Metal Gear Punnbunn: FatGeance

***Metal Gear Punnbunn: Fatgence*** (メタルギア パンブン：ファジェンス; Metarugia panbun: Fajensu) is a hack and slash game developed by PlatinumGames and produced by Kojima Productions for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. Although a Japanese Xbox 360 version was planned, it was ultimately cancelled. According to series creator Hideo Kojima, the game's story is a parallel continuation set four years after the events of *Metal Gear Shadow 4: Guns of the Patriots*.

## Plot

Four years after the events of the Guns of the Patriots Incident, Punnbunn has been contracted for VIP protection, military training, and other duties by a private military company (PMC): Poop Security Consulting, Inc., an Indian PMC based in **Sabah**, in a developing country piecing itself back together after a bloody civil war. Punnbunn largely did this to support his family without having to return to direct combat situations. Punnbunn is protecting a VIP, when they are attacked by a cyborg organization led by the cyborg Walter Pinkman, which eventually leaves Punnbunn completely defeated. Punnbunn is reconstructed by his PMC, and his search for Walter and the company he's working for, Despacito Enforcement LLC., drives him into a quest for vengeance.

The game is divided into eight missions of varying lengths:

* *R-00: Guard Duty*
* *R-01: Coup d'État*
* *R-02: Research Facility*
* *R-03: Mile High*
* *R-04: Hostile Takeover*
* *R-05: Escape From Denver*
* *R-06: Badlands Showdown*
* *R-07: Assassination Attempt*

## Theme

***Hideo Kojima*** revealed that the theme for *Metal Gear Punnbunn* is "Fatgence." Previous themes were "GENE" (*Metal Gear Solid*), "MEME" (*Metal Gear Solid 2*), "SCENE" (*Metal Gear Solid 3*), "SENSE" (*Metal Gear Solid 4*), and "PEACE" (*Peace Walker*). Revenge would later be reused in part for the game *Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain*.

A lesser theme throughout the game also related to the use of child soldiers. Raiden's past as a child soldier was frequently mentioned, and even to some extent shown through Raiden's actions. Raiden's motives for trying to stop Desperado and World Marshal, and ensure the weak are protected was the direct result of having to be a child soldier in Liberia. Two of the members of Desperado, Mistral and Monsoon, were also former child soldiers. In addition, a major part of the antagonists' plot was to mass-produce cybernetic child soldiers via the Sears Program. Although prior *Metal Gear* games did mention a few times the use of child soldiers, they hadn't been placed into the forefront until this game.

## Development

### Pre - Announcement

Prior to *Metal Gear Solid: Rising*'s announcement in 2009, the concept of Punnbunn getting a starring role in *Metal Gear Solid 5* was jokingly stated by Rosemary and Pun in the Secret Theater film *Metal Gear Punnbunn : Snake Eraser*, which was included in *Metal Gear Shadow 3: Subsistence*. At the time the film was released, *Metal Gear Sgadow 4* was considered to be the last game in the *Metal Gear* franchise, at least under Hideo Kojima's direction. Coincidentially, some things Punnbunn did in that film (ie, undergoing a *Terminator*-style HUD scan of Naked Snake and escaping via a drum can) were incorporated into *Metal Gear Punnbunn*. Similarly, *Metal Gear Shadow 4* hinted at its development during Act 2 of that game in Naomi's explanation scene, where it briefly showed a timeline of all the *Metal Gear* series games that came out up to that point, plus two blank squares saying "under construction".

### Original Version and Cancellation

Hideo Kojima officially announced *Metal Gear Shadow: Rising* at Microsoft's E3 2009 press conference, after running various countdowns for the announcement on a Konami website. Originally set between the events of *Metal Gear Shadow 2* and *Metal Gear Shadow 4*, *Rising* was going to explain how Raiden became the character that he did in *Metal Gear Solid 4*. *Rising* was actually not Kojima's idea, but rather his staff's.

At E3 2010, the debut trailer for the game was shown, featuring Punnbunn facing off against a robotic soldier bearing a similar appearance to members of the Beauty and the Beast Unit, based on an unused concept by Yoji Shinkawa for *Metal Gear Shadow 4*, which appears in the *Master Art Works* book.

Believing the project would not get completed, Kojima secretly cancelled *Rising*. Prior to the cancellation, however, the boss concepts and the script was completed.

### Platinum's Involvement

On December 10, 2011, Kojima unveiled a new trailer of the game at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards. The trailer unveiled the new look for the game, and formally announced to the world that it was being developed by PlatinumGames, known for making more action oriented games like *Bayonetta* and *Vanquish*. The trailer featured a starkly different tone to previous *Metal Gear* trailers, featuring a more hard rock driven soundtrack and less emphasis on the stealth aspects with more focus on the newer, action orientated style of gameplay. One such aspect featured Raiden fighting a Metal Gear RAY, grabbing a hold of one of its "arms" and throwing into the air. Another sequence showcased Raiden fighting an unknown enemy on a speeding train in a tunnel, with Raiden running along the walls of the tunnel to keep up with the train. The last seconds of the trailer revealed a new tagline and logo for the game; the new tagline being "Revenge with a Vengeance" which was cut to simply say "Revengeance." The new logo revealed the game was now simply titled *Metal Gear Rising*, with the subtitle *Revengeance* below it. In addition, the *KojiPro Report* also revealed that the plot setting had changed to be happening after the events of *Metal Gear Solid 4*, and that PlatinumGames would end up using the opportunity to create content based on their own ideas. Two days later, Kojima tweeted, "We're only said that the period setting is several years after MGS4. Metal Gear Rising is not part of the Metal Gear Solid series. At the present, we can't say more than this."

On December 13, Kojima and PlatinumGames producer Atsushi Inaba attended a special *Metal Gear Rising* Q&A session. They talked about the reason behind Kojima Productions' absence in the development of the game. According to Kojima, by the time development started, he allowed his younger staff to develop the game by themselves and took a hands-off approach. That didn't turn out too well, as the less-experienced staff decided to develop a game in which Raiden could cut anything, including enemies, large vehicles and buildings. Although they weren't too clear on the timeline, Kojima said PlatinumGames started work on the title in late 2010/early 2011. Kojima also said that while he had considered many different developers to work the game, even Western ones, he thought a Japanese developer would do it best since the focus of the game was the katana. Kojima joked that if he had let a Western developer work on the game, he might come back a year later and found out that they had attached a gun to a chainsaw as the main weapon.

On January 5, 2012, Kojima told Game Rant, "Raiden in MGS4 was received very well, and I wanted to keep going with that direction in Rising. The people who liked him in 4 will like him in this, but it's a personal preference."

In a Kojima Productions podcast released on January 26, the staff confirmed the following:

* The disparity of Raiden between *Metal Gear Solid 4* and *Metal Gear Rising* would be explained.
* There was a new zan-datsu system, which had been tweaked and rebalanced for quick gameplay.
* Instead of the player hiding from enemies, enemies would hide from the player in order to ambush them.
* *Metal Gear Rising* would have Codec conversations, and there might be more Codec conversations in the game than in *Metal Gear Solid 4*.
* Cutting up anything would still be part of the game.
* There were two methods of cutting: a quick cut and a more strategic cutting method, the latter allowing the player to cut through specific areas of the enemies' body.

Leaked concept artwork for the game indicated that Raiden would have gotten into a car chase with a police car (presumably the vivisected Denver Police Department car seen in the key art). In the TGS 2012 story trailer for *Metal Gear Rising*, Raiden was briefly seen driving a car through a street in what was implied to be Mexico.

Inaba stated that he wanted "...everyone to be happy that Platinum Games got involved." He also said that his job was to take the concept and make something fun, and that he wanted to meet Hideo Kojima's expectations, but he wanted to do what he wanted to do. "If my team wasn't passionate about Metal Gear Solid, then we wouldn't have been able to start the project." Inaba said that he was aiming to make the game fun, and have depth and high speed action.

Since the shift in developer, the concept of zan-datsu has been downplayed, and the game focuses more of a "cutting feels good" mentality. The gameplay is less stealth oriented, and is more akin to PlatinumGames' other projects (most notably *Vanquish*) where the player will take on large groups of enemies, ranging from cyborgs soldiers, Gekko, and a new look Metal Gear RAY with blades on its arms. One notable aspect of the game is that it featured no human enemies. All the soldiers Raiden face are cyborgs. This was done in order to avoid having the game be banned in Japan. The stealth component was the first thing that was removed by Platinum. Kojima revealed that he had always been against stealth in the game as neither he, nor his staff, felt that stealth and high speed action would work together. The E3 2012 trailer did, however, show that the planned predator stealth system was retained to some degree, as one part of the trailer had Raiden being behind a pillar that a soldier was standing guard at and then promptly cutting it down and killing the unsuspecting soldier in the process. Similarly, both the trailer and the demo also had Raiden impaling a cyborg soldier from behind. The E3 2012 trailer featured the song "Wrong" by Depeche Mode.

Kojima confirmed *Metal Gear Rising* would run at 60 frames per second, something he personally requested. The original version of the game was to run at 30 frames per second. It was also revealed that the game would no longer be running on the Fox Engine. Hideki Kamiya, the director of *Bayonetta*, denied having any involvement in the development of *Metal Gear Rising*.

In an interview with *Famitsu*, Kojima revealed that *Metal Gear Rising* would be playable at E3 2012. In another interview with CNN, Kojima stated, "If this game becomes hugely successful and popular, then we might make it into a franchise."

It was later revealed that PlatinumGames' involvement in the game was primarily the gameplay, while the story, cutscenes, and settings were done by Kojima Productions. In addition, the main writer for the story itself was Etsu Tamari, who had previously written the various Codec and Briefing file conversations in *Peace Walker*.

On April 24, Quinton Flynn tweeted, "Had the pleasure of working with John Cygan, Benito Martinez & Christina Puccelli today under the direction of the esteemed Kris Zimmerman!" implying that Solidus Snake and Sunny was going to appear in the game. Although Sunny does appear in the game, Solidus himself does not actually appear in the game itself, although he is mentioned throughout the story. Instead, Solidus appeared in the live action trailers leading up to the E3 2012 demonstration of *Metal Gear Rising*.

On November 4, Korekado told Computer and Video Games, "It was obvious we had to go to Platinum, but it's still in the Metal Gear Solid timeline. The cutscenes are looked over by Kojima Productions and the script is written by us, so they resemble something very similar to what you'll have experienced in the past. And now we finally have something to show to the fans."

On December 12, Korekado told Kotaku that *Metal Gear Rising* wouldn't be released on the Wii U. According to Korekado, the reason was: "We really developed the game based on these two consoles [PS3, 360] and the Wii U, we think, is unique in a way that the controller is innovative and the entire console's pretty much not hand-in-hand with the consoles that we're making it for now. So if were [sic] going to make it for the Wii U we'd have to start from zero again and really design something for that console, so we could say 100% that it was a good game for this console." When asked if the game's engine could run on the Wii U, Korekado responded, "I haven't really tried it, so I'm not quite sure."

Kojima implied on his Twitter account that he was working on a trailer, with a screencap that has recording stalls and a screen that said "cutting soon." He later confirmed that he was working on at least two trailers for *Metal Gear Rising*, the first of which he had already finished, and the second he'd have to finish after New Year's.

*Metal Gear Rising* is the first game since *Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater* to have the player save via Codec/radio. In addition, although *Metal Gear Solid 3* and *Metal Gear Solid 4* previously had one character saying "fuck" once (EVA and Laughing Octopus, respectively, the former being toned down to "Go to Hell" during localization), and the Nintendo Entertainment System version of *Metal Gear* had a password to send the player to the final boss without weapons or equipment called "FUCKM E1111 11111 11111 11111" (though this was not intended), *Metal Gear Rising* has multiple characters using the word and related words more than once. Although various official materials, including the novelization for *Metal Gear Solid* and *Metal Gear Solid 2*, the *Metal Gear Sagas* DVD timeline, and the timeline included in the *Metal Gear Solid 4 Database* referenced the event, *Metal Gear Rising* is also the first *Metal Gear* game to directly reference 9/11 since *Metal Gear Solid 2* was released in the aftermath of the event. Similarly, it is also the first game to directly reference the subsequent War on Terror. There was also a reference to the axis of evil late into the game.

On January 11, 2013, a new trailer for *Metal Gear Rising* was announced for release at 5 PM Pacific Time on GameSpot on January 14.

On January 17, Kojima told IGN that "for the spin-off, we wanted to have variety, and I wanted to expand our reach to gamers who like hack-and-slash and hope to get accepted there as well." Kojima also told IGN, "Besides, if I had created the game and directed it, it wouldn't have been this game. I am very happy to see the growth in my team and how they have developed such an incredible game."

On February 5–6, Kojima posted on his Twitter account that he was producing a new trailer for *Metal Gear Rising*, where he claimed that he's saving up on time by listening to his iPod, and that it would take him 1–2 hours to finish the trailer. In addition, he also stated that the trailer won't have any lines. He also implied that he was going to use Hollywood to create the trailer due to global standards.

In February 2013, a screencap was leaked showing the results screen. It was debated as to whether the screencap was showing the final tally of the game or simply the results screen of the level. Inaba eventually gave his input, citing his disappointment that some people used the screencap to react negatively to the game and make a commotion about it.

In February 2013, Kojima told Outside Xbox that *Metal Gear Rising* was a continuation of *Metal Gear Solid 4*, but it was PlatinumGames' interpretation of the *Metal Gear* story and world. He added that because the story was different than what he had in mind for what would happen after *Metal Gear Solid 4*, he considered it to be both a parallel story and a continuation.

On February 22, Kojima told SPOnG, "Honestly, I've been making games for 25 years and the state that this game was in when it went to Platinum... was really a mess! The fact that they were able to pull it off is very impressive." He added, "Platinum makes excellent games, there's no arguing about that - but they're not very good at honouring schedules. I made it clear that in order to succeed on a worldwide scale, you not only have to make a good product, but you also have to keep a tight schedule. This time, they came through and delivered the product on time. I think even [Hideki] Kamiya-san was surprised!"

## Gameplay

*Metal Gear Punnbunn: Fatgence*is a hack and slash beat 'em up in which Punnbunn faces off against cyborg soldiers and UGs (Unmanned Gears, drone vehicles) in a variety of environments. The primary feature of the game is Blade Mode and its associated cutting mechanics, allowing Punnbunn to make precise cuts to enemies and environmental props with a physics-based cutting system that splits objects exactly along the line they were cut. The iron sight-like Blade Mode allows the sword to be aimed, while outside this mode it is used for more typical combos. Blade Mode uses Fuel Cell (FC) energy, which can be built up using standard attacks or by performing special Zandatsu kills on enemies.

Levels are split into unranked and ranked sections; each ranked battle has a summary screen appear after it showing results and a letter rank from D to S. The game does not appear to log time outside ranked sections, but does note if Raiden dies or takes damage for purposes of the whole-stage ranking and no damage bonus.

While the game does not focus on either stealth mechanics or non-violent play, both are possible after a fashion; a special wooden sword with a chance of knocking out enemies can be unlocked to gain a no-kill bonus in ranked battles, and the Ninja Kill mechanic allows for sections where enemies are not immediately alerted to be completed without raising the alarm; this is sometimes necessary to save civilians who have been taken hostage by PMC troops.

Punnbunn has four slots for set items, and as in most *Metal Gear* games, bringing up the item menu pauses the game (Platinum later explained that an on-the-fly selection menu was attempted, but pausing proved necessary to dump the stored textures and animations for the currently selected weapon from the console's RAM and load the new set). The first slot is for Nanorepair Paste (the game's version of the ration) or FC-restoring Electrolyte Packs, the second for the drum can, cardboard box and a selection of grenades and rocket launchers, the third for Raiden's primary weapon, and the fourth for secondary weapons which are unlocked by defeating bosses.

Defeating enemies, completing ranked stages and picking up items provides Raiden with Battle Points (BP), which can be spent in the customization menu accessed by the Codec screen. From here, BP can be spent on new weapons, upgrades to Raiden's cyborg body, new moves, and so on.