metal_gear:ghost_babel [Metal Gear Speedrunners]

"Of course you want to be the 'Legend'; deep inside, you want the glory."

Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (also known as Metal Gear Solid or Metal Gear: Game Boy) was released in Spring 2000 on Game Boy Color. Ghost Babel is the final 2D Metal Gear game made by Konami. It was named Metal Gear Solid in PAL and NTSC-U to ride off the success of Metal Gear Solid on Playstation. ~~This worked great~~ This confused some into thinking MGGB was a de-make of MGS1, rather than a different game entirely. The story is an alternate sequel to the original Metal Gear.

Compared to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Ghost Babel makes several changes to gameplay. Snake can now run in eight directions and sidle along walls. The screen doesn't flip, but scrolls with Snake. Ghost Babel is broken up into thirteen stages, rather than one continuous game. Each stage ranks the player's performance based on time, alerts, kills, and rations used. The ranks are Excellent, Great, Good, Poor, and Terrible. Mercifully, your card key upgrades in level, rather than holding a key ring of cards that you must memorize.

Why speedrun Ghost Babel? If you enjoy the feel of 2D Metal Gear, but want something that is different with controls and structure. As a speedgame, Ghost Babel is heavy on memorization. Knowing which direction to go on each screen is important for not getting Alerts in the wrong spots, and executing certain strategies. The In Game Timer subtracts loads, codecs, menus, and accounts for lag! Most of the RNG of MGGB happens in Stage 09, where Snake must blow up the power plant. This RNG can influence pace greatly. However, menuing is this game can be awkward due to the limited number of buttons, and certain segments can be tedious (box sorters).

The Individual Levels and Virtual Reality Missions are appealing to those who enjoy smaller challenges. Considering there are 90 VR missions, 13 stages, and 39 special variations of those stages, there is a lot to chew on. Being the only 2D Metal Gear with VR separates it from the other 2D MGs.

Don't get scammed! Game Boy Color cartridges are NOT GRAY! Here are genuine copies of the game, NTSC-U and NTSC-J.

Stage	Name	Any% Easy	Any% Normal	Any% Hard	Big Boss Route
01	Jungle	Refer to Normal	Route	Route	Route
02	Fortress Galuade	Route	Route	Route	Route
03	Sewers & Watchtower	Route	Route	Route	Route
04	Watchtower Exit & Slasher Hawk	Route	Route	Route	Route
05	Barracks & Dr. Harks	Route	Route	Route	Route
06	Dark Barracks & Marionette Owl	Route	Route	Route	Route
07	Artillery Strikes	Refer to Normal	Route	Refer to Normal	Refer to Normal
08	Power Plant & Pyro Bison	Route	Route	Route	Route
09	Power Plant & Pillar RNG	Route	Route	Route	Route
10	“Havoc” Helicopter	Route	Route	Refer to Very Hard	Route
11	Maintenance Base & Black Arts Viper 1	Route	Route	Route	Route
12	Metal Gear GANDER	Route	Route	Refer to Very Hard	Route
13	Black Arts Viper 2	Refer to Normal	Route	Refer to Normal	Refer to Normal