Metal Gear retrospective goes back to the MSX days
by Andrew Yoon 
{ May 9th 2008 at 2:00PM }
Retrospectives are both a great and horrible thing. This Metal Gear retrospective by GameTrailers is an excellent way to relive the long-revered franchise. To many, it may come as strange to think that Kojima was ever a troubled developer -- but that's exactly what happened. The original Metal Gear was a last-ditched attempt at saving Kojima's career. The idea of a "sneaking mission" game, where the player isn't encouraged to kill everything on sight was a daring move ... that ultimately paid off. The early origins of Snake's adventures are fascinating to see, as they help ground us for Snake's last adventure -- Metal Gear Solid 4. While this retrospective serves as a fantastic primer, it also details some of the noteworthy differences between the MSX original, and the NES follow-up. Also, find out more about the NES-exclusive sequel, which wasn't handled by Kojima at all.
Oh, and why are retrospectives horrible? Because they remind us how old we are.
[Via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
True_Darknight @ May 9th 2008 2:23PM
God thanks a lot. now I feel even Older!!
zaxby @ May 9th 2008 6:27PM
Great retrospective. That is one thing GT knows how to do well. MGS FTW.
rushin @ May 9th 2008 3:46PM
omg, someone else remembers the MSX o_o
I had a JVC one, after badgering parents for long enough, i think they were a lot, £400 or so which *is* a lot in the 80's :D best game ever was a cartridge table tennis.
*goes back to comfy chair and slippers*
Viper @ May 9th 2008 5:48PM
If anyone wants to play the Metal Gear (1987) and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990), the best thing is to pick up Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (PS2). It has both of them.
Da @ May 9th 2008 9:19PM
MSX was the ONLY version. I hate how people always talk about playing it on NES, the NES port was teh sux
Joseph @ May 9th 2008 3:43PM
It's interesting how Final Fantasy came about when Hironobu Sakaguchi was in a similar situation (hence the name).
MJ @ May 9th 2008 8:27PM
Really glad that there's a retro on MGS, some people don't realise what an effect MGS has had on gaming (especially MGS1, at the time there was nothing at all like it).
I wonder what the explanation of MGS2 is going to be like, it's taken many many play throughs and discussion on MGS forums to actually understand the full story of 2 (i'm playing it at the moment in readyness of 4 next month :-) )
linebeginstoblur @ May 9th 2008 10:46PM
"The original Metal Gear was a last-ditched attempt at saving Kojima's career."
Cool. Isn't that what happened with Square and Final Fantasy too? They were doing poorly in sales and planned to make one last "Final" game as a last-resort effort of the company, and obviously, it saved them.
Laurens Holst @ May 10th 2008 7:53AM
Sweet! I played it on MSX :), especially MG2 was absolutely awesome!
By the way, what a weird proportional font in MG1 on the video. It is the rerelease on MGS3 Subsistence? Well, I guess it’s the only place you can find an official translation of MG2. I don’t like the changes in character names and portraits they’ve made though.
I love the MG2 soundtrack. And the video mentioning (SD) Snatcher and Penguin Adventure, I played those so much as well ^_^. Snatcher is by the way set in the Metal Gear universe, in case you didn’t know…