Metal Gear is an overhead military action-adventure video game originally released in 1987 by Konami for the MSX2 computer in Japan and parts of Europe.
Players control Solid Snake, an operative of the special forces unit FOXHOUND, who goes on a solo infiltration mission into the fortified state of Outer Heaven to destroy the TX-55 Metal Gear, a walkermecha tank capable of launching nuclear missiles from anywhere in the world, as well as rescue a number of fellow agents who have been captured by the enemy.
It is considered the first game ever to popularize the stealth game genre, and it also was the first video game to be fully developed by Kojima Hideo, who would go on to direct most of the games in the Metal Gear franchise.
A reworked port of the game was released for the Famicom a few months later, which later saw release in international markets for the NES over the following two years; this version was developed without Kojima's involvement and features drastically altered level designs, among other changes. This first game in the series was a major international success, with the NES version selling 1 million units in the United States alone.
An emulated Famicom version came with the special edition of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes on the GameCube. A more faithful port of the MSX2 version was later included in the Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence game for the PlayStation 2, as well as in the HD Edition of the same game released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Vita, with these newer ports featuring a revised translation and additional gameplay features. The MSX version was also released for Wii Virtual Console and PC.
