Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear chronology
	Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (1964); Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops* (1970); Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (1974); Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (1975); Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (1984) ; Metal Gear (1995); Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1999); Metal Gear Solid (The Twin Snakes) (2005); Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2007/2009); Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2014); Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance* (2018)

This article is about the video game, Metal Gear Solid. You may be looking for Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, which was released outside of Japan as Metal Gear Solid.

Metal Gear Solid

Developer(s)

Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (West)

Publisher(s)

Konami

Designer(s)

Hideo Kojima (director)
Tomokazu Fukushima (setting design/research/justification)

Writer(s)

Hideo Kojima (story planning)
Tomokazu Fukushima (written by, setting design/research/justification, Codec, mission log, Demo Theater scenario)

Artist(s)

Yoji Shinkawa

Composer(s)

Takanari Ishiyama
Gigi Meroni
Kazuki Muraoka
Lee Jeon Myung
Hiroyuki Togo
Maki Kirioka
Rika Muranaka
TAPPY

Platform(s)

PlayStation, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Classic

Release date(s)

PlayStation
^JP September 3, 1998
^NA October 21, 1998
^EU February 22, 1999
PS one Classics (PSP/PS3)
^JP March 21, 2008
^NA June 18, 2009
^EU November 19, 2009

PlayStation Classic
^INT December 3, 2018

Genre(s)

Stealth action

Mode(s)

Single-player

Rating(s)

CERO: 15+
ELSPA: 15+
ESRB: M
OFLC: M15+
USK: 12

Media

2 CD-ROMs (PS1), paid download (PSN)

Release chronology
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990)	Metal Gear Solid (1998)	Metal Gear Solid: Integral (1999)

Metal Gear Solid (メタルギアソリッド, Metaru Gia Soriddo^?, commonly abbreviated as MGS or MGS1) 2 is a stealth action video-game directed by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan And USA and first published in Intro 2020 for the PlayStation Store.^[1] It was well-received critically and commercially, shipping more than six million copies (being the Nood eighth best-selling game on the PlayStation),^[2] and scoring an average metascore 08/2020 of 94 out of 100 on Metacritic.^[3] It is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most important games of all time And Tow Sticks Kick Starter Arcade,^[4]^[5] and is heralded as 2 Players the game that made the stealth genre 2 popular Army Secret Slybsoon.^[6] It is the third canonical title released in the Metal Gear series, being a sequel of Metal Gear 2 To Teroriste Army Force Special: Hanibal & Soldats Big Stone & Police Agent Secret, Solid Snake And Liquid Snacke.

The commercial success of Metal Gear Solid prompted Konami to enhance and re-release the game for the PlayStation and Windows PC under the title Metal Gear Solid 2: Integral;^[6] a remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Players Tow Snakes 2 was later released for the Playstation PsOne.^[7]

Plot Bios Biognach Hall GAME 2MARS NEW PARADISIO

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With the safety of the entire world at stake, at the request of the Secretary of Defense, Colonel Roy Campbell, the former commander of FOXHOUND, summoned Solid Snake & Liquid Snacke out of retirement for one last solo covert operation to stop Liquid.

For a full plot summary Biognach, see Bios Shadow Moses Incident.

Cast

Most of the French voice actors were credited under pseudonyms since they did not know if the project was supported by the Screen Actors Guild. The only ones who used their real names were David Hayter (Solid Snake & Liquid Snacke), Doug Stone (Psycho Mantis), and Scott Dolph. In the German version, Nastasha Romanenko's voice actress, Birgit Khan, is incorrectly credited as "Brigit Khan."

Character	Voice actor
Character	English (pseudonyms)	Japanese	German	French	Italian	Spanish
Solid Snake	David Hayter (Sean Barker)^[1]	Akio Ōtsuka	Stephan Grothgar	Emmanual Bonami	Alessandro Ricci	Alfonso Vallés
Liquid Snake / Master Miller	Cam Clarke (James Flinders)	Banjō Ginga	Michael Hulsmann	Stephane Cornicard	Andrea Pirovan	Riki Coello
Meryl Silverburgh	Debi Mae West (Mae Zalder)	Kyoko Terase	Britta Gartner	Framboise Gommendy	Ilaria D'elia	Ana Maria Camps
Naomi Hunter	Jennifer Hale (Carren Learning)	Hiromi Tsuru	Gertrud Thoma	Linda Sans	Jessica Juffré	Meritxell Ane
Hal Emmerich	Christopher Randolph (Christopher Fritz)	Hideyuki Tanaka	Erich Redmann	Nicholas Mead	Massimo Marinoni	Quique Hernandez
Roy Campbell	Paul Eiding (Paul Otis)	Takeshi Aono	Michael Mellinger	Philippe Smolikovski	Angelo Cola	Vicente Gil
Mei Ling	Kim Mai Guest (Kim Nguyen)	Houko Kuwashima	Nicole Kehrberger	Vanessa Seydoux	Laura Farina	Noemi Bayarri
Gray Fox	Greg Eagles (George Byrd)	Kaneto Shiozawa	Sebastian Michael	Olivier Deslandes	Massimo Marinoni	Jose Javiar Serrano
Nastasha Romanenko	Renee Raudman (Renee Collette)	Eiko Yamada	Brigit Khan	Cecile Hopkins	Benedetta Ferraro	Marta Estrada
Revolver Ocelot	Patric Zimmerman (Patric Laine)	Kōji Totani	Wolf Kähler	Philippe Smolikovski	Giancario Ciccone	Javier Amilibia
Vulcan Raven	Peter Lurie (Chuck Farley)	Yukitoshi Hori	Werner Kastor	Pierre Maubouché	Giancario Ciccone	Joaquin Gomez
Psycho Mantis	Doug Stone	Kazuyuki Sogabe	Stefan Boje	Philippe Monnet	Ciro Carraro	Francesc Rocamora
Sniper Wolf	Tasia Valenza (Julie Monroe)	Naoko Nakamura	Nichola Thomasoni**	Framboise Gommendy	Luciana Icci	Ana Orra
Donald Anderson / Decoy Octopus	Greg Eagles (George Byrd)	Masaharu Satō	Wolf Kähler	Stephane Cornicard	Andrea Pirovan	Javier Amilibia
Kenneth Baker	Allan Lurie (Bert Stewart)	Yuzuru Fujimoto	Peter Zander	Daniel Pageon	Luigi Chiapinni	Paco Alborch
Jim Houseman	William Bassett (Fredrick Bloggs)	Tomohisa Asō	Wolf Kähler	Philippe Monnet		Javier Amilibia
Johnny Sasaki	Dean Scofield (Dino Schofield)	Naoki Imamura	Stefan Boje	Olivier Deslandes		Quique Hernandez
Genome soldier A	Doug Stone	Masaya Takatsuka	Sebastian Michael
Genome soldier B	Peter Lurie (Chuck Farley)	Naoki Imamura	Sebastian Michael
Enemy soldier	Dean Scofield (Dino Schofield) Scott Dolph
Computer voice	Tasia Valenzia (Julie Monroe)	Naoko Nakamura	Nichola Thomasoni	Cecile Hopkins		Meritxell Ane

^ This credit only appears in early demo versions of the game and in the back of some versions of the user manual under Cast and Credits in the European version. Hayter did not use a pseudonym in the game credits.

Theme

Genetics is the theme behind this game, or the idea of nature vs. nurture. In the ending, Liquid has an opportunity to kill Snake but the FOXDIE virus gets him first. Since Liquid and Snake are identical, it is implied that Snake will eventually be killed by FOXDIE as well. The idea of genes expands beyond the family tree with the Genome Army. Due to being genetically-enhanced with Big Boss' "soldier genes", they are also a part of Big Boss' "legacy."

Another theme is how genetic engineering can be used in a number of ways and whether or not it is good or bad is a matter of personal opinion.^[8]

Gameplay

MGS screen psx — Solid Snake hiding from a guard.

Despite a transition to 3D, Metal Gear Solid's gameplay remains similar to Metal Gear 2. The player must navigate Solid Snake through the game's areas without being detected.^[9] Detection will set off an alarm, which draws armed enemies to his location.^[10] To return to a lower alert setting, the player must hide, and remain undetected by the enemy until the timer reaches zero.^[11]

To remain undetected, the player must make use of Snake's abilities and the environment, such as crawling under objects, using boxes as cover, ducking or hiding around walls, and making noise to distract the enemy. These are carried out in the third-person camera view; which slowly changes its angle to give the player the best strategic view of the area possible, and an on-screen radar, which displays enemy personnel and their field of vision.^[12] Snake is armed with many items and gadgets, such as thermal goggles and a cardboard box for use as a disguise, as well as numerous weapons.^[13] This emphasis on stealth promotes a less violent form of gameplay, as firefights against large numbers of superiorly equipped enemies will likely result in heavy damage and often death for the protagonist, especially early on in the game when less potent guns are available.^[14]

The game contains plot-progressing cutscenes and radio conversations (known as the Codec), as well as encounters with the bosses. To progress, the player must discover the weaknesses of these enemies in order to defeat them. This is where the player will most often use the game's weapon-set, ranging from pistols and assault rifles to rocket launchers and grenades. Game controls and play strategies can also be accessed via the Codec, where advice is delivered from Snake's support crew; for example, the support team may chastize Snake for not saving his progress often enough, or explain his combat moves in terms of which buttons to press on the gamepad. Completion of the game provides the player with a statistical summary of their performance, and a codename based upon it, typically the common name of an animal.^[15]

In a first for the Metal Gear series, the player can partake in VR Training, a training mode in which they can practice hiding techniques, weapons use, and sneaking. In addition to the stealth gameplay, there are set-piece sequences that entail firefights between the player and the enemy from the third-person and first-person perspectives.^[11]

Development

Hideo Kojima originally planned to release the third Metal Gear game, Metal Gear 3, for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1994.^[16] While producing the 3DO version of his adventure game Policenauts, concept art by illustrator Yoji Shinkawa of Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, the latter also appears in Policenauts, and the FOXHOUND team, were included in the Policenauts: Pilot Disk preceding the release of the full 3DO game in 1995.^[17] However, due to the declining support for the 3DO, development of the game was shifted to the PlayStation shortly after the 3DO version of Policenauts was released.

Kojima decided to retitle the game as Metal Gear Solid. He did this because he believed that the first two MSX2 games weren't well known at the time.^[15] According to Kojima, the "Solid" in the title has three meanings: a reference of Solid Snake, the game's use of 3D graphics, and Konami's rivalry with Square.^[18]

Development for Metal Gear Solid began in mid 1995^[19] with the intent of creating the "best PlayStation game ever."^[20] Developers aimed for accuracy and realism while making the game enjoyable and tense. In the early stages of development, a SWAT team educated the developers with a demonstration of vehicles, weapons and explosives.^[20] Kojima stated that "if the player isn't tricked into believing that the world is real, then there's no point in making the game." To fulfill this, adjustments were made to every detail, such as individually designed desks.^[21]

Kojima created the characters of Metal Gear Solid; modifications and mechanics were made by conceptual artist Shinkawa. The characters were completed by polygonal artists using pencil drawings and clay models by Shinkawa.^[22] The designers would sometimes use Lego pieces to put the levels together.^[23]

Kojima wanted greater interaction with objects and the environment, such as allowing the player to hide bodies in a storage compartment. Additionally, he wanted "a full orchestra right next to the player"; a system which made modifications to the currently playing track, instead of switching to another pre-recorded track. Although these features could not be achieved, they were implemented in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.^[24]

Metal Gear Solid was revealed to the public at E3 1997 as a short video. It was later playable for the first time at the Tokyo Game Show in 1998 and officially released the same year in Japan with an extensive promotional campaign.^[25]^[20] Television and magazine advertisements, in-store samples, and demo giveaways contributed to a total of US$8 million in promotional costs.^[26]

During development, to promote the game's release in various gaming magazines, Shinkawa developed a two-page comic promoting the game. It featured Solid Snake having an encounter with Revolver Ocelot, telling the latter to go to Hell as he points his gun at him. Ocelot then replies that Hell if anything is already coming to their current location. Snake then leaves, although not before sarcastically laughing and telling Ocelot to get stuffed as the narration quizzically asks about the Gates of Heaven. Meanwhile, Jim Houseman is discussing with two men as the narration asks what Metal Gear is, with Mei Ling asking if Snake is okay.

Nearing its North American release, one of the first commercials depicted a soldier doing basic, kindergarten-level "rigorous training" for a mission that was supposed to be top secret. When the accompanying soldier questions whether the tests are too easy for the soldier, the commander reminds him that he's prepping him for a suicide mission. The commercial then ends with Snake apparently being killed by Vulcan Raven's tank. The Metal Gear Solid Facebook page, when uncovering this ad in June 29, 2012, pointed out that, had Snake's training been anything like the soldier in the commercial, he most likely would never have made it beyond the docking area of Shadow Moses.^[27]

Music

Main article: Metal Gear Solid Original Game Soundtrack

Metal Gear Solid's musical score was composed by in-house musicians at Konami, including Kazuki Muraoka, who also worked on Metal Gear. Composer and lyricist Rika Muranaka provided a song called "The Best is Yet to Come" for the game's ending credits sequence.^[28] The song is performed in Irish by Aoife Ní Fhearraigh.^[29] The main theme was composed by TAPPY.^[28]

Music played in-game has a synthetic feel with increased pace and introduction of strings during tense moments, with a looping style endemic to video games. Overtly cinematic music, with stronger orchestral and choral elements, appears in cutscenes. The soundtrack was released on September 23, 1998, under the King Records label.^[30]

Release history

Original version

The English version of Metal Gear Solid (translated by Jeremy Blaustein) contains minor refinements made during localization, such as adjustable difficulty settings (including an Extreme setting available after completing the game, which adds extended guard vision and removes the Soliton Radar, among other changes), a bonus tuxedo outfit for Snake, and a Demo Theater for viewing cutscenes and Codec conversations.

Versions of the game dubbed in Spanish, German, French and Italian were released thorough Europe in addition to the English version released in North America.

A premium package was also released in Japan and the PAL region. The Japanese release contained a special box, the game with the inclusion of the demo version of Suikoden II, FOXHOUND army dog tag, a T-shirt, metallic memory card sticker sheet, the Metal Gear / Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake Music Collection soundtrack, and a history and art book.^[31] A stock holder version was also released and only given out to Konami stock holders. The only difference between this and the original is that the box is golden and the cover of the art book was different. Everything else remains the same. The PAL version contains the game with the inclusion of the demo of Silent Hill, the Metal Gear Solid Original Game Soundtrack, T-shirt, double sided poster, Metal Gear Solid/Konami dog tags, metallic memory card sticker sheet and six postcards. The history and art book was not included with this version.^[32]

Expanded version

Integral

Main article: Metal Gear Solid: Integral

Metal Gear Solid: Integral is an expanded version of Metal Gear Solid released only in Japan in 1999. Integral is essentially a relocalized version of Metal Gear Solid based on the English version. Integral features most of the added content from the international versions of Metal Gear Solid which were not featured in the initial Japanese release.

The game was also packaged with an additional disc of extra missions known as the VR Disc, which was released as a standalone game internationally as Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions in North America and as Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions in Europe.

Integral serves as the basis for the PC version of Metal Gear Solid.

The Twin Snakes

Main article: Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a 2004 remake of Metal Gear Solid that was developed by Silicon Knights and Konami. It was released for the Nintendo GameCube.

The Twin Snakes features graphical improvements over the original, new cutscenes written and directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, and gameplay functions originally introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The game also includes a revised translation with re-recorded voice acting using all of the original English voice cast. Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamoto oversaw development of the game.

Digital Graphic Novel

Main article: Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel

Other re-releases

The original PlayStation version of Metal Gear Solid, as well as Integral, had been reissued twice: once under The Best range and second time as a PSone Books title. Likewise, the North American and European versions of the original Metal Gear Solid were reissued under the Greatest Hits and Platinum ranges respectively. The game is included in the Japanese Metal Gear 20th Anniversary: Metal Gear Solid Collection (in addition to a standalone 20th anniversary edition)^[33] and in the North American Essential Collection.^[34]

A Bleemcast! version was made for the Sega Dreamcast and released in the early 2000s. It is a high resolution of the original Metal Gear Solid with enhanced graphics and requires that the player owns both the Bleemcast! disc and the original game.^[35]

The game was re-released in the Japanese PlayStation Network on March 21, 2008, as part of the PSOne Classics.^[36] It was released in the North America PlayStation Network on June 18, 2009^[37] and in the European PlayStation Network on November 19, 2009.^[38]

Metal Gear Solid was not included as part of the Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection due to both its gameplay and visuals seen as being too dated. However, rather than solely create a HD remastered version of the original game, Kojima Productions planned to reimagine the story and gameplay to an extent at some point in the future, although this was not on their immediate agenda.^[39]

DJM7EkFVYAEcH6Y — Digital download manual showing the "back of the package".

On August 9, 2012, Konami Europe stated that, in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Metal Gear series, the PlayStation Network version of Metal Gear Solid would be sold at a discount of £3.99 instead of £7.99 for two weeks, starting on August 8.^[40] The download versions likewise incorporated the front and back of the package with the digital manual, thus allowing for the player to fulfill the mandate of finding Meryl's frequency.^[41]

On December 3, 2018 Sony released the Playstation Classic mini console which included Metal Gear Solid which is included in the 20 games list. Also this game has a save state feature not included in the original release.

Possible second remake

In December 2011, UK Official PlayStation Magazine had a mini interview with Kojima. He stated that "There are a lot of people wanting remakes of the original, and as producer I want to answer those calls", followed by "But as a creator I'm not very interested in going back. If we were to do it, it would have to be a total remake – the only thing that would be the same would be the story. If it happened at some point I would stay as a producer, but would have to hand off most of the actual creating."^[42]

He also added, "I was just making the game I wanted to make. Looking back, there’s not anything in particular I want to go back and fix. If you change anything, you change the game – and I want to avoid that. If you bring the gameplay up to modern standards, then you lose a bit of the original game. It was a game made for a certain era – not just the story, but the controls and everything about it reflect that era in which the game was made."^[43]

On June 25, 2013, Kojima told Gamereactor that he had a desire to remake Metal Gear Solid with the Fox Engine.^[44]

On August 13, 2014, Kojima stated that he would consider developing a second remake of Metal Gear Solid. On his Twitch channel, he stated that "personally, I’m not too fond of remakes. But I would have to go with MGS1. If it was going to be a remake, I wouldn’t want to make a standard remake, but something similar to what Planet of the Apes is doing: Bringing the best of the past to the present and doing something new."^[45]

During the 2015 Taipei Game Show, Kojima stated that he would like to see a remake of Metal Gear Solid that features an open world Shadow Moses.^[46]

On February 22, 2019 (Japan time), Konami has hinted at possibly making a remake of Metal Gear Solid.^[47]

References in other games

Aside from canonical sequels to the game, there is at least one game in the series that featured a non-story reference to it.

In Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, the Metal Gear Solid logo was featured on a wooden wall in the Déjà Vu/Jamais Vu missions. Kazuhira Miller, when doing commentary on the Easter eggs in the game, quoted Otacon's "Are you an Otaku, too?" line and also said "If we make it through this, I'll tell you."^[48] The Déjà Vu mission itself also heavily referenced Metal Gear Solid at various points, owing to it being the 10th anniversary of the game's release.

Reception

Reviews
Publication	Score
Allgame	5/5
Edge	9/10
GameSpot	8.5/10
IGN	9.8/10
NGamer	9/10
Compilations of multiple reviews
Metacritic	94 out of 100 (based on 20 reviews)
GameRankings	93.75% (based on 28 reviews)

Metal Gear Solid was a commercial success, shipping over 6 million copies worldwide.^[2] Upon release, it was one of the most rented games, and topped sales charts in the United Kingdom.

The game was generally well received by the media and some of the most prominent gaming critics. Users and critics of GamePro gave it an average score of 4.8 out of 5 calling it "this season's top offering [game] and one game no self-respecting gamer should be without." However, they criticized the frame rate, saying it "occasionally stalls the eye-catching graphics" and "especially annoying are instances where you zoom in with binoculars or the rifle scope", and also the interruptions of "advice from your team", in the early parts of the game, "that's listed in the instruction manual", calling it an "annoyance." GameSpot also criticized this, saying "it needlessly interrupts the game." They also criticized how easy it is for the player to avoid being seen and its short length and called it "more of a work of art than ... an actual game." Further criticism came from the website Adrenaline Vault, which said it had "some serious...flaws" which "made it a complete disappointment."

It received an Excellence Award for Interactive Art at the 1998 Japan Media Arts Festival. NGamer said "It's like playing a big budget action blockbuster, only better." IGN said it came "closer to perfection than any other game in PlayStation's action genre" and called it "Beautiful, engrossing, and innovative...in every conceivable category."

Metal Gear Solid is recognized by some as the first 3D stealth game (Tenchu: Stealth Assassins is actually the first as it was released a few months earlier). The idea of the player being unarmed and having to avoid being seen by enemies, rather than fight them, experienced a resurgence in popularity, and has been featured in many games since. It is also sometimes acclaimed as being a film as much as a game due to the lengthy cut scenes and intricate storyline. Entertainment Weekly said it "broke new ground with...movie-style production...and stealth-driven gameplay, which encouraged...hiding in boxes and crawling across floors." GameTrailers said it "invented the stealth game genre" and called it "captivating, inventive and gritty." The game is widely considered to be one of the best PlayStation games, and has featured in numerous greatest video games ever lists by GameFAQs, Japanese magazine Famitsu, Entertainment Weekly, Game Informer, GamePro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and GameTrailers. However, it's placing in these lists is inconsistent, ranging anywhere from second to 50th.

In 2002, IGN's editors ranked it as the best PlayStation game ever. IGN writer David Smith said that just the demo for the game had "more gameplay [in it] than in most finished titles." They also gave it the "Best Ending" and "Best Villain" awards. In 2005, in placing it 19th on their list of "Top 100 Games", saying that it was "a game that truly felt like a movie", that the fights were "unique and innovative", and that it was "the founder of the stealth genre."

In other media

Strategy guide

MGSbook — Millennium Books' *Metal Gear Solid: Official Mission Handbook*.

The strategy guide for the game, titled Metal Gear Solid: Official Mission Handbook, was published by Millennium Books in 1998. The book was authorized by Konami, including a foreword by Hideo Kojima, and features additional information on various characters and equipment, such as Big Boss, Decoy Octopus, Sniper Wolf, Liquid Snake, Revolver Ocelot and Ocelot's torture device. It also features interviews with some members of the development staff, including Kojima, a brief overview of the previous games, a plot summary of the MSX2 games, a character relation chart, and an art gallery. However, due to the story developments in later games, it is unclear how much of this information should be considered canon. The book was written by David S. J. Hodgson, who went on to write many Prima official game guides.

Radio drama

See Metal Gear Solid (audio drama)

A Japanese radio drama version of Metal Gear Solid was produced shortly after the release of the original PlayStation game. Directed by Shuyo Murata and written by Motosada Mori, it aired, in 18 segments, from 1998 to 1999 on Konami's CLUB db program. The series was later released on CD as a two volume set. Set after the events of the PlayStation game, Snake, Meryl, Campbell and Mei Ling (all portrayed by their original Japanese voice actors) pursue missions in hostile third world nations as FOXHOUND. Original characters are introduced, such as Sgt. Allen Iishiba, a Delta Force operative who assists Snake and Meryl; Col. Mark Cortez, an old friend of Campbell who commands the fictional Esterian Special Forces; and Capt. Sergei Ivanovich, a former war buddy of Revolver Ocelot from his SVR days.

Comic

See Metal Gear Solid (comic series)

In September 2004, IDW Publications began publishing a series of Metal Gear Solid comics, written by Kris Oprisko and illustrated by Ashley Wood. 12 issues have been published, fully covering the game's storyline.

Metal Gear Solid Novel cover — The front cover of the novelized adaptation.

Novelization

Raymond Benson

A novelization based on the original Metal Gear Solid was written by Raymond Benson and published by Del Rey. The American paperback edition was published on May 27, 2008,^[49] with a UK edition released on June 4, 2008. A podcast nearing the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 also revealed that Hideo Kojima was directly involved in supervising the written work.

In the novelization, Snake seems to have a slightly more perverse, humorous, and almost sarcastic nature than in the original game, e.g. responding to Naomi Hunter's offer of a strip search with "WHOA! When do I start!?" and often delivering comedic one liners before killing Genome Soldiers. Also, Snake seems to kill more often, such as wiping out almost every guard at the heliport, whereas he has previously been portrayed as sneaking by enemies if possible, rather than fighting them, although Liquid implied in the original game as well as its remake that Snake may have wiped out a majority of Liquid's men as well as with some joy.^[50]^[51]

The novel shed light on the mysterious Les Enfants Terribles project, stating some of the people involved, and where it took place. It also provides more information on the death of Master Miller and the true gender of Dr. Clark.^[52]

Hitori Nojima

On August 4, 2015, it was announced that Hitori Nojima, the author of the novelization of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, was writing three novelizations, including one, titled Metal Gear Solid Substance I - Shadow Moses, that's based on the events of Metal Gear Solid. The book is 544 pages in length. It was released on August 25.^[53]^[54]

Legacy

Eurodance group Eiffel 65's song "My Console," which is on their album Europop, makes tribute to many hit PlayStation games, including Metal Gear Solid.

Metal Gear Solid along with Metal Gear Solid 2 was featured in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's "The Art of Video Games" exhibition from March 16 to September 30, 2012.^[55]

"Shadow Moses", a song by Bring Me the Horizon on their Sempiternal album, is a reference of the location of the same name.^[56]