Ghost

This article is about the paranormal entity. You may be looking for Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov, who once used the alias "Ghost".

A ghost (sometimes known as a spectre (British English) or specter (American English), phantom, apparition or spook) is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to realistic, lifelike visions. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy or a séance.

Ghost are often featured as Easter eggs throughout the Metal Gear Solid games.

Metal Gear Solid[]

Ghosts of the development team appear as an Easter egg when certain areas of an environment are photographed with the camera. In addition, one of the Genome Soldiers who were killed by Gray Fox while trying to guard Hal Emmerich believed that a ghost did this to them, as Gray Fox killed them using stealth camouflage.

The ghosts that can be seen are as follows:

Kojima - Otacon Lab (Policenauts picture frame).
Matsuhana - hallway of corpses (outside Otacon Lab).
Sato - Comm Tower A. roof by destroyed Hind D missiles.
Nakamura - In Meryl Silverburgh's blood pool (where she is sniped).
Shinkawa - Deep in Sniper Wolf hallway behind second pillar.
Uehara - edge of elevator.
Negishi - sewage waterfall.
Mizutank - when fighting Metal Gear REX.
Korekado - Men's Restroom (in the steam from Guard urination).
Sasaki - Picture frames in Mantis' Commander room.
Sonoyama - Torture machine.
Toyota - Container in middle of Vulcan Raven's warehouse.
Kozyou - Behind watertank-like structure in the canyon.
Shimizu - Wolfdog cave (first crawling point).
Kaneda - The mirror located in the Women's Restroom.
Fukushima - Heliport, looking out to sea from cliff.
Takabe - Ninja room, glass at edge.
Fujimura - Elevator, in the Comm Tower B complex.
Shikama - Electric floor.
Kimura - Metal Gear Underground Base, tip of Metal Gear REX's rail gun.
Kobayashi - Rock in canyon.
Okajima - Maggots of the real DARPA Chief in cell.
Nishimura -Next to Kenneth Baker's corpse.
Mukaide - Reflection in wolfdog cave puddle.
Onoda - Where Baker is tied up.
Kitao - Decoy Octopus' (the fake DARPA Chief) corpse.
Yoshimura - Dead end of air duct.
Hirano - Elevator (Comm Tower B) deep in the shaft of top level.
Muraoka - Water in Cargo Dock.
Ishiyama - Heliport: top of building.
Ito - Inside elevator to tank hangar, fake DARPA cell, ammo room levels.
Jeremy Blaustein - Sniper Wolf's corpse (or blood).
Yoshinoka - Bridge on third floor of Blast Furnace.
Mori - Lowest point of Elevator (Comm Tower B)
Kinbara - Dark area of stairs.
Tougo - End of boiler room (in Blast Furnace where steam is).
Makimura - Hidden Army store room (behind weakened wall).
Kutome - Observation room.
Tanaka - Heliport, sleeping soldier.
Shigeno - Heliport, security camera by staircase.
Yamashita - Tip of nuke warhead in nuke storage room.
Kobayashi - Johnny Sasaki Holding Cell, near fake the DARPA Chief.
Scott Dolph - Way down in the dark from the walkway between Comm. Towers A and B.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty[]

A ghost of Hideo Kojima can be seen if Solid Snake photographs the second projector screen in the Hold 2. If the player successfully takes a picture of the ghost in Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, they will earn the trophy/achievement called "Who Ya Gonna Call?", a reference to the comedy blockbuster film Ghostbusters.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater[]

Depending on how many people Naked Snake kills in the progress of the game, a ghostly representation of that victim will appear during the boss battle with The Sorrow.

During the boss battle with The Sorrow, if the player takes a picture with the camera, and saves them, ghostly images of the development team can be seen in the background. To isolate the person from the development team in better quality, the player can go to the pictures from the main menu, and set the colors to zero, and the image will be the only thing showing.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots[]

In Act Four, development team members and varying FOXHOUND members can be photographed with the Camera.

The player might have to equip the Sorrow Doll, prior to taking the photo in order to see the ghost.

The ghosts that can be seen are as follows:

Through the wire fence, take a photo of the elevator that Snake took from the Docks in MGS1. The ghost is of Kazuki Muraoka, member of the sound team on every Metal Gear Solid game.
Take a photo of the upper-left corner of the Helipad. The ghost of Hideyuki Tanaka, the Japanese voice of Otacon, should be visible in the photo.
In the Helipad, the room off the left (which contained Stun Grenades) contains a ghost of a frozen Genome Soldier.
Standing directly in the middle of the Helipad, where the Chaff Grenades were, take a photo. The ghost is Nobuyoshi Nishimura, animator and storyboard artist for every Metal Gear Solid game, as well as Zone of the Enders.
The ghost of Kenichiro Shigeno, programmer for the series since Metal Gear Solid 2, is visible in a photo of the broken security camera by the stairs.
Before entering the lower vent which leads to the Tank Hangar, take a photo directly above it to find another, as yet unknown, ghost.
In the lower vent which leads to the Tank Hangar, enter the duct and take a photo of the steel directly in front of Snake before the very first right. The ghost here is of Master Miller based on his face portrait from Metal Gear Solid.
Take a photo of the elevator in the Tank Hangar. The ghost of Decoy Octopus is visible.
Whilst standing in front of the elevator in the Tank Hangar, as if the player has just taken the photo of Decoy Octopus, turn immediately to their right and take a photo of the tank. This will reveal a ghost of a Genome Soldier.
In the hallway to the Canyon which contained the laser/gas trap, take a photo of the bottom right corner whilst in it. The ghost here is the DARPA Chief Donald Anderson.
On top of the rocks to the left after coming out of the Tank Hangar is the ghost of Yoshiteru Kobayashi, animator for several Metal Gear Solid games.
In the Canyon where Snake fought the tank, take a photo of the rock area to the left of the door which leads to the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building. The ghost here is Vulcan Raven.
From the Canyon, snap a photo just the right of the door to the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building. Yuji Korekado is the ghost here.
The ghost of sound team member Ryoji Makimura is visible at the end of the small walkway in the entrance to the Warhead Storage Building.
In the Warhead Storage Building, look to the left immediately after entering the main room and take a photo of front of the nuke closest to the stairs. The ghost of a Genome Soldier should appear.
On floor B2, take a photo of the hole in the walkway ceiling (where the Gekko entered) to see the ghost of animator Yoshitaka Shimizu.
In Otacon's old lab, take a picture of the supercomputers. The ghost here is the ArmsTech president, Kenneth Baker.
Take a photo of the Policenauts poster. This is the ghost of Hideo Kojima.
The image of programmer Kunio Takabe can be seen in the cubicle to the right of the entrance.
Take a photo of the hallway where Gray Fox killed the guards just before Otacon's office. The ghost is Yoshikazu Matsuhana.
After beating Crying Wolf, take a picture of the doorway to the right of the doorway which leads to the Blast Furnace or the wolf who appears after you kill/KO her beauty form. As expected, the ghost here is Sniper Wolf.
Take a picture of Liquid Snake's crashed Hind D to see animator Hiromi Sato.
A photo of the southernmost Communications Tower reveals the ghost of none other than Yoji Shinkawa.
In the lower/northern section of the Casting Facility, in the middle is an old furnace that's partially collapsed. Stand to the south of the furnace and take the picture between the two towers to see the ghost of Scott Dolph, the marine commandant in Metal Gear Solid 2.
Stand in the centre of the Casting Facility's conveyor belt (in the upper/southern section) and take a photo to see Hideki Sasaki himself.
Immediately after emerging from the vent from the Casting Facility, take a photo of the hallway.
In the bridge after you fought Vulcan Raven in Metal Gear Solid, take a photo to the waterfall. The ghost here is crew member Yutaka Negishi.
The ghost of technical support member Hideo Kimura is visible in a photo taken of Metal Gear REX's railgun.
Take a photo of REX's right foot to see the ghost of Gray Fox.
Finally, take a photo of REX's head. Still standing in REX's cockpit is the ghost of Liquid Snake.

When the player takes a photo of a ghost, a new option "exorcise" becomes available in any ghost pictures. This option allows the player to remove the ghost from the picture. Taking at least five pictures of ghosts in Act 4 after downloading a trophy patch will result in the trophy achievement "Ghost Photography addict" being unlocked.

Also, Psycho Mantis and The Sorrow return as ghosts during Old Sun.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker[]

In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, ghosts are actual enemies rather than Easter eggs. Ghosts are immune to all weapons, can permeate solid walls and matter and move by hovering a few metres above ground but can be detected using the following equipment or method:

Soliton Radar (their cone of vision will show up on the radar giving their precise position). Of all the other presence detector equipment this seems to be the most useful at all as it gives the exact facing of the ghost, allowing you to bypass the ghost greatly without triggering an alert.
Sonic Eye (their approximate position can be detected from a safe distance away, exercise great caution if a number of 15 or greater is detected).
Surround Indicator (ghosts are detected as a high frequency source). This is the second most useful presence detector device. As the device shows a red color from the Surround Indicator, it means that you are very close to the ghost. However, you can still see it.
Analyser (identifies the ghost as "UNKNOWN"). This is not advised as doing so may most likely trigger an alert.
Visual inspection via the Naked Eye (only at short range and is not recommended, moving away makes its visibility transient). The closer you are, the better you can see the ghost.
Camera (similar to visual inspection). Not advised, most chance will occur triggering an alert.
Night vision goggles have no effect (similar to visual inspection).

Unlike living guards who will approach the player's direction to confirm their suspicion, ghosts possess a binary approach of either not noticing the player(s) at all, or immediately go into Alert mode upon seeing the player at close range and begin pursuit. The camouflage used will affect how close the ghost can detect the player.

If caught by a ghost, they will drain LIFE by latching onto the player. Moving the analog stick as instructed will eventually shake them off and return them to their original position but may not call off alert mode. Chico implies that the reason for their attacking the player is because they held hatred for the player powerful enough to do them harm from beyond the grave.

There are two types of missions involving ghosts:

"Ghost Photography"[]

Extra Ops 59: Ghost Photography, features a single ghost whose appearance is that of the Russian soldier supported by a red mist.

The ghost will travel along a set path and can be defeated by taking a photograph of it with a camera.

"Dead Man's Treasure"[]

Extra Ops 60 -62. The ghosts' appearance are that of Militaires Sans Frontières soldiers supported by a blue mist. Several soldiers (presumably MSF soldiers, due to the uniforms) are in limbo and at a near death state, with their corresponding ghosts wandering in proximity of their bodies guarding several items.

One way to defeat the ghosts is by "reviving" their host bodies by performing CPR, which causes the ghosts to be sucked into their original bodies, at which point, the one who revived them can evacuate them out of the area using Fulton Recovery. Another method is by communicating with them with CO-OPS communications until they go to the afterlife, although this will also cost the player the ability to recruit them by fulton recovery.

Also, The End will attempt to contact and taunt players through the radio on frequency 000.00 when players are near the ghosts. Doing so, may award the player a Neo Moss Fatigue but the player must complete the level first.

Metal Gear Solid V[]

In the ending of Chapter 1: Revenge, a ghost of Skull Face briefly appeared on Mother Base, implying that while Skull Face himself was dead, their phantom pain causing their revenge hadn't. Paz during her side quest was also implied to be a ghost, or at the very least a figment of Venom Snake's imagination due to guilt in failing to save her nine years earlier. The Man on Fire tapes explaining his origins, and to a lesser extent the extra op arc as a whole, indirectly references The Sorrow's visitation to Volgin's comatose body at the end of Operation Snake Eater with the implication that this may have resulted in his transformation into the Man on Fire.

The alleged backstory of the mansion of Lufwa Valley was that a warlord of the region was murdered by his own government and that his ghost haunts the dwelling he used to reside in. However, the Diamond Dogs XO Kazuhira Miller implied this was actually a rumor started by XOF to prevent local civilians from stumbling on their vocal parasite research at the location.

Gallery[]

Behind the scenes[]

In Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, they appear in a Special Mission where Solid Snake has to defeat them.

In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, ghosts, once revived, will not force the soldier itself to wake up. They will just remain in a state of limbo. The player can knock them unconsciously, though.

When the player cleared a Dead Man's Treasure mission, and recovered at least one soldier through the use of Fulton Recovery System, they are considered as prisoners.