A Lengthy Examination of Metal Gear Solid's Bosses

[@PerpetualAlfa]

Black Ninja in MG2: Solid Snake is one of the most significant boss encounters of the entire series because he’s the first instance of the iconic post boss battle dialogue sequence where a boss expresses his reasons and motives in a sympathetic manner. A sequence which becomes a staple point of the entire series. After Snake beats Black Ninja, he reveals his identity to be Kyle Schneider from MG1, who was Snake’s ally in that game. But after Snake defeated Big Boss in MG1, Schneider explains to Snake that Outer Heaven was indiscriminately bombed by NATO with no regard for their operatives like Schneider, who were still at the facility. Schneider explains to Snake that despite fighting against Big Boss, it was BB himself who rescued Schneider among others during the NATO bombing. So that’s why Schneider decides to fight for Big Boss in Zanzibar and ends up going from Snake’s ally to Snake’s opponent. Schneider admired Big Boss for being someone who would rescue soldiers even if they were his opponents on the battlefield. This is important because it not only frames Big Boss in a sympathetic light which is a plot thread elaborated on in MG2 itself (Gray Fox, Madnar, etc), but that same characterisation becomes a staple point of Big Boss throughout all subsequent games. So yeah for many reasons the Black Ninja fight is the origin of the renowned boss encounters of the Metal Gear series.

[@captainobvious8322]

MG2 has pretty much everything that made the series great aside from voice acting. Even The End battle in MGS3 which was considered groundbreaking(and it certainly is my favourite boss battle in a game), because it took place across different screens….but MG2 had 5 boss battles which took place over multiple screens (Running Man, Jungle Evil, Hind D, Night Fright, Big Boss) and you could damage some those bosses even when you were on different screen to them (I.e if they ran into a mine you’d placed on that screen). There really ought to be a KZbin video essay called “Metal Gear 2 did it first”, where it shows many of everyone’s favourite MGS moments already being conceptually realised in that beautiful 2D game from 1990.

[@BandwidthSlayer]

black ninja one of the most memorable metal gear bosses ever lol. super high difficulty jump, some insane backstory about being a nasa experimental soldier or some shit if you do the codec calls, the deep cut callback to a guy with like maybe half a dozen lines in the og game and then he just blows himself up. rip to a real one

[@Volt35]

Excellent write-up. That was the first moment that I knew MG2 was special. It sits next to Ghost Babel in my top 5 games in the franchise.

[@vale_ender9048]

Metal gear 2 really deserves a remake because it has some of the best and most important story points of the whole series, especially the encounter with big boss where we see his complete transformation from hero to villain

[@Calhasnopals]

I’m gonna go super deep into “Kojumbo Meta Analysis” here, so please stick with me I’ve always interpreted The Cobras as more of a parody of the prior Merc Bands rather than their noteworthy, individual pack of freaks. Instead of having their own protagonist tier backstories that tie into the themes in a subtextual level, The Cobra Unit are all very blatant statements of their purpose in the main theme of the game and Big Boss’ character arc. They’re literally given the names of what Snake is confronting. Even their order is, in my eyes, an intentional choice the parallels Snake’s story. The Pain and The Fear are the first two and they come and go faster than even the earliest bosses in the series, because Snake has already overcome these concepts. He mentions constantly in the early game how he has no fear of dying and has been battle-hardened by his training under The Boss. They’re not anything worth thinking on for Snake, not worth engaging with beyond their brief freak factor. The End is the midpoint of the entire game and the longest battle overall. The concept of Snake’s journey coming to an end isn’t something he’s given the time to consider, if anything he’s putting it off; trying to keep any talk about killing The Boss and finishing the mission to a minimum. His fight is even skippable if you REALLY don’t want to engage with that idea, rather than skulking him around for 30+ minutes with nothing but “The End” on your mind. The Fury is easily the most challenging of The Cobras and the first of two battle emotions Snake is currently dealing with. He feels betrayed by The Boss, angered that his country is so quick to put a target on her head and confused as to why it has to happen like this. Fury is the most trapped you’ll feel in a boss fight, as Snake has no hope of escaping this emotion; he has no choice but to confront it. Lastly, excluding The Boss, is Sorrow and this one is easy: You can’t win. There is no defeating the Sorrow, you can only face his wrath and accept his judgement. He’ll force you to sit there and wallow in your actions, wallow in your reality. And I don’t think I need to state how this fits into the legend of Big Boss, who’ll go on to destroy so much in his mourning of his dead mentor. Needless to say, I really like MGS3 and I completely understand if you think I’m just pulling this outta my ass. But to me, in all my years of playing Snake Eater, this is what the Cobras are: An almost “Ghost of Christmas” pack of monsters to foreshadow the rest of Big Boss’ story and the tragedy he has no chance of escaping

[@fighting1fefnir]

This is a super interesting read on the story! I had some similar thoughts about the Cobras being about the allegory/symbolism, but the one thing missing is the irony of The Joy, that there's absolutely nothing joyous about Snake's victory or completing his mission, and that The Boss herself clearly takes no pleasure in what she's doing. The Boss having The Sorrow linger around her I think is meant to represent more than just that they were lovers, it's also meant to signify that she never left that emotion behind, the sorrow of that act lingers with her as much as the ghost does. Boss left the Cobra unit behind, so why call them back for this? I think it's part of her message to Snake to force him to confront these emotions himself, and in the end we see Snake repeat the same outcome, carrying "The Boss' will" with him rather than realizing that war is always going to end with the losses lingering and the victories feeling hollow. It evokes a bit of MGS2 to me, mirroring the circumstances artificially to shape a person in a specific way, trying to tweak the formula to get something better but only creating a new problem in the end, and the final boss not being the bad guy but instead the political forces behind that bad guy being the real and undefeated enemy.

[@Calhasnopals]

@@fighting1fefnirI’d argue in the end, The Boss did find a Joy in her final battle against Snake. Lines like “I feel Content” and “Jack, you’re a wonderful man” feel to me like she’s going out with the hope that Snake has understood what all of this was for, that he’s understood her message. In reality though, Snake has no clue what she’s trying to tell him and any takeaways he has from this situation are going to lead him down a path as far as possible than what The Boss wanted for him. It’s what makes the tragedy of The Boss’ untimely downfall all the more unfortunate; she never lost hope that Snake will do the right thing in the end

[@WritingOnGames]

Enjoyed reading that. Cheers!

[@donnycorn3086]

​@@Calhasnopalseven worse that the story of Peacewalker could have give him a clearer view on what The Boss has decided to do if she had the chance to put the Earth down on a global destruction, but after the final decision, Snake came down to a misunderstood conclusion that The Boss wasn't strong enough to commit to the Boss' will (despite the fact that it was her will all along).

[@Calhasnopals]

@@donnycorn3086Sorrow and Fury really end up sticking with him over the years, sadly. The Boss is gonna have to wait for a whole new generation of Snake’s to see her hope rewarded

[@louthegiantcookie]

We went from Sniper Wolf and her beautiful monologue - to a guy in a bee outfit doing a little jig and repeatedly screaming his own name.

[@muninn9674]

THE PAIIIN

[@izigurusumardi8934]

I SEE IT! THE FEAR!!

[@Calhasnopals]

Hey, not everyone gets to have a tragic, poignant backstory. Some guys just like bees

[@Onezy05]

TOMMY GUN

[@guyinc0gnito]

⁠@@CalhasnopalsWHAT’S THIS? A COVERT MISSION WOEFULLY UNDERPOPULATED BY BEES? A large influx of BEES oughta put a stop to that!

[@Farron6]

The fact that Kojima openly has characters state that Dead Cell were a stand in for Foxhound in MGS2 then has them merged with the Cobra Unit in MGS4 shows that even he struggled to make a group of Bosses as compelling as the original Foxhound members in MGS1

[@gregoryberrycone]

Dead Cell being a reference to the real life "red cell" was interesting though

[@makou347]

Happy you included Peace Walker in here! I played through it last year and didn't catch the building of a Metal Gear is being so integral to Big Boss' transition to a villain. On a side note...it was surreal playing that game during the tail end of the NFT craze. Techbros were arguing that the problem with blockchain was its susceptibility to human imperfections, proposing systems that computers would run to govern human interactions on the blockchain. And here I am, watching Kojima tear that idea a new one in a game he made for the PSP 13 years ago.

[@headfallsoff]

I know the backstory of the Fury for one reason and one reason alone: because it's really funny that Metal Gear has two entirely unrelated russians who died so angry that they somehow lived on while constantly on fire

[@kaydenmcintyre5043]

Volgin was heated after mgs3

[@FelisImpurrator]

Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...

[@The_Rage_Kage]

I always felt, and I don't think I've seen anyone else feel the same, that the Cobra Unit aren't characters we get to know and overcome as much as they are the embodiment of what Snake has to overcome in order to finish his mission, kill his mentor and become the Legendary Soldier Big Boss. He has to overcome not just Pain as a physical sensation to move past, but the emotional Pain of the Boss' betrayal. The rest follow the same line, overcoming his Fear of being good enough to beat her, the Fury at her abandoning him, the Sorrow of having to kill someone he loves, the End is just plain overcoming ones own eventual death, and finally the Joy. His last one is killing his happiness and any happiness he could have had if he didn't stay loyal to his Mission. Again this is just what I've come to believe was the reason the Cobra Unit were not characters like the previous games.

[@christopheraustin5915]

I heard the reason that the Cobras explode the way they do is because they wanted to directly reference toku villains who blew up when defeated

[@mitchmcnair4222]

I came to MGS late when a friend who was a fan of the series gave me the first three games for Christmas. When I got to the psycho mantis fight, I thought him very amusing and quickly noticed he always got hit by every third shot. So I just shot him twice with my weakest weapon, switched to my highest damage weapon to land the hit, then switched back. The fight was challenging, but it seemed a completely fair gimmick, and I was greatly confused when he talked about me changing controller port as he died.

[@brandonfrancis1941]

idk... I call cap. Played MGS1 recently and unloading fully automatic weapons on him resulted in 0 damage to him sooooo

[@mitchmcnair4222]

@@brandonfrancis1941 it’s been like 15 years so I could be misremembering. However, I did a search on KZbin and found videos of it though they mentioned seven dodges instead of three. Maybe it changes based off difficulty? No idea.

[@NotsoKrnl]

Dude, I just wanted to say that your videos are halcyon days put in video form. Maybe it's the down to earth way you articulate your points or the awesome asmr-like audio mixing in your videos that makes these videos therapeutic to listen to, your videos are always a great time. You always judge games with fairness while being skeptical, never forgetting the human component that goes into game development. With this video being one of my new favorites from this channel, to even just rewatching older videos from several years back and how your passion for these awesome games still resonates with me, I can't express how unique and incredible this channel is. Thanks for getting me into so many great series like Yakuza and Hitman and thank you for getting me to think about some of my favorite games in new ways like Nier, any fromsoft game, Metal Gear and so many more!

[@WritingOnGames]

This really meant a lot to read. Thank you so much and I'm really glad the videos have resonated with you.

[@morsecode980]

An underrated, under the radar game I’ll add is Portable Ops. Unlike Peace Walker, it has actual human bosses with personalities. While the fights themselves are kinda repetitive, the narrative I think is pretty good. You’ve got Python, who traps you in an arena and uses his freeze suit to coat the whole building in fog. His battle is a sort of up-close battle of cat and mouse. But from a narrative standpoint, he was Big Boss’s brother in arms in a secret mission in Vietnam, but was critically injured. He had to be shoved into a cryosuit to stay alive, and was turned by the CIA into an “Anti-Snake” in case BB went down the same path as his mentor. Despite being good friends, Python wants to kill BB so the missions can finally end and his purpose can be complete (and possibly, so he can finally die.) Then you have Null, against whom CQC is impossible thanks to his short sword. You basically have to ambush him when he goes around corners. It’s revealed that he is actually a young Gray Fox. BB had rescued him from a life as a child soldier in Mozambique, only for him to be snatched up by the Philosophers and turned into a living weapon. Somewhat similar to Marvel’s Winter Soldier. Next is Ursula, who would be the stand-in for Psycho Mantis, except you only fight her when she’s piloting Metal Gear RAXA and enhancing it with her psychic abilities, sort of a la Sahelanthropus. RAXA flies around, uses a machine gun, and also tracking missiles. After damaging the legs, RAXA switches from flying to crawling. Like Snake, Ursula was affected by nuclear radiation - in her case, Kyshtim. It made her infertile, but also gave her psychic abilities. Subsequent experiments by East German scientists caused her personality to split into two: Ursula herself, who kept the majority of her powers at the expense of becoming emotionless; and her “little sister,” Elisa, much weaker in power but more compassionate, being strongly anti-nuke. Next is Cunningham, the peg-legged stand-in for Ocelot. He uses one of the hovercraft from MGS3 to get around. Tbh his fight is pretty basic. He’s a Pentagon infiltrator trying to convince Gene to fire nukes from the Soviet base at the USSR, which would destroy the CIA’s reputation and restore the Pentagon to its “rightful” place. And lastly, Gene, the stand-in for Liquid Snake. His psychic abilities allow him to predict your every move, meaning you either have to stun him or wait for him to rest and regain his strength in order to attack. He was created in a program designed to create a soldier capable of thinking as tactically as The Boss. In a way, he’s a living predecessor to the Peace Walker AI program.

[@pratikgoswami7213]

I see what you are getting at. But peace walker has mechanically far better boss fight than portable ops. ( which i know you pointed out.) Which narratively also adds to how dangerous bigboss can be to fight of killing war machines.

[@hagbardceline7118]

I think the non-lethal blade is just Raiden not using the sharp side. When you switch you see him flip the sword around

[@Radi_nce]

I think the point of the bosses in MGSV is supposed to be that they distinctly are not there to fight Venom. Not a single boss, maybe except for Quiet, is after Venom Snake. They want Big Boss, Naked Snake, and are attacking you for being "close enough". That's why The Man on Fire just gives up when he realises he's been chasing the wrong man for revenge. It's why Skull Face never gets the satisfaction of a real fight or a honorable death, despite being probably the most despicable villain in the series. He gave his speech to the wrong man. I'd argue the only "boss fights" that actually matter in MGSV are A Quiet Exit and Shining Lights, because they're both events that are meant for Venom Snake only, and that Naked Snake played no part in.

[@nicholasramirez6359]

One of the few KZbin channels I will wait months dare I say years for and will watch any length of video. Let this man cook!

[@tomhoward4905]

Nice to hear someone talk about Snake Eater accepting maybe it isn’t as spectacular as mass media would have you believe.. I think the reason the Foxhound bosses work so well is that they’re introduced and built up before the boss encounter. Their monologue is earned. This continues to a degree with SoL but by Snake Eater (although 4 is the worst) its just ‘insert wacky boss here’

[@DatGoofer]

I can understand that opinion in terms of its boss fights but when it comes to its story telling and character work, I think it’s up there with MGS 2 as the best entry in the series. It takes everything the MGS team learned making 1 and 2 and uses that to craft such an affecting tragedy and origin story for Big Boss

[@boolboi2296]

@@DatGooferAgreed

[@o4366]

Brother i just watched your darksouls and depression video, 8 years ago! You cant imagine how happy i was to see you are still uploading. The start of that video summed up my life for the last year and a half and seeing you beat it gives me hope. Thank you so much for posting

[@ElijahRBilel-wt9cv]

Great video. Honestly since you're talking about bosses, im surprised you didn't cover mgs portable ops. I think that it had a good combination of weaving the game play in with the narrative. Fighting them felt more similar to mgs 1 and 2 boss battles in a good way

[@WritingOnGames]

I thought about it, but it's always stuck out to me as a bit of an oddity thanks to its non-canon status. That's interesting though, might have to consider covering it

[@mich8mich8mich8]

why this doesn't have more views is beyond me. awesome vid!

[@Hat_With_A_Hat_On]

I didn't get it in my feed until today

[@samuelantoniocastillomeza5034]

For me, from MG2: Solid Snake to Sons of Liberty there's the perfect balance of narrative and mechanics with the boss fights. Snake Eater, Guns of the Patriots and V are very good mechanically but sterile in narrative. Peace Walker is just tedious but I still love the fight with the titular mech.

[@TheKrzysiek]

I consider the forced guard encounters (atleast some of them) as bosses too - ESPECIALLY the one in MGS3. The "fight" against the Ocelot Unit is in fact one of my favorite parts of the the whole series, as you're forced to go against an elite unit going at you, but not knowing where you are exactly, allowing you to actually utilise stealth in a boss fight. It also works very well with self imposed challenges. No alert? Non lethal? Only CQC? Using worst camo? It's an actual stealth action sandbox.

[@bottlemanic]

I love how the ocelot unit can appear several times too. My euro extreme playthrough became a nightmare when i realised i had forgotten to remove the tracker bug from snakes body!

[@jacobturnerart]

I've been replaying MGS5 and I've a love/hate relationship with it. I just don't think that grind should be part of MGS. I can't believe that 4 hasn't had a remaster or a modern console release. Of all the games, this is the one that needs a re-evaluation.

[@thevirtuouscollector]

I just met David Hayter last week and gave him a custom made Snake figure I made for him as MGS is one of my fav games ever and something hit me-- it's somewhat buried in history that the series was meant to end with MGS2 and future sequels were never really part of the grand scheme and by Kojima's admission, were made primarily because it's the only way Konami would green lit him the resource to spend. While MGS3 is terrific and serves as a last swan song, I always felt every other game post-MGS2 were just outlets for Kojima to exercise his creative pursuits, with a haphazard Metal Gear connection thrown in so that it sells. While I do love every entry, I always considered the true end of the series was MGS2 as intended.

[@thirdcoinedge]

For me, the original MGS trilogy reminds me a lot of the Godfather trilogy, or rather, as Copolla originally intended, with the first two entries composing the main narrative, with a third acting as an extended coda to the saga. You can stop watching after the second, it's a complete package with those two works, but the third really caps things off in a swell way. The later entries only serve to complicate and muddy matters further, especially Guns of the Patriots, though I have an affinity for Phantom Pain for largely being a kind of standalone adventure that has enough creative restraint (in some areas, at least) for the player to place their own meaning upon the work, letting it function as the final passing of the torch onto the audience.

[@joekreissl4499]

oh absolutely, and after kojima was forced to make a game the first time (mgs3) the resulting games end up being meta-commentaries on being forced to exist

[@hagbardceline7118]

Every Metal Gear game was meant to be the final game. Kojima never had a grand plan for a series.

[@zebug4762]

Kojima being forced to work on MGS3 gives Sokolov more meaning to me, since you could view Sokolov as Kojima's allegory to himself. Sokolov just wanted to build space rockets, but his talents were desirable in creating a monster called Shagohod. Kojima originally wanted to make movies, but instead his talent was used for cinematic flair and storytelling in games, and created a monster called the Metal Gear Solid series. Sokolov's final request to Snake to watch over his family in America was probably Kojima's attempt to hand over the torch to future generations, asking them to take good care of the MGS series.

[@hagbardceline7118]

@zebug4762 that isn't a bad interpretation but I would temper it with Otacon having the essentially same arc in mgs1. I think both reflect Kojima and game development in some way but reall6 the surface area of a military industrial complex being the primary funding agent and motivation for science leading well meaning research into deadly territory I'd for sure what Kojima wad going for

[@Nigel222]

Solid Snake is an interesting protagonist. Like it's not often you see a protagonist actually stay by a dying antagonist and listen to them explain their life story. He even kinda gets mad at Meryl for interrupting Mantis giving his life story.

[@grahamwade5932]

He'd been living in Alaska by himself for ages. Was just up for listening to some wild stories by a bunch of maniacs

[@mr.monkey354]

Tbf it was the only time he actually felt some partial family love

[@1sdani]

Peace Walker is really one of those games where taking 10 minutes grinding in the short term can save you 100 minutes grinding in the long run. I wouldn't be surprised if a big part of what made Peace Walker so much less grindy back in the day, besides having a friend along, was also that you had developed stronger gear and volunteered more of your prisoners of war to work for you. I have a feeling why the game's so divisive among the community, the gameplay is less Metal Gear and more Dragon Quest. I can beat MGSV with just the stock gear, but trying that in Peace will result in me unable to even have enough ammo to beat the Pupa.

[@zacharywong483]

Welcome back! Absolutely fantastic script, as always!

[@FengLengshun]

Me, looking at the title: "Like, actual gameplay bosses or characters called Boss(es)? Because there's kinda a lot of the latter as well, enough to make a video out of it."

[@ivanpilyayev5670]

You are my number one reviewer! Thank you!

[@MMLCommentaries]

So so so worth the wait. Fantastic piece Hamish!

[@Nintendofan570]

This is my first video on im seeing on your channel and as a big Metal Gear fan, I already like it

[@miamha]

For as much as we all make the joke that these are playable cutscenes, the most vivid memories I have of metal gear solid is of playing them and messing around with the mechanics

[@manacharge]

randomly refreshing the subscriptions page gang reporting in

[@mickforgey1565]

Yup!

[@pigchamp3627]

Gang? Christ

[@aleNoyz91]

Random words

[@PlebNC]

Big Boss: "This is good, isn't it?" *dies, credits roll.

[@Pjvenom1985]

Great video sir, very nostalgic and enjoyable watch. Thanks for sharing, you're pretty good.👉👉🎮🍀

[@theebronks]

I don't think you give enough credit to the bosses in 3 and 4's relationship to the themes of their respective games when you focus so much on their relationship to Snake and his personal story.

[@hagbardceline7118]

Mgs3's Cobra Unit just being weird guys with no backstory worked for me for that game specifically cause it's sorta going for a Bond homage and those movies often have one dimensional super henchmen with weird gimmicks. I don't like that it stuck around after

[@Z-Mikes00]

if i had to give my (brief) full thoughts on the bosses of mgs they would be Mgs 1: ocelot: hes a great tutorial to the shooting mechanics of the game and a fun cat an mouse tank: this boss is fine, a bit annoying but fine grey fox: decent fight. i like how fox responds to your tactics and how you can use chaff on him to cheese. mantis: once you get past the gimmick, that's lost its touch tbh, its a fairly mid fight. wolf 1: ass due to the sniping controls/mecanics hind: its pacing is a bit too slow bit all around good wolf 2: the existence of the nikida strat makes this somewhat good raven: best fight in the game. rex: not bad. you can abuse the ai of this fight with good positioning liquid: not a huge fan. having to ledge him to end the fight isnt great Mgs2: Olga: great tutorial for the new shooting mechanics but can be annoying on subsequent playthroughs fortune: great showcase of the engine but its mostly a waiting game fatman: meh. hes not hard to trivialize if your good with the shooting mechanics but alright fight harrier: massive improvement to the hind. great fight vamp: the quick kill is fun but besides that hes too fast for the limitations of the player imo rays: good fight thats exhausting in a good way solidus: best fight in the game imo. Mgs3: ocelot: great fight where you can use the environment to your advantage. very mechanically sound and well designed the pain: worst fight in the game imo: not a fan of the arena and boess design. not a bad boss tho the fear: love the options to beat him and quick kill is funny. held back by some of the limitations of the time tho. the end: i find this fight overrated. its impressive but i find it more tedious than anything. ik this is a hot take and get why its loved tho the furry: kinda mid tbh. not a very engaging fight volgan: im split on this boss. design wise its awesome but the execution feels a bit off. i like how effective cqc is but some of his attacks are very hard to dodge which i find annoying (yes ik his lightning ball homes in when you have a weapon equipped) the shagohod: best fight in the game and best sequence in the series. the boss: i never understood the mechanics of her mostly when she does CQC on you. altho i like how theres multiple approaches to this fight. i like to use camo and hide from her and snipe. but ive seen others go ham and make it work. i hope delta makes her mechanics more clear so i can appreciate it more MGS 4: laughing ocopus: i like this fight. the cat and mouse is fun and her use of camo is well done too. especially when she fakes being otacon and you can call him lol Raging raven: a bit tedious but fine. Crying wolf: a sniper fight done very well. vamp: mid but i do like how your suppose to finish him off ray: best fight in the game. rex has great moves that are well balanced and thought out. very fun fight mantis: alright. the use of the doll is good. but not much of a fight and more of a mantis call back ocelot: 2nd best fight of the game. awesome final fight for the series but i have some issues with mechanics of it. PW: armored vehicle: alright. has sound design tank: same as the last boss tbh but a tank. not bad pupa: not a fan. the arena may compliment the boss but it leaves very little options for the player to position them selves helicopter: meh Chrysalis: not bad. but your choice of weapon will determine the quality cocoon: best fight in the game. such a great endurance, and strategy test. love how you have to slowly dismantle this thing and its quite fun PW1: very similar to rex but alright PW2: another great endurance test but not as good as the cocoon PW3: barely a fight lmfao more like a cutscene Zeke: never fought him. found reaching this boss too tedious. love its boss theme tho Mgs 5: Skull units 1: hardly a fight. you just run lol Quiet: best sniper fight in the series and the end if it was done right. man on fire: harkens back to some of the older fights where you have to kill him a certain way. i like it but not a lot Eli: funny lol. just stand there and let him come to you then cqc his ass sahelanthropus: weakest metal gear fight in the series. skull units 2: didnt like it. had a hard time figuring out how to properly damage them and it wasnt very clear how Final gauntlet: not a bad final test but can be bullshit.

[@Garrette63]

The issue with the Cobra unit is that they barely have any of their own motivations, they're simply loyal to the Boss, even over country. I think that's somewhat the point, especially as a contrast to the Boss' ideals. It doesn't make them as interesting as previous bosses though. Edit: Portable Ops also has some okay bosses for the constraints it had. I actually think they have better story than MGS3 bosses for the most part since there's an emphasis on recruiting them with Big Boss' charisma. It also has the earliest appearance of Gray Fox and the founding of Fox Hound.

[@IsThatSmoothJazz]

Late to this, but I haven't seen this point discussed - I reluctantly agree with you concerning how disconnected the MGS3 bosses are from emotions, there is a boss you didn't discuss who has mechanically and emotionally interesting stuff going on in that game -- The Sorrow

[@WritingOnGames]

54:03

[@IsThatSmoothJazz]

@@WritingOnGames Apologies, I'm an idiot

[@PlebNC]

Want to see something funny in MGS2? Use the demo theatre to view the Solidus Vs MG Ray cutscene with Rose as Solidus. It's hilarious imagining her just demolishing these mech just to turn to Raiden and ask what day it is tomorrow. It also a badass model glitch where became Rose's model is smaller she can't hold the P90 correctly but it leads to the coolest shot ever where she leaps backwards, firing the P90 despite it casually resting on the back of her hand.

[@EarlHildebrandt]

The demo theatre was an amazing idea- I think I've watched Meryl duelling Raiden to the death on that rooftop a few dozen times over the decades.

[@PlebNC]

@@EarlHildebrandt I'm also a fan for the Fortune vs Seal team 10 but the Seals are Fortune and Fortune is a Seal so the "A dud?!" guy can get his revenge.

[@djbeema]

Finally watched this, and loved it. Excellent work man. I know producing lengthy pieces like this is a ton of work so I don't expect to see them very often, but I'm looking forward to whatever your next deep dive is. I don't think I ever put much thought into the "devolution" of mgs boss character complexity, but damn, it's pretty glaring huh? Also never really occurred to me how peace walker was designed with multiplayer in mind, but that definitely makes much more sense for the bosses. I'm pretty surpised they weren't scaled for nimber of players. I'd say that might be their single worst design issue. Cause yeah, I played it by myself on ps3 or 4 and most of them were such a slog. A real test of endurance. Wonder if that was an intentional choice or just a very unfortunate oversight

[@OliHarris]

Incredible video!!

[@gabrielsolon8491]

i really love the juxtaposition of a first part involving the use of state of the art equipment for a battle just for the 2 ppl to go shirtless and beat each other like great apes

[@OmiP42]

Hey, welcome back! I missed your voice :)

[@lordfizzz]

I was the perfect age when mgs 2 came to xbox i just remember 555 dominos mt dew and 12 hour seshes. My mind has never been blown so much as with the first 2 mgs

[@seanmartinez6908]

I had no idea you can attack ocelot during his reload scene. Pretty good

[@Deorman]

I feel like you're somewhat biased towards mechanics in MGS1, Sniper wolf is an awesome character, but her boss fights and the Hind D are not exactly fullfiling mechanically, I think Sniper Wolf most memorable mechanic is that you had to backtrack the whole base to fight her but not the actual fight. I Agree a lot in the lacking of presence and compeling backstories in later episode of the serie, but like you said some of the boss in MGS3 and 4 are extremely good, it's a mix bag in all games, Laughing Octopus might have nothing humanizing about her, but I love her vibe and her arsenal, she remain one of my favorite boss of the serie despite the absence of personnal involvment with most B&Bs. B&B had much more potential, Crying Wolf should've been a dual without frogs involvment and use the wind mechanic essential to the fight.

[@stormmeansnowork]

That's why I love MGS1 the most, to this date, exactly because all the antagonists have a role or two in the game, even for Octopus. And while the trend is declining for the bosses down the line, the only game that managed to bring back some meaningfulness to the boss characters was actually - Portable Ops. Elisa, Python, Cunningham, Gene all contributed to the story. If they could remake Portable Ops even with just PW level technology and game play, I am happy enough. In fact, let's not forget that in MGS1, we got a strong team of codec support cast which was also not matched by any later games. Campbell, Naomi, Mei Ling, "Miller", Octocon, Meryl, Nastasha and even Wolf and Jim Houseman - none of them was a waste. It's a shame that MGS4 reduced these non-mandatory codec to just Octacon and Rose

[@withbravado1548]

1:00:56 “meaningful encounters in the back end” made me laugh. 😆

[@hyperdeath84]

My hope for Delta is that the mechanical changes are reflected in the overall design - great examples of this are the RE2 and RE4 remakes. Each one adds significant changes to the mechanics but alters the design accordingly. In 2 you can now aim precisely at zombies, but they are incredibly durable and more dangerous than they’ve ever been. In 4 you have an amazing knife parry, but the enemies rush at you with increased aggression and can be overwhelming if you don’t control how and when to use it and the rest of Leon’s arsenal. If Delta can redesign some encounters around Snake’s new abilities then it has the potential to be great. If not, we might have a new Twin Snakes on our hands, and very few of us want that.

[@clemdelaclem]

I am commenting to increase engagement metrics

[@GelatinPangolin]

Holy heck, new WOG!!!

[@Croftmaniac05]

I hoped you would talk about Portable Ops. The Null fight was the highlight of that game.

[@Tomismyusername]

What an incredible video.

[@munjatkumo1929]

This was awesome.

[@MemoriesLP]

You are worried about the updated gameplay of 3 remake. If you think more about it, it can be a huge issue. Level design does not take crouching to account. I believe it will just break the entire game and make it much easier. Also, if bosses and enemies are not updated, the third person shooting will also be OP

[@pratikgoswami7213]

I havent the watched the vidoe yet but. Quiet is one of the best boss fight of the saga. Evolving from sniper wolf, the end and finally the badass silence sniper. Same goes with skulls and sahelanthropus. Even eli is so much fun which is natural evolution of liquids boss fight throughout the saga.

[@danielpratt3794]

Love the video

[@gregoryberrycone]

Id basically rank the games in terms of boss fights as 3>2>1>4>5. The fights in 1 and 2 are largely similar overall but i do enjoy the sword fight with solidus a lot and the fatman fight feels like a sort of fun mix of ocelot and vulcan raven

[@DudeWheresMyCardz]

I wanted nothing more than to play through mgs1 as Grey Fox as a kid and never even unlocked the costume despite completing it on the same same file about 37 times 😭

[@Vulpes89]

Welcome back my fellow Scot

[@kirbyinhalesjotaro4471]

I kind of liked that the final boss of MGS2 was underwhelming. It’s repeatedly stressed that beating Solidus was what the patriots wanted Raiden to do and that he’s not the real villain there. So the fact the boss isn’t that satisfying highlights Raiden’s aimlessness at the end

[@mr.monkey354]

They are both villains, one wanted the world Big Boss wanted and the other was The Patriots

[@WebstersYouTube]

That question about the Cobras properly stumped me. I agree that narratively, MGS1 is my favourite rogues gallery, but mechanically, MGS5 is just a joy to play in every regard. I wish we were living in an alternate timeline where Konami weren't Konami and we could get the best of both worlds in a future title.

[@shelbysteiner]

Obligatory metrics comment: Regarding the HF Blade's non-lethal mode, apparently it has a blunt side to it. Swapping to it is basically Raiden flipping the blade around in his grip to strike enemies with the blunt side of it.

[@WritingOnGames]

Interesting! Thanks for the clarification.

[@shelbysteiner]

​@@WritingOnGames Of course! Not a huge Metal Gear nerd, but I have to say that I love these deep dives of yours. I always look forward to your content.

[@collinslack52]

The fact that MgsV doesn't end on a fist fight is criminal😂

[@SaggyWaggy-is8it]

FUUUUCKKK YEAAAAAASSSS Excited to see this whole thing, I already know it's a banger!!!!

[@nicollokhumalo2826]

Metal gear solid 2: SoL, the Ray boss fight is my favourite boss fight of all time, hands down.

[@Cowpoke1911]

This is why when I hear people say I want an mgs1 remake like mgsv you know they don’t understand a thing about what made mgs1 great in fact the best. If it got remade it should be like the re1 remake

[@Sniperk1ng187]

WRITING ON GAMES METAL GEAR EPISODE LETS GOOOOO

[@tokyo8236]

I never beat PW as I didnt know about the upgrade system and on the last fight I ran out of ammo and resupplies. So got softlocked and judt watched the ending on yoitube.

[@ethan_jackline]

Ill be the first to ask where rising fits into all this, i know its an entirely different studio and even arguable as to if its a part of the canon but the bosses in that game are genuinely some of wildest personalities youll meet and every single one is iconic to the point of being recognized outside of franchise fans

[@maskedkoopa6252]

MGS fans are cruel, Jackline.

[@WritingOnGames]

I like Rising a fair bit but don't return to it a whole lot. I agree its bosses are actually pretty good in the Metal Gear sense, but as a game it just feels like such an outlier that it didn't really occur to me to include it in this piece. Could be wrong on that!

[@maskedkoopa6252]

@@WritingOnGames I really like how they serve as excellent characters for Raiden to bounce off of. Raiden being an edgelord woks so well when the person he is edgelording at is one of many batshit insane lunatics with their own musical numbers and looney toons-level tech superpowers. I think narratively it feels right as the capstone to the timeline as well - war continues, but in a different form, with subtrefuge being made redundant by bombastic displays of obscene power. I think it'd be very unfortunate if we got a MGS game taking place after Rising does or does not take place.

[@marloges]

I feel like a lot of the criticisms about the bosses mechanics are solved by playing on extreme or maybe even on hard.

[@WritingOnGames]

3:25

[@marloges]

@@WritingOnGames Yeah sorry, I know you mentioned it early in the video, but I still think that a good portion of these bosses are just straight up better when being fought against on high difficulties. For example just unloading your shotgun into The Pain doesn't really work super well on Extreme because your ammo depletes really fast. Fury also becomes one of the hardest fights in that game all of a sudden. The Ray fight becomes super frantic and tough instead of being a lame bullet gallery and Solidus, while never a fantastic fight, demands pretty precise blocking and countering, which can work when practicing a little (and I admit the game doesn't give you much room to do that). Don't mean to downplay your entire video though, your analysis is still on point in many cases. Especially story-wise. Particularly liked the Peace Walker bits, which I never thought that hard before. By the way, Raiden can change the blade to non-lethally by just turning the blade around. It's hard to see, but he just hits people with the blunt side :) That's why the stab is still lethally.

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

I feel like you may have been a bit harsh in your analysis of the villains in MGS3. I'll grant you that they aren't individually particularly complex on a narrative level, but they're clearly intended to be personifications of the trauma of US troops returning from the Vietnam War. There's references to swarms of insects, burning villages, unseen opponents in the dense forest, etc. I believe that the intent is to show you the reality of war and why these former soldiers are setting aside their national identities in favour of working to take down the governments of the world and create a kind of Anarchist society where people are motivated by their own goals and not subject to the whims of politicians and dictators. I always took the idea of soldiers fighting their own battles as entirely metaphorical, but the language used opened it up to wildly divergent interpretations and caused The Boss to become a martyr for a number of causes that actively went against her beliefs and principles.

[@Masterho310]

They definitely got worse. MGS4 and MGS5's bosses sucked compared to MGS 1,2,3's bosses.

[@TheScratcherStudios]

OH~~~ we are in for a TREAT! Thank you for your hard work. Love it. PS: before having watched; I hated the MGS4 throwaway girl bosses. Other than fulfilling Kojimas fetish of actors, models etc there was nothing to them

[@Bertaut]

They all had really well written and harrowing as hell backstories, but the problem is we find out none of that until after they're dead and even then it's by way of an exposition dump. If their experiences had been woven into the narrative, they'd have been much more compelling characters.

[@yeahbuthow2005]

That's quite childish

[@WritingOnGames]

I think that's it. The structure feels all wrong. Getting forced to take these strangers on up front and *then* getting a hurried rundown of their backstory entirely unrelated to your arc is the complete reverse of how it happens in the earlier games. Probably a way you could make it work in a kind of "you only consider the humanity of your targets after they're long gone" way, but nothing about the presentation suggests that was what they were going for

[@TheScratcherStudios]

@@yeahbuthow2005 Thank you for your observation. My articulation was never good, even at the best of times. But WritingOnGames seems to agree, while elaborating and expressing the opinion on the topic at hand far better than I ever could in a quickly, thoughtlessly scribbled youtube comment.

[@TheKrowkaBoo]

They re suited game themes.

[@FormallyInsane]

I can never watch this video until I eventually find the time to play the games, so here's the like and keep up the good work ❤

[@djbeema]

Hour and a half WoG episode? Amazing 🎉🎉🎉

[@MegapiemanPHD]

MGSV doesn't have boss fights because the only Boss is player.

[@joshbrown3439]

What about the Portable Ops bosses? Actually thought they were quite good, apart from Cunningham.

[@syco0451]

I take it there aren't any bosses Metal Gear Survive? Wouldn't know as I never played it

[@BigMoneyChink]

Rip to old thumbnail

[@WritingOnGames]

Running a test and compare experiment in YT Studio, so the old one might still pop up. I mean hey, an updated thumbnail got you to click on the video so something must be working!

[@TheKrowkaBoo]

Mgs4 and onward bosses has more thematic meaning rather than narrative. Also Crying Wolf battle is beter than Sniper Wolf

[@jkratosgear3038]

26:26 in here I think that boss batles in mgs2 mimic a litle of mgs1, but in a way that are annoing deliberate, Raiden its unconfortable so, the player has to be unconfortable too, Fortune boss fight its like Sniper wolf first battle, but you cant hurt her, Fatman its like Raven, but with an cut rhythm by the bombs, the plain its like the hind D, but in less space, and its a little claustrophobic, also you can damage Snake, Vamp its like Psycho Mantis and Grey Fox, but, again with less space, in turns unconfortable by the poison water. Even Olga tells you that she and snake had a battle that you didnt have bc you scort mission, its a constant bother to Raiden and to the player xd

[@WritingOnGames]

30:44

[@jkratosgear3038]

@@WritingOnGamesyes, sorry for get ahead 😅

[@UltimateMasterBroly]

Awesome 🙏🥇🏆🏆

[@morgan79737]

It's such a shame the quality of bosses in the series steeply declined with MGS4 onwards.

[@vlad4evar]

Notification squad, reporting in.

[@guyinc0gnito]

What’s that game at 0:59?

[@WritingOnGames]

The remake of Shadow of the Colossus.

[@adleswim9636]

mgs5 is by far the best.

[@Kaydje]

MGS1 is the best one ez

[@catfish8000]

[Insert comment to show my support here]

[@alecaquino4306]

It pains me to agree with you on most everything you said in this video.

[@manny2684]

Nah.

[@steakcrust558]

That hi res mgs delta ocelot. Gross 🤢 🤮

[@ogto]

the rights of passage videos for youtubers. for film, it's making a Shining video, for video games, it's making a Metal Gear video.

[@charliearblaster]

Hello again

[@0uttaS1TE]

Damn, Hamish, at least warn someone before you drop a banger like this

[@MrDancinKID]

Notification foxhound squad reporting in.

[@Ali-fs7ze]

So no Rising? [Slams phone to the ground and stomps on skateboard]

[@paragonjones13]

What is this gameplay in the background?? 😂

[@Garnilator]

Anything after MGS3 has no soul, Kojima didn't even want to make MGS4. Tbh, MGS 3 is already a bit shallow in the story and dialogues, even though it's still a great game, it's the perfect example of Complex but shallow writing, whilst MGS1 was the other way around: Simple but deep writing.

[@TheKrowkaBoo]

He did not want to make any game literally since mgs1

[@pratikgoswami7213]

Lol nope. Take off your nostalgia glasses and you will see how friking cool and full of love peace walker-GZ-TPP trilogy is.

[@TheKrowkaBoo]

@@pratikgoswami7213 what about 4 ?

[@pratikgoswami7213]

@@TheKrowkaBoo didnt mention it because well its part of solid snake trilogy. But its still pretty solid game. With minor flaws that are present in previous metal gear games. 11/10 for me still.