Metal Gear Solid V

About

Metal Gear Solid V is a 2-part stealth action video game developed by Kojima Production, published by Konami and directed by famed designer Hideo Kojima. It is the sixth installment in the Metal Gear Solid series and centers around the adventures of the protagonist Snake as he seeks revenge against the organization Cipher.

History

On September 1st, 2012, Metal Gear Solid V was first announced during the PAX 2012 conference under the title Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (shown below, left). On December 10th, Kojima Productions, under the fake name of Moby Dick Studios, unveiled a trailer to a game titled The Phantom Pain during VGA 2012 (shown below, right).

During GDC 2013 on March 27th, 2013, Kojima announced that Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain were part of the upcoming game Metal Gear Solid V: the Phantom Pain (shown below, left). On March 18th, 2014, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes was released as a standalone prologue to The Phantom Pain for the Sony PlayStation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One (launch trailer shown below, right). A PC port of Ground Zeroes was released on December 18th, 2015, via Steam.

On September 1st, 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was released worldwide for the Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC. The game’s online multiplayer component titled Metal Gear Online or Metal Gear Online 3, was released on October 6th, 2015 (shown below, right).

Reception

Ground Zeroes was met with mixed reponses while The Phantom Pain was met with critical acclaim upon launch. Both games have been praised for their open ended and emergent gameplay.The Phantom Pain was met with further praise due to its scope, replayability, and themes that delves into subjects such as the cold war, nuclear weapons, child soldiers, language, and disease. Ground Zeroes was criticized for its short length and steep price tag. The Phantom Pain was met with criticism due to its more lighter approach in storytelling in favor of gameplay which differs from previous installments in the series that were more story focused.

Controversies

Kiefer Sutherland Replacing David Hayter

During Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’s demo at GDC 2013 on March 27th, 2013, fans noticed that Snake was not voiced by David Hayter. On the same day, David Hayter tweeted his disapproval, noting that he wasn’t even approached to reprise his role.^[8] Kotaku subsequently submitted an article regarding the replacement.^[9]

Also on the same day, a NeoGAF thread was submitted where users discuss their disappointment regarding Hayter’s replacement.^[10] A petition was submitted to Change.org demanding David Hayter’s reprisal as Snake. The petition gathered over 22.000 supporters prior to being closed which is short of the 25.000 goal.^[11] On March 29th, 2013, Kojima stated during an interview that the change was made because he and his team are trying to “recreate” the Metal Gear series.^[12]
On June 6th, 2013, Konami announced during a pre-E3 conference that actor Kiefer Sutherland will replace David Hayter as the voice of Snake.

Quiet’s Design

After her official debut during E3 2013, the character Quiet was met with criticism due to her revealing attire being considered over sexualized. In the following months, Kojima posted several tweets in defense to her design choice, most notably stating that once the player know about her secret, they will be “ashamed of their words and deeds.”

A Hideo Kojima Game

A Hideo Kojima Game is a brand used on the Metal Gear games to signify director Hideo Kojima’s involvement. Following a fracture between Kojima and Metal Gear publisher Konami, the brand was removed from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’s box art and advertising campaign. Fans reactied to this removal through various means, most notably the hashtag #AHideoKojimaGame.

Konami Review Event

On August 20th, 2015, Konami held a review event for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain by inviting various game journalists and personalities to play the game for three days and make a review prior to the game’s launch. On August 24th, 2015, Forbes submitted an article that criticizes the event.^[20] On the same day, a NeoGAF thread was submitted where users discuss whether or not the reviews for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain has been compromised.^[21] The thread gathered 337 posts as of September, 2015. On August 31st, 2015, Video Game personality Jim Sterling posted an episode of The Jimquistion that criticizes Konami’s review event which gathered over 218.200 views in 3 weeks.

Cut Content

Upon The Phantom Pain’s release, players began noticing that certain aspects of the game’s story felt either incomplete or were rushed. On September 2nd, 2015, Youtuber Inzaa uploaded a video about the 51st episode of the game that was cut from the finished product. The video was taken from the blu ray bonus content disc that came with The Collector’s Edition of The Phantom Pain. Within 3 weeks, the video gathered over 487.000 views.

On September 11th, 2015, data miners at the Facepunch forums discovered unused files inside Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, among them are unused textures and an image which reveals that the game was originally going to have a third chapter titled “Peace” (shown below).^[22]

2015 Game Awards Ceremony

On December 3rd, 2015, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain won the awards for Best Score/Soundtrack and Best Action/Adventure Game at the Game Awards ceremony. After the award was accepted by actor Kiefer Sutherland, who voiced the character Big Boss in the game, host Geoff Keighley announced that Hideo Kojima could not attend the ceremony due to his contract with Konami (shown below).

Following the announcement, many fans of the series expressed outrage with Konami barring Kojima from the event, posting tweets including the hashtag “#FuckKonami.”^[23] Meanwhile, several posts about the incident reached the front page of Reddit.^[24][25][26]

Online Presence

On March 23rd, 2013, a subreddit dedicated to the game discussion was created, gaining over 250 subscribers withn three years.^[16] On January 27th, 2015, Game Theory uploaded a video discussing the possibility of Punished “Venom” Snake being a stoner due his use of the Phantom Cigar, gaining over 3 million views in the following months. On July 18th, 2015, Youtuber Kikenzo uploaded an animation titled “ROCKETOPUUUNCH!!!!!”, showing Snake throwing his prosthetic arm against Konami’s offices, gaining over 250,000 views in the following months. At game’s release, various Let’s Play channels uploaded gameplays of it, like Game Grumps or Angry Joe.

After its announcement, the game quickly gained a fandom, spawning fan art and discussions on the released trailers. As September 26th, 2015 the japanese artist community pixiv leads to over 470 results under the tag “MGSV”.^[2] The artist community DeviantART leads to over 2,200 results under the keyword “metal gear solid v",^[17] and over 8,200 results under the keywords “the phantom pain”, being most of them related to the game.^[18] Fandom presence can also be found on other communities like 4chan^[13][14] or Tumblr.^[15]

Related Memes

Punished Snake

Punished Snake is an alias used by the character Big Boss in The Phantom Pain. He is noted by his mechanical arm, multiple scars, and the shrapnel sticking out from the side of his head which resembles a horn. Following his reveal in 2013, fans began to make parodies of the character by giving other, unrelated characters from various media Snake’s physical features.

A Weapon To Surpass Metal Gear

A Weapon To Surpass Metal Gear is a memorable quote from Metal Gear Solid V’s E3 2013 trailer which is often used in response to abnormal weaponry. It is often associated with the songs “Sins of the Father” and “nuclear” due to their use in said trailer.

They Played Us Like A Damn Fiddle!

“They played us like a damn fiddle!” is a line from the first part of Metal Gear Solid V, Ground Zeroes. The line, spoken by the character Kazuhira “Kaz” Miller during a rendezvous with Snake, was seen as out of place for the scene, and thus became notorious among fans.

Such A Lust For Revenge

“Such A Lust For Revenge” or “Who?!” is a memorable quote uttered by the character Skull Face in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The quote gained notoriety online due to its cheesy delivery by voice actor James Horan.

Nuclear

“Nuclear” is a song composed by British musician Mike Oldfield, and released on his album Man on the Rocks in 2014. Due its use as backgroun music for the E3 2014 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain trailer, the song was adopted by the Metal Gear fandom and some of his lyrics started being posted on online forums, most prominently the starting lyric “Standing on the edge”.

Kaz, I’m Already A Demon

“Kaz, I’m Already A Demon” is a quote uttered by Big Boss at the end of the E3 2013 trailer of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The quote has since gathered popularity among fans of the series, appearing in discussions and video titles related to the game.

The Phantom Pain

Prior to the announcement at GDC 2013 that The Phantom Pain is the official sub title for Metal Gear Solid V, fans began speculating if The Phantom Pain that was shown during VGA 2012 is part of another ruse orchestrated by Hideo Kojima for the upcoming installment in the series. Evidence in support of this speculation include Moby Dick Studio’s CEO Joakin Mogren being an anagram for Hideo Kojima, the similar game engine used in Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain, and reports of Konami officials wearing Moby Dick Studio and The Phantom Pain t-shirts.

Fan Theories

Prior to the release Metal Gear Solid V, fans of the series began speculating and creating theories regarding the events surrounding the game based on the analysis from various trailers released by Konami. Among those popular theories include Quiet is Chico, Eli is a younger Liquid Snake, and that Punished Snake is a body double of Big Boss.

Flaming Buffalo

Flaming Buffalo is the name of a female soldier that players can obtain by completing episode 31 of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Due to her high combat stats and awkward wheezing that she makes after doing a running animation, the character gain a fan following online, primarily on Tumblr.^[27]

Search Interest

External References