This article is about a non-canonical topic in the Metal Gear series. |
Colonel Vermon CaTaffy was the leader of Outer Heaven.
Biography[]
Originally a tranquil shepherd boy, CaTaffy grew up on the remote banks of the Sam Sam River in outer Mongolia with his 27 sisters. However, he became fascinated with, and turned to, terrorism at a very young age, and eventually became the leader of Outer Heaven, a small nation in South Africa, after years of pillaging innocent people across the globe. Upon becoming the leader of Outer Heaven, CaTaffy imposed a sole-leader tyranny (himself being the leader) and acted as a radical dictator, where he ruled with bombs and bullets. Within a few months, he removed democracy, and instituted a global terrorist group by forcing various villagers into acting as his mercenaries. Not content with his method of running things, he also created Metal Gear to unleash new waves of terror across the globe, desiring world dominance.[1] He also developed five strongholds within Outer Heaven, which he left to his most loyal soldiers to guard.
FOXHOUND eventually dispatched Solid Snake to stop CaTaffy's Metal Gear as well as his threat against the world. After Snake halted his plans, CaTaffy, having lost what little sanity he had, murdered two of Snake's comrades, and then went to Higharolla Kockamamie seeking asylum, repaying the terrorist by supplying him with Metal Gear.[2] Ultimately, CaTaffy's past actions came back to haunt him when Snake, consumed with vengeance, proceeded to infiltrate the enemy nation, sink a ship, and destroy him and his benefactor alongside their doomsday device with inside help.[3]
Behind the scenes[]
Colonel Vermon CaTaffy is referenced on the packaging and in the instruction manual for the NES version of Metal Gear as the game's antagonist.[4] CaTaffy does not actually appear in the game, in which the leader of Outer Heaven is ultimately revealed to be Big Boss. His name is a parody of former Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi. CaTaffy only makes a direct appearance in the Worlds of Power novelization, based on information from the manual. As a product of the game's localization, he receives no mention in the Japanese manual for the Famicom version.
CaTaffy was referenced again for the NES sequel Snake's Revenge, being mentioned on the back of the game's packaging.[2] Here, he is described as having donated Metal Gear to the game's new antagonist, Higharolla Kockamamie, and was responsible for the deaths of two of Snake's friends, although neither the manual nor the game clarify who these friends were. CaTaffy is also mentioned in marketing materials for Snake's Revenge and its predecessor.[3]
In a similar story development, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain would later establish that the Big Boss who commanded FOXHOUND, and the one who was defeated in Outer Heaven, were separate individuals, comprising the original and a body double, respectively.
Notes and references[]
- ^ 10 Ways to Stay Zap Happy (Metal Gear entry), Ultra Games (1990).
Outer Heaven leader Vermon CaTaffy has activated the ultimate weapon, Metal Gear.
Trained in hand to hand combat and skilled with every weapon known to man, you'll have to surprise heavily armed enemies, busting them up quietly and rescuing their hostages before triggering alarms.
Plus you'll have to maintain radio contact with headquarters, via your transceiver. for crucial info on how to locate and use special weapons, including submachine guns, Berettas, grenade launchers, plastic explosives...
And you'll need it all to find and destroy Metal Gear.
For 1 Player Only - ^ a b Snake's Revenge (packaging), Ultra Games (1990).
After his plan to rule the world rusted away, crazed Vermon CaTaffy went psycho. Unfortunately, [Solid Snake's] two best friends took the brunt of his frenzy and lost their fight to live. As nutty as ever, CaTaffy has sought asylum from the world's premier bad guy-Higharolla Kockamamie. Grateful to this 'Rolla Radical, the Colonel has donoted the biggest, baddest Ultra-Sheik Nuclear Attack Tank to his fellow madman's world dominating cause. - ^ a b 10 Ways to Stay Zap Happy (Snake's Revenge entry), Ultra Games (1990).
Crazed Colonel CaTaffy has gone psycho, taking out your two best friends and donating his Ultra-Sheik Nuclear Attack Tank to the world's premiere bad guy, Higharolla Kockamamie.
Now, your mission is to not only save the world from these madmen, but to inflict revenge. To reach your goals, you must infiltrate a mission of armed lunatics. Blow up a battleship. Hijack a train. Locate dozens of weapons and a truth serum that'll force enemy commanders to spill their guts. Then destroy the deadly duo and their Earth Threatening Device. All this, while staying in radio contact with a foxy spy named Jennifer
For 1 Player Only. Coming early Spring 1990. - ^ http://www.nesfiles.com/NES/Metal_Gear/Metal_Gear.pdf