Kojima Station discusses 5 groundbreaking aspects of Metal Gear Solid 1

Kojima Station Episode 13 featured a section dedicated to the PlayStation 1 classic Metal Gear Solid 1. The staff discussed several of the game’s most important characters, as well as providing a list of five groundbreaking aspects of the game. All credit for the translation goes to Junker HQ. Here are the five things that were mentioned:

1. Realtime cutscenes: at the time, most PlayStation 1 games were using pre-rendered cutscenes to tell the story, but MGS1 used realtime scenes instead.

2. In-game camerawork: The camera angles changed according to the player’s actions. For example, when pressed against a corner, the camera changed to show what was ahead, or when Snake was inside a duct or under a vehicle, it changed to first person view.

3. In-game staff credits: Remember the credits that appeared on screen when Snake arrived at the cargo dock? This marked the first time in a game that staff credits appeared during the opening gameplay, instead of in a pre-rendered sequence.

4. Meryl’s CODEC frequency: Many will remember having to look ‘on the back of box’ to find out Meryl’s CODEC frequency. This meant the player actually had to take the game case and look at the back, where a screen of a CODEC conversation with her could be seen, including the required frequency. Having to look outside of the game to find an element needed to proceed was rather unique.

5. Item / weapon menus: Snake’s equipment could be selected instantly using the shoulder buttons to cycle through the items, instead of having to load from a separate menu.

Honorable mention: the game featured a plain box art with simply the game’s title on it.

Source: Kojima Station 13 (Japanese), Junker HQ