Special Missions

Special Missions is an extra game mode Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, unlocked after beating the game for the first time. In this mode, the thirteen stages of the game can be replayed with various modifiers, including time limits and weapon restrictions. Some of these missions have the player collect FOXHOUND emblems hidden throughout the stage.

In Special Missions, the player controls a protagonist named Jack, who is experiencing a VR simulation of Solid Snake's infiltration mission that took place in Galuade, Gindra in 2002. Jack is guided by a mysterious individual known only as "No. 4", who seems intent on helping Jack "surpass" Solid Snake by having him endure a more challenging version of the real events of the mission.

Completing certain missions will prompt No. 4 to reveal details (listed below) about the Galuade Incident not mentioned in the main game.

List of Stages

Stage 1

1. Finish the stage in 45 seconds.
2. Find all 4 FOXHOUND emblems.
3. Complete the stage in reverse.

It was Gen. Parker, the Army Chief of Staff, who forced through the deployment of the Delta Force team in Galuade. His immediate objective, as Sgt. Jenner revealed, was to silence the 'General' along with all he knew about Project Babel. However, what Parker really feared must have been to lose Project Babel and Metal Gear to Gardner. Driven by that fear, he attempted to salvage the situation with his pet Delta Force before the arrival of Solid Snake under Gardner's orders -- but Gardner leaked that piece of intelligence to McBride, and the Delta Force team and Parker's bid for control crumbled under an ambush. Gardner was always a step ahead; you have to give him that.

Stage 2

1. Finish the stage without being spotted.
2. Finish the stage while guards are on constant High Alert.
3. Try to find Mei Ling based on clues received via Codec.

I'll let you in on something Snake didn't know. At the time of the Delta Force team's termination at the hands of Black Chamber, Christine Jenner, instead of fighting with her unit, was looking for data on Project Babel in Galuade's central computer. As you know, she didn't find anything; the 'General' is a cautious man. What she did find instead were the bodies of her comrades.

Stage 3

1. Finish the stage in under 2500 meters (or steps).
2. Find all 4 FOXHOUND emblems.
3. Finish the stage without taking any damage.

Solid Snake didn't know this but -- Jenner didn't adopt the disguise of an enemy soldier to collect intelligence on Dr. Harks so much as she did it for the hunt for the whereabouts of that Project Babel data Parker had ordered her to find. She probably went for the power plant later on because she learned about the computer station on the second floor.

Stage 4

1. Finish stage in under 470 seconds or 7 minutes and 50 seconds
2. Finish stage without getting spotted
3. Finish stage without being idle for 1 second.

It is a fact that Gardner gave that 'wet works' order to FOXHOUND against Black Chamber, but he also made arrangements for the safe passage of the leader Black Arts Viper and other core members of Black Chamber at the same time. No doubt he wanted them on hand when he made a bid to recover Metal Gear and Project Babel from Parker... and we know his calculations paid off.

Stage 5

1. Finish stage in under 2500 meters or steps.
2. Finish stage without taking damage.
3. Clear each sorting device on the conveyor belt.

Neither Snake, nor Harks in his isolated cell, seemed to know, but all the remaining engineers were already dead at this point. They were killed for refusing to co-operate with the GLF, but Harks was spared because he volunteered to conduct the final adjustments on Metal Gear. In his defense, I might say that he was motivated more by his attachment to Metal Gear than a desire to save his own skin. But of course... Well, one always sees the light when it's too late. C'est la vie.

Stage 6

1. Finish stage in under 200 seconds or 3 minutes and 20 seconds.
2. Finish stage without being spotted.
3. Defeat all Ghosts.

As the 'General' said, Outer Heaven was conceived as an unofficial military reserve to keep various anti-American forces in check. But what he didn't say was that he himself was once an Outer Heaven mercenary, and a fervent disciple of Big Boss. His connections with the U.S. government date back to that period. After Outer Heaven fell, he drifted from country to country -- then came back, this time as the 'big boss' himself. Maybe all this explains why he chose Outer Heaven of all places to resurrect Galuade...

Outer Heaven - formerly known as Galuade. Do you know the truth behind that mission where Solid Snake destroyed Metal Gear and killed Big Boss to become a national hero? Solid Snake, a rookie FOXHOUND commando, infiltrates Outer Heaven alone, rescues fellow FOXHOUND member Gray Fox from the clutches of the enemy, and together they destroy Metal Gear. Solid Snake then takes down Big Boss, the commander of Outer Heaven... That's the basic story known the public. There are of course, parts that were edited out -- such as the fact that Big Boss was Solid Snake's biological father. He sent for Solid Snake with the intention of fighting to the death with his own son, but it isn't clear whether Snake knew anything about it... Whichever the case, Snake took his father's life with his own hands, and that is proof of his strength as well as his weakness... And something you could not accomplish...

Stage 7

1. Finish stage in 70 seconds or 1 minute and 10 seconds.
2. Complete stage without taking damage.
3. Avoid heavy fire for 60 seconds.

Christine Jenner and James Harks are attacked shortly after this point... Black Arts Viper figured that Solid Snake would come to rescue Harks, and had Harks' clothes rigged with a transmitter. But letting Jenner escape was not part of their plan. Seems Jenner was a much tougher adversary than Viper had anticipated. Parker had made the right call in selecting her to bury the Project Babel evidence for him.

Stage 8

1. Finish stage in 750 seconds or 12 minutes and 30 seconds
2. Find all 4 FOX-HOUND emblems.
3. Defeat Pyro Bison with only landmines.

As he eventually admitted, Roy Campbell was blackmailed into participating in the Galuade offensive by Gardner. But that wasn't the only reason: though Campbell said nothing about it, his niece Meryl, a U.S. Army soldier, was apparently taken hostage to guarantee his co-operation.

Stage 9

1. Finish stage without being spotted.
2. Use an alternate way to destroy the power plant with Campbell.
3. Use another alternate way to destroy the power plant with Campbell.

All communications with Sgt. Jenner cease after this point... Sgt. Jenner was captured by Viper; he did the job himself to make sure she didn't evade capture. After all, he needed her specifically as a surefire bait for Solid Snake.

Stage 10

1. Finish stage in 180 seconds or 3 minutes.
2. Finish stage without being idle for 1 second.
3. Finish stage with a special surprise at the end.

About that F-22 cruise missile attack -- did you notice something a little too smooth about it? Gardner had the air force on standby right from the beginning of the crisis. The idea was if the mission failed, he would have Galuade blown sky-high along with Snake. He even had a nuclear warhead ready to go.

As you well know, the development of Metal Gear began in Outer Heaven. The project fell under the auspices of the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence and its director Steven Gardner, but the idea itself, for a bipedal vehicle that would launch a nuclear strike from anywhere on the planetary surface, was apparently conceived by Big Boss, Outer Heaven's commander-in-chief. The technology wasn't there at that point, but the concept of an invisible missile from a rail gun seems to have been already planned by Big Boss. And the idea became a reality in American hands following Outer Heaven -- Metal Gear is the phantom of Big Boss, in a sense. It's no wonder Snake is so obsessed with the destruction of Metal Gear; to him, it truly is the 'evil past'. But to us, it's the gospel to a new world -- a blessing.

Stage 11

1. Finish stage in under 2500 meters or steps.
2. Finish stage without being spotted.
3. Defeat Black Arts Viper with only grenades.

Actually, Parker is more than a minor figure in the founding of Black Chamber. Parker once recovered Metal Gear from terrorist hands using Black Chamber, and demanded total control over Project Babel and Metal Gear on the strength of that accomplishment. But Gardner named a price: Black Chamber. And Parker accepted the deal for the sake of that power and stood by without lifting a finger while Gardner liquidated his Black Chamber...

Stage 12

1. Blow up Metal Gear's legs in only 250 seconds or 4 minutes and 10 seconds.
2. Finish stage in under 6000 meters or steps.
3. Blow up Metal Gear's legs with only C4.

It looks as though Parker was aware of the possibility that the 'General' would betray Project Babel; they just went right ahead, using each other. The 'General' was doing a top-notch job. He fanned the flames of the minority identity movement for the Gindran Boias ethnic group with seemingly authentic ideology, and organized the GLF into a force to be reckoned with - and all of this in spite of the fact that he is neither a Boian, nor even, as a matter of fact, of Gindran birth. But even he failed to best Solid Snake. We expect you not to repeat that mistake.

Stage 13

1. Finish stage without getting damaged by Black Arts Viper.
2. Finish stage without being idle for 1 second.
3. Defeat Black Arts Viper with only grenades.

The feud between the Army Chief of Staff Parker and National Security Advisor Gardner predates Project Babel and their current, respective positions as the power over the Army and the second most influential man in the U.S. government. It goes back to a time when Parker was an Army colonel and Gardner was only a CIA section chief. At the time, there was an incident involving the assassination of a government VIP and a foreign agent, and Parker's daughter was one of those under investigation. Even though the entire affair was clearly out of the CIA's jurisdiction, Gardner pursued the matter zealously, and the case ended with Parker's daughter committing suicide. Since then, Parker and Gardner have been mortal enemies, taking their personal war to issues of politics, military operations, you name it. It looks as though Gardner meant to bring Parker down once and for all using Black Chamber and Metal Gear.

Behind the scenes

The end of Stage 10-3 is a reference to the hit arcade game Donkey Kong: it has "Snake" avoiding barrels while climbing up a hill, as a remix of the 25M theme from the arcade game plays in the background.