The Good Guys



At any given time, Solid Snake would become betrayed by certain people as the plot thickened. But there was always a rare few people he could always trust. There was the “cute” Asian data analyst, Mei Ling who would save the game data and always give Snake some encouraging words to help him through ordeals. Natasha Romanenko, the Russian born adviser of weapons and nuclear science. She enlightened Snake (and by proxy, the players) about weapons and often spoke of her desire to learn about nuclear technology after her parents were killed in the Chernobyl incident.

Then there are the two characters more centrally tethered to the game’s plot: Meryl Silverburgh and Hal “Otacon” Emmerich. Meryl is sort of the damsel in distress, as Colonel Campbell’s daughter, her rescue becomes a sub-objective for Snake. However, she is no ordinary damsel; she has been training to be a soldier all her life yet is too green for any real fighting. In fact, it is early in the game when she loses the innocence of being a starry-eyed soldier-wannabe when she is forced to kill a group of enemies with the infamous words being shouted from Solid Snake: “Don’t think, shoot”!

Despite innocence lost, she still manages to burrow her way into Snake’s cold heart and inevitably becomes something for Snake to live for. Finally, there is Hal Emmerich or Otacon as he chooses to be called, is the creator of Metal Gear Rex. Otacon, like Meryl, also loses his innocence along the way but in a different manner. As he is dragged through the battles witnessing Snake’s actions, he learns to take responsibility for his actions in life, no matter how unfair the circumstances may be.

Metal Gear Solid did something interesting with Otacon and Meryl, it made them the reasons why Solid Snake would go to fight and never give up. There’s a part in the game where Snake must resist torture in order to save Meryl’s life. If players succeeded, Meryl would live and they both would ride of together into the sunset, but if they failed, Snake and Otacon would be the ones riding off. Basically, no matter what, Snake was leaving this mission with a new found hope for life, be it love or friendship. It would echo the game’s spiritual themes of war and peace.

The Semi-Good Guys



In what would become a trademark of the Metal Gear Solid series, a handful of characters would always use Snake for their own agendas. There was Colonel Roy Campbell who never really so much lies to Snake as he never tells him the full story. Brought on because of his close association with Snake, his personal agenda lies in saving his daughter Meryl. Then there is the rather infamous Dr. Naomi Hunter.

More than betraying Snake, she betrays everyone when it is discovered that she is indeed not Naomi Hunter, but a revenge driven woman scorned because of what Snake did to her “brother” in the past. Her story spirals further into the game’s central plot when it is discovered that she has injected Snake with an experimental viral weapon, FoxDie.

Perhaps the coolest character among the pack is the cyborg ninja Grey Fox. A literal ghost from Snake’s past, Fox has returned to finish the fight he and Snake started so long ago. Finally there is Master Miller, who doesn’t really do anything to Snake since he has been dead the entire time which leads me to the game’s bad guys.

The Bad Guys



Without a doubt, Metal Gear Solid had some of the most infamous villains in gaming history. There was Liquid Snake, the terrorist leader and evil twin brother to Solid Snake. He was obsessed with his and Solid Snake’s genetics and Big Boss’s DNA, it was part of his plan to create the perfect soldiers and resurrect Big Boss’s ideal of “Outer Haven”. However, he could accomplish nothing without the aid of the mysterious Revolver Ocelot.

Ocelot, a revolver slinging Russian with the looks of Lee Marvin or what GameSpite.net compared him to, Dabney Coleman, plans on stealing Metal Gear Rex to help resurrect the motherland, Russia. As the story progresses, Ocelot becomes a more complex character and is hailed by many Metal Gear fans as their favorite character of the series. Of course, even these two lunatics could never have accomplished what they did without the help of four other complete psychopaths.

Special Forces unit: FOXHOUND



Made up of Vulcan Raven, Sniper Wolf, Psycho Mantis, and Decoy Octopus, these four characters became the most memorable bosses ever. Vulcan Raven was this giant spiritual shaman who carried around a chain gun and a whole lot of ammo. He also had this supernatural power over ravens. In one scene, the raven tattoo on his head spawns a real raven that paralyzes Snake for a short time. His spiritual side often would lead him to spout the most cryptic and memorable quotes from the game.

Sniper Wolf was a similar character only instead of ravens, her spiritual side came from the wolves she keeps as company. She was raised on a battlefield, her life and innocence ravaged by war as she could do nothing about. Eventually becoming a sniper, she learns to watch the chaos and carnage through a scope as an outsider.

Another victim of with a sad story is Psycho Mantis. A frail, gasmask wearing psychic solider that was blamed and beaten by his father for killing his mother at child birth. Without his mask, other people’s thoughts force their way into his mind, driving him mad. Finally, the character that is never truly seen, Decoy Octopus, not much is known about him… just that he mimics his victims down to the blood.