A Good Game a day for the rest of time perhaps?
Today it’s Metal Gear Solid (Metal Gear: Ghost Babel) a 2000 2D stealth action game developed and published by Konami for the Game Boy Color. Ghost Babel was produced by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan after they were commissioned by Konami’s European branch to develop a portable adaptation of their 1998 PlayStation game Metal Gear Solid. The game is not part of the mainline Metal Gear series, but rather it is set in an alternate continuity seven years after the events of the original Metal Gear.
Metal Gear Solid follows the overhead 2D format previously used in the 1990 MSX2 game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake while adding a few new elements introduced in Metal Gear Solid. As with previous games in the series, the objective is to infiltrate the enemy’s stronghold while avoiding detection from guards or surveillance systems. The player can acquire numerous items and weapons to help them fulfill their mission.
One difference from the MSX2 games is that the screen now scrolls when Snake moves throughout a single area instead of using flip-screens. Moreover, all the characters in the game now move in eight directions, allowing both the player and the enemies to move diagonally in addition to the four cardinal directions. Snake now has the ability to flatten himself into walls like he does in Metal Gear Solid. By flattening himself, Snake can move across the wall (allowing him access to tight passages that are not accessible by walking), scroll the camera behind his position to scout the area ahead, or knock the wall to lure nearby enemy soldiers.
Depending on the difficulty, the number of punches required to defeat an enemy soldier differs and in the higher difficulty levels, the enemy soldiers will be knocked unconscious for a while after the first series of punches instead of simply being defeated. Crawling is now assigned to the Start button (instead of pressing two buttons simultaneously) and the changing of weapons and equipment is done on the main game screen rather than on separate sub-screens. Like in previous installments, the player communicates with various allies via a wireless communication device (the Codec), which is also used to save the player’s progress.
Unlike the preceding installments, Metal Gear Solid uses a stage-based structure, with a total of 13 stages. After completing a stage, the player’s performance is graded from “Terrible” to “Excellent”. Much like in the original Metal Gear Solid, the player’s overall performance is graded with a codename after completing all 13 stages, with the codenames varying depending on the difficulty level chosen at the start of the game.
Watch the video I made below showing about the first 39 minutes of the game.
Video:
Metal Gear Solid Gameplay.
Developer: Konami.
Publisher: Konami.
Platform: Game Boy Color.
Release : 27th April 2000 (JP), 24th April 2000 (NA), 5th May 2000 (EU).
Genre: Stealth.
King Toko 