History VideoGame / MetalGearSolid

* * ArmorIsUseless: Averted unlike the original game as both the armor the player can collect for Snake and the armor worn by certain Genome soldier models (who now only appear during alerts/scripted sequences.) reduce damage. (Though like ''Metal Gear Solid 2'', ''Helmets'' are still cosmetic''.)

* If you fail to defeat Liquid on top of REX before the time runs out, the latter will laugh maniacally.

* NotHisSled: The general structure of the boss fights remains mostly the same between the original game and ''The Twin Snakes'', with the major exception of Psycho Mantis. [[spoiler:After a certain point, he'll wise up to your controller-switching trick and start reading your input on Controller 2, forcing you to constantly swap between the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube GameCube]]'s four controller ports in order to stay one step ahead of him]].

* FutileHandReach: [[spoiler:As FOXDIE is claiming his life, Liquid tries to reach out to Solid Snake but succumbs before anything can come about it]].

! All spoilers for the UsefulNotes/{{MSX}}2 ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' games, ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'', will be left unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!

[[SequelDisplacement To many players' surprise, it is not the first game]] in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series; the original two UsefulNotes/{{MSX}}2 games in the series (''[[VideoGame/MetalGear1 Metal Gear]]'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'') were never released in North America[[note]]until 2006, when they were included in ''Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence''[[/note]] (aside from a [[ReformulatedGame drastically altered]] Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem version of the former and an unrelated sequel titled ''VideoGame/SnakesRevenge''), so ''Metal Gear Solid'' was the first proper game in the series that most people in the West played, and the ''Metal Gear Solid'' moniker carried on to the rest of the series, [[VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel aside from]] [[VideoGame/MetalGearAcid a few]] [[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance spinoffs]].

The game received a [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] UpdatedRerelease, ''Metal Gear Solid: Integral'', which included a third disc of creative "VR Missions" (an expansion of the [[VirtualTrainingSimulation virtual reality tutorial]] from the original) to test players' skills. The VR Disc was later repackaged in North America and Europe as ''Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions'' and ''Special Missions'', respectively, while ''Integral'' was used as the basis for a Platform/MicrosoftWindows port in 2000 and later re-released onto [[Website/GOGDotCom GOG.com]] in 2020. In 2001, a direct sequel titled ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' was released, which takes place two years after the events of this game and ramps the insanity of the plot. In 2004, the original ''Metal Gear Solid'' was fully remade for the Platform/NintendoGameCube as ''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes''.

* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Snake encounters giant Genome Soldiers of varying sizes in ''VR Missions''. Their voice clips are slowed down when you strike them. At the end, Snake faces a PuzzleBoss of sorts in '''[[PunnyName Gen]]'''ola, a 50-foot mook who attempts to make off with Meryl(!). In addition to being a shout-out to classic monster movies (''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' and ''Film/KingKong''), "Genola" translated into {{Pig Latin}} becomes ''Enola Gay'', the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and another reference to nuclear weapons.

-->'''Miller:''' She might be a spy... working with the terrorists.

%%* Open Air Driver: After the REX's radome is disabled, Liquid is forced to pilot with an open cockpit. Hal actually designed it this way so that REX would have a weakness for a character flaw.

* VideoGameCrueltyPotential

* {{Video Game 3D Leap}}: This is the first 3D game in the series.

* HollywoodCB: The "Codec" supposedly puts the sound straight into your earbones so only you hear the person talking to you (with ample opportunity for FridgeLogic, considering the speaker's own voice should still be very audible to their surroundings). Plus, despite supposedly being an audio-only device, the HUD displays it almost like a videophone. On top of that, you have a number of people whose frequencies you have to find.

* FakeDifficulty: While it was an attempt to be creative and force the player to think outside the box (fairly literally at that), Meryl's Codec frequency ultimately falls under this as you may not have the original CD case on-hand to look at the back of it. This was especially problematic in the days of video game rentals as you wouldn't get the original packaging for the game with the rental, meaning you were SOL if you needed to find this information even if you managed to figure out what the game was telling you to do. Likewise, in today's day and age anyone who digitally purchased and downloaded the game would be lacking this information as well (though scans of the back cover are included in the digital manual). Thankfully, Campbell will tell you the frequency if you call him four times... and besides, today you can just Google it no problem.

* FakeDifficulty: While it was an attempt to be creative and force the player to think outside the box (fairly literally at that), Meryl's Codec frequency ultimately falls under this as [[spoiler:you may not have the original CD case on-hand to look at the back of it]]. This was especially problematic in the days of video game rentals as you wouldn't get the original packaging for the game with the rental, meaning you were SOL if you needed to find this information even if you managed to figure out what the game was telling you to do. Likewise, in today's day and age anyone who digitally purchased and downloaded the game would be lacking this information as well (though scans of the back cover are included in the digital manual).

* SmallGirlBigGun: Meryl's Desert Eagle is comically massive on someome as short as her. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Snake while being somewhat chauvinistic.

* SmokingIsCool: Snake loves to smoke up so much, he was willing to smuggle his cigarettes onto the mission by [[StomachOfHolding swallowing a whole pack and then regurgitating it]], after taking a shot that suppressed his stomach acids (although Snake wasn't quite willing to go that far in the novelization, where he steals a pack of cigarettes on-site and spends the rest of the book complaining about the flavor). Their only practical purpose is to detect laser traps.

** Puzzle mission 2 involves you having to play "domino" by pushing a {{Mook}} soldier off a VR ledge in order to kill the two Mooks below him who in turn fall onto another pair of mooks and so on until they're all dead. Note that failing to chain the domino effect makes the mission {{Unwinnable}} and you have to restart.

** Meryl's able to move freely despite being shot multiple times in crucial muscles with a high powered military grade rifle round (7.62x51mm NATO).]]
* TheUnfought: Decoy Octopus is the only Foxhound member you never fight. [[spoiler:Snake, or rather, the bioweapon virus that Snake was unknowingly carrying, killed him in the first 10 minutes they met.]]

* Bookends: Both of Snake’s fights with Sniper Wolf occur right before and right after his time in the Communication Towers.

* KillTheParentRaiseTheChild: Frank Jaeger aka Gray Fox aka The Cyborg Ninja reveals to Snake right before he's killed that he [[spoiler:killed Naomi Hunter's parents and adopted her as his sister due to his guilt. He begs Snake to tell Naomi the turth, but Snake can't bring himself to do this]].

** The cyborg ninja makes his entrance by chopping off Ocelot's right hand. Ocelot himself may also count but he misses Snake during his own entrance, thus subverting this.

* EarlyGameHell: The Heliport at the start of the game is by far the most complicated section to navigate through. You have no weapons, a small health bar and few tricks, you can only carry two rations and a small amount of ammo, there's search lights, your footsteps can be tracked, there's surveillance cameras, and many, many guards. Presumably, newcomers are expected to partake in the tutorials first.

* FisticuffsBoss: Cyborg Ninja and Liquid.[[note]]Unless you use chaff grenades against the former.[[/note]]

* InUniverseFactoidFailure: In a three-way conversation with Naomi and Master Miller, Naomi claims her father was an Asian-American FBI agent who took part in various stings to bring down TheMafia in New York in the 1950s. Privately, Miller points out Hoover would have been too racist to hire Asians and the first stings were in the '60s, and were in Chicago, and suggests Naomi is an impostor.
* InformedAttribute: In the original game, Liquid Snake and Solid Snake are supposed to be physically identical; seemingly, Liquid's change in hair color was a last minute one, since Meryl's dialog is that he looks ''exactly the same'' as Liquid. This is changed in ''The Twin Snakes''; both Campbell and Meryl note their hair color is different.

** [[spoiler:Miller's accusation against Naomi, who turns out to have a [[{{Revenge}} completely different agenda]], could very accurately describe Liquid's infiltration into Snake's team while posing as Miller.]]

** [[spoiler:Liquid is resentful of Snake for being the "superior" clone of Big Boss. It turns out that one of his cohorts, Revolver Ocelot, is secretly under orders from U.S. President George Sears aka Liquid's other brother, ''Solidus'' Snake.]]

* KickTheDog: Master Miller ([[spoiler:or rather, Liquid Snake]]) gives this bit of advice at one point:

** All of the boss fights.

** The RailShooter sequence near the end of the game.

--> "That takes care of the cremation."

** [[spoiler:Gray Fox]] makes his entrance by chopping off Ocelot's right hand. Ocelot himself may also count but he misses Snake during his own entrance, thus subverting this.

* FreelookButton: The first-person mode.

* HollywoodCB: The Codec.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha: Well, it ''is'' a ''Metal Gear'' game.

* ItGetsEasier: Snake gives this speech to Meryl.

* LegoGenetics: Normal soldier + Big Boss genes = {{mook|s}}. The later games includes people saying the whole exercise was pointless.

** HeKnowsAboutTimedHits: For the good majority of when the game breaks the fourth wall, it is simply to instruct you of what to do with your controller. None of the conversations and actions are ever treated like a tutorial for a game though.

** SorryILeftTheBGMOn: Right before your fight with Psycho Mantis, Snake notices that the background music stopped playing, but the way he comments, it is as if the whole military complex was playing music through speakers.
** InterfaceScrew: Mantis making you think that your game system just turned off. This one is not given any rationalization though. It just happens.

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: {{Defied|Trope}}: When Naomi mentions that her Japanese grandfather used to work for the FBI in the 1950s, Miller/[[spoiler:Liquid Snake]] grows suspicious of her story, knowing that J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI at the time, was extremely racist and would have never allowed a Japanese man in the bureau.

* ThePrecariousLedge: In Disc 2, there is a blast furnace section. You have to cross a ledge on the wall, and there's a piece of crane-like machinery moving around that will hit you and make you fall into the open furnace-- As a bonus, you can actually [[OutsideTheBoxTactic shoot the thing down]] before crossing it, [[GuideDangIt not that your various]] MissionControl [[GuideDangIt tells you that]] [[NoFourthWall like they usually do]]. This is also the only ledge where there is an actual danger of falling.

* RapeAsDrama: {{Implied|Trope}} near the end of the game:
-->'''Meryl:''' I didn't give in to the torture.\\
'''Snake:''' Torture?\\
'''Meryl:''' And things even worse than that.
** Implied even more by her line "But through all the pain and ''the shame'', I held on to one hope."
** {{Subverted|Trope}} later in the series: [[spoiler:she was ForcedToWatch Snake get tortured, which was more tormenting to her than if she had been hurt the same way. Her shame was from being unable to stop it]].

* SinisterSilhouettes: FOXHOUND are shown as such during the Briefing mode.
* SkywardScream: Snake will do this in the Otacon ending [[spoiler:upon seeing Meryl's corpse]].

* SmallGirlBigGun: Meryl's Desert Eagle. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Snake while being somewhat chauvinistic.

* SympatheticMurderBackstory: Snake is tormented by [[spoiler:his murder of Big Boss and especially Gray Fox.]] Significantly, it's when he describes to Naomi how [[spoiler:his murder of Fox]] was done with professionalism and with no hatred, and that [[BloodKnight they loved beating each other to death]], "like a sport", that Naomi begins to realize that Snake is an AntiHero rather than a villain.

** [[spoiler:Liquid]] does this a ridiculous number of times.
** [[spoiler:Meryl. She's able to move freely despite being shot multiple times in crucial muscles with a high powered military grade rifle round (7.62x51mm NATO).]]
* TheUnfought: Decoy Octopus. [[spoiler:Snake, or rather, the bioweapon virus that Snake was unknowingly carrying, killed him in the first 10 minutes they met.]]

** Ocelot. His main motivation for wanting a world filled with strife is explained as him wanting people to have the ability to actually voice their true emotions and viewpoints, something he knows the current age forbids. The fact that [[spoiler:Liquid Ocelot]] states something similar in ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' implies that for once, he actually was being honest about his goals that time. This explanation requires a lot of work and luck to get, though, as it can only be accessed after surviving the third torture round.

[[SequelDisplacement To many players' surprise, it is not the first game]] in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series; the original two UsefulNotes/{{MSX}}2 games in the series (''[[VideoGame/MetalGear1 Metal Gear]]'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'') were never released in North America[[note]]until 2006, when they were included in ''Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence''[[/note]] (aside from a [[ReformulatedGame drastically altered]] UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem version of the former and an unrelated sequel titled ''VideoGame/SnakesRevenge''), so ''Metal Gear Solid'' was the first proper game in the series that most people in the West played, and the ''Metal Gear Solid'' moniker carried on to the rest of the series, [[VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel aside from]] [[VideoGame/MetalGearAcid a few]] [[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance spinoffs]].

The game received a [[NoExportForYou Japan-only]] UpdatedRerelease, ''Metal Gear Solid: Integral'', which included a third disc of creative "VR Missions" (an expansion of the [[VirtualTrainingSimulation virtual reality tutorial]] from the original) to test players' skills. The VR Disc was later repackaged in North America and Europe as ''Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions'' and ''Special Missions'', respectively, while ''Integral'' was used as the basis for a UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows port in 2000 and later re-released onto [[Website/GOGDotCom GOG.com]] in 2020. In 2001, a direct sequel titled ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' was released, which takes place two years after the events of this game and ramps the insanity of the plot. In 2004, the original ''Metal Gear Solid'' was fully remade for the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube as ''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes''.

The game's story was adapted into a graphic novel written by Kris Oprisko; it uses stylized, sketchy artwork by Ashley Wood that deliberately imitates Yoji Shinkawa's promotional art. The graphic novel itself was released in a semi-interactive format as ''Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel'' on the UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable. This same graphic novel and its sequel were eventually released on DVD in Japan as ''Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée'' (with full voiceovers from the Japanese cast) and is included in English on the first disc of ''The Legacy Collection''. There is also a {{novelization}} by Raymond Benson.

''Note: this page is for the original [=PS1=] game and its ports and remakes (including The Twin Snakes for the [=GameCube=]). For the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor game released outside Japan as Metal Gear Solid, see VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel. For the rest of the series, see the main Metal Gear page.''