Stealth Camouflage

Stealth camouflage is qn electronic device capable of rendering the user "invisible". Stealth camouflage is available in some games in the Metal Gear series as an unlockable item. In all incarnations, when equipped, the space the user takes up looks to be distorted, allowing the outline, but not the user, visible. Equipments that are used are also visible (i.e. weapons). Although no one can see the person when activated, people nearby will see the use if they are using thermal goggles or hear their footsteps.

Metal Gear Solid/The Twin Snakes
In MGS and TTS, The stealth camouflage can be unlocked by giving into Revolver Ocelot's torture and clearing the game, where Otacon will give Solid Snake the stealth camouflage. This will allow the player to use the item the next time they play the game. However, if the player endures the torture, Meryl Silverburgh will Snake the bandana.

Otacon uses the stealth camouflage though most of the game to avoid detection from the Genome Soldiers and mentions having made five of them. The other four are used by an unknown group of soldiers to keep an elevator in place during Snake's fight against Liquid Snake's Hind D and later ambush Snake in the style of the Four Horsemen in the same elevator. Grey Fox also appears to have a built-in version of the stealth camouflage in his exo-skeleton.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty/Substance
In MGS2, The stealth camouflage is available to both Snake and Raiden as unlockable items by collecting a certain amount of Dog Tags. In the opening of the Tanker chapter Snake uses stealth camouflage to infiltrate the U.S.S.Discovery but it breaks on landing impact from his jump onto the deck from a bridge.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater/Subsistence
In MGS3, the stealth camouflage can be unlocked for Naked Snake through two different ways:
 * Beating the game with no alerts triggered.
 * Shooting all the Kerotans in one save file.

Furthermore, while wearing the stealth camouflage, guards can still hear Snake's footsteps, and if an alert is triggered, will be attacked regardless of whether he is wearing the stealth camouflage. A helpful way to get around this is, at the end of the game, use The Sorrow's Spirit camo to muffle his steps. Also, seeing as face paint has no use with this camo, and only camouflages with special effects have any advantage over others, a good paint to use is the Infinity paint, obtained after catching the Tsuchinoko and keeping it until the end of the game.

Only one other character in the game uses stealth camouflage – The Fear. He uses it when Snake battles him in the forests near Graniny Gorki.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
In MPO, the stealth camouflage can be unlocked by attaining a tech level of 99. One account can only create one stealth camouflage, but more can be acquired via Wi-Fi.

The stealth camouflage in MPO is battery powered, and is also susceptible to footstep sounds and attack during an alert.