Metal gear

The protagonist of the game is a special forces soldier nicknamed Solid Snake , who is charged with single-handedly entering the Outer Heaven fortress and destroying the Metal Gear inside it - a two-legged tank capable of delivering nuclear attacks from anywhere in the world.

Characters

Solid Snake is a newcomer to the FOXHOUND Special Forces squad sent to his first mission. On the radio, his commander Big Boss is contacted, providing information on mission objectives and items. Also with the main character in contact with other characters:

• Kyle Schneider, a local resistance leader who talks about the surroundings and useful items.
• Diana telling how to defeat bosses.
• Jennifer, an internal agent helping Snake.

Among other hostages, Snake frees Gray Fox, the FOXHOUND agent who was captured during the previous mission. Together with Fox, Dr. Petrovich (in later versions Petrovich Mandar), the scientist who developed the latest Metal Gear weapons, and his daughter Ellen were also captured.

During the game, Snake will have to grapple with the Outer Heaven mercenaries, which include:

• Shoot Gunner ( English Shoot Gunner , in later versions of English Shotmaker ), a former agent of Russian special forces .
• Machingan Kid ( Eng. Machine Gun Kid ), a former SAS operative armed with a machine gun .
• Fire Trooper , a former member of GSG 9 , a flamethrower .
• Coward Duck, a terrorist attacking with a boomerang and taking cover as hostages.
• Arnold (in later versions of the English Bloody Brad ), an android created by Petrovich.

On the cover of the game, the role of Solid Snake depicts actor Michael Bean , who was at the peak of the actor’s fame when the game was released (the image of the “soldier of the future” was taken from the movie “Terminator” ^[5] ).

Acting as the Solid Snake, the player must move through various locations, performing certain tasks and avoiding visual contact with the patrol forces. If Snake catches the eye of an enemy soldier, then enemy reinforcements will arrive. To hide, Snake just go to the next screen. If the main character is detected by a security camera or crosses an infrared sensor, then to stop the alarm, he can leave the room (or go to another floor), or try to kill all opponents.

Snake starts the game unarmed, the player will have to find various weapons (starting with the Beretta 92F pistol and ending with the RPG-7 grenade launcher ) on the territory of the enemy. Ammunition for weapons is very limited, but easily replenished. Weapons can be used not only to kill opponents, but also to clear obstacles (hollow walls, electrified floors). In addition to weapons, Snake can kill enemies with his bare hands. If the player, without raising the alarm, kills the enemy soldier with his hands, he will receive rations or ammunition. The player during the game will enter into several fights with the bosses - mercenaries from Outer Heaven.

The enemy base consists of three buildings, divided into several floors (including basements). To access new areas, the player uses key cards. Each door opens with only one specific card. Various information can be obtained from the released hostages. After the release of the five hostages, the player receives an increase in rank of one star (maximum four stars can be obtained), thereby increasing the carrying capacity and maximum health. In the event of the death of a hostage, the player’s rank decreases.

On the radio transmitter, the protagonist can communicate with his commander Big Boss and with the resistance members operating near Outer Heaven: Schneider, Diana and Jennifer. Each of Snake’s allies specializes in a certain subject: Big Boss provides information about weapons and items, Schneider knows a lot about the layout of the fortress, and Diana knows about the weaknesses of many bosses. The player must remember the radio frequencies of the allies so that he can further contact them. The content of the radio messages depends on which room the player is in.

Story

1995 year ^[6] . 200 kilometers north of Halzburg, in South Africa, is Outer Heaven, a fortified state founded by the "legendary mercenary." Information has reached the Western world that weapons of mass destruction are being developed in the depths of this fortress. The US government gives the elite special forces FOXHOUND the order to infiltrate Outer Heaven, conduct reconnaissance and, if necessary, eliminate the threat. The mission was entrusted to Gray Fox ( English Gray Fox , in subsequent games of the Gray Fox series ), one of the best FOXHOUND operatives. However, after a few days, contact with Fox was lost, and his last message consisted of only two words: "METAL GEAR ...". Then FOXHOUND leader Big Boss sends rookie Solid Snake on a mission to free Gray Fox and complete his mission, entitled “Operation: Invasion No. 313”.

Having successfully entered Outer Heaven, Snake makes contact with members of the local resistance: Schneider, Diana and Jennifer. Using all his skills and equipment, Snake frees Fox and learns from him that Metal Gear is the code name for a two-legged tank equipped with nuclear warheads and capable of delivering a nuclear strike from anywhere in the world. And Outer Heaven, having such a weapon, is going to become the new world superpower.

To destroy Metal Gear, Snake rescues the chief engineer of Metal Gear Dr. Petrovich and his daughter Ellen. Learning about how to destroy a nuclear tank, Snake continues his journey through Outer Heaven. Soon, he begins to realize that the traps are clearly directed against him, and therefore the information about his actions was somehow intercepted by the enemy. Big Boss begins to behave strangely - he gives the hero false instructions, and soon orders to stop the mission (thereby breaking the fourth wall , because the Boss orders to turn off the console directly to the player). Schneider is ambushed and loses contact with Snake.

Reaching the very heart of the enemy base, Snake neutralizes Metal Gear. After that, he tries to leave the base, but encounters the leader of the Outer Heaven mercenaries, who turns out to be the Big Boss. The boss says that he used all his connections in military circles to create his own hired force. It was he who wanted the state of Outer Heaven to become a world superpower, able to bring even Western countries to its knees. He sent Snake on a mission in the hope that he would be captured, but underestimated the abilities of his subordinate.

Having lost the Metal Gear and most of his soldiers, Big Boss activates the self-destruction mechanism and promises that he will die not alone, but with Snake. Out of the ensuing fight, the winner is Snake, who then escapes from a burning building. After the end credits, Big Boss reports that he will still see Snake.

The creation of the game was led by Hideo Kojima. Metal Gear was originally conceived as an action game with a modern combat system. However, the technical limitations of the MSX2 did not allow a large number of bullets and opponents to be displayed on the screen. Inspired by The Great Escape ( Rus. The Great Escape ), Kojima changed the concept of gameplay - now the main element was not shooting at enemies, but avoiding encounters with them ^[7] . Realizing the scale of the forthcoming work and doubting the possibility of completing it, Kojima introduced Konami to this concept, who persuaded him to continue the work ^[8] .

MSX2

The Metal Gear game was released in Japan for the MSX2 platform on July 7, 1987, the official English version appeared on the European market in September of that year. In the English version of the game, many radio messages were changed or deleted, in particular Big Boss comments on weapons and objects. According to the fan translation project, only 56% of the original Japanese text was translated ^[9] . Moreover, the translation contains many spelling errors, for example, writing the word “destroy” as “destoroy”. The manual for the Japanese version of the game contained exclusive information that was not included in a similar English reference: information about characters with illustrations ^{[10] [11]} , brief descriptions of each boss ^{[12] [13]} , as well as full technical specifications of the Metal Gear tank ^[14] .

On December 8, 2009, Metal Gear released in Japan for the Virtual Console service ^[15] .

Nintendo Entertainment System

Ported to Famicom (NES), the game was released in Japan on December 22, 1987. While the MSX2 version was not released in the United States, the NES version hit the North American market in 1988, and then entered Europe and Australia. According to Kojima, the game port for NES was created by a separate division of Konami without his participation. In the process of porting, the game underwent many changes ^{[16] [17]} , which hideo Kojima was greatly disappointed ^[4] . Masahiro Ueno, who participated in the creation of the NES version, said that the staff was instructed to complete the development of the ported version within three months. Some differences between the versions of MSX2 and NES, for example, the location of the jungle at the beginning of the game, were designed on behalf of the leaders of the development company, who wanted the version of NES to be different from the original. And the removal of the Metal Gear boss was due to the technical limitations of the NES console ^[18] .

The most significant difference was the change in the design of the levels. In the original version, the main character penetrated the base on the water; in the NES version, the opening screen saver shows Solid Snake and three other soldiers parachuting, and the player starts the game in the jungle (and not in front of the entrance to the first building), and the other three soldiers no longer appear in the game ^[8] . The game does not have the final boss of Metal Gear - instead, the player must destroy a supercomputer guarded by four soldiers ^{[4] [17]} . Hind D boss has been replaced by the gun turret. The game also changed background music and removed the Big Boss message at the end of the game. The English localization of the game contained many grammatically incorrect sentences, such as “Contact missing our Gray Fox” ^[19] , “The truck have started to move!” ^[20] and “I feel asleep !!” ^[21] .

The directory of the English localization of the game contained information that was very different from the original plot. The main villain (whose identity is not revealed to the very end) was called "Colonel Vermon KaTuffy", and the commander of Snake was renamed the "commander of Sauf" ^[22] . In addition, according to information in the directory, Solid Snake participated in the invasion of Grenada before joining the FOXHOUND squad ^[23] . Directly in the game, such changes do not appear ^{[24] [25]} .

A bonus disc with the game was included in the package of the premium edition of the game Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes , released only in Japan ^[26] .

PC MS-DOS and Commodore 64

Based on the NES version of Metal Gear in 1990, two more ported versions were created for PC MS-DOS and Commodore 64 . Charles Ernst was involved in the development of the game for MS-DOS, and the version for Commodore 64 was created by Unlimited Software Inc. The game under MS-DOS contains minor changes, in particular a more rapid depletion of the protagonist's health. The version of the game for Commodore 64 is close to the NES version, adjustments are made only to the music and level design.

Mobile Phones and PlayStation 2

On August 18, 2004, a version of the Metal Gear game for mobile phones was released in Japan. Distribution occurred through the services of i-Mode , EZweb and Vodafone . The game also became part of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence for the PlayStation 2. The North American version of the game included text translated into English and Spanish. In 2008, Konami began distributing the mobile version of Metal Gear through Konami Mobile ^[27] .

The game has two difficulty levels (“Original” and “Easy”), an unlockable “Boss Survival” mode and a bandana, which, when equipped, gives the player endless ammunition. Some bosses have been renamed. Kanji and hiragana were added to the Japanese version of the game; the English version uses a completely new translation, different from the localization of MSX2 and NES.

This version of Metal Gear was included in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360, and PlayStation Vita. ^[28]

The success of the game entailed the appearance of two direct sequels ( sequels ): Snake's Revenge , released exclusively for the Western market and poorly accepted by players (not considered canonical ), and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake , created by Hideo Kojima himself and released only in Japan , exclusively on the MSX2 platform.

Later, already in the era of PlayStation consoles , the series was replenished with new games, such as Metal Gear Solid , Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and so on.

The NES version of Metal Gear is ranked 104th on the Nintendo Power Top 200 games list published in Nintendo Power magazine ^[29] .

• Metal Gear game on Konami official website (jap.)