Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Packaging illustration by Yoshiyuki Takani
Developer(s)Konami
Publisher(s)Konami
Director(s)Hideo Kojima
Designer(s)Hideo Kojima
Programmer(s)
  • Isao Akada
  • Toshinari Oka
Artist(s)
  • Shuko Iwamoto
  • Tae Yabu
  • Tomohiro Nishio
Writer(s)Hideo Kojima
Composer(s)
SeriesMetal Gear
Platform(s)
ReleaseMSX2
  • JP: July 20, 1990
Mobile phone
  • JP: October 1, 2004
Genre(s)Action-adventure, stealth
Mode(s)Single-player

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is a 1990 action-adventure stealth game developed and published by Konami for the MSX2. It serves as a sequel to the MSX2 version of the original Metal Gear, written and designed by series's creator Hideo Kojima, who conceived the game in response to Snake's Revenge, a separately-produced sequel that was being developed at the time for the NES specifically for the North American and European markets. The MSX2 version of Solid Snake was only released in Japan, although Kojima would later direct another sequel titled Metal Gear Solid, which was released worldwide for the PlayStation in 1998 to critical acclaim. This later led to Solid Snake being re-released alongside the original Metal Gear as additional content in the Subsistence version of Metal Gear Solid 3 for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. It was also included in the HD remastered ports of Metal Gear Solid 3 released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox 360, and was given a standalone re-release in Japan as a downloadable game for mobile phones and the Wii Virtual Console.

Set in 1999, a few years after the events of the original game, Solid Snake must infiltrate a heavily defended territory in Central Asia known as Zanzibar Land to rescue a kidnapped scientist and destroy the revised "Metal Gear D". The game significantly evolved the stealth-based game system of its predecessor, and uses a storyline dealing with themes such as the nature of warfare and nuclear proliferation. It is considered by some to be one of the best 8 bit games ever made.