Metal Gear



""Metal Gear!?""

The Metal Gear series, created by Hideo Kojima in 1987, is the Trope Maker and Trope Codifier of the Stealth Based Game genre. The idea came when Kojima realized that the MSX2 couldn't show more than a few enemies at a time without flashing epileptically and generally breaking - so why not make a game where avoiding your enemies is the theme? This concept received a lot of criticism - one famous quote from Kojima's boss is, "Hiding from your enemies? That's not a game!". But then they started playing it. And it became quite a hit, spawning a great many sequels (with countless ports and editions):


 * Metal Gear 1987 (1987, MSX2)
 * Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake (1990, MSX2)
 * Metal Gear Solid (1998, PS1)
 * Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004, GCN)
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001, PS2)
 * Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater (2004, PS2)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (2012, 3DS)
 * Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (2006, PSP)
 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008, PS3)
 * Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker (2010, PSPPS3Xbox 360 )
 * Metal Gear Rising Revengeance (2013, PS3) PCXbox 360
 * Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain (2014 Multi-platform)

Plus a bunch of spin-offs:


 * Snake's Revenge (1990, a non-canon NES sequel to the first Metal Gear made before Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake)
 * Metal Gear Ghost Babel (released outside Japan as Metal Gear Solid for Game Boy Color, much to everybody's confusion) (2000)
 * Metal Gear Acid (2004, and actually spelled that way)
 * Metal Gear Acid 2 (2005)
 * Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (2006)
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinee (2008, Japan only sequel to the Digital Graphic Novel)
 * Metal Gear Online (2008. Included with Metal Gear Solid 4)
 * Metal Gear Solid Mobile (2008)
 * Metal Gear Solid Touch (2008-2009)

The chronological order of the series is:
 * Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - 1964
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - 1970
 * Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - 1974
 * Metal Gear - 1995
 * Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - 1999
 * Metal Gear Solid - 2005
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - 2007/2009
 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - 2014
 *  Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - 2023

The plot is far too complicated (and occasionally batshit crazy) to write here in any detail beyond the vaguest - besides, it would spoil it all - but the general plot centres around the main character, Solid Snake, his family and the titular Metal Gears - walking battle tanks capable of launching nuclear strikes from anywhere in the globe.

The series loves breaking the fourth wall and has a distinct quirky sense of humor - running jokes involve the iconic use of a cardboard box to sneak around a base (wait until he's not looking, run to a new location, and repeat). Hideo Kojima's irreverence is such that he's been trying to kill the series off since Metal Gear Solid 2 made its protagonist switch, so he can get on with more interesting things, but a rabidly devoted fanbase simply won't let him.

One of the most engaging parts of the games is the huge focus on multiple uses for items. For example, the cigarettes, while they seem like a pointless gag item, the player soon discovers that by equipping them they can see laser beams with the smoke, although they suffer a cost as the cigarettes sap their health little by little. They also calm the main character's nerves, making him aim straighter. If that isn't enough, there's always at least one character who will gives the player a long lecture about the dangers of smoking if you contact them.

Following the initial Metal Gear, each game has been a Deconstruction of action movies and video games, playing tropes so painfully straight they curve right back in on themselves. Very few tropes are invoked without logically following them through, especially those of spy movies - we see exactly what kind of mind and complete control of a situation would be needed to pull off the absurdly complex Gambit Roulettes that happen once per game, exactly what happens to a Tyke Bomb forced to take up a normal life, and there's a female on male sexual abuse subplot which is not at all okay, to name just a handful.

Solid Snake began as a Deconstruction of the Badass trope, as his wartime experiences had not turned him into the ultimate action hero, but into a bitter, broken-down wreck of a soldier who just wanted to retire but could not escape the life of conflict that had entwined him for so long. After fans missed the point slightly, this theme was hammered home with Raiden, who was put through the same torments as Snake in explicit detail. Not even Big Boss is immune to this theme: as Naked Snake, he's not the suave, impeccable agent that would fit perfectly into the '70s spy film pastiche of Metal Gear Solid 3, but a likable, kinda-dorky (though admittedly brilliant at what he does) everyguy. Only after going through immense psychological and physical scarring does he begin to resemble the ultimate soldier known as Big Boss.

The series is acclaimed for a lot of good reasons - stellar gameplay, very complex plots with pitch perfect Deconstructions, excellent direction, intelligent character development and weird stylized dialogue. Just prepare for a lot of cutscenes. I mean, a lot of cutscenes. No, more than that. Honestly, you play the game for two-fifths of the time, watch a full-length movie the other three-fifths. If you like the plot, though, you'll probably love the cutscenes.

Currently the latest game in the series is yet another spinoff: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, featuring Raiden, who has certainly been Rescued From the Scrappy Heap. Which will take a huge detour from the stealthy origins of the series, and instead become a pure (an very over-the-top) action game. In addition, a new site on Kojima Productions was uploaded that is recruiting new engineers for a new Metal Gear game that is strongly implied to involve Big Boss as well as a dog.

There is also The Last Days of Foxhound, a webcomic based off Metal Gear Solid which parodies certain aspects of the games as well as discussing some questions that were unanswered before Metal Gear Solid 4, as well as another webcomic titled The Cobra Days chronicling the World War II adventures of a similar Quirky Miniboss Squad from Metal Gear Solid 3, and hiimdaisy's Affectionate Parody comic series "Let's Destroy the..."

Please do not dump tropes that only apply to specific games on this page; put them on the appropriate pages or on the character page. This page is for tropes that appear several times throughout the series.

"Otacon: "Snake, this a war zone, so you have to be on your toes." Snake: "A surveillance camera?!""
 * Absolute Cleavage: (EVA, even as ). Naomi in Metal Gear Solid 4, where she leaves her labcoat unbuttoned and is obviously wearing no bra.
 * Naomi Hunter's lack of a bra is even a point that gets brought up in gameplay in one level; after being "rescued" by PMC soldiers and Haven Troopers, you're forced to track Naomi. The Haven Troopers use a variety of tricks to try and catch you including a voice recording and a pink bra left on the trail. According to the Integral Podcast, the designers wanted to have leave various pieces of female clothing throughout the trails, and a naked, unconscious female soldier near the end of the level.
 * Sniper Wolf got there before any of them.
 * Action Duo: Several:
 * Solid Snake and Meryl Silverburgh in Metal Gear Solid. Also, Snake and Otacon in the final car chase.
 * Snake and Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2.
 * Big Boss and EVA in Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater.
 * in Metal Gear Solid 4.
 * Action Girl: The Boss, Meryl, EVA, Olga Gurlukovich, Sniper Wolf, The BNB Corps, the FROGS.
 * Air Vent Passageway: Handy to escape guards. At least half-invented this trope, at least in the world of video game publishing.
 * All Up to You: In most of the games, the radio contact who usually supplies info in regards to how to defeat various bosses is, for various reasons, unable to help Snake out in defeating the final boss. The only notable exceptions to this rule are Metal Gear Solid 3 where everyone in Snake's control team is cheering him on in beating The Boss, and Portable Ops, where Roy Campbell supplies some hints on how to beat Gene.
 * All There in the Manual: Many of the characters' backstories are only revealed in supplemental materials or in optional Codec within the game. The most notable is the true identity of The Boss and The Sorrow's son, who is only revealed if you trigger a radio call between Snake and EVA in Metal Gear Solid 3. It's.
 * The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, in addition to compiling every piece of Metal Gear lore up to Metal Gear Solid 4, features an extensive backstory for Raiden of what happened to him between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4 that is not even mentioned in the game itself.
 * Almost-Dead Guy
 * Alternate Continuity: Ghost Babel is an alternate sequel to the first Metal Gear; the first Acid game follows a different story (though Snake is still a legendary soldier) and the second goes further.
 * Ghost Babel had some hidden foreshadowing to the plot of Metal Gear Solid 2.
 * Snake's Revenge was also relegated to an alternate continuity after Metal Gear 2 was made, although it was originally intended to be a true sequel.
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance included "Snake Tales", a series of five missions that featured Snake going through stages from Sons of Liberty, but with different plot point (there's no mention of the Patriots, and Snake's backstory is subject to changes). "A Wrongdoing" features Snake trying to save the President from Fatman, which turns out to be a plot by a third party. "Big Shell Evil" features Snake saving Emma Emmerich from Russian drug traffickers, while another third party is planning another plot. "Confidential Legacy" features Snake facing off against Sergei Gurlukovich and Meryl aboard the Tanker, and serves as a direct sequel to the first game. "Dead Man's Whisper" features Snake trying to save the Colonel Dolph from Vamp, with another conspiracy transpiring in the background. "External Gazer", the fifth and final tale, involves an alternate-universe Solidus planning on wrecking the multiverse by having Solid Snake destroy a fifty foot tall guard with death ray eyes.
 * Alternate Universe: Cloning was perfected extremely early, and apparently, so were exo-skeletons and mecha and Oh, and
 * The first game, made in 1987, takes place in 19XX (later established to be 1995). The second game, made in 1990, takes place in 1999 and has the Soviet Union survive past 1991. Metal Gear Solid, made in 1998, takes place in 2005 and contains the line "the nuclear age ended with the turn of the millennium." Metal Gear Solid 2, released in 2001, took place in 2007 and 2009. So it takes place in the future, which is now the past, but the next game takes place in the future anyway, which won't happen because the past didn't happen because it was just a theory about what the future would be, This makes for one of the most confusing timelines in the history of fiction. Only the addition of time travel could it make it more confusing.
 * Hilariously enough, that actually did happen with Raiden...in a non-canonical Secret Theatre clip from Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence.
 * Ancient Conspiracy: Subverted in Portable Ops and further in Metal Gear Solid 4. The actual conspiracy,, were formed fairly recently, in the 1970s, and only use the ancient conspiracy, , as a disguise to hide behind. The only link between the two is that
 * Anyone Can Die: A good number of main characters do. At the end of Metal Gear Solid 4, more than 80% of all characters are dead.
 * Arc Words: You'll hear "It's not over yet!" in a lot of the games.
 * Also: "Neither enemy or friend", "I've still got a job to do", and "The world needs only one Boss/Snake/Big Boss".
 * Don't forget Snake's usual response to people telling him smoking is dangerous; "So's war and I've done that all my life." tends to show up, making for
 * Arrow Cam: Nikita Remote Controlled Missiles - First Person Mode.
 * Artistic License: Biology: Most infamously in the first Metal Gear Solid, where it is revealed that  and   are both clones of  . Yet somehow they have different genetic makeup.
 * Finally revealed/retconned in Metal Gear Solid 4 as the two being genetically manipulated by the Patriots for different purposes. Solidus is the only 100% identical clone of Big Boss.
 * Not exactly retconned as
 * Audio Adaptation: There was a two-volume Metal Gear Solid Drama CD in Japan (titled Drama CD Metal Gear Solid) that basically served as a continuation to the PS 1 game, while the fictional radio drama Idea Spy 2.5 in Ghost Babel became an actual radio drama starring Hideo Kojima as the title character.
 * Ax Crazy: Half the freaking cast.
 * Back Tracking: One of the more Egregious examples occurs in Metal Gear Solid. Upon encountering Sniper Wolf, Snake is told to go find a sniper rifle, which is in a room fairly close to where the player started the game. Snake even lampshades it.
 * The Twin Snakes alleviates this by placing a non-lethal one much closer to where the player actually needs it.
 * Metal Gear 2 forces backtracking for damn near the whole game.
 * Badass: Well, yeah.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: Metal Gear Solid 4  get one of these during their Crowning Moment of Awesome.
 * Badass Bookworm: Otacon, eventually.
 * Badass Grandpa: Several. There's Big Boss, Revolver Ocelot, and The End. Solid Snake becomes one in Metal Gear Solid 4, and.
 * Snake's case is arguably that of a deconstruction, as Snake fighting in spite of his condition isn't solely treated as being heroic or inspiring. Rather, it's occasionally treated as being foolish and suicidal by the other characters at the minimum, and said characters aren't above patronizing and treating him like a burden.
 * Badass Longcoat: Ocelot. Liquid would count except he only has the coat on for maybe two scenes maximum.
 * Badass Mustache: Old Snake.
 * Ocelot, too.
 * Badass Normal: Snake, at least when compared to the majority of his supernaturally-gifted or crazy-equipped foes. He does have enormous willpower and is Made of Iron, but he can't carry an M61 vulcan cannon and doesn't have kickass battle armor to help him.
 * Big Boss arguably even more so seeing as he isn't a cloned super soldier.
 * Oddly enough, Johnny qualifies for this trope. He's patently useless in the majority of appearances, but his actions at the end of Metal Gear Solid 4 cement his status (considering he was just a normal completely unmodified human soldier).
 * The Bad Guy Wins: Most of the Metal Gear Solid games (barring Metal Gear Solid 4) has the main characters actually unwittingly allowing the bad guys from behind the scenes to succeed in their overall evil plan, usually revealed in The Stinger. Metal Gear Solid 2 and, to a certain extent, Peace Walker are notable exceptions to the whole Stinger route, where it is made pretty clear that the behind the scenes villains won even before we get to The Stinger.
 * It helps that the bulk of the series is essentially one big Enemy Civil War, with the Patriots as an elusive Bigger Bad. The Big Bads of all of the main series games (Big Boss, Liquid Snake, Solidus Snake and Ocelot) all turn out to be rebelling against the Patriots for personal gain, so stopping them invariably just helps the Patriots maintain their stranglehold on the world.
 * Banana Republic: Outer Heaven and Zanzibarland in the original MSX2 games. Oddly enough, the Metal Gear Solid games mostly avert this, with the exception of "Army's Heaven" in Portable Ops. The side-story installments also have Gindra in Metal Gear: Ghost Babel and the Moloni Republic in Metal Gear Acid.
 * Beam Me Up, Scotty: None of the games actually has the player's Mission Control yelling "Snake? Snake?! SNAKE!!!" exactly. It's usually something like "Snake, what's wrong? Snake? SNAKE!!", but Memetic Mutation would have you believe otherwise.
 * Beat Them At Their Own Game: Sniper Wolf and then Crying Wolf... the matching second names are not a coincidence, right down to a similar location for the boss fight, both in a Snowfield and Communications Tower on Shadow Moses Island.
 * It's not impossible to take down Sniper Wolf with Nikita missiles at the final confrontation.
 * BFG: Lots and lots of them, especially in Metal Gear Solid 4. Remember the rail gun Snake takes from ?
 * In Metal Gear Solid, Vulcan Raven uses a M61-A1 Vulcan 20mm gatling gun that he ripped out of an F-16.
 * Fortune uses the same rail gun as Crying Wolf.
 * Big Bad: One per game, and also one for the entire series, until the plot goes into Gray and Grey Morality.
 * Bigger Bad: The Patriots are this for the overall series. They're the biggest threat, but Snake never comes into direct conflict with them until the Grand Finale. For the most part, they're vaguely defined and stay in the shadows. Ironically, most of the Big Bads that he faces in individual games are actually battling the Patriots themselves, though for differing reasons.
 * Bittersweet Ending: Every individual game, though the bitterness and sweetness varies with each one.
 * Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater is this to the point where it could be considered a Downer Ending.
 * The only game that doesn't really count in the Solid series is probably
 * The Blank: Decoy Octopus and Laughing Octopus.
 * And, by extension,
 * Blood Knight:
 * Big Boss. He wants to create a place in the world for people like him.
 * Solid Snake as well, given Metal Gear Solid/The Twin Snakes heavy implications that he is this and probably borderline Psycho for Hire.
 * Liquid and Solidus, who want to carry out Big Boss' fantasy.
 * Gray Fox. Well, kind of. He doesn't necessarily enjoy battle, but he does feel like he needs it.
 * Boss Rush: Very often a bonus mode, seen in MGS2 and individual boss battles of 3, and an extra treat in the AC!D series and Portable Ops Plus.
 * Bottled Heroic Resolve
 * But Not Too Foreign: Pretty mild for most characters but up the ying-yang for the Snake "family." Although Western in origin and in spite of the fact that both Otacon (who's surname is Jewish-German!) and Mei Ling look much more Asian than any of the Snakes, the characters are told again and again how Asian they are. Says Vulcan Raven in MGS1: "The blood of the East runs in your veins" and he then goes on to describe (how he knows this we have no idea) that Snake's ancestors were from Japan and before that the Mongolian plains. As it turns out, Snake and his brother Liquid were cloned using a donor egg from a Japanese woman (so their mitochondrial DNA is East Asian).
 * Otacon himself is a pretty good example as, while (as far can be told) he's entirely European in origin, he is an emphatic Japanophile. Likewise, Raiden, while not a Japanophile, seems like he walked straight out of one of Otacon's Japanese animes.
 * Butt Monkey:
 * Johnny Sasaki, who gets knocked out a lot and keeps getting bad diarrhea problems, and is The Scrappy of Rat Patrol 01... up until he gets some badass points and
 * Raiden has it pretty rough as well. In MGS2 he is nagged by his girlfriend, is urinated on, he gets, it is revealed that his , and that's just his first appearance. In MGS3 he was parodied by Volgin's gay lover Raikov, a usable face mask that Major Zero and Sokolov both apparently dislike, and Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser where he travels back in time to kill Big Boss so that he could become the main character of MGS. To say he failed miserably there would be a understatement. In between MGS2 and MGS4 he is told by Rose that after which.
 * Camp: So very, very much.
 * Canon Discontinuity: Snake's Revenge, a sequel to the NES version of the first Metal Gear which Konami produced for the international market without Kojima's involvement. It was technically the first Metal Gear sequel, as it actually inspired Kojima to make Metal Gear 2 in the first place.
 * Captain Obvious: There are a whole lot of these. Some examples:

"Solid Snake: "I'm no hero. Never was, and never will be. I'm just an old killer, hired to do some wet-work.""
 * Char Clone: Ocelot is Char Aznable, and Liquid Snake is Rau Le Creuset.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: The first we hear about Sunny is while she's still a developing embryo in Olga's womb early in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. She becomes a recurring character in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and at the end,
 * Child Soldiers:
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The name comes from The Last Days of Foxhound, a webcomic based upon the game, which is used to describe Revolver Ocelot's habit of betraying anyone and everyone.
 * Code Name: Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, Naked Snake, and Raiden.
 * Also Gray Fox, Psycho Mantis, Vulcan Raven, Decoy Octopus, Sniper Wolf, Vamp, Fatman, Fortune, The Pain, The Fear, The Sorrow, The Fury, The Boss who also went by The Joy, EVA   Ocelot and his variations  , Major Zero who also used Major Tom, Viper, Python, Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf and Screaming Mantis, and those are only the millitary issued ones. Kojima seems to have a 'thing' about codenames. Justified as they are mostly special operations soldiers though.
 * Cold War: The setting of the Naked Snake games (MGS3, MPO, and Peace Walker).
 * Combat Sadomasochist: Vamp and Raiden seem to enjoy hurting each other a little too much.
 * Comm Links: The codec.
 * Companion Cube: The cardboard box. Both Solid and Naked Snake apparently have some sort of sexual fetish with it, and the Naked believes that not only is his being in the box his destiny, but it is also the true key to happiness. The former finds it relaxing to sit in the box - or, y'know, barrel. Solid Snake doesn't just find the box relaxing, to him, it's the most important thing he has on him. He even lectures Raiden about it, giving the famous "Take care of your cardboard box, and it'll take care of you" comment.
 * "I'm not exaggerating when I say the success of your mission hinges on how you use that cardboard box."
 * Conspicuously Selective Perception: AI can only see in front of them in the earlier games. Of course, an enemy spotting you right away would piss off many.
 * Continuing Is Painful: Variation: You can continue as much as you want without any harm except your rank at the end suffer. On the other hand, with the exception of a few bosses that your support team gives you more specific advice for (and on two cases, both tell you the secret that makes the fight possible) on future attempts, there is no reason to not just select "exit" to go the main menu and then load instead as long as you remember to save at the start of each area (where "continue" will return you to).
 * Copy Protection: Metal Gear Solid had an important character's Codec number on the back of the CD that you needed to call in order to advance. While it certainly stalled the game for anyone who didn't buy it new in its box, this probably wasn't intentional copy protection, more likely another example of what the series likes doing to the fourth wall.
 * Metal Gear 2 had a radio frequency on the box, and a table to decipher TAP codes in the manual.
 * Creator Breakdown: Kojima didn't really want to make any sequels past the original Metal Gear Solid, and there were alleged death threats against him after making Snake Eater because he didn't want to make a fourth game. As a result, Guns of the Patriots is full of subtext about Kojima's reluctance to make yet another Metal Gear game and resolve story points he never intended to be resolved.
 * Then Solid Snake's Knight in Sour Armor attitude is also Kojima's.
 * Although as development started for 2 before 1 saw international release, and 1 and 2 end in major cliff hangers  and in 2 it's revealed   not to mention how Kojima's always been happy with his fanbase and his work on Metal Gear, this could be seen as people reading too much into what he's said.
 * Cutscene: Let's just say there are two types of people in the Metal Gear fandom: those who hate Metal Gear because of the cutscenes, and people who don't.
 * It is frequently said by fans that Metal Gear's an interactive story, rather than a game, not that it's a bad thing.
 * Cut Song: The Metal Gear Solid main theme was cut out of post-2006 MGS games because of accusations of plagiarism from Winter Road by Sviridov.
 * Cyber Cyclops: The Ninja in MGS1 and Metal Gear Ray are both cyclopes.
 * Only the mass production models of Metal Gear RAY are Cyclopes. The prototype has two optical sensors.
 * Also, although Gray Fox's mask affects the appearance of a cyclops, if you look closely the eye holes are actually two slits immediately next to the giant red scanner. However, the aesthetic remains similar.
 * Dark-Skinned Blond: Fortune, Drebin and Scott Dolph.
 * Death Seeker: Metal Gear Solid had Gray Fox, who was looking for one last battle with Solid Snake. MGS2 introduced us to Fortune, whose father died in the tanker incident, followed by her husband's death and a miscarriage as a result of all the stress. She cannot be hit by bullets  Vamp doesn't really start playing this role until MGS4, and   Snake himself arguably counts in MGS4, since his reasons for living are rapidly disappearing.
 * Deconstruction: Lots of it.
 * Depraved Bisexual: Both Volgin from MGS3 and Vamp from MGS2 & 4.
 * Derivative Differentiation: The games were initially just a tongue-in-cheek take-off of American spy and action films, but Metal Gear Solid was where the series started to establish its own identity (as the Sequel Displacement can attest to).
 * Did Not Get the Girl:
 * In 4,
 * Also same for  in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, although they end up together in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and   in Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater - though technically subverted as she got pregnant with Big Boss' "child" clones.
 * And lest we forget that there were two full games before the Solid Series, Snake obviously does not end up with Ellen Madnar (MG1), nor does he end up with Holly White (MG2).
 * Driving Question: The Patriot's identity, during games 2-4.
 * Dysfunction Junction: The games go to lengths to point out just how incredibly screwed up almost every single character is, and the tragic consequences of such.
 * Eagle Land: Mostly Type 1 through the MGS series. America's got a few skeletons in the closet, and some of the people in power are in it just for the perks, but all the heroes and even many of the sympathetic villains (most notably Solidus and The Boss) beieve American ideals are worth fighting for.
 * Easter Egg: Tons of 'em.
 * Edge Gravity
 * Elites Are More Glamorous: Highly subverted. In MGS1, the 'high-tech next-generation special forces' are the useless Mooks of the game, and in MGS2, the US Marines and Navy SEALs are Red Shirt Armies
 * Elite Mooks: The Hi-Tech Soldiers, Arsenal Tengu in MGS2, the Rocket-men and FROG units in MGS4.
 * Enemy Chatter: Only during Alert, Evasion, and Caution phases. However, there is some chatter to be found in most games, if you look hard enough.
 * Enemy Detecting Radar: Present in all of the main MGS games, in one form or another. The first two had the "Soliton Radar" which showed you the position and facing of enemies on a nearby radar minimap. Some people complained--justifiably--that the radar actually made things a little too easy. For MGS3, the prequel, they had a number of lower-tech solutions that all ran off of battery power: A motion sensor that would not detect stationary enemies, a "sound ping" radar that could give away your position to someone nearby, and an "AP sensor" that made the controller vibrate when enemies were near. MGS4 gave players the "Threat Ring" which showed the relative locations of enemies surrounding Snake, but only when he held still and knelt on the ground, and also a sound-detecting radar in the form of the Solid Eye--loud explosions, gunfire and other turmoil would make it not work as well, but it provided a nice balance between the previous incarnations of Enemy Detecting Radar.
 * Equal Opportunity Evil: The ranks of the various Quirky Miniboss Squads tend to be quite diverse.
 * Escort Mission: Raiden and Emma; Big Boss and EVA; Old Snake and Drebin's Stryker; Old Snake and the Van.
 * Everything Fades: Averted - except for the first MGS, dead bodies don't go and need to be hidden.
 * However, enemies killed in alert mode or action sequences will disappear (flicker out more like it), and occasionally in normal status if one waits long enough.
 * As a possible reference to this, Liquid Ocelot's elite FROG units immolate themselves once they're dead, and if Snake touches the bodies, they crumble to dust.
 * Evil Brit: Two of the most influential villains in the entire series are British:
 * Subverted with Strangelove, who is more like an anti-heroic albino, Emma (who was the daughter of a British woman), and possibly Otacon, as the in-game novel In The Darkness Of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth implies that Otacon has some British ancestry.
 * Evil Is Dumb: Johnny Sasaki and, arguably, Fortune.
 * Exposition Break: Utterly infamous for these.
 * The CODEC seems to stop time, so Snake and his Voice with an Internet Connection can carry on long conversations during a firefight.
 * Averted in Peace Walker, where not only is the codec in that game not only not freezing time, but it also actively encouraged that you don't attempt to call when near enemies.
 * Expy: Snake shares many characteristics with Snake Plissken from Escape from New York, while Colonel Campell is Colonel Trautman from Rambo. Given that Kojima is an avowed movie fan, this is no surprise.
 * Raiden is an Expy of Solid Snake, and probably Jack from Titanic.
 * Raikov is an Expy of Raiden.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Subverted slightly in that Big Boss' eyepatch really is an eyepatch, while Old Snake's Solid Eye simply provides optical enhancements... as well as 'radar,' of sorts. Well, then there's also Solidus.
 * Fakeout Escape: One of the ways Snake can escape jail cells he ends up in is by simply hiding under the bed while the guard is gone.
 * Fallen Hero: Big Boss, along with.
 * Famous Last Words: See Final Speech below.
 * Fan Disservice: See trope entry.
 * A Father to His Men: Big Boss and Gene.
 * Arguably The Boss in reference to the Cobra Unit.
 * Feelies
 * Femme Fatale: Sniper Wolf, EVA, Naomi.
 * Fight Like a Card Player: The Ac!d series.
 * Final Speech: Every single character death includes one of these. No exceptions.
 * First-Person Snapshooter: Each Metal Gear Solid features a digital camera that allows the player to take screenshots of the game and save them to the memory card.
 * Fission Mailed: Trope Namer.
 * Fisticuffs Boss: At least twice.
 * Five-Bad Band: Several.
 * Metal Gear Solid's Fox-Hound:
 * The Big Bad: Liquid Snake
 * The Dragon: Revolver Ocelot
 * The Evil Genius: Psycho Mantis
 * The Brute: Vulcan Raven
 * The Dark Chick: Sniper Wolf (Femme Fatale Dark Action Girl)
 * The Sixth Ranger: Decoy Octopus
 * Metal Gear Solid 2's Dead Cell:
 * The Big Bad: Solidus Snake (President Evil)
 * The Dragon: Revolver Ocelot (Magnificent Bastard-slash-Chessmaster)
 * The Evil Genius: Fatman (Mad Bomber)
 * The Brute: Vamp (male twist on the Lesbian Vampire)
 * The Dark Chick: Fortune (grieving Death Seeker)
 * The Sixth Ranger: Olga Gurlukovich (does a Heel Face Turn, to put it in its simplest possible way)
 * Metal Gear Solid 3's Cobra Unit:
 * The Big Bad: The Boss
 * The Dragon: The Sorrow (when he was alive, anyway)
 * The Evil Genius: The Pain (learned how to mind-control BEES)
 * The Brute: The Fury (Kill It with Fire)
 * The Dark Chick: The Fear (more about instilling emotion than experiencing it himself)
 * The Sixth Ranger: The End (an aging warrior who doesn't participate in most missions, but is brought out for one last op)
 * Metal Gear Solid 4's B&B Corp A.K.A. Snakehound:
 * The Big Bad: Liquid Ocelot (Magnificent Bastard)
 * The Dragon: Screaming Mantis (leader of the four B&B Corps members; )
 * The Evil Genius: Laughing Octopus (Evil Laugh-prone stealth expert)
 * The Brute: Crying Wolf (Snipes with a BFG and has enough strength to stop and flip over by charging it a bulldozer)
 * The Dark Chick: Raging Raven (ANGRY)
 * The Sixth Ranger: Vamp.
 * Flawed Prototype: The eponymous Metal Gears, nuclear-armed walking tanks that never actually get into the production stage. RAY and the GEKKO are exceptions, but as the games are quick to remind us, they aren't actually Metal Gears.
 * Forgotten Superweapon: REX was more or less abandoned at Shadow Moses.
 * Justified since REX was developed illegally.
 * Foreshadowing: In Super Smash Bros Brawl. Yes, Hideo Kojima snuck in hints about MSG4 on the Killer App of a competing company in an Intercontinuity Crossover. It's really not out of place.
 * The games themselves are riddled with foreshadowing. Starting from the first Metal Gear Solid we have references to Snake not ageing well and the mention of a few characters from MGS 2. MGS 2 gave us the revelation that the Metal Gear technology was originally Russian. Portable Ops brought in hints of who the Patriots really were.
 * Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Everyone's sneaking suits.
 * Future Badass: Raiden in MGS4, Null . Additionally, Portable Ops can count - the remaining survivors of the San Herionymo incident later become part of Big Boss's mercenaries.
 * Future Spandex: The sneaking suits.
 * Gainaxing: Meryl (who doesn't wear a bra) and EVA.
 * Possibly borrowed from Policenauts, in which you could jiggle almost every female character's breast.
 * Gambit Pileup: Almost every game has one, which thanks to continuity build up and create a bigger pileup for the entire series.
 * Game Shark: Mentioned, but not actually used.
 * Generation Xerox: All of Big Boss' children are as good fighters as him. Otacon is as much as genius at robotics as his dad
 * Get On With It Already: Many cutscenes and conversations throughout the series. But none compare to all of MGS4. (Fortunately, almost all of the MGS4 cutscenes are skippable. Unfortunately, the exceptions include, the awfully long credits, and the post-credits ending.)
 * Good Bad Translation: The NES Metal Gear. "The truck have started to move" and "I feel asleep", for instance.
 * Gone Horribly Right: The Patriots started the Les Enfantes Terrible project because they wanted perfect soldiers like Big Boss. They succeeded, and ended up with three guys who do not enjoy getting dicked around at all.
 * Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: EVA, Old Snake, Ocelot.
 * Graying Morality: The first game is very straightforward: you are to stop the leader of Outer Heaven to prevent war.  As the series goes on, it becomes less and less clear who, if anyone, is actually evil and not just a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
 * Groin Attack: In MGS2 and MGS3, shooting an enemy in the family jewels was a one hit kill. In MGS4, you can knock out a male enemy by crushing their balls. Performing it on a FROG-Trooper, however, turns it into a grope and a very angry FROG trooper.
 * Hand Cannon: Meryl's long-barrel Desert Eagle in MGS, which she claims to have used since she was a child. There's also the Patriot in MGS3, essentially a sawn-off version of an M16 prototype that only The Boss can effectively fire one-handed.
 * Harder Than Hard: The European releases of MGS 2 and 3 add an unlockable "European Extreme" mode as a PAL Bonus. It's like the regular Extreme difficulty, with the added stipulation that triggering an Alarm phase ends the game immediately.
 * He Knows About Timed Hits: Made into an art form.
 * Heal Thyself: Resting in hidden areas in MGS3 and MGS4 restores health, not to mention the fast-regenerating camouflage given to you by one of the bosses in MGS3. (In MGS4 there are at least two iPod songs that specifically increase Old Snake's recovery rate.)
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Snake and Otacon. They're serious competitors with Mario and Luigi for the title of "Most Badass Bromance in Videogame History".
 * Honor Before Reason: Averted and commented on by everyone, especially Solid Snake, who mocks the idea.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: In MGS4,.
 * Fortune in MGS2 is truly a hopeless fight; all you can do is dodge her shots until events force her to leave.
 * Hospital Hottie: Dr. Naomi, Rosemary, Para-Medic and Elise.
 * Hot Amazon: Meryl, Olga, The Boss, Sniper Wolf.
 * Hot Scientist: Naomi Hunter. Otacon also becomes significantly more attractive with each game.
 * Hyperspace Arsenal: Unabashedly. You can carry about fifty weapons in MGS4, but only five at a time that you can wield in your menu. You can also carry an oil drum.
 * I Cannot Self-Terminate: Gray Fox has absolutely nothing to live for except one last battle with Solid Snake. Vamp's  prevents him from committing suicide. Fortune cannot be hit with bullets, and any grenades thrown in her vicinity end up being duds , but she lost everything after the tanker incident so this is actually a curse. All three are looking for a Worthy Opponent to finish them off. The Boss was a special case, as   Even Snake fits this during MGS4, as he cannot die until he completes his mission.
 * Identical Grandson: Big Boss and the three Snake brothers are meant to resemble each other (notably in the fact that Solid Snake is a dead-ringer to Naked Snake, the young Big Boss, while Solidus Snake resembles the elder Big Boss).
 * Johnny, the jailer from the original Metal Gear Solid, has a grandfather who worked as a jailer for the GRU during the Cold War. Guess whose cell he had to watch over in Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater.
 * Idiot Hero: Despite having the situation explained to them every 3.5 seconds, both Snakes and Raiden are unbelievably dense. Though considering how many plot twists get revealed in each cutscene and the Mind Screw nature of MGS2, it could just be an effort to identify with the players who are probably just as confused.
 * Johnny (Akiba) in MGS4 also qualifies.
 * Ignorance Is Bliss: The Emmerich family are never told that they are working on a machine that is going to be used to destory the world because they would not help. Thankfully they are incredibly gullible.
 * I Just Want to Be Badass: Deconstructed with Solid Snake, and even more savagely deconstructed with Raiden.
 * Implausible Fencing Powers: Justified in the fact that A) the blades are meant to deflect bullets, and B) The suits they wear increase reflexes.
 * Interface Screw: For realism (when sniping, if you don't take a relaxant medicine the character's hand shiver) or just messing with the player's mind (Fission Mailed, the Psycho Mantis battle).
 * Intercontinuity Crossover: Peace Walker features a bonus mode crossing over with Monster Hunter, and Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater had "Snake v. Monkey", a crossover with Ape Escape.
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha: The Metal Gears themselves.
 * Seriously, though... in MGS4 proves why Otacon's design was the most badass weapon ever developed in a semi-realistic setting.
 * Instant Sedation: Subverted and played straight. Shooting a guard (with no vest) in the chest or heart does this; but it'll take anywhere from thirty seconds to five minutes, depending on the difficulty level, to knock out a guard in any other zone.
 * Intercontinuity Crossover: With Super Smash Bros.. Brawl.
 * Kidnapped Scientist: At least one per game.
 * Kill It with Fire: Pyro Bison, Fire Trooper, The Fury, Incendiary Grenades and Molotovs in MGS4, and flamethrower units in Metal Gear Acid 2.
 * Knight in Sour Armor: Solid Snake, Big Boss, and the Boss are all this.

"Snake: Metal Gear?! Dalton: Huh? You're familiar with it? Snake: No. Had to blurt it out..."
 * Kudzu Plot: Starts off mild in the early games. Taken Up to Eleven with MGS2.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Taken to an art form.
 * Large Ham: Liquid Snake and his wacky arm gestures, Revolver Ocelot, and Death Seeker Fortune are guilty of this. And when, the hamminess can barely be described.
 * Ocelot even calls Fortune out on this
 * Justified in MGS with Liquid as the graphics in the 90's didn't exactly allow for subtlety of movement. Not to mention it's supposed to be a deconstruction/homage of classic 60's spy and horror movies, a fact which Paramedic effectively spells out in 3.
 * Laser Sight: Useful. Since you don't use iron sights in MGS2, it's the only way to aim; and in MGS4, you'll need it if you use third person a lot.
 * Latex Perfection: Somewhat subverted; the mask's lips don't move, Snake's facial structure is roughly recognizable beneath the mask, and the FaceCamo used by Laughing Octopus and Snake is MUCH more advanced than current technology.
 * Legacy Character: The Cyborg Ninja. A different character takes up the mantle in every game in the series (excluding Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater, since they didn't have cybernetics in The Sixties).  in Metal Gear Solid,   in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and   in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
 * Liberty Over Prosperity: Freedom is pretty much the entire point for "followers" of Big Boss' supposed ideology.
 * Limited Animation: The CODEC cutscenes in the first three of the Solid series:
 * The first one represented conversations on the radio by showing a picture of each person in the conversation, with Mouth Flaps when they spoke. The most expressive they got were the occasional change in expression, Mei Link sticking her tongue out at you, and Otacon jamming his face up against the camera to warn you about stealthed assassins.
 * The second upped it with full models of the characters - however, the Mouth Flaps were really off, and the characters frequently used CODEC when they were standing right in front of each other.
 * The third dealt with the first problem by representing the characters with still pictures, as it took place in the 1960s, when two-way video-phone devices would be nonexistent.
 * The fourth game avoided it entirely by showing full videos of the character Snake was speaking to.
 * Load-Bearing Boss: Golab in AC!D2, Fatman in MGS2.
 * Lost in Translation: "La Li Lu Le Lo" are "missing" vowel sounds in Japanese; the point of the name is that it's not technically possible to write or say it in Hiragana (because there's no distinction between "L" and "R" and the string is usually "Ra Ri Ru Re Ro"), so the Patriots censor their name to something that can't be written down or spoken. This is never really gone into in the dub (since English doesn't do that), so it just seems to be meaningless babble.
 * Some could say that it worked out fine, while in english you can say "La Li Lu Le Lo", anyone who says that in the middle of a conversation for no reason seems silly and out of place. This makes it difficult to take their opinion seriously, thus getting the characters (and the viewer) to wonder about the legitimacy of their claims as well as the declaration of the existence of the patriots
 * Luke, I Am Your Father: ;.
 * Made of Iron: All the Snakes qualify to some extent, but Liquid takes the cake. He is survives a helicopter crash, a large explosion, a high fall and several gunshot wounds before finally succumbing to the FOXDIE. Even then, he is able to possess Ocelot through his arm.
 * Magic Bullets: Quite literally with some bosses.
 * The Man Behind the Man: Like you wouldn't believe, though the Patriots
 * Manly Tears: In Snake Eater,
 * Fifty years later,
 * Menu Time Lockout.
 * Methuselah Syndrome: Three different characters are stated to have lived for over a century (The End, 1861?-1964; Old Boy, 190?-2008, and ).
 * Snake and Solidus are an inversion, similar to the Replicants from Blade Runner. They're not engineered to last.
 * Mission Control: In every game, there's not just one Voice with an Internet Connection; there is a whole team dedicated to providing backup for the player. You can call them at any time to have conversations that alternate between useful and amusing (and Anvilicious). Unfortunately, they can call you as well....
 * Mind Screw: The last few hours of MGS2.
 * Also anything involving Psycho Mantis and Screaming Mantis, who sometimes attacks the player. Screaming Mantis can even.
 * Mobile Cardboard Box
 * Mr. Exposition: Happens at the start of every game with the Colonel, Otacon, Major Zero, et cetera.
 * Mysterious Informant: Used in Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid, and MGS2. The reason it was repeated in the original MGS was because Metal Gear 2 was only released in Japan, and MGS1 followed more or less the same plot in a different setting. The second time this happened was for another reason.
 * Nanomachines: Everything supernatural that happens? It's caused by these buggers in one way or another (with the possible exceptions of The Sorrow, Psycho Mantis, and Vulcan Raven).
 * New Game+: You start out with goodies in games before MGS4. MGS4, you get all your weapons and earned gear, plus goodies.
 * Ninja Butterfly: Your support crew in each game.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: The cover artwork of the original Metal Gear is blatantly traced from a well-known publicity still of Michael Biehn in Terminator, while the character designs in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2 are clearly modified photographs of actual celebrities such as Sean Connery, Mel Gibson, Tom Berenger, Richard Crenna, and Albert Einstein. In the cellphone and PS2 ports of Metal Gear 2, the character designs were revamped to resemble Shinkawa's designs from the later MGS games.
 * No Fourth Wall: One of the trademarks of the series. Characters explicitly describe the game's controls with a straight face; the Copy Protection involves a character asking you to look at the back of the game package; one of your Voices With An Internet Connection provides constant real-world advice on how to play your video game properly and healthily; a Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique scene involves the resident Magnificent Bastard warning you not to try to use autofire to beat the Mini Game; and everything involving Psycho Mantis, who used your save game content to "read your mind," the rumble feature on your controller to move it with "telekinesis," had a special move that caused your screen to turn black, and could only be defeated by unplugging your controller and plugging it into the second port (or by already having a second controller in the second port, and picking it up). And that's only what the first game does; the second, which explicitly aims to break the fourth wall, was worse.
 * It got to the point of Lampshade Hanging: during Act 4 of MGS4, Otacon calls Snake and tells him to put in disc 2. Then he remembers that, because the game is on a dual-layer Blu-ray disc, there is no disc 2. (Snake tells Otacon to stop fooling around, while players freak out due to the exact location of this conversation.) Then, Oh, and in Metal Gear AC!D2, when General Wiseman explains bits of the COST and CARD system to Snake, "Agent" Dalton hears all of this and confusedly says, "That just went right over my head."
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Volgin to Snake in Snake Eater, and even worse, Ocelot to Snake in Guns of the Patriots.
 * Non-Linear Sequel: Has one of the most messy chronologies known to man - Metal Gear Solid Mobile is a good example. It seems to clearly fit in to the main timeline between MGS and MGS2, but the game's ending apparently makes it Canon Discontinuity..)
 * Also, you might wonder why a lot of characters like to talk to you through the Codec screen rather than to your face or with Codec real-time. This is because time stands still during the process, because it's a video game, and MGS2 went and injected Post Modernism through where the fourth wall was supposed to be, which is why you're so confused right now.
 * No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Averted. Almost every Metal Gear built is based ont eh plans of the previous Metal Gear. Then the plans to make one got on the blakc market and everyone had a Metal Gear.
 * Notice This
 * Novelization
 * Nuclear Weapons Taboo: Avoided in every game.
 * Old Save Bonus: See Psycho Mantis, above.
 * If you save during the fight with The End, and wait a week (or just advance your Playstation's internal clock by a week),.
 * Ominous Save Prompt: Two of them. In MGS2,  and in MGS3,.
 * MGS3 actually kind of inverts it. says that she has a bad feeling about saving. If you save and reload the game,
 * But if you save and
 * On Site Procurement: Trope Namer
 * One Bullet Clips: Portable Ops does this, and so does the R2-tapping strategy.
 * One Steve Limit: Strongly averted. The series has six characters whose names are variants of John - two Johns (one also called Jack), another Jack, two Johnnys and an Ivan, plus two more of the similarly-sounding Jonathan. Five of them appear in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and each game in the series has at least one. The same series also includes two Davids, Jim and James, Natasha and Nastasha, two President Johnsons (the real-life Lyndon B. Johnson and the fictional James Johnson), and no less than five characters who have at some point gone by the codename Snake.
 * Pacifist Run: You receive a lower score at the end if you kill everything. Also, in MGS3 and MGS4, you get good bonus items from the bosses if you tranquilize them into submission instead of kill them. In MGS3, In MGS4 . As before, some of the Emblems (ranks) require a certain amount of kills (less than or more than) to acquire; the Pigeon and Big Boss Emblems for example require no kills.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: Note that he still has the same voice, one distinctive enough that many players became suspicious the moment he opened his mouth. On the other hand, its subverted when the rereleases of Metal Gear 2 as well as his appearance in Peace Walker show that he actually does look like a disguised Liquid, and in the case of the latter game, even sounds like Liquid in disguise.
 * And, of course, you can hide inside cardboard boxes, which are literally a paper-thin disguise. Soldiers aren't totally fooled by these, though, especially in later games, and especially if the box is out in the open and in their way.
 * There's also Solid Snake disguising as Iriquois Pliskin in MGS2, by changing his uniform and nothing else.
 * And EVA as Tatyana in MGS3, which had her wearing glasses and her hair differently.
 * Parrot Exposition: David Hayter has joked in interviews that most of the dialogue he has to record consists of repeating the last couple words the other person said, and adding a question mark to it.
 * Lampshaded in Metal Gear AC!D2, when Snake hears General Wiseman describe what Doctor Koppelthorn did hi-jack: Metal Gear.


 * Originally, the title for Parrot Exposition was Metal Gearing.
 * Metal Gearing?
 * Playing with Syringes: Les Enfants Terribles; the experiments that made Gray Fox.
 * Ironically in MGS4, used by Old Snake to restore Psyche until his body builds up a tolerance, as well as.
 * Pop-Cultured Badass: Ocelot loves Spaghetti Westerns, and Solid Snake's a fan of Escape from New York.
 * Post End Game Content: You'll always get something the first time you complete the game, and some more rewards if you also fulfill certain objectives during it. New Game+ gives you access to it.
 * Powered Armor: The Cyborg Ninja in the first MGS was a partial case, being a cyborg and all. The ninja and Solidus in MGS2 on the other hand are textbook cases.
 * Potty Failure: A running (ew) theme in the Metal Gear Solid games is toilet humour; generally, at least one case of someone wetting themselves occurs per game. 4 upped the ante with a scene of a man soiling himself in public. Um...Thanks, Kojima.
 * Prison Episode: The first game and Portable Ops involves a relatively easy prison escape; Solid 1 and 3 and Peace Walker have relatively challenging ones.
 * Quirky Miniboss Squad: See all the Five-Bad Band entries.
 * Rare Guns: You have D-Eagles (and the long-barreled version, which is widely available), muskets, the Bizon, Chinese copies of Mausers, DSR-9s, and so on.
 * Rated "M" for Manly
 * Ravens and Crows: Vulcan Raven in Metal Gear Solid, Raging Raven in MGS4. The similar codenames are not a coincidence.
 * Redshirt Army: The SEALs sent in to deliver the Nuclear Football in MGS2 (to be fair, they're up against a vampire and an unkillable woman with a railgun), the US Army/Marine Corps task force in MGS4 (though they later fend off a horde of FROG units).
 * Say My Name: Every single Metal Gear Solid has this, with both enemies and allies screaming "SNAAAAAAAAKKKEEEE!!!"
 * The series' use of it is inverted near the end of Guns of the Patriots when the "OOOTACOOOOOOON!" Inverted both for Snake being the one to use it, and it being a genuinely tense and dramatic moment instead of meme-fuel.
 * Snake screamed Otacon's name again earlier in Guns of the Patriots when
 * This almost qualifies as a CMOA during the final duel when And they they really start beating the hell out of each other.
 * Scare Chord: !
 * Sequential Boss
 * Sensor Suspense: You will be looking at the radar minimap quite often, and you will most definitely notice when one of the blip's vision cones turns yellow.
 * Shirtless Scene: At least one per game.
 * Metal Gear Solid had both Snakes shirtless when they fight: Liquid takes your shirt off before the fight for absolutely no reason.
 * It's the Sneaking Suit, Snake remarked that it restricted his movements somewhat, Liquid wanted a "fair" fight.
 * Metal Gear Solid 2 had Raiden completely naked at one point.
 * Metal Gear Solid 3 allows you take off all your clothes (except your pants, to Naked Snake's disappointment and Signit's anger/bemusement).
 * Metal Gear Solid 4 had take his shirt off before his climactic duel with Snake.
 * Shout-Out: Vietnam War-era jungle setting of the game aside, Snake of Metal Gear Solid 3 is a shout-out to James Bond AND John Rambo. The former is paid tribute to in the music of the alert phases, whereas the latter happens when Snake roars Sylvester Stallone's trademark battle-cry when firing an M63 machine gun. Solid 'Old' Snake also roars like this when firing the M60E4 in Guns of the Patriots, signifying how much he has become like his father.
 * There's many others as well. For example, Raiden's real name is Jack, and his girlfriend is named Rose.
 * Not only that, but in the non-canon ending of MGS1, Snake reveals his name to be Dave. With his techie buddy Hal.
 * Bonus points for Hal actually being named after HAL from the movie.
 * Drebin and his "naked guns" is a shout out to a rather unexpected franchise.
 * Of course, Hideo Kojima has shoutouts to his own work as well, with Policenaut posters and Snake can actually use the Gun De Sol from Boktai as a bonus weapon, the Solar Gun,.
 * Metal Gear Mk. 2 originally appeared in Kojima's Snatcher. Except that one was a reference to the original Metal Gear. A reference is even made to the "Metal Gear Menace" of the late 20th century.
 * The freight Elevator in MGS is a near exact duplicate of the one in Akira,and even leads down to a sub-zero area.
 * Solid Snake's name is a shoutout to Snake Plissken from Escape from New York. The film is one of Kojima's favourites, and was a large influence on the series (particularly notable is the theme of ).
 * The MGS4 "Chair Race" trailer featured a battle between Snake and Raiden over a chair labeled "main character". Snake's gear and method of movement in the trailer is reminiscent of Sam Fisher.
 * Simultaneous Warning and Action: Who's there?! In addition, the Alert/Caution/Evasion calls to HQ.
 * Skippable Boss: MGS3's The End - using two methods! Either set the clock ahead so that he dies of old age, or snipe him when he appears in his wheelchair -- albeit the latter will lead to the boss fight areas being instead patrolled by 20 enemy soldiers. In MGS4 there are no truly skippable bosses, but any damage to her Life or Psyche that Raging Raven takes during the motorcycle chase sequence will carry over to the 'true' boss fight, so go fire on her with whichever bar of hers you wish to damage later.
 * Also, if you blow up the HIND at the ammo dump, you won't have to face it later when you're climbing the mountain. If you blow up the rest of the ammo dump along with it, the soldiers you face later will run out of bullets quickly.
 * Sniper Scope Sway: Sniper rifles are common, and generally accompanied by this. You can use pentazemin (or a cigarette) to relax and reduce the tremble when scoping.
 * Sniping Mission: Raiden must protect Emma this way in Metal Gear Solid 2. The battle with Sniper Wolf in Metal Gear Solid, The End in Metal Gear Solid 3, and Crying Wolf in Metal Gear Solid 4
 * Solemn Ending Theme: Most of the games -- see the trope page for details.
 * Spider Limbs: Laughing Octopus and Solidus Snake.
 * Spotting the Thread: The fact that the DARPA Chief refers to the terrorist act as a revolution is a major hint that he might not be who he claims to be. Yet no one picks up on this, despite the fact that they know for a fact a master of disguise is among the Fox Hound renegades.
 * And in MGS3, there are several blatantly obvious hints that EVA might not be who she says she is, in her very first scene. She fails to answer the code phrase, instead gunning down several mooks... with a Mauser C96, which was only used by one nation during the Cold War: She even uses the "Bandit Shooting" technique that was invented specifically to take advantage of that gun's tremendous recoil.  Of course, Snake doesn't pick up on any of this, due to EVA's Absolute Cleavage. Neither do most players.
 * Spy Catsuit: Inverted - only the men get them. And look damn Fan Servicey in them, too. EVA comes close in her form-fitting motorcycle outfit with Absolute Cleavage, and the FROGs wear a combat version of this.
 * The Beauties get some very form fitting suits. When facing off against Raging Raven, after she sheds her suit and turns away, still quite insane, Snake stares at her butt. Please note that originally, it was intended to be averted.
 * Start of Darkness: Metal Gear Solid 3, Portable Ops, and Peace Walker detail the events behind Big Boss' transformation from a young, patriotic soldier into a war hero disillusioned with the modern world's treatment of soldiers.
 * Stealth Based Game: Trope Codifier.
 * Story to Gameplay Ratio: To reiterate. There are a lot of cutscenes. MGS4 has about nine hours of 'em. Check the helpful chart on the trope entry for how the average Metal Gear game breaks down.
 * Supervillain Lair: Shadow Moses, Gronzyj Grad, Arsenal Gear, Outer Haven (and its later incarnation), you name it...
 * Sympathy for the Devil: Most villains in the series can be sympathized with to a certain extent. The Patriots, Volgin and Hot Coldman averts this with extreme prejudice.
 * Hot Coldman becomes an even bigger aversion when it's revealed that he was behind probably the biggest Tear Jerker of the series.
 * Take Cover
 * Metal Gear Solid (1998) introduced the peek-around-the-corner cover mechanic, where Snake can crouch behind and press against low walls and peak around corners.
 * Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001) expanded on it, introducing a shoot-around-the-corner cover system, where Snake or Raiden can crouch behind or press against low walls and aim from behind them, to shoot from around the corner of a wall. This shoot-around-the-corner cover system has also been employed in later Stealth Games like the Splinter Cell series and Tactical Shooter games like Rainbow Six Vegas (2006).
 * Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots features an improved cover system similar to Kill Switch.
 * Taking You with Me:
 * uses those exact words after his defeat in Portable Ops.
 * Big Boss later utters these words before fighting Solid Snake in the first Metal Gear game.
 * Talking Is a Free Action: Happens with nearly all codec conversations, often at absurd times.
 * Theme Naming
 * Title Drop: Solidus Snake's terrorist group in MGS2 are the Sons of Liberty, Snake's mission in MGS3 is codenamed Operation Snake Eater, and Ocelot calls his master plan in MGS4 the Guns of the Patriots. Metal Gear is first introduced this way in the first game.
 * Transplant: Very few people knew that Meryl Silverberg was originally from the Japan-only Policenauts, and a version of Metal Gear Mk. II from Snatcher appears in MGS4. However, they are very different verisons of those characters. Versions of Jonathan and Ed appear in MGS4 as well, and in Japanese are played by the same Policenauts actors, just like Meryl. Incidentally their actors happen to be Otacon and Psycho Mantis as well.
 * Treacherous Advisor:
 * Try Everything: The codec frequencies, if you miss the hint.
 * Unexpected Gameplay Change:
 * The Shagohod chase in MGS3 is an on-rails shooter
 * Escaping from South America in Metal Gear Solid 4 mixes Zombie Apocalypse and turret gunplay, there's more on-rails shooter stuff with Big Mama again in Eastern Europe (albeit you're limited to one-handed firearms), and
 * And as if that wasn't enough,  is an arcade-style fighting game.
 * Unusable Enemy Equipment: Though MGS2 managed to partially subvert this by having one CODEC conversation that explained that the weapons had an ID system that recognized a specific person, it's odd though how they didn't explain this more directly.
 * Finally averted in MGS4 by Snake getting a "hack" into the system... as a result, weapon pickups are a notable part of gameplay, and in Screaming Mantis's case it's necessary to pick up her Mantis Doll to defeat her.
 * Unwilling Roboticization: were turned into Cyborg Ninjas against their will.
 * Utsuge: A rare non-Bishoujo, non-dating-sim example. Anyone who does not cry at least once playing this series is not a human being.
 * Variable Mix: Quite stunningly good in this instance.
 * Video Game Caring Potential: It's entirely possible (And encouraged) to beat Twin Snakes, 2 and 4 without killing a single enemy. 3 also falls into this, . In fact, the fewer enemies you kill in 3, the easier time you will have with one of the miniboss fights.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: Lots of awful things you can do to guards... although in MGS4,
 * It gets worse in Metal Gear AC!D2. Setting them on fire, throwing them off trains or into the path of trains, dropping things on them,
 * Video Game Remake: The Twin Snakes and The Naked Sample.
 * Viewers Are Geniuses
 * Vodka Drunkenski: Several of the San Hieronymo Soviet personnel, Colonel Skowronski, and Granin were shown drinking vodka a lot, and they are also all Russian (obviously). Unlike most examples of the trope however, their reasons were completely justifed, due to certain incidents that were depressing or angering enough for them to require getting themselves drunk.
 * Voice with an Internet Connection: The Codec. Probably a fourth wall breach, although it is also implied a few instances that the Codec does have people observing what is going on.
 * The War Sequence: Raiden fights up to twenty mass-produced Metal Gears in MGS2, and several Gekkos in MGS4.
 * Warrior Heaven: Big Boss and Liquid Snake try to make this ideal on Earth by making the world into "Outer Heaven," a world where warriors will always be needed, honored and respected, although.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Major Zero, Big Boss, Ocelot, and Solidus Snake
 * What the Hell, Player?: You can get a lot of reactions like this if you screw around too much.
 * Otacon: "Snake, what did you just do? Have you lost your mind?!"
 * Where I Was Born and Razed: Psycho Mantis and all of the B&B Corps.
 * Why We're Bummed Communism Fell: Kicks off the MGS games, save for Snake Eater which takes place during the Cold War.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: In MSG3 (Naked) Snake is given the order to meet with his contacts Adam and Eva. Eva goes so far to ask him if he has come to seduce her.
 * Rather interesting, as (Naked) Snake manages to successfully seduce both Adam and Eva. Without even trying or noticing, even.
 * In MSG4 an apple falls from (Old) Snake's pocket and rolls towards Eva, who picks it up. Later she hands the same apple to Adam (aka ), who crushes it and throws it away.
 * With This Herring: Justified as weapons and equipment being OSP, On-Site Procured. In Metal Gear Solid 3, we learn that Big Boss' original codename, Naked Snake, is taken in part from this.
 * In a neat twist on previous games' weapons progression, the first weapon pickup in MGS4 is the found right next to Old Snake after one of the first cutscenes, and it's the  which are received next, instead of the other way around as in the past. It's markedly inferior though to the M4 Custom which you pick up not long after.
 * Wild Mass Guessing: Worth mentioning because some of the WMG theories are less crazy than what's canon.
 * War Is Hell: Largely no one is really proud of what they are doing, and only the Complete Monsters don't suffer a lot because of it or have any real joy in what they do.
 * When It All Began: Although it's not really apparent until the end of the series, pretty much everything that happens in the Metal Gear universe has its roots in.
 * Those are only the deepest roots of the main conflict. Some pieces of the puzzle go back to the turn of the 20th century, when the Philosophers were founded.
 * White Shirt of Death:
 * The most dramatic death scene in Metal Gear Solid takes place in a snow storm, where the poor victim is wearing a white camouflage uniform.
 * The most dramatic death scene in Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater takes place in a field of white flowers, where the victim is wearing a.
 * World of Badass
 * World of Ham: And how!

Snake! What happened? Snake? SNAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!