Hideo Kojima became known to the world through his Metal Gear franchise, which started in 1987. The auteur game designer stayed with his creation until 2015 when he was fired from Konami, the company he worked with for almost thirty years. He went on to form his own studio and release the highly-acclaimed Death Stranding, and the franchise he created was left in the dust with an uncertain future.
Fortunately, there is a lot of content to sift through from stealth-action series. To prove this point, the following list will rank the games in the series based on how long they take to beat, with the times taken from Howlongtobeat.com. Keep in mind, not every title on the list was worked on by Kojima.
Updated On January 22nd, 2021, By Jason Wojnar: The longer time goes on without news about Metal Gear, the more the series feels like a relic of the past. It is almost a good thing to see such a legendary franchise actually end, since few long-running series actually get to rest. However, Metal Gear Solid should never be forgotten. Titles like Metal Gear Solid 2 and the original 1998 PlayStation entry are revolutionary classics. To keep the good name of Metal Gear alive, we decided to update this list, adding the spin-offs, including non-canon ones.
18 Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes – (2 Hours)
Ground Zeroes served as a playable prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Despite its short length, it was still packaged and sold as a separate product. Going through the main game takes less than two hours, but completing everything it has to offer will extend the game time to literally ten times that.
Some were less than thrilled by the game’s format, but no one can argue against the gameplay, which finally perfected the stealth action formula.
17 Metal Gear (4 Hours)
The debut entry wasn’t a massive hit at first, but it has garnered respect in hindsight for establishing a new genre. It may take four hours to run through from start to finish, but it will take far longer if one is going in without a strategy guide. Figuring out what to do on one’s own is a monumental task due to the obtuse hints given to the player.
16 Snake’s Revenge (5 Hours)
The second game crafted under the Metal Gear banner is an unofficial sequel made without Kojima’s involvement. Reportedly, the series’ creator wasn’t even aware of its existence until after it came out. The game still has its fans, but it is irrelevant to the timeline and can be skipped without missing anything.
If there is one plus to come from its release, Kojima’s discovery of it led to him starting work on a true sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
15 Metal Gear Solid On Game Boy Color (5 Hours)
This titles was released in Japan as Metal Gear Solid: Ghost Babel. Portable adventures are few and far between for the series, and this was the first one. Five hours is not extremely short for the hardware either. It is not canon, but the gameplay very closely resembles Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, but with aesthetic similarities to 1998’s Metal Gear Solid. The developers did a great job of translating the console gameplay to the portable device.
14 Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (6 Hours)
The first official sequel significantly expanded upon the stealth concept of its predecessor. Snake had more tools in his possession and the story upped the complexity. Unfortunately, North American gamers were left out of the fun for about fifteen years, since it didn’t see a release in the states until 2006’s when Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence came to the west.
By then, many of its innovations had become quaint, but it is still worth playing as a curiosity. Ultimately, however, 1998’s Metal Gear Solid reused many of the same ideas to far better effect.
13 Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (7 Hours)
In terms of canon, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is the furthest into the future players get to see of the franchise. Platinum Games took the reins for this stylish action game spin-off, and it stands side by side with the best games the developer has to offer, such as Bayonetta.
The plot continues and expands upon themes familiar to fans, looking at them from a different perspective. While seven hours is short, new game plus increases replay value, a standard element for the genre.
12 Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (10 Hours)
The Twin Snakes is a GameCube exclusive remake of 1998’s Metal Gear Solid. It takes the same level design and lets players sneak through Shadow Moses with all the gameplay enhancements from Metal Gear Solid 2. While the narrative remains identical, some fans took issue with the ridiculous action sequences portrayed in the cinematics. Additionally, the levels from the PlayStation game do not always lend themselves to mechanics like hanging over railings or holding up guards at gunpoint.
11 Metal Gear Solid (11 1/2 Hours)
The 1998 title was franchise’s first foray into 3D. Upon release it blew up, making both the series and its creator household names. Playing it today, it is easy to see why it was such a phenomenon. Even without the advancements, the sequels brought to the table, sneaking around Shadow Moses as Snake feels just as good as it did over twenty years ago.
10 Portable Ops (11 1/2 Hours)
Portable Ops was the appetizer fans had to hold themselves over between Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4. The PSP’s lack of dual analog support made for some cutbacks in game play, but the developers managed to make it work.
Anything lacking in the core game play was made up for by the mechanic of recruiting soldiers and developing new equipment, something which would be heavily expanded upon in Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain.
9 Metal Gear Solid 2 (13 Hours)
While not a launch title, Metal Gear Solid 2 was one of the first titles to truly show off the PS2’s capabilities. Not only were the game play and graphics outstanding, but its narrative told a story unlike anything else the medium had seen before.
Those around at the time of release will remember one of the industry’s greatest shockers when it came to light that Snake was not the primary playable protagonist. Eventually, players came to love Raiden just as much as the legendary grizzled soldier they played as for the three prior games.
8 Metal Gear AC!D 2 (14 1/2 Hours)
Before Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the PSP received a wild card game spin-off of the franchise called Metal Gear AC!D. The sequel manages to be significantly shorter on the main path, but extra goodies manage to extend the runtime. The game came with a pair of 3D glasses, allowing the whole game to be played this way. Additional cinematics were unlocked throughout the campaign for viewing in 3D, including cutscenes from Metal Gear Solid 3 and steamier videos of models.
7 Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions (15 1/2)
In Japan, this came packaged in with the re-release Metal Gear Solid: Integral. This upgrade never came out in the west, so the VR missions were sold as a separate game. About 300 exist in all. Unfortunately, this game is considered to be one of the weaker entries in the series overall. The stealth certainly holds up, but the shooting in the 1998 title was never particularly smooth, and its flaws show when there is no story pushing the player forward.
6 Metal Gear Solid 3 (16 Hours)
Metal Gear Solid 2’s cliffhanger begged for a resolution. In classic Kojima fashion, the next title was a prequel where none of the prior game’s burning questions were answered. Instead, players explored Big Boss’s origins on a fateful mission way back in 1964. The setting helps make it a great introduction for newcomers while giving hardcore fans a new perspective on the lore.
5 Peace Walker (18 Hours)
This 2010 portable title rearranged the series’ formula to work better on the PSP. Levels were made into digestible bite-sized chunks which could be completed in ten minutes or so, and a slew of bonus missions gave game play options for gaming on the go.
While eighteen hours may be an average, getting all the mileage out of it will easily take twice as long.
4 Metal Gear Solid 4 (18 1/2 Hours)
The grand finale proved not to be the end of the series, but it was Solid Snake’s last journey. Seeing him as an old man was heartbreaking, but he went out with a bang. Some of the plot twists and resolutions were disappointing to longtime fans, but the game play was great and the drama was still filled with hard-hitting emotional moments.
One small drawback is the lack of post-game content. Besides the now defunct Metal Gear Online, there are no bonus missions.
3 Metal Gear AC!D (21 Hours)
The first entry of this spin-off series is aesthetically way different than the sequel. It lacks the cartoonish look the second entry would eventually embrace. Making a turn-based spin-off with cards was an interesting move, but it makes sense. A real-time stealth game requires undivided attention, which is not always easy to have when someone is playing on a train or bus. 21 hours is also a beefy runtime for a portable adventure.
2 Metal Gear Survive (22 1/2 Hours)
The most recent entry in the series is one most would like to forget. Kojima had already long since left the company, and the zombie survival title resembles the series in only its name and a few aesthetic touches.
As sad as it is to see the series reduced to this level, at least Kojima’s most recent title, Death Stranding, carries the torch, delivering a unique narrative-driven experience unlike any other in the AAA gaming space.
1 Metal Gear Solid V (46 Hours)
The Phantom Pain is noticeably unfinished. One comes to a point in the narrative where the story beelines towards a conclusion and tons of exposition is dumped on the player at once. Despite this, the game still manages to keep players occupied for almost fifty hours.
Additionally, it is one of the best action-adventure games of its console generation. The series may never reach the same heights, but few franchises ever get this fantastic, so fans should be thankful for what they got from the series instead of mourning what never came to be.
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