Metal Gear

Metal Gear is a series of action-adventure stealth video games by Konami centered around Solid Snake, a soldier in the high tech elite special forces task force FOXHOUND, as he attempts to infiltrate and diffuse politically sensitive crisis situations undetected and neutralize the non-state actors involved to prevent a global catastrophe.

Metal Gear (1987)

Big Boss: Solid Snake! I've been expecting you... I am the supreme commander of the FOXHOUND unit... And... The leader of the fortress of Outer Heaven, Big Boss! I gave this mission to you, a rookie, thinking I could use you to fool the rest of the world... But you were too good. You went too far! Solid Snake! I'm not going down alone. I'm taking you with me! Prepare to die!

Solid Snake: This is Solid Snake... Metal Gear has been destroyed. Operation Intrude N313 was a success! No big deal, the job is done, that's all... No big deal... I'm coming back now... OVER

Big Boss: ...can you hear me? Solid Snake... I'm not dead... Someday, I'll get even with you. Someday... we will meet again!

Snake's Revenge (1990)

[Intro text] Lt. Snake, we received information from our intelligence man at the enemy's base. They have a weapon. Is it Metal Gear, which you destroyed 3 years ago? Go to the enemy base with 2 men. The pilot knows the route.

Big Boss: You destroyed Metal Gear 1 and made me a cyborg. Now I want revenge.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990)

Big Boss: The nightmares? They never go away, Snake. Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension... it all becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the warrior within... it never sleeps again. You crave ever bigger tensions, ever bigger thrills. As a mercenary, I'd think you would have realized that by now. You care nothing for power, or money, or even sex. The only thing that satisfies your cravings is war! All I've done is give you a place for it. I've given you a reason to live.

Metal Gear Solid (1998)

"Listen, Meryl. Everybody feels sick the first time they kill someone. Unfortunately, killing is one of those things that gets easier the more you do it. In a war, all of mankind's worst emotions, worst traits come out. It's easy to forget what a sin is in the middle of a battlefield." —Solid Snake

"Didn't you know that two-thirds of the world's greatest assassins are women? Do you want to die now? Or after your female friend? Which will it be?" —Sniper Wolf

"Six bullets. More than enough to kill anything that moves. Now I'll show you why they call me... 'Revolver'." —Revolver Ocelot

"The Raven has put the mark of death upon you. Blood from the east flows within your veins. Ah... your ancestors too were raised on the barren plains of Mongolia. Inuit and Japanese are cousins to each other... We share many ancestors, you and I..." —Vulcan Raven

Gray Fox / Frank Jaeger: It is nothing so trivial as revenge. A fight to the death with you. Only in that can my soul find respite. I will kill you or you will kill me... it makes no difference.

Psycho Mantis: And each mind that I peered into was stuffed with the same single object of obsession. That selfish and atavistic desire to pass on one's seed... it was enough to make me sick. Every living thing on this planet exists to mindlessly pass on their DNA. We're designed that way. And that's why there is war. But you... you are different... You're the same as us. We have no past, no future. We live in the moment. That's our only purpose. Humans weren't designed to bring each other happiness. From the moment we're thrown into this world, we're fated to bring each other nothing but pain and misery.

Hal "Otacon" Emmerich: The secret behind the new nuclear weapon! Just as I thought, the nuclear warhead is designed to be fired from the rail gun, like a projectile... It doesn't use fuel so it isn't considered a missile. That way it can get around all sorts of international treaties.

Naomi Hunter: Genes exist to pass down our hopes and dreams for the future through our children. Living is a link to the future. That's how all life works. Loving each other, teaching each other... that's how we can change the world. I finally realized it. The true meaning of life...

Frank Jaeger: We're not tools of the government or anyone else! Fighting was the only thing... the only thing I was good at, but... At least I always fought for what I believed in...

Otacon: The whole reason I got into science in the first place was that I was no good with people. I was scared of them. I was scared of life. I thought that I could never understand them because they're so illogical. But I've finally learned how to like people. I'm not afraid anymore.

Naomi: Each person is born with their fate written into their own genetic code... it's unchangeable, immutable... But that's not all there is to life. I finally realized that. I told you before. The reason that I was interested in genes and DNA. Because I wanted to know who I was... where I came from. I thought that if I analyzed my DNA I could find out who I was, who my parents were. And I thought that if I knew that, then I'd know what path I should take in life.

Liquid Snake: It was his dying wish! When he was young, during the Cold War, the world needed men like us. We were valued then. We were desired. But things... are different now. With all the liars and hypocrites running the world, war isn't what it used to be... We're losing our place in a world that no longer needs us. A world that now spurns our very existence. You should know that as well as I do. After I launch this weapon and get our billion dollars, we'll be able to bring chaos and honor... back to this world gone soft. Conflict will breed conflict, new hatreds will arise. Then! ...We'll steadily expand our sphere of influence.

About Metal Gear Solid

I was making games like Policenauts, and I heard rumors about a console on which polygons could be created in real-time. This really grabbed my attention, since one of the major attractions of games is the sensation of action, and I was intrigued to see what I could achieve with those polygons. Metal Gear is a hide-and-seek game and the thought of doing this while adding a camera that could change position really excited me. So I stopped making script-based games and went back to asking for favors from programmers for this 3D world.

Hideo Kojima "Hideo Kojima Reflects on 25 Years of Metal Gear" Lorenzo Grajales, Playstation.blog

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)

Solid Snake: [disguised] My name is S— My name is... Pliskin. Iroquois Pliskin. Lieutenant Junior Grade.

Raiden: Are you a Navy SEAL? How did you get in?

Snake: Fast rope descent from a Navy chopper.

Raiden: Have I seen you before?

Snake: That suit—are you FOXHOUND?

Raiden: ...That's right.

Snake: FOXHOUND was disbanded.

Raiden: ...Hm?

Snake: Where were you before FOXHOUND? Delta Force?

Raiden: I was part of the Army's Force XXI trials.

Snake: Force XXI? That's about tactical IT deployment, right? Any field experience?

Raiden: No, not really.

Snake: So this is your first.

Raiden: I've had extensive training—the kind that's indistinguishable from the real thing.

Snake: Like what?

Raiden: Sneaking mission 60, Weapons 80, Advanced—

Snake: VR, huh?

Raiden: But realistic in every way.

Snake: A virtual grunt of the digital age. That's just great.

Raiden: That's far more effective than live exercises.

Snake: You don't get injured in VR, do you? Every year, a few soldiers die in field exercises.

Raiden: There's pain sensation in VR, and even a sense of reality and urgency. The only difference is, it isn't actually happening.

Snake: That's the way they want you to think, to remove you from the fear that goes with battle situations. War as a video game—what better way to raise the ultimate soldier?

Snake: Stop impersonating him!

Solidus Snake / George Sears: Brother, I'm a whole different game from Liquid.

Solidus: Jack, listen to me. We're all born with an expiration date. No one lasts forever. Life is nothing but a grace period for turning the best of our genetic material into the next generation. The data of life is transferred from parent to child. That's how it works. But we have no heirs, no legacy. We brothers are called "Les Enfants Terribles"—cloned from our father, with the ability to reproduce conveniently engineered out. What is our legacy if we cannot pass the torch? Proof of our existence—a mark of some sort. When the torch is passed on from parent to child... it extends beyond DNA; information is imparted as well. All I want is to be remembered. By other people, by history. The Patriots are trying to protect their power, their own interests, by controlling the digital flow of information. I want my memory, my existence to remain. Unlike an intron of history, I will be remembered as an exon. That will be my legacy, my mark on history. But the Patriots would deny us even that. I will triumph over the Patriots, and liberate us all. And we will become... the "Sons of Liberty"!

Solid Snake: [to Raiden] Life isn't just about passing on your genes. We can leave behind much more than just DNA. Through speech, music, literature, and movies... what we've seen, heard, felt... anger, joy, and sorrow... these are the things I will pass on. That's what I live for. We need to pass the torch, and let our children read our messy and sad history by its light. We have all the magic of the digital age to do that with. The human race will probably come to an end sometime, and new species may rule over this planet. Earth may not be forever, but we still have the responsibility to leave what traces of life we can. Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing.

Otacon: Snake, you there? It's me. I've finished going over that disc.

Snake: Did you find the Patriots' list?

Otacon: Of course. It contains the personal data of 12 people. There was a name on it—Snake, it was one of our biggest contributors.

Snake: What's going on around here?

Otacon: I don't know...

Snake: ...Anyway, where are they?

Otacon: Well, we were right about them being on Manhattan, but...

Snake: But what?

Otacon: They're already dead. All 12 of them.

Snake: When did it happen?

Otacon: Well, ah... about a hundred years ago.

Snake: What the hell...?

About Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid sold well throughout the world; it was a great success. When I heard about the hardware for the PlayStation 2, I wanted to try something new. Up to that point, all cutscenes had focused more on details like facial expressions, but I wanted to pay more attention to the surroundings, to see how much I could change them in real-time. Current games like Call of Duty have followed this trend of making your surroundings more realistic.

Hideo Kojima "Hideo Kojima Reflects on 25 Years of Metal Gear" Lorenzo Grajales, Playstation.blog

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)

Snake: Are you one of The Cobras?!

The Sorrow: Sad... so sad... A host of sorrows... And you are one of them.

[The Sorrow pulls his hood back]

The Sorrow: I am The Sorrow. Like you, I, too, am filled with sadness. This world is one of sadness... Battle brings death. Death brings sorrow. The living... may not hear them. Their voices... may fall upon deaf ears. But, make no mistake... the dead... are not silent. Now you'll know the sorrow of those whose lives you have ended.

[The Sorrow's left eye begins to bleed, and the left lens of his glasses breaks]

[after Snake's near-death experience, a flashback of a conversation is heard]

The Sorrow: Boss, you have to shoot me.

The Boss: I can't!

The Sorrow: Shoot me! You want to finish your mission, don't you? Then... you'll have to shoot me.

[The Boss grunts]

The Sorrow: The spirit of the warrior... will always be with you. Don't be sad... we'll meet again someday.

[a gunshot is heard as The Sorrow's glasses crack again]

The Boss: What about you, Jack? What's it going to be? Loyalty to your country, or loyalty to me? Your country, or your old mentor? The mission, or your beliefs? Your duty to your unit, or your personal feelings? You don't know the truth yet. But sooner or later you'll have to choose.

[EVA explains herself in an audio recording to Snake]

EVA: Snake, listen to me. She didn't betray the United States. No... far from it. She was a hero who died for her country. She carried out her mission knowing full well what was going to happen. Self-sacrifice... because that was her duty.

[Snake is being honored at the White House]

Lyndon B. Johnson: You are above even the Boss... I hereby award you the title of Big Boss. You are a true patriot.

[after shaking hands, Snake walks out, past army officials and his team, without fanfare]

Unnamed bureaucrat: You know, we could use an infiltration unit like FOX in the army... Someone like him to handle our top-secret sneaking missions for us... A man who combines the qualities of a soldier and an agent...

EVA: The Boss' defection was a ruse set up by the US government. It was all a big drama staged by Washington so they could get their hands on the Philosopher's Legacy. And the Boss was the star of the show. They planned it so that they could get the Legacy that Colonel Volgin inherited, and destroy the Shagohod at the same time. Only a legendary hero like The Boss could have earned Volgin's trust. Finding out where the Philosopher's Legacy was hidden was to be her greatest mission. Everything was going according to plan...

EVA: But then something happened that no one could have predicted. Colonel Volgin fired an American-made nuclear warhead at Sokolov's research facility. Khrushchev demanded that the US government provide proof that it wasn't involved. They couldn't just abort the operation to steal the Legacy. So the operation itself was greatly expanded and revised. The authorities in Washington knew that in order to prove its innocence, they'd have to get rid of The Boss... and that one of their own would have to do the job. The public couldn't be allowed to find out about it, not ever. This, they concluded, would be the best way to keep the whole thing under wraps. The Boss wouldn't be allowed to come back home alive. And she wouldn't be allowed to kill herself. Her life would be ended by her most beloved disciple... That was the way the government wanted it. That was the mission she was given. And she had no choice but to carry it out... Her death at your hands... was a duty she had to fulfill. Out of duty, she turned her back on her own comrades. A lesser woman would have been crushed by such a burden...

[Snake walks through a cemetery with flowers]

EVA: The taint of disgrace will follow her to her grave. Future generations will revile her... in America, as a despicable traitor with no sense of honor... and in Russia, as a monster who unleashed a nuclear catastrophe. She will go down in official history as a war criminal. And no one will ever understand her. That... was her final mission. And like a true soldier, she saw it through to the end. But I think she wanted you, of all people, to know the truth. She wanted to live on... in your memory. Not as a soldier, but as a woman. But... she was forbidden to tell you herself. And that's why she told me...

[Snake puts his flowers and the Boss's gun by a headstone marked "In memory of a patriot who saved the world: 192?-1964"]

EVA: Snake, [tearfully] history will never know what she did. No one will ever learn the truth. Her story, her debriefing... will endure only in your heart. [sobs] Everything she did, she did for her country. She sacrificed her life and her honor for her native land. She was a real hero. She was a true patriot.

[Snake salutes the headstone and sheds a tear]

About Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

It's not really how I was inspired or influenced. We as video game creators and video game fans want to experience jungle battle, fighting in the jungle, and field battle. We've done enough with the CQB (Close Quarters Battle), we're taking this direction that everyone wants to experience.

Game creators all over the world have tried creating jungles and throwing jungles in their games, but it hasn't worked. This time we are trying to break through that, we are trying to overcome that. Because in video games when you try to create a jungle or forest there is so much vegetation it's really hard to do because of hardware limitations. That's something we are trying to overcome. That's why we are coming up with a new engine for the game and hopefully, we can accomplish it.

Hideo Kojima, GameSpot ^{[citation needed]}

I decided that MGS3 should be about survival, and I started thinking about how survival would work in the game. The game takes place in the '60s, and if the game was going to be about survival, I decided it had better take place in the jungle.
What we did to create the experimental environment was that we went to islands like Yakushima, Amami Oshima, and even places in Canada. These are places with a lot of vegetation, like Japanese jungles. (Well, obviously not Canada.) Based on our research, we created this fictional jungle forest to see if it worked.
Mr. Mori taught how camouflage works in the wilderness, and he showed us CQC techniques. He showed us how the people really would fight against each other. He also taught us the technique of stalking, which is very slow. You don't make any sounds.

Hideo Kojima in "Hideo Kojima discusses the development of Metal Gear Solid 3", by Tom Bramwell, Eurogamer, (14/04/2004).

Metal Gear Acid (2004)

Hans: [to Snake] Are you familiar with the term "doppelganger"? Everyone has two personalities in them. One of them a persona for everyday public life, and the other the exact opposite. The personality lurking in one's subconscious is referred to as the "Shadow" in psychological terms. The Shadow negates its symmetrical opposite, the "Light" persona, and in some cases grows to the same level. If it manages to grow large enough, it takes on its own shape, separates from the body, and can walk around on its own. And that, my friend, is why we're both here.

La Clown: If I die here, it means I'm not the hero. The hero is supposed to survive to the end. So... I guess that makes me the villain. The villain is always supposed to take the hero's side right before dying.

Alice: The Children of Hamelin looked up to you as a hero. You were a man created by those in power and performed mighty works for them. The Legendary Hero—Solid Snake. That's what we were always taught. [...] Our pledge was, "May me someday be great like the honorable and mighty Snake."

Metal Gear Acid 2 (2005)

Lucy: You're a cloned soldier—patterned after the legendary Solid Snake. We recovered his body from Lobito Island and created you through a fusion of his cells and our data. You were our Model 3, Snake.

Venus: Don't worry about Snake. He's been to hell and back. He's a survivor, you know. Always has been, always will be.
Takiyama: ...
Venus: He'll be just fine. I'm always right about these things.

Dalton: What do you plan to do once your wounds heal up? Got any ideas?
Snake: No plans. Just a personal goal.
Dalton: And what would that be?
Snake: To keep on living. All this time, I've been searching for my past. And now I know that I don't have one. I was manufactured in a lab. I'm not even a real human. I've got no past, and might not have much of a future. Nothing. But I'm alive. I was made to be a weapon. And I don't have squat to my name. But... as long as there's air in my lungs and blood in my veins, I'm gonna live. Right?
Dalton: You're half right. You're way off about having nothing, though.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006)

Naked Snake / Big Boss: It was four years ago, in Mozambique. There was a child soldier fighting with a guerrilla group in the struggle for independence. He killed dozens of government soldiers with just a single knife. He'd throw the enemy off guard with the innocent frankness of a young boy. Then he'd prey on them with the cold cruelty of a hunter. He spoke a little German, so his enemies called him "Frank Jaeger"... the frank hunter.

[Gene addresses soldiers]

Gene: Soldiers, hear my words! The Cold War will soon be over. The United States and the Soviet Union no longer have the strength or authority to shape the world as they seem fit. Even as America sinks deeper into the quagmire of the Vietnam War, her allies in the West have achieved tremendous economic growth. And with the collapse of its planned economy, Russia can no longer keep up with the financial demands of her vast army. But the end of the Cold War does not mean that peace will follow. Freed from the domination of the world's superpowers, nationalism will soon be the driving force behind global politics. And the ever-widening gap between rich and poor will fan the flames of hatred between nations. Nuclear weapons will slip from the superpowers' grasp and spread throughout the world. Soon no one will know when or where the nukes will come from. Today's ally may be tomorrow's bitter enemy. Or worse: the time may come when soldiers of the same country will kill their brothers, just like you are now. Who of you can say that tomorrow you won't be aiming your rifles at your neighbors? Your comrades? Your families? Is there no one who has a grudge against you? No one who mocks you? No one who really needs you? Is there truly no one out there who would kill you? One of my men is standing amongst you right now. His instructions are to kill you - for your betrayal. Your enemy is standing right beside you. [points at individual soldiers] Is it you?... Or perhaps you?... This planet is like a giant bomb. See how easily it blows itself to bits with a single nuclear warhead. Or rather, a single bullet. [laughs] There he is... It's the enemy!

Null: Why are you still alive? I used to get dreams, about my comrades. They would save me with strong arms and laughing voices. When I woke up from these dreams, I had nothing. No joy, no sorrow, no hatred, no memory. When I woke up from the darkness, all I saw were the bodies of men I've killed, lying in front of me. I know. Everyone dies. Crime. Disease. Accidents. War. No matter how good a man you are, no matter how good a soldier, there are no exceptions. Even if I don't kill them, they die. This world is full of death and yet you won't be killed. Why? Why do you still live? What do you hope to accomplish by living?

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)

Old Snake: War has changed. It's no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines. War, and its consumption of life, has become a well-oiled machine. War has changed. ID-tagged soldiers carry ID-tagged weapons, use ID-tagged gear. Nanomachines inside their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities. Genetic control. Information control. Emotion control. Battlefield control. Everything is monitored and kept under control. War has changed. The age of deterrence has become the age of control. All in the name of averting catastrophe from weapons of mass destruction. And he who controls the battlefield controls history. War has changed. When the battlefield is under total control, war... becomes routine.

Liquid Ocelot: This is only the beginning, Snake. America will descend into chaos... It'll be the Wild West all over again. No law, no order. Fire will spread across the world. The people will fight... and through battle, they will know the fullness of life. At last... our father's will... his Outer Heaven... is complete.

Revolver Ocelot: You're pretty good...

Big Boss: Everything has its beginning. But doesn't start at "one." It starts long before that, in chaos. The world is born... from zero. The moment zero becomes one is the moment the world springs to life. One becomes two, two becomes ten, ten becomes 100. Taking it all back to one solves nothing. So long as Zero remains, one... will eventually grow to 100 again. And so our goal was to erase Zero. Even the mighty Patriots began with a single man. That one man's desires grew huge, bloated; absorbed technology; began to manipulate the economy. We realized too late that we had created a beast. We had helped turn Zero into 100. His sin... was ours. And for that reason, I'm taking it upon myself to send Zero... back to nothing.

Big Boss: It's not about changing the world. It's about doing our best to leave the world the way it is. It's about respecting the will of others and believing in your own.

Big Boss: Zero and I... Liquid and Solidus... We all fought a long, bloody war for our liberty to free ourselves from systems, nations, norms and ages, but no matter how hard we fought, the only liberty we found was on the inside, trapped within those limits... The Boss and I may have taken different paths, but in the end, we were both trapped inside the same cage... "Liberty." But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be... Outside.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010)

Paz: In school, I also learned that peace is an unnatural state for human society. And that war is a constant threat to our relationship with others.

Snake / Big Boss: That's right.

Paz: So, to achieve peace, we have to create it ourselves. Crying about it won't bring it about, or make it last. Each one of us must go and seek it out.

Snake: You won't find it without making sacrifices. No offense, but I don't know what peace is. Never felt what it's like. Never even been interested in it.

Snake: [to Amanda] There's always another reason to keep on living.

Snake: Chico, growing up means choosing how you're gonna live your life. [...] Treasure your memories, Chico. No matter what happens, keep them safe. [...] Nothing to be ashamed of. Pain gets the better of us all. [...] Remember, real heroes, are never as polished as the legends that surround them.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013)

[first lines]

N'Mani: Three years... We've come so far in just three short years...

Advisor: The sign of a strong leader, sir.

N'Mani: No—the will of a strong people.

[outside the limousine, some children are playing soccer]

N'Mani: And one very able advisor.

Advisor: Thank you, sir.

N'Mani: Your team deserves credit as well... Mr. Lightning Bolt.

Raiden: [removes his sunglasses] Just doing our job, Mr. Prime Minister.

N'Mani: I must admit, I once thought of groups like yours as opportunists—enablers of war. But you’ve trained our new army well—order has returned sooner than expected.

[Several armed soldiers patrol the streets]

N'Mani: Perhaps I was wrong about these "private military companies"...

Raiden: We prefer "private security provider," sir. Most of Maverick’s contracts do focus on security.

N'Mani: Yes, well, "security" can mean many things...

[The limousine is revealed to be in a motorcade with APCs]

Raiden: [puts his sunglasses back on] There’s a saying I like: "One sword keeps another in the sheath." Sometimes, the threat of violence alone is a deterrent. Sometimes, by taking a life, others can be preserved. It’s the code the samurai lived by...

N'Mani: Mm... A soldier and a philosopher. You are full of surprises, Mr. Lightning Bolt.

Raiden: I could say the same about you, Mr. Prime Minister.

Mistral: I was wondering when you'd come, Jack the Ripper.

Raiden: No one calls me that anymore. Dolzaev, where is he?

Mistral: [tsks] I can show you a better time than that crusty old bear.

Raiden: You're in charge here?

Mistral: I am "Mistral"—the Cold Wind of France. And you, your reputation precedes you. Liberian, but white as snow... A natural-born killer, even as a child.

Raiden: That was a long time ago...

Mistral: I was born in Algeria myself, you know. I'm only half French.

Raiden: And?

Mistral: We had our own civil war in the '90s. So you see? Cut from the same cloth, you and I.

Raiden: You don't know me.

Mistral: I lost my whole family, everything... But I butchered those fuckers. My family's killers. That's when I realized... I am a killer, too. And a good one at that. [she slowly walks towards Raiden] I slaughtered dozens in Iraq, in Afghanistan... I'd found my calling.

Raiden: [points his sword at Mistral stopping her from advancing further] Proud of that, are you?

Mistral: What happened, happened. To be honest, I found it quite dull. [suggestively takes off her jacket] My enemies fell like domino, one after another. Not once did I feel threatened. I was adrift, without challenge, without purpose... [Several Dwarf Gekkos climb up to the platform] At times, I even envied my prey. At least they had a cause to die for. And then... I met him. [Raiden slashes at an attacking Dwarf Gekko]

Raiden: Who?

Mistral: And I knew what I'd been missing. [walks towards the injured Gekko] His ideals gave my life meaning. Ideals, Jack. What are yours?

Raiden: I... protect the weak.

Mistral: [chuckles and tears off the Dwarf Gekko's arms] Still... so naive.

Raiden: And if I must kill to protect them, then so be it.

Mistral: [crushes the Dwarf Gekko underfoot] It seems we have less in common than I thought.

Raiden: I'll take that as a compliment.

Mistral: If you would kill for your ideals, then surely you are ready to die for them!

[Mistral arms herself with Dwarf Gekko arms, while Raiden readies his sword and covers his face with his battle visor]

Mistral: Come, mon gars.

"Jetstream" Sam Rodrigues: [to Raiden] Not so black and white now, is it? Is your cause just, or is that "just" what you tell yourself?

Monsoon: How pleased you are to chop away, Jack the Ripper. My name is Monsoon... of the Winds of Destruction.

Raiden: Yeah... I guessed as much.

[Monsoon leaps from the World Marshal building, landing in front of Raiden]

Monsoon: Feasting on the insides of your enemies... How easily you ignore the loss of life when it suits your convenience. So tell me: Who saves the weak from the man who saves the weak?

Raiden: You're the ones exploiting them. You take advantage of their weakness... Of course they get hurt, when you set them up as your human shield.

Monsoon: Kill or be killed, Jack. Phnom Penh taught me that. Yes, you aren't the only one to grow up on the killing fields. War is a cruel parent, but an effective teacher. Its final lesson is carved deep in my psyche: that this world, and all its people, are diseased. Free will is a myth. Religion is a joke. We are all pawns, controlled by something greater: memes. The DNA of the soul. They shape our will. They are the culture—they are everything we pass on. Expose someone to anger long enough, they will learn to hate. They become a carrier. Envy, greed, despair... All memes. All passed along.

Raiden: How about "full of shit"? Is that a meme?

Monsoon: You can't fight nature, Jack. Wind blows, rain falls, and the strong prey upon the weak. Sam tells me you see your weapon as a tool. Something that saves lives—a means of justice. Now there's a pretty meme. Exquisite! It's spared you the burden of all the lives you've taken... Absolved you of guilt when you enjoyed it. That is, until the illusion was broken. Don't be ashamed. It's only nature, running its course. You have no choices to make. Nothing to answer for.

[Monsoon brandishes his twin sai]

Monsoon: You can die with a clear conscience.

Raiden: You're right. About me, I mean. I knew something was... off. After the Patriots, I thought I could walk off the battlefield and... into a normal life. But here I am, surrounded by death, arguing philosophy with terrorists. I told myself this was about justice. About protecting the weak. But I was wrong.

Monsoon: [chuckles] Then you admit it?

Raiden: I learned young that killing your enemies felt good. Really good. In America, my friends... my family... They helped me forget the devil inside. But who am I kidding? I was born to kill.

[Raiden punches the ground, cracking it]

Raiden: The bit about my sword—that "means of justice" stuff? I guess I needed something to keep "the Ripper" in check when I was knee-deep in bodies.

Monsoon: You...

Raiden: But you—all this—is a wake-up call to what I really believe. What I really am.

Monsoon: What are you saying?

Raiden: I'm saying Jack is back.

Monsoon: Kill him!

[a cyborg swordsman charges at Raiden]

Raiden: No.

[Raiden is impaled by the cyborg's sword and begins cackling, causing the cyborg to step back and Monsoon and Sam to gasp]

Raiden: Doktor. Turn off my pain inhibitors.

Wilhelm "Doktor" Voigt: What? This... This is madness! You—

Raiden: Do it!

Doktor: All right...

[Doktor complies as Raiden yells in pain]

Raiden: Pain... This is why I fight.

[Raiden quickly pulls the sword out of his body, spewing blood on the ground]

Raiden: [cackles] This is my normal. My nature.

Monsoon: You've lost your mind.

[Monsoon motions for three cyborgs to attack Raiden, but all of them are swiftly cut apart]

Raiden: [cackles] Who's next? [points his sword at Monsoon and Sam]

Sam: I'll take this dance.

Monsoon: [stretches his arm out stopping Sam in his track] No, Sam. Report back to the chief. He's mine.

Sam: [scoffs] You're the boss.

Monsoon: I misjudged you. You are like us after all.

Raiden: Now you're just being nasty. [cackles loudly] That nickname you love so much—wanna know how I got it? Actually—why don't I give you a demonstration? I think it's time for Jack... to let 'er rip! [He activates his visor. Monsoon, with a wicked grin on his face, complies as his faceplate is lowered to conceal the entirety of his face]

Sundowner: Shhh, don't disrupt the students while class is in session. I believe you're familiar with the lesson plan... The same regimen you went through in Liberia. Effective program. Just look how you turned out. Of course, running it in the real world just got a bit too... complicated. Doing it virtually, though? No fuss, no muss. Straight to the brain. It's like a dream. Well, maybe "dream" is the wrong word. They do kill some POWs... some civilians... [chuckles] They enjoy it though. We give their pleasure centers a nice big jolt every time. [chuckles] Plus they got a shiny new body as a graduation present. Another thing you have in common...

Raiden: I chose this. They're kids, you son of a bitch.

Sundowner: And kids are cruel. All people are, by nature—they just lose touch with it as they get older. Start thinking they know right and wrong. [mocking voice] "That's immoral!" War crime-this, Code of Conduct-that... Kids you can mold, manipulate into performing all kinds of atrocities—and there's nothing like a good atrocity to keep a war going.

Raiden: That's why I'm shutting you down.

Sundowner: You just don't see the bigger picture, do ya?

[Sundowner retrieves a brain from a training receptacle, staring at it as he talks]

Sundowner: Say you bring this whole place down... waltz outta the rubble with all these precious brains... Nothing changes. All the guys in charge are long gone. And we've got offices 'round the world.

[the exposed brains chirp in distress]

Sundowner: We're just suppliers. We don't create the market for war.

Raiden: Then who does? The Patriots are gone.

Sundowner: [chuckles] Those guys just managed the war economy—they didn't invent it. Didja think every battle in history was all part of some big ol' conspiracy? Bullshit! War is just part'a who we are. Why fight it? Anyway, none of this will matter in three hours. Demand for PMCs is about to skyrocket. Like the good ol' days after 9/11!

Sundowner: How's this, Jack? We can play up here without damaging the merchandise.

Raiden: What happens in three hours?

Sundowner: [chuckles] Don't matter. You're too late. Even at Mach 2 you wouldn't make it. And killing you is gonna take some time: slow, and painful.

[helicopters rise behind Sundowner, who activates his explosive shields]

Sundowner: Like I said, kids are cruel, Jack. And I'm very in touch with my inner child.

[Sundowner draws his machetes and laughs. He covers his mouth and nose with his faceguard. Raiden readies his sword, covers his face with his visor in response.]

Raiden: If America's gone to shit, you're just another maggot crawling in the pile.

Senator Steven Armstrong: [chuckles] All right, the truth then. You're right about one thing... I do need capital. And votes. Wanna know why? "I have a dream."

Raiden: What...?

Armstrong: That one day, every person in this nation will control their own destiny! A land of the truly free, dammit. A nation of action, not words. ruled by strength, not committee! Where the law changes to suit the individual, not the other way around. Where power and justice are back where they belong: in the hands of the people!

[Armstrong and Raiden headbutt each other]

Armstrong: Where every man is free, to think—to act—for himself! Fuck all these limp-dick lawyers and chickenshit bureaucrats. Fuck this 24/7 internet spew of trivia and celebrity bullshit!

[Armstrong slams Raiden's head to the ground]

Armstrong: Fuck "American pride"! Fuck the media! Fuck all of it!

[Armstrong kicks Raiden away]

Armstrong: America is diseased. Rotten to the core. There's no saving it—we need to pull it out by the roots. Wipe the slate clean. Burn it down!

[Armstrong downs Raiden with a haymaker to the head]

Armstrong: And from the ashes a new America will be born! Evolved, but untamed! The weak will be purged, and the strongest will thrive—free to live as they see fit, they'll make America great again!

Raiden: What the hell are you talking about...?

Armstrong: You still don't get it. I'm using war as a business to get elected... so I can end war as a business. In my new America, people will die, and kill, for what they believe! Not for money. Not for oil! Not for what they're told is right. Every man will be free to fight his own wars!

[Armstrong, having pinned Raiden down, begins smoking a cigar]

Armstrong: [scoffs] So... what do you think?

Raiden: How the hell did you get elected...?

Armstrong: [chuckles] Well, I don't write my own speeches. [removes his foot from Raiden's chest] You should try fighting for what you believe in sometime, Jack. Not for a company, or a nation, or for anyone else.

Raiden: Maybe I was wrong about you...

Armstrong: Am I finally getting through?

[Armstrong helps Raiden to his feet and dusts him off]

Armstrong: I'll rid this world of pointless wars, Jack.

Raiden: I was wrong. You're not greedy...

[the two shake hands]

Raiden: ...you're bat-shit insane!

Blade Wolf: Begin playback.

Sam: [via recording] Two years I've been working towards this, and on the last day blondie has me doubting the whole thing. We'll leave it up to fate then, shall we Wolfy? A duel to the death, may the best man win.

Raiden: Sam?

Sam: I cut him down, and that's that. Back to our regularly scheduled international incident. But if he beats me... if I die here... The lock on my blade will disable after a couple hours... What happens after that... is up to you, Wolfy.

Armstrong: [scoffs] Even dead, that guy is a pain in my ass. [to Blade Wolf] So... you think that little sword can save your master? [chuckles] Well, go ahead, then. But make no mistake, Fido. When I'm finished with him, you're next.

Blade Wolf: I was not designed to fear termination.

Armstrong: Hrm?

Blade Wolf: However, directive zero one is to ensure all data acquired is preserved and passed along. To expire here would violate that directive.

Armstrong: That's a good boy.

Blade Wolf: However, Raiden came to my aid... I have learned from him. When Samuel fell, data analysis was inconclusive... but that has changed. I have established new parameters, now. Created my own directives.

Armstrong: You little fuck!

[Armstrong jumps up to where Blade Wolf is perched just as the latter tosses Sam's sword to Raiden]

Armstrong: Damn mutt!

[Armstrong kicks Blade Wolf away]

Raiden: Armstrong!

[Armstrong grunts in frustration]

Raiden: I said my sword was a tool of justice... Not used in anger. Not used for vengeance. But now... now I'm not so sure. And besides... This isn't my sword.

Armstrong: [removes his glasses] Come on!

Raiden: OK. Let's dance.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014)

Kazuhira Miller: [fuming at the IAEA ambush] They played us like a damn fiddle!

Skull Face: [in a secret recording] I needed this place, to listen to the words people have to say. That's something they could never understand.

[Skull Face walks up to a prisoner, who is groaning in agony]

Skull Face: You've done your part. You told us plenty. You've known the pain of ages. And even now you think, as any person would, that this can't be happening. Is it education? Morals? Faith? Just an imprint of a lifetime of stories? Face to face with oblivion, which is where you are, and you still think that help is coming. The world you were born into is made to save you. Isn't that right? Of course it is. Everyone knows that. Until your last breath, you know it. Without the slightest chance or reason left to them, humans are capable of hope. I'm no different. But for one thing. When my time came calling, I didn't die. My family died, my country died, but they didn't take me with them. All Hell took from me was this skin, this outer peel that marked me "human".

Skull Face: My village had an oilseed field, and a fine factory. Every day my friends and I would see our parents at work in that factory. That's all I had. All the world I knew. Then one day, aircraft came droning in from some far-off sky. The factory was bombed. Some... "spies" had told them we were making weapons. The building burned. We tried to flee outside. The crowd blocked the exit. The crowd of people. Hot. So hot. I tried to push through their legs and get ahead, but a boot in my stomach put me on the ground. The smoke of them burning filled me up. I heard my name called... but not for long.

Skull Face: At the infirmary they carried me to, a nurse in the corner saw me, and remarked, as if it happened every day, "they should let the poor thing die." Those are the only words of my mother tongue I remember. It was the language of my village. Until foreign troops invaded. Then the last identity I had left—the words I spoke—were pulled from me. My skin would never feel anything again. This face would be burned again, in torture, at foreign hands, but I, I still writhe in that burning factory. Doused in scalding rapeseed oil. That's all I have to feel, that pain... all I have to remind me I exist here.

Skull Face: [chuckles] Those "spies" reported well. We made weapons all right. As cartloads of rifles came in from the battlefields, we fixed them up and sent them back out. So our country could win. Or rather, so that little world we knew could continue. I came to realize I mustn't die. I'm their last hope, all those who perished and left me here. I have to accomplish something. If I don't, their will will be swept out of this world.

[Skull Face grabs the prisoner]

Skull Face: So? Do you see me now? Tell me. What do you see? Hmm? You have eyes. What do your eyes see? [chuckles] Yes, that's right. You see a skull face. You see me. This skull is who I am. My mark, my proof of humanity. I have no country, no language, I have no face, but I haven't lost my skull. So I told myself... the pain and effort that keep me alive will never know relief, never bear fruit, never be repaid. I know that, but I told myself to focus on some hope, a nonexistent hope to guide me through this burning world. A hope... call it a dream. A melancholic delusion. As the pressures within me stretch me to bursting, and I force myself not to cry out, though the words I thought were carved into me are gone, and all I knew is dead.

Skull Face: I know how you feel. I've felt that. So show me... that I'm not the only one. That you too can return to this world for revenge. Do you see me? Don't die. Don't die. [disappointed] Ahh...

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)

Miller: Why are we still here? Just to suffer? Every night, I can feel my leg... and my arm... even my fingers. The body I’ve lost... the comrades I’ve lost... won’t stop hurting... It’s like they’re all still there. You feel it, too, don’t you?

Miller: We pull in money, recruits, just to combat Cipher... Rubbing our noses in bloody battlefield dirt, all for revenge. The world calls for wetwork, and we answer. No greater good, no just cause.

Venom Snake: [holding an urn with the ashes of slain Diamond Dogs soldiers] I won't scatter your sorrow to the heartless sea. I will always be with you. Plant your roots in me. [smears the ashes on his face] I won't see you end as ashes. You're all diamonds.

Skull Face: You too have known loss. And that loss torments you still. You hope hatred... might someday replace the pain. But it never goes away. It makes a man hideous inside and out. Wouldn't you agree? We both are demons. Our humanity won't return. You. Me. We've no place to run, nowhere to hide. And that is why I will show you my demon.

Skull Face: [talks Snake into following him] Whatever the Navajo told you... it's just one possible solution derived by Cipher. My will is different. I've known you since your time at Langley. I've long been the other side of your coin. 1964, Soviet territory. FOX's first mission. Any mess you made, I was there to clean up. You completed your task - and admirably. The "information" you returned was far more than enough to fill our pockets. With it, our futures became - more or less - set in stone. And then the major came to me with an idea. "Washington doesn't know how to spend money," he said. "I'd like to... redirect it". His goal was an organization dedicated solely - covertly - to supporting America. Cipher. You know the rest. To him, it was mourning - the loss of his friend. Or rather, an act of revenge. On the world, but America most of all.

[Skull Face, Snake, and four XOF soldiers step into a cargo elevator, which descends]

Skull Face: America is a country of liberty. A meeting of immigrants. Instead of simply assimilating, its citizens live along side others. Their roots are varied. Diverse. America's never been made up of just one people. But he tried to forge a single consciousness. For it, and from it. The idea that every citizen would use free will to unite behind their country... Unilateralism like that can't be entrusted to any one individual. So the major sought a system which used information, words, to control the "subconscious".

[Snake and Skull Face board a jeep and are driven out of OKB Zero]

Skull Face: To unite America and the entire world. The major thought this was his friend's will. But I think he never understood what she wanted. Before he ever walked, or cried - even before he was born - his mother tongue was English. He doesn't know the pain of losing his own language. Not yet. He cannot understand her will. I do. I was born in a small village. I was still a child when we were raided by soldiers. Foreign soldiers. Torn from my elders, I was made to speak their language. With each new post, my masters changed, along with the words they made me speak. Words are... peculiar. With each change, I changed too. My thoughts, personality, how I saw right and wrong... War changed me - and not only my visage. Words can kill. I was invaded by words, burrowing and breeding inside me. A philosopher once said, "It is no nation we inhabit, but a language." "Make no mistake, our native tongue is our true fatherland." My fatherland - my truth was stolen from me. And so was my past. All that's left is the future. And mine is revenge. On those who'd leech off the words of their fellow man. This is what I learned from the major. And then it hit me. It was he who should feel my wrath. He and the code he chose as basis for control. Language codes, information codes - beamed all around us - genetic codes spanning history. By controlling the codes, Cipher... Zero intends to unify the world. Codes implanted into our heads, sucking our minds dry as it spreads from one host to the next. A parasite upon the earth. That is what Zero is. As one born into this world, he's afflicted. I hold him responsible for killing my freedom. Killing all traces of my past... Killing any promise of a future... We are all but dead men forced to walk upon this earth. A world reduced to Zero. Cipher plans to use its codes to control the world. They think they can.

[Skull Face produces a small canister]

Skull Face: And the "mother tongue" of all those codes is English.

[He opens the canister, revealing two vials and a space for a third one, which is empty]

Skull Face: The word became flesh. The final parasite.

[Skull Face takes one vial and shows it to Snake]

Skull Face: It knows English. An English strain of the vocal cord parasite.

[He puts it back in its canister and closes it before setting it down beside him]

Skull Face: I will exterminate the English language. With this, I'll rid the world of infestation. All men will breathe free again - reclaim their past, present, and future. This is no ethnic cleanser. It is a "liberator," to free the world from Zero. Let the world be. Sans lingua franca, the world will be torn asunder. And then, it shall be free. People will suffer, of course - a phantom pain. The world will need a new common tongue. A language of nukes. My Metal Gears shall be the thread by which all countries are bound together, in equality. No words will be needed. Every man will be forced to recognize his neighbor. People will swallow their pain. They will link lost hands. And the world will become one. This war is peace.

Skull Face: Such a lust for revenge! Who?

About Metal Gear

In a statement that shows both an ignorance of source material and a lack of critical thinking, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Andrei Kartapolov stated during a parliamentary roundtable that the Metal Gear series of games is an example of United States Intelligence services seeking to manipulate “public consciousness and especially young people” against the Russian government.
To clarify the problems with such a statement, first we need to recall that Hideo Kojima is the creator of the series, and he was born and raised in Japan. Second, the games were produced in Japan by Konami, a Japanese entertainment and gaming conglomerate. Third, the first game in the series was released in 1987 and the story remains largely the same. Fourth, examining the content of the games, such as Metal Gear Solid, reveals an overall critique of the stockpiling of nuclear arms, and is highly critical of the United States in this regard.
- Patricio Kobek, ”Russian Defense Ministry Claims The Metal Gear Series Is A Real American Intelligence Project”, The Gamer, (Jun 29, 2019)

More than anything, the themes of Metal Gear Solid are simply phantom whispers of the Cold War, where stocking piling [sic] and creating a bigger weapon is all that matters. The Moscow Times adds that Kartapolov continued in his statement by adding that these projects were “aimed at encouraging active protest activity and dissatisfaction with the country's authorities among young people.” In the broadest possible sense, this is not incorrect, but the dissatisfaction in these games is aimed at all governments who abuse their power with the goal of creating weapons of mass destruction.
- Patricio Kobek, ”Russian Defense Ministry Claims The Metal Gear Series Is A Real American Intelligence Project”, The Gamer, (Jun 29, 2019)

As far as a character that’s evolved with the hardware, that would have to be Snake. If you look at the original Metal Gear, he was a very silent type of character—-he didn’t speak much. Probably the reason for that is, on that hardware, we were unable to make the characters speak.
You could compare it to movies. The original Metal Gears were kind of like silent-era movies and Metal Gear Solid 1 is when it became talkies and sound movies. But at the same time with Metal Gear Solid 1, he could speak but there still wasn’t emotion on the face. So everything had to be done through the voices. He had to say whether or not he liked something or if he was feeling hot or it hurt. Everything had to be explained vocally. Then we saw 2000, the next step in his evolution, where we could have emotion on his face. We get things like motion-capture and try to make games realistic and believable. That was the next stage in his evolution.
For Metal Gear Solid 4, we were able to get more resolution and add more detail to the faces. We added wrinkles and we added the aspect of age to the equation. So: telling a story through wrinkles. If you really look at the evolution of Snake, the character, it’s also looking at the evolution of the gaming industry and hardware. I think that’s something that’s pretty unique to Snake as a character and you don’t see it in any other form of media where the character evolves with hardware.
- Hideo Kojima in "Still Solid: Metal Gear Creator Hideo Kojima on "The Art of Video Games"" by Reese Higgins, Washington City Paper, (Mar 19, 2012).

External links

Wikipedia

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Metal Gear