The NES Metal Gear games...

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Sat May 30, 2009 8:32 pm

Are they worth buying? Because I've heard that they aren't that good compared to the MSX games.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Sat May 30, 2009 9:19 pm

I wouldn't recommend them. The NES games were important in getting the Metal Gear name out there and motivating Kojima to return to the series, but they're not very good. The NES port of Metal Gear is missing some key elements of the original game (like... the Metal Gear), and Snake's Revenge was just a mess.

Now the MSX games, they were great. They're included on Disc 2 of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, if you want legal versions.

kengou · Post by **kengou** » Sat May 30, 2009 9:41 pm

This explains it:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/angry ... tack/47749

But basically, the NES Metal Gear is pure garbage. If you want to play them, you'll have to play them on an MSX, an emulator, or on disc 2 of Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Sun May 31, 2009 2:15 am

After playing through Metal Gear in MGS3 Subsistence, I don't feel like coming back to the NES one. It's much more polished. Still a bit dated in some ways, but good stuff.

One warning about the first MG for MSX. The European English version is badly translated. In some ways it's better than the NES translation (not as much Engrish, though there is still some) and in some ways it's worse (some of the more amusing radio transmissions were removed). I heard Metal Gear 1 may have an unofficial re-translation in English. The version in MGS3 Subsistence has a much closer translation of the original than the EU version with all the dialog intact.

Mortificator · Post by **Mortificator** » Sun May 31, 2009 3:52 am

Metal Gear [MSX] translation patch
Metal Gear translated manual (zip file; extract and open index.htm)
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake translation patch
Metal Gear 2 translated manual (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

I'd recommend reading the manuals even if you play the Subsistence versions, since the original documentation wasn't included. And check out the classy artwork!

It's a collection of freakish mercenaries from around the world who DON'T tell you their dysfunctional life stories before fighting!

Anyway, I think the script of the MG1 fan translation is better than the script of the Subsistence version. The fan translation of Metal Gear 2 has pretty awkward grammar, though. And Subsistence has boss rush mode and stuff.

handsome_rakshas · Post by **handsome_rakshas** » Sun May 31, 2009 6:41 am

Don't even bother with the NES versions, they are pure garbage. Colonel Kataffy? What the hell were they thinking? Pick up the Subsistence version of MGS3 on the cheap. It's one of the best videogame values released.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sun May 31, 2009 10:41 am

handsome_rakshas wrote:Colonel Kataffy? What the hell were they thinking?

al-Ghaddafi, but yeah, I FEEL ASLEEP and so on.

Metal Gear 2: Revenge Going Forwards for Crappy Kojima Plots

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Sun May 31, 2009 11:01 am

handsome_rakshas wrote:Colonel Kataffy? What the hell were they thinking?

NES-era Konami USA? It's more a question of "what prescribed meds were they not taking."

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sun May 31, 2009 11:05 am

The bottom left screenshot (a monorail tram?) is certainly a Super Screen! I'm definitely stoked about getting this newfangled action game from Kultra!

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Sun May 31, 2009 11:33 am

I wasent such an elitist bastard when i was a child so i quite enjoyed both the MG games for the NES, and still do.. theyre a nice nostalgia trip.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sun May 31, 2009 12:06 pm

That classic Konami ad for the NES games of Snake's Revenge & Super C was featured in an old issue of Video Games & Computer Entertainment circa 1990. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

it290 · Post by **it290** » Sun May 31, 2009 6:23 pm

Heh, I remember that one - they used to run it in the back of Marvel comics, too. I'm certain I have some issues of Fantastic Four or X-Men with that particular ad.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Sun May 31, 2009 10:10 pm

Old school game ads rule!

The cheesiness was just plain fun back then.

Thanks for the input; I will get Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence, then.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:32 am

Okay, this thread inspired me to play through the MSX Metal Gear games since I hadn't before. I'm currently playing MG1, and it's fun, but holy hell is there a lot of backtracking. Is the level design in 2 as bad, or is it an improvement?

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:34 am

Like everyone said, the NES Metal Gear games are horrible compared to the MSX ones.

Maybe they aren't half bad if you've never played the MSX ones. But when I player NES Metal Gear, I had already finished MSX Metal Gear a dozen of times, so the game seemed to be really crap.

I don't think the original Metal Gear has lots of backtracking, what actually happen is that sometimes you *naturally* go back to some places. You see a door closed on one area, and you will get back to that door, through the other side, hours later.

I actually missed this on the Metal Gear Solid games.

It does happen in Metal Gear 2 too, but not as much.

Also, after you play Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, Lots of stuff in Metal Gear Solid will look... old.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:18 am

Okay, I just finished the game. It's not so much that the backtracking is forced as it is that you're given little direction on where essential items are, and sometimes the clues are misleading - eg 'so-and-so is being held in the basement of building 1' would lead you to think that you could head back to building 1 the normal way, but you can't... an error I ended up making.

Definitely fun enough to give MG2 a try, I think, but I'm sure I wouldn't have had the patience to get through without using savestates. A lot of old games are based on trial and error and exploration (Zelda 1 springs to mind), but somehow I just found MG MSX frustrating in a way I probably wouldn't have had I played it back in the day.