 (2005)

* Lucy: You're a cloned soldier—patterned after the legendary Solid Snake. We recovered his body from Lobito Island and created you through a fusion of his cells and our data. You were our Model 3, Snake.
* Venus: Don't worry about Snake. He's been to hell and back. He's a survivor, you know. Always has been, always will be. Takiyama: ... Venus: He'll be just fine. I'm always right about these things.
* Dalton: What do you plan to do once your wounds heal up? Got any ideas? Snake: No plans. Just a personal goal. Dalton: And what would that be? Snake: To keep on living. All this time, I've been searching for my past. And now I know that I don't have one. I was manufactured in a lab. I'm not even a real human. I've got no past, and might not have much of a future. Nothing. But I'm alive. I was made to be a weapon. And I don't have squat to my name. But... as long as there's air in my lungs and blood in my veins, I'm gonna live. Right? Dalton: You're half right. You're way off about having nothing, though.

## Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006)

    Naked Snake / Big Boss: It was four years ago, in Mozambique. There was a child soldier fighting with a guerrilla group in the struggle for independence. He killed dozens of government soldiers with just a single knife. He'd throw the enemy off guard with the innocent frankness of a young boy. Then he'd prey on them with the cold cruelty of a hunter. He spoke a little German, so his enemies called him "Frank Jaeger"... the frank hunter.
    [Gene addresses soldiers]
    Gene: Soldiers, hear my words! The Cold War will soon be over. The United States and the Soviet Union no longer have the strength or authority to shape the world as they seem fit. Even as America sinks deeper into the quagmire of the Vietnam War, her allies in the West have achieved tremendous economic growth. And with the collapse of its planned economy, Russia can no longer keep up with the financial demands of her vast army. But the end of the Cold War does not mean that peace will follow. Freed from the domination of the world's superpowers, nationalism will soon be the driving force behind global politics. And the ever-widening gap between rich and poor will fan the flames of hatred between nations. Nuclear weapons will slip from the superpowers' grasp and spread throughout the world. Soon no one will know when or where the nukes will come from. Today's ally may be tomorrow's bitter enemy. Or worse: the time may come when soldiers of the same country will kill their brothers, just like you are now. Who of you can say that tomorrow you won't be aiming your rifles at your neighbors? Your comrades? Your families? Is there no one who has a grudge against you? No one who mocks you? No one who really needs you? Is there truly no one out there who would kill you? One of my men is standing amongst you right now. His instructions are to kill you - for your betrayal. Your enemy is standing right beside you. [points at individual soldiers] Is it you?... Or perhaps you?... This planet is like a giant bomb. See how easily it blows itself to bits with a single nuclear warhead. Or rather, a single bullet. [laughs] There he is... It's the enemy!
    Null: Why are you still alive? I used to get dreams, about my comrades. They would save me with strong arms and laughing voices. When I woke up from these dreams, I had nothing. No joy, no sorrow, no hatred, no memory. When I woke up from the darkness, all I saw were the bodies of men I've killed, lying in front of me. I know. Everyone dies. Crime. Disease. Accidents. War. No matter how good a man you are, no matter how good a soldier, there are no exceptions. Even if I don't kill them, they die. This world is full of death and yet you won't be killed. Why? Why do you still live? What do you hope to accomplish by living?

## Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)

    Old Snake: War has changed. It's no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines. War, and its consumption of life, has become a well-oiled machine. War has changed. ID-tagged soldiers carry ID-tagged weapons, use ID-tagged gear. Nanomachines inside their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities. Genetic control. Information control. Emotion control. Battlefield control. Everything is monitored and kept under control. War has changed. The age of deterrence has become the age of control. All in the name of averting catastrophe from weapons of mass destruction. And he who controls the battlefield controls history. War has changed. When the battlefield is under total control, war... becomes routine.
    Liquid Ocelot: This is only the beginning, Snake. America will descend into chaos... It'll be the Wild West all over again. No law, no order. Fire will spread across the world. The people will fight... and through battle, they will know the fullness of life. At last... our father's will... his Outer Heaven... is complete.
    Revolver Ocelot: You're pretty good...
    Big Boss: Everything has its beginning. But doesn't start at "one." It starts long before that, in chaos. The world is born... from zero. The moment zero becomes one is the moment the world springs to life. One becomes two, two becomes ten, ten becomes 100. Taking it all back to one solves nothing. So long as Zero remains, one... will eventually grow to 100 again. And so our goal was to erase Zero. Even the mighty Patriots began with a single man. That one man's desires grew huge, bloated; absorbed technology; began to manipulate the economy. We realized too late that we had created a beast. We had helped turn Zero into 100. His sin... was ours. And for that reason, I'm taking it upon myself to send Zero... back to nothing.
    Big Boss: It's not about changing the world. It's about doing our best to leave the world the way it is. It's about respecting the will of others and believing in your own.
    Big Boss: Zero and I... Liquid and Solidus... We all fought a long, bloody war for our liberty to free ourselves from systems, nations, norms and ages, but no matter how hard we fought, the only liberty we found was on the inside, trapped within those limits... The Boss and I may have taken different paths, but in the end, we were both trapped inside the same cage... "Liberty." But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be... Outside.

## Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010)

* Paz: In school, I also learned that peace is an unnatural state for human society. And that war is a constant threat to our relationship with others.
    Snake / Big Boss: That's right.
    Paz: So, to achieve peace, we have to create it ourselves. Crying about it won't bring it about, or make it last. Each one of us must go and seek it out.
    Snake: You won't find it without making sacrifices. No offense, but I don't know what peace is. Never felt what it's like. Never even been interested in it.
* Snake: [to Amanda] There's always another reason to keep on living.
* Snake: Chico, growing up means choosing how you're gonna live your life. [...] Treasure your memories, Chico. No matter what happens, keep them safe. [...] Nothing to be ashamed of. Pain gets the better of us all. [...] Remember, real heroes, are never as polished as the legends that surround them.

## Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014)

    Kazuhira Miller: [fuming at the IAEA ambush] They played us like a damn fiddle!
    Skull Face: [in a secret recording] I needed this place, to listen to the words people have to say. That's something they could never understand.
    [Skull Face walks up to a prisoner, who is groaning in agony]
    Skull Face: You've done your part. You told us plenty. You've known the pain of ages. And even now you think, as any person would, that this can't be happening. Is it education? Morals? Faith? Just an imprint of a lifetime of stories? Face to face with oblivion, which is where you are, and you still think that help is coming. The world you were born into is made to save you. Isn't that right? Of course it is. Everyone knows that. Until your last breath, you know it. Without the slightest chance or reason left to them, humans are capable of hope. I'm no different. But for one thing. When my time came calling, I didn't die. My family died, my country died, but they didn't take me with them. All Hell took from me was this skin, this outer peel that marked me "human".
    Skull Face: My village had an oilseed field, and a fine factory. Every day my friends and I would see our parents at work in that factory. That's all I had. All the world I knew. Then one day, aircraft came droning in from some far-off sky. The factory was bombed. Some... "spies" had told them we were making weapons. The building burned. We tried to flee outside. The crowd blocked the exit. The crowd of people. Hot. So hot. I tried to push through their legs and get ahead, but a boot in my stomach put me on the ground. The smoke of them burning filled me up. I heard my name called... but not for long.
    Skull Face: At the infirmary they carried me to, a nurse in the corner saw me, and remarked, as if it happened every day, "they should let the poor thing die." Those are the only words of my mother tongue I remember. It was the language of my village. Until foreign troops invaded. Then the last identity I had left—the words I spoke—were pulled from me. My skin would never feel anything again. This face would be burned again, in torture, at foreign hands, but I, I still writhe in that burning factory. Doused in scalding rapeseed oil. That's all I have to feel, that pain... all I have to remind me I exist here.
    Skull Face: [chuckles] Those "spies" reported well. We made weapons all right. As cartloads of rifles came in from the battlefields, we fixed them up and sent them back out. So our country could win. Or rather, so that little world we knew could continue. I came to realize I mustn't die. I'm their last hope, all those who perished and left me here. I have to accomplish something. If I don't, their will will be swept out of this world.
    [Skull Face grabs the prisoner]
    Skull Face: So? Do you see me now? Tell me. What do you see? Hmm? You have eyes. What do your eyes see? [chuckles] Yes, that's right. You see a skull face. You see me. This skull is who I am. My mark, my proof of humanity. I have no country, no language, I have no face, but I haven't lost my skull. So I told myself... the pain and effort that keep me alive will never know relief, never bear fruit, never be repaid. I know that, but I told myself to focus on some hope, a nonexistent hope to guide me through this burning world. A hope... call it a dream. A melancholic delusion. As the pressures within me stretch me to bursting, and I force myself not to cry out, though the words I thought were carved into me are gone, and all I knew is dead.
    Skull Face: I know how you feel. I've felt that. So show me... that I'm not the only one. That you too can return to this world for revenge. Do you see me? Don't die. Don't die. [disappointed] Ahh...

## About Metal Gear

* In a statement that shows both an ignorance of source material and a lack of critical thinking, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Andrei Kartapolov stated during a parliamentary roundtable that the Metal Gear series of games is an example of United States Intelligence services seeking to manipulate “public consciousness and especially young people” against the Russian government. To clarify the problems with such a statement, first we need to recall that Hideo Kojima is the creator of the series, and he was born and raised in Japan. Second, the games were produced in Japan by Konami, a Japanese entertainment and gaming conglomerate. Third, the first game in the series was released in 1987 and the story remains largely the same. Fourth, examining the content of the games, such as Metal Gear Solid, reveals an overall critique of the stockpiling of nuclear arms, and is highly critical of the United States in this regard.
** Patricio Kobek, ”Russian Defense Ministry Claims The Metal Gear Series Is A Real American Intelligence Project”, The Gamer, (Jun 29, 2019)
* More than anything, the themes of Metal Gear Solid are simply phantom whispers of the Cold War, where stocking piling [sic] and creating a bigger weapon is all that matters. The Moscow Times adds that Kartapolov continued in his statement by adding that these projects were “aimed at encouraging active protest activity and dissatisfaction with the country's authorities among young people.” In the broadest possible sense, this is not incorrect, but the dissatisfaction in these games is aimed at all governments who abuse their power with the goal of creating weapons of mass destruction.
** Patricio Kobek, ”Russian Defense Ministry Claims The Metal Gear Series Is A Real American Intelligence Project”, The Gamer, (Jun 29, 2019)
* As far as a character that’s evolved with the hardware, that would have to be Snake. If you look at the original Metal Gear, he was a very silent type of character—-he didn’t speak much. Probably the reason for that is, on that hardware, we were unable to make the characters speak. You could compare it to movies. The original Metal Gears were kind of like silent-era movies and Metal Gear Solid 1 is when it became talkies and sound movies. But at the same time with Metal Gear Solid 1, he could speak but there still wasn’t emotion on the face. So everything had to be done through the voices. He had to say whether or not he liked something or if he was feeling hot or it hurt. Everything had to be explained vocally. Then we saw 2000, the next step in his evolution, where we could have emotion on his face. We get things like motion-capture and try to make games realistic and believable. That was the next stage in his evolution. For Metal Gear Solid 4, we were able to get more resolution and add more detail to the faces. We added wrinkles and we added the aspect of age to the equation. So: telling a story through wrinkles. If you really look at the evolution of Snake, the character, it’s also looking at the evolution of the gaming industry and hardware. I think that’s something that’s pretty unique to Snake as a character and you don’t see it in any other form of media where the character evolves with hardware.
** Hideo Kojima in "Still Solid: Metal Gear Creator Hideo Kojima on "The Art of Video Games"" by Reese Higgins, Washington City Paper, (Mar 19, 2012).

## See also

* Last words in Metal Gear series games

## External links

* Official MGS site
* Official MPO Website
* Official Kojima Productions website
* Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Reviews at Metacritic
* Game Script of Metal Gear Solid 3