Ranking every mainline Metal Gear game

Metal Gear’s mainline games are some of the great pillars of video games. While the series spans over 20 video games, board games, and more, these core titles are shining examples of what makes Metal Gear truly legendary. However, the consensus on what order they should be ranked in is another thing entirely.

We’re here to crack that with a definitive and inarguable list. Metal Gear is a vast, varied series rooted in pushing boundaries in different ways, including making us sit through a 70-minute mini-movie in MGS4. Each game is special in its own right or reflects the environment in which it was developed. With one of the most anticipated games, Metal Gear Delta, on the way, it’ll be interesting to see if the remake is embraced by players, as a fourth version of the beloved prequel will be available in 2025. But for now, let’s tackle the series as it stands.

The single best tech demo of all time

• Release date: 2014
• Platforms: Xbox 360, One, and Series | PlayStation 3, 4, 5 | PC (Steam)

The idea of releasing Metal Gear Solid V in two parts, one of which is effectively a glorified demo, was a pretty hard gut punch on announcement. MGSV: Ground Zeroes, however, quickly proved that not only was its existence worthwhile, but it also showed how different Metal Gear would be this time around.

It repackages Metal Gear as a gritty tale, with one of gaming’s grimmest and unneeded ways to kill a character, but it sets the stage. MGSV was supposed to be the missing link, the ‘metal gear’ as it were, between Big Boss becoming the villain and the rest of the series.

However, Ground Zeroes only features one, tightly-knit map. It’s reused like the set of a budget play, in order to show off just how open the full game will be. While that sounds like it could get dull, the ins and outs of MGSV‘s moment-to-moment gameplay keep it fresh in the short few hours you can spend on it or tens of hours if you’re trying to get just about everything.

Where it all started

• Release date: 1987
• Platforms: MSX2 | PC | MS-DOS | NES | Commodore 64 | Nintendo Switch | PlayStation 3, 4, 5 | Xbox 360, One, and Series

This was the progenitor, the holy texts, and the foundation of the standard for the “stealth genre.” Metal Gear is incredibly important in gaming history, but it is also not the series’ best entry.

An obviously rudimentary game by today’s standards, Metal Gear was pulling everything out of the bag from the get-go. It was political, and it changed how people thought about tackling situations. Metal Gear‘s fundamentals are laid out bare in its initial entry and, even today, it remains overtly familiar to fans of the genre.

Instead of being the stereotypical shooter, this requires you to hide and take your time solving each screen. Without Metal Gear making its mark in the way it did, both on MSX and sort of on NES, we’d never have gotten some of the greatest games ever made.

The fundamentals of MGS

• Release date: 1990
• Platforms: MSX2 | PC | Nintendo Switch | PlayStation 3, 4, 5 | Xbox 360, One, and Series

Metal Gear walked so Metal Gear 2 could run. With Metal Gear 2, the whole picture came into view. It was bigger, with a heavier emphasis on story. It took itself pretty seriously, in stark contrast to some of its contemporaries. It’s more of the same top-down Metal Gear action, but vastly improved. Enemies could now stalk you between screens if you’re spotted, and small issues from the first game were quashed.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake has a different vibe from what took the gaming world by storm in 1990. Without digging further into niche classic PC games, it’s hard to find something that carries this vibe and pedigree at the time. Metal Gear 2 feels bigger than the sum of its parts because of it.

It still hurts

• Release date: 2015
• Platforms: Xbox 360, One, and Series | PlayStation 3, 4, 5 | PC (Steam)

Phantom Pain is Hideo Kojima’s final hurrah for the franchise. A pained development and ultimate divorce of the creative behind the series, Konami ultimately left this game with its own Phantom Pain, as it’s missing something. Regardless of its inadequate ending and reported missing third chapter, MGSV: The Phantom Pain is a marvelous triumph in stealth game history.

Phantom Pain is meticulous with its action, removing a large swath of systems from MGS3 and 4, and building up from what Peace Walker had started. MGSV is a much more action-heavy title, but it doesn’t forget its roots. Yes, it’s a little easier than previous games and “modernized,” but every element it introduces to the series or brings back from prior games is nearly perfect.

The game plays so smoothly, and with its tenth anniversary coming up, it has continued to ruin most action or stealth games for me since. For instance, if you’re spotted, time will slow so you can solve the problem. It’s only done because the whole world is against you. It’s a moment of reprieve to allow you to fix your mistakes.

But there’s nothing greater than realizing that MGSV is simply a sandbox with very few rules for what your toolset can and can’t do. Entire convoy wrecking missions can be solved by a balloon-based kidnapping. A fight with Quiet, the sniper, is solved by calling in resources directly on her head.

MGSV‘s disappointments are deep valleys, however. I’d loved to have seen the story expand, but Kojima’s obsession with cramming in Kiefer Sutherland (as Snake) kneecaps what could have been an intriguing take on Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now.

Whole cutscenes and story moments are effectively monologues as Snake stares dimwittedly into the distance, since Sutherland only recorded a couple of hours of audio that’s dumped on you at the end of the game.

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What is real anymore?

• Release date: 2001 | Substance: 2002
• Platforms: PlayStation 2, 3, Vita, 4, 5 | Xbox, 360, One, and Series | PC | Nvidia Shield | Nintendo Switch

This is Metal Gear at its peak, stereotypical Metal Gear-ness. Conspiracies abound, fake-outs keep you on your toes, and there’s a meta-narrative which still hasn’t been fully unpacked in the nearly 25 years it has existed.

The first part of the game is this incredible tech demo of Snake infiltrating a ship. It’s chock-full of things to poke around at and take advantage of. It’s a taste of what’s to come, as Snake is seemingly killed, and you take on the role of Raiden, a young up-and-comer suddenly thrust into a conspiracy, and the entire game begins to break down.

It’s unmatched in the game-take-over trope, with the underlying meanings of MGS2 never more prevalent than when the evil AI is showing images of women in key parts of the game. However, it’s also the series’ big swansong to the classic Metal Gear style. Playing it after dipping into MGS4 and 3‘s Subsistence re-release is jarring, but I recommend playing MGS1 and 2 back-to-back anyway. It’s a much easier transition.

Pushing it all forward

• Release date: 1998
• Platforms: PlayStation 1, 3, Portable, Vita, 4, 5 | Series | PC | Nintendo Switch

If Metal Gear 1 and 2 are the foundations, Metal Gear Solid is the first house built on the ground. This was an incredible feat back in the PS1 era, combining Hollywood-style storytelling with the evolution of the stealth genre.

Solid Snake must infiltrate Shadow Moses to stop terrorists using his old group’s name, FOXHOUND. It starts as a simple tale of rescuing the right people but quickly pivots into settling family business. It feels like comfortable sci-fi, while also pulling the classic spy-movie rug out from beneath you.

Despite being improved, altered, or stripped back in various fashions over the years, the core principles of Solid have never left the series. Its DNA and essence exist throughout every game in this list, and its pureness before technological advances became an obsession for future games to follow. This remains one of the greatest Metal Gear games (and games in general).

Glorious Monster Hunter style MGS action

• Release date: PSP: 2010 | HD: 2011
• Platforms: PlayStation Portable, 3, Vita | Xbox 360, One, and Series

Heavily inspired by Monster Hunter and other hunt-action games, MGS: Peace Walker is a masterclass in both single-player operations and co-op play. As a single-player game, it feels like playing the legend of Big Boss. A singular individual tears through a paramilitary operation and even bench-presses a giant robot trying to kill him. Also, this weirdo snuck into our base and stole our guys by balloon.

Peace Walker‘s co-op is chaotic but still dangerously easy to stay coordinated. The game isn’t exactly brimming with smart enemies, so as you and your squad of sneaky lunatics descend on them, it quickly goes off the rails in the best way.

It’s ludicrous — as any Metal Gear should be — and it feels like it’s having fun with the concept. Of course, Big Boss and his crew would use an experimental method to literally kidnap soldiers off the battlefield. Then there are the joys of researching a new cardboard box in the same breath as a new kind of gun, as its organizational element becomes a soft puzzle of social engineering.

We can hope that The Master Collection Volume 2 includes Peace Walker for modern consoles. However, at least it’s easy to emulate, even on a Raspberry Pi.

Here’s to you!

• Release date: 2008
• Platform: PlayStation 3

The original ending to the story, Metal Gear Solid 4 is undoubtedly one of the most indulgent pieces of media ever crafted. There are cutscenes with movie-length watch times. It even includes lore and explanations for concepts that were introduced over a decade before its release.

A giant allegory for how Hideo Kojima truly felt about the franchise, with the first Kojima-led Solid Snake game since MGS2‘s Tanker section, and Snake is an old man. The self-indulgent story takes the player on a ride, but its gameplay is superb. It’s the refinement of years of development and several games; it all culminates in Metal Gear‘s deepest and most intricate game to uncover how everything meshes into one.

It’s also still the original Kojima Productions’ finest work on a technical level. Sure, MGSV is incredible in its own right, even managing to run on the ancient Xbox 360, but MGS4 is a work of seventh-generation console art. Its visuals and fidelity are unmatched from the era, with a level of detail applied to almost every element. While a bleak title in its themes and presentation, it’s still a glorious send-off for that particular era of Metal Gear. Once you’ve dug into it more freely and finished it, it’s a rich celebration of what makes the games so good.

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The greatest Metal Gear game of all time

• Release date: Snake Eater: 2004 | Subsistence: 2006 | 3D: 2012
• Platforms: PlayStation 2, 3, Vita, 4, 5 | Xbox, 360, One, and Series | PC | Nvidia Shield | Nintendo Switch | 3DS

Is Metal Gear Solid 3 the greatest of all time? Its successor, Subsistence, is near a perfect video game. However, the entirety of Metal Gear Solid 3 is Metal Gear at its finest. After the psychological attack from MGS2 and a stint in the far future with Zone of the Enders, Kojima Productions moved to MGS3. Kojima didn’t intend to direct this one, but eventually came back to launch what some consider a magnum opus.

It’s set in the 1960s rather than modern times, and exudes James Bond and 60s-era war movie energy from the get-go. Naked Snake — the future villain, Big Boss — must thwart a rogue terrorist group’s plans, which puts him face-to-face with his mentor, The Boss.

Despite its theatrics, MGS3 is the Solid series at its most grounded. The careful balance of caring for Snake while avoiding detection and also dealing with the camouflage system brings a rather threatening approach to a mechanic that was originally quite black-and-white. Everything in this game is so smart, and the intricacies are unparalleled, even in newer Metal Gear games.

Blowing up enemy storage facilities can make them too hungry to fight or destroy their communication, making infiltration easier. The game never explicitly points this out, but you must interact with its story to discover some of these tips by chatting with Snake’s crew. Of course, if you famously set the clock forward a week during the fight with The End, you’ll score an easy win as he dies from old age. It’s that sort of intricate and weird, which makes it MGS at its best.

However, it’s also the most emotional game. It’s hammy in spots, but when The Boss and Snake throw down at the end, it still hits where it needs to. It leaves you to contemplate where you’ve been as you climb a ladder for five minutes, haunted by the theme song playing. Violent players are confronted with their actions while fighting The Sorrow, as ghosts of their victims swarm them.

While the original Snake Eater is fantastic, it was hampered by traditionalism. The camera was stuck in position, top-down, as with MGS1 and 2. Subsistence brought the camera into the player’s control for a more contemporary camera point of view. This single change and other inclusions solidify Metal Gear Solid 3 as the best Metal Gear game.

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Metal Gear is forever

That’s all the mainline Metal Gear games ranked. It’s exciting to see the series come back with Delta later this year, but it has mighty shoulders to try and sneak over. In the meantime, I’ve dug out the PlayStation Vita to restart Peace Walker as god intended — with an additional thumbstick.

Metal Gear is incredibly important to gaming’s entire trajectory. It showed that more can be done with less, while also pushing the technologies and intricacies of game design forward. The whole concept of cross-saves should be called Transfarring — MGS: Peace Walker did it first!