Metal Gear (universe): Difference between revisions
→Franchise description
(→Trivia) Tag: Mobile edit |
|||
| Line 22: | Line 22: | ||
The history and legacy of the ''Metal Gear'' franchise is deeply intertwined with its creator and renowned industry visionary, [[Hideo Kojima]]. In 1987, the then-unknown video game planner, working at Konami, was asked to take over a project that had been intended as a wartime action game for the MSX2 home computer. Technical limitations to the MSX2 prevented Kojima from creating a game that had many bullets and enemies onscreen at any given moment, though, so Kojima made a decision to design and direct a game that drew inspiration from the film ''The Great Escape'', wherein the focus of the game was to avoid visual contact and direct confrontation with patrolling enemies. His bosses' questioning over this decision nearly prompted Kojima to leave Konami, but after one of his bosses encouraged him to continue, he proceeded to complete and release ''Metal Gear'' on July 12, 1987. It is credited by many today as the progenitor of the stealth action genre in the video game industry. A few years later Kojima was asked to develop an MSX2 sequel to ''Metal Gear'', and the result, ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'', was released on July 20, 1990. This game pioneered the franchise’s reputation for complex twist-filled narratives and introduced many of the evolved stealth gameplay aspects that would be present in the rest of the series. | The history and legacy of the ''Metal Gear'' franchise is deeply intertwined with its creator and renowned industry visionary, [[Hideo Kojima]]. In 1987, the then-unknown video game planner, working at Konami, was asked to take over a project that had been intended as a wartime action game for the MSX2 home computer. Technical limitations to the MSX2 prevented Kojima from creating a game that had many bullets and enemies onscreen at any given moment, though, so Kojima made a decision to design and direct a game that drew inspiration from the film ''The Great Escape'', wherein the focus of the game was to avoid visual contact and direct confrontation with patrolling enemies. His bosses' questioning over this decision nearly prompted Kojima to leave Konami, but after one of his bosses encouraged him to continue, he proceeded to complete and release ''Metal Gear'' on July 12, 1987. It is credited by many today as the progenitor of the stealth action genre in the video game industry. A few years later Kojima was asked to develop an MSX2 sequel to ''Metal Gear'', and the result, ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'', was released on July 20, 1990. This game pioneered the franchise’s reputation for complex twist-filled narratives and introduced many of the evolved stealth gameplay aspects that would be present in the rest of the series. | ||
The series became dormant after ''Metal Gear 2'', with Kojima working on a number of unrelated projects in the meantime. But it was only with the release of the seminal third game in the series, ''Metal Gear Solid'' (for the original PlayStation), that brought the franchise and its creator into the mainstream on September 20th, 1998. Universal critical praise and chart-topping sales propelled the ''Metal Gear'' intellectual property into a flagship franchise for Konami, and it is often recognized as one of the key titles involved in popularizing the stealth-action game genre. As a result, ''Metal Gear Solid'' became a killer app for the console and [[Solid Snake]] became a de facto mascot for the system, like [[Cloud Strife]] before him, with the choreography of voice actors Akio Otsuka and David Hayter cementing Snake as a symbol of character complexity in video games. In addition to featuring the gameplay style of the previous game, only now in three dimensions, ''Metal Gear Solid'' made extensive use of cinematic storytelling to tell a gritty, mature, twist-filled narrative like a blockbuster film. It proved to be a huge success, and both it and its sequels have been regarded as being among the greatest video games of their respective platforms. | The series became dormant after ''Metal Gear 2'', with Kojima working on a number of unrelated projects in the meantime. But it was only with the release of the seminal third game in the series, ''Metal Gear Solid'' (for the original PlayStation), that brought the franchise and its creator into the mainstream on September 20th, 1998. Universal critical praise and chart-topping sales propelled the ''Metal Gear'' intellectual property into a flagship franchise for Konami, and it is often recognized as one of the key titles involved in popularizing the stealth-action game genre. As a result, ''Metal Gear Solid'' became a killer app for the console and [[Solid Snake]] became a de facto mascot for the system, like [[Cloud Strife]] and Crash Bandicoot before him, with the choreography of voice actors Akio Otsuka and David Hayter cementing Snake as a symbol of character complexity in video games. In addition to featuring the gameplay style of the previous game, only now in three dimensions, ''Metal Gear Solid'' made extensive use of cinematic storytelling to tell a gritty, mature, twist-filled narrative like a blockbuster film. It proved to be a huge success, and both it and its sequels have been regarded as being among the greatest video games of their respective platforms. | ||
The ''Metal Gear'' franchise, often referred to with the name ''Metal Gear Solid'' due to almost every subsequent game featuring "Solid" in its title, proceeded to release a large number of sequels, prequels, interquels, expanded re-releases, and non-canonical side games on a regular basis. In most of the games, the player takes control of an elite, artificially enhanced special forces operative codenamed Snake - either it is Solid Snake (real name David) in games set in the postmodern present, or it is his father, Big Boss (real name John), back when he operated as Naked Snake in games set after the Cold War era. A younger secondary protagonist codenamed Raiden (real name Jack) is also sometimes featured in a leading role. The games have Snake, operating under the command of the highest orders of government, sneaking into the compounds of militant enemy forces that threaten Earth politically with revolutionary nuclear weapons technology, which in many cases take the form of a bipedal walking tank named "Metal Gear". Snake uses his stealth skills and cunning to bypass enemy guards when necessary, neutralize guards and elite enemies that stand in his way with weapons procured on site, and interrogate hostages and enemies alike to gather intel and gain access to where he needs to go to complete his mission to neutralize the war weapons and the villains that threaten to use them. | The ''Metal Gear'' franchise, often referred to with the name ''Metal Gear Solid'' due to almost every subsequent game featuring "Solid" in its title, proceeded to release a large number of sequels, prequels, interquels, expanded re-releases, and non-canonical side games on a regular basis. In most of the games, the player takes control of an elite, artificially enhanced special forces operative codenamed Snake - either it is Solid Snake (real name David) in games set in the postmodern present, or it is his father, Big Boss (real name John), back when he operated as Naked Snake in games set after the Cold War era. A younger secondary protagonist codenamed Raiden (real name Jack) is also sometimes featured in a leading role. The games have Snake, operating under the command of the highest orders of government, sneaking into the compounds of militant enemy forces that threaten Earth politically with revolutionary nuclear weapons technology, which in many cases take the form of a bipedal walking tank named "Metal Gear". Snake uses his stealth skills and cunning to bypass enemy guards when necessary, neutralize guards and elite enemies that stand in his way with weapons procured on site, and interrogate hostages and enemies alike to gather intel and gain access to where he needs to go to complete his mission to neutralize the war weapons and the villains that threaten to use them. | ||
| Line 28: | Line 28: | ||
Each release in the central ''Metal Gear'' chronology adds to the series' ambitious lore, which is closely grounded in the politics of real-world Earth from the Cold War onward. Core themes explored include many issues about nuclear deterrence, social engineering, artificial intelligence, information control, conspiracy theories, questioning integrity, censorship, the manipulation of free will, and social taboos such as incest and homosexuality. This takes place throughout narratives that are rife with betrayal, revelations of identity and family, and other plot twists that span many games. Depictions of Snake and other ''Metal Gear'' characters and elements in a more lighthearted air are usually relegated to non-canonical side games and cameos, such as when Solid Snake became the first third-party character to be featured as a playable character in Nintendo's ''[[Super Smash Bros. (series)|Super Smash Bros. series]]'', revealed in 2006 to be playable in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''. | Each release in the central ''Metal Gear'' chronology adds to the series' ambitious lore, which is closely grounded in the politics of real-world Earth from the Cold War onward. Core themes explored include many issues about nuclear deterrence, social engineering, artificial intelligence, information control, conspiracy theories, questioning integrity, censorship, the manipulation of free will, and social taboos such as incest and homosexuality. This takes place throughout narratives that are rife with betrayal, revelations of identity and family, and other plot twists that span many games. Depictions of Snake and other ''Metal Gear'' characters and elements in a more lighthearted air are usually relegated to non-canonical side games and cameos, such as when Solid Snake became the first third-party character to be featured as a playable character in Nintendo's ''[[Super Smash Bros. (series)|Super Smash Bros. series]]'', revealed in 2006 to be playable in ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]''. | ||
During the development of ''Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain'', disputes were frequent between Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami over the game’s development. The game, along with Kojima’s other concurrent project, ''Silent Hills'', were coming at a time when Konami began their transition away from AAA studios like Kojima Productions as reported in a then-new internal corporate restructuring. Kojima’s name and studio would be removed from any ''Metal Gear Solid V'' promotional material, including the box art, and the much-anticipated ''Silent Hills'' would be cancelled and its playable demo removed from digital stores. ''The Phantom Pain'' would eventually be released to universal acclaim, though this was a bittersweet accomplishment as this would be Kojima’s last project for Konami. The undisputed tension between Kojima and Konami ultimately culminated in him leaving the company in December 2015, thus giving him the opportunity to re-establish Kojima Productions as its own independent studio. | During the development of ''Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain'', disputes were frequent between Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami over the game’s development. The game, along with Kojima’s other concurrent project, ''Silent Hills'' (a side-story for the ''Silent Hill'' series), were coming at a time when Konami began their transition away from AAA studios like Kojima Productions as reported in a then-new internal corporate restructuring. Kojima’s name and studio would be removed from any ''Metal Gear Solid V'' promotional material, including the box art, and the much-anticipated ''Silent Hills'' would be cancelled and its playable demo removed from digital stores. ''The Phantom Pain'' would eventually be released to universal acclaim, though this was a bittersweet accomplishment as this would be Kojima’s last project for Konami. The undisputed tension between Kojima and Konami ultimately culminated in him leaving the company in December 2015, thus giving him the opportunity to re-establish Kojima Productions as its own independent studio. | ||
What follows is the release history of the canonical ''Metal Gear'' continuity: | What follows is the release history of the canonical ''Metal Gear'' continuity: | ||