Memorable Metal Gear Moments: Truckloads of Easter Eggs

One of the things Metal Gear is praised for are the countless secrets, easter eggs and hidden stuff attentive players can find in the games. Sometimes they are just little jokes or references to other games or movies, other times you can get your hands on a special item.

At a certain point in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Big Boss is tasked with finding a truck carrying nukes. Having followed the truck into a hanger where a whole row of them is parked, the player now has to choose which vehicle to inspect. Since you can just guess it’s easy enough, but even so, it’s worth it to check each truck, as they all hold their own little jokes and secrets, or even extras.

For example, one of the trucks just contains a shipment of fish. Nothing too unusual, soldiers got to eat as well. The license plate is 57577, and in stead of ‘Centro America’, the location name reads ‘Shina Gawa’. Many Japanese license plates are printed in this city, so its a common sight in Tokyo. Why the fish? Well, maybe because Shina Gawa is a harbor town.

Another truck has a poster of Mei Ling attached to the wall. Veteran players may have recognized the license plate: 140.96, Mei Ling’s CODEC frequency in Metal Gear Solid.

Then there is a truck that contains a stack of strange looking sunflowers, and a voice yelling ‘sun light’ echoes through the interior. Those who are familiar with the Boktai-series, an trilogy of action RPGs on Game Boy Advance produced by Kojima, will recognize the reference to those games. In this game you could charge your ‘solar gun’ in the sun, hence the ‘sun light’ accompanied with a charging sound. The license plate of this truck is 00000, so that makes sense – the batteries were empty.

A fourth just has a whole bunch of casino chips – but what else do you expect, when the license plate says 777?

Another one reveals a stack of shiny cogs, to which Snake automatically responds with his famous words ‘Metal… Gear?!”, though this time around he’s not referring to a demonic weapon threatening the fate of he world, but to, well… gears made of metal.

But probably the highlight is the truck that holds the ultimate special character for Mother Base: Hideo Kojima himself. “Mister Kojima?!”, Snake responds with sincere surprise, as he discovers the famous game designer huddled in the corner of the truck’s cargo space. Kojima merrily waves back at his own creation.

Noteworthy is the license plate of this truck: 63824. Hideo Kojima was born on August 24, 1963.

Finding Kojima in the truck will actually recruit him and send him to Mother Base via Fulton Recovery, where you can put his skills as an engineer to use.

Hideo Kojima will also put his own likeness in Metal Gear Solid V, and with the new technology allowing for exact 3D-scans of a person, it’ll be interesting to see.