Metal Gear is a stealth-based game designed by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. Originally released for the MSX2 (in Japan and Europe) in 1987 and later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was Hideo Kojima's debut game and served as the inaugural title for Konami's flagship Metal Gear series.

Despite the series' popularity, the original game did not enjoy the same kind of fame the later Metal Gear Solid titles had due to its release on the obscurity of the MSX computer platform. It was only after the game was ported to the NES (which was handled by a division of Konami's NES team in Tokyo, outside of Kojima's jurisdiction) in which the game enjoyed moderate mainstream success (especially in the western market, where Metal Gear sold over a million units). Even though the NES port has been criticized by fans of the original MSX version (including Kojima himself, who considered the game to be a poor adaptation of his work), the success of the NES version is credited for paving way for later games in the series.

Metal Gear was recently ported to mobile phone platforms in 2004 in Japan. As of 2005, the NES version is the only version of the game that was officially released in North America, which was criticized and spoofed due to its poorly-handled in-game translation and Konami of America's questionable marketing material. The MSX2 version was released in Europe in addition to the NES game, but suffered from omitted dialogue and truncated text. A fan-translation of the Japanese MSX version has been under development for awhile.

Release dates

• July 7, 1987 — MSX2 (Japan)
• 1987 — MSX2 (Europe)
• December 22, 1987 — Nintendo Family Computer (Japan)
• June, 1988 — Nintendo Entertainment System (North America)
• 1989 — Nintendo Entertainment System (Europe)
• 1990 — IBM PC (North America)
• 1990 — Commodore 64 (North America)
• March 11, 2004 — Nintendo GameCube (as part of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes - Premium Package) (Japan)
• August 18, 2004 — Mobile Phone (Japan)

Story

Near the end of the 20th century, 200km north of Galzburg, South Africa, lies Outer Heaven, a fortified state founded by a legendary mercenary. Word had gotten out to the western world that deep within the Outer Heaven stronghold, that a weapon of mass destruction was being constructed. Government officials orders the high-tech Special Forces unit FOXHOUND, to infiltrate the fortress, access the situation and neutralize the threat. Known as "Operation: Intrude N312," FOXHOUND operative Gray Fox infiltrated the Outer Heaven stronghold. Days later, contact with Gray Fox is lost and his last transmission simply reads "METAL GEAR..."

Operative Solid Snake, FOXHOUND's newest recruit, is ordered by leader Big Boss to rescue Gray Fox and carry out his mission.

Upon insertion into Outer Heaven, Snake makes contact with local resistance members Kyle Schneider, Diane and Jennifer. Using all of his skills and the equipment he procured on site, he manages to rescue Fox. He learns from Fox that Metal Gear is the codename of a nuclear warhead-equipped bipedal walking tank, which can engage and dominate in all forms of combat as well as launch its nuclear warheads from any location. Outer Heaven plans to use Metal Gear to impose itself as the new world superpower.

In order to destroy Metal Gear, and topple the Outer Heaven mercenaries, Snake rescues the lead engineer of Metal Gear, Dr. Drago Petrovich Madnar, and his daughter, Elen. Armed with information on how to destroy Metal Gear, his skill and indomitable spirit, Snake fights through the entire Outer Heaven force. He begins to notice that traps being set for him are too precise, and wonders how information on his activities is being tracked. Moreover, resistance leader Schneider is mortally wounded by hostiles and is presumed dead after losing contact with Snake.

Upon destroying the powerful Outer Heaven defense system, Snake is able to neutralize Metal Gear. As Snake makes his way out of the compound's basement, he is confronted by the mysterious mercenary leader of the Outer Heaven forces, who turns out to be Big Boss himself.

Big Boss has been using his connections in the US Government to establish his own mercenary force, corrupt and steal military intelligence and fund his activities. It was his aim to have Outer Heaven become the most powerful nation, with him at the top. He had the rookie Snake sent in, hoping to have him captured and feed the US Government misinformation, but had underestimated Snake's capabilities.

Having lost Metal Gear and much of his force, Big Boss starts the self-destruct sequence for the compound, and an underground battle ensues between Big Boss and Solid Snake. Despite injury, Snake defeats Big Boss and escapes the Outer Heaven compound as it crumbles in flames behind him.

Cast of characters

• Solid Snake - The Player's character. One of FOXHOUND's newest recruit. Operation: Intrude N313 is his inaugural mission as FOXHOUND operative.
• Diane - Resistance member who seems to possess a great amount of knowledge on the mercenaries in Outer Heaven. Once the vocalist of a positive punk band, she now lives with her boyfriend Steve.
• Big Boss - Leader of FOXHOUND and Solid Snake's commanding officer. He provides Snake with information on the weapons and equipment procured on-site.
• Dr. Petrovich - Robotic engineer responsible for the creation of the TX-55 (Metal Gear) prototype. He was captured on his way to the U.S. and is now being forced to make war machines for Outer Heaven, while his daughter is held hostage.
• Jennifer - A resistance member. She infiltrated Outer Heaven as part of their medical staff in order to find her missing brother. She supports Snake internally by helping him gain access to certain areas and equipment.
• Gray Fox - FOXHOUND operative with a Fox codename, the highest commemoration given to any FOXHOUNDER member. He was taken prisoner
• Schneider - The leader of a resistance movement in Outer Heaven, who seeks to avenge his family's death. His former occupation as chief architech in Outer Heaven has earned him the knowledge of the fortress' structural layout.
• Elen - A former Bolshoi Ballet star and the only daughter of Dr. Petrovich. She was captured and taken to Outer Heaven as leverage agaisnt her father.

Gameplay

The objective of the game is to infiltrate Outer Heaven and destroy Metal Gear. The player's initial goal is to reestablish contact with Gray Fox. Like in later installments, the player must avoid visual contact and direct confrontation with the enemy soldiers as much as possible. When the player is seen by the enemy, the background music changes and the game enters Alert Mode. The method of escaping varies depending on the circumstances behind the player's discovery:

• If a player is seen and only a single exclamation mark (!) appear over an enemy's head, only the enemies in the player's present screen will attack and an escape can be made by moving to the adjacent screen.

• However, if two exclamation marks (!!) appears over the enemy (or the player triggers an alarm by being spotted by a camera, infrared sensor or using an unsilenced weapon), reinforcements from off-screen will appear as well and the player can only escape by eliminated all incoming enemies or simply moving to a different floor.

At first, the player starts the game unarmed, but eventually gains access to a variety of firearms (starting with the Beretta M92F) and explosives. Ammo and supplies for each weapon are limited, but are easily replenishable. Weapons can not only be used to kill enemies, but also to clear obstacles (such as hollow walls or electrified floors) as well. Snake can also use his fists to defeat patrolling enemies and take any food or ammo they drop behind.

The enemy base itself is comprised of three different building, with multiple floors (including basement levels) within them. The player uses keycards and other items to unlock doors or explore new areas. Doors will only open to its corresponding keycard. Bosses also appear through the game to interfere with your progress.

Information can be obtained by rescuing hostages being held captive within the building. After rescuing five hostages, the player is given a promotion, increasing the player's capacity and maximum health. However, if a hostage is killed, the player is demoted to the previous rank.

A transceiver is availble for the player to communicate with their commanding officer (Big Boss) or one of the resistance members operating covertly within the fortress. Each of Snake's ally has an extensive knowledge on specific subjects. The transceiver system is completely room-oriented, as certain radio transmissions occurs only on certain locations.

Version differences

There were two main versions of Metal Gear released. The original MSX version designed by Kojima's team and the Famicom/NES port handled by a different unit within Konami (which is the most well-known of the two). Between the two versions of the game, there were five regional versions (two for the MSX and three for the NES).

A company called Unlimited Software ported the NES game to the IBM PC and Commodore 64 in the U.S. (an Amiga version was also planned, but not released). Konami later bundled an emulated version of the Famicom version with the Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes Premium Package released in Japan and ported the MSX version to various Japanese cell phone platforms.

Differences between the MSX and Famicom/NES versions

The game went through several changes when it was ported to the NES. The most notable difference is in the level designs. The NES game begins in a short jungle area prior to reaching Building No.1. In order to get to most of the other areas, the player has to use various transport trucks to reach their destination. The basement area that covers Building No.1 and No.2 was made into a seperate building which is normally inaccessible to the player without going to a maze area first. The solution of the maze is never actually given in the game.

The NES version was not very well coded. Enemy guards no longer drop food and ammo pack when they're punched in Infiltration Mode and instead of two alert modes, there's only one in the NES version (the player can always make their escape by moving to an adjacent screen). The jetpack soldiers on the roof of Building No.1 doesn't fly like their MSX counterparts. And certain Transceiver calls are "misplaced" due to their room-oriented nature in the original MSX version and the rearranged areas in the NES version.

The Metal Gear mecha doesn't appear in the end of the game. Instead the player must a destroy a motionless Supercomputer which controls Metal Gear's activities. The Hind D boss was also replaced by a twin set of bosses known as "Twin Shot".

The music also went through changes and instead of an underwater insertion to the base, Snake conducts an air insertion into Outer Heaven.

While the NES version is often criticized by fans of the series for the various liberties it has taken, it is also credited for helping the game attract a larger audience and paving way for later games in the series.

Regional differences between MSX versions

There were two MSX versions released, a Japanese version and an English version. For the English release, Konami edited various of the game's radio messages and removed others entirely. Some of the removed messages includes each of Big Boss' comments regarding an item and weapon, and some of Schneider's messages (and practically all of Steve's calls). Reportedly, only 86 of the game's 116 messages were kept.

The Japanese MSX manual contains several exclusive contents not found in the English MSX manual (nor in the Famicom/NES manuals) such as character profiles with illustrations, brief descriptions of the game's bosses and the complete specifications of the TX-55 Metal Gear.

Regional differences between Famicom/NES versions

In contrast, there's very little differences between regional versions of the NES game. There were three versions of the NES game. The Japanese Famicom version, the North American release and the PAL release. The differences between the three are minor. The North American and PAL version featured a redesigned Transceiver screen, while the PAL version fixed some of the glitches from the previous version and featured slightly revised password system. All three versions kept virtually all of the radio messages in the game.

Packaging/manual discrepancies in the NES version

The NES version of Metal Gear was released in North America at a time where video games were still lacking in-game storylines for most part. As a result, when a Japanese game was localized in the U.S., the company that was marketing the game in the U.S. could write any sort of made-up storyline and details in the game's instruction manual without neccesarily following the original Japanese storyline.

Konami of America was very notorious for this practice, often making up their own storylines for their games while paying little or no respect to the original designers' intentions (as evident in some of the Castlevania and Contra games).

The original Metal Gear was no exception and went through Konami of America's questionable marketing treatment. However, unlike some of the other games of its time, Metal Gear actually provided the player with an in-game narrative (albeit very primitive compared to later titles) which develops the storyline as the player progresses through the game. The in-game translation (which was done by the actual developers) kept the storyline unchanged from the Japanese version.

In the NES version's manual, the game's main villain (who's identity is intentionally kept secret in the actual game) is mentioned to be "Vermon CaTaffy", "a once tranquil shepard boy" who "turned to terrorism at an early age". Snake's commanding officer (who is Big Boss in the actual game) is named "Commander South" in the manual. Moreover, Snake is mentioned as having participated in the Grenada invasion prior to joining FOXHOUND, which contradicts the futuristic timeline of the later games. None of these terms and changes ever made it to the actual game (nor were featured in the Japanese Famicom manual) and is evident that whoever wrote the manual didn't play the game long enough to figure out that Big Boss is both, Snake's commander and the main bad guy.

While the manual has negatively affected most people's perception of the NES version, most fans know better and treat the manual as a joke. Snake's Revenge (the western NES sequel to Metal Gear) also went through Konami of America's marketing treatment, but has suffered even worse backlash as a result.