Metal Gear Solid Analysis (Ep.1): Development | State Of The Arc Podcast

[@ResonantArc]

For the next episode, play until you defeat the cyborg ninja. Stop after that.

[@silentobserver888]

I hope one day you guys do an analysis of disco elysium purely based on its narrative greatness.

[@durden6627]

Metal Gear Solid podcast from Resonant Arc. What a time be alive.

[@gadzooks4476]

I am so HYPED!

[@havocbringer2100]

Really a perfect game for this podcast, and it makes for a nice change of pace from JRPGs.

[@danielcaldas3247]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[@RatchildUK]

Kept us waiting, huh?

[@houstonh3918]

Kept us wait.... Damnit you beat me to it.

[@genorem]

待ったぜだな

[@forestcampbell8962]

They're pretty good.

[@RetepAdam]

Metal… Gear?!

[@EclecticEngineer604]

@@RetepAdam lol 😂

[@agroed]

I can't express enough how much I appreciate the book club format. In '96 I was born a few years too late to have experienced the golden age of JRPGs in their own time, so being able to play through them now for the first time with you and have a place to discuss them without the fear of being spoiled is extremely gratifying. I'm playing through Xenogears for the first time right now and without you and Retrograde Amnesia I know I'd be having a greatly inferior experience. Thanks for everything, I love this channel, and I finally get to watch you play through a game/series I'm already intimately familiar with for a change which is gonna be a lot of fun.

[@zekkyauditore3021]

Metal Gear Solid had a huge impact in my life. MGS3, together with Fallout New Vegas made me so interested in history that now I'm one year away from becoming a historian. I'm so glad to see you covering this franchise

[@AngelCanseco1]

Big Don Julius Ceasar had to be stopped or else he’d unleash Metal Gear Legionaries on the world!

[@AtotheZness]

Yoji Shinkawa has some of the most recognizable art work in gaming and arguable some of the best. His, Toriyama, Amano, even Nomura at this point you can point out in an instant. Good stuff!

[@magnainsomnia]

i would like to Add Akihiko Yoshida

[@AndrewEvenstar]

I love Amano art! It's my all-time favorite.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Love your dev history episodes. Really intreagued by Kojima's parents now. I would sort of expect that methodology if he had a film/creative writing background. There's a lot of broad ceative kinda lessons that can be taken from it but it feels so specific I wonder if he had a particular direction he wanted his son to take (would love to find out what his actual thought process was then). Both his parents sound awesome.

[@ChocolatierRob]

Mike, If I can give you one piece of advice going forwards it is - Use the Codec. Nearly all the problems you had in last night's stream (watched it today) were that you only ever used it when prompted. Looking for reasons to use it will give you more lore and explain how to do things you were struggling with. On the tank fight for example there are essentially three phases to tackle and your support team will tell you what you need to know. 1st step) Jam the electronics on the canon with the chaff so you can get close, you got that pretty soon. 2nd step) Take out the tank's treads with claymores (or C4) to slow its movement, you gave up on this because you thought you were trying to deplete health instead. Last step) Now that it can't manoeuvrer very well take out the gunners with grenades much more easily. Using the codec would have your team fill in these details that you needed. The codec is also very useful for learning the backstory of the bosses you are fighting, the political motivations behind actions, what you need to be doing, what your equipment is designed for, how good a smoke feels in the morning, what to watch out for. One of your support team is never even seen in the game if you don't make the effort to call her and she's the one who explains your weapons, she also explains the real world politics behind nuclear de-escalation and she has context expansions of these explanations depending on whatever Snake has just discovered. Further to this whenever you find new equipment or weaponry devote a bit of time to learning to use them by reading their instructions and trying them out before being put in a bind when you need them quickly. Equipping pretty much anything and calling the relevant support member will nearly always teach you something interesting. While Snake is a stealth expert you don't have to be, that bit where you couldn't escape that room with the guard patrolling outside, you could have just shot him in the back with that gun you have. Experimenting with weap[ons is worth the time and temporary gameovers. The remote control missiles have a much easier 1st person view you can control with triangle once fired and you can move while using guns by holding down X after drawing (at the cost of auto aim). When you first tried to contact Meryl Mei Ling told you you had to be outside the area of jamming you were in (through the painted over walls) if you had called her from the next room you would have got through to her and checkpointed it by getting into the lift to change the floor you were on. Onto actual Dev history though have you checked out Shmuplations? There is an interview with Kojima and Shinkawa shmuplations.com/metalgearsolid/ as well as an interview with Yasumi Matsuno and Kojima. shmuplations.com/matsunoxkojima/

[@agroed]

As a big veteran of the series, I couldn't agree more. Spamming the codec (you get new conversations after entering almost all new areas or if virtually anything happens in the story) is completely essential, not only to give you hints on where to go, how to beat bosses etc., but also to fully experience the story. I'm not exaggerating when I say Metal Gear is 1/3 gameplay, 1/3 cutscenes, and 1/3 codec, that's where that extra length comes in. In truth the game is much closer to 14 or so hours in its entirety. Trust me, the more you use the codec, the better time you'll have. It's a lesson that I didn't learn until my third Metal Gear and I certainly paid the price for it in frustration.

[@emzet09]

absolutely! codec calls are like 40-50% of story and lore content in those games. it kinda compels you to stop every few minutes to do a call to everyone on the list, but I always felt that it did a good job of introducing details about the characters. some of them are pretty funny too.

[@matarax]

First, you guys do Xenogears, Hellblade, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Then, I mentioned Vagrant Story and it gets voted to be another in-depth analysis. Now, you guys are analyzing my favorite game of all time. You guys are amazing and have been hitting that spot of philosophy, storytelling, and gaming that I've been looking for for a while. Thank you and look forward to more episodes (maybe the Witcher 3 analysis one day...?)😊

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

this is one of my most beloved series. this cast is awesome!

[@AngelCanseco1]

Also did Xenosaga which is such an amazing game and I hope they do all 3 (or at least the last one Q.Q )

[@kingofthesharks]

I feel like Kojima's dad making him watch movies and discuss afterward isn't fundamentally different from many of our parents having us read books ('because they enrich you, son"). Of course newer art/tech always scares the older generations, but for some reason this Kojima family seems to live ahead of their times. I actually had no problem with Hideo's "movies inside his games" cutscene ratio. People will always ask "why doesn't he just make films?" but the limitation is that films cannot have an ounce of gameplay...not to mention they're limited to 2-3 hour runtimes. In order to have ANY mixture of gameplay and cinematics, you have to sell your product as a video game. Even if your vision involves the latter outnumbering the former in proportion. This is why series like Ace Attorney still succeed even if they have limited interactivity per second. Not every game is for everyone, but the medium of games is practically for everyone. Hideo's pacing is FAR from perfect, but I don't have a fundamental problem with his choice of 'watch/sneak/watch/fight/watch/sneak' that ultimately opened many doors to what action videogames could be.

[@12ealDealOfficial]

I also used to watch a lot of TV and movies with my parents. We'd discuss everything we'd just watched and those are still fond memories. I hope a lot of kids get to have a similar experience where they enjoy spending a lot of time talking about art or entertainment with their folks.

[@supremeworld87]

He tried to make it into films and failed. Which is why he ended up trying to live out his film making dreams through the video game industry. That being said, he clearly has a penchant for game design as well so it was a perfect match. He doesn't just treat gameplay as an afterthought a serious amount of thought and effort goes into it

[@TVans-vs3gn]

Great comparison with Ace Attorney!

[@macrotips6801]

Turns out there are actually different kinds of games. Some games are just very cinematic, some are purely about gameplay.

[@Cernunn0s90]

I think you nailed it. I love the MGS games, and I don't mind the cutscenes at all. Wouldn't have it any other way. But I also love the Souls games which are purely gameplay. We have room for both in this medium!

[@ifrit05]

7:00 Don't forget about Kojima's "Snatcher"!!! Fun fact, in Snatcher you had a machine that followed you around; it was a mini Metal Gear from MG1 named Metal Gear Mk.II. In MGS4, you also have a mini Metal Gear called Mk.II following you around, coming full circle. Neat. Also, yes, Solid Snake does use a electronic eye patch in MGS4, but he does not loose an eye like Big Boss in the past. PS. 1:02:44 Dynamically changing music on PS1 is actually pretty trivial to do using the sound tools that are part of the SDK.

[@gadzooks4476]

As a kid Metal gear solid is the game that made me realise how profound stories can be. Without it I may never have became as invested in movies, books and videogames as I am. I absolutely love it when a story does something totally wild and has some long, convoluted reason behind it. I live for small obscure details that can be easily overlooked on first pass and then found years later, completely shifting your perspective. I am soooooo looking forward to the rest of this podcast!

[@TheNightSkyPrince]

LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@nathanburnham6337]

State of the Arc is the best thing on KZbin. Absolutely love these and I hope to contribute on Patreon sometime soon.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Shinkawa and Kojima is like Sakaguchi and Uematsu.

[@kevinstreetgaming]

You guys continue to do such a great job breaking down games in great detail.

[@michaelmott1420]

As always, super top notch analysis. I ended up searching for my copy of MGS and playstation just to relive the story because of this vid. Keep putting out great content like this.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

You guys mentioned how this game really pushed the boundary for voice acting in games. I agree. There weren't a lot of games at the time with good voice dialogue other than Soul Reaver. Has Matt played that series before? I think he'd like it for its complex plot and Shakespearean dialogue.

[@reenchanted]

I’ve been looking forward to this series! I had a thought on the weird balance of tones and voice acting bits (and I love your observations on how David Hayter’s performance helps to sell the opposing sides of serious/silliness). I think any other thing that helps a lot is that while the plot and characters and events are over-the-top ridiculous at times, Snake generally reacts to it in a believable, if not always serious way. He’s surprised when we’re surprised. He’s doubtful when we’re doubtful. He seems to realize that his story has very bizarre elements and yet generally plays it straight and takes these events as seriously as the story stakes demand that he does.

[@Snakeskin94]

I just finished your review of FFX, my favorite Final Fantasy, and I was like "man... hope these guys do Metal Gear one day." And here we are lol I love this first game until the end of time- MGS2 is my favorite game of all time, so, if you ever get to it, I hope you end up liking it!

[@MiBrCo4177]

I just hope that they do FFx2. I'm sure they will the mentioned it in their ffx vid so we just gotta wait. These next four weeks are gonna great though. Here's hoping they do the rest of the series of MGS.

[@nodieza]

As a kid, I remember playing the demo disc of that first area literally hundreds of times before my parents finally bought the game for me. It was the first game I EVER played that used true cinematic language through in game cutscenes. The amount and quality of the voice acting was unheard of. The quality and genre of stealth gameplay compared to Tenchu (the only other stealth game I had ever played) was so unique with the radar, alert status, and item choice. The level of comic book absurdism mixed with the realness and psuedoscience "realness" of the weapons and scenarios and codec conversations. The little unique oddities invloving (without spoiling) temperature, your memory card, Johnny, etc. Just so perfect and so unique for its time. Easily a top 10 game for me. Still my favorite overall of all the MGS games.

[@rayfran06]

I played the hell out of that demo too with crash 3 and tomb raider 3 right? LOL My parents got me MGS VR missions instead ...not the same lol. But I did convince my parents to get it for me on my birthday a month later. I had most the action figures too and at the time McFarlane figures were THE SHIT if you were still playing with toys. The detail and accessories. Even that crappy Lost in Space movie the figures were pretty solid.

[@rayfran06]

@UCA9Az4dQ49CZDQ9T6qRlMzg I started collecting batman and as the quality of the movies declined, I started getting more into spawn

[@CRedd9830]

42:08 Panzer Dragoon Saga, Koudelka & Metal Gear Solid had the best voice acting of any 90s console games.

[@GeebusCrust]

Never heard of koudelka, but at least on the other two, hard agree

[@CRedd9830]

@@GeebusCrust Koudelka is a horror rpg that Shadow Hearts is a spin off of.

[@GeebusCrust]

@@CRedd9830 whoa, I love Shadow Hearts. Imma check that out. Did it get a western release/is there an English version?

[@CRedd9830]

@@GeebusCrust Yeah, physical copy is super expensive but PS1 is pretty easy to emulate.

[@TVans-vs3gn]

@@GeebusCrust You definitely missed out on a hidden gem here. (Koudelka)

[@Davitron_87]

It’s difficult to overstate just how important Metal Gear Solid is from a story and voice acting standpoint. Remember, this was shortly after the era of the cheesy fmv’s that the mid 90’s was known for. I remember the first time I played it, i had no idea what it was even about. The box art and was very minimalistic. The description on the back didn’t give much away. Yet I was so intrigued. And upon playing it for the first time, I was completely blown away. It was unlike any game I’d experienced before. For me, it’s possibly the most important video game. It changed the way I look and experience video games, even to this day.

[@patrickholleman9323]

If you like stories that mix real-world historical events with fantasy, I recommend books by Tim Powers. He even has a spy novel (Declare) that is similar to MGS. It tells the story of real/famous Cold-War spies like Kim Philby, but then explains that those spies' careers were actually shaped by a secret conspiracy involving ancient magic.

[@cika3leches]

This will be awesome! Can't wait to play along

[@logansaxby7224]

I can't possibly express how much Metal Gear Solid means to me. I was born in 1987 it was lucky enough to play this game on released at 10 years old. I remember I had a demo disc that had Metal Gear Solid on it and I used to play that over and over and over waiting for the game to come out. I won't get into how terrible my childhood was but this game along with a few others really helped me build a foundation for a solid life. I know that might sound silly but to a young man with no future this game spoke volumes. Thank you so much for doing this series 🖖

[@GrimAdventurez]

Yoooo saving this gem for work tomorrow, thanks for all the hard work you guys do 🤙 really excited for this series.

[@kennymetz187]

Metal gear solid is my all time favorite series

[@orinanime]

It was definitely Christopher Walken. Look up Deer Hunter. Snake was inspired by Kurt Russell's Snake from Escape from New York. But his face was modeled after Christopher Walken's appearance in Deer Hunter.

[@macrotips6801]

Shinkawa and Kojima is like Sakaguchi and Uematsu.

[@zenoslime]

love the way you guys talk about david hayter's snake. it's a weird cartoon character voice, but he takes it places. it's good.

[@williansnobre]

You guys should take a look at Yoji Shinkawa painting. It's kinda crazy how fast he can be.

[@sandelic1]

I'll never forget that trick Psycho Mantis did! I was completely stunned by it.

[@denglongfist4270]

One of the main achievements of this series is truly bringing forth Voice Acting in games to a level never before seen. Before we have the Alucards and Jill Sandwich (and those are great moments) but I am still blown away at the quality of voice acting in this game

[@thefunnyultra7guy237]

It's a lesser known series but Legacy of Kain had stellar voice acting during this time as well.

[@denglongfist4270]

@@thefunnyultra7guy237 yes, I briefly played Legacy of Kain, that was fantastic too

[@johnnyscifi]

Favourite gaming//adjacent channel, covering one of my favourite games!!! You guys rock

[@CoquiReploid81]

I, as a person who has played the games you talk about, haven't played these games in a long time. So I forget a lot of the details, so I appreciate when you don't spoil things also. Even though I will remember, it gives me a little bit of the original feeling of discovery when I finally see it again.

[@sandrocafaggi4650]

this is one of my most beloved series. this cast is awesome!

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

First, you guys do Xenogears, Hellblade, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Then, I mentioned Vagrant Story and it gets voted to be another in-depth analysis. Now, you guys are analyzing my favorite game of all time. You guys are amazing and have been hitting that spot of philosophy, storytelling, and gaming that I've been looking for for a while. Thank you and look forward to more episodes (maybe the Witcher 3 analysis one day...?)😊

[@CRedd9830]

5:50 his work on the sound design for Snatcher is also phenomenal.

[@LupusArcavius]

When Mike is describing techno thriller I just kept thinking “nano machines son”

[@Reddeth6332]

It has to be this way

[@Gulandro]

Congrats for the podcast, great show. Finally you talk about a game I can comment on. I played the NES version back in the day, and I do remember using boxes in it. So I think this is inherited from there. I even remember a section from 2nd game where there is a puzzle regarding different boxes. About the likeness of Snake to Cristopher Walken check the movie titled The Deer Hunter. I think you will see the similarities not just the looks of character but the mentality about war and ptsd. Have fun.

[@Gulandro]

Also in The dogs of war Walken is a mercenary in Africa. These all predate MGS.

[@ultrakenshiro]

So glad you guys are doing metal gear solid. One of my favorite games of all time!

[@miiks...5...3...9...]

speaking of surprisingly good voice acting on the PS1, Koudelka comes to mind, especially the drinking scene between Koudelka and Edward somehow still puts most modern games to shame in its execution.

[@Davemate]

Absolutely amazed by this series of video games, they were mind-blowing and had a massive impact on me from a young age. And I love all the Kojima-isms, this should be great.

[@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE]

My favourite video game of all time. 10/10 on every facet.

[@AJDOLDCHANNELARCHIVE]

Loved this! Subscribed and looking forward to the subsequent parts. Cheers from the UK!

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Great episode!

[@benjamindonahue9434]

Love your dev history episodes. Really intreagued by Kojima's parents now. I would sort of expect that methodology if he had a film/creative writing background. There's a lot of broad ceative kinda lessons that can be taken from it but it feels so specific I wonder if he had a particular direction he wanted his son to take (would love to find out what his actual thought process was then). Both his parents sound awesome.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Yoji Shinkawa has some of the most recognizable art work in gaming and arguable some of the best. His, Toriyama, Amano, even Nomura at this point you can point out in an instant. Good stuff!

[@CreativeDestruction0]

Kojima's backstory is really interesting. Lorne Lanning of the Oddworld franchise also wanted to make movies, but video games were a cheaper option for his stories. There's a fascinating interview with him on the Ars Technica KZbin channel. Check it out!

[@bavarianconsolegamer]

This game Is the reason why gaming became such a big part of my life. I was ten when this came out, and it had a huge impact on me.

[@hat8918]

Massive Terminator 1 & 2 fan. Would fully support a Terminator 1 discussion. Inspired so many movies, classic!

[@johnmcternan4157]

Prime James Cameron would have made an amazing Metal Gear film.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

The Metal Gear "Solid" title was derived from the geometric meaning of solid due to the game being in 3D.

[@mkooij]

@ 24:00 in mgs4 solid still has both eyes but he does wear a VR eye patch that gives him information

[@sagewaterdragon]

Two bits that I think are worth mentioning: 1. Snake's Revenge was the last game directed by Hitoshi Akamatsu, the director of the original Castlevania trilogy. I think his work was really fundamental to creating the idea of a "cinematic" video game as well, but he focused on conveying those feelings through gameplay and tone rather than cutscenes and narrative. I think a lot of Metal Gear fans unfairly blow off Snake's Revenge because it wasn't a real Metal Gear, and it's not, but it is a really great action game for the NES made by someone who left the industry pretty soon after. 2. I hope you talk about Jeremy Blaustein's contributions to Metal Gear. He wrote a pretty great piece about his history with the franchise for Polygon. The original PS1 English localization for this game made a lot of changes to things like the military jargon used and Kojima was unhappy with Blaustein feeling like he could take his own initiative, leading to re-localizing and re-voicing the entire game for the Twin Snakes remake on GameCube. I think this is a very important thing to discuss when talking about this game.

[@lokstir4568]

While the real Metal Gear 2 may not have come out in the US, we did have the US only Snake's Revenge made by a different team at Konami for the NES. Kojima had no involvement but hearing about its development inspired him to create an outline for the MSX Metal Gear 2 he later went on to create.

[@unrealtaco086]

Looking forward to this playthrough and analysis as I'll be playing along! You guys are awesome and I really loved your interpretations on FFX, one of my favorite games (Casen your mandala interpretation was crazy brilliant, loved it). You guys pointed out some things I would have never thought of even in my 100th playthrough of the game haha. Excited to finally understand the story to MGS.

[@CliffConway]

This podcast series just keeps getting better!

[@12ealDealOfficial]

Here every step of the way this time around. Your coverage of FFX won me over.

[@vollkerball1]

23:28 you must narrow down which Snake (Solid, Liquid, Naked...) 35:30 yeah, "watching" Casen play Xenogears for the first time and analyzing it at the same time was soo good.... Reminded me of my first time playing it and not understanding anything of it and replayed the game 4 or 5 times to understand some of it

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Sorry, I've got to ask because it's been absolutely driving me round the bend for ages; What is your outro music. It kind of sounds like Yasunori Mitsuda to me but for some reason it's putting me in mind of 7th Saga as well. Help! :)

[@BOSIE321]

You could write an essay on how Metal Gear Solid games marry the absurd and the intelligent together in a way that isn't jarring, awkward or irritating to the player. Having said that I feel that MGS 4 is the game that broke that special synthesis, yet so many people still love that game. MGS2 sails very close to being "too much" at times with it's lengthy cutscenes but it's redeemed by it's almost scary foresight and its relevance to our world today. An amazing series really.

[@kurtmager1626]

Policenauts was a later game. The game you are thinking of was called SNATCHER. An English language version was released for the Sega CD, and was best described as being like BLADE RUNNER. Policenauts was never released in the US, and most people weren't aware of it in the US until it was mentioned in MGS.

[@XenithflareGaming]

I was JUST thinking yesterday I wanted to replay these games, watched a video going over the history of the series and it really gave me the urge to pick them back up and check out some retrospectives. Portable Ops and Peacewalker especially were sleeper hits

[@fzzy2854]

This podcast is an absolute delight. Has made work much more enjoyable.

[@stylestep111]

Some interesting info about the voice acting is that the actors use pseudonyms because of some screen actors guild rules regarding voice acting in video games. David Hayters real name is used in the US release but the alias Sean Barker is used in the European release. The name comes from the character he played in the live action movie Guyver 2:Dark Hero.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

I want to clarify for the people who insist that everyone has played these games: I haven't. So far the only game covered by this channel in this way I've played to completion is FFX. I had started the other final fantasy games covered but for whatever reason never finished them so revisiting them through this lens was exceptionally enjoyable. There is nothing else like this in the space of KZbin play-along style content. Resonant Arc isn't just unique, but exceptionally well structured and produced. Even if replicated, it wouldn't be the same because of Mike and Casen's unique knowledge and experience sets.

[@CaffeinatedKing]

I discovered MGS1 through my grandfather who had a ton of pirated PS1 games. I was about 10 and I had no idea what I was in for when I started playing. It was incredibly eye opening seeing how cinematic and detailed the game was, completely unlike anything else I had played previously. It was right up my ally because at that age, movies like Terminator 2, Alien(s), Jurassic Park etc. were things I'd grown up watching in my household and MGS1 slotted in along side them The meticulous and detailed (for that time) gameplay coupled with a "grounded" story that tried to blur the lines of reality and science fiction really made both it's own world and the real world seem incredibly compelling in a way I'd just never thought about previously. Being a kid playing MGS, you really buy into everything they talk about, sure some part of you (hopefully) doesn't forget that it's still a video game, but you had this weirdly comforting feeling that there really could be somebody cool like Snake out there in the real world who would probably never be in the public eye, but still doing their job and protecting people. I was never the type of kid that really liked super heroes and really fantastical characters like that per say. But I found a character like Snake compelling because he was basically just a guy with very obvious flaws and trauma who was continuing to survive these impossible situations, something about that just really resonated with me at that age. I don't think there is a single character in the MGS series who isn't somehow severely damaged on some level, and they're all in these extreme circumstances, some grow and change, others make the wrong choice and refuse to relent, but that stuff is almost always played straight. I think that respect to awful situations is what really appealed to players. For example, Snake is a bit of an ass and tries to hit on a few of the female characters throughout the game and it's funny, but the game doesn't do that shit when something tragic is being talked about, whether it's them or him opening up about the past. Edit: I love the long cutscenes, the gameplay in MGS games is always satisfying and fun and that allows me to appreciate both aspects. I think if the gameplay in MGS was uninteresting or really crap, or just really nothing. I would probably care a whole lot less about the story, but because it's detailed and fun (especially later) I don't mind getting movie breaks because I know an interesting segment of gameplay is still waiting on the other side, that and I think blending the two makes me more invested in the characters.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

How does someone talk about recognizable famous sounds from Star Wars and the first example you think of is a Tie Fighter.HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH for me its a Lightsaber or R2

[@johnnyscifi]

The little jingle that plays on the mgs1 title screen was also used in policenauts. I've never played policenauts, or snatcher...

[@Crimsonrain13]

Oh my Lord. I need to see you guys cover Metal Gear Solid 2 and on. Great work

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Fuck yesssssss

[@RockPlays]

Ive been waiting for this one for a long time

[@jjh01harmon38]

Metal Gear!?

[@IdFear666]

It can't be!

[@viridian_nights]

Loving this series already. Love this duo also. Ps I’m still hoping they’ll do Death Stranding eventually

[@LandonBarton]

Beyond hyped for this series. Keep it up fellas!

[@stevemanart]

A few weeks late, but the confusion might also be that in MGS4 Solid Snake has a wearable HUD device that looks like an eyepatch which makes him look like Big Boss and his connection to Big Boss seems to be a big theme of the game.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Daddy mike and cutie cassin at it again with classic analysis

[@AshenVictor]

Metal Gear Solid was one of the first games to actually have professional voice actors. The usual approach to voice acting was "who do we have in the office right now?", and even of the other games that actually did go an hire professionals (Baldur's Gate, Blood Omen) they didn't have as many giving as extensive a performance. Most of the VAs are credited under their "I don't know what my union is going to think of this type of work" pseudonyms.

[@GwieE]

please try to get as many optional calls as possible in this playthrough. there is so much interesting and missable dialogue in these games.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

I consider Kojima a film maker in his own right

[@jobo3244]

RE: Why the 3D0 failed - it was 700$ at launch, which was I believe 2x what competing systems costed at the time. That is usually enough to kill any product, but the 3D0 had the additional problem of being sandwiched by the Sega Jaguar, the N64, and the Playstation, all of which were similar hardware in terms of capability.

[@agroed]

They also had a deal in the works to basically buy out Sega and a few other companies but that ended up falling through. Adam Koralik did a really good retrospective on it. So many of the 5th gen failures have really interesting stories behind them.

[@ClaudeSpeed30]

Your bringing up Meryl's appearance in Policenauts reminded me of some parallels between Metal Gear and Kojima's other game, Snatcher. MGS4's Metal Gear Mk. II first appeared in Snatcher, and there was a bar in Snatcher named "Outer Heaven."

[@gregtroyan]

Listening to this now. I watched a story recap of the first MGS game years ago and thought it was basically just a 90s James Bond movie as a game and I only played the demo, but I remember really enjoying it. The dev history section was really really great and so even though I haven't played the game in its entirety before I'm looking forward to listening along to this podcast. : )

[@Exeeter1234]

Everyone anxiously waiting for part 2 while over here waiting for Mike's fitness podcast lol. The transformation over the years is very impressive man. 👍

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

There was actually a box in the original Metal Gear

[@premsarin9866]

Konami really held it down in the 90's. Metal Gear, Castlevania, Suikoden, Silent Hill.....how the mighty have fallen.

[@BBGunsPGH]

Excited for this one!

[@SamwiseTheNotSoBrave]

Finally digging into this miniseries, and I have one minor (if extremely personal) quibble with a claim made: I don't agree with the notion that this was THE best voice acting of the time, but only because the Legacy of Kain series was running along side it. Both Blood Omen and Soul Reaver (the latter of which came out around the same time as MGS) had phenomenal voice acting, even in comparison to modern games. Again, that quibble is very minor, and I mainly voiced it because the LoK series is one of my absolute favorites. That said, I wouldn't actively argue against anyone saying that MGS was better because it is really, really good in that regard. Keep up the great work!

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

I would say the 3DO failed because it was 700 dollars brand new and had a limited library of good 1st party games and 3rd party developers for such an expensive system. Though I could be wrong

[@bartandaelus359]

I want to clarify for the people who insist that everyone has played these games: I haven't. So far the only game covered by this channel in this way I've played to completion is FFX. I had started the other final fantasy games covered but for whatever reason never finished them so revisiting them through this lens was exceptionally enjoyable. There is nothing else like this in the space of KZbin play-along style content. Resonant Arc isn't just unique, but exceptionally well structured and produced. Even if replicated, it wouldn't be the same because of Mike and Casen's unique knowledge and experience sets.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Some interesting info about the voice acting is that the actors use pseudonyms because of some screen actors guild rules regarding voice acting in video games. David Hayters real name is used in the US release but the alias Sean Barker is used in the European release. The name comes from the character he played in the live action movie Guyver 2:Dark Hero.

[@BartolisHideoutGaming]

Time to play metal gear solid! 👊 my brother played MGS back in the day and I always wanted to get into the series but never really had the drive to do so.. until now! Let’s go!

[@Jerrel28]

I had no idea you guys were into Metal Gear Solid, I'm looking forward to this one!

[@nawe_13]

I played this game multiple times, in multiple languages (even Japanese). This game is amazing! The last time I played it (I remember most of the things in the game so it was pretty straight forward), I finished it in the same day in 9 or 10 hours. Thank you for this! I've been listening to the podcast because I like all the other games you covered but this feels like a gift for me!

[@kingofthesharks]

1:15:30 Probably should've had a spoiler warning for the characters in these fights, even if it involves sequels and not MGS1 itself. I've finished those titles personally but I'm betting many viewers haven't started this series yet and will wanna go on to play the sequels.

[@thefunnyultra7guy237]

I'm glad I already played the main series too since that was a pretty big slip on their part, they already partially gave away what was in the injection too.

[@omensoffate]

Jesus. People care so much about spoilers man.

[@CliffConway]

So stoked on this one!

[@hian]

My personal theory for why MGS manages to get away with the abrupt tonal extremes is because of the hightened "realism" and absurdity of the game as a whole that flags its own tones up front in such a way that audiences can spot not only its deliberacy, but also the marks of the creator's social awareness. The premise of the game is already absurd(a single guy taking on a small army of terrorists and a giant mecha) and things like Psycho Mantis's power is exposited with full seriousness and dramatic gravitas, sandwiched between military tech and political jargon. You're never left to wonder whether this stuff made its way into the game by accident as a result of Kojima and co being tone-death or not recognizing what they're doing, on top of the fact that the game itself frequently delivers its absurdities with an ironic and self-aware charm that endears the audience to the choices. MGS's camp, as opposed to say certain other Japanese games that I won't mention by name is the distinction between your middle aged uncle making a wildly funny yet inappropriate joke at a family dinner that reflects his understanding of the room and life experience as opposed to a 16 year old mmo player choosing the username xXdarksephirothassassinXx after having watched Advent Children a few to many times. The essence of something being cool and functionally absurd versus not being it is basically a matter of doing it in a way that reflects self-awareness and lack of cringy pretentions.

[@orinanime]

While I agree with some of your assessment, I definitely think the MGS series definitely isn't lacking in "cringy pretentions". And the absurdity and camp goes overboard with MGS 2. I enjoyed MG 1 & 2 & Solid. But with MGS2 and everything after, it was too over-the-top and silly for me to the point that it drastically undercut any of the serious elements.

[@hian]

@@orinanime That's a perfectly valid take. Personally, I'd disagree but mileage will vary. I think pretty much every MGS displays a clear awareness of the "cringy" stuff and I think Kojima put it there with that awareness. Whether you got taken out or not is an individual issue but it's worth considering that there also exists people who think MGS1 went too far as well. I'm only speaking to what to me seems a deliberate facet of the series as a whole - one which I think clearly distinguishes it from much clearer examples of tone-deaf cringe and pretention like you see in series like KH or later FF games.

[@orinanime]

@@hian oh no I agree that the series is self-aware of the cringey elements. But that's a lot to do with the humor. But I'm talking about the serious elements that are also so melodramatically pretentious that it is also cringey. I'd give specific examples but we're supposed to avoid posting spoilers in the comments. But sometimes the serious parts are right on the line of being dramatic or so melodramatic that they're eye-rollingly laughable. And the "humor" of the games, while often toeing the line of self-awareness, is often played in a straightforward manner. And a lot of the humor of the game create a jarring tonal shift that is detrimental to the game overall, in my opinion.

[@Faolain_]

Good point. For how over the top and sometimes silly the games are, which I don't mind, the attention to detail on the military/historic elements of the games are brilliant. MGS3 in particular. Like how the AC-130 and SR-71 planes featured in the beginning had their first flights very shortly after the games date. Or the sneaking suit, which is clearly influenced by Soviet-era space suits. I think this is even mentioned in a codec call. Every camouflage and weapon, of which there are many, had a brief but interesting description. MGS4 greatly expanded on the arsenal of equipment at your disposal, which doesn't just make for fun gameplay, but fits into the flourishing war-economy in that game's world. MGS5 doesn't have this level of detail. Every weapon and vehicle isn't actually real, but clearly based on real military tech. To me, it almost makes the weapons look like toys. I found this pretty disappointing.

[@sarleonseverquestadventures]

Solid choice for an analysis!

[@orinanime]

I see what you did there

[@reloadpsi]

Policenauts does exist within MGS... as the same game product as in our world. Otacon is a huge fan.

[@zenoslime]

interesting synchronicities and divergences between the evolution of both wolfenstein and metal gear.

[@Revanxbone]

Im so excited for this one!!

[@silentobserver888]

You gentlemen are men of culture! Metal gear solid to me is peak story for video games. The whole series, along with the vision kojima had for it.

[@LrnecBuma]

In the mid 2010s i got to work with a coder who was just a techie at the time of the human genome project. He tried to explain to me one time it was something like they realised the project focused on the chunk of dna which makes us human. Not the junk dna. What the project discovered is that its not just the human chunk of dna which makes us. There are all sorts of switches that change with our environment we grow up in that gets passed on. It was too complicated for me but i tried to listen because i had grown up on mgs. I am also here to say its a crime this is not on the switch yet. I remember getting the free demo mgs was on and i think they put it out a LOT. When I was finally allowed to hire the game from blockbuster i think i had it like a month.

[@pointtwo9694]

I always thought Solid Snake looked more like Christopher Lambert than any other actor, definitely not Christopher Walken... Also the high intensity music is from the movie Speed. Not sure if it was inspired by it or borrowed, but it is identical.

[@budsodastories]

I've been waiting for this one heck ya

[@felix5287]

OMG my favorite game. Yall keep bringing it

[@centuronstar8688]

This was a nice surprise!

[@edgarlarios4718]

They keep covering the best games I have ever played, which makes me excited for when they introduce me to one I haven't played yet. Also, you two should try and hold off from spoiling events that happen in the sequels! Discovering the uniquely metal gear final bosses was a joy because I didn't know what was coming.

[@Exeeter1234]

Had to look up young christopher walken photos... And i totally see it now.

[@hayrogarciga924]

this game takes about three hours. great episode!

[@ossiliere]

Love the podcast and love this franchise. Amazing!

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

So Metal Gear 1 plot is Big Boss sends Snake in a mission to defeat the leader of the mercenary nation, who actually is Big Boss himself? There's gotta be more to it, cause this makes no sense.

[@bebopobama4686]

I really thought you were exaggerating about the size of the MGS team, but no! It was a really small team! This is so surprising, I always thought it had to be a massive production because a lot of the things that game did were just so groundbreaking and grandiose. I can't believe such a small team did this, the modern equivalent would be like an indie studio making Elden Ring or something like that.

[@squiddy8179]

Goosebumps, I'm ready!

[@UGABulldawg]

This is a great series. I love the content and this is one of my favorite games of all time.

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

Some of the events and developments of the Metal Gear Solid series are indeed fantastical, but the series also always remains GROUNDED.

[@ProxyDoug]

Snake had an eyepatch in MGS4, but it was a gadget rather than a regular covering.

[@LinedanceChristchurch]

Great episode!

[@GregoryAlanBaileygamereviews]

My favourite video game of all time. 10/10 on every facet.