NEStalgia

← All episodes

NES box art for Snake's Revenge, the cover of NEStalgia episode 301

301 · Snake's Revenge

▶ Game info
VerdictSkip it
GenreAction
ReleasedApril 1990
SeasonSeason 6
DeveloperKonami
PublisherUltra Games
December 1, 2023 · 1 hr 0 min · transcript available

Snake's Revenge is a licensed but non-canon sequel to the original Metal Gear for the NES. Three years has passed since the Outer Heaven incident. FOX-HOUND has gained intelligence that an unknown terrorist group has seized a remote facility containing mass-produced Metal Gear tanks, as well as a new Metal Gear prototype which was under development. The newly-promoted Lt. Solid Snake is called back into action to infiltrate the terrorists' base with the help of two FOX-HOUND rookies, former marine Nick Myer and navy intelligence agent John Turner.

Our verdict: Skip it

Snake's Revenge is a Metal Gear sequel with no Metal Gear on the box, and Kojima had nothing to do with it. Konami made it for the Western market while his own Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was in development for the MSX2. We found a game with real ideas that kept getting in its own way.

What works

  • The world feels larger. Instead of one stretch of identical green bases, you get a jungle, a shipyard, two campsites and a train that is actually shaped like a train. The levels read as places.
  • A side-scrolling mode. Going prone, ducking under a sight line to knife a guard, and swimming up behind a guard with an oxygen tank are stealth ideas that survive the switch to Contra-style action.
  • Alarms that follow you. In the first game the alarm cut out when you changed screens. Here guards stay alerted across rooms, and we agreed that is an improvement.
  • A cinematic finish. After a cyborg Big Boss, you steer remote missiles through a shaft into Metal Gear and hit the blinking spot.

What doesn't

  • Key cards. There are eight, each opens only its own doors, and nothing labels which door wants which. We compared it to trying every key on a ring. A color code would have fixed it. A new card also has to be selected by hand, and that cost us about an hour.
  • Enemies that ignore your work. Leave a room by a different door and the guards designed to miss you spot you at once. We argued over whether clearing a building should be permanent, but we agreed the stealth and the punishment never find a balance.
  • The first boss. Five soldiers in a flying V converge on you, and getting past them took exploits. One trick from a guide worked about one try in four, and we argued at length over whether it is a puzzle or just unfair.
  • A bad start. There are two doors at the front of the base, and the scene you need only triggers if you enter lower, behind a bush. We wandered around there for a long time.
  • Menu overload. Weapons and the truth gas live in a menu, so we barely used them. The truth gas mostly gave us lore, though interrogating guards raises your rank, which raises health and ammo.

Beyond the game

Kojima's verdict has bounced around: faithful in one interview, "crappy" at GDC in 2009, and then not bad in a later one. The real Metal Gear 2 changed the transceiver and let enemies patrol across screens, and Metal Gear Solid later borrowed its carrier pigeon puzzle.

The bottom line

Skip it. We all voted no. Mike preferred the plainer navigation of the first game to the side-scrolling additions. Sean said it lacked the weight of the original. Joe doubted that this style of stealth works on the NES at all, since the sight lines never made him feel sneaky. Nobody called it bad, but there wasn't enough going for it.

Written from our conversation in this episode.

← Pin*BotSnoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular →