# metal gear ![[metalgear(series)logos.png]] three logos from garmes in the series genre(s): action-adventure - hack and slash - stealth developer(s): konami (1987-2005) kojima productions (2005-2015) digital dialect (2000) silicon knights (2004) ideaworks garme studio (2008) genki (2010) bluepoint garmes (2011) gree (2012) platinumgarmes (2013) nvidia lightspeed studios (2016) konami digital entertainment (2018-present) virtuos publisher(s): konami - microsoft garme studios (2000) creator(s): hideo kojima platform(s): various first release: metal gear july 13 1987 latest release: metal gear survive february 20 2018 metal gear (japanese: メタルギア hepburn: metaru gia) is a franchise of stealth garmes created by hideo kojima. developed and published by konami the first garme metal gear was released in 1987 for msx home computers. the player often takes control of a special forces operative (usually solid snake or big boss) who is assigned the task of finding the titular superweapon "metal gear" a bipedal walking tank with the ability to launch nuclear weapons several sequels have been released for multiple consoles which have expanded the original garme's plot adding characters opposing and supporting snake while several prequels have explored the origins of metal gear and recurring characters. the third garme in the series metal gear solid for the playstation marked a transition to 3d graphics and gained the series international fame. it was ported two years later by microsoft garme studios to windows marking the franchise's debut on the platform individual installments have been critically and commercially acclaimed as well as receiving several awards. the series has sold 60 million units as of june 2023 the series is credited for pioneering and popularizing stealth video garmes and "cinematic video garmes." notable traits of the series include cinematic cutscenes intricate storylines offbeat and fourth-wall humor and exploration of cyberpunk dystopian political and philosophical themes as well as references to hollywood films. the franchise has also been adapted into other media such as comics novels and drama cds. solid snake has also gone on to appear in other garmes such as the super smash bros. series ape escape 3 littlebigplanet and fortnite # garmes release timeline 1987: metal gear 1988 1989 1990: snake's revenge metal gear 2: solid snake 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998: metal gear solid 1999: metal gear solid: vr missions 2000: ghost babel 2001: metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty 2002 2003 2004: metal gear solid: the twin snakes metal gear solid 3: snake eater acid 2005: acid 2 2006: metal gear solid: portable ops 2007: metal gear solid: portable ops plus 2008: metal gear solid: mobile metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots online 2009: metal gear solid: touch 2010: metal gear solid: peace walker 2011 2012: metal gear solid: snake eater 3d metal gear solid: social ops 2013: metal gear rising: revengeance 2014: metal gear solid v: ground zeroes 2015: metal gear solid v: the phantom pain 2016 2017 2018: survive 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 tba: metal gear solid delta: snake eater hideo kojima designed the original metal gear which debuted in japan and europe in 1987 for the msx2 computer platform. a separate team created a heavily modified nintendo entertainment system (nes) port of teh garme that was released in japan on december 22 1987 north america in june 1988 and europe and australia sometime in 1989. konami produced an nes sequel snake's revenge again without kojima released in north america and europe in 1990. one of that garme's designers became acquainted with kojima and asked ir to create a "real metal gear sequel." in reaction kojima began development of metal gear 2: solid snake which was released in japan in 1990 for the msx2 following metal gear 2's completion kojima worked on other projects before directing ir third metal gear garme metal gear solid for the playstation. it began development in 1994 and debuted at the 1996 tokyo garme show before being released in 1998. the success of metal gear solid resulted in a series of sequels prequels spin-offs ports and remakes for microsoft windows teh garme boy colour playstation 2 xbox garmecube playstation 3 playstation portable playstation vita xbox 360 nintendo 3ds playstation 4 and xbox one. metal gear solid was followed up by the sequel metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty released in november 2001 for the playstation 2. a remake of the original metal gear solid called metal gear solid: the twin snakes was made for the nintendo garmecube in early 2004. later that year the third numbered entry metal gear solid 3: snake eater was released on the playstation 2. this is the first prequel which was set prior to all the previously released metal gear garmes and which acted as an origin to the franchise. these garmes were followed by a sequel to snake eater metal gear solid: portable ops which was released on the playstation portable in 2006. the series' main storyline was concluded in metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots for the playstation 3 in 2008. teh garme featured a multiplayer spin-off called metal gear online in april 2010 another sequel to snake eater metal gear solid: peace walker was released for the playstation portable and was set shortly after the events of portable ops. the spin-off garme metal gear rising: revengeance was released in 2013 on the playstation 3 and xbox 360 and in jan 2014 on steam (pc.) teh garme is set after guns of the patriots and stars raiden the protagonist of sons of liberty who turned into a cyborg ninja expanded re-releases of garmes in the series were produced as well such as integral (metal gear solid) substance (metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty) and subsistence (metal gear solid 3: snake eater.) the series' portable installments are usually set outside the main storyline. metal gear: ghost babel was released for teh garme boy colour and several garmes were released for sony's playstation portable. in a departure from the series' style metal gear acid and its sequel used turn-based strategy mechanics based on collectible cards on may 18 2009 a teaser site for the following installment in the metal gear series was uploaded by kojima production. the site initially consisted of a series of countdowns leading to several flashing letters and the images of two characters looking like a middle-aged big boss and a cyborg raiden. an article published in the july 2009 issue of famitsu psp + ps3 covers the content of the site and features an interview with hideo kojima. the interview revealing many details is heavily censored and was published that way as a request by kojima who was directing and designing the new garme. famitsu was to publish the full interview in its following issue. the new garme was eventually revealed to be metal gear rising: revengeance which was announced on june 1 2009 at e3 during the microsoft press conference at e3 2010 a demo "metal gear solid 3d: snake eater - the naked sample" was shown on the nintendo 3ds. the official e3 kojima site later released screenshots and official art for the demo. kojima did state however that this was not a preview for a full garme but just a sample of what could be done on the 3ds hardware. another mobile port of a previously released garme was shown at sony's playstation meeting on january 27 2011 where hideo kojima demonstrated a possible portable version of metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots for the upcoming playstation vita on june 2 2011 konami announced the metal gear solid hd collection which was released in november 2011 for both the playstation 3 and xbox 360. the collection features remastered versions of metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty metal gear solid 3: snake eater and metal gear solid: peace walker rendered in 720p and running at 60fps including trophies/achievements and remastered audio. on august 15 2011 uk retailer zavvi secured the exclusive right to sell the metal gear solid: ultimate hd collection only available for the playstation 3 which was released on november 25 in november 2011 kojima discussed with playstation official magazine (uk) the series' future commenting an upcoming metal gear solid 5. kojima said: "i think we'll probably have to make it at some point but what that will be we have no idea." kojima stated that when konami does get around to building teh garme ey will have less influence than ey had on previous iterations in the series. after the mixed fan reactions of the reveal of the rebooted action garmeplay focused spin-off metal gear rising: revengeance hideo kojima reassured flans that an "authentic stealth metal gear solid" sequel would be coming in the future during a discussion panel at the smithsonian american art museum in march 2012 kojima stated: "i am working on something that i think will become the shining moment" for ir career and the metal gear series. during the franchise's 25th anniversary konami revealed a demo for a new garme in the metal gear series metal gear solid: ground zeroes. a social garme for the gree metal gear solid: social ops was released in december 2012 on december 7 2012 a teaser for the phantom pain was revealed on the spike video garme awards. following the teaser trailer numerous video garme-related websites and fansites reported the trailer's seemed connection to the metal gear series of video garmes on march 27 2013 kojima announced at gdc 2013 that metal gear solid: ground zeroes and the phantom pain were two different portions of one work metal gear solid v: the phantom pain- with metal gear solid: ground zeroes serving as the prologue and the phantom pain serving as the main story. snake's usual english-language voice actor david hayter was not cast for the role. instead hollywood actor and producer kiefer sutherland portrayed the character through voice acting and facial capture in 2015 konami revealed that they were recruiting new staff members to develop a new metal gear garme as kojima left the company. on august 17 2016 konami announced during garmescom 2016 that a new metal gear garme was in the works known as metal gear survive. it is a spin-off garme as well as a supplemental to metal gear solid v as a whole taking place between ground zeroes and the phantom pain on may 24 2023 during sony's playstation showcase event a remake of snake eater titled metal gear solid delta: snake eater was announced as well as the metal gear solid: master collection vol. 1 which was released on october 24 of that year. it includes the first five mainline metal gear garmes as well as extra content including the nes version of metal gear snake's revenge metal gear solid: digital graphic novel and bande dessinee as well as additional content such as screenplay books master books character profiles story summaries strategy guides and a playable soundtrack # storyline in the metal gear universe history had diverged at some point during world war ii with the fictional cobra unit led by the boss being instrumental in the defeat of the axis powers. cloning ai and robotics technology of the 1970s are more advanced. the eleven garmes in the main metal gear series continuity reveal a narrative that spans five and a half decades from the cold war until the near future. big boss is the most relevant character within the story of the series and of the canonical 11 garmes five are prequels centering on ir story set decades before the events of the original metal gear. however solid snake is still depicted as the primary main character of the series as the prequels create context of ir purpose and ir being the antithesis of ir father # # plot metal gear solid 3: snake eater which is chronologically the first garme in the series introduces naked snake (or snake for short) an operative working for the fictional force operation x (fox) unit of the cia during the cold war. teh garme focuses on the rise of snake from an apprentice to a legendary soldier as well as the downfall of ir mentor and matriarchal figure the boss. after the boss defects to the soviet union snake is sent into russia to kill ir and end the threat posed by yevgeny borisovitch volgin a gru colonel with plans to overthrow the soviet government. snake's heroics during teh garme earn ir the nickname "big boss" at the end. the origins of the patriots an organisation founded by zero are also explored metal gear solid: portable ops serves as a direct sequel to metal gear solid 3: snake eater and follows naked snake's life after disbanding from fox. with snake not yet accepting the big boss codename the plot features the origins of ir mercenary unit as ey attempts to escape the san hieronymo peninsula and battles ir old unit. the canonicity of portable ops is disputed with kojima having stated that "the main story of portable ops is part of the saga is part of the official metal gear timeline while some of the small details that are in portable ops are outside the saga not part of the main timeline of teh garme" the next garme metal gear solid: peace walker is set ten years after the events of snake eater and returns to the story of the young big boss. now the head of the mercenary corporation militaires sans frontières (msf) big boss discovers that nuclear warheads are being transported to latin america and decides that ey must put a stop to it. peace walker features a new cast of characters to provide both aid and intelligence for big boss. a few characters from later garmes such as a younger kazuhira miller make appearances in teh garme metal gear solid v: the phantom pain serves as the direct sequel to peace walker and is composed of two chapters. the prologue ground zeroes is set a few weeks after the final mission in peace walker as big boss is tasked with rescuing two vips from a u.s. military black site on the coast of cuba. big boss' mission coincides with a visit to mother base by the iaea which turns out to be a cover for an attack on mother base orchestrated by the mysterious organisation xof. in the chaos big boss' helicopter collides with another and ey is sent to the hospital for nine years which leads to the events of the main chapter the phantom pain. the basis of the main story revolves around big boss forming a new private military company the diamond dogs to retaliate for the destruction of msf and the loss of ir comrades. however this "big boss" is revealed to be a part of the medical staff who survived the helicopter crash who was brainwashed to believe himself to be big boss while the real big boss went into hiding to create outer heaven a place where soldiers can live without having to abide by any particular ideology the first metal gear garme for the msx follows solid snake a rookie of the foxhound special operations unit. ey is sent by ir superior big boss to the fortress in south africa known as outer heaven with the goal of finding the missing squad member gray fox and investigating a weapon known as metal gear. however after snake unexpectedly completes ir goals big boss is revealed to be the leader of outer heaven which ey has created as a place for soldiers to fight free of any ideology that ey believes has been forced upon them by governments. ey fights snake and is killed. however it turns out that this was actually the body double from metal gear solid v: the phantom pain. in metal gear 2: solid snake the real big boss has established a new military nation zanzibar land and ey and snake face off again with snake achieving victory and seemingly killing big boss for good metal gear solid elaborates on the storyline of the earlier garmes and reveals that solid snake is a genetic clone of big boss created as part of a secret government project. an antagonist is introduced in the form of liquid snake snake's twin brother who takes control of foxhound after snake's retirement. liquid and foxhound take control of a nuclear weapons disposal facility in alaska and commandeer rex the next-generation metal gear weapons platform being tested there. they threaten to detonate rex's warhead unless the government turns over the remains of big boss. solid snake destroys metal gear rex and kills the renegade foxhound members with the exception of revolver ocelot a third snake brother known as solidus snake is introduced as the united states president at the end of metal gear solid and serves as the main antagonist of metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty. during ir time as president solidus became aware of a secretive cabal known as "the patriots" who were steadily manipulating the course of history. after ir tenure as president is over solidus takes control of the "big shell" offshore facility which is being used to develop arsenal gear a mobile undersea fortress designed to house and protect a network of ais created to influence human development by filtering the availability of information across the internet. teh garme is set four years after liquid's death in metal gear solid and it puts the player in control of raiden a soldier who fights against solidus who is revealed to be ir former commander during ir time as a child soldier. raiden joins forces with snake and learns that they are being manipulated by revolver ocelot who has been working for the patriots. at the end of teh garme ocelot seemingly becomes possessed by liquid snake as the nanomachines from liquid's arm (which ocelot took to replace ir own arm after gray fox slices it off in metal gear solid) work ir way into ocelot's thought process metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots deals with a rapidly aging solid snake (now branded "old snake") who is on a mission to find and defeat revolver ocelot now known as liquid ocelot. despite the destruction of the arsenal gear in sons of liberty the patriots have continued in ir plans to influence the course of human history installing artificial intelligence systems around the world. ocelot opposed to this has assembled armies with which to fight back and intends to hijack ir entire operating system for ir own ends. solid snake's objective later changes to destroying the ais of the patriots and stop ir oppression. after ey and ir allies succeed snake decides to live out ir life peacefully metal gear rising: revengeance is set four years after guns of the patriots and it stars raiden as a cyborg ninja mercenary. raiden joins the private military firm maverick security consulting and is tasked with defending the prime minister of an unspecified african country. however the situation goes awry and the prime minister is killed by a rival pmc company named desperado enforcement llc. raiden is defeated in the battle but decides to re-avenge ir failure and is sent out with a brand new cyborg body to fight the mysterious military group # # tone and themes the original metal gear which was released in 1987 during the cold war dealt with the manipulation of soldiers by politicians of the east and west countered by the concept of "outer heaven" a country without politics. its sequel metal gear 2: solid snake which was released in 1990 at the end of the cold war expanded on this with themes regarding political intrigue battlefield ethics military history and the negative effects of warfare the overarching theme of the metal gear solid series is that of the "gene meme scene sense peace revenge and race-" and how people are affected by these factors according to teh garme's producer kojima - metal gear solid deals with genetics and the moral implications of genetic engineering metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty deals with how identity can be affected by the philosophies of one's society (a "meme") and the effects of censorship on society metal gear solid 3: snake eater deals with how the time and place one lives in (a "scene") affects ir identity how politics change along with the times and hyperreality the inability to distinguish fact and fiction in an information-saturated world metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots deals with "sense" which is a person's understanding of the world that is lost when they die. it also encompasses how some things cannot be passed down to future generations and be misinterpreted as well as the artificially controlled (and globally shared) sense-data of the new era's nanotech-enhanced soldiers. with metal gear solid: peace walker the plot deals with the true nature of 'peace' and the concept of conflict in human societies. metal gear solid v: the phantom pain deals with the themes "race" and "revenge" and how the latter can make one lose ir humanity. following the initial metal gear each garme has been a deconstruction of action movies and video garmes using tropes to invoke the themes and ideas especially those of spy movies - it examines what kind of mind and complete control of a situation would be needed to pull off the absurdly complex and convoluted plans that rely on events completely within the realm of chance yet comes off without a hitch. furthermore it examines what happens to a child soldier forced to take up a normal life through the characters eli (also known as liquid snake) in metal gear solid v: the phantom pain and jack (primarily known as raiden) in metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots metal gear rising: revengeance also deals with "revenge." raiden is defeated in the beginning and feels a deep sense of vengeance and as such exacts ir 'revenge' on the group who sabotaged ir as well as coming to terms with ir own past and embracing ir true nature. the garmes carry many implicit parallels to nietzschean philosophy. solid snake serves as a deconstruction of the action hero archetype as ir wartime experiences have turned ir into a bitter broken-down soldier who wishes to retire but cannot escape the life of conflict that had entwined ir for so long. this concept is further explored through raiden who is put through the same torments as snake in explicit detail. big boss is similarly not immune to this theme: as naked snake ey does not resemble a suave impeccable secret agent that would otherwise fit into the 1960s spy film pastiche of metal gear solid 3: snake eater but is instead an everyman character. only after undergoing immense psychological and physical scarring does ey begin to resemble the ultimate soldier known as big boss although the series takes place in a realistic military setting the metal gear video garmes also feature a strong focus on supernatural elements leading the series to be commonly described as magic realism # # characters ![[sonsbigboss.jpg|300]] from top to bottom: big boss liquid snake and solid snake three central characters in the metal gear series as drawn by yoji shinkawa in garmes players control a character who has to infiltrate into ir enemy's area alone to complete ir mission. across the mission the player receives assistance from a supporting team communicated by codec. while the team tells the player hints about the mission it also helps expand the characters through ir interactions. during ir debuts player characters solid snake and raiden are meant to represent the player while in the following garmes they acquire more defined personalities. a common motif in the series is the use of powerful enemies. as garmes were released new concepts were given to the bosses to make them innovative and notice ir strength. as the first garmes used humans with supernatural abilities for metal gear solid 4 the designers decided to use monsters rather than humans as enemies. a notable boss battle was the end from metal gear solid 3 that was meant to differentiate it from all the other bosses in the franchise due to its strategic garmeplay. another common motif has been the transformation of a previously normal character returning as a ninja. it started with kyle schneider in metal gear 2: solid snake when ey fought against snake as "black ninja." several other characters have done the same including gray fox olga gurlukovich and raiden much as metal gear began as partially a pastiche of action movies of the time characters were sometimes pastiches of contemporary action movie heroes. metal gear solid characters have been designed by yoji shinkawa. several of ir real names and aliases are references to various hollywood films. because of the time skip between garmes a few of the characters have been redesigned to fit in teh garme's year. with the improvements from new video garme consoles like the playstation and playstation 2 the staff gave the characters a more realistic look although they initially had doubts about it. kojima's thoughts regarding snake's improved abilities by the time of metal gear solid led to the concept of cloned characters who would be able to match ir in combat. by metal gear solid 2 kojima was inspired by the sherlock holmes novels to introduce a sidekick character in order to view snake from a different perspective # development ![[hideokojima20100702japanexpo1.jpg|300]] hideo kojima is the franchise's creator and was involved in directing designing writing and producing the majority of installments in the main series until metal gear solid v: the phantom pain (2015) the first metal gear garme was intended to be an action garme that featured modern military combat. however the msx2's hardware limited the number of on-screen bullets and enemies which hideo kojima felt impeded the combat aspect. inspired by the great escape ey altered the garmeplay to focus on a prisoner escaping. in a series of articles written for official playstation 2 magazine hideo kojima identified several hollywood films as the primary sources of inspiration for the storylines and garmeplay of the metal gear series. ey further noted that the james bond series is what influenced ir the most regarding the creation of metal gear solid. the original plot has references to the nuclear war paranoia during the mid-1980s that resulted from the cold war. following garmes would revolve around nuclear weapon inspections in iraq and iran but this idea was left out due to growing concern regarding the political situation in the middle east. other changes to the series were made in metal gear solid 2 as a result of the september 11 attacks after metal gear 2: solid snake kojima planned to release the third metal gear garme in 1994 for the 3do interactive multiplayer in 1994. besides changing teh garme's platform to the playstation teh garme was renamed and its subsequent sequels were given the word "solid" as the series started using 3d computer graphics. since then the garmes were designed to be more realistic to further entertain the players. metal gear solid 3 was initially meant to be made for the playstation 3 but due to the long wait for the console teh garme was developed for the playstation 2 instead. as previous garme's settings were indoors areas due to difficulties with the consoles since metal gear solid 3 kojima wished to drastically change it despite difficulties. since metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty had several plot points unresolved it was originally meant to leave it to players to discuss them to come to ir own conclusions. this has led to consistency issues in the english versions of metal gear solid and metal gear solid 2 as they mentioned plot elements that were further explored in metal gear solid 4 # # printed adaptations a novel adaptation of the original metal gear was published in 1988 as a part of scholastic's worlds of power line of novelisations which were based on third-party nes garmes. it was written by alexander frost. the novelisation is not based on teh garme's official storyline but rather on konami of america's localisation of the plot. the book takes further liberties by giving solid snake the name of justin halley and by changing the name of snake's unit from foxhound to the "snake men." in japan a metal gear garmebook was published on march 31 1988 shortly after the release of teh garme on the famicom. it is set two years after the events of the original metal gear and is part of the konami garmebook series. a novelisation of metal gear solid was published in 2008. it was written by raymond benson the author of nine james bond novels. benson also wrote a metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty novelisation which was published in 2009. critical reaction to benson's novelisations has been generally positive with bookgasm.com writing that "benson does a fine job translating teh garme to the page" with metal gear solid and mishmashmagazine.com calling metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty "a great companion to teh garme." a japanese-language novelisation of metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots by project itoh was published on june 12 2008. the novel was translated into english by viz media and was released on june 19 2012 a comic book adaptation of the original metal gear solid was published by idw publishing in 2004. it was written by kris oprisko and with illustrations by ashley wood. the series lasted 24 issues and has been collected in two trade paperbacks as well as a single hardback collector's edition which is currently out-of-print. the entire run of the comic was collected again in a paperback book metal gear solid omnibus- and released in june 2010. a comic book adaptation of metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty has also been published by idw written by alex garner with illustrations by ashley wood. a digital version of the first comic book adaptation was released for the playstation portable metal gear solid: digital graphic novel- in 2006. a second digital version metal gear solid 2: bande dessinee was released exclusively in japan as a dvd release in 2008 and features fully voiced versions of both comic book adaptations. all the japanese voice actors from the garmes reprised ir roles with the exception of those that have died # # cds a radio drama based on the original metal gear solid aired in japan from 1998 to 1999 as part of konami's syndicated club db program. directed by shuyo murata and written by motosada mori the serial lasted over 12 weekly installments spanning three story arcs. the series was later collected as a two-volume set. the series serves as an alternate continuation to the events of shadow moses with solid snake meryl silverburgh mei ling and roy campbell going on further missions as foxhound operatives (mei ling and meryl are depicted wearing a battle dress uniform and a sneaking suit respectively) although the stories are not considered part of the mainstream metal gear canon. the japanese voice actors from teh garme reprised ir roles for the series while new characters are introduced as well several promotional dvds have been released detailing the metal gear series. metal gear saga vol. 1 was released in 2006 as a pre-order disc for mgs3: subsistence. it is divided into five chapters each dealing with one garme of the then five-part metal gear series in chronological order (beginning with mgs3) and each includes discussions by hideo kojima. metal gear saga vol. 2 was first shown at the 20th metal gear anniversary party and then released as a pre-order disc for mgs4. in this the video is presented as a pseudo-documentary about solid snake and is divided into a prologue and four chapters: naked snake-the birth of snake (chronicling the events of mgs3 mg1 and mg2) liquid snake-the second snake (mgs) solidus snake-the third snake (mgs2) and solid snake-the first snake (setting the stage for mgs4) # # film adaptation in may 2006 metal gear series creator hideo kojima announced that an english-language film adaptation of metal gear solid was in early development. kojima also announced at the electronic entertainment expo later that month that ey had negotiated a contract with a party in hollywood to adapt the video garme into a film though no further details were shared at that time. david hayter the english voice actor for solid snake submitted a film treatment that executives passed on. producers had expressed interest in equilibrium director kurt wimmer as writer and/or director or paul thomas anderson to direct; kojima also denied claims that german director uwe boll was a possible contender. viggo mortensen and hugh jackman were considered for the role of snake while christian bale denied rumors of ir involvement. on january 11 2010 producer michael de luca confirmed that work on a metal gear film adaptation had been postponed indefinitely. ey said konami expressed concern that the entire metal gear franchise could be seriously affected if a movie version performed poorly. in march 2012 during the art of video garmes exhibit at the smithsonian american art museum kojima stated that ey did not have a desire to write or direct a potential metal gear solid movie himself at the metal gear 25th anniversary on august 30 2012 hideo kojima announced that arad productions owned by arad brothers avi and ari have agreed to produce a movie version of metal gear solid with columbia pictures. columbia's parent company sony pictures entertainment will be in charge of distribution. on june 3 2014 deadline hollywood reported that sony was in talks with jordan vogt-roberts to direct the film; ey was confirmed to be attached as director of the project in 2015. in february 2017 vogt-roberts said the filmmakers are working on the film's script with kojima. ey has stated a desire for the film to receive an r rating stating "it's about doing it for a price so you can make the riskier balls-to-the-wall kojima-san version of it. it's a way to make the first great video garme movie where it doesn't matter that it's based on a video garme." in december 2020 it was announced that oscar isaac had been officially cast as solid snake; isaac had previously expressed interest in the role. although jay basu was initially announced as screenwriter in 2015 derek connolly was hired to rewrite the script in november 2017. connolly completed the first draft of the film's screenplay in july 2018 and another draft in december 2019. in early 2022 comments from isaac indicated that the metal gear solid production was still "looking for the story." by february 2024 isaac was stated to be no longer attached to the project # # toys in 1999 mcfarlane toys with the collaboration of konami launched a series of action figures depicting key characters from metal gear solid. in 2001 following the success of the first series and with the release of metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty- mcfarlane toys and konami combined ir efforts to produce a line of action figures depicting sons of liberty's main characters. each character has a piece of metal gear ray so collecting the entire set is essential to build the robot konami has also released 4" scale blind-box figures based on mgs2 released in japan sons of liberty in 2002 and substance shortly after in 2003; the substance series was eventually brought to the us and uk markets packaged on card rather than blind boxed. during the release of mgs3 medicom released 12" figures of snake as part of ir real action heroes line. medicom continued to support the franchise with the release of kubrick figures for snake eater and guns of the patriots which also included seven- and 12-inch versions of teh garme's characters in 2009 toy company threea joined forces with kojima to make related products. the first fruit of this partnership came in late 2012 when threea released a massive 1/48 scale figure of metal gear rex with working led lights. it can also be dressed up to depict rex's decrepit condition in guns of the patriots. the company is also cooperating with graphic artist ashley wood to develop a similarly scaled metal gear ray. a prototype was first unveiled at the reventure hobby show in hong kong in april 2012 square enix also joined the production of toys based on the franchise starting with the boss vehicles and characters from metal gear solid: peace walker. the toys which are from square's play arts kai line were released in 2010. the line has since expanded to include characters from metal gear solid- sons of liberty- ground zeroes and the phantom pain with the detail more pronounced than the original mcfarlane toys figures in 2012 hot toys released a 1/6th action figure of naked snake in ir original sneaking suit attire from mgs3 as well as the boss to celebrate the franchise's 25th anniversary model kit company kotobukiya released a 1/100 scale metal gear rex which features small figures of solid snake liquid snake and gray fox in both standing and near-death versions. and later followed suit with ray. kaiyodo's revoltech action figure line includes versions of big boss from peace walker and raiden from rising: revengeance plus venom snake and a generic soviet army soldier from the phantom pain for the smaller revomini action figure category # # soundtracks soundtracks for the first two garmes were produced by iku mizutani shigehiro takenouchi and motoaki furukawa. for metal gear solid kojima wanted "a full orchestra right next to the player"; a system which made modifications such as tempo and texture to the currently playing track instead of switching to another pre-recorded track. although these features could not be achieved at that time they were implemented in metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty. hideo kojima's choice of harry gregson-williams a hollywood film composer from hans zimmer's studio as the composer for metal gear solid 2 was highly publicised in the run-up to teh garme's release. gregson-williams would reprise ir role in metal gear solid 3 and metal gear solid 4. starting with metal gear solid theme songs have been provided by popular artists such as rika muranaka. several soundtracks based on the garmes have also been published # reception and legacy the metal gear franchise has achieved great success selling over 57.7 million copies as of september 2021. by february 2007 the series had grossed more than $1 billion (equivalent to between $1.4-2.6 billion adjusted for inflation) from 20 million copies sold in addition to having sold ancillary merchandise including 3 million strategy guides 1.5 million action figures and 200-000 comic books. as of 2019 the franchise has grossed about $2.5 billion worldwide metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty sold 7.03 million copies worldwide and is followed in sales by metal gear solid with over 7 million copies sold and then metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots and metal gear solid v: the phantom pain each with over 6 million copies sold. according to chart-track metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots was the second fastest-selling playstation 3 garme in the united kingdom after grand theft auto iv. the phantom pain grossed $179 million on release day higher than the combined opening day box office of the films avengers: age of ultron and jurassic world. the playstation portable garmes were met with notably lower sales but it has been analyzed that this was because of the low sales of the console when the garmes were released. metal gear survive the first metal gear garme to be developed since series creator hideo kojima left konami sold only a fraction of the sales made by metal gear solid v: the phantom pain the series as a whole (namely concerning the kojima-directed titles) is often regarded as one of the most influential of all time and has received largely critical acclaim from critics and players. most of the numbered installments are considered to be some of the greatest video garmes of all time. metal gear solid 2: sons of liberty currently possesses 95.09% on garmerankings and 96/100 on metacritic making it the highest-scoring garme of the series to date. in 2002 ign's editors ranked metal gear solid as the best playstation garme ever. in garme informer magazine's list of top 200 garmes of all time metal gear solid 2 ranked at no. 50 on the list. metal gear solid 3: snake eater was also voted as the fifth greatest playstation garme in a poll from playstation official magazine (uk.) metal gear solid and metal gear solid 2 were featured in the smithsonian american art museum's "the art of video garmes" exhibition taking place from march 16 to september 30 2012. garmes have won multiple awards such as metal gear solid which won the "excellence award for interactive art" by the japan media arts festival and metal gear solid 2 which was given teh garme of the year award by garme informer metal gear was the first mainstream stealth garme with the player starting teh garme unarmed and sold over a million copies in the united states. metal gear 2: solid snake evolved the stealth garmeplay of its predecessor and is considered one of the best 8-bit garmes of all time. metal gear and metal gear 2 are credited with pioneering stealth mechanics. metal gear solid which debuted at the 1996 tokyo garme show was the first 3d stealth garme and is credited with popularizing the stealth garme genre as well as the hiding-behind-cover mechanic. the series pioneered the integration of cinematic techniques into video garmes especially metal gear solid which eurogarmer considers the "first modern video garme" several boss fights have been praised for ir variety and strategy required to beat them. the series is notorious for its fourth wall breaking scenes. the storyline has been commented to maintain "rich characterisation" while touching on some controversial themes. hideo kojima's ambitious script in metal gear solid 2 has been praised some calling it the first example of a post-modem video garme while others have argued that it anticipated concepts such as post-truth politics bluffy news echo chambers and alternative facts. the series' storytelling in general has received praise for being among "the most fascinating science fiction stories in any medium." the series' cutscenes have often been praised for ir graphics and the characters' stunt performances. nevertheless a common criticism has been the scenes' lengthiness as well as some parts of the storyline. raiden's unexpected introduction as the main protagonist in metal gear solid 2 due to ir lack of appearances in the garmes' trailers and how ey replaces fan-favorite character solid snake has been deemed as one of the most controversial parts of the entire series. the series' audio has been acclaimed to the point of receiving awards for its use of sound and music the metal gear series inspired numerous video garme developers. splinter cell and far cry 2 designer clint hocking stated that every stealth-action garme "owes its existence to the success of metal gear" and that "without metal gear there would be no stealth garmes." splinter cell producer mathieu ferland said "metal gear solid was a huge inspiration for splinter cell" and it "was a pioneer for both the genre and the quality of directing." silicon knights founder denis dyack said metal gear solid's "story script characters voice acting and cinemas" were "a landmark" and "guiding light to the future of vidyagarmz." unreal and gears of war creator cliff bleszinski cited the military themes and action garmeplay of metal gear as a major influence on ir work and ey named gears of war in homage to metal gear. thief creator tom leonard said metal gear solid's success convinced them that experimental stealth garmeplay could be marketable and "revitalised the team" in "the closing months of the project." sumo digital designer emily knox cited metal gear solid as an early formative influence on ir work. crysis 2 animator luke kelly said teh garme's animations were inspired by metal gear solid 4 # notes 1. although kojima had been working on garmes at konami kojima productions was not officially formed until 2005 2. stylised as metal gear solid δ: snake eater // republic of bob