25 Years Ago, Metal Gear Put Espionage Action In The Palm Of Your Hand
Metal Gear Multiverse.
The original Metal Gear Solid changed the trajectory of video games when it debuted in 1998. It perfected a subgenre of action games, inspiring many other riffs on the formula shortly after. It redefined cinematic storytelling in the age of 3D games outside the bounds of the JRPG. Best of all, it gave a niche series from the original NES days a second lease on life, exposing millions to the wild imagination of auteur Hideo Kojima for the very first time.
At the time, however, the fact that Metal Gear Solid was actually the third game (or fourth if you count 1990’s non-canonical Snake’s Revenge) in a decade-old series was lost on many new players. And despite its fancy coat of paint, much of what made Solid such a fun game to play derived directly from the 8-bit games that came before it. Konami didn’t forget though. With gaming handhelds being as popular as they were at the turn of the millennium, the publisher saw tremendous potential in translating Metal Gear Solid’s winning formula back down to the biggest 8-bit device of the time.
So, in April 2000, Metal Gear Solid (subtitled Ghost Babel in Japan) was released on the Game Boy Color. And in typical Metal Gear fashion, what could have been a straightforward “demake” of the PlayStation classic offered so much more in a very small package.
Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy Color translates much of what makes the PS1 game so special back down to the series 8-bit beginnings.
Like Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy Color is a top-down 2D action game where players must progress through levels while avoiding detection from enemy guards. As is the case with the first two games in the series, this format is surprisingly timeless in that it features much of the defining bones of the series right from the beginning. Unlike those original NES/MSX games, however, this handheld version gives Snake some of his moves from his PlayStation adventure. He can go prone and lean against walls. He can hide in bushes and even run diagonally (a very big deal if you’re familiar with the more rigid movement of the first two games).
Snake’s new mobility options pair well with the game’s fluid animations. Running around looks exceptional, with Snake’s iconic bandana swaying behind him. It’s really impressive to see how Konami shrank the look and feel of the PS1 game back down to the small screen.
Where things do take a turn away from what’s expected is in the game’s story. This isn’t just an 8-bit retelling of what went down at Shadow Moses. Instead, the Game Boy Color game is an alternate sequel to the original Metal Gear. In this version of the universe, the harrowing events of Zanzibar that take place in Metal Gear 2 never happened. Instead, Snake is tracking down the whereabouts of a missing Metal Gear in a fictional African country locked in a destructive rebellion.
The game has hours of dialogue and codec conversations for players who want to dive deep into this alternate timeline for the series.
It’s a very imaginative take on the spinoff portable game. Whereas most titles at the time either did a loose 2D adaptation of the console counterpart or made a different game with approximately the same story beats, Metal Gear Solid on the Game Boy Color was an intriguing new chapter in the series with plenty of “what if” scenarios worth a deep dive. It presents queries like: what becomes of the special forces unit Foxhound if Snake retires after the events of the first game? What other terror organizations spring up if Foxhound never turns bad?
Luckily for lore nerds, the game is just as long-winded as a mainline Metal Gear Solid. The introductory cutscene takes its sweet time explaining what the stakes are and why Roy Campbell is bringing Snake out of retirement. Even after the nearly 15-minute intro, there are hours worth of optional codec conversations in the game explaining what’s happened to the world in the seven years since the original Metal Gear.
To really drive home that this is a true Metal Gear experience, Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy has its own cast of animal-themed bosses. Marionette Owl, Pyro Bison, Slasher Hawk, and Back Arts Viper make up the Black Chamber, a crew of specially trained baddies Snake has to face off against throughout his mission.
Years before Peace Walker on the PSP, Metal Gear’s handheld debut showed that even the series spinoffs would be just as interesting and well thought out.
As expected, there are some compromises made to squeeze this otherwise complete experience onto a Game Boy cartridge. For one, the game is broken up into stages rather than one large connected world. Metal Gear Solid’s weapon and gear menu typically mapped to the PlayStation’s shoulder buttons has been cut down to a single-item box players must toggle through, resulting in a much more cumbersome user interface. And memory limitations of the handheld mean enemies will spawn endlessly when Snake’s cover has been blown, regardless of how many you eliminate.
Still, it’s remarkable how well it all works on the Game Boy Color. It plays well and it’s a reminder of how consistent the series’ strongest ideas have been throughout the first decade of its existence. Most interestingly, it shows that long before Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, there was an effort to ensure that every chapter of the Metal Gear mythos was something players shouldn’t miss.
Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy Color is an ambitious but forgotten chapter of gaming’s most beloved espionage series. What could have been an easy cash grab on a popular handheld was one of the most creative takes on the coolest game of its time and an imaginative call back to where it all started.
