For better or worse, it's likely that the Metal Gear name will live on well after Metal Gear Survive. If a non-canonical spin-off with zombies sounds dubious, consider the Metal Gear pachinko slot machine game that features completely remade cutscenes from Metal Gear Solid 3. It's a proverbial CQC gut-punch with a knife twist. But as a whole, this collection of spin-offs shows Konami's penchant for trying out new game mechanics, sometimes departing from the tactical espionage action that made the franchise a success.
If you're curious about Metal Gear Survive, a second beta is currently live. It will run until February 18 and is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Like the previous beta, it focuses on co-op play where the only available game type is a take on the classic multi-wave Horde mode made popular by Gears of War and, more recently, Fortnite. For more thoughts on our impressions on Metal Gear Survive at this point, you can check out our most recent preview and our beta livestream.
Just as there are a dozen features the NES version preserved from the original MSX2 game, so too are there a dozen notable changes that makes the NES edition a brand-new experience. It begins right from the opening shot: the NES version has Snake parachuting--with three mystery operatives who are never seen again--in the middle of the jungle while the MSX2 game has him infiltrating underwater. There are differences in level layouts and how enemies drop loot, yet the most notable omission from the NES game was the Metal Gear tank itself--it was replaced by a super computer. Thankfully, the MSX2 version, along with Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, would appear in North America as part of the bonus content in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence and later in Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.
Given the success of Metal Gear on the NES, it wasn't surprising that an unofficial sequel targeted to Western audiences would follow. Notable alterations over the previous game included pre-equipping Snake with a knife and handgun, changes to how he communicated with his support team, and more side-scrolling areas. While it's not essential to play Snake's Revenge to appreciate the franchise, it does maintain some of the first game's emphasis on stealth and the risks of triggering an alert state.
Capitalizing on the runaway success of the first Metal Gear Solid, this GBC spin-off--simply titled Metal Gear Solid in the West--bridged MGS with the much older titles, stylistically speaking. It paired the static camera view of MSX games with the aesthetic appeal of Yoji Shinkawa's character designs (as well as the GBA could pull off his detailed artwork, at least). It had connections to MGS by featuring not only Solid Snake, but also Meryl Silverburgh, Mei Ling, and Roy Campbell. Its bosses, with codenames like Marionette Owl and Pyro Bison, used naming conventions similar to the specialists of Foxhound. It's also notable for referring to the playable character in the Special Missions mode as "Jack." Was this a reference to the eventual appearance of Raiden a year later in MGS2 or Big Boss himself?
For a non-canonical Metal Gear game, this mobile entry makes a strong case for inclusion in the franchise's official lore. It helps fill a narrative gap between MGS and MGS2, when Solid Snake and Otacon were pursuing their Metal Gear eradication goals through Philanthropy. It wasn't without its Kojima-inspired twists plus references to the character who would be revealed as Raiden. And for a game designed for the N-Gage phone, it was impressive that its mechanics and visuals weren't that far off from the original MGS.
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