Every Metal Gear Solid Game In Chronological Order

Key Takeaways

• Kojima’s departure from the
  Metal Gear
  franchise doesn’t diminish the eternal legacy it has built within the gaming world.
• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
  lays down the foundation for the series, introducing new gameplay mechanics and impactful characters.
• Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
  , while missing some key elements, showcases Kojima’s storytelling prowess and top-notch gameplay.

Series creator Hideo Kojima guided the Metal Gear franchise from its inception in 1987 until 2015’s Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. While the game designer departed with publisher Konami under bad circumstances, he has since released the incredibly unique Death Stranding, with its sequel and other curious games like OD on the way, proving that he is not done sharing his art with the world.

Even if The Phantom Pain was the last thing he did in the franchise, the Metal Gear series has created an eternal legacy within the medium, providing it with some of the best and most iconic stealth games ever made. Its labyrinthine story spans six different decades, and it can be hard to keep track of the Metal Gear chronology, so this list should (hopefully) clear up any confusion.

Updated on October 7th, 2024, by David Heath: The MGS3 remake, Metal Gear Solid Δ, is still tentatively billed for a 2024 release, though there are only a few more months left in the year. Still, players have seen more of the new character designs and gameplay in action, and it looks pretty good. If it lives up to the hype, Konami will have two impressive remakes on show, after the Silent Hill 2 remake managed to hold up despite how bad its first impressions were. So, this list has a few minor updates to reflect those new details, alongside some extra tidbits here and there. Like how likely an MGS1 will be, whether MG1 should be remade, what happens when MGS2’s plot is tinkered with, and what the future holds for the MGS series post-Kojima. Will there be new games to come? Maybe even an MGS6? Only time will tell.

1964

Despite being the third numbered entry, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater started everything chronologically and would plant the seeds for the overarching conflict across the games, albeit in retrospect. Naked Snake’s mission to stop a rogue Soviet faction from launching a nuke revealed Big Boss’ origin story, as well as that of the series’ multi-agent Revolver Ocelot and of the mysterious Patriots. They all seem so innocent at the start of the game, only to reveal other facets by its end.

Gameplaywise, it was a big improvement on the prior MGS games, with the new CQC mechanics improving on Snake’s hand-to-hand combat options and a whole host of secrets to find in its new jungle setting. Its new characters left an impact, too, with Snake’s mentor, The Boss, being a particular fan favorite. Fans had hoped Kojima would get to make an even earlier prequel detailing her past. It may still be on the cards if Metal Gear Solid Δ does well. But without Kojima at the helm, it isn’t the tantalizing prospect it used to be. After Portable Ops, Peace Walker, and MGS5, the story of the Boss and Big Boss is perhaps full enough as is.

1964

The reason MGS3‘s remake is called Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater (Δ being ‘delta’) is because the symbol represents “a difference without changing structure”, referring to its use in mathematics and science to represent macroscopic changes in variables. In other words, the game is aiming to be a bigger, grander version of MGS3, but it will still follow the same story, complete with the same vocal performances from 2004.

On the one hand, some may find this disappointing. The reason the Resident Evil remakes caught on so well was because of the changes they made to the original stories. It helped them stand apart from their forebears. On the other hand, re-localizing MGS3 could’ve been seen by fans as Konami further trying to remake Kojima’s work in their image. With the recent furor over its default look foregoing MGS3‘s yellow filter (available as a ‘Legacy’ option), it’s definitely safer for them to update the game’s graphics and gameplay for modern times than to rewrite the story in its entirety.

For instance, the ‘Legacy’ gameplay option will replicate the original Snake Eater‘s controls, complete with the top-down camera. ‘New Style’ will incorporate features from later games, like third-person aiming, crouch-walking, and a free-moving camera. Damage will also be reflected in real-time, as outfits can get torn and riddled with bullet holes, and Snake can be bruised and scarred by injuries.

1964

• Developer: Kojima Productions, Hexadrive
• Platform: Nintendo 3DS
• Release: February 2012

This ‘Delta’ approach also applied to MGS3‘s first remake, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D on the Nintendo 3DS. Having already made a bunch of MGS games for the PSP, Konami wanted to test out the 3DS’ capabilities, and they considered MGS3 to be ‘the best game’ for doing that. Its stereoscopic 3D could really bring out its jungle foliage, and the gyroscopic capabilities of the device could help Snake balance on bridges and branches.

Players could also use the 3DS camera to make their own PhotoCamos, which could help players sneak more easily if they produced the right patterns. Otherwise, it’s basically the same game and story with some graphical alterations (e.g. all the Kerotans have been replaced with Yoshi’s). However, it was originally meant to have optional Side Ops like Peace Walker using Tselinoyarsk’s different locations for different missions. The feature ultimately wasn’t finished, though it can still be accessed with a little hacking.

1970

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the handheld spin-off, is considered somewhat canon, as it’s referenced in later games. However, it’s only brought up tangentially, and few (if any) of its story beats are ever followed up upon. It was about how Big Boss and a young Roy Campbell teamed up to stop the FOX Unit, which had gone rogue under its new leader Gene, a super soldier designed specifically to succeed The Boss. It’s also the chronological debut of Frank Jaeger, who’d later become Solid Snake’s mentor and frenemy as Grey Fox from Metal Gear 1 to MGS1.

The game introduced many elements later titles would expand upon, like recruiting enemy guards and taking them out on missions as extra playable characters. However, they aren’t as refined as those later games. Dragging guards to a drop-off point isn’t as snappy as sticking a Fulton Balloon onto them. As such, it’s not considered an essential game to the timeline and has often been skipped in favor of its sequel, Peace Walker. But if it turned up on, say, an MGS: Master Collection Vol.2, it might find a new audience that could appreciate its gameplay.

1974

Unlike Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker had Kojima at the helm and thus got more recognition. That and it managed to reach a wider audience when it was included in the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for the PS3 and Xbox 360. On the face of it, it’s about Big Boss, now disassociated with Major Zero and the US, investigating a US-affiliated organization setting up nukes in Costa Rica. But it also shows the ideological divide between Big Boss and Zero, as they come to very different conclusions on how to make the world one.

The game is rated T, so it is not as violent as other entries (e.g., Big Boss’ knife is replaced with a stun rod), but its drama can still hit hard. As can its weirdness, as it features singing AI robots, dating side-missions, and fights against monsters from Capcom’s Monster Hunter, including an original design based on Metal Gear REX. While the game was made with the PSP in mind, it played excellently (if not better) on the big consoles. It missed out on being included in the Master Collection Vol.1, but hopefully, it’ll feature in Vol.2.

It’s unlikely to let players ‘transfar’ their old saves to it if it does, but it would give new players a chance to use its insane online co-op weapons, from the railgun that requires a second person to charge it up via dynamo, or the Human Slingshot that requires 4 people holding different pieces of it working together.

1975

Funnily enough, Kojima originally considered calling Peace Walker ‘Metal Gear Solid 5’ but felt fans would be upset with the next entry being a PSP game. So, he made the official Metal Gear Solid 5 a full-on sequel to Peace Walker instead, taking place mere days after the end of its second, hidden ending. Or at least that was the plan. Instead, to recoup the cost of the game’s production, the immediate part showing Big Boss saving his PW teammates Chico and Paz from Camp Omega in Cuba was released separately as Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes.

Fans, in retrospect, even figured where it would’ve appeared if it was released as part of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, popping up just after saving Kaz from Russian captivity in Afghanistan. But in its released form, it felt more like a very pricey demo for MGS5. The main story mission took about an hour to beat, and less so for veteran players. But it came with plenty of extras, like the quirky Déjà Vu and Jamais Vu missions.

Nowadays, it can be found for much cheaper prices and is often packaged with MGS5 as MGS5: The Definitive Experience. The latter also unlocks GZ‘s save data perks in MGS5 (extra troops, etc.) automatically, so there’s not much point in buying it separately now beyond the extra busy work.

1984

Had Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain been given the development time to do all it set out to do, the series would have finally come full circle, connecting the prequel games to the original Metal Gear. Instead, thanks to the strained relationship between Kojima and Konami, the result was missing some key ingredients. For example, Kojima hinted players could return to GZ‘s Camp Omega, which they can’t. Many of the Side Ops are repeated because the developers didn’t have time to make original ones on par with Peace Walker.

The suspiciously silent Venom Snake also had plenty of lines cut from the final game. Nothing story-altering, but it would’ve given him more personality if they stayed (e.g. responses to Paz in the medical ward). Then, most notoriously of all, the “Kingdom of the Flies” mission, which saw Venom Snake and Eli’s arcs get wrapped up, was never finished, reduced to a work-in-progress extra on special editions of the game. Still, the story had some good ideas, and the gameplay was top-notch, letting players complete missions any way they liked.

If only it had a Director’s Cut edition like Death Stranding to close off those missing plot threads and reintegrate any missing bits that could’ve enriched the experience. Then Venom Snake’s journey of revenge against Skull Face for the death of his comrades and the destruction of Mother Base would’ve been much more satisfying.

1995

With the prequels now put aside, Metal Gear is the real-life start of the series. The one every game follows on from. Solid Snake makes his debut as a rookie agent for the elite group FOXHOUND. He’s sent into the military nation Outer Heaven by his COO, Big Boss, to save his mentor, Grey Fox, and stop the titular nuclear bipedal tank. This game is quite quaint by today’s standards, with some jank here and there (having to constantly equip and de-equip pass cards, etc.), but it shows many of the traits future stealth-action classics would follow.

While it still has its twists (some of which have changed thanks to MGS5), its storytelling is surprisingly quick and straightforward, thanks to the MSX’s memory constraints. Kojima’s trademark verbosity would have to wait until its sequel to arrive. The easiest way to play it today is via the Master Collection Vol.1. The NES port, while infamous for its infamous localization job (“I FEEL ASLEEP!”), isn’t as solid as the MSX original (pun unintended), though it’s still better than the stodgier C64 version, with its tiny sprites, braindead AI, and awful music.

With MGS3‘s remake on the way, and most people wondering about another MGS1 remake, some have wondered if MG1 will also be remade. It’s arguably the one that needs it the most, thanks to the subsequent games changing the canon, and the extra room it offers for expanding its side characters. Though whether fans would take to it without Kojima and his old crew managing it is another matter.

1999

The canon sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, saw Solid Snake come out of retirement to infiltrate a new military nation, Zanzibar Land, to save the abducted scientist Dr Kio Marv and retrieve OILIX, a genetically modified organism that could produce a cleaner, safer alternative fuel source to oil. The game feels much more familiar to later fans, as the MSX2’s extra memory meant Kojima could add more of his narrative touches, like grandiose speeches, high drama, and sudden twists, like Snake’s connection to Big Boss, and to his old allies like Grey Fox.

The extra memory also helped the gameplay feel more like its followups, like the radar showing soldiers & their field of vision and mech bosses that could actually move and fight, like Metal Gear itself. Other set pieces would actually get carried over wholesale to MGS1, like the run & gun tower section and the elevator ambush. Maybe Kojima and Co thought they could get away with it because MG2 wasn’t officially released in the West until it was included in MGS3‘s ‘Subsistence’ re-release. It’s since turned up in the HD Collection and Master Collection Vol.1.

Before those releases, fans had to make do with a fan translation made in 1997 by Maarten ter Huurne and Takamichi Suzukawa, which also retained the original game’s celebrity faces for its characters (Mel Gibson as Snake, Sean Connery as Big Boss). It’s not as convenient to play as the official releases today (no tap code guide, etc.), but it’ll give modern players a taste of what MGS fans had to go through to play MGS1‘s predecessor.

2005

The MSX games may be where the series started, and Kojima had a cult following in Japan via his visual novel games. But it was Metal Gear Solid that truly skyrocketed the series and Kojima to their legendary status. It sees Solid Snake head to an Alaskan island to stop his old unit FOXHOUND from using Metal Gear REX to launch a nuke and face his own past in the process. Big Boss may be gone, but here he learns about how he was ‘created’ from Big Boss’ genes and meets Eli, aka his twin brother Liquid Snake, for the first time.

While its sequels would add neater extras like CQC and the ability to mod weapons, MGS1 still holds up well today with its smooth, silky, stealthy gameplay. It had some iconic setpieces of its own, like Psycho Mantis’ memory card reading, and the fight against REX itself was an exciting experience. With MGS Δ nearly done, fans wonder if an MGS1 remake will be next. Though, according to new series producer Noriaki Okamura, remaking MGS1 would take more effort than MGS3 as it would require more changes to accommodate new gameplay techniques. Its Gamecube remake, The Twin Snakes, didn’t have those changes and ended up becoming a very different experience.

2005

It’s not that Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes was a bad game. Players had to adjust to the GameCube’s controls, and its new features, taken from MGS2, made getting through the old MGS1 layouts easier overall. Why sneak around the Tank Hangar when the first-person mode lets players tranq all the guards first? But it had some neat features, like reducing the old game’s backtracking by providing shortcuts (e.g. the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building now hides a PSG1-T for sniping Sniper Wolf). Some fans even prefer the new voice acting, which would become the basis for the VA’s future performances (no more accents for Mei-Ling and Naomi).

Still, the localization was redone to be more faithful to Kojima’s writing at the cost of sounding more stilted (“You yourself! In Zanzibarland!”). Then the cutscenes were made much more kinetic, as Kojima wanted action director Ryuhei Kitamura to make them look more like his movies (Versus, Godzilla: Final Wars). It left fans wondering which version of MGS1 is canon. Kojima stood on the fence, hiding MGS1‘s Policenauts poster under TTS’s Zone of the Enders 2 poster in MGS4. Most fans figured that MGS1 is canon, while TTS is what Otacon is imagining in MGS4 when Snake recalls the game’s events.

2005-2007

• Developer: Ideaworks Game Studio
• Platforms: Mobile phones, N-Gage
• Release: March 2008

Metal Gear Solid Mobile is an early mobile game that is almost impossible to find through legitimate channels these days. It’s not a hidden gem either, as it seems to have passed by players without much notice despite winning the Grand Prix and Operator’s Choice prizes at the 2008 International Mobile Gaming Awards. The most interesting aspect of it is its story, as it has the same semi-canon status as MGS: Portable Ops.

Set between MGS1 and MGS2, it saw Solid Snake work with Dr. Victoria Reed in order to obtain intel on the construction of a new Metal Gear model. However, it turns out to be a ploy to trap Snake in a VR simulation (Victoria Reed = VR). It’s ultimately inconsequential, as Snake gets mindwiped at the end. The most tantalizing part of its ending suggests he was being controlled by the Patriots, and that they were going to move on to see what ‘Jack’ (Raiden) could do.

2007-2009

The first part of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty takes place in 2007 and shows Solid Snake infiltrating a Tanker to expose the Marines’ new project, Metal Gear RAY. Then Kojima threw fans a curveball when the second chapter was set on the Big Shell Plant two years later and replaced Snake with Raiden. He was always planned to be the main protagonist, though Konami, Kojima, and co managed to keep him a secret (bar the GBC game’s VR Missions teaser) until after the game’s release, replacing him with Snake in the game’s E3 and Tokyo Game Show trailers.

While this angered some fans, they gradually accepted this ruse and its mind-bending plot as its themes about the control of digital information and society became more prescient since its 2001 release. It was also the first game to mention the Patriots and the AI controlling things on their behalf. Their presence throughout the Plant Chapter’s run is one of MGS2‘s most interesting aspects. Not that the game’s ideas came out of nowhere. Its identity-twisting elements, and even some characters, were based on ones from the book City of Glass. Kojima is quite fond of working whatever piece of media is on his mind into his work, like MGS5‘s references to Moby Dick.

Still, even with its deliberate attempts to mislead the player in mind, the story could’ve been told in a clearer, more concise manner. Though attempts to do so haven’t been too great. The MGS2 Graphic Novel provided a more digestible plot and more Solid Snake action, though at the cost of some of the game’s best moments, and Raiden’s character development. As crazy as it is, MGS2‘s story is perhaps best left alone.

2014

To date, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the final chapter in Solid Snake’s story. It sees him as a prematurely-aged old man with one last mission in him: kill Revolver Ocelot, the Patriots’ multi-agent now completely possessed by Liquid Snake. MGS4 began life as a PS3 exclusive and, as of this writing, is still stuck on the console. There are rumors it’ll feature in a potential Master Collection Vol.2, so fans might not have to fish out their old consoles just to see how Snake’s story ends.

Inspired by the 1970s Italian drama Sacco & Vanzetti, Kojima originally planned to have Snake & Otacon executed for the crimes they were framed for, like the movie’s leads. His colleagues ultimately talked him out of it, giving them a happier ending where Snake gets to shut down the Patriots and make amends with his late father, Big Boss. While the gameplay is fun, its story and cutscenes begin to wear out their welcome as they’re some of the longest in the series, including the game’s 90+ min finale.

2018

After a long development that saw this spin-off move from being worked on by Kojima Productions to being finished by PlatinumGames, Metal Gear Rising: Revengenace is the last game in the main Metal Gear chronology. For now, anyway. Even though it’s a character action game, similar to Bayonetta or Devil May Cry, the story remains a distinctly Metal Gear tale. It sees Raiden, now working as a bodyguard, trying to stop Desperado Enforcement from starting a war, complete with a conspiracy involving kidnapped children, AI, and nanomachines, son.

The game was really popular on its 2013 release, and a sequel seemed guaranteed until Konami and Kojima’s fallout. Even a decade later, the game is fondly remembered for its fast gameplay and wacky characters. Even so, it still has semi-canon status, as it hasn’t been confirmed as an official follow-up to MGS4. It was originally going to tell Raiden’s story during MGS4, including how he saved Sunny from Area 51, how he became a cyborg, and how he’d get revenge.

But Platinum didn’t fancy trying to get all that done within the relatively tiny time frame that they had, so it became an original story that took place right at the end of the timeline to avoid treading on the other games’ toes. That and, unlike MGS: Portable Ops, Kojima liked it enough to make it the basis for GZ‘s ‘Jamais Vu’ mission, and include Ninja Raiden (sans blade-based gameplay) in MGS5.

1975 – Follows MGS: Ground Zeroes

The black sheep of the MGS series is also the earliest chronological alternate timeline. Metal Gear Survive is a zombie survival game following a group of Big Boss’ MSF soldiers, who were somehow sucked into another dimension via a wormhole after Mother Base gets destroyed at the end of GZ. From there, they have to find other survivors for the Wardenclyffe Section and find a cure for the zombie infection. The game is its own thing entirely, made without Kojima’s input, and isn’t connected to any of the MGS games beyond its predecessors.

Given it came out after Kojima’s rough departure from Konami, and in the aftermath of ex-employees and contacts revealing how bad Konami’s working practices were, the game had a lot of negativity surrounding it. Its gameplay didn’t help, as it was basically MGS5 with shoehorned-in crafting, hunger, and thirst mechanics. It also charged players real money to make new save files. With no link to Big Boss, the Snakes, the Metal Gears, or anything else to do with the series, there’s little reason to play Survive beyond curiosity.

6 Snake’s Revenge

1998 – Follows Metal Gear

• Developer: Konami
• Platforms: NES (original), PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC (MGS Master Collection Vol.1)
• Release: April 1990

Some older gamers might have a fondness for Snake’s Revenge, as the gameplay is actually a touch better than the NES Metal Gear, and offered some new mechanics like the sidescrolling action sequences. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a patch on the MSX games and was made without Kojima’s involvement. In fact, according to him, one of its staff members met him on the train, told him about the game, and asked him to make a proper sequel to the MSX game. Which he’d do so with Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Not that Kojima was likely to play Snake’s Revenge for himself at the time.

Despite being developed by Konami in Japan, the game was exclusive to America and Europe. Outside of emulation, Japanese players didn’t get to give it a go until it was included in the Master Collection Vol.1. While non-canon, they might’ve gotten a kick out of its story, which saw Snake and two accomplices, Nick Myer and John Turner, take down a cybernetically-enhanced Big Boss from nuking multiple targets across the world. Or ‘Vermon CaTaffy’, as the game’s manual called him, working with the terrorist ‘Higharolla Kockamamie’. If only the games still had such topical names. Then Solidus Snake’s real name could’ve been George Dubya Smears or something equally silly.

2002 – Follows Metal Gear

• Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, Tose
• Platform: Game Boy Color
• Release: May 2000

Released simply as Metal Gear Solid in the West, Metal Gear: Ghost Babel follows an alternate timeline from the MSX games. Snake returns to what’s left of Outer Heaven to stop the Gindra Liberation Front and the special forces unit Black Chamber from activating a new Metal Gear prototype, Metal Gear Gander. The gameplay follows the MSX games’ lead too, playing like MG2 with its radar and weapon/item selects, but with a stage-by-stage structure akin to Peace Walker, complete with rankings (‘Terrible’ to ‘Excellent’).

It also offered 90 VR missions, which teased the appearance of Raiden who, at the time of the game’s release, hadn’t been officially revealed for MGS2 yet. Unfortunately, it has never been re-released since its debut, and finding both a working GBC and an affordable copy of the game isn’t so easy nowadays. Until it appears in a compilation (maybe MC Vol.2?), players should seek out its European release, which not only supports multiple languages but has the exclusive ‘IdeaSpy 2.5’ codec calls that appear on a second playthrough.

2016 (Alternate Timeline)

When fans were wondering what Metal Gear Acid, the first handheld Metal Gear since Ghost Babel, would be like, they probably weren’t expecting it to be a tactical, collectible card-based RPG. It doesn’t follow any of the other games in the series, as Snake and his partner Teliko have to save a US senator from terrorists and learn just what the secret Pythagoras project is. To do this, they use the Active Command Intelligence Duel to optimize the right deck of cards to sneak around obstacles and take down the enemy mercs.

Back in the PSP’s early days, it was one of the handheld’s strongest offerings, as neither MGS: Portable Ops nor Peace Walker would come out for a few years. It was also effectively exclusive to the handheld, with only an obscure, less good Java port for mobile phones as an alternative. Nowadays, while it’s fine enough for fans of card-based games, it’s a little too strange for a Metal Gear game, which is saying a lot for a series that has bisexual vampires, language-eating parasites, and soldiers who can control bees. It would only get stranger, too.

2019 – Follows Metal Gear ACID

• Developer: Kojima Productions
• Platforms: PSP, J2ME Mobile Phones
• Release: March 2006

Many of the Metal Gear spin-off games were largely created by three men: Tomokazu Fukushima, Shuyo Murata, and Shinta Nojiri. The trio cut their teeth on the main MGS games, often writing its extra details, codec calls, alternate modes, and more. But without Kojima’s oversight, they made the beloved Ghost Babel, MGS2‘s surreal ‘Snake Tales’, and Metal Gear Acid, proving they could be just as strange. Metal Gear Acid 2 proved they could be even stranger than that.

The game brought back the turn-based card gameplay and saw an amnesiac Snake and his new ally Venus stop Dr Thomas Koppelthorn (previously mentioned in Ghost Babel and Snake Tales) and his SaintLogic organization from using Metal Gear Chaioth Ha Qadesh to launch a nuclear attack. It sounds straightforward enough until the plot reveals Snake is a lab-grown clone of the real deal, Venus is a turncoat, and they’re both helped by a hacker who can hypnotize people through the web. Kojima makes strange games, but compared to his staff, maybe he was the most straightforward guy in the room.