Metal Gear Solid 1 is a simple game on paper, but is remembered for its immersive experience and cool boss fights. Players can shoot, punch, grab, and use a variety of tools, yet each fight feels unique, even though most are 1v1 shootouts or against vehicles.
How does Kojima Productions pull it off, back in 1998 too? Through a few clever game design tricks.
The Shot is the Product of Set Up
The shooting is a little stiff in Metal Gear Solid 1 since you must go into first person to get a proper aim, and you can only do that with the pistol or Stinger Missile Launcher. You cannot move while in first person which leaves players exposed, which becomes a problem in boss fights if you miss.
With this in mind, and especially back in 1998, boss fights are designed around getting yourself or your opponent into position to then take the shot or out manoeuvring them to get an advantage. This sidesteps the problem of having iffy shooting mechanics, while also organically making fights more interesting since the player is now thinking on their feet.
Take the Revolver Ocelot fight which happens in a small room with 4 lanes (the middle occupied up by a hostage who you cannot shoot). Both the player and Ocelot move around this square trying to catch each others backside for an open shot.
Players can follow Ocelot, take cover, and try to track him as he moves, or engage him in a specific “duel”’ spot near the top of the arena. Whatever they do, they must plan their attack while also accounting for what their opponent may do. Being a tiny arena, the fight becomes a routine of finding Ocelot, setting up a shot somehow, and firing.
Metal Gear Solid 1 Bosses have Abilities the Player does Not
While many of the fights are x vs x (pistol vs pistol, hand-to-hand, sniper vs sniper) each one feels challenging due to unique abilities the opponent has.
Revolver Ocelot can “bounce” shots off walls, hitting the player when they are behind cover and even breaking the rule of being in the same line to shoot. Grey Fox can turn invisible and jump over desks, cutting off players as they try to get to pick ups. These abilities keep the player under constant pressure as they are always at a disadvantage, while also forcing them to keep moving.
This can lead to them finding themselves in a frantic position, such as being forced to move by Revolver Ocelot and then running straight into him. It’s also these moments which make boss fights memorable, as the balance of power changes throughout the fight. Players might have low health and be heading towards a Ration pick up, only to have Gray Fox cut them off. The gameplay moment changes from “getting health” to “barely surviving” because the opponent can leap around the arena.
The Arenas use Limitations to Create Tension
While many of the Metal Gear Solid 1s mechanics may be simple, the boss fights are tense, feel dynamic, and are quite difficult. The game achieves this effect by not only giving opponents unique abilities, but also through clever level design to emphasise those abilities.
Looking at the first Sniper Wolf encounter, the fight takes place on either side of a long hallway, with her on a raised platform and the player out in the open. The player cannot see her due to the position of the camera, so they must find her and take a shot while looking down a scope (which freezes you in place). While the sniper gameplay is set up in this way because of technical limitations, it adds tension to the fight because you have to both find her, and hit her, before she hits you. This also leads into the feeling of Solid Snake being an awesome soldier, winning shots while completely exposed.
The Hind boss fight does this best by having the helicopter circle just below the rooftops before “popping up” to attack. As mentioned before, the gunplay isn’t great in Metal Gear Solid 1, so a straight-up battle with a helicopter would be impossible to win. Instead, the Hind circles around the rooftop, and can then be attacked as it pops up if the player can time it right.
What can Game Developers Learn from Metal Gear Solid 1 Boss Fights?
Despite being developed and released in the 1990s, Metal Gear Solid 1 is a great case study for making something interesting using simple mechanics. Many fights revolve around the moments getting to the shot instead of taking it, which adds a lot of player choice to encounters. Players must defeat a Sniper who they can’t see, outsmart super soldiers, and carefully time shots against armoured vehicles. All of these battles involve several small moments before the shot is taken, which adds depth and tension to each fight.
The best trick, and one that all developers should know, is giving enemies unique abilities that make them slightly more powerful than the player. Revolver Ocelot can bounce bullets off walls, making cover slightly less efficient, but also forcing the player to keep moving around the arena. Think of this as “an extra step” on top of the base abilities an opponent has. For example, Grey Fox can move around, but can also jump over desks.
