Hideo Kojima weaves a tangled web with the Metal Gear saga. These games cover roughly 80 years of nuclear-equipped walking death mobiles, bondage psychics, bisexual vampires, nanomachine chaos, and clones. Lots and lots of clones…
So, without further ado, here’s the full Metal Gear story in as concise and clear a manner as possible.
World War II
In 1942, expert soldier The Boss forms the Cobra Unit. She would go on to lead them into Normandy on D-Day while heavily pregnant and the baby — the future Revolver Ocelot — is delivered by cesarean section on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, secret international society The Philosophers have begun to pool their vast wealth in order to alter the course of world history, this fund would become known as the Philosopher’s Legacy.
1950s
In 1950, the Korean War begins and a talented soldier named Jack becomes The Boss’ disciple. The two form a close relationship and co-develop the martial art of CQC. They remain in close contact throughout the 1950s.
Jack is present at Bikini Atoll for the 1954 Castle Bravo H-Bomb test, during which he is irradiated and rendered sterile. He would go on to become a decorated Green Beret and infiltration and survival specialist.
1960s
In 1964 the CIA receives word that a Soviet weapons scientist wishes to defect. Jack — codenamed Naked Snake — is handpicked for what’s dubbed the Virtuous Mission. The particulars are devised by former SAS soldier Major Zero, now leader of the special ops group the FOX Unit.
Naked Snake reaches the lab and extracts Sokolov, only to encounter The Boss. She announces she’s defecting to the Soviet Union, tosses Snake off a bridge, and hands a portable nuclear weapon to rogue Soviet Colonel Volgin — who promptly uses it to nuke Sokolov’s lab.
An American-made nuclear weapon being used on Soviet soil causes an international incident, and Operation Snake Eater is hastily devised as a way for the U.S. to prove its innocence. Naked Snake is tasked with eliminating The Boss, the Cobra Unit, and Colonel Volgin, destroying a secret weapons system, and retrieving the Philosopher’s Legacy. A young Ocelot is present and forms an instant crush on the hunky Naked Snake.
Jack succeeds, though realizes to his horror that The Boss was actually a double agent who’d been sacrificed to ensure world peace. He is awarded the title “Big Boss”, though The Boss’ sacrifice leaves him disillusioned with the way countries treat soldiers as pawns.
1970s
In 1970 the FOX Unit goes rogue and seizes control of a Soviet base in Central America. They kidnap Big Boss and interrogate him on the whereabouts of the Philosopher’s Legacy. He breaks free and assembles an alliance of disillusioned enemy soldiers. With their aid, Big Boss ends the FOX Unit revolt.
Inspired by The Boss, Major Zero decides to form an organization intended to unite the world. The founding members are Zero, Big Boss, Ocelot, and Operation Snake Eater support crew EVA, Para-Medic and Sigint. They call themselves The Patriots, promote Big Boss as an inspirational soldiering figure, and give him command of the FOXHOUND unit.
Realizing that Big Boss’ sterility means his genes will die with him, Zero and Para-Medic begin the top-secret Les Enfant Terribles project in 1971 and successfully clone him. They don’t get Big Boss’ consent and he’s furious when he realizes what they’ve done, promptly breaking away from The Patriots.
In 1972 Big Boss forms a mercenary group called Militaries Sans Frontieres and in 1974 they become engaged in the ‘Peace Walker’ incident on Costa Rica. Big Boss expands his operation, is granted an offshore plant he names Mother Base, and eventually gains control of both a bipedal mech known as Metal Gear ZEKE and a nuclear weapon.
In 1975, two of Big Boss’ former comrades, the child soldier Chico and Patriot double agent Paz, are being held in Camp Omega. He infiltrates and extracts the pair, though realizes too late that the mission was a cover for rogue unit XOF to attack Mother Base. In the ensuing chaos, Mother Base is destroyed and Big Boss falls into a coma.
While unconscious, Zero devises a plan to create a body double for Big Boss and chooses a comatose MSF medic as the subject. He subjects the medic to plastic surgery and mental conditioning, leaving him believing he’s Big Boss.
In 1978 XOF leader Skullface attacks Patriots leader Major Zero with a parasite weapon. Zero realizes he will soon lose his faculties and begins a plan to create an advanced AI system to carry on The Patriots’ mission.
1980s
In 1984, Big Boss and his body double awaken from their comas. The double takes on the codename Venom Snake and leads the Diamond Dogs mercenary group on missions in Afghanistan and Central Africa. Venom Snake eventually realizes he isn’t Big Boss, though remains loyal to his commander and continues to act as his public face.
Big Boss goes on to secretly establish the fortress nation of Outer Heaven in South Africa, aiming to create a country led by soldiers rather than politicians. He keeps his involvement a secret, placing Venom Snake in charge.
1990s
With Outer Heaven established, Big Boss returns to the United States to lead the FOXHOUND team and encounters the rookie Solid Snake. Big Boss is aware Snake is his clone, but though he doesn’t consider him a son, respects his natural abilities and trains him in CQC.
In 1995, Big Boss upsets the world order by unveiling the TX-55 Metal Gear, capable of launching a nuclear strike from anywhere on the planet. The United States, unaware that Big Boss is orchestrating this, deploys FOXHOUND to destroy Metal Gear, with rookie soldier Solid Snake chosen for the mission.
Big Boss assumes the rookie Snake will fail, though he defies expectations and succeeds in destroying Metal Gear. In the process Solid Snake learns Big Boss is the secret leader of Outer Heaven. Snake then fights and kills Venom Snake, believing that he is Big Boss.
By 1999, Big Boss has formed another soldiers’ nation in Zanzibar Land, taking hostage a renewable fuels scientist. Once again Solid Snake is called up for duty. He faces off against his former friend Gray Fox in a minefield, destroys a new type of Metal Gear, and eventually defeats Big Boss, leaving him for dead as Zanzibar Land burns.
2000s
Major Zero is now brain dead but The Patriots live on as an AI network, secretly manipulating all world events. They make George Sears — a clone of Big Boss — President of the United States.
By 2005, Sears has become resentful of The Patriots’ control and concocts a plan to defeat them: his agent Revolver Ocelot will convince the FOXHOUND unit to stage an uprising on a top secret research base, seize control of Metal Gear REX and use its experimental nuclear weapons system as a bargaining chip.
Sears’ plans are foiled when Solid Snake is called out of retirement, eliminates the FOXHOUND team (including his cloned brother Liquid Snake), and destroys REX. The only survivor is Revolver Ocelot, who loses an arm. In retaliation, The Patriots force Sears to resign from the Presidency.
With the REX blueprints now public, Solid Snake forms an NGO named Philanthropy to combat their spread. In 2007, Philanthropy gets a tip about a new type of Metal Gear codenamed RAY. Snake infiltrates the tanker on which it’s being transported, only for Revolver Ocelot to steal the Metal Gear, sink the ship, and frame Snake for the incident.
In 2009 Sears returns, calling himself Solidus Snake. His new plan is to seize control of a gigantic craft known as Arsenal Gear, a fortress for The Patriots’ AI. Snake attempts to stop him, encountering a brainwashed Patriot agent codenamed Raiden. With Snake’s assistance, Raiden defeats Solidus.
2010s
By the mid-2010s, Solid Snake is suffering from accelerated aging, an inevitable consequence of being a clone. In 2014, Ocelot, now Liquid Ocelot, has formed several powerful PMCs and is secretly waging war against the Patriots, whose AI has resulted in an all-pervasive “war economy”.
Via a ludicrously convoluted scheme in which Ocelot hypnotizes himself into believing he’s possessed by a ghost (after having actually been possessed by a ghost), he manipulates Snake into uploading a virus into the Patriots’ AI, destroying them for good. Ocelot is then killed by Snake.
Snake visits Big Boss’ grave, planning to commit suicide. Big Boss arrives with the braindead Major Zero, kills him, and then dies again (for real this time). Snake decides to enjoy his final days with his friends, dying of old age soon afterwards.
By 2018, Raiden has become a badass cyborg and foils a sinister conspiracy to steal children’s brains led by a nanomachine-powered U.S. Senator. To the sound of raging butt rock, Raiden triumphs and continues work as a cyborg merc.