PSA: Please don't skip the MSX games.

[Metric Guard]

I'm sure many players—particularly newcomers—are going to play MGS1 first, but I strongly advise starting with the MSX games. Not only do they provide some context about who the hell that Big Boss guy is, they're great games and always will be.

The original Metal Gear is still pretty fun, and I'd say its sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, is better than MGS1 in some ways. While there's some cryptic moments in the first, neither game is terribly challenging, especially considering how old they are.

[Deathraven13]

I mean most people would have played MGS3 and MGS5 so it's not like people won't know.

[Metric Guard]

Originally posted by Deathraven13:

I mean most people would have played MGS3 and MGS5 so it's not like people won't know.

The MSX games offer a very different perspective on Big Boss than the games with Big Boss as the protagonist. Really, while most of the games are fine as a newcomer's first Metal Gear (the big exceptions are MGS2 and MGS4), the series is best played in release order.

[ArcTheWolf]

Those are actually what I'm gonna be starting with. I've been doing a timeline order playthrough finally and the master collection got revealed halfway through Peace Walker, so I just stopped once I got TPP finished. It'll be my first time actually playing through the MG games. I just hope they did something to make the saving a little more friendly because the save system in the originals was abysmal and the main thing that kept me from playing them because the cost of dying was way too high.

[Metric Guard]

Originally posted by ArcTheWolf:

I just hope they did something to make the saving a little more friendly

As far as I know, this isn't the case. Not even save states, although that would be better than altering/adding actual checkpoints since players like myself could simply choose not to use save states.

Regarding checkpoints, I don't remember MG1 being harsh (Outer Heaven is pretty small, death = a few minutes lost at worst), and if I recall correctly, MG2's checkpoints are about as forgiving as MGS1's.

You might be thinking of NES Metal Gear, which apparently has cruelly few checkpoints.

[DarkMachine]

youtube.com/watch?v=e-wgOnsb658&t=449s

[Pua]

That was my plan. The only contact about Snake is playing with him in Smash Bros. I achieved to be spoiler free all these years. So yeah, I plan to start with the MSX games.

Would you recomend also to play the non-canon sequel too before the main PS games?

[Bͥatͣmͫan]

You don't have to play them at all.
if they did a remake of them sure, but they are way 2 old.
most people will be bored out of their minds playing the metal gear games,
just play metal gear solid 1 and you will be up to speed with the past stories too.

[Pua]

But for some of us who love retro games as we were born long ago these games were created, they could be good, right?

[Bͥatͣmͫan]

Originally posted by Pua:

But for some of us who love retro games as we were born long ago these games were created, they could be good, right?

That's fair but also it's called nostalgic and it can be dangerous too.
because most people today wont have that.

[Metric Guard]

Originally posted by Pua:

Would you recomend also to play the non-canon sequel too before the main PS games?

I'm not entirely sure, because I haven't played Snake's Revenge. However, I'll definitely be giving it a playthrough along with the infamously inferior NES port of the original Metal Gear.

Regarding my tolerance for old games, I've beaten NES Ghosts 'n Goblins legit in roughly 7 hours. Even though it's VERY poorly programmed compared to the arcade version, I enjoyed it for some reason, so I'll probably have no trouble handling the NES Metal Gear games.

I'd say give Snake's Revenge a try, but don't feel bad about skipping it or saving it for later. Meanwhile, in the likely event you end up skipping NES MG1, I recommend watching the AVGN episode about it (ep. 67) so you get to at least laugh at all the jank.

Originally posted by Bͥatͣmͫan:

That's fair but also it's called nostalgic and it can be dangerous too.
because most people today wont have that.

The MSX Metal Gear games are older than I am, and I still enjoyed them. Good games are good forever.

[Bͥatͣmͫan]

good games are good forever is not always the case
game play can become outdated.

[Metric Guard]

Originally posted by Bͥatͣmͫan:

good games are good forever is not always the case
game play can become outdated.

Nah. MG2 in particular is so close to the design of MGS1 that MGS1 rips some sections straight from MG2. Apart from keycards being annoying, it really doesn't feel as old as it is, and anyone who plans on playing MGS1 absolutely shouldn't skip MG2.

Again, neither game is terribly difficult—I had more trouble with MGS1 on Normal—but if difficulty is a concern, there's an Easy difficulty that was added in the 2004 ports of both games that reduces damage taken and increases the item/ammo cap.

[sage]

Originally posted by Bͥatͣmͫan:

good games are good forever is not always the case
game play can become outdated.

Just because they're old or outdated doesn't mean they're bad. When playing a retro game, you have to play it through the lens of its time, just like when watching an old movie.

I don't have nostalgia for retro games, I was born in the following decade, but I still appreciate them. Metal Gear Solid wouldn't be here without Metal Gear. These games were the very first stealth games, they were revolutionary.

[Bͥatͣmͫan]

Originally posted by sage:

Originally posted by Bͥatͣmͫan:

good games are good forever is not always the case
game play can become outdated.

Just because they're old or outdated doesn't mean they're bad. When playing a retro game, you have to play it through the lens of its time, just like when watching an old movie.

I don't have nostalgia for retro games, I was born in the following decade, but I still appreciate them. Metal Gear Solid wouldn't be here without Metal Gear.

Sure but that's not how younger people think
they will take 1 look at that game play and say Nope i'm out
hell even most younger people will do the same with metal gear solid 1.

honestly the best thing Konami could do would be to remake both metal gear games.

[Pua]

I don't agree. Old games should not stop being available because they are not accessible to younger players. They are history.

Imagine the original MGS3 wasn't released in PC because of the planned remake. I love what Konami did. Include and release for the first time the third part. And then, also release the remake.