Big Boss can be played on the PS2 port of Metal Gear (1987) which was included on disc 2 of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Additionally, it is playable on PSTV/PS Vita, and modern consoles that can play the HD collection version of Metal Gear Solid 3. The game is also available on PC via a release on GOG.

The goal is to beat the game as fast as possible while having the “Big Boss” rank on the final score screen.

Requirements for Big Boss are:

• Difficulty: Original
• Time: 44:59 max
• Continues: None
• Alerts: 0 (Excluding the 8 mandatory alerts)
• Human Kills: None
• Rations: 1
• Special Item: No

There is an aspect of RNG manipulation in this speedrun. To make your life easier when running Big Boss, you should always launch Metal Gear from the Metal Gear Solid 3 menu (the main selection menu) into Metal Gear, then start with a new game run on original difficulty. This way, your RNG seed will be set to zero. If you continue and reset, make sure to quit out fully back into the Metal Gear Solid 3 menu, then back into the Metal Gear menu to reset that RNG seed back to 0. Throughout the run there will be multiple pointers where you can tell that you are on the ideal seed. The goal is to make the four hoursemen encounter in Building 1 more predictible and hence make it easier to preserver your health.

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follow red line on map

• Walk up, then hold right and go up next to the tank. Before leaving the screen walk right
• Hold up and walk right to meet the truck screen
• walk to the center truck first and grab the level 1 card, make sure to go up enough so the guard doesn't see you
• exit the truck, open the menu and close it again to have the level 1 card equipped
• walk left one screen

follow blue line on map

• walk south below the boxes and go left until you can punch the guard
• now you can leave south, since the guard is unable to alert on you
• walk south and leave the tank screen to the right
• walk right without pause until you meet the door
• inside the room grab the gas mask, with the correct RNG (see “BEFORE YOU RUN”) the guard will always fall asleep

follow green line on map

• leave the room, walk south and exit to the left
• keep walking left until you hit the eastern most room
• walk to the northern most room, wait until the guard shift changes, then enter the elevator
• take the elevator up (only one option)

The biggest floor in the entire speedrun. Let's break it down!

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• as you leave the elevator, turn right and wait for the left camera to turn down again
• as soon as you can, walk south and exit the screen to the right
• return left again, now with the camera positions reset
• walk all the way to the left side of the room and leave south
• hold down, then left to the box
• enter the door with level 1 card key, which you already have equipped
• hold left, turn down close to the wall
• hold down and touch the hostage
• hold right to open the right door, then menu to the gas mask
• L2 - Down - L2
• enter the gas room, walk close to the boxes
• in this room, we want to increment the RNG seed by 3
• each gas cloud disappearing is one increment to the RNG seed
• when at the door, you have to wait for the third gas cloud to disappear
• switch back to the level 1 card
• L2 - UP - L2
• continue south

It is not worth resetting the pin

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• after the gas room, hold down
• punch the guard to not get alerted, be fast or the camera catches you going south
• exit to the right
• in the death barrel room hold up and go to the left gap
• grab the explosives
• walk down to the center again
• wait for the barrel to roll left
• once the barrel has rolled left, walk up and exit to the right

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• exiting the death barrel room, prepare to hold up and then right
• punch the guard that walks up to your height and go past him
• stay at the top wall when walking right
• in this next room with 2 guards, stick high to the wall
• punch the first guard, the 2nd guard will turn left, but won't spot you due to height differences
• keep walking right and ignore the 2nd guard
• on the next screen with 2 doors and 1 guard, walk south up to the bottom wall and turn right
• you can wait for the guard to turn around, but for bypassing the guard, you have to punch him
• ideally, wait for the camera to go past the right door, punch the guard and then enter the room with the level 2 door card
• grab the level 2 card

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• exit the room, walk close to the south wall again, turn left, wait at the corner of the right side housing
• punch the guard as he stops, move left, wait at the boxes until the top camera moves right again to not get spotted
• leave the room without going up, just walk left
• in the double guard room, hold up until you hit the north wall
• punch the right guard twice to buffer the 2nd guard turning left
• leave the room to the left
• take a north-left line back into the death barrel room, punching the guard to bypass him
• hold left, then down, in the death barrel room
• turn south and left to the 1 guard, 1 camera room
• keep holding left and save the bottom door hostage
• exit the room, equip level 2 card and go up
• punch once to buffer the camera, do not get caught going up
• enter the top door room and grab the RC missile, exit again
• leave toward the right, punch the guard to bypass him
• equip level 1 card, open the door
• then equip the gas mask before entering the room
• head north back into the gas chamber

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• walk through the gas room to exit to the left
• NOTE: the RNG will increase 3 more increments as there will always be 3 gas clouds appearing and disappearin again, this is intended for the 4 horsemen manipulation.
• return back again to the screen with the two guards and 1 door right
• leave to the north, then turn right, and then south to return to the previous room
• walk south, equip level 2 card and save the next hostage

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• exit the hostage room, turn north, then turn west
• open the four horsemen room door with your level 2 door card
• before entering the room, switch to the level 1 door card
• L2 - Up x2 - L2
• once in the 4 horsemen room, walk up to the center, turn right
• stay at the top end of the bottom row of boxes
• thanks to the RNG manipulation you will always get shot
• walk right into the room to grab the grenade launcher, go down then left
• open the door, then BEFORE leaving this grenade launcher room, equip the level 2 door card
• L2 - Down x2 - L2
• leave the room by walking west
• in the four horsemen room immediately go down, then walk left close to the bottom wall
• thanks to the RNG manipulation you will have the guard right on top of you, giving you less lethal touch damage
• walk to the center bottom door and leave the four horsemen room
• exit to the right screen

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• hold down and exit to right, stick to the top wall so the guard won't see you
• hold right and exit the screen south at the right side of the room
• enter the right side door and save the hostage
• in the hostage room ideally you go up, right, then down to touch the POW, then leave the same way again in reverse
• go up, walk south of the right guard, wait 2s and punch the right guard, once the left guard turns left, leave to the elevator
• take the elevator down 2 floors (middle exit of the 2nd screen)

Key points: save 2 hostages, get submachine gun, get captured

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• walk south, curve the tanks to the left
• stick to the tanks and punch the left guard to have him not alert on you
• exit south by the left wall side
• enter the hostage room and hold left
• turn up when reaching the hostage to actually save them
• leave to the right, get behind the box (right side) and wait for the left camera to move high enough
• switch to level 1 door card
• L2 - Up x2 - L2
• once the camera is high enough, walk south, exit to the left side at the bottom
• walk to the left side door
• save the hostage, again hold left and up once reaching hostage
• leave the room, walk up and right, switch to level 2 door card
• L2 - Down x2 - L2
• enter the right side door
• grab the submachine gun, exit the room
• walk south and right before leaving the room
• stick to the tank going left, turn down as soon as the right guard looks south
• leave the room to the left to get captured

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• walk left into the wall
• punch 5 times to open the wall
• hold left and go down to touch Gray Fox at his left body half
• after the convo walk down and punch the wall 5 times again
• go right into the Shotmaker fight

Ignore Shotmaker! (for now)

• walk to the bottom right door and punch it
• walk down and right to grab your items
• menu as follows to remove the tracker and equip the door 2 key card
• L2 - Up 2x - Circle - Up - L2
• walk out of the right room and enter the left room
• grab the door key level 3 card
• grab the ammunition
• leave the room and return to grab more ammunition
• in total: grab 5 ammo boxes, the result should be 5 explosives and 30 grenade launcher ammo
• before leaving the final time, menu to the door level 3 card and the submachine gun as follows:
• L2 - Down - R2 - Up - Right - R2

FIght Shotmaker!

• Walk immediately left and up the wall
• turn right and shoot shotmaker with the submachine gun
• he should die within 2 seconds
• equip the plastic explosives before leaving to the maze
• R2 - Left - R2
• leave to the right into the maze

the maze is very simple, key points are to grab the blast suit and the enemy uniform.

Save time by placing bombs early:

If you follow the line closely the dogs won't damage you as they are locked on their axis and won't be able to adjust to your movement.

• walk up, just above the door frame, and right to the marked wall, place 1 explosive
• YOU CAN STAND ON EXPLOSIVES, THEY WON'T DAMAGE YOU
• follow the line on the map to the top right corner, placing a bomb just after entering the room
• continue around, hugging the inner wall, and set another explosive on the small wall segment
• walk down, then right, then down, and into the blast suit room
• follow the path back again to the beginning and walk up
• just above the center of the screen, set an explosive on the left wall
• grab the enemy uniform and then leave the room
• the elevator is in the top right corner of the map
• equip the submachine gun before leaving
• R2 - Right - R2

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• walk right and wait in the corner until the camera starts moving down
• begin heading south to leave the room once the camera is on the same level as the boxes to not get caught
• walk south and follow the line on the map to not trigger the laser traps
• walk to the door to save a POW
• then leave to the left to meet machine gun kid

• walk up and start shooting the submachine gun as soon as you're close to MGK
• after MGK is taken care of, menu to level 1 card
• L2 - Down x2 - L2
• exit the room to the north to get the parachute

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• retrace your steps after collecting the parachute to exit the MGK room
• walk up and then right in the next room
• stick to the bottom side to not alert the guard
• save the hostage and leave following the line to not trip the traps
• line note: south to the bottom boxes, then right until between 3 boxes and 1 box, go up one box, turn right and then turn north close to the boxes
• leave to the north and don't trip the traps
• line note: go up, then left past the first box, turn north center of the room, leave to the top
• ignore the one guard in the room, leave at the right hand side of the room
• go up until you're hidden behind the boxes, the camera will be faster than you, so you have to wait at the boxes
• during the wait time, you can equip the blast suit and grenade launcher as follows:
• L2 - Up - R2 - Up - Right - R2
• once the camera turns south you can leave north into the elevator and go up 2 floors to the roof

• Walk south and left
• in the room with the three guards, wait south of the right block to not get spotted
• while you wait, menu to the parachute
• L2 - Down x2 - L2
• follow the path left and then south to go past the bridge section
• walk right and before entering the hind fight, walk south to be on the top right corner level of the box
• note: the roof alert is forced and unavoidable, with luck you can leave the screen without taking damage

• Walk right and shoot 20 times with the grenade launcher
• once the last grenade has left the launcher you can keep holding right, no damage
• walk up and left to fall off the roof - MAKE SURE TO HAVE THE PARACHUTE EQUIPPED!!!

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• once landed walk south
• hold right to enter the truck - don't walk too far south or else you take mine explosion damage
• grab the level 4 card key
• leaving the truck hold left
• you WILL take damage from the mine explosion, make sure to have enough health before
• walk up, equip the newly acquired level 4 door key card
• L2 - Down - L2
• enter the hostage room, get the 2nd rank up and leave the first building as the map guides
• you can reset the dogs back to the initial position by leaving to the right screen first, walk up further, then return to the left screen and go through the door

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• Immediately head left and enter the leftmost truck for explosives
• grab 3 explosives, so repeat entering the truck 3 times
• then leave the screen to the left and start walking up, you'll be wrapped around the level
• go up to the tank

• Walk to the right side of the tank
• walk up, punch or wait
• once shot, walk through the tank

• after passing the tank, go up and right until you're between the grenade launcher and ammo count
• switch to the uniform as follows
• L2 - Up x2 - L2
• pass the guards
• switch back to the level 4 card
• L2 - Down x2 - L2

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• Walk up to the bulldozer fight
• hold up to be close enough and send off 4 shots
• then walk to the south of the room before opening the door
• turn up and send off 4 more shots
• be aware if you go up while the bulldozer is exploding, the hitbox lasts a bit longer and you die on touch
• leave the boss room going up

• Leave the bulldozer room immediately to the right, then up
• follow the path on the map to go to the Antenna room
• IMPORTANT in this room with three guards, the top right guard will immediately notice you, wait for him to look up on entering the room
• follow the line and reset the guards once going right and returning left
• punch the bottom guard, enter the room to the left when the left guard looks north
• before entering switch to the door level 2 key card
• L2 - Left - L2
• grab the antenna by going up
• leave the room by walking south of the boxes to not alert the guard
• back to the 3 guards room, walk to the right until you're at the ledge
• punch the guard that's coming from the right (south one) and leave the room to the south
• return immediately up to reset the guards, follow the path north in the bright water
• when going up, turn left once you hit the corner wall
• in the room with the laser traps, walk north and then left, it'll time Snake so you won't trip the alert
• take the elevator up 2 levels

Welcome to Hell Roof, the alert is forced

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• Walk south and rescue the hostage
• leaving the room walk right and equip the level 4 door card
• L2 - Right - L2
• follow the path south to get to the room holding the level 5 door card
• if comfortable, go south then left on the middle screen for a faster but riskier route
• menu to the level 5 door card
• L2 - Down x2 - Right - L2
• or right, then down twice
• leave the floor and take the elevator ALL THE WAY DOWN

• Walk left and rescue the hostage
• walk south and open the door
• either continue to the next room or menu before entering
• equip gas mask and explosives
• L2 - Left 2x - Down 2x - R2 - Left - Down - R2
• walk north and go to the spot at the wall
• place plastic explosive next to the wall and open it
• switch to level 1 door card
• L2 - Up - L2
• go up and save the hostage
• walk east and equip the level 5 door card
• L2 - Up x2 - Right - L2
• Ignore the fake Dr. Madnar
• walk left and in the next room grab the door level 6 card
• equip the door level 6 card
• L2 - Down - Right - L2
• exit and enter the left door to meet Fire Trooper

if you have enough health, you can ignore the fire trooper and walk past him going north, then east, enter the elevator

or

have the submachine gun equipped and walk up to FT, wait until the flames are off, then kill FT with the submachine gun

Take the elevator UP 2 Levels

Another more complex floor, lets break it down

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• walk right and down in the first room, punch the bottom right guard to not trigger an alert
• walk down and go right to the brads
• walk south and go right, keep hugging the boxes from the bottom
• switch from door key level 6 to 5
• L2 - Up - Left - L2
• walk south east to save the hostage
• you can avoid getting spotted by doing clean lines close to the wall
• go back again to the brad rooms
• exit to the right
• before going up, menu to door key level 3
• L2 - Left 2x - Up - L2
• punch the guard that is coming towards you to not trigger an alert
• enter the top left room, save the hostage and rank up the third time for rank 4
• leave to the south, in the next room don't walk straight away but punch the guard first to not trigger an alert
• walk right and punch the next guard, stick to the boxes and go up, punch the third guard and then enter the rocket launcher room
• press select, go to frequency 120.48, this will save Jennifer in your codec menu, then L2 to equip door key level 6
• L2 - Down 2x - Right 2x - L2
• once outside menu to the rocket launcher and the door key level 5
• L2 - Up - Left - R2 - Left - R2
• walk out and wait a moment to punch the right guard
• walk down and go left, try to stick as much as possible to the upper wall line to not get spotted
• punch the guard that's walking right
• wait for the left guard to walk up again, then leave the room
• trace the line on the map to exit the bottom right corner elevator
• punch guards in your path to not alert them
• enter the death barrel room and go into the elevator
• leave to the bottom again, 2 floors down

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• once leaving the elvator zone, exit to the right
• equip level 3 card
• L2 - Left x2 - Up - L2
• once the door opens, menu again to the gas mask
• L2 - Up - L2
• go north into the room without a door
• walk up and left first to get the explosives,
• then return to the entry again and wait for the barrel to pass
• walk up and grab the ration and ammunition
• wait for the barrel to pass and exit the room
• enter the barrel room again 3 more times to grab 3 more boxes of ammunition
• you should have now 8 rockets in your rocket launcher
• managing your rocket launcher ammunition is critical to the success of the run
• leave the maze to the left into the firetrooper room
• menu to level 6 card before entering the fire trooper room
• L2 - Right 2x - Up - L2
• in the elevator, equip the level 2 card
• L2 - Left 2x - Down 2x - L2
• take the elevator up 2 floors again

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• walk right and down in the first room, punch the bottom right guard to not trigger an alert
• walk down and go right to the brads
• each brad takes 4 rockets to die
• on entering the brad room, walk to the bottom wall (it has to be the furthest south) tap right and shoot 4 times
• once the first brad is down, go top left to the top wall and shoot right 4 times
• once the 2nd brad dies, the level 7 card key drops, grab it
• enter the top right door, follow to the top right room, stick to the northside wall
• in the three guard room, punch the left guard, then
• call Jennifer via the saved codec frequency, she will open the door
• follow to the top right door, punch the top guard and grab the compass
• on exiting the room, punch first before moving to take care of the top guard
• turn left and punch the left guard as well
• retrace back to the brad room, switch to level 5 card
• L2 - Down 2x - Right 2x - L2
• then return to the bottom right elevator again
• take the elevator down a SINGLE floor
• during the elevator move, switch from the rocket launcher to the submachine gun
• R2 - Left - Up - R2

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We're going to be leaving to the reach building 3, to grab some scuba gear

• follow the line on the map
• wait at the map marked position for the top left guard to turn away
• equip card 7 to leave building 2
• L2 - Up 2x - L2
• once you left the building, equip the compass
• L2 - Down - L2

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• you have to survive 4 screens of scorpions that can poison you
• you can use the SMG to shoot scorpions, start shooting as soon as you enter the desert to not get instantly poisoned
• to save ammunition, you can wrap around the screen to the left or the right to avoid scorpions
• once you reached the empty screen, you survived the first round of scorpions
• move snake to the horizontal line in the image, the goal is to enter the door on its right side
• then equip level 7 card and plastic explosives
• L2 - Up - R2 - Left - R2
• move up and walk straight up into the door

Good luck that the guard closest to the wall does not die to the explosion or your big boss attempt fails right here.

• enter the room and go top, walk right to blow up the wall
• Blue line: you can keep walking north and sticking close to the north side boxes going to the elevator
• Red line: you have to leave the room on the left hand side and walk up, left at the top of the boxes and then go into the elevator
• once the elevator starts moving down heal up and go to door card level 8
• L2 - Up - Circle - Up x2 - L2
• follow the elevator all the way down

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let's grab the scuba gear

• walk south underneath the walk block and place a plastic explosive
• go into the room and grab the scuba gear
• leave back into the elevator again going up

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both PAL and NTSC/HDC

• after leaving the elevator, walk shortly left, then south to avoid the 1st pit
• reaching the box hold right and leave south to not fall into the 2nd pit
• leave the building 3 where you entered from

See Desert to Building 3 for returning back. You do not need the compass equipped to return to building 2.

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• Once Building 2 has been entered, switch to scuba gear and RC Missile Launcher
• L2 - Right - Down 2x - R2 - Up - R2
• swim up north until the end of the path
• leaving the water, stay close to the top railing and move up where the railing begins (see map)
• use a RC Missile to take out the electric floor
• equip level 1 card and enter the top left room
• L2 - Right 2x - Down - L2
• grab 2 ammunition boxes, leave the room and grab 1 more ammunition box
• do not waste this rocket launcher ammo as it is critical
• leaving the room with the ammo, punch the button at the wall and walk over to the top right room
• equip the level 7 card and Rocket launcher
• L2 - Right 2x - Down 2x - R2 - Right - R2

• enter the room, skip the dialog and time your shots
• the best method is to hold skip and fire at the same time
• 2 shots from the rocket launcher and CD is dead
• grab the level 8 card while the 2nd rocket is still flying
• do not fall into the pit in the middle of the room
• before leaving the room, equip the RC missile
• R2 - Left - R2
• then leave down again

• shoot the panel again in the top left corner
• equip the scuba gear before leaving south
• L2 - Right - Down 2x - L2
• leave the now not electric floor south from where you entered first, the left flooring tile
• punch the top left guard directly after switching screens if necessary
• then hug the railing and swim south again to leave building 2

See above notes for Desert first trip

• remember to equip compass for the trip
• equip plastic explosives and level 7 card on the empty screen

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• leave the room going up, left, then up
• PS2 PAL ONLY (Blue line): you can keep walking north and sticking close to the north side boxes going to the elevator
• PS2 NTSC and HDC (Red line): you have to leave the room on the left hand side and walk up, left at the top of the boxes and then go into the elevator
• once in the elevator go down
• once the elevator starts moving go to door card level 8
• L2 - Right - Up x2 - L2
• follow the elevator all the way down

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• follow the path until you reach the level 8 door, open it and then switch to the gas mask
• L2 - Right 2x - Down - L2
• place the explosive, continue to the next room
• walk up and hug the right side wall to not fall into the pit
• then equip card 1
• L2 - Up - L2
• open the door, before leaving, equip the gas mask again
• L2 - Down - L2
• pass through the next room, follow the line to not hit mines
• at the end, equip the level 1 card to open the door
• L2 - Up - L2
• hold right to hug the wall, then switch to the ration before walking on the electric floor
• L2 - Down - Right x2 - L2
• enter the Metal Gear TX-55 boss room, have the ration automatically used on the electric floor

The order of legs to place the explosives in front of:

RRL, RLL, RLL, RRL, RLR, R

Do NOT menu to the rocket launcher before the last explosive has gone off or the explosive will despawn. Menu for rocket launcher is L2 - Left - L2

In order to not get hit from the lasers, walk from left to right and right to left and place an explosive down when you reach the leg you want to hit. See the current runs for reference.

A semi-reliable way to skip Big Boss's speech even faster

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• walk up and turn left
• shoot the first rocket on your way to the 2nd box, bottom left corner
• shoot a 2nd rocket at that bottom right corner of the box
• then move to the top right corner of that center box
• shoot 2 more rockets to the left
• Big Boss is dead
• move out of the room
• walk up the most left ladder

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/109895747

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