With the announcement of a new voice actor for Snake and more announcements on the next instalment of Metal Gear Solid games now seems a perfect time for some good old fashioned nostalgia. This is my top ten list of Metal Gear Solid boss fights.
I love the Metal Gear Solid games, and the boss fights are more often than not the most memorable moments in a very memorable series.
If you haven’t played the Metal Gear Solid games be wary, there are some spoilers below.
Sniper/Crying Wolf
I know this is technically two boss fights, but the battle with Crying Wolf in MGS4 is so full of callbacks and nostalgia that it feels natural to speak about them together. The first encounter with Sniper Wolf, shooting Meryl to lure Snake into the open, really set up the final showdown between them. The aftermath of the battle is particularly special, the characterisation is brilliant, her noble motives and Otacon’s reaction make the ending as memorable as the tense sniping across a sparse, snowy wasteland.
The battle with Crying Wolf in MGS4 keeps all the original tension, but the new mechanics made the whole battle fantastic. The use of camouflage and having to take into account Crying Wolf’s sense of smell and the direction of the wind make this a really excellent boss fight. Not to mention the stunning location. The entire Shadow Moses section is gorgeous, but the setting for this boss fight is truly spectacular.
Fatman
An overweight, psychopathic, explosives expert who speeds around a helipad on roller blades? Yup, that’s Fatman. One of the early bosses in Raiden’s chapter of MGS2 is the almost quintessential Metal Gear Solid boss. Psychologically damaged, outlandish and very dangerous. Not only did you have to deal with being shot and body checked by a fat bloke in a bomb suit, you also had to freeze bombs placed around the battle. The whole bomb defusing section from this game , and the final fight with Fatman, really sticks in my mind.
The End
Another sniper battle, but just as memorable as the encounters with the Wolves. The End is a fantastic example of the imagination behind the Metal Gear Solid series. A ridiculously old man, who can photosynthesise whilst waiting for his target to appear? Another wonderfully ludicrous gem.
So many great things about this boss fight. The camouflage really comes into it’s own in this fight, the setting is gorgeous and the battle genuinely tense. The End can be really hard to keep track of if you’re trying to take him from long range, and he is very difficult to get close too. My favourite thing with this boss battle is the ways you can totally avoid it. Earlier in the game you encounter, from a distance, The End in his wheelchair. If you can shoot him in this fleeting instance, you face a stand off with members of the Ocelot unit. You can also make The End die of old age. Yup. Old age. The cutscene and codec conversation afterwards are really worth it.
The Fury
The Fury is another absolutely crazy Metal Gear Solid boss. A pyromaniac cosmonaut who can’t feel pain after suffering huge burns during a space flight. Wearing a heavy cosmonaut’s suit, a jet-pack and wielding a huge flame-thrower The Fury is memorable in appearance alone. The fight is a spectacular, tense encounter in a dark, narrow environment frequently lit up with bursts of flame. The cutscene when you finally defeat him is just as compellingly crazy as The Fury himself, making this a really memorable encounter.
The Shagohod
One of the few Metal Gear Solid boss fights where you don’t go on the offensive, at least not straight away. This absolute beast of a machine, the granddaddy of all Metal Gear, chases Snake as you and Eva make your escape. The chase leads to a booby trapped bridge which doesn’t kill it, just makes it mad. The final showdown with Volgin controlling the Shagohod from it’s roof is frantic and fast paced and a really explosive end to Volgin and the Shagohod.
Metal Gear Rex vs Metal Gear Ray
You control Metal Gear Rex and fight Metal Gear Ray. I’m not sure how much else needs to be said. It’s awesome.
Otacon resurrects Rex to allow Snake and Raiden to escape the building collapsing around them and when you finally emerge after waves of Geckos into the grim, industrial surroundings to confront Liquid Ocelot in a Metal Gear Ray it turns into a really incredible boss fight.
After battling your way through Shadow Moses and squaring up against some old foes finally getting to battle it out with Liquid in a resurrected Metal Gear Rex has to stick in the memory of any Metal Gear Solid fan.
Liquid Ocelot - Outer Haven
This is where the list starts to get tricky, especially in terms of ranking them in order of most memorable. After all the gadgetry of Metal Gear Solid 4 the final boss fight comes down to two veteran soldiers slugging it out mano-a-mano. The fight itself is a superb, nostalgia filled encounter with the music changing throughout reflecting each previous encounter between the two giants of the series. Music from all the Metal Gear Solid games plays as Liquid reveals the final plot twists and changes attacks. The fight itself is a huge reference to the ending of Metal Gear Solid where Solid and Liquid duke it out on top of a destroyed Metal Gear Rex.
The hard fought battle leaves Snake visibly exhausted and the player almost as much, as you finally realise this is where the long fight between Solid and Liquid finally ends. And it’s one hell of an ending.
Metal Gear Rex
This is the moment that Metal Gear Solid builds towards from the very beginning; when you finally confront this bipedal, nuclear armed, giant metal dinosaur in a hanger in Shadow Moses. The size of Rex is like nothing Snake had encountered before and neither is the weaponry. A laser, machine guns, missiles and Rex itself make this a really challenging encounter. The return of Gray Fox to help Snake, and his death at the feet of Rex spur Snake on to finally destroy Rex and avert nuclear war.
The Boss
These last two were really difficult to put into order, so I’m putting The Boss and Psycho Mantis as my joint most memorable Metal Gear Solid boss fight. The fight with The Boss takes place in a beautiful flower field, which The Boss’ white suit blends into perfectly, meaning she attacks quickly and unseen. The fight itself is great, with Snake having to adjust tactics and really make use of the CQC system as The Boss attacks quickly and aggressively.
It’s not the fight that makes this memorable, but the ending. After the cutscenes Snake is left standing alone, in a white meadow, pointing a gun at the woman who was his mentor. A pause then, when the player chooses, a solitary gunshot. A very poignant and emotional moment, in contrast with the more often outlandish tone.
Psycho Mantis
Everyone’s favourite fourth wall destroying, floating, telekinetic, gas mask wearing mind reader. For many people Psycho Mantis is one of the most memorable bosses across all games, not just the Metal Gear Solid series. This is where the imagination behind the Metal Gear Solid series really shines. Psycho Mantis is creepy. His gas mask distorts his voice, his dialogue is weird and his back story is horrific. He also reads your memory card and comments on other games you’ve played and during the fight he makes the screen flash black with a green “Hideo” appearing in the corner. This boss fight doesn’t really de-construct the fourth wall, it demolishes it brilliantly.
As for the fight itself? He hurls objects at you from all over the place, he convinces Meryl to shoot you, he dodges all your attacks, taunting you all the time. Until it’s hinted that you if you change the port of the controller he won’t be able to read your mind. You change the controller and the fight swings in your favour. Psycho Mantis is defeated, distraught he wasn’t able to read Snake’s every move. A truly brilliant, weird, very Metal Gear Solid boss fight.
Those are my top ten Metal Gear Solid boss fights, just in terms of how memorable they were for me. Any disagreements or suggestions? Codec me via the comments section below.
