For 20 years, the Metal Gear bosses have been among the best in gaming. They've made Snake (Solid and Naked) as well as Raiden heroes worth playing, their games worth buying, and more than once, our controllers worth throwing. In light of the recent Metal Gear 20th Anniversary party, we decided it was high time these under-appreciated anti-heroes got some recognition outside of a sniper scope.
Without further ado, the following are our 20 favorite Metal Gear bosses, in honor of the fun we've had killing them.
Big Boss
Appearances:
Metal Gear Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Metal Gear Solid: Portable OpsTrademark:
Eye patchA.K.A.:
Naked Snake, Saladin, One Eyed UncleBig Boss has quite a résumé. Not only was he the last boss in the first two Metal Gear games, but Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, and Solidus Snake were all cloned from his DNA. On top of that, he was the main hero in both Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Between his real self and his clones, the guy plays half the major roles in the series. While his many great acts for both good and evil make his death seem ignominious (he's burned to death by Solid Snake with a gas canister and a cigarette lighter), he's still the most important character in Metal Gear, and the biggest boss of them all.
Psycho Mantis
First appearance:
Metal Gear SolidTrademarks:
Gas mask, fetish gearPowers:
Telepathy, psychokinesisHe may not be a very important character in the grand scheme of Metal Gear lore, but Psycho Mantis is still one of the most ingenious and frustrating bosses ever created. Not only did he fuss with your controller, trick you into switching video inputs on your television, read your mind (or at least, your memory card), and brainwash your love interest into attacking you, he was also mentally linked with your attack buttons, so that when you hit one, you were also hitting his dodge button. To beat him, you had to think way outside the box and plug your controller into port 2. From there, you could pummel the psychic fiend out of the future and into the past tense. With the proper amount of respect and reverence, of course.
Gray Fox
Appearances:
Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2 Metal Gear Solid MGS: Portable OpsTrademarks:
None, when he's invisible…A.K.A.:
Frank Jaeger, NullMost people know Gray Fox as "that cyborg ninja" from Metal Gear Solid. But there's more to Frank Jaeger than just flipping out and killing people. He crossed paths with Big Boss as a young killer in Mozambique, fought him a couple times, and eventually joined him, as shown in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. But Gray Fox's most significant role in the Metal Gear universe is that of trendsetter: He's the first boss to ever challenge Snake to a fistfight, the first to don the ninja suit, as well as the first to challenge Snake to a fistfight while wearing the ninja suit. He provides the most difficult battle in Metal Gear 2, one of the coolest in Metal Gear Solid, and he dies an honorable death at the end of that game, killed by Liquid Snake and Metal Gear REX. Go ninja, go.
Sniper Wolf
First appearance:
Metal Gear SolidResembles:
Liquid Snake, or does he resemble her?Ethnicity:
Kurdish?That's right, in spite of her blonde hair and pale complexion, Sniper Wolf hailed from Kurdistan. It's also noteworthy that she was a disciple of Big Boss, whose alias in Metal Gear Solid is Saladin. In case you never studied Middle Eastern history, Saladin was a Kurdish general and warrior who went on to become the Sultan of Egypt and Syria. Coincidence? Probably not, though we can only hope that story is made clear in a future Metal Gear game. In the meantime, we'll have to be satisfied celebrating this enigmatic female lone wolf, and her death at the end of two solid shootouts. Sniper Wolf, we hardly knew ya.
Vulcan Raven
The most literally named of the Metal Gear Solid bosses was also the one you most hated to kill. He seemed like a good guy, an old soul, and he loved to take care of his ravens, even if that meant making fresh corpses with his humongous Vulcan cannon for them to feed on. At least he put up a good fight, a game of cat and mouse where he was the cat, and you were the mouse. Or maybe your guided missiles were the cats…In either case, this was a fun, scary fight against a guy we wished was on our side.
Metal Gear REX
In the context of Metal Gears, REX was important because neither its feet nor its legs were vulnerable to conventional weapons fire (a common flaw in early Metal Gear models). REX also had a magnetic railgun that could fire a nuke anywhere in the world, Vulcan cannons, missile launchers, and a free-electron laser (or FEL) for missile defense. Of course, most of that functionality depended on the state of its giant, vulnerable radome (or radar dome). If it were destroyed by, say, a cyborg ninja, REX's driver would have to open the face guard and expose the inner workings of the beast to all kinds of damage, which we had a great time inflicting.
Liquid Snake
Appearances:
Metal Gear Solid Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of LibertyTrademarks:
Five fingers, a wrist, a forearmWeaknesses:
Inferiority complex, fistfightsLiquid Snake begins the Metal Gear Solid series as Solid Snake's whiny clone brother, out to destroy the world because he thinks he got the lousy genes in the Les Enfants Terribles project (where they cloned a bunch of Big Bosses). And he was probably right. He gets whipped in Metal Gear REX, then in a fistfight, then in a shoot-out, for a beat-down hat trick. To top it all off, he isn't stabbed, shot, or exploded to death--a virus kills him. Hey, at least it wasn't an aerosol can and a cigarette lighter. Besides, after his defeats, things get way more interesting for Liquid. His right arm is attached to Revolver Ocelot, and gradually takes over the gunslinger's mind. Either Liquid's right arm is really smart, or Revolver's brain is really dumb. Either way, Liquid Snake is one of the evilest appendages ever. He gets a high five.
Olga Gurlukovich
First appearance:
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of LibertyTrademarks:
Knife-gun, ninja suitArmpits:
HairyOlga is the first boss you fight in Sons of Liberty, and she is vintage Metal Gear. For one thing, she's a confident female warrior, like Sniper Wolf. Unlike the coifed Kurdish markswoman, Olga has visibly furry armpits. Way to challenge gender stereotypes, girl. But those aren't the only things she challenges--she puts up a good fight right off the bat by wisely using the battlefield to her advantage. First, she unhooks a tarp over some crates to give herself cover on the windy deck of the tanker where the battle takes place. Then, she tilts a spotlight in your direction to blind your shots. To even the playing field, you can snipe the tarp strings and blast the spotlight. From there, you fill her with enough tranquilizers to knock out Rush Limbaugh. She's pregnant at the time, but the drugs don't get her baby, terrorists do! To get revenge and save her baby, she dons the cyborg ninja suit and secretly helps Raiden during the Big Shell incident.
Fortune
First appearance:
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of LibertyTrademark:
Biggest. Gun. Ever.A.K.A.:
Lady Luck, QueenFortune is the most ironically dubbed character in Metal Gear--she's horribly unlucky. In a short period before the events of Sons of Liberty, her father died, then her husband, mother, and baby. But rather than turn to blues and the bottle, she got herself a big 'ole railgun and joined the military, where it was discovered she was too lucky--or maybe unlucky--to perish. When you fight her, or rather, when she fights you, there are only two options: Hide or die. As you run behind crates, she'll fire at them, creating a slick-looking particle trail that travels all the way through. But watch out, eventually more than just particles will make it to your side. The fight is ultimately stopped by Vamp, but not before it can become one of the coolest-looking and most destructive boss battles in Metal Gear.
Vamp
First appearance:
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of LibertyTrademark:
Knife codpieceHobby:
Dance fightingVamp, as you might imagine, has many characteristics of a vampire--immortality, pale skin, sexual ambiguity, and a taste for blood--but none of the weaknesses. Sunlight doesn't seem to bother him, and if a wooden crucifix through the chest didn't kill him as a child (he was impaled in a church bombing), it probably won't now. That makes him sound like a nightmare, but he's actually a sensitive guy, and loving fiend. He had a sexual relationship with Fortune's father, and he's also the lucky vixen's best friend and comrade. Lucky for you, he's also sensitive to sniper rounds and stinger missiles. While his first boss fight is mainly a matter of dodging knives and shooting missiles, there is one really cool touch--his knife can pin your shadow to the ground. To counter this, you have to shoot out the lights and fight in the dark. Eat your heart out, Anne Rice.
If your favorite boss didn't make the list, or you'd just like to share an interesting insight, leave a comment and let us know what you think!
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