Metal Gear Solid 25th Anniversary

Hi, this is Frank Todaro, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. There is nothing

wrong with your podcast player. Do not attempt

to adjust the volume. Hello and welcome back

into our studio. You are now Inside Studio 2009.

I'm of course, TF2 and Mike. And joining me for

the second time, it's been about two years or

so. uh since this uh since this person has been

on the show he did a podcast approach back in

2021 we are here to talk about all things metal

gear solid because honestly anything before solid

sucks it is none other than mr mike lademan of

part -time nerds full -time dads burnt popcorn

shows that need to return folks let's get it

going you all Has it really been two years crazy

since we did the podcast approach you were episode

32 December 24th? 2021 time flies I gotta say

but also this there is some Value to the before

Metal Gear Solid, but it's no there is not It's

few and it's few and far between it's You're

you're you don't you don't do yourself any Disservice

by starting at Metal Gear Solid. We'll say that

I I mean I knew of Metal Gear but I was always

more of a Like back in the NES days and things

like that. It was like Metal Gear or Contra Contra

was so much better than Metal Gear ever had the

funny thing was is Like there's actually like

an unofficial Metal Gear sequel that uh... i'm

not sure if you're familiar with the snakes revenge

mistakes for an hour so snakes revenge i played

on any as without knowing that snakes revenge

was a sequel to metal gear i had never played

metal gear had only played snakes revenge and

eventually when i started playing metal gear

solid after some time i found out that it actually

was a sequel so to speak to snakes revenge like

i thought it was an actual sequel to snakes revenge

and i remember talking specifically with the

friend who i played snakes revenge with at the

time being like this is a sequel to snakes revenge

did you know that and they were like what you're

crazy and then it turns out it's not actually

snakes revenge is not canon but whatever it was

it was very interesting to find out i had no

idea and a lot of people didn't know that metal

gear solid was actually a sequel to something

because there was no number in the title and

metal gear wasn't as big as it is in the zeitgeist

now so five years oh man Back in the days and

I'm gonna get your thoughts on this since it's

more of a a a hot button topic as we're recording

this but Gamers are revolting against gaming

companies saying we're not gonna pre -order anything

unless you give us demos first because we don't

want all these bugs Well, that's I mean, you

know what? It's funny because this is a perfect

example of a game I never would have given a

second thought without a demo. I specifically

remember It was an issue of the official PlayStation

magazine. I'm pretty sure that the only reason

I bought it was because there was a naked Lara

Croft on the cover of the issue. And I grabbed

it. And sure enough, there was a demo for Metal

Gear Solid on the demo disc. And just to kind

of give you an idea of how early it was in the

process, the demo disc itself The I guess cuz

the actors weren't it was originally not going

to be a union project they all used they all

used pseudonyms. And I distinctly remember on

the demo disk all the characters had pseudonyms

and it was instead of it being solid snake david

hater it was solid snake sean barker and sean

barker was actually the name of the character

that david hater plays in giver. So it was kind

of funny about that. And there's a few other

a few other names that I can remember too, which

really funny. I remember the pseudonyms. That's

how often that gives you an idea of how many

times I played that demo is I can remember the

pseudonyms that the character that the actors

use in the demo liquid snake. Cam Clark was James

Flinders. I remember as well. I remember having

the demo disc. I don't remember the. fake names

for the demo disc, but, uh, took me a while to

realize, Oh wait, quit snake is also freaking

Leonardo from the 87. I'm like, wait, how do

you go from being a good guy to that much of

a bad guy? Yeah. It's called, it's called range.

That's how, yeah, obviously. Yeah. Obviously.

100%. Yeah. In 1998 I had just. The last Nintendo

system I had was super. I skipped 64 because

64 and disabled people just did not work with

having to play the video games one -handed. They

ain't touching that damn Z button. I mean, if

a game was nothing but the Z button, fine. But

anything else is like, nope, sorry. So I skipped

64 and then somebody was like, hey, guess what?

There's this thing. And I'm like, ooh. And my

buddy Mark, who used to be a house parent, a

social worker at one of the group homes I was

at, he had gotten the demo and then he had bought

the game because we had a PS1, or a PlayStation

as it was called back then, at the group home

and he was the third shift guy that would always

come in and we would always watch him play the

demo and then the... the full game and man i

got into this game i love the first game it's

so good i can just watch playthroughs of mgs

over and over and over again well that's the

thing like because that that's one of the main

reasons why metal gear solid is still revered

was because it was the first time you played

a game it was like look at the cinematic experience

like i'm not gonna lie i i used to sit because

i after you beat the game There is a demo theater

viewer option that opens up and you can just

watch the game like a movie and i would do that.

All the time like you know you said throwing

on a movie that you like i would just throw on

the metal gear solid demos and watching the game

and like like it was it was something that was

just. You just didn't see it like there were

other games that had stories and cinematics and

things like that but nothing to this degree and

And that's like what really jumped out to me

at the in the beginning when this when I first

started playing it 100 % Because it's the characters

it's the music it's the events it's this alternate

timeline of 2005 yes yes the future of 2005 yes

yes the future there did I know you know this

because I know we're also fans of this other

franchise that a little known something happened

in the fictional universe of 2005 mm -hmm the

giant robots and all I'm like the year is 2000

yeah the year is 2005 transforming Metal Gear

you damn right it is um but yeah so it was the

fictional world of 2005 and it was the shadow

of moses incident and it was just it was it felt

like It's third person, but it's also at least

in the first I think the other games do it as

well I know the first two do the whole oh You

want to have first person with your gun you can

do that now because by the second game which

we'll talk about a little while It it also did

that thing but like that the game mechanics of

the original metagross solid were so cool and

so interesting and so the crawling around and

the first person of the crawling around going

from third person to the first person The whole,

and I'm sure I'll put the sound effect in here

multiple times, because we all know and love

that exclamation point. It's like, you kid, if

you don't sneak by those guards the right way,

you're just gonna get caught immediately. The

music chain, the production of this game, Kojima

and his team did such an amazing job. From sound

effects to music, like... You have the traditional

overture of Metal Gear Solid, and then you have

the enemy infiltration music and it just like

switches on and does it. It's just so damn good.

And it's so immersive and it's so fun. 25 years

later and everything it has accomplished since

then. I mean, it is its own franchise now with

multiple games spanning. An entire storyline

from 1964 to 2018. Luckily, they stop at 2018.

Because Survive doesn't exist. You know what's

funny, you say that, I've never played it. I

never gave it a shot. I won't even watch it.

No interest whatsoever. Just. Yeah, I cannot

believe. 25 years. Yeah, well, it's it's crazy

because like back in the day, like you, you'd

get a game and there would be like one real mechanic

to it. You know, like this is the game where

you where you run and you shoot or this is the

game where you have a sword and you slash and

the deal, the. Amount of things that you could

do and and and just like The way that things

worked like like you could just do silly things

and and See what the response would be and and

it and it would be like You get experiment and

things would be what happened like a perfect

example is i mean sure in the story line you

get the bottle of ketchup and you can use it

to escape by pretending that you've been nice

well you can use that later with that if you

don't use it at this point it's. And and just

like other things like when you're in the cave

and you punch meryl and then you hide in the

cardboard box. The wolves pee on the box, and

then you don't. You don't have to get attacked

by wolves anymore. You can hide in the box and

the box smells like wolves and the wolves leave

you alone. Like where does like obviously that's

all comes from like Hideo Kojima's crazy brain.

But like where else was there anything like that?

Like to kind of give a perspective around the

time frame the Metal Gear Solid came out is my

favorite game that I had been playing at the

time was Resident Evil 2 and I I was in love

with Resident Evil 2 and then Metal Gear Solid

came out and in Resident Evil 2 you run, you

shoot at zombies, you solve puzzles and that's

it. That's all you do in that game and there

were so many things to do in Metal Gear Solid

and that was like just something that I just

absolutely loved. It was just like this playground

like as much as open world games came later this

was like having that feeling a much sooner like

because it was this base worth where guards were

walking around and and you could just do whatever

you wanted to you know like exploit them and

then like you leave little traps for them and

like i i'm sure you at some point in time put

on the stealth camouflage and would just punch

guys Like and they'd be like yeah, and they'd

be like what's happening and it was just like

ha ha you can't see me and you just run around

and at or or You would turn off the camouflage

right in front of a guard for like a split second

Just to see how he reacted and then like run

away and also like just the the amount of stuff

that you could do like there was things I was

finding out later that that I had no idea like

using the cardboard boxes to get from base to

base I didn't know that I found that out in a

magazine like a year later after I'd been playing

the game forever I had no idea that you could

use the cardboard boxes to to move from base

parts of the base quickly and and then what was

another thing that was just like oh yeah this

is uh is something you can do that it was sorry

i have a cat here and it's distracting me and

it's making me lose what i was thinking my train

of thought but you know just yeah thanks cat

It's uh, it's wendy wendy is one of our cats.

Yeah, she's my little goblin princess. She's

got the saddest face of a cat and and uh, she's

very cute, but No, but uh, anyway, yeah, uh metal

gear is a sandbox and there we get that was the

point that I was trying to make I had something

else that I was leading to and got completely

distracted by a cat. So yeah, and you're absolutely

100 % right. It's Open world, but in a different

way. It's not open world Lua GTA San Andreas

or GTA 4 GTA 5 is it's open world in the sense

of you start at a point and you get to another

point Everything you do in between those two

points you can pretty much do anything you want.

Yeah There's a few there's a few moments where

you specifically have to do a to get to be but

for the most part it's very open -ended like

you just How you want to approach it, it's all

entirely up to you. Do you want to go through

guns blazing and alert every guy in the base?

You can do that. Do you want to sneak through

using the stealth camouflage and not be seen

at all? You can do that too. Do you want to use

the cardboard box and hide in the corner constantly?

You can do that too. There's just so many little

options of what you can do. Reminds me now of

all of the one Morales and two for spider -man

with the the web takedowns when you're up top

and you do web ups and like the the whole because

Was metal your solid was advertised as? technical

stealth espionage it was like Yeah, you can what

like you just said you can run and gun it and

have everybody catch you, but it's more fun to

catch them off guard and sneak through the entire

mission. Yeah. See if you can actually do it.

Yeah, it's pretty funny because like the more

the series has gone on, it's really I aim because

obviously the second one introduces the tranquilizer

gun. And I kind of since that happened. Try to

kill as little as possible If I can put people

to sleep and sneak by them like I will do that

and it's even the same and like all the way up

to Metal Gear Solid 5 If I could get away with

not killing anybody I would But if it got to

the point where like, you know, oh, there's like

50 guys and I have no choice because I only have

a machine gun, then, you know, I'll start going

to be proud. But yeah, you had you had the option.

You didn't have to kill a single guy. And they

gave you rewards if you did that, too. Mm hmm.

Oh, yeah, that that tranquilizer gun was was

very interesting. Again, they have to up their

game from the first one to the second one. What

are we going to do? And, you know, they. Like,

I remember the advertisements and the demo for

the second game. Like, look at all the new game

mechanics. Look at all the first -person shooter.

Look, you can be in the galley in this part of

the ship and you can shoot all the bottles and

all the effects are real. You know, all the reaction

to being having a glass bottle being shot. It's

like, holy crap, this is really happening. Yeah.

Oh, I remember what I was building to before

the cat distracted me. It was a sense of think

you know you there's things you just didn't discover

until later and you could talk to your friends

and they would they would tell you like oh no

didn't you didn't you do this. And it was the

psycho mantis fight and in the psycho mantis

but i knew that you could change control reports

to beat psycho mantis but i found out much later

in i think was a magazine probably maybe even

early internet that. he would move your controller

with your with your mind and i was like wait

how did what what does that mean and then i looked

into it and it was like oh yeah if you have the

vibrating dual shock controller That that that's

what he will do and i i didn't have one of those

i had the original controller with no sticks

i just happened to buy the model of playstation

before they release that like they've done a

whole bunch of bundles and i bought the bundle

before they did the dual shock controller lucky

me. but um but i bought i bought a dualshock

controller specifically so that i could experience

the the final the cycle mantis uh doing the the

moving your controller with his mind and and

i didn't have any of the games that uh that he

would read off your memory card because remember

he would be like oh you like castlevania and

stuff yeah um Yeah, he he would comment on the

fact that I had Silent Hill and he would say

that you like Konami games But other than that

he wouldn't like he didn't say I didn't have

I didn't have Symphony of the Night I wish I

had Symphony of the Night But that I forget what

else it was like Sui Koden or something like

that. He would also comment on but yeah Yeah,

specifically bought the DualShock controller

so I could experience the Psycho Mantis controller

shake Yeah, that was I always had that version.

I never had the Non dual shock version because

it was like holy crap. He's moving my controller

with his how that and again genius Mm -hmm, you

know brand new video game system very much and

you're taking advantage of every part of The

game system offers to use and it's basically

using it against you It's like you got to figure

this out You better put your controller into

the other port or else you ain't gonna be able

to beat this idiot I we would sit for hours at

night with the the night a social worker we would

just Weekends and stuff when he would work and

we didn't have to go to school We would just

either watch him play it or he would let us play

it and we would experience all man Soon as we

got to that psycho mantis fight. It was like

okay Who wants to fight this idiot now was before

we found out the secret of what you're supposed

to do uh... and and uh... again very very fun

very fun game as as it should be you know it's

so fun that it's lasted twenty five years it's

gotten so many i'm going to say offshoots because

they're really is like yes middle gear solid

is the first game in middle gear solid two sons

of liberty is the second game but with the way

that Kojima played with the timeline of it. It

starts in 64 and goes all the way up to 2018.

Which means that Solid isn't technically the

first game. Yeah, in the chronology, but like

in the sense of the release order. Oh, in the

sense of the release order, yeah, but in the

chronology of the games, it's like, oh, right,

and I was never, I skipped Snake Eater. Completely

skipped it. Really? Yep. Have you never played

snake eater oh? Ever had any I play well I take

that back I did I played it for like half a second

I tried to figure out all the camouflage stuff,

and I'm just like this is boring. I want the

old metal gear back I don't want to be in the

damn jungle. I don't want to have to wear seven

different kid I didn't in my thing you missing

out you're missing out Snake here to this day

is my favorite video game of all time What yep?

Okay, my brain is on the floor just melting folks

because damn Really yeah time everything like

above everything else snake eater really Yeah,

what's wrong with that? I don't know. Yeah, I

get it. It's the story of big boss and whatever

else but I Don't know The setting is not what

I wanted it to be. I get why the setting is what

the setting is, but it's just not the environment

isn't this is like, I don't know. I always prefer

futuristic stuff to, to goals, I guess. Well,

the story is wonderful. The game is incredibly

fun. And I think what I like most about it is

it's relatively self contained. As much as much

as and it's always the one I always recommend

like if people are like, oh I I only ever want

to play one game Well, then I recommend this

one because there's so as much as it's like,

oh, yeah, it is connected to the other games

it's not connected in the sense of Like you don't

need to have played two to understand three,

you know, like there's stuff that happens at

four that unless you've played two and three

and one, you have no idea what is going on. Like

it's absolutely just the thing about four is

it's very much like, oh, yeah, you already know

this is the fourth one. Like you're you you're

in. We just assume that you know what's going

on and they don't really tell you like anything

that's going on but but three justice its own

thing and yes there is stuff that is connected

to the other games but you don't need to know

that stuff to enjoy three which is I tried to

get I mean I can understand I can understand

how you wouldn't want to be into it I I've tried

to get my wife to play it because like Again,

it's it's my favorite game and she's like, well,

I want to know. I want to know what it's what

it's what it's like. And she played the the HD

edition when it came out on PS3 and she couldn't

make it through the first cut scene. Much I agree

with her. Yeah, because the opening of the game,

there's like, I mean, at this point, Metal Gear

for me is old hat. I know what to expect. He

has never played a Metal Gear game and the game

starts with like 15 minutes of cutscenes and

she's like Why aren't I playing this game? I

don't care and that was it. That was all my kids

Well, you can skip the cutscenes and she's like,

well then what's the point and that was it? But

the funny thing is the cutscenes in in the original

the reason why we're here tonight the 25th anniversary

of the original game The cutscenes were so good.

I'm not saying the cutscenes in Snake Eater are

bad, but like the cutscenes added so much, just

like everything else in the original game, it

just added so much more. And I think as they

probably went on, they're like, how can we improve

upon this? How can we improve upon this? I've

never played Guns of the Patriots. I've only

watched playthroughs of it, because by that time,

PS3, PS4, whatever, whenever it upgraded to whatever

it is, and it's like, you know, I'm out of it.

As soon as these gaming companies started making

controllers that are too big for my single, because

I, you know this, and most the audience knows

this, I was born with cerebral palsy. I play

video games one -handed. I'm lucky I was able

to play with a DualShock controller back in the

day, but man, You take that original Xbox controller,

it's like three times this, like I can't fit

my, I can't get my hand on the D, my finger on

the D pad and my thumb on the button. Just give

me a D pad and A, B, Y, and maybe a Y and an

X and I'm good. Everything else is too much.

So I've seen playthroughs of Guns of the Patriots

and that, like you said, like they could have

stopped there if they wanted to. Well, that was

the intention was they were going to stop there.

And then we have Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

Which isn't bad for a Raiden story Except it

completely destroys his arc from I mean I'm not

saying again I'm not I'm not poo -pooing on rising

I enjoy rising but it completely poo -poos on

his arc from four is a dire thing sure in four

is like don't don't You know, you don't need

to be a gun and then the you know, it's like

the iron giant, right? Like everybody the guy

drives like I'm not a gun and then every other

appearance of the iron giant since is he's a

gun like when you shouldn't be ready player one

What does he do? He shoots at people, you know,

that's what that's what they did to ride it in

Metal Gear rising which is which is fine rising

is its own thing and it's entertaining but You

know, they completely like exploded his arc.

Anyway, never mind. Let's let's go back to The

metal gear solid but and every boss battle was

so different. You had a you had the mystery of

the darpa chief along with the whole cycle mantis

thing oh that's that's cycle mantis disguised

as as what's his name. What is the idea of the

octopus octopus was that yeah yeah that's and

that absolutely. Blue my mind when that revelation

first came out for the first time. couldn't believe

it couldn't believe it what a bait and switch

that had been there's even a bigger bait and

switch in the original game too which begs the

question and i think they explain this and you'll

have to remind me because it's been a long time

but uh we have no campbell we have snake we have

solid snake liquid snake We have Mei Ling, we

have Dr. Naomi Hunter, we have all the other

characters, and then we have Master Miller. Master

Miller is supposed to be his, like, mentor from

the past or whatever else. Well, gentlemen, it's

a fix. The fix is in the whole goddamn time.

It's been spying on them because it ain't fucking

master Miller. It's fucking liquid in disguise

Oh my god, really? Did the master Miller ever

show up anywhere or is he just dead? No, he's

he's He does show up in other games he is especially

Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid 5 he's very

instrumental in those games as well But I can't

remember. I don't believe he's in two, which

is the one for it. I can't. My memory is foggy

on what Metal Gear and Metal Gear or Metal Gear

to Metal Gear, Metal Gear to Solid Snake. They

are the only Metal Gear games I've never finished.

Survive I've never played that's different, but

metal gear games. I started and never finished

Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 so I he it's possible

He shows up because he obviously he's like a

character. That's known in Metal Gear Solid I

know Royal Campbell for sure Roy Campbell for

sure is in Like you talked he's your commanding

officer and all that stuff, but I don't remember

Miller being in actually Metal Gear 2 but But

that was like another one of those. Hey, guess

what? We got you moments as whoops No, the funny

thing was is that one was less of a gotcha moment

for me because it was the same voice actor liquid

and it was he was a little more a little more

obvious but But it although hilariously like

at the same time the DARPA chief was the same

voice actor is the cyborg ninja so You know who

knows very true Very true. Oh, man that ninja

though gray fox. Oh boy. What a what part of

the story that was Yeah, okay. So anyways, yes

Miller is he's a codec friend in In in middle

year two, there you go Oh, yes, that is righty.

Okay. Yeah, I remember that now. Yeah Yeah, I

don't think I actually made I it's been a while

since I played Metal Gear 2 and it's as I said

when I've never finished so it's it's not like

I I know that one as well as I know the other

games of the series which I've played multiple

multiple times, but Yeah, absolutely and it just

it's Yeah, cuz they never really like I said

never really kind of explain it But they I guess

they do I guess saying he's a Kodak friend is

is some explanation Yeah, well, he was um, he

was a Like a Foxhound commander you like boot

camp guy and he helped train the Guys he helped

train the guys that that that Brady he helped

train the soldiers and So that's that's where

he comes from and he just gives you all sorts

of tips about Alaska And animals so yeah 100

% She's doing that because it's not really him.

Of course. Thank you out Like my sunglasses Oh,

what a personality on how the personalities between

solid and liquid are so dead. Oh, man. Like liquid's

very over the top and solid is not like he's

like wants to stay under the radar. Yeah, yeah.

Well, he's he's he's a bitter old 30 year old

who just wants to retire and mush dogs. Remember

those years about 10 years ago? Being a bitter

old 30 year old. I'm a bitter old 30 year old

right now. I mean So you're about to become a

bitter old 40 year old Yeah, that's one thing

I love cuz they're like, oh, yeah snake is around

30 something and I used to think that he was

like 35 in my head when I was a kid and I was

like man 35 would be so cool and it's like, oh,

yeah, yeah, it's 35 and like my back gives out

all the time. Yeah, that's so cool I did not

age as well as Solid Snake did, into my thirties.

I mean, you know, he's got the Fox die thing

and he's got everything else inside of him and

somehow Naomi messed with it to only, it didn't

affect him but it affected everybody else, whatever

else. What surprised me with the first game was,

this is 1998 and maybe it was like right as it

was ending, I think. Dr. Naomi hunter is a voice

that I fell in love with five years ago or four

years ago when I was 14 when she was the voice

of black cat in spider -man the animated series

this Jennifer freaking hail Yes, yes, and and

David hater was in the same show. He was Captain

America on spider -man. That's right He was I

I always forget about I don't forget about the

the Six forgotten warriors. Ha ha ha forget about

that, but I always forget that he was that voice.

That's that's amazing That's kind of like I feel

like that's how they knew each other was from

them doing stuff like that together like like

Because he got him the job on Metal Gear like

she was the one who was suggested that he be

the one who auditioned for it, so Yeah that would

have been after spider man so maybe it was maybe

we all metal gear to spider man. Hey i'm perfectly

fine paying that debt because that was awesome.

Oh there are some people out there who don't

like the ninety four spider man but that's their

problem not ours because that show was awesome

regardless of how much red is in the coloring.

Some people say the red is over saturated in

his suit and it Whatever. I don't care. It was

fine for the time I mean, you know for another

three or four years before they started complaining

about black leather suits and wanting blue spandex

and x -men My only complaint about the Spider

-Man animated series was how they changed how

the X -Men looked in that show. Yeah, that was

a little rough. Yeah. It was like, why would

you bring them in but not put them on model?

Like, I mean, obviously, at the time, I didn't

know what on model meant, but, you know, it was

just kind of like, they look different. Anyway.

There's another video game we could talk about

at some point, another Spider -Man and the X

-Men. Holy crap. About an old game. Oh wow that

game Boy, but yes metal gear solid 25 years How

often do you go back and play it? I used to I

used to do it a lot a lot more like it's it's

really funny because metal gear is I would say

probably the first game I ever bought more than

once and and it really boiled down to like at

the first time it was I bought a second copy

because Someone I lent it to and this is why

I don't lend video games anymore is Someone I

know I lent it to him and he was playing on the

hardest difficulty and he could not be liquid

snake and In his anger like, you know how you

throw a controller sometimes. Oh, yeah and things

like that in his anger He took the disc out of

the system like just slapped the open pulled

the disc out, bit the disc and then threw it

out the window and let it sit in a snowbank overnight.

And then he gave me the game back like nothing

had happened. And I was like, wait a minute,

there's very clearly a scratch on here. And he

was just like, I don't I don't know about that.

I don't know what you're talking about. And then

eventually I made him give me money so that I

can buy it. But yeah, I bought that. I bought

it again, so that was the first time I bought

a game again. But then, as time went on, I was

such a fan of Metal Gear, it was like, oh, here

it is again, and I would get it over and over

again. So I had the PlayStation 3 copy of it.

So I was able to play it on PlayStation Vita.

I played it, I have a copy of it. Technically

a copy of it on the PlayStation classic. I bought

the PlayStation classic Although it's funny the

diversion on the PlayStation classic is not the

like there's like a version one and a version

1 .1 and it depending on when the game like when

your copy was produced you had one version of

the other and for whatever reason 1 .1 is better

than one and they the PlayStation classic has

One on it And I actually hacked my PlayStation

Classic so that I could replace the one on and

put 1 .1 on instead. So I have the better version

on there. I have a Steam Deck. I have it on my

Steam Deck as well, and I play it off that. If

you're going to play it emulated, I would play

it on Duck Station. They do a really fantastic

job bringing that out into 4K. I do not own the

Master Collection. version I thought I thought

that would be a no -brainer purchase but I've

heard it's got a lot of bugs so I'm actually

waiting on on getting that one that's a new one

with all of them it's it's one two and three

Metal Gear Metal Gear 2 and actually snakes revenge

which is kind of funny that it's on there but

yeah it's it's the it's the first three and then

all of the old 8 -bit games It is called Volume

1 for a reason. So the assumption is that Volume

2 will have four or five Peace Walker and maybe

something else on it. Yeah. I know a lot of people

are like, yeah, these aren't really great updates

to this, like we were expecting more kind of

thing. Yeah, like the two and three versions

are literally just the versions from the HD collection

not even done, like they didn't do anything with

them. They even say HD collection on the on the

start screen and things like that. And yeah,

so there's still 720p on 4K consoles. There's

a lot of there's a lot of questionable things

like Metal Gear Solid is in a wrapper, like an

emulator wrapper that It's 240p still. Like,

come on. If I could play it on my Steam Deck

with DuckStation in 4K, there's no reason that

you can't release a better version of that game

on modern -day consoles. I mean, the Switch can't

run Metal Gear 2 at 60 frames a second, and the

PlayStation 2 could. How is the Switch version

inferior to the PlayStation 2 version? You know,

like, just things like that. Yeah, absolutely.

But really, who wants to play Metal Gear Solid

on a Switch? That's not... It just seems weird,

right? Yeah, Nintendo and violent video games

don't really go together. Nintendo and donkeys

and Kongs and Mario and mushrooms, that's what

Nintendo is. The original remake of The Twin

Snakes Metal Gear Solid 1 remake is on a Nintendo

console It's on the GameCube where it has been

trapped forever and people are hoping people

are hoping that it will appear in the Master

Collection Volume 2 and I would not hold my breath

No, I wouldn't either I mean I Hey, I was excited

to see what like if you were gonna get that and

cuz I know you're the Metal Gear God of all the

people I know outside of myself I can probably

talk about Metal Gear for hours on end but I

Was excited to see if you were gonna get it and

then I started reading all these articles and

seeing all these things and where else I'm like

Oh, it's not really that great. He's probably

gonna skip it because if it ain't that great

Then what's the point in wasting the money? You

know, although I'm such a pardon the pardon the

term a whore for metal gear stuff. Like I, as

I said, Metal Gear Solid 3 is my favorite, my

favorite game all the time. I own seven ways

to play that game. Like seven different copies

of that game. I own the original PlayStation

3 version. I own the subsistence re -release.

I own the subsistence. uh special edition i own

the hd collection version i own the legacy collection

edition which is literally just the hd collection

in a different package i only playstation the

hd collection version uh on on playstation vita

and um yes no i guess it's six times Six times

either way, it's more it's more times that I

need to own that game but There you go. Like

it's I'm very likely going to buy it at some

point I just didn't want to buy it at full price

with the issues. Yeah 100 % 100 % All right,

so From the original game and you can also mention

the other ones as well if you want Do you have

a favorite special effect? from the original.

Special effect? Yeah. Whether it's an ability,

a gun effect or the way it looks or, you know,

that kind of thing. I remember, I'll go with

special effect. I remember when the ninja shows

up for the very first time and the way that they

handle those cutscenes and the movement where

he's like got this like ghosting effect on him

and like just that stuff kind of blew my mind

at the time. And it's really funny, actually,

when you see how they do that kind of stuff.

Something that's more rare and not as commonly

known about is the document of Metal Gear Solid

2. You ever heard of that? I've heard about it.

I don't know if I've seen it. I own a copy of

the document of Metal Gear Solid 2. And it's

literally a behind -the -scenes documentary on

Metal Gear Solid 2. I've never seen a copy of

it in the wild outside of the copy that I bought.

Like I bought it the day it came out. And one

of the things that they have in it is you can

actually watch every cut scene from Metal Gear

Solid 2 in real time. And there's no audio, there's

no music. It's literally just the cut scenes.

And you can move the camera around and zoom in

and zoom out. And it's crazy seeing how the sausage

is made. There's literally stuff like you can

go through say you're on the tanker right and

there's like snake standing there and everything's

wet and there's reflections and blah blah blah

blah blah if you if you move the camera down

below the floor you can just see that there are

the all the reflections are just the same models.

Mured or with lower polygon counts you know like

things like that and there are sections where

you're watching. I can zoom in on a character's

face during the cutscene and like like. When

saw the snake is is in the harrier. And it'll

be a it'll be a cutscene with him in the harrier

talking. And if you keep the camera on him when

the camera switches to back to writing the model

of. of solid snake in the jet switches from his

like high res model to something with even less

polygons than metal yourself one snake he's just

like this absolutely just a little bit of block.

Inside with like a beard texture on it inside

it's it's crazy to see like oh yeah this is how

they this is how they made all of those. those

things like this is how they were able to save

on bandwidth you know like the oh we want a crazy

cutscene with like lots of effects well you know

well this guy's not in focus so let's use a low

res model of him here to be able to do that stuff

and i mean you know they i'm sure they that's

the kind of trickery they pull off in all the

games to make that stuff happen but it's crazy

to see that stuff really neat if you can ever

track down a copy of it i feel like it's expensive

i might be wrong I haven't I don't I don't sell

my games and I don't try to not buy games for

very expensive prices right now absolutely yeah

I mean for me it's gotta be I mean pretty much

any of the cutscenes from the original two games

they were also and the second game Metal Gear

Solid 2 Sons of Liberty like it upped Everything

that the first game had like that that whole

scene in the beginning with the stealth camo

Oh, man, can you man? I would have loved to use

that all the time in the second game. That would

have been so cool Well, you know right if you

get us after you get enough dog tags you can

use them the stealth camera whenever you want

true true But just the way they did that and

then how they did like the story and guns of

the Patriots But then they mix in all of the

flash, but I'm like, Oh, like, I just want to

watch that section over and over and over again

of guns, the Patriots, like just let's go back

to shadow Moses. Shall we? I'm like, Oh, you

bastards. Oh God. That was such a moment when

they went back to when you go over that hill

and the music kicks in and beautiful. Yeah, absolutely.

And the music for this game, for the original.

25 year old game. It's so good the music the

sound effects everything. It's a masterpiece

I mean that codec sound effect is iconic like

I I was taking my kid to school and I was standing

there waiting and I heard the codec call go off

because somebody one of the other parents had

it as a ringtone I used the exclamation sound

effect as my text as my notification I did that

for a while and I think it was just annoying

to everyone around me. I'm like, alright. Alright,

I'll change it. Same with the Kodak, because

I had it so that it would ring twice. So if I

was ever having a conversation, it was just going

constantly and bugging people. Yeah, no, I use

that for the longest time now and before that

it was just the traditional Mario coin sound.

I used to use that as all my notification sounds.

And whenever it isn't one of those sounds it's

like who the hell is trying to get a hold of

me on my phone like I don't do that like I literally

have if I haven't already changed like any of

the Text any of the chat messages in in Facebook

Messenger that I have set up if I haven't already

changed you to be the Metal Gear exclamation

point alert sound you gonna get changed as soon

as you message me because Can't deal with any

other unknown sounds at least I know that sound

default messaging noises. What are you talking?

I know right Mm -hmm. How dare they favorite

characters? I mean obviously solid snake but

others any of your any major favorite characters

that you have yeah, so it's all a snake like

you said like There's number one gray Fox. I

was obsessed with gray Fox. I said that because

my wife has a lot of tattoos and I have no tattoos

and She's like why wouldn't you know? Couldn't

you get a? Couldn't you get a metal gear tattooed?

I'm like if I got a metal gear tattoo It would

be my entire arm to look like the metal gear

solid ninja that would be great Fox's are but

yeah Grey Fox the cyborg ninja amazing character

Stealth camouflage, who are you? What? What are

you talking about? Oh, what next? Snake. You're

that ninja. I've been waiting for you, Snake.

Who are you? Neither enemy nor friend. I am back

from a world where such words are meaningless.

I've removed all obstacles. Now you and I will

battle to the death. What do you want? I've waited

a long time for this day. Now I want to enjoy

the moment. What's with these guys? It's like

one of my Japanese animes. I really enjoyed when

you could on when you played on the third go

around where snake was in a tuxedo and The ninja

was in spider -man colors Yes, yeah, that was

a that was a fun bit. I mean like All of the

characters in that first game are iconic everyone

like there's no Wasted characters in that game.

Maybe Natasha everybody else is If you're talking

to them in person, they're fantastic. You know,

like everybody, like even Naomi, you never see

Naomi outside of the codex screen. Mei Ling,

just another iconic character from the series.

Again, Natasha's the only one that nobody really

cares about. But Colonel Campbell and Psycho

Mantis. Vulcan Raven, Liquid Snake, Ocelot, Meryl,

Otacon, all amazing characters, Sniper Wolf,

I can't stop. They're all great. Oh great. Oh,

I remember Natasha now. She was okay. Yeah, she

was the Russian who told you what the guns were.

Right, right, right, right. I remember that now.

Yep, they didn't really give you many opportunities

to talk to her. She was so she was like the one

character that like Unless you called her Constantly,

there was no reason to like even think about

her like she's she's doesn't put in one scene

where they're like Hey, here's who you need to

talk to about stuff and then I can't remember

her ever showing up in a story cutscene Kind

of the story coda conversations from that point

onward Obviously two different characters, but

I'm surprised they didn't pull the double duty

and have her secretly be sniper wolf That would

have been fun, but yeah Campbell, Roy Campbell,

and just all of the characters. I'm going to

say it's rare, but for me sometimes in video

games, it's rare that I like every single character.

And to decide the initial, oh my god, you're

only playing as Snake for like the first mission,

and then the rest of it is this blonde -haired

ninja kid who's going over oil fences and stuff

in the second game. And like, after I got over

that, I was like, oh. Snake's still around. He's

he's he's Lieutenant JG Plissken or whatever

the hell he was whatever But yeah, just everybody

that makes up this franchise is just so so good

Yeah, like as time went on, you know, they weren't

all gonna be winners. I'm looking at you all

face but Yeah, like the first the cast of the

first two games, especially the first game are

Are you like absolutely iconic tasks? Anything

else we want to say to kind of round this out

for 25 years of metal gear solids or anything

you you missed anything You haven't told us like

about your secret metal gear room inside your

house or something I mean, I'm just the metal

gear was my life for a very Specific period in

time like I mean specifically the first game

it came out in ninety eight I had just been I

just started high school. In ninety eight and

it was a very interesting transition for me because

I had no friends like literally no friends I

you know I when it was lunch time I went to the

library because there was nobody for me to talk

to. And my weekends consisted of Metal Gear.

And so it holds a very specific place in my heart

where instead of friends, I had Metal Gear. And,

you know, time changed. Eventually I made some

great friends, some I still will talk to to this

day. But, you know, in a period of my life, from

98 to maybe 2000 and... Well, they're probably

98 to 2000 metal gear solid one was my my entire

life and Especially when when my brother came

home one day and was like, hey, I found this

on a bench Do you want it and it was a blockbuster

video case of the VR missions? He just randomly

and he's like, here you go. Do you want this

and I was like, yes I definitely want that so

but yes no it's very very easy for me to go back

to this game and just be transported back to

a time in my life like there this game lives

in my my head rent -free line deliveries will

will be with me till I die you know like I forgotten

I've forgotten more about my own life than I'll

ever forget about this game you know like Yeah,

it's a it's a it's a special game from a special

time in my life and making finding out that it's

it's 25 years old just makes me feel so old but

So you were starting high school. I was getting

ready to graduate high school the next year.

So yeah, you think you're old Step into my almost

40. Oh god. I'll be 44 in February surprise.

Yeah, I know right Lord yes this game Everything

about it is just so cool even to this day you

you show the original PlayStation game to people

and they'll be like what is this? It's a masterpiece

end of story. All right, folks. I think we are

gonna go to a quick ad break We're gonna come

back to close the show right after this Kept

you waiting, huh? Hello Geeks and Geekettes!

Looking for a podcast that covers a vast array

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Standard Time. It also gets backed up as a podcast,

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called the cover song of the week and my favorite

thing in the world this week. If you think this

sounds cool, check it out sometime. I hope you

do. Alright folks, that's going to do it for

us here inside Studio 2009. Before we get the

heck out of here, I want to let you know what's

coming up. Am on the march to figure out any

and every anniversary I can from 1993 or 1998

25th and 30th anniversary stuff for the end of

this year because the end of this year is Coming

up pretty damn fast. We're in the middle of November

by the time this airs Coming up in December my

buddy Dave and I did a Jurassic Park 30th anniversary,

which I know you love Favorite movie of all time

favorite game favorite movie Another friend of

mine and I are going to revisit Armageddon from

1998 for its 25th anniversary and then other

friends are going to join me for Paychex 20th

anniversary and then we're going to end the year

with continuing on with 12 months of Star Wars

with Solo so my buddy Dave is going to join me

for that. We're going to be recording that coming

up at the beginning of December. That will release

the end of December. So that's what's coming

up here, Inside Studio 2009, only on the GeekCast

Radio Network. What have you got going on, sir?

Or what haven't you got going on? My time is

spent between trying to find time to play video

games and being a dad. And that's basically all

of my time these days. So I am currently without

any sort of special projects to promote. Although,

if you really, really wanted to, the domains

for Burt Popcorn, my nostalgia movie podcast,

which has episodes about Armageddon and Jurassic

Park, and part -time nerds, full -time dads,

which is incredibly out of date at this point,

which was a dad nerd podcast that neither are

running at this moment. But hey, they have archives

that still exist on the internet that if you

wanted to go listen to them, there you go, there's

your chance. There you go, folks. Let me tell

you, you need to start at the very beginning

of part -time nerds, full -time dads, because

there's nothing like hearing a podcast from the

delivery room. Pretty much. Pretty much. Spoiler,

no spoiler. Episode 8 is the episode, yeah. That's

right. But yes, you can check all that out. I

will have links in the post where you can go

get those archived episodes and things like that.

Mike, where can the people find you on social

media? Oh my god, I'm like completely off social

media I have I have an X slash Twitter account.

That's just Mike Laidman, but I have I have for

my own mental health not been using it I have

I have an Instagram account That's just Mike

Laidman that Was completely destroyed by a viral

Instagram reel that Yes, I I did a a silly video

where I sang the Jurassic Park theme over the

statue of an ugly dinosaur and it exploded and

I cannot look at my Instagram account without

being inundated with notifications for this video

to this day and it has been almost a year It's

it's insane. It completely ruined by Instagram

account. But hey, it's it exists. So exists.

And then there's also Mike likes games. Yes,

Mike likes games, which that's still me. That's

me. And I I do post there, but nowhere near as

much as. Oh, you know. If you need a mental health

break from social media, obviously, take the

break. That's exactly that. So it's great. Oh,

man. I was there is height of the pandemic. Listen

and all the crazies on Twitter. I had to get

out of there. Yeah, I don't. I've curated my

Twitter so much that that I don't even pay any

attention to the crazies at all. Like, I refuse.

Between Twitter and Facebook, I have exiled all

craziness out of my social media life so I can

have a fairly enjoyable existence. I'm on threads,

barely. I tried to punch into the blue sky, but

it just, it's not the, I don't know, whatever

it is what it is. So that's gonna do it for us,

folks. As I said, coming up, all that stuff will

be happening throughout the end of 2023. So for

now, I am TF2 and Mike with Mike Laban. You'll

hear us back in the studio soon. Ta -ta. But

I got to a place where I learned how to just

drop it down. to where my vocal cords would start

to rumble on their own. And I can pretty much

do this all day. And a happy middle gear.