Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Metal Gear 2" redirects here. For the 2001 video game, see Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. For the NES game released in 1990, see Snake's Revenge.
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Composer(s)
SeriesMetal Gear
Platform(s)
ReleaseMSX2
Mobile phone
  • JP: October 1, 2004
Genre(s)Action-adventure, stealth
Mode(s)Single-player

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

mobile phones and the Wii Virtual Console
.

Set in 1999, a few years after the events of the original game,

8 bit games ever made.[7]

Gameplay

The ability to crawl under tight spaces and hide from enemies was first added in Solid Snake.

Solid Snake builds upon the stealth-based gameplay system of its predecessor. As in the original Metal Gear, the player's objective is to infiltrate the enemy's stronghold, while avoiding detection from soldiers, cameras, infrared sensors and other surveillance devices. The biggest change in the game was done to the enemy's abilities. Instead of remaining stationed in one screen like in the first game, enemy soldiers can now patrol different screens across a single map. Moreover, guards now have an expanded field of vision of 45 degrees, along with the ability to turn their heads left or right to see diagonally. The enemy can also detect sounds, with the enemy able to hear any noise made by the player, such as a punch to the wall and gunshots made without a suppressor, and will investigate the source of the sound once it is made. They can also detect sounds made from the player walking on certain surfaces, which means players need to be careful about what surfaces they walk on. If the player is discovered by the enemy, then a counter will be displayed on the upper right side of the screen that will go down after the enemy has lost track of the player. When the counter reaches zero, the alert phase will go off and the game will return to normal.[7][8]

The player is given a variety of new maneuvers and tools to help them remain undetected and complete the game. For example, the player can now kneel and crawl in addition to walking, allowing the player to avoid making noise over certain terrains, pick up land mines, and hide in tight spaces such as under desks or inside air ducts. A radar with a 3x3 grid on the upper right of the screen shows the player's current area in the center grid (as a red dot), with enemy soldiers as white dots, allowing the player to determine what's ahead. However, the radar is disabled when the game enters alert phase. The radar can also be used with the mine detector equipped to determine the locations of enemy mines or launch

boss is defeated.[7]

The transceiver has also been greatly revamped from the first game as well, with conversations now being context-sensitive rather than being simply area-oriented. The transceiver screen now displays the faces of Snake and the radio contact he's currently communicating with. The player can also talk to children living in the fortress to gain new information; the player is penalized with a loss of health if they kill a child. The areas are more varied than in the previous

carrier pigeon with a specific kind of ration, chasing after a female spy to the ladies' lavatory, and deciphering secret tap codes to gain new frequency numbers.[7]

The MSX2 version requires the use of either, a

password can also be written down to reload progress. Later versions of the game removed the password feature in favor of standardized storage media such as memory cards and internal hard disk drives
.

Plot

Fictional chronology
in Metal Gear

Setting

Solid Snake is set in a near-future world in which the Cold War continued into the 1990s, with the game's events taking place in 1999 – three years after the events of the original Metal Gear (later retconned to four years in Metal Gear Solid).

Characters

See also:
List of characters in the Metal Gear series

Solid Snake, formerly retired

Grey Fox
("Gray Fox" in later versions), who disappeared following the events of the Outer Heaven incident.

The bosses of this installment consist of Black Color (Black Ninja in later versions), an experimental drug-enhanced ninja from a disbanded NASA project (who is revealed to be Kyle Schneider from the original Metal Gear); Running Man, a former Olympic runner turned terrorist; Red Blaster, an explosive expert from Spetsnaz; Ultra Box (the Four Horsemen in later version), an assassination squad specializing in confined spaces; Predator (Jungle Evil in later versions), a jungle warfare expert from the South African Reconnaissance Command; and Night Sight (Night Fright in later versions), an assassin from Vietnam who uses a state of the art stealth suit that renders him invisible to both radar and the human eye.

Story

A major

oil crisis seriously affects the global economy in the late 1990s, with petrol deposits running out faster than previous estimates. Efforts to adopt alternative energy sources and attempts to drill for more oil fail to take up the slack. To counter the problem, Czech scientist Dr. Kio Marv bio-engineers a new species of algae, OILIX, that could produce petroleum-grade hydrocarbons with little expense and effort. He unveils the algae to the World Energy Conference in Prague and was on his way to a demonstration in the United States when he was kidnapped by soldiers from Zanzibar Land, a Central Asian country established in 1997 after a successful independence war against the Soviet Union.[e] NATO
discovers that Zanzibar Land's leaders plan to hold the world hostage by controlling the supply of oil through OILIX and nuclear warheads pillaged from old stockpiles marked for dismantling in light of global efforts toward nuclear disarmament. FOXHOUND's new commander, Roy Campbell, brings Solid Snake out of retirement and sends him to Zanzibar Land to rescue Dr. Marv on Christmas Eve 1999.

Over the course of his mission, Snake teams up with Holly White, a CIA operative posing as a journalist, and Gustava Heffner, an StB agent and Dr. Marv's bodyguard. He is also reunited with Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar, the Metal Gear inventor from

Outer Heaven
, who claims to have been once again kidnapped and forced to work on another Metal Gear project (named Metal Gear D) for Zanzibar Land, as well as oversee mass-production of smaller, non-nuclear-equipped Metal Gear units. Snake learns from Dr. Madnar that Big Boss, Snake's former superior, survived the events of the first game and now leads Zanzibar Land.

Solid Snake confronts Gray Fox in one of the final battles.

As Snake, Heffner, and Dr. Madnar head toward Zanzibar Land's main prison, Heffner is killed by a missile fired by Metal Gear D and Dr. Madnar is recaptured by the enemy. The new Metal Gear's pilot is revealed to be Gray Fox. Determined to finish his mission, Snake fights against Zanzibar Land's elite mercenary force and manages to reach Dr. Marv's cell.

Snake arrives too late, as he finds Dr. Marv's corpse and the OILIX data. Holly later tips him off that he actually died under Dr. Madnar's torture. In addition, Snake learns that Madnar volunteered his services to Zanzibar Land to finish work on Metal Gear as revenge against the scientific community shunning him after the events of the first game. Snake incapacitates Madnar when the latter attempts to attack him.

Snake faces off against Gray Fox in Metal Gear D and eventually destroys the mech. Both men later fight hand-to-hand in a minefield, and Snake defeats him. As he tries to escape, Snake meets Big Boss. Having lost his equipment and with no weapons at his disposal, Snake is forced to improvise using the only items he can find: a lighter and aerosol can. Fashioning a makeshift flamethrower, Snake defeats Big Boss for the second time. Snake and Holly escape together, and they deliver the OILIX formula to Campbell.

Development

Following the success of the NES version of Metal Gear, which sold over a million units in North America, Konami began the development of a sequel for the same platform titled Snake's Revenge designed specifically for the overseas market.[7][9] Hideo Kojima, who directed the first MSX2 game but was not involved with either of the two NES games, did not have any plans to develop a sequel himself at the time until he became reacquainted with a junior coworker who was assigned to work on Snake's Revenge on a train ride in Tokyo. The coworker revealed his involvement with the project and encouraged Kojima to create his own sequel. By the end of the train ride, Kojima had already envisioned the basic premise for the game. After undergoing a business trip to the sales division of Konami, Kojima successfully convinced his superiors to approve the development of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.[9][10]

In order to accurately portray realism in the game, Kojima and his crew consulted various references, including a former Green Beret turned author, and even participated in a series of survival games in a forest located in a mountain near their workplace.

SD Snatcher, which was being developed at the same time by a separate team.[12]

Kojima originally wanted the title of the sequel to be simply Solid Snake, the decision to use the protagonist's name for the title of a sequel being inspired by the Indiana Jones movie series, but Metal Gear 2 was added as a fore-title under the insistence of Konami's sales and marketing department.[13][14]

In the original MSX2 release of Metal Gear 2, the character portraits for various characters were based on the likeness of various movie characters:

Holly White based on Brenda Bakke in Gunhed.[15]

Releases

Snake's portrait in the original MSX2 version (left) was based on the likeness of actor Mel Gibson. In the re-released versions, Snake was redesigned to resemble his future self in the original Metal Gear Solid.

The MSX2 version of Solid Snake was released in Japan on July 20, 1990. Unlike the first MSX2 game, no official English localization was produced (as Konami had already discontinued sales of their MSX games in Europe), although a fan translation was later produced in 1997 by the MSX hobbyist group G&T International.[16] Unofficial imports of the game had reached Europe by 1996, with some fans at the time requesting a port for the PlayStation.[17]

The first port of Solid Snake to another platform was the Japanese

boss rush mode after clearing the main game once, but also include some other adjustments and changes, most notably the replacement of the portraits used during the conversation sequences. While the portraits in the MSX2 version were modeled after real life celebrities, the new portraits were instead designed to more closely resemble Metal Gear Solid illustrator Yoji Shinkawa's character designs in the later installments. These changes would also be implemented in the version included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence for the PlayStation 2, an expanded edition of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
released in Japan in 2005 that included full ports of both the original Metal Gear and Solid Snake as part of its newly-added content.

Subsistence would later be released in North America and Europe in

2012
.

Solid Snake was also released for the

2010
. Like all Virtual Console games, Solid Snake is emulated from the original MSX2 hardware rather than being ported from the mobile phone version like the Subsistence and HD Edition ports, although this version of the game has been patched to use the revised character portraits rather than the original ones.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1

A port of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was released as a part of volume 1 of the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection for the

Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 24, 2023.[18][19]

Soundtrack

Main article:
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake Original Soundtrack

The game's music was written by Konami Kukeiha Club members Tsuyoshi Sekito, Masahiro Ikariko, Mutsuhiko Izumi, Yuko Kurahashi, Tomoya Tomita, Kazuhiko Uehara, and Yuji Takenouchi. The cartridge for the MSX2 version carried a custom sound chip, the SCC (previously employed in games such as Nemesis 2 and Snatcher), which enhanced the music and sound effects beyond the MSX's basic capabilities.

Arranged music based on Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was used for the VR training disc in

Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions). Additionally, Integral features two hidden tunes based on Solid Snake available via a secret codec frequency in the main game. One is an arranged version of the "Theme of Solid Snake", while the other is an arrangement of "Zanzibar Breeze" (both listenable by contacting CODEC frequency 140.66 in certain locations). "Theme of Solid Snake" also made an appearance in Nintendo's 2008 crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Brawl and a re-arranged version is included in the 2018 fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
.

Reception

During its initial release, Solid Snake was ranked on

8 bit games ever made."[7] Game Informer was more critical of the game, however, giving it a 7 out of 10. They wrote that in order to reach the most pivotal moments in the game's story, "you must endure some of the most ridiculous situations Solid Snake has ever seen," and that "the game's focus on constant backtracking and keycard acquisition makes it too repetitive." They concluded that "only diehard fans will find the experience rewarding" and that the best way to play the game is through the bonus disc of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.[20]

The game mechanics of its sequel Metal Gear Solid, despite its transition to

1UP.com referred to Metal Gear Solid as "basically a high-spec remake of Solid Snake."[23] Nickolai Adkins of 1UP also noted how much of the scenario and plot elements in Solid Snake were recycled in Metal Gear Solid, ranging from "Snake emerging from retirement to rescue a kidnapped non-soldier personnel" in the beginning to "an escape sequence where Snake is accompanied by his female accomplice/love interest" at the end.[24] IGN notes that Solid Snake introduced stealth mechanics such as making noise to attract guards, crouching and crawling on the ground, disarming mines, and enemies having view cones.[25]

Notes

  1. ^ Available via i-mode, EZweb and Vodafone
  2. ^ Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (Japanese: メタルギア２　ソリッドスネーク, Hepburn: Metarugia Tsū: Soriddosunēku). Some Japanese publications, such as MSX Magazine and MSX FAN, as well as the spine for the soundtrack album, uses Solid Snake over Metal Gear 2 as the main title, listing it as ソリッドスネーク　メタルギア2 or simply ソリッドスネーク.
  3. ^ Marketed as a "Tactical Espionage Game".[2]
  4. ^ The in-game dialogue establishes that events in the original game occurred three years before,[3][4][5] but portions of the manual places the events of the "Outer Heaven dispute" to 1995 (four years prior).[6] The later Metal Gear Solid games use the latter date.
  5. ^ The plot summary in Metal Gear Solid replaces all references to the Soviet Union with the CIS.

References

  1. ^ "Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake". MSX Magazine. No. 1990–08. ASCII. pp. 25–26 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ Konami. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX2). Level/area: Front packaging.
  3. ^ Konami. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX2/PS2). Dr. Madnar: "そう・・・METAL GEARじゃよ。SNAKE。あるのじゃ、あれが・・・ここに。 あたらしいMETAL GEARはすでにカンセイしておる。3年前、あんたがハカイしたのはたんなるシサクヒン・・・ [Yes... Metal Gear. Snake, it is here... In Zanzibar Land. They've already completed a new Metal Gear. The one you destroyed three years ago was only a prototype...]
  4. ^ Konami. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX2/PS2). Kasler: "3年前のOUTER HEAVENカンラクでかれはヒン死のジュウショウをおった [Three years ago, when Outer Heaven fell, Big Boss was seriously wounded.]
  5. ^ Konami. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX2/PS2). Snake: "オレは3年間とりついているアクムをはらいにきた。 [I came to get rid of the nightmares I've been having for the past three years.]"
  6. ^ Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake User's Manual (in Japanese). Konami. pp. 29, 35.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Paul Soth. "GOTW: Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  8. ^
    ISSN 1742-3155
    .
  9. ^ a b Steven Kent. "Hideo Kojima: Game Guru, Movie Maniac". Archived from the original on 2005-11-03. Retrieved 2013-01-06.
  10. ^ Hideo Kojima (April 1993). "今明かされるMSX秘語② 我が青春のMSX". Beep! Mega Drive. Japan: Softbank. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  11. ^ Simon Parkin (2012-05-24). "Hideo Kojima: video game drop-out - interview part 2". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  12. ^ Hideo Kojima (May 1993). "今明かされるMSX秘語③ 我が青春のMSX". Beep! Mega Drive. Japan: Softbank. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  13. ^ "Even "METAL GEAR2 SOLID SNAKE" has been on the market for 32 years already? In fact, I had planned to make this sequel title in the style of "Indiana Jones" only with the name of the main character. I didn't want to put "METAL GEAR2" in the title, but the sales staff said to put "METAL GEAR2" in the title! So we ended up with both". Twitter.
  14. ^ "「METAL GEAR2 SOLID SNAKE」でさえ、発売からもう３２年？！！実は、この続編タイトルは「インディ・ジョーンズ」風に主人公の名前だけにしようと画策していました。「METAL GEAR2 」とは入れたくなかったのですが、営業からは「METAL GEAR2 を入れてくれ！」といわれ、両方の表記になりました。". Twitter (in Japanese).
  15. ^ Derboo, Sam (October 2012). "Tracing the Influence". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  16. ^ "English Metal Gear 2 Development Committee". G&T Soft. Retrieved 2014-09-04.
  17. ^ "MSX and the PSX". Computer and Video Games. No. 178 (September 1996). 11 August 1996. p. 15.
  18. ^ "METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION Vol. 1". store.playstation.com. Retrieved 2023-05-27.
  19. ^ "Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 Announced For "The Latest Platforms"". Nintendo Life. 2023-05-25. Retrieved 2023-05-27.
  20. ^ Game Informer, 2009, p. 94
  21. ^ "Metal Gear Solid". IGN. Retrieved October 22, 2006.
  22. ^ "Top Ten MSX Games | Retro Gamer". 9 April 2014.
  23. 1UP.com. Archived from the original
    on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  24. 1UP.com. Archived from the original
    on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  25. ^ "7 Weird Metal Gear Games You Probably Never Knew Existed". IGN. August 25, 2014.
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