Metal Gear Solid

Story Characters

Gameplay Other Versions

Story In 2005, FOXHOUND and the genetically-enhanced Next-

Generation Special Forces unit lead an armed uprising at Shadow Moses, a remote isle located in Alaska's Fox Archipelago and the site of a nuclear weapons disposal facility. In the process, they acquire Metal Gear REX, a nuclear-capable bipedal tank, threatening the U.S. government with a nuclear reprisal if they do not receive the remains of the "legendary mercenary" Big Boss. Solid Snake, in retirement at Alaska's Twin Lakes, is forcibly dispatched at the request of Colonel Roy Campbell to penetrate the terrorist defenses and neutralize the threat.

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Characters Solid Snake

Meryl Silverburgh

Gray Fox

Hal "Otacon" Emmerich

Liquid Snake

Revolver Ocelot

Sniper Wolf

Psycho Mantis

Vulcan Raven Roy Campbell

Naomi Hunter

Mei Ling

Nastasha Romanenko

Decoy Octopus

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Solid Snake Solid Snake is the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid. He is sent into the Shadow Moses facility in order to rescue the captive DARPA Chief Donald Anderson and ArmsTech president Kenneth Baker, and later to eliminate the nuclear threat posed by the latest incarnation of Metal Gear: Metal Gear REX. Back to Characters

Meryl Silverburgh Meryl Silverburgh is introduced as

the niece of Solid Snake's commander, Roy Campbell, she serves as Snake's rookie sidekick. During the events of the game, she gets assigned to Shadow Moses, but refuses to join the rebellion led by Liquid Snake and is imprisoned. Snake rescues her first from her cell and then from Psycho Mantis's mind control, but she is later shot and captured by Sniper Wolf. She escapes Shadow Moses with Snake, and they continue their lives together for two years before parting.

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Gray Fox Gray Fox appears in the form of a "Cyborg Ninja" in Metal Gear Solid. He is equipped with a powered exoskeleton and high-frequency blade that can slice through steel. Throughout the mission he provides Snake with anonymous messages via Codec, using the pseudonym "Deepthroat". Snake does battle with Fox in a laboratory while on his way to rescue Hal Emmerich, a scientist held captive. Fox assists Snake in destroying the radome on Metal Gear REX, but is killed by REX, being piloted by terrorist leader Liquid Snake.Back to Characters

Hal "Otacon" Emmerich Hal "Otacon" Emmerich

appears in Metal Gear Solid as the designer of Metal Gear REX and captive at Shadow Moses. After Snake rescued him from Gray Fox, Otacon offered him support via Codec. While he was captured, Otacon developed an infatuation with FOXHOUND member Sniper Wolf.

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Liquid Snake Liquid Snake serves as Metal Gear Solid's main antagonist against Solid Snake, who is also his genetic twin. In the game Liquid poses as Snake's former survival coach Master Miller and tricks Snake into activating the new version of Metal Gear, Metal Gear REX. After this the entire final act of the game involves Snake and Liquid fighting, first with Liquid piloting Metal Gear, secondly in a bare handed fist fight, and finally in a car chase before Liquid is killed by the FOXDIE virus.

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Revolver Ocelot Revolver Ocelot is introduced in

Metal Gear Solid and is a gunslinger who specialises in interrogation. He has Russian connections and an ally called Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich, the leader of a Russian private army. He serves as Liquid's right hand man and encounters Snake twice, the first time while Snake is attempting to rescue ArmsTech president Kenneth Baker, the second time is when Ocelot tortures Snake while he is captured. Once the mission is complete he is the sole survivor of the FOXHOUND unit.

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Sniper Wolf Sniper Wolf is the Kurdish sharpshooter of the FOXHOUND unit. Though snipers usually work in pairs, Sniper Wolf works alone. She is also another "disciple" of Big Boss, the antagonist from the previous two Metal Gear games. In Metal Gear Solid she fights Snake twice.

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Psycho Mantis Psycho Mantis is a psychic expert

for the FOXHOUND unit. Prior to joining FOXHOUND, he worked with the KGB and the FBI. His special abilities include the psychic powers of psychokinesis and telepathy. He developed these powers early in his childhood. They led him to believe that his father hated him, due to the fact that his mother died in childbirth. Out of a fear of his father killing him, he killed his father and burned down the village where he lived. His face is largely scarred, possibly due to injury during the incident. He wears a gas mask to hide it.

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Vulcan Raven Vulcan Raven is the Inuit member of FOXHOUND who wields an M61 Vulcan cannon and has shamanic powers of intuition. Raven was also an employee at Big Boss's fortified nation of Outer Heaven prior to his involvement at FOXHOUND.

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Decoy Octopus

Decoy Octopus is a member of FOXHOUND, and with the rest of his unit, went rogue during the Shadow Moses island incident. Octopus specialises is impersonation.

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Roy Campbell Roy Campbell appears in Metal Gear Solid as Snake's commanding officer and former commander of FOXHOUND, he comes out of retirement to command Solid Snake once again. Campbell has more of a personal stake in the mission, as Meryl is held captive by FOXHOUND. While Campbell is initially forced to keep a number of secrets from Snake, he gradually reveals more and more of them as the story continues, until, finally, Campbell is briefly arrested. However, he is exonerated after. Back to Characters

Naomi Hunter Naomi Hunter is the head of FOXHOUND's medical staff, and part of the support crew assembled to assist Solid Snake during the Shadow Moses Island incident (the events of Metal Gear Solid) in 2005. It is revealed however that she is secretly Gray Fox's non-biological sister, and she is out for revenge on Snake. She injects Snake with the FoxDie virus, but she set it to a "wildcard" value, sparing Snake's life during the mission, but leaving him vulnerable at a later date.

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Mei Ling Mei Ling is the data analyst in charge

of saving the player's mission data in Metal Gear Solid. She is the one who invented Snake's wireless communication equipment, the Codec, as well the Soliton Radar, which detects the positions and field of vision of nearby enemy soldiers. Every time Snake saves his data, Mei Ling provides him with advice through Chinese proverbs (as well as quotations from Western authors).

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Nastasha Romanenko Nastasha Romanenko is Solid

Snake's codec contact on matters related to nuclear weapons. After the events of Metal Gear Solid, her character writes an autobiography titled In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth and then forms "Philanthropy" (an anti-proliferation group) with the profits she made. This fictional publication serves as a plot summary of Metal Gear Solid (and reveals previously undisclosed plot details about the events of the games).

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Gameplay• The player must navigate the protagonist Solid Snake through the game's

areas without being detected. Detection sets off an alarm, which draws armed enemies to his location.

• To remain undetected, the player can perform techniques which make use of Solid Snake's abilities and the environment, such as crawling under objects, using boxes as cover, ducking or hiding around walls, and making noise to distract the enemy. These are carried out using the third-person camera; which slowly changes its angle to give the player the best strategic view of the area possible, and an on-screen radar, which displays enemy personnel and their field of vision. Solid Snake is armed with many items and gadgets, such as thermal goggles and a cardboard box disguise. This emphasis on stealth promotes a less violent form of gameplay — firefights against large enemy teams will likely result in heavy damage and possible death for the protagonist.

• Intermixed with the player's progress are plot-progressing cut scenes and radio conversations as well as encounters with boss characters. To progress, players must discover weaknesses of these enemies (such as attack patterns) to defeat them. This is where the player will most often use the game's weapon-set, ranging from pistols to rocket launchers and hand grenades. Game controls and play strategies can also be accessed via the Codec radio, where advice is delivered from Snake's support crew as if the character were playing the video game.

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Other Versions Metal Gear Solid: Integral

Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions

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Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes

Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel

Metal Gear Solid: Integral

Metal Gear Solid: Integral is an international version with additional features and an extra disc of additional missions (established as virtual training). New features included costumes, the "Very Easy" difficulty level and three game modes, one using the PocketStation. A Windows PC port of Integral was also released in Europe and North America in late 2000 with PocketStation support removed. Scoring 83 in Metacritic's aggregate, the game was criticized for "graphic glitches", the aged nature of the port, and being essentially identical to the PlayStation version.

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Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions features

training missions testing the player's sneaking and fighting skill, as well as less conventional tests, such as murder-mysteries, battling giant genome soldiers, and a mode allowing the player to control the Cyborg Ninja. It includes trailers for Metal Gear Solid, a preview artwork of Metal Gear RAY from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and a "photo shoot" mode to take pictures of Mei Ling and Naomi.

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Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes An enhanced remake of Metal Gear Solid, titled Metal

Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes was developed by Silicon Knights under the direction of Hideo Kojima and released for the Nintendo GameCube in North America, Japan, and Europe in March 2004. While Twin Snakes was largely developed at Silicon Knights, its cut scenes were developed in-house at Konami and directed by Japanese film director Ryuhei Kitamura, reflecting his dynamic signature style, utilizing bullet-time photography and choreographed gunplay extensively. While the storyline and settings of the game were unchanged, a variety of gameplay features from Sons of Liberty were added such as the first person aiming and hanging from bars on walls. The graphics were also updated.

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Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel

Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel is an interactive comic for the PlayStation Portable. Based on the Metal Gear Solid comic book adaptation, it features visual enhancements and two interactive modes designed to give further insight into the publication. Upon viewing the pages, the player can open a "scanning" interface to search for characters and items in a three dimensional view. Discoveries are added to a database which can be traded with other players via Wi-Fi. The "mission mode" allows the player to add collected information into a library. This information must be properly connected to complete a mission.

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