Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D is a stealth action game for the Nintendo 3DS. It is a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The game was released on February, 21, 2012 in North America and on March 8, 2012 in Japan and Europe. It is also the first Metal Gear game to be released on a Nintendo-developed portable system since Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, back in 2004.

Gameplay
See Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Development
This game was officially announced at Nintendo's E3 press conference on June 15, 2010. There was a technical demo shown at E3 2010 titled Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D - The Naked Sample.

On June 3, 2011, Konami held a press conference at which the trailer was released. The developers stated that Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was "the most ideal" game in the series to use the stereoscopic 3D due to its jungle setting. The trailer showed that the 3DS' gyroscope would be used to balance when walking across a bridge. The camouflage system has been updated, allowing players to make use of the 3DS' camera to make a custom camouflage pattern. The new camouflage has been dubbed PhotoCamo.

At E3 2011, gameplay videos revealed a part of the game's control scheme. The player uses the circle pad to move Naked Snake, the face buttons control the camera, and the shoulder buttons handle aiming and shooting. Whether the player can change the control scheme or not is unknown at the moment. Creative producer Yoshikazu Matsuhana revealed that the game will have some gameplay features from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, such as the crouch walking and the over the shoulder aiming. According to him, they are doing this because they want to get that audience they got from Peace Walker and bring it over to the 3DS game, without making them feel uncomfortable playing it. This way, both old and new fans can enjoy the game.

Recently, Konami has confirmed that the game will use the Nintendo 3DS Expansion Slide Pad. The game's camera will be controlled by the second analog stick, and weapon commands such as equipping firearms and first person view can be used by pressing the shoulder buttons.

Changes

 * When selecting what Metal Gear game is the player's favorite, the game now includes "I Like Metal Gear Solid 4" and "I Like Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker" as options, as well as "I Like All Metal Gear Games." Choosing these options will award the player the DPM camo, Banana camo, or Grenade camo, respectively. However, selecting "I've never played Metal Gear before" gives you all three camos along with other awards.
 * The opening menu of the game was changed to show a FPV of Dremuchij during a first playthrough, and Rokovoj Bereg during a second playthrough.
 * Similar to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, a menu tallying the amount of codenames that are accessed can be gained, allowing the player to hunt for multiple codenames without worry of having to lose a codename.
 * The Survival Viewer's food section has been significantly reduced, only allowing for three caged animals, and 19 food overall.
 * A slight blue lens flare bubble can be seen near the top of the parachute at the beginning of the game.
 * The radio screen is now in black and white monochrome rather than green monochrome.
 * All the Kerotans, as well as the Kerotan rank and Para-Medic's call regarding the Kerotan, have been replaced with Yoshi (the latter as being the subject content). Their locations in-game have also been rearranged from the original Kerotan locations.
 * At least one of the magazines in Graniny Gorki was replaced by an issue of Nintendo Power that had Naked Snake on the cover.
 * The cover for the book item was changed from Sabra magazine to a slightly altered cover from an issue of Hooters Japan magazine released around the time of Snake Eater 3D in Japan. The original Sabra cover does, however, make a brief appearance in an optional radio conversation with EVA.
 * As with Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, the Guy Savage sequence has been removed.
 * The cinematics during the chase after defeating Colonel Volgin are somewhat different.
 * The transitions after defeating The Boss and Colonel Volgin in the first fight are slower than before, making it also somewhat easier to gain their respective camos when defeated non-lethally.
 * The guards on Normal have one guard less than in the PlayStation 2 and HD Collection versions.
 * The Extreme difficulty has been changed to follow the rules of the European Extreme difficulty.
 * The GRU soldiers (as well as Johnny) underwent a slight redesign compared to their previous appearances. Specifically, their eyes were wide open with bluish green irises, when they were previously squinted.
 * Some of the weapons and equipments' descriptions were altered from the original release to the 3D remake. Although most of these were altered for gameplay changes between the two, the Camera item was specified in the 3D version to be a "military-grade camera", which wasn't specified in the original version.
 * The 3DS allows the Camera item to create 3D images from the get-go, without the need for glasses to project the 3D effect. Previously, this could only be performed with Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, by transferring images to Metal Gear Acid 2 on the PlayStation Portable, and then using the Solid Eye peripheral.
 * Various lines of radio dialogue were re-recorded to use slightly different terminology for the joystick controls of the consoles' gamepads (e.g. "left control pad" rather than "left analog stick"), or in one case, the change of interactible objects (i.e. the changing "Kerotan" to "Yoshi" in a radio conversation with Para-Medic). Only relevant lines were re-recorded, resulting in a noticeable change in audio while listening to the associated character's whole dialogue during a conversation.

Premium Package
A limited edition Premium Package is available for this game. It contains the game itself along with a limited edition Snake Skin 3DS handheld console and 2 double sided art cards featuring new artwork of Naked Snake, The Boss, EVA and the Cobra Unit. The Premium Package is only available in Japan. It was released on March 8, 2012 for 22,980 yen on Konami's online store, Konami Style.

TGS fans
During the 2011 Tokyo Game Show, four uchiwa fans were issued that represented Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater. The fans each had a picture of one of the characters on it: Naked Snake, The Boss, EVA and Ocelot.

Trial version
On November 28, 2011, a downloadable trial version was downloadable prior to the Japanese release of Snake Eater 3D. In it, the player could enjoy getting to Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov before rescuing him in Dremuchij.

Hori accessories
Hori's accessory kit for Snake Eater 3D was released on March 8, 2012 in Japan on Konami's online store, Konami Style. It cost 2,980 yen.

Reception
Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D was well received by critics. GameRankings gave a 80.75% based on 20 reviews. Metacritic gave it a metascore of 81. IGN gave it a 8.5 saying, "Renamed Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, this 3DS game in many ways improves upon its source material. That it takes advantage of the portable's abilities is commendable, though it still suffers from some problems both familiar and new." GameSpot gave it a 8.0 saying, "It's very much the same game, but the updated controls and visuals make this remake on the 3DS the best version of the game to date." Game Informer gave it a 7.50 saying, "The fact that Snake Eater's story stands well on its own was probably the main reason why Kojima Productions decided to bring it to the 3DS, but gamers who want to play Snake Eater are better off leaving this 3D incarnation on the shelf in favor of another version." GameTrailers was the most critical of the game, giving it a 6.8 saying, "Aside from the original PS2 release, this is easily the worst iteration of Snake Eater. The lack of extras, the frustrating controls, and the overall performance issues hold it back from being one of the premier third-party games for the 3DS."