Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Three years after the first sneaking mission, Hideo Kojima released a sequel that was so far ahead of its time that the world almost overlooked it. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake came out in 1990 exclusively on the Japanese MSX2 and long remained practically unknown in the West — and yet it carried ideas that a major studio would only grow into eight years later.

Compared to the first game, Kojima pushed stealth an enormous step further. A full-fledged radar showing the guards' fields of view was added, and sneaking reacted to sound — if you run, the enemy hears you; if you move carefully, you slip through. Snake could crawl crouched, move through more intricate environments and handle situations that demanded genuine tactical thinking. These mechanics became the direct ancestors of what would later make Metal Gear Solid famous on the PlayStation.

Not only the gameplay but also the story took a great leap. Metal Gear 2 offered a deep narrative with elaborate characters and themes that reached far beyond the usual standard of action games at the turn of the eighties and nineties. Kojima's flair for serious themes, twists and characters showed itself here in full force — on eight-bit, or rather MSX2, hardware it was a small miracle.

The context of its release is fascinating in itself. While the West got only botched offshoots of the franchise, the true sequel remained locked in Japan on a platform that most players outside Asia never owned. It was only with later re-releases within the Metal Gear Solid series that the game reached a wider audience, which finally understood how mature a title Kojima had created back in 1990.

Today Metal Gear 2 is a mandatory stop for anyone who wants to understand the DNA of the entire series. It is the missing link between the timid first experiment and the grand three-dimensional era — and proof that the best ideas are sometimes born years before the world is able to appreciate them.

Why play it: To discover the long-hidden missing link of the Metal Gear series, which was ahead of its time and foreshadowed the mechanics and storytelling of the later Metal Gear Solid.