TX-55 Metal Gear

"Metal Gear is the ultimate weapon - an all-terrain, nuclear-equipped walking battle tank."

- Gray Fox

TX-55 Metal Gear was a nuclear-armed bipedal tank created in Outer Heaven.

Origins
TX-55 Metal Gear was foreseen in Elisa and Ursula's prophetic vision in 1970.

After founding the Outer Heaven nation, Big Boss knew that he would need a powerful deterrent in order to truly stand a chance at opposing Zero and the Patriots. Following the examples of GRU Colonel Volgin and FOX commander Gene before him, Big Boss constructed the one thing that he knew the West would fear more than anything else: Metal Gear.

A first attempt made in 1974 resulted in the creation of Metal Gear ZEKE, which was built from the scrap parts of the Peace Walker AI weapons. After ZEKE was completed, however, it was hijacked by an agent of the Patriots, forcing Big Boss to heavily damage ZEKE to regain control.

In 1995, Big Boss enlisted the aid of the foremost expert in the field of robotics to build a new Metal Gear: the Eastern scientist Drago Pettrovich Madnar. While Dr. Madnar understood the power and inherent evil of his creation, the kidnapping of his daughter forced him to complete it.

TX-55 Metal Gear was a revolutionary weapon because of its ability to launch a nuclear attack from any stable territory, without the need for a nuclear silo. Unlike its predecessor, it possessed two nuclear warhead launchers, yet it had a much more compact size. Feared by the Western powers, its mere presence in Outer Heaven made the country virtually untouchable, except by a covert mission.

TX-55's weak spot were its feet, which could only be destroyed by placing plastic explosives over them in a determined order. TX-55 was armed with two 15 mm machine guns, a laser cannon and multiple medium-range warheads. However, none of its arsenal was put to use as the TX-55 was destroyed before its completion by Solid Snake.

Legacy
TX-55 Metal Gear was later revealed to be a prototype for Metal Gear D, the construction of which was commissioned by Big Boss in 1999.

Though its very existence was considered to be a direct threat to the Western powers, TX-55's main purpose was to act as Outer Heaven's nuclear deterrent. By contrast, Metal Gear REX was created under the false premise of being a Theater Missile Defense (TMD) system.

Information
TX-55 Metal Gear utilized three sensors: a camera sight, a TV sight, and a lower sight. In addition, a sky alert radar was equipped onto its nuclear launch module, along with a rear alert pulse sensor. It was also equipped with both a polyphonic and monophonic antenna.

TX-55's gun module houses two 15 mm machine guns and a 20 cm laser cannon. The cockpit itself is also heavily armored. Air nozzles are also equipped to the nuclear launcher. When firing a nuclear missile, TX-55 would extend a stabilizing leg from its rear and secure itself to the ground in order to conduct an accurate launch. It also possesses a large projector. Its overall armor is composed of 30-110 mm tungsten armor with a special heat-resistant ceramic. The armor was weakest on its legs, though it is built in such a way to resist direct attempts at sabotage, requiring a specific pattern to destroy them.

Metal Gear
TX-55 Metal Gear is the first Metal Gear weapon in the series, as it made its appearance in the original Metal Gear. The player does not confront TX-55 directly, and must instead avoid two gun cameras that protect it, while planting explosives at its feet. Although described as being armed with a 15 mm "Vulcan gun" in the game's user manual, this is contradicted by the TX-55's actual appearance, which possesses single barrel weapons on its gun module, as well as the fact that the M61 Vulcan is a 20 mm caliber weapon. The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database instead refers to them as simply "machine guns."

Although the TX-55 was mentioned in the Nintendo Entertainment System version, it was never fought at all. According to the sub-programmer of the NES/Famicom version, Masahiro Ueno, they removed the TX-55 boss fight due to hardware limitations. Instead, Snake had to destroy the Super Computer with C4 explosives, without it being in any order, in the 100th basement floor that controlled TX-55 Metal Gear's activities, suggesting that the TX-55 was unmanned.

The Metal Gear summary in the Previous Operations section of Metal Gear Solid (and its remake The Twin Snakes) mentions that the TX-55 utilized antitank missiles.

Snake's Revenge
Mass-produced models of the TX-55, which are referred to as "Metal Gear 1," appear the non-canonical sequel Snake's Revenge. In the game, they can be seen on board an enemy cargo ship, in which they are being transported.

The specifications for Metal Gear 1 feature in the game's opening, as shown in the table to the right. Although most of these are similar to the original specs, the armor thickness is defined and the weight is implied to be ten times heavier than the original model (this is possibly a mistake during conversion to imperial units). The code number "VRC-4" is also the name of a memory management controller (MMC) chip designed by Konami for use in Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) cartridges.

The TX-55 also appears in the Game Tiger version of Snake's Revenge, although this time they are a recurring boss late into the game and are actually fought.

Other appearances
The wreckage of the original TX-55 also appears in Stage 11 of Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. In addition, contacting Roy Campbell upon looking at it will result in a Codec conversation relating to it. A similar scenario later occurs in Act 4 of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, where Solid Snake returns to Shadow Moses Island and finds the wreckage of Metal Gear REX.

The TX-55 makes a cameo appearance in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops during a montage late into the game in the form of Elisa/Ursula's dying prophetic vision to Big Boss.

A Yoji Shinkawa-designed artwork of the TX-55 appears in The Art of Metal Gear Solid book. In addition, a concept art of the TX-55, alongside its successor, Metal Gear D, also appears in the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Official Art Works book.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear
 * Snake's Revenge (non-canon)
 * Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (non-canon)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (prophetic vision)