Metal Gear (video game): Difference between revisions

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[[File:070_34Metal_Gear_cover.jpg|frame|This is Solid Snake! Your reply please...]]
 
 
{{quote|''OUTER HEAVEN is the name of heavily armed land in the depth of southern Africa where the dreadful weapon called METAL GEAR is developed. It is the mission of SOLID SNAKE, one of the members of secret army 'FOX HOUND' to sneak into OUTER HEAVEN and destroy METAL GEAR. GO AHEAD SOLID SNAKE!''|Game description from the MSX2 version.}}
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...Yes, that's it. Really. No, no plot twists or hidden agendas. Well, okay, maybe [[Late Arrival Spoiler|one...]]{{spoiler|If you really don't know, Big Boss, Solid Snake's Commanding Officer is the leader of Outer Heaven}}.
 
The original ''Metal Gear'' was followed by two separately-made sequels, both released in 1990 and each taking the story to a different direction: ''[[Snake's Revenge]]'' for the NES, which saw a release in America and Europe, and ''[[Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake]]'' for the MSX2, released exclusively in Japan until later re-releases. The ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' games follows the continuity from ''Metal Gear 2'', rendering ''Snake's Revenge'' into [[Canon Discontinuity]] status.
 
{{tropelist}}
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* [[All There in the Manual]]: While the backstory is not quite as extensive as its sequels, the manual for the Japanese MSX2 version has character and enemy profiles that reveal details not actually mentioned in the game itself (like Schneider's motivation for creating the Resistance movement), as well as the complete specifications of Metal Gear itself. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060818123628/http://www.msxnet.org/gtinter/mg1remi/mg1reme.htm Here's a page with a downloadable version].
=== This game provides examples of the following tropes: ===
* [[All There in the Manual]]: While the backstory is not quite as extensive as its sequels, the manual for the Japanese MSX2 version has character and enemy profiles that reveal details not actually mentioned in the game itself (like Schneider's motivation for creating the Resistance movement), as well as the complete specifications of Metal Gear itself. [http://www.msxnet.org/gtinter/mg1remi/mg1reme.htm Here's a page with a downloadable version].
* [[Ambidextrous Sprite]]: Played straight when Snake is unarmed, but otherwise averted when he's equipped with a gun. All of the enemy guards and the final boss have different sprites when facing left and right.
* [[Artificial Stupidity]]: Guards won't notice you unless you're standing in a straight line directly in front of them. Even if you're standing just inches to their side. Even if you kill another guard in front of them (as long as you're using silenced firearm or punching them).
* [[Big Bad]]: {{spoiler|Big ''Boss''}}.
* [[Blind Idiot Translation]]:
** The NES version is infamous for its poor localization ranging from misplaced words ("First, attempt to contact ''missing our'' Gray Fox"), misused ones ("the truck ''have'' started to move"), or just plain old typos.
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* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Toward the end of the MSX2 version, Big Boss calls you and tells you to turn off the computer.
* [[Characterization Marches On]]: Solid Snake is a [[Heroic Mime]] for most of the game, the enemy leader ({{spoiler|Big Boss}}) is a [[Card-Carrying Villain]], and Gray Fox has virtually no presence (he disappears from the remainder of the game as soon as he is rescued). This is particularly egregious, [[Gameplay Story Segregation|considering the sequels made the events of the Outer Heaven mission more epic than what actually occurs in this game.]]
** [[Fridge Horror]]: {{spoiler|In ''Metal Gear 2'', Schneider reveals to Snake that Outer Heaven was bombed by NATO, along with everybody else involved in the conflict.}}.
* [[Copycat Cover]]: The cover illustration is a blatant trace-over of a publicity still of Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese from ''[[The Terminator]]''.
* [[Cut and Paste Environments]]: All three bases use the same graphic tiles, with only the layouts of each floor changed. It's even more noticeable in the NES version, where all the corridors and rooms use the same color palette (whereas in the MSX2 version, were at least the floors were colored differently).
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* [[Guide Dang It]]: Punching random walls to produce unusual sounds and blow them up? Frustrating, but a staple of games like this. Punching random ''doors'' which previously only opened with key cards so that you can open them? Not so excusable.
** Big Boss tells the player to contact Schneider whenever an item is needed to get through a certain location. However, Schneider's frequency number is never given by anyone in the game; you have to play around with the frequency number of your transceiver when you're two screens north of where you start the game (or when you first reach the third floor) to eventually stumble into it via an incoming transmission ({{spoiler|the number is 120.79}}).
** In the NES version, there are two maze areas in which the correct path is never given by any character. The correct path is the same for both mazes, which is: {{spoiler|West, West, North, and West.}}.
* [[His Name Is--]]: Schneider transmission was cut just before he is about to reveal the identity of the Outer Heaven commander.
* [[Hostage Spirit Link]]: Shoot a hostage and your rank goes down. [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in that your rank is a representation of how many hostages you've saved anyway.
* [[Humongous Mecha]]: The Metal Gear itself. Absent in the NES version.
* [[The Key Is Behind the Lock]]: The keycard required to access the prison where Gray Fox is located is inside the prison itself. {{spoiler|This requires Snake to allow himself to get captured and break-out from said prison.}}
* [[Mercy Mode]]: Die enough and your items and ammo are refilled to maximum.
* {{spoiler|[[Mole in Charge]]: Does it even need to be said?}}
* [[Inferred Holocaust]]: Although Solid Snake does manage to destroy Metal Gear and escape Outer Heaven before the base self-destructs, the ending shows what is unmistakably a mushroom cloud from an atomic blast in the distance, and the KNK radio station also mentioned an earthquake occuring before sunrise. In ''Metal Gear 2'', it is revealed that said mushroom cloud is actually the result of NATO's air raid that devastated both sides of the conflict, of which Snake was partially responsible for causing. It also falls into [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]].
* [[It's Raining Men]]: The opening for the NES version has four characters, including Solid Snake, parachuting down into the Jungle.
* [[The Key Is Behind the Lock]]: The keycard required to access the prison where Gray Fox is located is inside the prison itself. {{spoiler|This requires Snake to allow himself to get captured and break-out from said prison.}}.
* [[Mercy Mode]]: Die enough and your items and ammo are refilled to maximum.
* {{spoiler|[[Mole in Charge]]: Does it even need to be said?}}?
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: The cover illustration is a blatant trace-over of a production still from ''[[Terminator]]'' featuring Michael Biehn posing as Kyle Reese.
* [[No Export for You]]: The original MSX2 version was released in Japan and parts of Europe during its initial release, but not in America until its inclusion in ''Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence'' nearly two decades later.
* [[No Peripheral Vision]]: The guards literally have no peripheral vision whatsoever. Snake can run alongside them, run past them on the side, and stand next to them as long the player wants. They'll never see him unless he's directly in front of one or is already being pursued.
* [[One Name Only]]: Schneider, Diane, Steve, Jennifer and Dr. Petrovich. Subverted by Elen, whose full name is listed as "Elen Petrovich" [[All There in the Manual|in the Japanese version's manual]].
** ''[[Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake]]'' gave two of those characters full names, ''Kyle'' Schneider and Dr. Pettrovich ''Madnar'', essentially [[Retcon|retconing]] "Pettrovich" from a surname to a given name. In the re-released versions, Madnar's full name was further changed to Dr. ''Drago'' Pettrovich Madnar (turning "Pettrovich" into a patronymic), while Ellen's surname was officially changed from "Pettrovich" to "Madnar" for consistency.
* [[Orwellian Retcon]]: Some of the bosses were renamed in the re-released versions of ''Metal Gear'', although the changes were not as extensive as in ''Metal Gear 2''.
** [[Engrish|Shoot Gunner]] become Shotmaker.
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* [[Stealth Based Game]]: One of the very first.
* [[Taking You with Me]]: The Madnar [[Body Double]] attempts to do this to Solid Snake after the latter rescues him, via using a pit trap. It failed, though.
** {{spoiler|Big Boss attempts to do this in the final boss fight.}}.
* [[Three Quarters View]]: The overall perspective, which makes Outer Heaven's architecture seem [[Fridge Logic|very weird once you think about it]]. Why ''is'' every single wall trapezoidical?
* [[Treacherous Advisor]]: {{spoiler|If you don't know who it is, [[Late Arrival Spoiler|consider yourself lucky]]}}.
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* [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment]]: Killing a single POW will demote the player to their previous rank. Its possible for the player to work his way back to his previous rank if there are enough hostages still left to save, but killing certain hostages (like Ellen or Jennifer's brother) will make the game [[Unwinnable]].
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: In the NES version, Snake is shown parachuting into Outer Heaven with three other soldiers. They are never seen nor referred to again.
 
* [[Working Title]]: ''[http://twitpic.com/3rnpvb Intruder]''.
** [[Title Drop|Working Title Drop]]: Typing "intruder" in the MSX2 version while the game is paused will increase the player's maximum ammo capacity to 999 per weapon.
 
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