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Metal Gear is an action-adventure game launched by Konami in 1987. Initially released for the MSX2 platform, it was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and other platforms. Directed and designed by Hideo Kojima, it was his first game and the start of the Metal Gear series. Players take on the role of Solid Snake, a special forces operative who infiltrates the military fortress Outer Heaven with a mission to destroy the nuclear weapon codenamed Metal Gear. The game emphasizes stealth and evasion: players must avoid enemy patrols and direct confrontation. If detected, the game enters "Alert Mode", and players must escape enemy sight to return to stealth status. Influenced by the film *The Great Escape*, Metal Gear focuses on completing missions through stealth rather than direct combat. Limited by MSX2 hardware constraints in battle scenes, it still attracted a large number of players with its innovative gameplay and story design. The game first launched in Japan for MSX2 on July 13, 1987, with an English version released in Europe the same year. It was later ported to the NES, launching in Japan on December 22, 1987, and in North America in June 1988. After its MSX2 release, Metal Gear ranked among the top 20 best-selling games in Japan in *MSX Magazine* for five consecutive months. Though the NES version faced some criticism for its graphics and controls, its innovative mechanics and compelling story cemented it as a classic. As the first entry in the Metal Gear franchise, this game established the series' core gameplay and narrative style, exerting a profound influence on subsequent installments.

Game Overview

Metal Gear was Hideo Kojima's first game as director. It launched on the MSX2 in Japan on July 13, 1987, was rebuilt for the Famicom on December 22 of the same year, and reached North America in June 1988 through Konami's Ultra Games label. The MSX2 was never sold in North America, so an entire generation met the series through this NES version. You play Solid Snake, rookie member of FOXHOUND, infiltrating the fortified state of Outer Heaven to destroy a nuclear-armed walking tank codenamed Metal Gear.

Core Gameplay

The point is to avoid fights, not win them. Snake starts bare-handed and has to find his weapons, ammunition and key cards inside the base. Get spotted by a guard or a camera and the game drops into Alert Mode: an exclamation mark flashes, the alarm sounds and reinforcements pour in until you break line of sight by moving to another room or another floor. The transceiver lets you call contacts on specific frequencies, and each one hands over different gear and information. Progress is saved with a passcode that records Snake's rank, his inventory and the bosses he has already beaten.

Single-Player Experience

It is single-player throughout, and you should know what you are getting into: this port differs from the MSX2 original so much that Kojima has publicly disowned it. A different Konami team in Tokyo was handed the source code without the original staff's involvement, given three months, and told to make it different. So there is no Metal Gear to fight at the end - you blow up a Supercomputer instead. The Hind D on the roof of Building 1 became a pair of turret gunners called Twin Shot. The underwater infiltration became a parachute drop into a jungle, and the basement floors of Buildings 1 and 2 were split off into separate Buildings 4 and 5, reachable only through two jungle mazes whose correct path the game never reveals.

• Stealth-first design: Snake starts bare-handed and has to scavenge weapons and ammo on site
• Alert Mode: once spotted, the alarm sounds and reinforcements flood in until you break line of sight
• The transceiver calls contacts on specific frequencies, each handing over different gear and intel
• Passcodes record rank, inventory, rescued hostages and defeated bosses
• There is no Metal Gear mech in this version - the objective is a Supercomputer
• The Hind D rooftop boss was replaced by Twin Shot, a pair of turret gunners vulnerable only to grenades
• Jungle mazes, looping transport trucks and the Iron Glove are unique to this version