Metal Gear Solid

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This article is about the original Metal Gear Solid released for the Sony PlayStation. For the Game Boy Color spinoff of the same name, see .

, commonly abbreviated as MGS, is a stealth-based game developed by Konami and first published for the PlayStation video game console in 1998. It is the third canonical game in the Metal Gear series, produced and directed by Hideo Kojima, with artwork by Yoji Shinkawa. Metal Gear Solid alternates stealth gameplay and expository cinematic sequences. It has frequently been selected by a number of gaming publications as the greatest action game on the PlayStation.

Metal Gear Solid was groundbreaking in its use of spoken dialogue and cinematic presentation, which served to enhance its intricate plot. The availability of 3D graphics and the extensive storage capacity of the CD-ROM format, compared to the limited cartridge format the Metal Gear team had to work with during the late 1980's and early 1990's, made it possible to create a more cinematic version of Hideo Kojima's vision for what its predecessors, Metal Gear and on the MSX2 could have been like.

After a teaser showing at E3 in 1997, it became one of the most highly anticipated games of its time.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} It topped the sales charts upon its release in 1998,^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} and held the number one spot in the ELSPA UK videogames chart for eight consecutive weeks, a record at the time.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

To date, Metal Gear Solid has spawned one sequel (', released in 2001) and a prequel (', released in 2004). A fourth game, titled ', is currently in development, set for a 2007 release. MGS1 has been enhanced and remade by Silicon Knights for the Nintendo GameCube with the subtitle '.

Plot summary

In February of 2005, during a training mission at a nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island, a fictional and remote island off the coast of Alaska, a group of genetically enhanced soldiers known as the Next Generation Special Forces (NGSF, or "genome soldiers") stage a rebellion and seize control of the facility. The rebellion is initiated by Liquid Snake, the squad leader of a covert black ops organization named FOXHOUND. The terrorists threaten the White House with a nuclear strike and have the following demands: the remains of Big Boss, the man considered to be the greatest warrior of the 20th century, one billion dollars, and later in the game, the vaccine to the programmable virus FOXDIE.

At the request of the US Secretary of Defense, the former head of FOXHOUND Colonel Roy Campbell returns from retirement and enlists the help of Solid Snake, an elite spy and ex-FOXHOUND operative, to rescue the hostages and eliminate nuclear threat. Solid Snake must enter the base alone, supported only by a handful of specialists communicating with him over a two-way radio Codec embedded in his body through the injection of nanomachines.

Having infiltrated the facility, Snake immediately sets about locating and freeing the hostages. The first hostage Snake locates is Donald Anderson, the chief of DARPA, who appears to die of a heart attack before Snake is able to free him from his cell. The next hostage is Kenneth Baker, head of Armstech, who explains that to deactivate Metal Gear Snake will need three key-cards, which have been entrusted to another loose cannon moving around Shadow Moses: a rookie soldier named Meryl. Baker then mysteriously dies from what appears to be a heart attack similar to that suffered by the DARPA chief.

Along the way Snake encounters and battles various members of FOXHOUND, including Revolver Ocelot, a skilled and grizzled gunslinger who escapes the battle but not before losing an arm to an odd cyborg ninja; Vulcan Raven, an Inuit shaman who attacks Snake with an M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank; and the bizarre levitating telepath Psycho Mantis.

Since FOXHOUND seems to have the ability to follow through with their threat of launching a nuclear weapon, Snake contacts Otacon (Dr. Hal Emmerich, PhD), REX's primary engineer, who was also captive on the island. First, Snake is forced to rescue him from the cyborg ninja Gray Fox.

Following the encounter with Otacon, Snake meets up with Meryl and the pair attempt to reach REX's hangar on the other side of the Shadow Moses complex. On the way they successfully eliminate Psycho Mantis, despite his occasional possession of Meryl. The journey to the hangar, on the other hand, is less successful: it involves a long concrete alleyway with a communications tower at the far end, where they are ambushed by FOXHOUND's Sniper Wolf, who shoots Meryl in both legs and an arm. To save her, Snake must backtrack to one of the first buildings in the facility and retrieve a PSG-1 sniper rifle, which he uses to duel Sniper Wolf at long range. During this interval the injured Meryl is captured. Believing that he has defeated Sniper Wolf, Snake attempts to cross the alley, but he too is captured and taken to meet Liquid Snake.

The terrorist leader reveals that the two Snakes are twins, each a genetically-manipulated clone of Big Boss created as part of a secret project titled "Les Enfants Terribles." Liquid professes to hate Snake, as he believes that Snake was given all of Big Boss's dominant traits, while Liquid was given the recessive traits. Liquid leaves Snake in the hands of Revolver Ocelot, who uses a torture device to try to extract information from him. During his captivity Snake finds himself in a holding cell with the body of Donald Anderson, who appears to have been dead for much longer than a few hours.

Eventually Snake escapes from the cell and returns to the communications tower where he and Meryl were ambushed. While climbing the tower he is attacked by Liquid Snake, who is piloting an Mi-24 Hind-D attack helicopter. While searching for a Stinger missile launcher to attack Liquid, Snake encounters Otacon, who asks Snake for a solider's perspective on love. Snake manages to shoot down Liquid and the helicopter, however when he finally descends from the tower he is ambushed for a second time by Sniper Wolf. Snake kills her, and Otacon arrives in time to bid her a tearful goodbye.

Snake has finally reached the Underground Base where REX is kept. At this point, Master Miller calls with startling news. Naomi claimed earlier that her Japanese grandfather worked in the FBI under Hoover—which, according to Miller, is a lie. Snake then encounters Vulcan Raven, this time equipped with an M61 Vulcan gatling gun. After being defeated, he reveals that the DARPA Chief Snake encountered was not the real one, but was rather Decoy Octopus, FOXHOUND's impersonation specialist. Why he did this, Raven leaves Snake to figure out for himself. Finally, Miller informs Snake and Col. Campbell that "Naomi Hunter" is no such person; she must be, in fact, a spy affiliated with FOXHOUND. He also reveals some sort of secret weapon: "FOXDIE," a secret assassination weapon—a genetically engineered virus that kills only specific people. Supposedly, it was deployed by Snake during this mission... And it kills by simulating a heart attack. With all this in mind, Naomi is placed under arrest.

Otacon, who has been hacking his way into Shadow Moses's files, has finally figured out the secret of the card key Snake got from Meryl. The nuclear weapon requires three card keys, but the single key Snake has is all three of them, because it is made of a "shape memory alloy" and will change form when exposed to different temperatures. The card keys are one-use-only: inserting them when the nuke is armed will disarm it, and vice-versa. Snake uses his three-in-one card key—and then, to his alarm, hears the computer report that the nuke is armed. Liquid Snake, chortling triumphantly, reveals how he's been manipulating the mission from the start: by posing as Master Miller. He explains that the DARPA Chief died under Ocelot's torture without revealing his half of the nuke's arming codes, but from Baker they learned the existence of the three-in-one key, which functions regardless of arming codes. Decoy Octopus then disguised himself as Chief Anderson to fool Snake into arming the nuke, exactly as he just did. Snake now has only one option: destroy Metal Gear REX.

Snake is in trouble until the cyborg ninja reappears. He reveals himself to be Gray Fox (Frank Jaeger), Snake's former FOXHOUND comrade, thought dead for six years. At the cost of his own life, he destroys REX's radar dish, forcing Liquid to open the cockpit itself and observe the situation manually. Before his death, Gray Fox reveals that he raised Naomi Hunter after killing her parents years ago, for which he has never forgiven himself. Snake succeeds in destroying REX, but is knocked unconscious, while Liquid remains intact. He lectures Snake on the details of the Les Enfants Terribles project, not to mention the gene therapy that created the Genome Soldiers, and reveals Meryl, bound and near death. Campbell then calls and explains that he has been removed from command in favor of Secretary of Defense Jim Houseman, who is about to drop nuclear weapons onto Shadow Moses. Liquid and Snake duel hand-to-hand aboard the carcass of REX, and after Snake wins, he escapes in a Jeep, using its mounted machine gun for a final confrontation with Liquid (who appears to be impervious to bullets; it's FOXDIE that ultimately kills him). Finally, Campbell reasserts his command by getting in contact with President George Sears, recalls the bombers and nukes, and helps arrange for Snake's departure.

The game features two possible endings, affected by performance in the torture session. The player is given an option to 'break' and surrender, but if the player does, Meryl is revealed to have died during Snake's bout with Liquid, and Otacon drives the jeep. If the player succeeds in withstanding Ocelot's torture, however, Meryl lives and drives the jeep, while Otacon stays behind in the "doomed" base (the attack on the base having been cancelled).

Finally, after the credits, the player is treated to a one-sided telephone report between Revolver Ocelot and a mysterious party. Ocelot reveals to his superior that Liquid was wrong: Snake was, in fact, the inferior one. But unlike many would think, Ocelot wasn't referring to genes at all. Ocelot also retains data from the test-firing of REX's nuclear railgun, and plans to sell it on the black market. In the "Meryl" ending, he reveals that neither Solid nor Liquid knew of the existence of their third twin: Solidus Snake, a "well-balanced individual" and the man with whom Ocelot is now conversing. Finally, he signs off: "Yes. Thank you. Good-bye. Mr. President."

Game details

Cinematic presentation

The entire game was fully voiced, with an unprecedented amount of quality voice acting talent. The majority of the game's dialogue takes place during radio conversations between Solid Snake (Akio Otsuka/David Hayter, Japanese and English respectively) and other characters through a transmitting device called a "Codec". The player was also free to initiate additional Codec calls during gameplay, which allowed additional details outside of the core storyline to be gleaned. Upon completion, the game features a rolling demo mode, in which the player may watch every cutscene and Codec conversation in the game without actually playing through it. The game contains over four hours of dialogue, which contributed to its shipping on two CDs.

The rest of the plot unfolds during fully-voiced cut scenes of ground-breaking quality. These scenes featured motion captured movements, elaborate camera shots, and special effects. They were rendered in real-time using the game's 3D engine. This decision to go with real-time rendering cost the scenes some realism: the characters' mouths did not move during dialogue and instead a slight jiggle of the head was used to represent speech.

Real-world references

The game, though set in (what was then) a near future, retains many elements of today's global, political, economic and military climate. Part of The Pentagon's urgency on Snake's sneaking mission is that the President is about to sign the fictional START III treaty, which REX's nuclear railgun violates. Of course, President Sears has not been fully briefed on REX's abilities, for reasons of plausible deniability. Nastasha Romanenko's parents died of cancer from helping clean up after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. One of the co-developers of Metal Gear REX in the game is Rivermore National Labs, an obvious reference to Livermore National Labs. Finally, many of the game's gadgets and weapons (the SOCOM pistol, the FAMAS assault rifle, Ocelot's dual Colt Single Action Army, and Meryl's Desert Eagle handgun) are drawn directly from real life, though a number of others (the Soliton radar, the Codec radio system, and optical camouflage, for example) are purely fictional, with only a slight basis in reality (if any).

Breaking the fourth wall

A stylistic quirk, Kojima's script breaks the fourth wall in a number of places.

• In the PlayStation version of the game, Psycho Mantis performs a variety of stunts to prove the truth of his telepathic and psychokinetic powers. First, he scans the player's memory card for save files from other Konami games and drops pithy comments if he finds them. (In the Japanese version, if save files from both Snatcher and Policenauts are found, Mantis delivers a message of gratitude from Kojima himself. One example in the US version is Konami's ) He also asks the player to drop his DualShock controller on the ground and then invokes the controller's vibration function in a violent manner. As one of his battle attacks, he is able to turn the game's screen black, with only the word "HIDEO" on the top corner of the screen, with characters resembling those of some TV sets e.g. Sony's (a pun of "video" as reference to Hideo Kojima), as if the player's television were malfunctioning. Finally, to counter his "mind-reading ability", the player must unplug the controller from Controller Port 1 and insert it into the infrequently-used Controller Port 2 instead.
• * In the Gamecube update, Psycho Mantis does all the same things as his Playstation counterpart, with a few minor differences; when the player shifts to first-person mode, after a while the camera becomes Psycho Mantis' point of view instead of Snake's. There are also several extra tricks that happen while fighting Psycho Mantis, such as the room appearing to tilt. This is not unlike a feature of antother Gamecube title, , where the main characters would begin to hallucinate as they lose their sanity.

• In the Science Lab, where Snake must fight the Cyborg Ninja to a standstill, before meeting Otacon, there is a Playstation Console with a plugged in controller (interestingly, digital rather than Dualshock analogue), visible to those who care to scan the work surfaces in the centre of the room.
• *In The Twin Snakes, the Playstation is replaced with a Nintendo Gamecube and a Wavebird.

• Early in the game, the Codec frequency for Meryl (140.15) can only be found on the back of the game's box or jewel case. This was initially commissioned in an effort to curb piracy, as without contacting Meryl, the player cannot progress in the game. However, this trick could be side-tracked (possibly for those who lost their case) by calling Campbell via Codec five times in a row (or by doing it the slow way and running through each possible frequency until she answers). This puzzle is not original to Metal Gear Solid however, as its predecessor on the MSX2 also required the player to look behind the game's packaging when Campbell changes frequency number.

• In the conversation with Mei Ling, pictured below at right, Mei Ling tells the player (via Snake) that they should be thankful that they have enough time to play video games.

• Just before Snake is captured and tortured, Mei Ling contacts Snake by Codec and says "Snake, wouldn't now be a good time to save your mission?"
• *In fact, Mei Ling's very presence in the game breaks the fourth wall, the same way Rosemary's presence and Otacon's alternative Codec number do. Rosemary and Mei Ling are dubbed 'Systems Analysts', although their only effect on the player is to save the game, which they announce openly across Codec. Otacon however, is the only person that Snake communicates to on the Tanker chapter, and so only one number would be needed where he can contact Otacon. Snake openly breaks the fourth wall however, after he asks 'How can I check in and save my progress?'. Otacon then continues to destroy the fourth wall by saying that he has a second frequency for that task.

• During the battle with the Hind D, the Colonel advises Snake that he can determine the gunship's position by following the sound of its rotors. However, if the player has set the game's sound to monaural mode, Campbell and Mei Ling will express pity.

• During the Revolver Ocelot torture sequence, he warns about the player using a controller with an auto-fire function; if the game detects an unlikely number of controller inputs, the player hits a game over. And in the Gamecube update, Ocelot actually adresses the player directly, warning the player not to go into first person mode. After the first two torture sessions, Naomi Hunter, in a Codec conversation, comforts Snake's wounds—the player's sore arm after the torture sequence—by asking the player to place the controller on his shoulder. The controller then vibrates, under the guise that it is the nanomachines in Snake's blood that are easing his tense muscles. If the game is played without the DualShock controller, however, this feature is not present.

• Master Miller also gives advice which is obviously intended for the player rather than Snake. For instance he warns that people's reaction speed decreases around 3 AM (obviously warning players not to play in the middle of the night) and that if you feel tired you should get some rest. At one point he also tells Snake to trust his instincts "as a soldier, as a gamer".

Alternate versions

Japanese release

Two versions of Metal Gear Solid were initially released in Japan; a stand-alone version containing the game itself, and a premium package containing the game, a t-shirt, a B4-sized pamphlet, memory card stickers, a serialized FOXHOUND dog tag, and a CD soundtrack containing music from the original MSX versions of Metal Gear and . The premium package that was sold to the general public in Japan came in a silver-colored metallic box, while a gold version was given to Konami stockholders. Both the premium package and the standard release came with a demo version of Gensô Suikoden II.

North American release

Metal Gear Solid was released first in Japan, over six weeks prior to the North American release. As a result, the American version has some minor refinements added during the localization process, such as adjustable difficulty settings (the Japanese version was equivalent to the North American version's "Easy" setting, with an unlockable "No Radar" mode), an unlockable "demo theater" for viewing all cut scenes and Codec conversations, and an unlockable tuxedo outfit for Snake in addition to a new skin for the Cyborg Ninja from the Japanese version, whereby the blue and red elements of his exoskelton were swapped. The features added in the English-language version, including the English-language voice track, appeared in Metal Gear Solid: Integral, released only in Japan.

The English script was translated by Jeremy Blaustein, who localized the English script for the Sega CD version of Snatcher. While his work in Metal Gear Solid was accurate to the original Japanese script, many of the lines in the games were Americanized by Blaustein.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

The release was one of the few PlayStation titles to be emulated on the Sega Dreamcast using Bleemcast!. The emulator ran the game in Dreamcast's standard 640x480 resolution and added some additional filtering effects as well.

European release

In the European releases of Metal Gear Solid some countries received a version of the game dubbed in their own languages, such as Spanish, French and Italian. In contrast, the European releases of later Metal Gear titles featured only English dubbing with subtitles in the respective country's language. The European versions included a playable demo of Silent Hill. A premium package was also released in Europe; although its contents differ from the Japanese version. It contains the game, its soundtrack, a t-shirt, postcards, dog tags, a reversible poster, and memory card stickers. The dogtags in this package have a generic design with the Metal Gear Solid and Konami logos, instead of the FOXHOUND design from the Japanese version. The European version also differed from the American version by introducing 'Extreme' play mode, on top of the 'Easy', 'Normal' and 'Hard' modes. This version was more difficult as it introduced more restrictions on the player, for example extended guard vision distance.

Metal Gear Solid: Integral, Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions, and the PC version

Released on June 24, 1999 in Japan only, Metal Gear Solid: Integral was a typical international version release. It included the additional features added in the North American release (such as the English-language voice acting and an additional unlockable outfit for Solid Snake), several entirely new features, and an extra disc of entirely new content.

The new features added to Integral that weren't present in the North American release include an additional difficulty level ("Very Easy", which gives the player an MP5 with unlimited ammo and silencer already equipped), a new costume for Meryl based on Solid Snake's sneaking suit, unlockable first-person view and "Alternate Round" (which has different placement and routes for guards) modes, and two additional radio frequencies with messages from the developers and secret music. Players could also download their clear data to the PocketStation, to play a special classified mission with Naomi or exchange their clear data with other players.

Integral also included a third disc, the "VR Disc", composed of entirely original content (in turn, the main game itself does not contain the "VR Training" mode like in the original). This disc was released as a stand-alone game for English-speaking markets: in North America as Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions (released on September 30, 1999) and in Europe as Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions (released on October 29, 1999). The European version required a copy of the original MGS in order to be played.) This disc includes 300 virtual reality training missions, ranging from simple tests of sneaking or fighting skill, to various absurd tasks like fighting Genola (a giant Genome Soldier with some very Godzilla-like tendencies, Solving murder mysteries, for example, finding out who the murderer is with clues left behind at the crime scene such as a popsticle or a broken survalience camera out of 3 suspects and taking the role of the Cyborg Ninja in three short missions. This disc also included three pre-release trailers for Metal Gear Solid, a photoshoot mode where the player could take pictures of Mei Ling and Naomi, and an unlockable preview picture of Metal Gear RAY from .

While the PlayStation version of Metal Gear Solid: Integral was never released outside of Japan, it was ported to PC for western markets. The Microsoft Windows version of Metal Gear Solid released in 2000 in North America and Europe is actually based on Integral and even uses the Integral moniker on the game's title screen. As such, it includes all of the extra features (save for the PocketStation link) and the VR Disc.

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

In the first quarter of 2004, an enhanced remake titled ' was released for the Nintendo GameCube. It features re-recorded voice acting, updated graphics, and gameplay features borrowed from '. It contained cutscenes directed by Ryuhei Kitamura and was developed by Nintendo's then-second-party developer Silicon Knights.

Metal Gear Solid comic book

In September 2004, IDW Publications began running a comic book version of Metal Gear Solid, written by Kris Oprisko and illustrated by Ashley Wood. The comic mimics Yoji Shinkawa's gritty style using a palette of greys and rough, sketchy paintings as panels. This first arc is now available in two paperback volumes, each with 6 issues and a cover gallery. Due near the end of 2006 is Metal Gear Solid: The Complete, featuring all 12 issues of the comic book, a cover gallery, and exclusive artwork. More recently, a new arc has launched telling the tale of "Sons of Liberty", including a special issue #0, containing character info and a special 5 page story.

Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel

In January 2006, Kojima Productions announced a new title for the PlayStation Portable titled Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel, known as Metal Gear Solid: Bande Dessinée in Japan. It will be based on the comics by IDW Publications, and will include enchancements such as sound effects, music, and animation. The title delivers the viewing experience in two interactive modes which were designed to give further insight into comics. Upon viewing the comic, the player presses the square button to open a "memory search" mode that allows them to freely search for characters and items by navigating the screen in three dimensions. Anything discovered is added to a database in which the content can be traded with users via Wi-Fi. Also included is a mission mode where information that the player has collected from the comic is added into a library. Missions are assigned requiring that the player to properly connect together the gathered info.[link] The title was released in North America on June 13, 2006.

A version was planned for the ill-fated Game.com, but the project was cancelled before it could be completed. At one point, a gameplay video was released to members of a Game.com newsgroup, but the video remains obscure and the game unreleased.

Bleem!cast

In 2000, the company Bleem made a version of the PlayStation emulator for Dreamcast that allowed users to play MGS on Sega's console. The game contained an option for sharper graphics.

Cast

Metal Gear Solids English-language voice cast is a typical cross-section of the voice-acting talent at the end of the 20th century, and many of the voice actors in both major and minor roles are experienced voice actors. Other studios that have drawn on this pool of voice-acting talent include LucasArts (particularly ') and Hanna-Barbera Productions (including such shows as The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''). Despite their experience, however, the majority of the credited cast, save for David Hayter and Doug Stone, were credited under pseudonyms.

Lead cast

• David Hayter lent his voice to Solid Snake, and it has since become his highest-profile speaking role and, save for his later screenwriting work on comic book movies X-Men and its sequel, X2: X-Men United, his highest-profile role of any kind. Curiously, the European edition manual (but not the actual game) and certain U.S. demo versions credit Hayter under the pseudonym Sean Barker, the character he played in Guyver 2: Dark Hero.
• *Veteran seiyu Akio Otsuka voiced Solid Snake in the Japanese-language version.
• Cam Clarke, already noted for his work in Robotech, the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series, and the English-language adaptation of Akira, voiced Liquid Snake. He used the pseudonym "James Flinders".
• *Banjou Ginga voiced Liquid Snake in the Japanese-language version.
• Debi Mae West, credited as "Mae Zadler", voiced Meryl Silverburgh.
• *Kyoko Terase voiced Meryl in the Japanese-language version.

Supporting characters

Character	Voice Actor (Japanese)	Voice Actor (English)
Naomi Hunter	Hiromi Tsuru	Jennifer Hale (as Carren Learning)
Hal Emmerich	Hideyuki Tanaka	Christopher Randolph (as Christopher Fritz)
Roy Campbell	Takeshi Aono	Paul Eiding (as Paul Otis)
Mei Ling	Houko Kuwashima	Kim Mai Guest (as Kim Nguyen)
Gray Fox	Kaneto Shiozawa	Greg Eagles (as George Byrd)
Nastasha Romanenko	Eiko Yamada	Renee Raudman (as Renee Collete)
Revolver Ocelot	Koji Totani	Patric Zimmerman (as Patrick Laine)
Vulcan Raven	Yukitoshi Hori	Peter Lurie (as Chuck Farley)
Psycho Mantis	Kazuyuki Sogabe	Doug Stone
Sniper Wolf	Naoko Nakamura	Tasia Valenza (as Julie Monroe)
Donald Anderson	Masaharu Sato	Greg Eagles (as George Byrd)
Kenneth Baker	Yuzuru Fujimoto	Allan Lurie (as Bert Stewart)
Jim Houseman	Tomohisa Aso	William Bassett (as Frederick Bloggs)

Incidental voices

Character	Voice Actor (Japanese)	Voice Actor (English)
Genome Soldier A	Masaya Takatsuka	Doug Stone
Genome Soldier B	Naoki Imamura	Peter Lurie (as Chuck Farley)
PAL Computer Voice	Naoko Nakamura	Tasia Valenza (as Julie Monroe)
Enemy Soldier		Scott Dolph
Enemy Soldier/Johnny Sasaki	Naoki Imamura	Dean Schofield (as Dino Schofield)

Music

The Metal Gear Solid score was composed by a number of in-house musicians at Konami, including Kazuki Muraoka, composer of the soundtrack of the NES version of the original Metal Gear. The in-game music has a more synthetic feel, often similar to ambient music, which increases pace and begins to introduce strings during the more tense moments. It has a distinctly videogame-style looping nature. Cut scene music, however, is more overtly cinematic, with stronger use of orchestral and choral elements.

A relaxing and contemplative ending theme by Rika Muranaka, titled "The Best is Yet To Come", covers the game's end-credits sequence and features Irish lyrics sung(sung in gaelic) by Aoife Ní Fhearraigh. An alternate ending theme, which is heard upon completing the game three times, was written by composer TAPPY. This theme was previously featured in the game's trailers, and also set the style for later Metal Gear games.

These three styles (synthetic game music, orchestral cut-scene music, and a vocal ending theme) are revisited throughout the later games such as ' and '. (A brassier, more orchestral soundtrack, inspired largely by the soundtrack of the James Bond films, was recorded for .)

The music used during the VR Training mode is a reworking of the main theme from the original MSX version of Metal Gear. Added music from is included in the VR Missions expansion as well.

External links

Official

• [Metal Gear Solid official website (Japanese)]
• [Metal Gear Solid: Integral official website (Japanese)]
• [Metal Gear Solid Windows version official website]

Others

• [Metal Gear Solid at MobyGames]
• [Metal Gear Week on 1UP.com, with Hideo Kojima interview]
• [Metal Gear Solid at the Metal Gear Wiki]
• [Metal Gear Source, article on Metal Gear Solid]

 

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