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.

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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.

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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 one one specific platform. Surprisingly enough, the best platform to start your journey might be the Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S.

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Thanks to backwards compatibility, you can play the Xbox 360 version of Metal Gear Solid HD Collection on these machines. 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, obtaining an PlayStation Classic might be your best bet, as the game is already installed on the mini console.

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!


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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.

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