Metal Gear ZEKE

Metal Gear ZEKE was a nuclear-armed bipedal tank developed by the Militaires Sans Frontieres.

Peace Walker Incident
Main Article

In 1974, Big Boss and the MSF commissioned doctors Huey Emmerich and Strangelove to create ZEKE, with Emmerich supervising the assembly of the frame, and Strangelove overseeing the development of the AI unit, as it was intended to be an unmanned weapon. It was created using parts salvaged from the AI weapons of the Peace Walker Project: the ocket boosters from Pupa, the radome and railgun from Chrysalis, the armor from Cocoon, and the legs from Peace Walker, along with head parts from all four. Shortly after ZEKE was completed, MSF subcommander Kazuhira Miller suggested that the nuclear warhead recovered from Peace Walker be used to arm the weapon, with the intention of making it a deterrent against hostile countries opposed to the MSF's fledgling "mercenary nation." However, Cipher agent Pacifica Ocean secretly made further modifications to ZEKE, allowing it to accomodate a human pilot, while her KGB ally Vladimir Zadornov escaped the MSF's custody multiple times, serving as a diversion.

Pacifica had originally intended to delay the hijacking of ZEKE in order to participate in Peace Day. However, she was forced to accelerate her plans, after discovering that someone had leaked information to Cipher, regarding her completion of ZEKE's modifications, and was also caught attempting to sabotage the weapon by Chico Libre.

Pacifica eventually hijacked ZEKE, with Zadornov escaping the seventh time as a diversion for her to make off with the weapon unnoticed. Big Boss discovered this shortly after encountering and killing Zadornov out of self defense, at the shooting range within MSF's Mother Base. Pacifica then revealed her intentions of getting Big Boss to rejoin "Cipher", the group responsible for the development of the Peace Walker Project. Big Boss refused, so Pacifica decided to use ZEKE to launch a nuclear warhead at the East Coast of the United States of America, which would cause the public to believe that the Militaires Sans Frontieres were an extremist cult. Big Boss was then forced to fight and defeat Pacifica by heavily damaging ZEKE.

After the incident, Strangelove and Huey discussed ZEKE's fate, and Strangelove revealed that she had made a backup copy of its AI, so at the very least, ZEKE could walk. However, whether ZEKE could continue on or not was up to Big Boss.

Trivia
The codename "ZEKE" derives from the official Allied Codename for the Mitsubishi Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighter. Its alternate codename is called the A6M Zero.

Behind the Scenes
Metal Gear ZEKE's appearance bears some resemblance to Metal Gear REX, due its ability to utilize a rail gun on the right arm, and a radome on the left. Its overall shape was also similar to that of the Gekko. According to Hideo Kojima, he wanted something resembling a older version, combined with a newer version of Metal Gear, would give fans a good laugh, but also give them a good challenge.

Metal Gear ZEKE, along with the Pupa, Chrysalis, Cocoon, and Peace Walker, utilize the VOCALOID2 software for their dialogue. Like the other AI Weapons, ZEKE's "PLAY ARTS KAI" figure will be released by Square Enix.

Design
Metal Gear ZEKE consists of 4 main parts, namely Head, Power Unit, Walk, and Leg Units, as well as a Rail Gun. Without these 5 components, the ZEKE cannot be used in Outer-Ops and will sit inside the Mother Base.

To obtain scraps for the main parts and optional parts, players must not destroy any of the AI weapon's components, dealing only moderate damage to them. The damage ratio of different components (in %) can be seen in the last tab of the pause menu. However, the heads of all AI Weapons and the pair of legs from Peace Walker is only acquired in one piece and not as scrap. With the exception of the Head parts, the maximum amount of main parts to assemble/store is three. Head parts have a maximum of five to assemble and/or store. Also, the amount of scrap required to develop the main parts is five.

The head part of all AI Weapons can only be obtained during the Custom battle Extra Ops with the exception of the Peace Walker leg which can be obtained not only from the Peace Walker Custom battle but the Peace Walker Type II battle. The various head parts for both ZEKE and the AI weapons are presumably stored in the hangar section of Mother Base.

From time, customization can be done with optional parts taken from the AI weapons for better performance, new weapons or new abilities:

Pupa
Head - Very similar to the head of ZEKE. The two head mounted machine-guns will be replaced with a single electric shock unit. ZEKE can use the electric shock unit to perform rapid fire attacks with lower damage, attack from a distance with moderate damage or maximise the voltage to perform immense damage with increased required charge time respectively with each method. Also, unlike the Pupa, it does not require the usage of lightning rods to perform the maximized high voltage attack. Up to 5 head parts can be collected.

Jet Pack - Allows ZEKE to jump and charge around, dealing moderate damage to anyone caught and one of the hardest attacks to evade. Up to 3 jet pack parts can be collected.

Chrysalis
Head - The Chrysalis head is capable of firing guided missiles which significantly deals more damage and more likely to hit the player than its standard missiles. Up to 5 head parts can be collected.

Radome - Generally increases the accuracy of all weapons. Up to 3 radomes can be collected.

Railgun - An electromagnetic weapon which requires time to charge and fire a large ballistic projectile. ZEKE is vulnerable to long-range direct hits as it must remain stationary to fire this weapon. Damage increases and evasion becomes more difficult with increased AI capability. Deals a fixed 6000 damage on up to 2 targets in Outer Ops. Up to 3 rail guns can be collected.

Cocoon
Head - The Cocoon head has a large-caliber cannon as its primary feature. The player must not be fooled by the fact it is a direct fire weapon as opposed to Chrysalis' guided missiles as its splash damage makes up for it. The Cocoon head gives ZEKE the abilty to deal 4000 damage on up to 4 targets in Outer Ops using missiles. Up to 5 head parts can be collected.

Armor - Reduces damage inflicted towards ZEKE. Up to 3 armour parts can be collected.

Peace Walker
Head - Grants ZEKE the ability to use the Poison Beam which renders player(s) immobile on contact, known as the poison of the basilisk. The head unit is capable of emitting an electromagnetic pulse which deflects all missiles fired towards it as well as grenades from rifle-mounted grenade launchers. Performs the Petrif. Attack (Petrifying Attack) which deals 4500 damage to an individual target in Outer Ops. Up to 5 head parts can be collected.

Legs - Gives ZEKE an S-mine launcher. S-mines launched by ZEKE move in a horizontal direction as opposed to Peace Walker which makes evasion from this weapon much more difficult. Note that 3 Peace Walker leg parts can be stored however it can be obtained from both Peace Walker Type II and Peace Walker Custom.

AI Pod
ZEKE is controlled by an AI Pod installed on its head. Players can gather AI panels from different AI weapons to increase ZEKE's overall performance. To obtain the panels, the associated components must be damaged during the battle. You will have one minute to remove the panels from inside the AI Pod.

There are four types of AI panels, denoted by color:


 *  Mobility  - affects movement
 *  Sense  - affects search capability
 *  Attack  - affects offensive capability
 *  Control  - affects response time

Color
Players can customize ZEKE to various colors, though they are purely cosmetic and do nothing significance to its performance.