There are some things that every Metal Gear game has. A complicated story, long conversations, sometimes confusing controls and, of course, amazing boss battles.
Only 2 things matter on this list: How are the boss fights and what kind of backstory/character does the boss have
I've played the most important games in the franchise, but these are the games that I didn't play:
Acid 1 and 2
Ghost Babel
Portable Ops
I think this would be the Number 1 without question. At this point, the controls were much better then in 2 and the battles were more creative. The Duel between you and Ocelot, the cat and mouse game with The Fury, the massive encounter with the Shagohod and the Fight against The Boss in the flower field. I could honestly gush about the fights for hours. But the most important one is perhaps you vs. The End. A one on one sniper duel over a big area. Depending on how you fight, it could last an hour or even more. Not to mention the interesting ways not to fight him (Everybode probably knows about the "Death by Old Age" trick).
I've already talked enough about the fights, but I should atleast mention the backstory. Every Metal Gear has its own group of mercenaries/freaks. They kinda got weirder and weirder. The Cobra-Unit is maybe at the top with that (I mean, that Bee Guy is doing backflips for no reason). But characters like The Sorrow and Boss still show some class. And Bosses outside the Cobra-Unit like Ocelot and Volgin also have their own cool backstory.
With MGS4 having the best controls besides V, the Bosses were expected to be awesome. The first fight against Laughing Octopus showed it off. And the fight against Crying Wolf was a more action-er take on a Sniper Battle. The other two fights of the BB-Unit were sadly not that great (the battle against Mantis felt more like a gimmick match, but maybe thats what its supposed to be). But hey, the battle of 2 Metal Gears against each other was finally seen. And the last boss fight was perhaps the best End a story could ever have
Now I have to talk about the Beauty and Beast Unit. Oh Boy. Maybe not the perfect Mix between "Look at these hot woman" and "Look at these broken people, who got there whole life destroyed by war and have horrible mental problems, that are beyond help".But if they wear there armor, they would make some great figurines.
Also, why the fuck is Vamp back ?
The first 3D game in the franchise, and as this site has shown, the controls did not age well. The first fight against Ocelot and Cyborg Ninja are rough. The game gets a litle easier after that, as you gain more health as you defeat bosses. Which leads to this game having a ton of them. Some of them are complex but most of them only have on solution. I would say the fight against Vulcan Raven is the best one
The Foxhound Gang is my favorite group in the franchise. The Cobra Guys were mostly just freaks and the BB Gals did nothing more then crying or laughing. Now, Foxhound on the other hand, has some diversity. The game even tells you about them from the beginning. Except for Decoy Octopus, which never got his spotlight, everyone had some great scenes. Either by battle opening or last words before death, this game had some great moments
Now Peace Walker was kind of a weird game, and so were the Bosses. The game had somekind of Monster Hunter thing going, I don't know why. There are no human bosses. Instead they are big mechs, that have multiple weakpoints. I actually like them, even if they are really different. I especially like Cocoon, a giant tank with multiple gun and cannons on top of it. There is even a island where you can fight against actual Monster from Monster Hunter, which was kinda neat
Backstory ? Well they are all robots that are controlled by a AI, so they have no character. I still can't believe they turned The Boss into a giant cylinder.
Sons of Liberty is for many people the blacksheep in the series, mostly for the story and the switch to Raiden. For me, the game had kind of a weird flow, like some part was missing. Compared to to MGS 1, Foxhound had all these cool characters who you meet and fight. Deadcell on the other hand only had 3 members and you only fight 2 (I don't count the meeting with Fortune a fight). I guess the other battles are alright though. The Duel between Olga was cool and of course, the last boss fight is great. And you gotta love Fatman. But man, got I frustrated when I had to fight multiple RAYs
Now about Deadcell members. Two of them are characters that rarely speak and are mostly stern. Now Fatman though, is great and I love everything about him. The history between Solidus and Raiden is also interesting. But then Ocelot shows up. Oh and his arm takes control of him and its Liquid. Also la le li la lo.
Now we are getting to the 8-bit games and boy, what can I say about them. You can see that Kojima had already the idea of crazy assassins.The fights are not comparable to the 3D games. But hey, compared to the other 1990 video games, this game has some impressive and creative battles. And it began the tradition of 1vs1 fist fights, which are always a pleasure, no matter what console
The Zanzibar Land Mercenaries are actually really amazing, but its a shame that they almost have no backstory. There is Night Fright, who wears optic camoflage and is basically invisible. Red Blaster, a guy who throws grenades and who doesn't wear anything Red at all. But my favorite is still Running Man. Yes thats his actual name. He was once a Olympic Runner, but he got banned for doping. He then uses his speed for evil and joined Big Boss as a terrorist.
And people say video games can't tell stories
The first Metal Gear and just like his sequel, the bosses are rather primitive. This game doesn't even any cool characters, except for Dirty Duck of course, who uses two giant boomerangs.
This post is already way to long so lets just move on
At the very bottom is the newest Metal Gear. A game that featured only 2 bosses. The Quiet fight, which was great and the Sahelanthropus fight, which was way to long and kinda annoying. I guess that says something about boss battles in Modern Gaming. I mean the game is fantastic and its easily the best playing one in the series. But Modern Video Games focuses more on other things and just use quick-time-events for the fights. If only the game had a terrorist who uses the power of running.
*HONORABLE MENTION*
Look, I can't compare Platinum bossfights to anything else. That would not be fair. Some of Risings characters could come out of a Kojima game. But stuff like the Samuel rivalry is typical action game material.
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