Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
System: MSX2 (released 1990)
The Story
By 1999, the world's nuclear superpowers had improved their diplomatic relations with each other, and they agreed to dismantle their nuclear weapons. In this environment of coming peace, a small Middle Eastern nation called Zanzibar created a new military regime and began raiding the larger nations' nuclear disposal sites. At the same time, the world was experiencing an energy crisis due to a rapidly diminishing supply of oil. To combat this threat, Dr. Kio Marv invented a microorganism called OILIX that could refine crude oil. Naturally, he was kidnapped by Zanzibar.
The militaristic Zanzibar had established itself as controller of the world's energy and nuclear weapons, and only the best secret agent would be able to infiltrate the country and rescue Dr. Marv. New Fox Hound commander Roy Campbell thus called upon Solid Snake, now in retirement, to take the job. Again acting entirely on his own, Snake penetrated Zanzibar's defenses and made it into the heart of the militant country. It would seem that Big Boss's betrayal in Outer Heaven was not the end of Fox Hound treachery, however, as Snake discovered that Grey Fox, the first special agent sent into Outer Heaven four years before, was leader of Zanzibar's mercenary force. Snake defeated Grey Fox in battle and went on to pursue Dr. Marv. Snake retrieved the OILIX microorganism, ensuring the world a new source of energy, but in the process he again encountered none other than Big Boss, who had survived the destruction of Outer Heaven and gone on to found Zanzibar's empire. Big Boss was, of course, accompanied by a new Metal Gear. Snake again defeated both Metal Gear and Big Boss and then fled Zanzibar in the midst of its destruction.
After Solid Snake's series of harrowing battles, he again retired, this time to the Alaskan wilderness. But the evil intentions of those who hunger for power would ensure that Snake's retirement was short-lived....
The Game
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake embodied the basic evolution of the gameplay model begun in Metal Gear. Better graphics and improvements like the radar (which is familiar to Metal Gear Solid fans) represent the overall arc of changes between Metal Gear and its sequel. Kojima maintained his vision for the character of Solid Snake, as well as the gameplay of Metal Gear as a series, by again thrusting you into a world where stealth is more important than brawn. Metal Gear 2's plot was suitably complicated and satisfying, and such rich story was by that time becoming a hallmark of the series.
Unfortunately, Metal Gear 2 never made it off the MSX2, and American fans of Metal Gear were left wanting more. They eventually received an NES-based sequel to Metal Gear, but it's safe to say that Snake's Revenge isn't quite what series creator Kojima would have intended.
Story from metalgear.com
Zanizbar Riot (1999)
In 1999, Dr. Kio Marv, inventor of the oil refining microbe, OILIX, was taken hostage by Zanzibar, a heavily armed nation in central Asia ruled by a minority ethnic group. Zanzibar was planning to gain political and military hegemony over a world suffering under the cruel weight of a worldwide energy crisis. Roy Campbell, commander of FOX-HOUND, called Solid Snake, now in retirement, back to active duty to infiltrate Zanzibar and recover Dr. Marv.
Solid Snake make it past Zanzibar's impressive steel wall and penetrated deep into its interior. Once inside he destroyed Metal Gear, which had been completed after being transported from Outer Heaven, and defeated Gray Fox, former member of FOX-HOUND and now leader of the Zanzibar mercenary corps. He was also successful in retrieving the OILIX manufacturing process. Finally, he would once again meet his destiny with the man who was pulling the strings in Zanzibar, Big Boss! He had survived Outer Heaven and created Zanzibar in order to make a world rife with conflict and war, a world in which soldiers such as himself would always have a place. After defeating Big Boss for the second and final time, Snake gave up on war and retired to the peaceful Alaskan wilderness. From "Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake"
