Metal Gear Solid

A stealth hit

Drew infiltrates this often-forgotten instalment in the Metal Gear saga

» Game Boy Color » 2000 » Konami i feel the Game Boy Color’s library gets overlooked a bit. There were some absolute dross on it, sure – I had copies of Robot Wars and The Grinch, both of which could be classed as crimes against humanity in today’s landscape – but there were also excellent games, like Metal Gear Solid.

This is named Ghost Babel in the US, and it serves as an alternate sequel to the MSX Metal Gear. That said, it does borrow a hell of a lot of stuff from the Playstation Metal Gear Solid – Mei Ling, trying to identify a female soldier disguised as male, using smoke to find trip lasers and much more.

This makes it as kind of the ultimate Metal Gear game. It exists in a strange middle ground, bridging the top-down design of the originals and crossing it with tropes from the Playstation games and beyond. It pleases everyone. Of course, Konami labelled it as non-canon in its nonsensical timeline, and the company has kind of swept it under the rug. And that’s a shame, because the GBC Metal Gear Solid is a firstclass game. Everything about it is great, from sneaking to the story.

So, Konami, what do you say? It can’t exactly be he hard to pull those maddening story strings to legitimise it. Look, I can help: it exists in an alternate timeline which converges with the prime one, perhaps? Parallel Universes? It was all the work of The Patriots, Ocelot even? …Wait, who are those people in suits? What do you mean, ‘I know too much’!? You can’t do this to me! Hel-