History VideoGame / MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes

** In Europe, pre-ordering the PS3 version of the game would get you a free digital copy of ''Peace Walker HD Edition'' as well.

''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 Steam on December 18, 2014.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: During the opening cutscene to the Intel Operative Rescue [[{{Sidequest}} Side Op]], Snake will hold up a pair of rectangular eyeglasses. [[spoiler: They're Kojima's famous glasses. When Hideo makes his CreatorCameo at the end, he dons them after unmasking himself.]]
** More subtly, ''Ground Zeroes'' itself provides quite a big clue to one of [[Videogame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain The Phantom Pain's]] biggest plot twists. Specifically, during the ending sequence [[spoiler: [[FreezeFrameBonus sharp-eyed viewers]] will notice that when Paz explodes in front of everyone, Big Boss is explicitly NOT shown as having the iconic horn that ''"Venom Snake"'' would have 9 years later. [[BodyDouble Guess who Venom Snake really is?]]]]

* 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 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.

* NecessaryDrawback: When calling for an extraction chopper, you have several possible places to call for one. Typically, a far-away LZ that is unguarded by the enemy, or a hot LZ right in the middle of the base that's sure to piss off the locals and stands a good chance of getting blown up.

* NintendoHard: The Hard difficulty is noticeably a lot more difficult than Normal. Enemies are able to spot you much more quickly, you start with less equipment, can take less damage and the requirements for an S rank are a ''lot'' more stringent.

* OneTrueSequence: Notably averted. [[MissionControl Miller]] will gently try to guide the player through a specific sequence of events[[note]]Find Chico, bring him to the cliffside LZ, put him down, get his tape, extract him, use the tape to find Paz, extract her[[/note]] but there's absolutely nothing stopping you from ignoring his instructions and completing the mission however you see fit.

->'''[[MemeticMutation "They played us like a damn fiddle!!!"]]''' ]]

->[[MemeticMutation "They played us like a damn fiddle!!!"]]

->[[MemeticMutation '''They played us like a damn fiddle!!!''']]

->[[MemeticMutation They played us like a '''damn fiddle''']]

[[folder:L-z]]

—-->-- '''Skull Face''

— Skull Face

[[caption-width-right:349:''[[StartOfDarkness Venom Awakens]]'']]

->''"Not for any nation. Not for any ideology. Not for justice. Not for honor. Not for power. Not for the future. Not for love. Not for peace. [[RevengeBeforeReason Only for revenge]]."''

** More subtly, ''Ground Zeroes'' itself provides quite a big clue to one of [[Videogame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain The Phantom Pain's]] biggest plot twists. Specifically, during the ending sequence [[spoiler: [[FreezeFrameBonus sharp-eyed viewers]] will notice that when Paz explodes in front of everyone, Big Boss is explicitly NOT shown as having the iconic horn that ''"Venom Snake"'' would have 9 years later. [[BodyDouble Guess who Venom Snake ''really is''?]]]]

** More subtly, ''Ground Zeroes'' itself provides quite a big clue to one of [[Videogame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain The Phantom Pain's]] biggest plot twists. Specifically, during the ending sequence [[spoiler: [[FreezeFrameBonus sharp-eyed viewers]] will notice that when [[spoiler: Paz explodes in front of everyone, Big Boss is explicitly NOT shown as having the iconic horn that ''"Venom Snake"'' would have 9 years later. [[BodyDouble Guess who Venom Snake ''really is''?]]]]

** 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, aside from the lack of a [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent character switch]], is that [[spoiler:we know what happened to Snake afterward]].

* DiscontinuityNod: While searching for markings in the "Deja Vu" extra op, Miller will only acknowledge titles in the ''Metal Gear'' series that were directed by Kojima himself. When viewing the marking for a non-Kojima game (i.e. ''Ghost Babel'', ''Portable Ops''), Miller will feign ignorance about it and won't bother to read the title out loud. Using the special light on these markings will have no effect on them, causing Miller to remark "looks like that's nothing special." This also applies to the "Jamais Vu" mission, where Miller will inexplicably diss Raiden's [[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance own game]] in his face.

* DiscontinuityNod: While searching for markings during either Extra Op, Miller will only acknowledge titles in the ''Metal Gear'' series that were directed Kojima himself. When viewing the marking for a non-Kojima directed game (i.e. ''Ghost Babel'', ''Portable Ops''), Miller will feign ignorance about it and won't bother to read the title out loud. Using the special light on these markings will have no effect on them, causing Miller to remark "looks like that's nothing special." This also applies to the "Jamais Vu" mission, where Miller will inexplicably diss Raiden's [[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance own game]] in his face.

* DiscontinuityNod: During either Extra Op, calling Miller while viewing the marking for a non-Kojima directed ''Franchise/MetalGear'' game (i.e. ''Ghost Babel'', ''Portable Ops'') will cause him to feign ignorance about it and he won't even bother to read the title out loud. Using the special light on these markings will have no effect, causing Miller to remark "looks like that's nothing special." Inexplicably, Miller will still diss ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' in the "Jamais Vu" mission, despite the fact the mission is partly a homage to that game.

** The "Classified Intel Acquisition" side-op is given to MSF by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Snake has been acquainted with their unnamed chairman throughout the previous ''MGS'' prequels.

** The "Classified Intel Acquisition" side-op is given to MSF by the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff, whom Snake previously contacted during the events of ''Peace Walker''.

* LegacyCharacter: Invoked in both Extra Ops. Miller treats Solid Snake and Naked Snake interchangeably when giving out factoids about their sprite/character model in each game.