20 Absolutely Insane Metal Gear Moments, to Prepare You for Death Stranding

Spoiler Warning

Ahead are some spoilers for various Metal Gear games and their craziest moments.

That Time a Boss Died of Old Age

In what has become one of the most legendary boss fights in all of video games, Naked Snake's fight with The End in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater allowed the player to leave the fight and come back later to discover the "father of sniping" had died of old age.

That Time Psycho Mantis Stalked Your Memory Card

In another memorable boss fight dating back to the original Metal Gear Solid, Psycho Mantis is able to "read" the player's mind by reading off the various Konami games present on their memory card. "So you like Castlevania?"

That Time Liquid Ocelot Turned Off Everybody's Guns

In an amazing penultimate finale in Europe, Liquid Ocelot gathers his forces along a river and demonstrate his control of the AI's that run the world. In doing so, he simply turned off everybody's guns, and let them have it.

That Time Snake Escaped From Prison With a Ketchup Packet

In an early example of Kojima giving the player many ways to approach a situation, Snake is able to trick a guard into entering his cell by faking an injury and laying over a spilled ketchup packet. So wonderfully dumb.

That Time Campbell Was Actually a Maniacal AI

In one of the biggest (and most wonderfully Kojima) twists in the series, it is revealed that the entirey of MGS2 has been a staged simulation to repeat the actions of MGS1. Part of that freakout is AI Campbell slowly deteriorating before your eyes. It's amazing.

That Time Ocelot Made a Creepy Ocelot Noise

Remember that time in Metal Gear Solid 3 when young Ocelot revealed that he summons his ocelot soldiers by literally meowing loudly into the forest? No? You gotta see this.

That Time Raiden Ran Down Halls Naked

Following the torture sequence meant to mirror Solid Snake's in MGS, Raiden is left with nothing but the skin on his back to escape with. The next 10 minutes of sneaking around guards while Raiden hides his nether regions is something too insane to make up.

That Time Johnny and Meryl Had Their Mr. and Mrs Smith Moment

What happens when you propose to your newly-sparked romantic partner by dramatically asking in the middle of an epic 2 vs. 50 showdown between you and genetically augmented toad soldiers? Metal Gear Solid 4 put that notion to the test, and the results were spectacular.

That Time Fat Man Skated Gracefully While Planting Explosives

In one of the more genuinely strange Metal Gear Solid moments, the fight with Fat Man is hard not to laugh at. The man is gracefully skating around, planting explosives and occasionally shooting at you -- and it's just the best. His eventual exit is also great.

That Time Snake Fought a Ghost

At the end of Snake Eater's dark middle chapter, Snake plunges hundreds of feet into a river. When he awakes, The Sorrow (a ghost formerly a part of The Boss' crew/The Boss' lover/Ocelot's father) haunts him and must be fought off while avoiding the ghosts of every guard you've killed thus far. All of that is a fact, somehow.

That Time Two Boss Fights Happen at Once

In easily the most badass sequence of MGS4, Vamp and Raiden have their final battle while Snake fends off encroaching Gekkos with a railgun. The twist? Both happen on-screen at once, with you controlling the Snake portion. It sounds distracting, but this results in one of the coolest fights in video games.

That Time Two Elderly Men Beat Each Other Up

Kojima just couldn't let go of Metal Gear Solid 4 without the ultimate callback to the first game, a one-on-one, fist-to-cuff brawl between two old brothers that takes a tour through each of the past games via UI and musical references.

That Other Time During the Fight when Liquid Smooched Snake

Yeah, that was pretty "WHAT," huh? A completely unsolicited lip smack from a man being controlled by the disembodied arm of Snake's dead cloned brother would creep anybody out. And right as "Snake Eater" began playing, too.

That Time a Game from 1987 was Rewritten in 2015

The ending to Metal Gear Solid V is great or horrible depending on who you ask, but everyone can agree that it is absolutely insane. The implications of a second Big Boss date all the way back to Metal Gear 1 and 2. The new canon now states that the Big Boss of Metal Gear 1 was not him at all, but instead MGSV's protagonist, Venom Snake. This mostly explains why "Big Boss" is able to come back in Metal Gear 2, a question that nobody was asking in 1990.

That Time You Realized Kojima is obsessed with crotch grabbing

The Metal Gear Solid series has a long history of, well, crotch grabbing. There's that part in MGS2 where the president feels up Raiden, that time Volgin finds out Snake is in disguise by feeling an unfamiliar nether region, and the entire searching mechanic in MGS4 that crescendos with a crotch grab. Classy stuff.

That Time Liquid's Arm Took Control of Ocelot and Created "Liquid Ocelot"

One of Metal Gear Solid 2's main confusions is that of Ocelot, whose motivations are reguarly split between three to four different organizations. That got even more complicated when, following losing his arm in MGS1, he took the arm of the deceased Liquid and grafted it onto himself. Liquid is then able to take over Ocelot's mind and body, becoming the Liquid Ocelot we see in MGS4. True story.

That Time You Finally Got To Fight Metal Gear vs Metal Gear

The most carthartic moment in MGS4 is when the player finally gets to duke it out in the cockpit of Metal Gear REX. Even better? You fight Liquid Ocelot, who pilots Metal Gear RAY from MGS2. So so so good.

That Time a Flaming Whale Flies into the Air and Eats a Helicopter

This one is pretty self-explanatory, and not even part of a dream sequence. While escaping the hospital in MGSV's opening, young Psycho Mantis takes out a helicopter by pulling a gigantic whale from the ocean, somehow setting it on fire, and making it swallow the copter whole. It's just as cool as it sounds.

That Time Big Boss and Kaz Totally Went on a Date

It's easy to forget about Metal Gear's mainline PSP entry Peace Walker, but it has its fair share of wacky stuff going on. The best example of this is a side mission that is literally a date with Kaz on the beach in swimsuits. It's pretty hot.

That Time Kaz Obsessed Over Making the Perfect Burger

Metal Gear Solid V received its share of flak for its story content feeling uneven and relying too much on audio tapes, but the best use of the format was Kaz's burger quest tapes unlocked later in the game. We won't say any more, but he gets pretty serious about it.