KnockBack, Episode 46: Metal Gear Solid

It wasn’t until episode 200 that I found out you and your bro did a MGS knockback! 😀 Can’t wait!

gnawtyFOX

I didn't realize how prolific this game really was, until you both broke it down. Thanks for taking the time to appreciate our past which helped shape the gaming landscape as things are now.

maluchunk

Oh boy, this episode brings back the memories. MGS might be in my top 10-20 favorite games of all time. Thank you for another great episode :)

Theis Jensen

I love how you guys differentiated "camp" and "cheesiness" in this episode. The MGS series (at least up until Guns of the Patriots) were a bit campy and a bit self-referential, but what I enjoyed about the core "Solid" series (again, at least up to MGS 4), was that they were full of variety, both gameplay and aesthetically. You never felt like one boss battle or location was going to be like the other, or even in the case of MGS 2, Kojima made stellar use of making each portion of Big Shell feel unique in execution. I acquiesce with you on MGS V, the opening is stellar, and while the remaining gameplay after that is fun, it is a piss poor MGS game. Almost as if Kojima was giving a big "fuck you" to Konami... hmmmmm....

Justin Marxer

That's super cool to hear. Glad to know we could inspire a historic moment such as that. =D

Colin Moriarty

Just a quick comment - after listening to this episode I busted out my ps3 and re-played MGS with my girlfriend watching. Just wanted her to see an important milestone in video games history. She loved the story and got invested in it. Now onto MGS3 aka my game of all times. Thx for reminding me about this series!

tejotl

Yeah I never even thought of that dilemma until I heard this podcast, interesting angles covered. Keep up the amazing work.

Sineo

I did the same exact thing, and I too barely played ZoE, at the end of the day.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, that was super cool. And the unfortunate people who had to rent or borrow it! They may have been lost!

Colin Moriarty

I've played so many games, and I still remember playing it. That says a lot to me.

Colin Moriarty

MGS made such an impression on me that I literally bought Zone of Enders (full retail price) just to get the included MGS2 demo. Never even put the Zone of Enders disc into the PS2 🤓

Tony Colton

Top 10 best selling PS1 games and MGS is #10... as far the varying lists on google. & The mind blowing moment for me is when Campbell tells you to look at the back of the CD case to call Meryl.... especially since I was stuck on that for at least 10 minutes.

Sineo

That’s how I found out about MGS... I played the hell out of that demo.

Sineo

I'm extremely glad I played this game as a kid! I'm not sure I'd have the time (or patience) to play it for the first time as an adult. But man, it was so rewarding to beat it, given how much went into sneaking and planning.

Korey Burns

This has been clarified! Thank you. <3

Colin Moriarty

Pizza Hut just hits the spot every now and then. It really does.

Colin Moriarty

That was definitely cool, too, and it's awesome they managed to keep that a secret (though the Trophies spoiled it, LOL).

Colin Moriarty

Hey Colin! LOVE LOVE LOVE this episode. MGS is my favorite game of ALL time. MGS1 IS playable on Vita btw! I've played through it about 3 times on Vita. idk if someone has commented this but just wanted to let you know. :)

Jeff Caseres

I'll never forget the demo disk for this game came with the Pizza Hut Stuff Crust Pizza. Made for an amazing night.

PanzerG2

Hey Colin. Agree heavily as a die hard MGS fan that Psycho Mantis is the most surprising and memorable moment through gaming history but also speaking for lifelong God of War fans I have to say the "I have such a weapon" moment in PS4 God of War and that whole sequence is pretty friggen memorable in it's own right.

Brett Carlson

People rave about the story of MGS3, and I get it, I personally hate aspects of the gameplay. Having to "hunt" and eat food, heal body parts individually. I just liked the simplicity of MGS1 and 2. Take a ration = heal. I get what Kojima was trying to do with MGS3. It makes sense. I just don't enjoy it in games personally.

Andrew

Hey, you're not the only one who adores MGS. There's lots of you out there. I'm really more partial to 1 and 2 myself. I never gave 3 or 4 a fair shake, though, to be fair. I should one day.

Colin Moriarty

I truly believe that Metal Gear Solid 1-4 is a perfect quadrilogy of games. 1 laid the groundwork for the world and characters 2 built on the threads laid out in the previous game and expanded on them in such interesting ways 3 took it back in time and told a more simple (but just as deep) story giving context to the driving force behind the games (even though he wasn't physically there) 4 wrapped up the plot threads that were left hanging by the previous 2 games and gave a satisfying conclusion to both the main hero of the story and the main villan I really can't think of another series that told a story the way Metal Gear did. It felt so big, but at the same time it was able to tell a personal story about a man facing the sins of their father/mother (Solid Snake to Big Boss and Big Boss to The Boss). Peace Walker was a great game, but wasn't really necessary for the story of Metal Gear and 5 just felt unneeded as a whole, but that doesn't take away from the masterpieces of 1-4. I can seriously talk about these games all day. Especially 2 and 3 which are 2 of my favorite games of all time (with 3 being my number 1 favorite)

TheBufferPiece

I've never played it, I don't think. I don't think it was even available in the states until PS2.

Colin Moriarty

In a lot of ways MGS1 is a remake of Metal Gear 2

Tyson Williams

Hey man, say your piece! It's all good. =) Thank you for listening! Glad you enjoyed the episode.

Colin Moriarty

Loved the episode guys. Not going to lie this actually made me MORE mad about MGS5 and made me care even LESS anout death stranding lmao. I’ll leave it at that because I don’t want to bring negativity here. Love the product Colin. CLS seems like it’s been firing on all cylinders for a while now

John Lynch

I love it. Excellent idea.

Colin Moriarty

I have fond memories of MGS2, too. I'm sure we'll do an episode about it. =D

Colin Moriarty

This settles it, Dagan and Colin as Solid / Liquid Snake, Chris Ray Gun directing / filming : infiltrate the grounds, and exhume the buried Bram Stoker's Dracula VHS. 2019 Halloween Special, how can we make this happen.

Hey Colin , have very fond memories of purchasing the PS2 and getting metal gear solid sons of liberty at the same time , i played that game to death and even though I payed full price for the console at the time of release that game justified my purchase and made it all worth while :-)

Matthew Perry

Dagan LOVES MGS3. Looking forward to doing a show about it in the future.

Colin Moriarty

Well, you have some options if you wanna go back and play...

Colin Moriarty

I suppose so! Vita is the best place to play everything!* * - Not really.

Colin Moriarty

I think we'll cover each game individually as we move on through.

Colin Moriarty

No, I hear you loud and clear there. The sign of a great, immersive game, I think!

Colin Moriarty

!!!

Colin Moriarty

The games rating thing is funny, 'cause my parents didn't care at all. It was the people in game shops that wouldn't sell me the fucking games.

Colin Moriarty

That's awesome, Josh! Thank you for your support.

Colin Moriarty

...just don't put the pineapples on pizza.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! I think I do too. Or, I'd like to think so. =)

Colin Moriarty

It's DEFINITELY campy. That's what I love about it.

Colin Moriarty

MGS and MGS3 are my favorite games of all time. I still remember buying this game like it was yesterday. Down to the smallest detail.

Michael Miller

I never had a PS1 so I missed out on this game. Also I missed all Metal Gear games somehow until 5 (which I love) but hearing you guys talk about it really makes me want to play it now.

Trent Miller

For some reason I've missed out on this series completely. Time to change that, and from what I can see Vita is the best place to play the first 3 right?

strawhatninja

Loved this episode! Was definitely excited for this episode. MGV is my favorite with 3 being a close second, so I'm looking forward to your thorough take on it. Also Snake was based off of Snake Plissken played by Kurt Russell in Escape from New York! The more you know.

Marcus Brown

MGS was the first game that made me realize I have a kind of "game anxiety" where I'll beat a boss or get through a hairy section and be absolutely irrationally unable to go through the next door. I finished it, but I'll never forget staring at those giant metal doors and not being able to go further for awhile. To this day there are certain games I can't play because of that anxiety. So weird.

Jason Stafford

Have at you, Snake!

bk200jj

Never played Metal Gear, as my PS1 was a Crash & Spyro machine, and I had a GameCube instead of PS2. I wasn’t allowed to play rated-M games till I was 18. 😐 The GameCube remake is pretty rare & expensive, so if I start off it’ll be with that. Smash Bros. is my favorite franchise, so it was cool (and a little weird) to see Snake as a playable character. The creator of Smash & Kojima are really good friends and hearing rumors, Kojima wanted him in Smash, which is neat.

Brandon Soto

You shared my first question I ever submitted to this podcast and it just so happens to be my favorite game of all time. You just gave me one more great memory to think about when I reminisce about this masterpiece. Thanks Colin!!!

josh

They're armed with five five sixers and pineapples.....

Andrew OLoughlin

Again. Incredible stuff. I think you really know what content works with your users. Happy New Year Colin 😊

I love this game, it’s easily my #1 PS1 era game. I always thought this game was campy. I feel Liquid is every 80s villain tied into one with a British accent. He wore a trench coat, shirtless I might add in Alaska’s weather. The music I still listen the best is yet to come randomly on YouTube. Can’t wait for you guys to talk about MGS2 when Dagan plays it.

Daniel Gonzalez

=)

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, there's so much to love from that perspective. That's a really great point.

Colin Moriarty

There are so many amazing, subtle moments like that. Love it!

Colin Moriarty

PSone Classic, I assume?

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for listening!

Colin Moriarty

Oh god, Eiffel 65. That song Blue is THE WORST.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, Twin Snakes is such an interesting product. Made by an interesting team. It's too bad that they remade is so damn quickly, though, because I think it stopped us from getting a truer remake later on.

Colin Moriarty

Ain't nothing to be nervous about!

Colin Moriarty

Uggghhhhh.

Colin Moriarty

SNAKE!!! It's not over yet!

Daniel Gonzalez

I also loved that MGS is a game with American sensibilities, made by a Japanese team trying to emulate American movies. There's so much American history in these games (MGS 2, in particular), and it was always intriguing to me that this was all coming from a Japanese perspective. Kojima seems to really understand both Japan and America, and that shows with how popular the game is in both countries.

Forrest Hunter

I was so creeped out by the moment you try to look at Meryl in first person while she's possessed, and you see yourself through her eyes with a mask like grain to the perspective. Genius!

Carlos Quintanilla

Metal Gear solid is playable on vita. That’s the first place I played it

MGS is on my top 5 favorite games of all time, I must have played through it two dozen times when it came out to try to get a better ranking. I bought a ps2 not too long ago specifically to be able to play through MGS 1 (a ps1 copy since the ps2 plays ps1 discs) and MGS 2. I'm still listening through the episode but it's a great conversation, good job guys.

Mario Miranda

I remember begging my brother to buy MGS in '99 after hearing the name in an Eiffel 65 song about PlayStation 😂 Good memories. I'm pumped to hear both of your memories tied to this game.

ActualFlavor

I think the game holds up if you play the remake version on game cube metal gear solid: the twin snakes. Which is how I enjoyed the game. Such great gameplay from the porn mags, to the box sneaking, to supernatural elements and mechs. It hit everything I was into as a middle school kid. But my first metal gear was metal gear solid 2 sons of liberty, which I bought as a kid for the box art alone and was surprised by the gameplay.

Kenneth Oms

I played this when I was in like 5th and 6th grade. It changed gaming for me and what it was. First played it at a friends house. I had a 64, he had a PS1. I saved my money and bought a PS1 just for this game.

Andrew

I was a fairly casual gamer until I played this game. It came out when I was 12 and in 8th grade and it not only changed how I thought about video games as a medium, but it also led to how I viewed many things about our world and even got me interested in history and politics. Can't wait to jump into this episode!

Forrest Hunter

Metal Gear Solid is my favourite game of all time. I'll be listening to this.....nervously? LOL

Andrew

METAL GEEAAARRRR

Ahmed Mohamed