The original Metal Gear Solid changed the trajectory of video games when it debuted in 1998. It perfected a subgenre of action games, inspiring many other riffs on the formula shortly after. It redefined cinematic storytelling in the age of 3D games outside the bounds of the JRPG. Best of all, it gave a niche series from the original NES days a second lease on life, exposing millions to the wild imagination of auteur Hideo Kojima for the very first time.
At the time, however, the fact that Metal Gear Solid was actually the third game (or fourth if you count 1990’s non-canonical Snake’s Revenge) in a decade-old series was lost on many new players. And despite its fancy coat of paint, much of what made Solid such a fun game to play derived directly from the 8-bit games that came before it. Konami didn’t forget though. With gaming handhelds being as popular as they were at the turn of the millennium, the publisher saw tremendous potential in translating Metal Gear Solid’s winning formula back down to the biggest 8-bit device of the time.
