Camouflage

Camouflage, a gameplay feature in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, is clothing that allows Snake to blend into their immediate environment. The effectiveness of the camouflage that Snake is wearing is shown by the camo index, shown as a percentage in the top right corner of the screen. The higher it is, the less likely it is that an enemy will see Snake. The distance that an enemy can see, and the degree of camouflage needed to stay hidden from them, increases on higher difficulties. Camouflage also appears in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for Snake's clothing as he is in the Costa Rican jungles.

MGS3 Boss Camouflage
These camouflages are obtained by defeating a boss without a lethal weapon. Only using tranquilizer rounds until their stamina depletes to zero.

Downloadable Camouflage
Extra camouflages can be downloaded off the Internet or Disc 1 of 2 on Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and stored on the player's memory card. With the exception of the Mummy and Grenade, the downloadable camouflage uniforms do not possess any unique attributes other than possible effectiveness in certan environments (if any).

Purchasable Bonus Camouflage
Extra Camouflage can also be gained as bonuses for purchasing certain items:

MGS3 Disguises
''*Note that all disguises are used only for fooling guards during building infiltrations, thus these disguises are not advised to be used outside their respective places meant for infiltration. Also, while inside the buildings, equipping the camouflage will dramatically decrease the Camo index. This doesn't mean that the uniform won't work and won't fool the enemy, but rather it simply won't blend in with the buildings color and surroundings.''

Special face camouflage
Nine National Face Paints allow the player to wear face paints based on the flag symbols of various nations. All are unlocked after either beating the main game once on Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence or by starting a new game with the file name "I Like MGS3." None of the face-paints have any special benefits.

MGS3 Special

 * Stealth Camouflage – Renders the wearer invisible except for a slight outline. Stealth Camouflage is an item that must be equipped, rather than a piece of camouflage. In conjunction with the Spirit Camo (recieved from The Sorrow) Stealth Camouflage can be used to make the wearer completely silent and invisible.

Regular Uniforms
Note: The "naked" variants usually come with the regular variant.

Special Uniforms
Note: although they resemble the regular uniforms, they do not come with a "naked" option.

Metal Gear
During the events of the Outer Heaven Uprising, Solid Snake, under Big Boss's advice, procured a officer's uniform to disguise himself as an Outer Heaven officer to get through the checkpoint into building 2, due to the Outer Heaven personnel anticipating FOXHOUND's attempts at infiltrating Outer Heaven. Although Snake manages to get by the checkpoint, its effectiveness is rendered useless beyond the checkpoint.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Although Snake himself never wore a disguise during the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, one of his allies, Holly White, after she was freed by Snake, disguised herself as a Zanzibar Land guard. Similarly, Gustava Heffner, another one of his allies, disguised herself as one of the Zanzibar Land guards when she eluded capture when the plane used by Doctors Kio Marv and Drago Pettrovich Madnar was hijacked by Zanzibar Land agents. Black Ninja also disguised himself as Kio Marv in order to ambush Snake, after the Zanzibar Land personnel anticipated that he was carrying a transmitter and placed it on Black Ninja. Night Fright and Jungle Evil also made use of variants of stealth camouflage, the Zanzibar Land forces and Solid Snake utilized stealth mats that allowed them to be camouflaged from the enemy, and FOXHOUND members generally utilized camouflage-enhancing suits known as "chameleon suits" due to the method of the camouflage generating abilities being comparable to a chameleon.

Metal Gear Solid
Although Snake himself never wore a disguise during the Shadow Moses Incident, one of his allies, Meryl Silverburgh, did wear a uniform that she stripped from Johnny Sasaki upon escaping, although she later ditched the uniform due to it "smelling of blood." In addition, Decoy Octopus was a master of disguising himself, even using the blood of the people he was impersonating to effectively disguise himself, and Liquid Snake later disguised himself as Master Miller to trick Snake.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Raiden ended up wearing a B.D.U. belonging to the Gurlukovich Mercenaries Shell 1 Core division in order to infiltrate the Shell 1 Core to locate Richard Ames of the Secret Service, although it was very tight fitting. In addition, Solid Snake disguised himself as a member of SEAL Team 10 to maintain cover due to being framed for the Tanker Incident two years earlier, and continued to maintain his disguise even after revealing to Raiden that he was Solid Snake until he along with Olga Gurlukovich faked betrayal towards Raiden in order to lessen security onboard Arsenal Gear enough for him to infiltrate it.

Camouflage items
Although not exactly considered as camouflage, these items will immensely enhance disguise effectiveness.

Crocodile Cap - Acquired in the area after Rassvet, this helps Snake confuse guards and hounds, especially in Boshaya Past. Using it where Indian Gavials are located causes the gavials to attack Snake. Best in Ponizovje if Snake did not acquire the Water outfit in Bolshaya Past. To obtain it, swim southwest until Snake hits a gap in between logs in the 'break in the wall', then surface and go to the tree. Climb it, shimmy across the wire and keep going until Snake is positioned above the next cable. Hit the X button to let go of the first wire, then quickly hit the triangle button to latch onto the next cable. Shimmy to the ledge and drop down, where the Croc Cap is located. Calling Para-Medic with it equipped causes Snake and her to engage in a conversation about a movie called 'The Alligator People'. Calling Major Zero, Sigint and EVA with the Croc Cap equipped will also trigger conversations about it.