History VideoGame / MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes

** After the player erases every marking in either Extra Op, they will receive a call from Kojima thanking them for supporting the series. This is a throwback to the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', where Kojima will give a similar congratulatory message if Psycho Mantis detects save data from ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'' and ''VisualNovel/{{Policenauts}}'' in the player's memory card. Since the UsefulNotes/PlayStation versions of ''Snatcher'' and ''Policenauts'' were never localized, the message was not included in the English version of ''Metal Gear Solid'', making Kojima's congratulatory call in ''Ground Zeroes'' seem a bit random to overseas players. Although, it would quickly become a retroactive TearJerker.

''Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes'' is a stand-alone prologue to the ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'' experience. It was released for consoles on March 18, 2014 in North America, March 20 in Europe and Japan, and March 27 in Australia. The PC version was released worldwide on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on December 18, 2014.

* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Both Extra Ops feature their own set of alternate skins that can only be used in those missions. The "Deja Vu" mission allows players to control [[{{Retraux}} low-polygon]] renditions of Solid Snake and the Cyborg Ninja from the first ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' in addition to the standard Snake, while "Jamais Vu" has players controlling the cyborg version of Raiden from ''VideoGame/MetalGearRising'' in one of three available color schemes (default, White and Inferno).

* OneHundredPercentCompletion: Your completion ratio is given as a percentage at the title screen. The main story mission makes up 10 percent with the rest being divided among the side ops, extra ops, and trials.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Snake's enemies are members of the U.S. Marine Corps posted in what's a not-at-all-subtle ersatz Guantanamo Bay, where the prisoners they've captured are tortured beyond all reason. One look at what they've done to the prisoners' feet makes it a lot easier to swallow trading blows with these guys, and in fact, may ''encourage'' some to just barge in guns blazing, since there's no way in ''hell'' this is legal or right.

* TrojanHorse: The mission spearheaded by XOF and Cipher is called "Operation Trojan Horse" for a reason. Specifically, the plan is to lure Snake out into Camp Omega to rescue Chico and Paz while XOF, disguised as UN inspectors, infiltrate and destroy Mother Base. It succeeds.

** The Spanish translation as well as possibly other translations, seems to have been done using a neutral accent common in Latin America instead of the Spanish accent used in previous games of the franchise; as a result, the intended audience for the translation is different. The translation has been simplified by removing most idioms, military slang, acronyms, and technical terms to convey the message more straightforwardly.

* LostInTranslation: After the player erases every marking in either Extra Op, they will receive a call from Kojima thanking them for supporting the series. This is a throwback to the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', where Kojima will give a similar congratulatory message if Psycho Mantis detects save data from ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'' and ''VisualNovel/{{Policenauts}}'' in the player's memory card. Since the UsefulNotes/PlayStation versions of ''Snatcher'' and ''Policenauts'' were never localized, the message was not included in the English version of ''Metal Gear Solid'', making Kojima's congratulatory call in ''Ground Zeroes'' seem a bit random to overseas players. Although, it would quickly become a retroactive TearJerker.

* WordSaladTitle: The term "Ground Zeroes" is never used in the game, and even if it's subtle foreshadowing to [[spoiler:the destruction of Mother Base]], it's still a singular term; there don't seem to be any other "Ground Zeroes" aside from that one.
** Until you discover it’s also ground zero for the [[spoiler:“death” of MSF’s top solider, the Medic, and his rebirth as Venom Snake, the Patriots’ (namely Zero, Ocelot and Big Boss) ''first'' memetic clone of Big Boss, making it also ground zero for the eventual creation of Raiden as the test subject of the S3 Plan and ground zero for Big Boss’s return to FOXHOUND to eventually train Solid Snake]]

* DejaVu: ''Ground Zeroes'' features a DLC episode named after the concept which is formed by a series of CallBacks to the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', even allowing you to play as the protagonist of that game.

** Normally, when you unlock Chico's cage,he panics and alerts the other prisoners. However, if you extract the other prisoners before unlocking his cage, that scene is skipped.

* KillEmAll: Operation Trojan Horse leaves no survivors in Mother Base except for Master Miller, Huey, and a couple of lucky soldiers. Luckily, Strangelove, Amanda, and Cécile were off-base during the attack. [[spoiler:Strangelove still dies before the next game anyways, murdered by Huey for taking Hal away from him.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** Camp Omega is a very unsubtle reference to the United States' unofficial prison facility located in Guantanamo Bay, as well as the horrid conditions and practices at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Interestingly enough, it's never directly stated if Camp Omega is a part of Guantanamo Bay or if it's a separate prison (though the latter is acknowledged as having existed within the ''Metal Gear'' universe).
** The story mission also has several unsubtle references to [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty the Tanker chapter]], made all the more explicit by WordOfGod saying that he sees ''Ground Zeroes'' as the Tanker to ''The Phantom Pain''[='=]s Plant. Both missions are short but crammed with little details, taking place at night during a rainstorm; involve unusual objectives new to the series (FirstPersonSnapshooter vs. EscortMission with immobile escortees); both involve [[SemperFi the U.S. Marine Corps]] doing something shady (although in ''GZ'' they're actual {{Mooks}}); and both are [[DownerBeginning Downer Beginnings]] where the mission [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]] and [[spoiler:the player character is knocked unconscious as the result of a vehicle crash]]. The main difference is that the [[spoiler:[[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent protagonist switch]] from Vic Boss to Venom is a lot less obvious than the switch from Solid Snake to Raiden.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Snake successfully airlifts Chico and Paz out of Camp Omega, and removes a bomb discovered inside Paz's abdomen. However, the "nuclear inspection" turns out to be an invasion by XOF, who leave Mother Base to sink into the depths of the ocean. Snake barely escapes with Miller, who loses his mind with grief. As he screams at a now awake Paz, she opens the helicopter doors and jumps out, before a ''second'' bomb inside her body explodes. Snake's helicopter collides with another, and the screen fades to black.]]

* HopeSpot: After the discomforting scene of [[spoiler:the removing of the bomb from Paz's stomach]], Huey contacts Snake and tells him that everything's going swimmingly in terms of preparing Mother Base for the inspection. That tranquility doesn't last.

** Chico going off on his own to try and rescue Paz, only to get captured himself and forcing Snake to leave Mother Base ahead of the UN inspection to rescue them both, since Chico knows about Metal Gear ZEKE. [[spoiler:Though, considering that the inspection was a front for an attack by XOF, this might have been a good thing.]]

* LostInTranslation: After the player erases every marking in either Extra Op, they will receive a call from Kojima thanking them for supporting the series. This is a throwback to the Japanese version of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', where Kojima will give a similar congratulatory message if Psycho Mantis detects save data from ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'' and ''VisualNovel/{{Policenauts}}'' in the player's memory card. Since the UsefulNotes/PlayStation versions of ''Snatcher'' and ''Policenauts'' were never localized, the message was not included in the English version of ''Metal Gear Solid'', making Kojima's congratulatory call in ''Ground Zeroes'' seem a bit random to overseas players.

* KillEmAll: Operation Trojan Horse leaves no survivors in Mother Base except for Master Miller, Huey, and a couple of lucky soldiers. Luckily, Strangelove, Amanda, and Cécile were off-base during the attack.

* NeverMyFault: Kaz's bleak, venomous rants about Paz during the infiltration will come across as this when Peace Walker [[spoiler:reveals he was feeding information back to Cipher himself and acting as a double agent, making him utterly hypocritical when he was doing it ''out of choice'' and Paz was ''forced'' to do her work.]]

* ATasteOfPower: Downplayed. The night vision goggles have infinite battery life and the WU Silent Pistol comes with an unbreakable suppressor in ''Ground Zeroes'', two things that require development in ''The Phantom Pain'' (the WU Silent Pistol doesn't get an unbreakable suppressor it reaches Level 5). Snake's [=MRS-4=] carbine comes with a breakable suppressor and flashlight, which will need to be developed later on as well.

->''"Your favorite song... Nicola, Bart - immigrants, wrongly executed... But their deaths served as a message to others: that ours is a society that murders the innocent. Do you, too, believe that your sacrifice will change the world?"''

* BroadStrokes: The side ops in ''Ground Zeroes'' are set a few months before the main mission, but they're "pseudo-historical recreations", implying they might have happened differently than what is actually depicted in the game.

--->'''Miller:''' Excellent, Snake. Age hasn't slowed you down one bit.

In 1975, [[LivingLegend legendary]] mercenary [[LegacyCharacter Snake]] (a.k.a. [[VillainProtagonist Big Boss]]) goes on a mission to extract former allies [[DeepCoverAgent Paz Ortega Andrade]] and [[ChildSoldiers Ricardo "Chico" Valenciano Libre]] from a U.S. naval prison facility in Cuba. Paz in particular is Snake's only lead on the whereabouts of "Cipher", an American black ops group[[note]]founded by Snake's former C.O., [[Characters/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater Major Zero]][[/note]] that targeted him during the [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker Peace Walker Incident]]. Unfortunately, both were captured by Cipher's mysterious [[EvilCounterpart XOF]] unit, who finish interrogating the pair and depart shortly before Snake arrives.

*** However, played straight with the [[spoiler: Carl Gustav Fulton.]] You never get it back, despite how useful it was, and would still be.

Followed by ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', released a year later.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Several examples, most notably the knockoff woodland pattern the Marines wear (it's woodland pattern, but with a coloration similar to that of modern-day [=AOR2=]) as well as some of the Marines sporting rather...relaxed facial grooming. Also the use of "Repeat" over comms [[note]]"Repeat" is used to tell artillery to repeat the fire mission. The correct term is "Say again?" [[/note]], and when the Marine fireteams contact CP (Command Post) CP is the one who says "Out." (More correctly, the Marine patrol would say "Out" to indicate that they were done sending traffic.)

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything:

** In a side-mission, after rescuing [[spoiler:[[CreatorCameo Hideo Kojima]]]], Snake puts on his glasses and [[spoiler:Kojima]] asks "''Snake, what took you so long''?"[[note]]unless you S-ranked, in which case he says "''Snake, that was perfect''."[[/note]], echoing a scene in trailers for ''The Phantom Pain'' where Snake rescues Miller in Afghanistan.