No matter what that old adage says, secrets really are a lot of fun. The same goes for the Metal Gear series, which has spanned twenty-five years of plot twists, deception, and quirky characters. Amongst all of those iconic characters and mind-bending double, or even triple, crosses are some of the greatest hidden pieces of fan service in the industry. Easter Eggs in MGS aren’t always easy to find, but they’re laid out in such a way that they’re just waiting to be stumbled across by adventurous players.
1. Using hands as feet
This one isn’t too hard to find, taking place in MGS4 while following the footprints of Naomi’s kidnappers. While crossing the only stream in the nature labyrinth, take notice of a path that leads to the left. Veterans of the series may know that the panel of hand prints is back there, but–this goes out to the "ten-year vets" out there, too–pop on the Night Vision goggles and look at the ground. Take a look, and you’ll see why the panel has hand prints.
2. Ghosts galore
Ghosts are haunting the helipad in act four of MGS4, but they’re certainly not limited to where Snake once pondered on a Hind D. It has plenty to go around, though, and it’s a perfect place to earn a Trophy. Step back from the helipad and snap a picture with your camera–if you haven’t found the camera yet, go back to Act Two’s mission briefing and explore with the Mk. II. Turn around and snap off a picture of the elevator that’s blocked off. Turn right and enter the doorway with the surveillance camera and snap a picture of the broken camera. Then, go into the back left corner and shoot another one. The final two are where the genome soldier stood guard in the original game. Shoot that location, and crawl into the duct and snap a shot when Snake starts hearing Liquid Snake with an American accent and wait for the Trophy to pop. Apart from those, chances are that any flashback in Shadow Moses will yield a ghost picture, so snap away; while in Otacon’s old office, take a picture of the Policenauts poster.
3. Metal Gear Creed
Everyone who yearned for MGS4 back in 2007 remembers the collaborative April Fool’s joke between Kojima Productions and Ubisoft which teased Altair as a playable character in Guns of the Patriots. As many know, getting the Assassin Emblem grants the Altair costume, but Peace Walker has something as fan-serviced as it comes. In the Mine Base mission, climb to the top of the furthest building and search for that rooftop sign native to the Assassin’s Creed series and faithfully leap off the roof for your unique, but very itchy, secret box.
4. Be Hideo Kojima
That’s right, folks. The only thing fans have wanted, apart from fathering/mothering Kojima-san’s children, is to be him. In prime fashion, Kojima has given us the latter–sort of, but we’ll take it! In Peace Walker, while in pursuit of the truck holding nuclear warheads early on in the game, you’ll come to a warehouse of trucks. If you remember the license plate, definitely pick that one last. The other trucks all have secrets in them, but the one with “63824” on the license plate is the one with the Man of the Year that will join your team.
5: Eva’s medical history is pretty busty
In Snake Eater, you can go through Snake’s injury log to see exactly what you allowed to happen to Snake through your Cold War adventure. You can also see what happened to Eva in a similar manner. Once she gets impaled by the tree branch, you can do all of healing menu options for her as you can for Snake. Once you reach her healing menu, press L1 to see her viewer and open her history. You’ll find a few interesting diseases that she contracted through her life. Even better than that, you’ll find that she had some very seductive surgery.
6: “Three ways to die,” by The End
The sniper fight with The End is one of the most memorable boss battles in the MGS series, but there’s more than one way to skin this cat. You can fight with him in battle like normal, as expected, in whatever manner you wish, ranging from a full-on sniper fight to a more covert option of sneaking up on him at every turn. You can also shoot him immediately after the cutscene following the boss fight with The Pain where Ocelot performs the juggling Russian Roulette on Sokolov. The third option is to let The End die of old age. After the fight is initiated, save your game and turn it off. Then, set your console clock forward a week and load up your save file. You will find that The End has truly ended and the easiest boss fight ever has taken place.
7. All the better to be Big Boss with
Speaking of manipulating the console clock, players can use this same function to help get around the hardest earnable emblem in MGS4. After each area, especially during the bike sequence, save the game and go back to the Cross Media Bar and move forward the clock two days on your console. Once you load up the game, Old Snake will be fully healed, done by natural regeneration and it won’t count as a healing item.
8. The strangest things happen on stage
To get a Trophy in the freshly-patched MGS4 title, you have to strike a pose with a couple sculpted stiffs. This will take place immediately in the second area of the game, where Snake will reach for the next statue’s manhood. Do this three times, and Snake will get a “souvenir.” Also, during the escort mission in Europe during act three, you can also have Snake pose as another statue in the park; if you get there before the agent does, you may or may not get peed on.
9. Death by ketchup
After getting caught in MGS1, live through the torture sessions until Otacon comes for a visit. He’ll provide Snake with a ration and some ketchup to help keep it down. Instead of actually eating the ketchup, lie down in the jail cell and use the ketchup to create a fructose-heavy puddle of blood. The patrolling guard will walk by, freak out, and open the door to investigate. Upon his entry, stand up and beat the hell out of him to escape.
Did any of these moments make your personal list? Let us know which of your favorite moments we missed.