Metal Gear celebrates 25th anniversary with 31 million sold

By Anthony John Agnello March 19, 2012

Image used with permission by copyright holder

There’s just no keeping a highly trained, gravel-voiced, genetically engineered super spy down. Twenty-five years after the first game hit the MSX2 computer, and more famously the NES, the Metal Gear series has sold a total of 31 million copies worldwide.

Metal Gear publisher Konami announced the milestone on its homepage on Friday, just one day before series creator Hideo Kojima spoke at the opening of the Art of Video Games Exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. With 31 million copies sold, Metal Gear is now in league with other best-selling franchises like Street Fighter and the Medal of Honor series

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While it’s been some time since a new Metal Gear game has been released—the last was 2010’s Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for PSP—the series has seen a flurry of re-releases in recent months. Konami released high-definition re-masters of Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, and Peace Walker for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection in November. Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D was released for the Nintendo 3DS earlier this month. A Playstation Vita edition of the HD Collection will be released in June.

The series will go in a wildly different direction later this year though. The ambitiously-titled Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, developed by Bayonetta-creators Platinum Games rather than Kojima Productions, is expected out before the end of the year. Rising focuses on fast-paced sword fights and absurd acrobatics rather than the patient stealth of the Solid series. Based on trailers for the game though, it will keep the trademark ridiculous melodrama that has kept the series popular for a quarter of a century.

Anthony John Agnello

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…

Gaming

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection contains first 2 Metal Gear games, Konami confirms

metal gear solid master collection extra games

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 will contain two more games than expected, according to its PlayStation Store listing and a statement that the game's publisher, Konami, provided to Digital Trends. Those titles are the original Metal Gear and its follow-up, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

You might have missed the announcement of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 during the PlayStation Showcase. An image that appeared briefly following the Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater's announcement confirmed the collection and revealed it would feature Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
The PlayStation Store listing goes into a lot more detail about what versions of what games are actually included in this collection. It confirms that Master Collection Vol. 1 will include the HD Collection versions of Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, in addition to a version of Metal Gear Solid that also features the VR and Special Missions, but it also states that the package includes the first two games in the Metal Gear series.
Digital Trends contacted Konami to affirm that this PlayStation Store listing was accurate, and a PR representative confirmed that "for the Collection, the PS Store listing is correct."
While Metal Gear Solid is when Hideo Kojima's stealth espionage series went mainstream, it actually began when Konami released Metal Gear on the MSX2 in Japan and Europe in 1987. This game, along with its 1990 Japan-only follow-up, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, are top-down stealth games where players infiltrate enemy bases as Solid Snake. These games laid the groundwork for the Metal Gear Solid series' lore, and they are still canon within the wider series. As such, it's great to see these games present in the collection, as they've only really ever been available as bonuses in rereleases of Metal Gear Solid 3.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 launches this autumn.

Gaming

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is getting a full remake on PS5, Xbox, and PC

A promo image for Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is getting a modern remake. Revealed at today's PlayStation Showcase, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a new remake from Konami. It doesn't have a release date yet, but a Metal Gear Solid remaster collection is coming this fall.

Rumors of a Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater began to pop up earlier this year, with some teasing that the game would be present at the PlayStation Showcase. Those rumors proved true as the project got a trailer during Sony's big show. The game is also coming to Xbox and PC.

Gaming

Delisted Metal Gear games are returning to digital storefronts

Characters wield guns in Metal Gear Solid 2.

It looks like Konami is going to relist some Metal Gear games onto digital storefronts again after having previously taken them down. The news comes by way of a tweet from the official Metal Gear Twitter account.

"The 'METAL GEAR' series released on July 13, 1987, celebrated its 35th anniversary today," the account tweeted. "We are preparing to resume sales of titles that have been temporarily suspended."