MG MSX FAQ
Game Mechanics
Q: How many versions of Metal Gear are there?
A: Three. For more detailed info check out this page:
MGMSX Regions, Versions and Platforms.
Q: What qualifies for a guard spotting/noticing me?
A: Guards will only notice you if they see Snake’s lower body within their range of vision (waist down).
Q: A bomb I placed disappeared after I used the menu, what gives?
A: Opening the weapon menu removes any placed items from the current game screen.
Q: The floor is opening up under Snake, wtf?!
A: At certain parts through the game, there are several pitfall traps
you need to avoid otherwise they will kill you.
The detailed guide will tell you how to avoid them.
Q: When do I rank up?
A: Every fifth hostage is one rank.
Q: What good is hitting an enemy once and stunning it?
A: When stunned, enemies can't detect you and you can move
through them as if they don't exist.
Q: What alerts are mandatory?
A:There are 8/9 total forced alerts in Metal Gear (MSX).
- (1) The rocket guards atop building 1 (1 extra if playing on Easy difficulty)
- (1) roof of building 2
- (3) The screen before building 3
- (3) first screen of building 3
Q: What tells you a wall is breakable, even with explosives?
A: When you have Snake punch a wall,
if a question mark appears above him the wall is breakable.
Q: How far away can you place the bombs before they don't work anymore for opening a wall?
A:
Q: When does a kill count in Boss Survival and the timer for that boss stops?
A: A kill on a boss counts as soon as the boss health value is reaching 0.
That causes the Boss Survival timer to pause and load the next boss.
Q: How does Health and Damage work
A: See this page for a full explanation:
Metal Gear (MSX) Health and Damage values
Q: How does Metal Gear work with its maps?
A: See this page for a full explanation:
Metal Gear (MSX) Map System
Q: What are the Item and Weapon IDs?
A: See this page for a full explanation:
Metal Gear (MSX) Item ID System
Q: What is faster, holding X or spamming inputs?
A: spamming inputs in most cases does let the dialog boxes disappear
one frame in the game faster, it can be at least 66ms time difference.
For the any% category, the total timesave with perfect execution can be 6.5s for example.
Q: Why is GOG and PS2 PAL a separate category on Speedrun.com?
A: The PC GOG version and PS2 PAL version run at different speeds.
PS2 PAL executes its updates 11% faster than the NTSC/HDC versions.
The GOG PC version updates at around 1% faster than the NTSC/HDC versions.
Because of these differences, both IGT and RTA categories are separated
to their own subcategories.
For more infos see this spreadsheet about different game versions and speed comparisons.
Q: Is there a TAS for Metal Gear?
A: Yes there is. The actual MSX version of Metal Gear for the MSX 2.0
computer has received a TAS by Dunnius a few years ago.
While we have found some updates to this game versions speedrun tech,
a new version has not yet been finished. Watch the TAS video right here:
Big Boss/FOX Requirements
Q: What are the requirements for Big Boss/FOX rank?
Rank | Big Boss | Fox |
---|---|---|
Difficulty | Original | Easy |
Time | 44:59 max | 49:59 max |
Saves | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Continues | None | None |
Alerts | 8 mandatory alerts | 9 mandatory alerts |
Human Kills | None | None |
Rations | 1 maximum | 1 maximum |
Special Item | No | No |
Other Rank Requirements
There are more ranks available in the PS2 port of Metal Gear (MSX). They are as follows:
Eagle
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time: 49:59 max
- Continues: 1 or more
- Alerts: 10 or more
- Human Kills: between 1 and 3
- Rations: 2 or more
- Special Item: No
Deer
- Difficulty: Easy
- Time: 7:59:59 maximum
- Human Kills: more than 3
Alternatively, you can get Deer also by playing between 4 hours of IGT and 8 hours of IGT.
IGT determined ranks
Rank | Difficulty: Easy | Note |
---|---|---|
Eagle | less than 50 minutes IGT | * with less than 4 kills, else → DEER |
Panther | 50 min IGT to 90 min IGT | * with less than 4 kills, else → DEER |
Jackal | 90 min IGT to 2 hours IGT | * with less than 4 kills, else → DEER |
Zebra | 2 hours IGT to 4 hours IGT | * with less than 4 kills, else → DEER |
Deer | 4 hours IGT to 8 hours IGT | |
Elephant | 8 hours IGT to 12 hours of IGT | |
Hippopotamus | 12 hours IGT to 16 hours IGT | |
Turtle | 16 Hours IGT to 20 hours IGT | |
Chicken | 20 hours of IGT or more |
TX-55 Leg Order
Q: How am I supposed to remember that long sequence for the MG fight?
A: See here for a broken down pattern:
1) R R L 2) R L L 3) R L L 4) R R L 5) R L R 6) R
List of codecs and contacts
Contact | Before building 2 | After building 2 |
---|---|---|
Big Boss | 120.85 | 120.13 |
Resistance Leader Kyle Schneider | 120.79 | 120.26 |
Resistance Member Diane | 120.33 | 120.91 |
Resistance Member Jennifer | - | 120.48 (only with 4 stars) |