Metal Gear Solid Games in Order

All Metal Gear Solid Games in Order

With some games dating back to over thirty years ago, it can be difficult to put all Metal Gear Solid Games in order. Over the years, multiple prequels and spin-offs were released, making it even harder to discern the actual chronological order of the games. To guide you in this legendary gaming franchise, we’ve compiled the definitive list of all Metal Gear Solid games, both in order of release and in chronological order of the story.

We may earn a commission for purchases using our links.

Metal Gear Solid Games in Order of Release

Let’s first start with the original order of release of all Metal Gear Solid games. This includes some non-canon spin-offs.

Metal Gear Solid Games in Chronological Order

Not all Metal Gear Solid gamestake place in the same canon. Some games, like the Acid series, are clear spin offs. These games take place in alternative realities and ignore the events from the ‘main’ games. These games are omitted from the next list. Other games, like Portable Ops and Survive, have disputed statuses. They acknowledge the events from the main games and don’t contradict them in any way. That’s why we do include these games in the following list. Here are all Metal Gear Solid games in chronological order:

For more information on the chronology of the Metal Gear Solid series, be sure to check out our Metal Gear Solid Timeline. The Timeline includes every game (both main and spin-off), as well as related books comics, movies, and more.

Metal Gear Solid 3

Best way to play the Metal Gear Solid series

Unfortunately, it can be quite difficult to obtain every single Metal Gear Solid game. Some of them are pretty old and have become rare over time, and some have only been released on one specific platform.

With the release of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch and pc, the most essential parts of Metal Gear Solid are finally available to a wider audience once again. Thanks to backwards compatibility, the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S are also great platforms to experience a large collection of Metal Gear Solid games.

The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 includes the original Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The collection also includes the NES version of Metal Gear and it’s sequel Snake’s Revenge, and both Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel and Metal Gear Solid 2: Digital Graphic Novel.

On Xbox One and Series X/S, you can play the Xbox 360 version of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection thanks to backwards compatibility. The HD Collection includes Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Peace Walker, as well as ports of the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. You can also play Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (as an Xbox 360 game), Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Metal Gear Survive on the Xbox consoles.

Even then, you’ll still miss out on a few chapters, though. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops is only available on PSP (or Vita, through backwards compatibility), while Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots requires you to obtain a PlayStation 3. If you have access to a PlayStation 3, Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection is also a great starting point. For the original Metal Gear Solid, you can also obtain a PlayStation Classic, as the game is already installed on the mini console. Let’s hope Konami will release a Master Collection Vol. 2 to make even more classic games available once again.

There you have it: all Metal Gear Solid games in order! What’s your favorite game in the Metal Gear series? Drop it in the comments below!


— Also worth reading

Lars Cornelis

Lars is a game journalist since 2005. He loves virtual adventures and appreciates a good story, whether told through environmental storytelling or deep lore. He has a large collection of books and comics based on his favorite games, like Halo, Assassin's Creed, and Metal Gear Solid.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *