Metal Gear (1987)

I first played this on my PS2 copy of Metal Gear Solid 3, but did not get very far. I figured why play it like that when I can abuse save states. Now years later I beat the NES version, and I am pretty sure the PS2 version is the msx. The game started off poorly with that whole jungle section. It was far too unforgiving and trial and error based. I especially hated how I was spotted instantly after getting out of a truck despite stealth killing that guard just prior, among other similar situations. This was the worst part of the game for me. How can it be called a stealth game if it is impossible to not be detected at places? And there was no real penalty for setting off the alarm, just leave the screen and everything was back to normal. Defeated guards should have stayed defeated, with alerts lasting until you died, to incentivize more careful tactical stealth play. But perhaps that was beyond the capability of the hardware.

I also did not like the item hunt aspect, the truck moving, and how it took way too long to get the pistol. Checking each key card 1 at a time to figure out which opened each door was terrible design. It really should have been automatic, with the cards not even being equipable. As it was I found myself most often leaving the cards equipped rather than the body armor. The start button should have been a shortcut to the equip screen; pause was a useless feature given the game paused while in the menu. Due to these annoyances and not wanting to stumble around, I followed a walkthrough for about the first half of the game. After that I just used a map. There should have been an in game map as an item, and use that to solve the stupid maze screens. Despite all these flaws, there was a lot of good game design here. The game was reminiscent of Metroid and the Legend of Zelda, only not as good as either; an open world action game with respawning enemies, puzzles, and items that allow progress. The combat was much more fun with the gun, though enemies should have dropped ammo and rations. The bosses were well done and probably the best part of the game, with the music coming in next. I killed them with fancy handgun shooting, anticipating their movements and sending bullets for them to walk into while barely getting out of the way of theirs, unless I needed a stronger weapon. I did not use the SMG or cardboard box, though I did see how they could be slightly useful. I watched a let's play of the msx version to see how different it was. The entire jungle section was gone with the gun being obtained earlier. The stealth seemed more forgiving and less trial and error, there were more boss fights, no dumb maze screens, the pit traps were doable without exploits, the scorpions were far more aggressive, and there was a metal gear at the end instead of a lame computer. There were even laser turrets at the metal gear to make blowing it up a challenge, though to be fair I died to the soldiers there after running the electric gauntlet. The core gameplay and most of the world layout was the same. Dialog was better though the plot was the same. I did not like the romance message at the end, which was not in the NES, because it did not fit at all.

I doubt I would have had the patience to play this as a kid, though there was some good game design here. The msx version was clearly better.

6.0/10 for NES 7.0/10 for msx

METAL GEAR.... it begins....

I spent an embarrassing amount of time not using the box wondering why rooms were unfair until I realized you could just use the box for the cameras. I'm an idiot.

Abusing the ammo spawns so I can just use the suppresser on everything. I like how some rooms force you to learn guard patterns but also I'm sorry I just want to continue fast, pew pew

I like how the RA achievement for getting captured is "I M SO SMRT!!!".

Taking a break from Resident Evil to play probably the oldest possible game I can play on the shiny new console I spent hundreds of dollars on. The original, the 8-bit wonder, 1987's very own Metal Gear, hold the Solid, played on the MGS HD Collection.

This game is a testament to how absolutely bonkers my tastes are. It, by all accounts, aged like milk that's been sitting out since 1987. It's straight up not-good. There's not much of a story, the stealth is laughable, and my god is this game obtuse. But I love it. I love the way Big Boss calls you IN the gas room to tell you "oops I forgot, you gotta wear a gas mask." I love the embarrassingly easy boss fight cheese. The completely nonsensical things everyone on the radio says and the utterly illogical puzzles. And unironically the soundtrack is good. There's only like 5 tracks, but they're all decent.

My only complaint is that I wish they kept the original names of the bosses. Not that the new names are good, by any stretch of the imagination.

Not the first stealth game, I think that was... Castle Wolfenstein? In 84? Something like that. But it really did do a lot and started a legacy. Really, I'm just glad it was good enough that they made a trash tier NES port, made an unauthorized sequel that was even worse, so Kojima and his team said "nope, we gotta show how it's done" and Metal Gear 2 was made. That game is top tier.