Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid is a stealth game created by Hideo Kojima which follows the MSX2 video games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Despite a transition to 3D, Metal Gear Solid's gameplay remains similar…

80 3 September 1998

Adventure Shooter Tactical Action Science fiction Stealth Survival

Metal Gear Solid is an adventure developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, released 3 September 1998 on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation. The main story takes about 12.2 hrs to finish.

Verified 15 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Metal Gear Solid is

Metal Gear Solid is an adventure game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and released in 1998. It was published by Konami. It is available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation.

The premise, in the publisher's words

Metal Gear Solid takes place in an alternate history in which the Cold War continued into the 1990s, ending at some point near the end of the 20th century. Coming out of retirement, special agent Solid Snake is called back into the line of duty to take on rogue members of Foxhound, a crack government anti-terrorist squad threatening to launch nuclear-weapons on the White House unless they receive their $1 billion ransom. With only 24 hours to sabotage Foxhound's threat, Snake must infiltrate enemy lines, rescue the two hostages and thwart the terrorists' plans. The demons of his past will challenge him and his will as a soldier shall be tested, as Snake fights to save the world from nuclear…

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a third person perspective. Its themes are action, science fiction, stealth and survival. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

Where it sits in the Metal Gear series

Metal Gear Solid is the sixth of 70 entries we hold in the Metal Gear series. It arrived 8 years after Snake's Revenge. The next entry was Metal Gear Solid: Integral in 1999. Its critic score of 80 is almost exactly the series average of 81. The highest-rated entry is Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence at 98.

See all 70 Metal Gear games in release order →

How it was received

Metal Gear Solid holds a critic score of 80 out of 100. That places it above 64% of the 7,525 rated adventure games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 1998 averaged 70, so it scored 10 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 85, across 1,719 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 12.2 hrs.

What it launched against

Metal Gear Solid launched on 3 September 1998, within three weeks of Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition, Future Cop: LAPD, Bloody Roar 2 and Guardian's Crusade. It reviewed better than 3 of the 4.

Released around the same time: Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition, Future Cop: LAPD, Bloody Roar 2, Guardian's Crusade.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Metal Gear Solid yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

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