Themes in the Metal Gear series

In the Metal Gear series there are themes in each of the canon Metal Gear games. Most of the themes play an important part of the story in the game. Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has said that the themes are messages that can be passed on to the next generation. By the end of the game the themes lead to a conclusion. Overall, the games carry several implicit parallels to Nietzschean philosophy.

Metal Gear Solid
In Metal Gear Solid the main theme was GENE. Through out the game it is said that everyone is bound to their genes and to fate and that the only thing that matters is passing on genes to the next generation. The games main antagonist Liquid Snake, Solid Snake's brother and polar opposite, wanted Big Boss body to save the Genome Soldiers from a genetic disease, follows his genes and is what Snake could have become. By the end of the game Naomi Hunter ,who has always studied genes, comes to the conlusion that genes and the fact that Snake is a clone is not important.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty the main theme was memes.At the end of the game it is revealed that Raiden has been a test subject for the S3 Plan which is a recreation of the Shadow Moses Incident. Solidus Snake who is a clone ,who cannont have children, wants to be remembered cannot leave any memes behined thanks to the Patriots nature ,which is his reason for fighting them. At the end of the game it is shown that good things can be passed on to the next generation ,not just the bad things. At the end of the game Raiden and Rosemary plan to pass on good things to their child.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater the main theme is scene. The Boss is the major illustrator of this theme, that everything is not absolute or eternal and that everything changes along with the "times". The Boss said that by the 21st century America and Russia will no longer be enemies. All of the major characters are affected by scene EVA falls in love only to cause heartbreak, Sokolov is forced to build a weapon which nearly got him killed and Colonel Volgin is consumed by power which leds to his death. Naked Snake is forced to kill The Boss in a scene he cannot control. By the end of the game Big Boss's perspective changed completely due to the nature of Operation Snake Eater.