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2* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: An optional Codec with Pliskin will reveal that Raiden used to smoke, but "quit it a long time ago". Just a minor detail, or {{Foreshadowing}} regarding Raiden's stressful past?
3* AluminumChristmasTrees: Dead Cell is based on Red Cell, a SEAL division tasked with infiltrating U.S. military bases to test their preparedness. It was originally commanded by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Marcinko Richard "Demo Dick" Marcinko,]] a man whose life, according to ''[[http://www.cracked.com/article_18857_the-6-greatest-war-heroes-who-got-screwed-out-history.html?wa_user1=5&wa_user2=History&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=recommended Cracked,]]'' "eerily resembles the ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' franchise". Also, just like Dead Cell's commander, Jackson, Marcinko was arrested for supposed misappropriation of government funds, although he never died in prison.
4* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper:
5** In the Plant mission, your support team can get on your nerves. Especially in the early game to explain gameplay mechanics you probably already picked up on in the Tanker.
6** Toward the end of the game, the Colonel will call you every few ''seconds'', and lines will quickly begin to repeat. At least answering the calls is largely optional. [[spoiler:Of course, by this time, it's [[MissionControlIsOffItsMeds debatable]] whether he can be called a video game ''helper''.]]
7%%* {{Anvilicious}}: ''Sons of Liberty'' was criticized for managing to be EVEN MORE preachy and heavy-handed than its predecessor, particularly with regards to the over 10 minutes long Codec call near the end of the game.
8* [[AwesomeBosses/VideoGames Awesome Bosses]]:
9** Fatman's fight is very fun. You are fighting against a fat evil bomber on roller skates.
10** The Harrier fight has Snake and Otacon helping you out from the helicopter the whole time. It also doubles as a BreatherBoss in most of the difficulties.
11** Fighting against an onslaught of Metal Gear [=RAYs=] in Arsenal Gear's Rectum.
12** The final fight with Solidus on top of Federal Hall.
13* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/MetalGear See here]].
14* BizarroEpisode: "External Gazer" of Snake Tales. The plot of the other scenarios were tactical missions ops, this one revolves around Snake and Otacon investigating a colossal monster at the Big Shell before finding out that parallel universes are converging around the space-time continuum that are connected via the VR system which Solidus plans to exploit by using paradoxes to prevent the deaths of his alternate selves.
15* BrokenBase:
16** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' catapulted Creator/HideoKojima to becoming the Creator/JamesCameron of gaming. After ''Metal Gear Solid 2'', people began to wonder if he wasn't the Creator/MNightShyamalan of gaming. Expectations were high to the point ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders'' sold well for including a demo of ''Metal Gear Solid 2''. The game was a best-seller but [[http://web.archive.org/web/20041026221343/http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/september03/25overrated/index25.shtml whether it fulfilled expectations is contentious.]] Nearly every aspect of the storyline was a magnet for controversy: the GainaxEnding and subsequent attempts to [[MindScrewdriver make sense of everything that happened]]; the quasi-incestuous relationships of Otacon and Emma; major plot developments occurring off-screen between Solid Snake and Olga Gurlukovich, with Raiden restricted to being a non-participant; and, of course, some particularly long-winded sermons from Snake on the nature of free will, identity, the importance of legacy, and hope. Fans of ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' instead find the climax and message of reaching your own answers extremely complex for a video game, and believe it was ruined by the expositions of ''Metal Gear Solid 4''.
17** Creator/QuintonFlynn's performance as Raiden in the English version. Some feel that he did a very good job providing his voice, while others believe that his performance made Raiden seem too whiny. Not helping matters is that in the Japanese version, Raiden has an awesome baritone voice.
18* CaptainObviousReveal: Pliskin is Snake.
19* CharacterPerceptionEvolution:
20** For years, the game was panned for not living up to the massive hype created by both its demo and its status as a sequel to its highly successful [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid predecessor]], and much of that ire was directed at Raiden, who surprised players by becoming the playable character after [[DecoyProtagonist spending the prologue as Solid Snake]]. Raiden was the complete opposite of what players expected from Snake: instead of being a gruff and manly veteran, Raiden was a naïve and emotional pretty boy who frequently argued with his girlfriend, which clashed harshly with Western expectations of masculinity. The hate for Raiden got bad enough for Creator/HideoKojima to include some SelfDeprecation about him in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' before revamping his characterization in later games [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap to much acclaim]]. However, as ''[=MGS2=]''[='s=] reputation [[VindicatedByHistory improved]], so too did Raiden's portrayal in it, with fans coming to both recognize his more sympathetic traits as a traumatized ChildSoldier and appreciate his role in deconstructing the series' relationship with its fans.
21** The Patriots were initially seen as an [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere out-of-left-field]] antagonist who were incredibly confusing with their nature of being an artificial intelligence AncientConspiracy, not helped by how the game goes [[BizarroEpisode completely apeshit]] the moment they really begin to show themselves. However, opinion towards them rapidly shifted during UsefulNotes/TheNewTens thanks to online misinformation and digital surveillance becoming hot topics. Consequently, the Patriots went from being seen as overly bizarre even by the franchise's standards to being considered one of the most effective villains of ''Metal Gear'', with their talk of controlling public narratives via the internet now being seen as eerily predictive of the future. Many people noted how Kojima was ahead of his time in terms of predicting how the internet and technological advancement could be used to affect politics and geopolitics.
22%%Please do not add Fatman back in per the Cleanup Thread's decision.
23* ContestedSequel: It's either an EvenBetterSequel due to the gameplay refinements and ambitious plot, or a letdown for its BaitAndSwitch protagonist and MindScrew plot. As time has healed the wound a little, opinions have begun to shift more towards the former, or at least something in between.
24* CriticalDissonance: This is the best reviewed game in the entire series, but fan reaction is ''very'' mixed, though the reception from fans has overall leaned towards the positive side as time goes on.
25* DamselScrappy: Emma for some. Yet, [[spoiler:her death is usually ''still'' a TearJerker for them anyway]].
26* DiscreditedMeme: At the time of the game’s release, it was a meme in the fandom to make fun of Raiden for being “effeminate” and claiming that he’s secretly gay. It even got MemeAcknowledgment in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' with Raiden’s {{Expy}} Raikov, who is canonically gay and the masochistic partner of [[{{Sadist}} Volgin]]. However, this has fallen out fashion in the years since then for multiple reasons. The first was that Raiden TookALevelInBadass and ended up becoming a fan favorite in both ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', which made fans like him too much to want to make fun of him anymore. The second was when mainstream society as a whole became much more accepting of LGBT people over the years and being gay was no longer seen as the source of mockery it once was, making the idea of using “gay” as an insult toward Raiden a case of ValuesDissonance with the fandom in the earlier years. And finally, deeming Raiden gay because he's effeminate completely ignores the fact that Raiden’s relationship drama with his ''girlfriend'' was a major part of the story, in addition to his attraction to Emma and Olga.
27* EndingFatigue: The battle with the [=RAYs=] seems like the climax of the game... except there are a good forty minutes of cutscenes/Codec messages between that and the final fight with Solidus. And after ''that'', there's another ten minutes of cutscenes.
28* EnsembleDarkhorse:
29** The Colonel, [[spoiler:who is actually a AI replica]], is one of the more fondly remembered characters of the game, to the point of being referenced in future games, and even eclipsing the popularity of [[spoiler:the real Roy Campbell]]. He's such a whacko, a scoundrel, and a creep that you can't help but love him:
30-->'''Colonel:''' One shouldn't stoop to vulgar levels just because they've set foot on the battlefield. ''(under his breath)'' [-But I sympathize with you there...-]\
31'''Rosemary:''' You '''''[[BigWhat WHAT?]]'''''
32** [[MadBomber Fatman]]. Despite only appearing for one boss fight and not being as important to the overall plot as Fortune or Vamp, he's managed to remain fondly-remember for being a [[LargeHam hammy]], LaughablyEvil [[AxCrazy kook]] who doesn't give a shit about any of the {{Gambit Pileup}}s his allies are engaging in, and instead only cares for the endless destruction his explosives cause.
33* EpilepticTrees: The [[http://metagearsolid.org/reports_vr_theory_1.html VR Theory]] is an old one; while it has obviously been rebuked by the existence of [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots a direct sequel]], it makes for a pretty good case considering ''Sons of Liberty'' was originally intended to be the last in the series.
34* EvenBetterSequel: While the story is heavily debated among fans to this day, almost everyone agrees that the gameplay is a major improvement over the first ''Metal Gear Solid''.
35* FountainOfMemes: [[spoiler:The AI Colonel]] is singlehandedly the biggest source of memes from this game, to the extent that nearly everything they said during the game’s last stealth segment became a meme.
36* FridgeBrilliance: Since so much of the game is the product of stressed developers tossing gimmicks at a wall to see what sticks, the result is a warped kind of genius: the Big Shell is a crude copy of the Shadow Moses Incident, and Raiden is an inferior agent to Solid Snake. It makes sense to have him muddle through missions with roller-blading fat men, spritzing inanimate objects with a coolant spray, clearing hallways of lice, holding hands with little girls, cartwheeling around naked, and other indignities.
37* FriendlyFandoms: ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' popularized a theme of deconstructing video games and invoking elements of postmodernism in its story and gameplay. About a decade later, the games ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' similarily deconstructed AAA military shooters, ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' deconstructed violence in [=RPGs=] for the sake of leveling up characters and ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' deconstructed romance and dating sim games. All three of these games have fans that thank ''[=MGS2=]'' for inspiring the trend.
38* GameBreaker:
39** The M9 tranquilizer handgun, or the silenced SOCOM. Take your pick. Both are capable of instantly incapacitating headshots from distances that only a sniper rifle would remain accurate at in RealLife, the ammo is extremely common, and abusing them almost guarantees you never being seen. The M9 is the better of the two, since you [[DiscOneNuke get it far sooner]] (you start the Tanker with it and get it from a locker in the first room in the Plant) and don't aim it down the iron sights, meaning the gun takes up less of the screen in first-person view, and the laser is much easier to line up shots with than the SOCOM's ironsights. Plus, your endgame status is better if you don't kill anyone, and you get extra dog tags from the bosses to unlock goodies for NewGamePlus. Meanwhile, the silencer for the SOCOM comes literally about an hour into the game. This gets reversed on higher difficulty levels, where even tagging an enemy in the head for an [[InstantSedation instant knockout]] with the M9 will have them get back up faster than it'd take for you to pause the game and go piss, while outright killing people with SOCOM headshots remains as effective as ever.
40** The Stinger missiles Snake gives Raiden make the boss fight against Vamp a piece of cake.
41** [[SniperPistol Long-range sniping using the binoculars and a pistol]] is possible in this game, as well as in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 3|SnakeEater}}'', via a complex sequence of button presses. Take out the binoculars, zoom in, hold down the first-person button, unequip the binoculars while still holding the first-person button, hold the fire button to aim. Wherever you were looking at, your weapon will be aimed directly at it, no matter how far you zoomed in.
42* GeniusBonus: Philanthropy, Snake and Otacon's anti-Metal Gear group, takes its name from the classical definition of the word "philanthropy": "Love of humanity"--derived from the Greek ''"philia"'' ("love") and ''"anthro"'' ("human"). A fitting name for a group dedicated to protecting all of humanity from the threat of nuclear war.
43* HarsherInHindsight:
44** The "New York Incident" is referenced in ''Metal Gear Solid 4''; it seems the destruction of Lower Manhattan took the place of the (comparatively smaller) destruction of the World Trade Center. It also leads to a dramatic rise in private military contracting and [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror increased turmoil in the Middle East]]. Furthermore, in [[http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/Arsenal_Gear#The_Manhattan_Incident Kojima's unedited version]], the WTC is about the only New York landmark that ''doesn't'' get destroyed.[[note]]Unfortunately, in ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' Sundowner references 9/11, indicating that the WTC was destroyed after all.[[/note]]
45** Solidus Snake's political extremism and secessionist views aren't too dissimilar from the political climate of the U.S. in the 2010s. Even better: they think they're continuing on in the spirit of the Founding Fathers while [[MisaimedFandom having nothing in common with them]], and have named themselves after the Boston Tea Party, in the game's case, the perpetrators. In 2009. Kojima: calling the Tea Party a decade in advance.
46** In 2001, it was incredibly far-flung speculating to suggest that it was realistic that a shadowy, omniscient cabal of post-nationalist boogeymen could manipulate information on the Internet to control geopolitics at such a massive scale as rigging a Presidential election and making the sitting President a stooge for their interests instead of the people of America's interests. Come the 2016 election, this is a topic that's on the tongue of many Americans.
47** Note the existential horror the game rings out of the loss and theft of personal identity: Raiden's identity is stolen out from under him, Solidus steals Snake's identity, etc. This was at a time when Internet-enabled identity theft and fraud was just beginning to become a big deal for people outside the tech industry, since most people's personal information was not on the Internet yet. These days, thanks to {{Friending Network}}s and social media, massive personal data breaches happen every few months or so, forcing everyone to wonder about whether we've let the proliferation of personal information hitting the Internet get out of hand.
48** Crossing somewhat into HilariousInHindsight meta territory, FBI head Robert Mueller's investigation into the 2016 elections indicted thirteen Russian nationals that were aiding the Trump campaign through data harvesting and social media manipulation. Creator/PaulEiding would do a reading of the report in Colonel Campbell's voice, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWR-zuiIFvQ just to drive the point home]].
49** In 2018, it was revealed that British tech firm Cambridge Analytica took data from millions of Facebook users to influence elections. [[https://www.gamesradar.com/how-metal-gear-solid-manipulated-its-players-warning-us-of-an-age-of-fake-news-cambridge-analytica-and-data-surveillance/ This article]] even looks at how ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' and other games in the series all but predicted this technological near-dystopia.
50** Snake's stern warnings about the dangers of "turning war into a video game" can seem even more chilling today than they did in 2001, both on the side of video games ("realistic" shooters like ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' becoming ridiculously popular in 2007 - the same year the Tanker Chapter takes place in, even) and on the side of actual war (thanks to the advent of drone warfare).
51** The issue of censorship and intel concerning the Patriots, then the Patriot Act of 2001, effective 2002.
52** A secret security hole being used by the government to spy on and control the citizens? Heartbleed being used by the NSA anyone?
53** [[spoiler:The Patriots AI]]'s speech at the end of the game is viewed as an eerily accurate prediction of the state of American politics and online communities in TheNewTens, notably the extreme polarization and self-enclosure into echo chambers:
54--->'''The Colonel:''' You exercise your right to "freedom" and this is the result. All rhetoric to avoid conflict and protect each other from hurt. The untested truths spun by different interests continue to churn and accumulate in the sandbox of political correctness and value systems.\
55'''Rosemary:''' Everyone withdraws into their own small gated community, afraid of a larger forum. They stay inside their little ponds, leaking whatever "truth" suits them into the growing cesspool of society at large.\
56'''The Colonel:''' The different cardinal truths neither clash nor mesh. No one is invalidated, but nobody is right.
57** The Patriots' plan of controlling the flow of digital information to block out things they don't approve of lines up shockingly well with Konami's treatment of Kojima in 2015. Even more so is that [[NoFairCheating the game mocks you if you input the Konami Code anywhere in a terminal]] -- which becomes quite the future shock with the events transpiring the two above.
58** Raiden was designed as a bishonen character due to fan letter from a fangirl stating that she didn't want to play as "[[HollywoodOld an old man]]". Come ''Metal Gear Solid 4''...
59** The Colonel's rather pervy behavior in some of the optional Codec conversations. The real Campbell ends up marrying Rosemary in ''Metal Gear Solid 4'', though he's merely her [[TheBeard beard]].
60** ''Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance'' has Raiden wearing Gray Fox's Cyborg Ninja outfit for VR missions. It seems fun now, right? Well, it won't be fun or amusing after playing ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' where Raiden does become an actual Cyborg Ninja under painful and extremely tragic circumstances.
61** Otacon recalls an incident involving his family [[spoiler:after Emma dies]] that his family broke apart when his [[RapeAsBackstory stepmother had sex with him]], thus his father committed suicide by drowning himself (giving Emma a fear of swimming because she almost drowned with him). When we see Huey in the prequel games, he was a near GenerationXerox of his son, but in a wheelchair. However, [[spoiler:Huey committed several crimes working under Big Boss and Venom Snake, ones that included the destruction of MSF, the murder of Hal's mother, Strangelove, and unleashing a vocal cord parasite onto Venom Snake's Diamond Dogs personnel. This indicates that Huey may have attempted to ''intentionally'' take Emma with him, rather than it being an accident as Otacon assumes here.]]
62** The game's message about social media being exploited by politicians in bad faith to deliberately circulate misinformation on behalf of their agenda, which also doubled as contemporary commentary on the Japanese government's past efforts to censor or downplay the country's war crimes in WWII, took on an extremely ironic bent when [[https://www.pcgamer.com/news-outlets-falsely-link-hideo-kojima-to-shinzo-abe-assassination-after-racist-joke/ far-right French politician Damien Rieu and even official Greek news broadcasts]] falsely attributed the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe (who was controversial during his tenure for his denial of WWII war crimes) to Hideo Kojima, claiming his name was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Hyde#Shooting_and_terrorism_hoaxes "Samyueru Hydeo"]].
63* HilariousInHindsight:
64** ''Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance'' has Raiden wearing Gray Fox's Cyborg Ninja outfit for VR missions. It seems fun now, right? It gets a lot more fun with ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', which embraces the badass CyberNinja aesthetic.
65** The premise of the game being a computer program with implied sentience manipulating all of humanity and causing a lot of atrocious deaths via a terrorist group all for an "experiment," and that program being voiced by Creator/PaulEiding, gets ''very'' interesting when ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' did something ''very'' similar for its plot.
66** Raiden recalling that [[spoiler:he never actually met the Colonel even once]] will sound pretty funny after ''Metal Gear Solid 3'', where Raiden's {{expy}} in that game, Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov, definitely knows a colonel.
67** One of the cardboard boxes found in the game is labeled "The Orange". Years later, an unrelated compilation titled ''The Orange Box'' would be released. And one of the games in it, ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', would later allow spies to hide in a box directly based on the one from this game.
68** Solidus using an offshore plant to revive Outer Heaven becomes much more meaningful if you've played ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' and/or ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain''.
69** Snake's tirade against VR training when he meets Raiden is funnier now that VR games have started becoming popular. Even better, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NND7Hk5fYdI the U.S. Armed Forces have started experimenting with training soldiers using VR technology.]]
70---> "A virtual grunt of the digital age. That's just great."
71** Otacon's affair with his stepmother and the ShipTease between him and his stepsister Emma can be seen as this given the porn industry's ridiculous reputation for stepmother/stepsister videos in TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties.
72** During the Patriots' conversation with Raiden before the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:AI Rose]] remarks that "Genes don't contain any record of human history." Six years later, ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' would disregard that statement for the sake of its FramingDevice.
73** In 2007, an American football team based in New England was caught illegally filming an opponent's sideline signals during a game. The scandal caused mistrust among fans who wondered if the team's recent run of success during the decade came from other shady methods, not helped by the team's overly secretive head coach. The team's name? The Patriots.
74** Famously, Raiden ends having to sneak around Big Shell completely naked near the end of the game. Come ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', and he won't need any clothing at all.
75** The idea of taking a random soldier and turning them into Solid Snake takes on a darker meaning after ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' reveals that Ocelot had already been successful at turning a random soldier into Big Boss in the past.
76** As would be [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by ''WebVideo/{{Max0r}}'', this [[Videogame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance would not be the first game]] where Raiden battled a politician as the final boss while using a sword.
77* HoYay: It's a ''Metal Gear Solid'' game. And one where a DepravedBisexual joins the fray!
78** Snake and Otacon have only become even closer friends since the previous game. Snake can even take photos of a Marine in his underwear and send them to Otacon during the Tanker chapter.
79** [[spoiler:President Johnson]] introduces himself by grabbing Raiden's crotch. Ostensibly, he had mistaken him for [[spoiler:Olga]] and was checking his gender, but it comes across as this trope instead.
80** Vamp, the above-mentioned DepravedBisexual. His habit of licking blood and his knife is arguably supposed to make him seem vampiric, but easily comes across as this trope instead. He's also confirmed as having been lovers with Scott Dolph and comments on how he can supposedly read Raiden's movements through his muscles.
81** Ironically, this game gives Ocelot his fewest moments of this trope.
82* InferredHolocaust: Thanks to various cuts within the final version due to the unfortunate timing of its release, Arsenal Gear crashing into Manhattan as well as the results was glossed over.
83* ItWasHisSled:
84** By the time of the release of the PC port of the game, around 2003, two years after the game first came out for the [=PS2=], reviews of the game had already abandoned trying to keep the game's DecoyProtagonist a secret.
85** The long delay of the game's release in Europe saw the video game press just come out and reveal the switch between Snake and Raiden rather than try and keep the twist a secret whilst it was being discussed on the Internet.
86** Pliskin is Snake. In fairness, it's a PaperThinDisguise and the only way you could possibly be fooled is if you'd never played a ''Metal Gear'' game before (including the Tanker chapter).
87** The game's GainaxEnding is well-known at this point, and is generally one of the most famous examples across the entire medium for how [[MindScrew convoluted]] and [[NoFourthWall disregarding of the fourth wall]] it is.
88* LoveToHate:
89** Because he didn’t stand out that much from the other villains in the first ''Metal Gear Solid'', and then was given sympathetic qualities in all of the games after this one, this ends up being the one game in the series where Ocelot fully achieves this from fans. Despite being completely despicable in this game in particular, he just has [[EvilGloating so]] [[LargeHam much]] [[{{Troll}} fun]] with it that you can’t help but love it, especially during his InfoDump near the end when he’s essentially bragging about how thoroughly he manipulated everyone and rubbing it in the faces of both the heroes and the villains alike.
90** [[spoiler:The AI Colonel]], like Ocelot, is a completely despicable character and also gives the player an InfoDump about just how thoroughly they manipulated everyone in the game shortly after Ocelot does. Adding to this, their [[spoiler:[[MissionControlIsOffItsMeds absolutely bonkers]] dialogue near the end of the game]] gave them FountainOfMemes status, something not even Ocelot was able to get.
91** Vamp is seen as an incredibly cool villain and loved by fans despite [[spoiler:killing Emma]], not to mention the scene of him slaughtering people, and was so popular that he was brought back for ''Metal Gear Solid 4''.
92* MemeticMolester:
93** Vamp. It's not uncommon to see fan art of him doing something like licking Raiden.
94** President James Johnson's infamous CrotchGrabSexCheck lands him in this territory.
95* MemeticMutation:
96** "I NEED SCISSORS! 61!"
97** Raiden [[{{Narm}} "MANAGING TO AVOID DROWNING."]]
98** The way Stillman "KILLED HIS SOUL!" and has to "DEFUSE HIS SINS!"
99** "A DUD!!!"
100** FissionMailed.
101** This game has been actually used to teach Meme Theory.
102** A running joke amongst fans is to add [[WelcomeToCorneria "Definitely not!"]] at the end of Raiden's dialogue.
103* {{Moe}}: Emma. Raiden thinks so when he talks to her via Codec.[[note]]He also does the same thing when he talks to Rose.[[/note]] Even ''Snake'', of all people, is infatuated of her.
104* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Vamp's murder of Emma.]]
105* {{Narm}}: Besides the fact that [[Narm/MetalGear there's an entire page of it]], Fatman and Fortune in particular stand out. The former is a mad bomber on rollerskates who sees his bombs as a timely form of art and keeps his fingers manicured on par with a woman's, not to mention [[EvilIsHammy his pure ham and cheese performance]]. Fortune on the other hand is followed by a lonely sax leitmotif, and virtually brings an entire bucket's worth of angst and drama to just about every single scene she's in - something she's explicitly called out on in-universe.
106* NarmCharm:
107** "We managed to avoid drowning!" Seems pretty {{narm}}y at first, but you just completed an underwater EscortMission in which the escortee has {{life|Meter}} and {{oxygen meter}}s smaller than yours. It's not hard to feel relieved that you're past [[ScrappyMechanic awkward control central]].
108** Vamp's knife holster is located on his crotch. In any other context this would be simply absurd, but since Vamp is already a blatant parody of a MrFanservice, it instead becomes the [[RefugeInAudacity cherry-on-top]] of his over-the-top sexual nature and fits him perfectly.
109* NightmareFuel:
110** Everything that happens after [[spoiler:Emma's death]] is so fucked up that you cannot tell what is real and what is not anymore. The FissionMailed screen is particularly disturbing - with the obviously twisted English words and you still fighting alright.
111** The [[spoiler:Colonel's last words to you before you fight Solidus are a hideously rasped and digitally distorted "''Our beloved monsters -- enjoy yourselves''." All the while, it flickers between its recreation of Campbell's face, and a skull, which leers at you.]]
112* OlderThanTheyThink:
113** This game technically isn't Raiden's first appearance; that would be ''VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel'', where he's referenced in TheStinger.
114** ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'' was acclaimed for its deconstruction of the concept of linearity in video games, but this game beat it to the punch by six years. You could also make a compelling argument that ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' predated ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' by ten years, particularly the torture room gag with Ocelot.[[note]]''The Stanley Parable'''s lead developer Davey Wreden cited this game as an influence when developing ''TSP''.[[/note]]
115** ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' was not the first game in the series to order the player to shut off their console. That credit goes to [[VideoGame/MetalGear1 the first game in the series.]]
116** ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' wasn't the first game to have a WholePlotReference to its predecessor, considering how much ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' lifted from ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake''. [[spoiler:Admittedly, though, ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' takes this idea [[MetaFiction much, much further]] than the original ''Metal Gear Solid'' ever did.]]
117** Ocelot's now-iconic body language made its debut in this game rather than the [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater next one]], as well as his ChronicBackstabbingDisorder.
118* OnceOriginalNowCommon:
119** While some of the later video games released were acclaimed for its deconstruction of the medium, ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' is now considered the earliest popular example to explore this.
120** Anyone who played the games from the ''[[UpdatedRerelease Subsistence]]'' edition of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' tends to find the old overhead view from this game difficult to get back to grips with.
121* OneSceneWonder: [[spoiler:Liquid Ocelot]] only appears once every chapter, but he owns every scene he's in.
122* PlayAlongMeme: A number of fans jokingly play along with the idea that Solid Snake actually dies in the prologue and that Iroquois Pliskin is a new character that just so happens to look like him. This goes as far as to suggest that Pliskin is either lying about being Solid Snake, or that Snake actually did survive, but Pliskin mysteriously goes missing towards the end of the game.
123* PlayerPunch: This game ''loves'' this so much it makes the entire final third of the story this.
124* PortingDisaster:
125** While the [=PS3=] version of the ''HD Edition'' plays just fine, it has an infamous GameBreakingBug that causes the game to consistently freeze during the (unskippable) credits sequence with no real known solution.[[note]]A makeshift solution involves turning off [=PS3=] notifications and not wearing body armor when dealing the final blow to Solidus, but it doesn't always work.[[/note]] While it doesn't really affect someone just playing the game once to see the story, it makes accessing the final stats and NewGamePlus (with its associated rewards) a serious hassle since the game only makes a viable save file after the credits end.
126** The Platform/NintendoSwitch port contains several bugs, but most egregiously, it cuts the framerate in half, despite being on stronger hardware than even the [=PS3=] used for the ''HD Edition'', let alone the original [=PS2=]. Because the game was made with 60 fps in mind, this also causes other graphical glitches, especially in the rain-covered Tanker Chapter. The port can also randomly crash on the VR screen.
127* ProtectionFromEditors: Likely the reason for why the game turned out the way it did. Apparently, Kojima's original script was over 800 pages long.
128* RealismInducedHorror: For all this game's use of fantastic technology, it does manage to strike a chord with many players with the whole idea of a GovernmentConspiracy controlling information flow and scripting global events, two things you don't have to be a covert special-ops agent to be terrified of.
129* ReplacementScrappy:
130** Raiden was loathed by fans for replacing Snake, and for overall being a bland character, but ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' and ''Metal Gear Rising'' in particular [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap rescued him]].
131** Rose also got (and still gets) a lot of hate for replacing the more popular Mei Ling from the first game. It doesn't help that while Mei Ling's lines could be funny and charming, many find Rose's dialogue intrusive and annoying.
132* RomanticPlotTumor: Rose. Her conversations ''are'' important for the player to learn of her and Raiden's characters. Unfortunately, the timing of these conversations cannot be any worse if they tried. This is mainly because Rose will ask Raiden about the date April 30 and talk about their relationship at the most inopportune times.
133* TheScrappy: In addition to Raiden, Rose was seen as this by many, as they found her constant melodrama and clinginess to be downright irritating. Fortunately, her role in ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' was [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap much better received]].
134* ScrappyMechanic:
135** The swimming controls are weird, unintuitive and rather squirrely to get a grasp of. And then the game throws you into sections where they have sea mines ready to take chunks off of your health bar if you mess up -- and then an EscortMission of guiding someone back ''through'' these areas, with their own oxygen meter to manage to boot. This was so infamous that numerous gaming news outlets at the time called attention to and lambasted these sequences above all else, regardless of their thoughts on the rest of the game; they were more controversial to some than ''Raiden himself''.
136** The sword gameplay didn't work very well to begin with — just Raiden making short, awkward-looking slices which had only a passing relationship to how you manipulated the right analog stick. Especially annoying since it was introduced very late in the game, giving you about one minute to practice before an hour of shooting giant robots/cutscene and then final boss swordfight.
137* TakeThatScrappy: "External Gazer" takes a good bit of piss out of ''Metal Gear Solid 2''[='=]s story, even more than ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' did. The much-loathed romance angle between Raiden and Rose is lampshaded by their VR avatars, the misdeeds of which earned "the combined hate of the entire universe" and whose mere presence "has the ability to [[StrangledByTheRedString destroy a world]]."
138* ThatOneAchievement: The trophies for completing the VR Missions. If one were to attempt these trophies while playing the streamable version of the ''HD Edition'', it has become practically impossible. The [=PS4=] controllers have none of the [[PressureSensitiveInterface pressure-sensitivity]] that the [=PS2=] ones did; even the [=PS3=] controllers had it to an extent. That means anytime an assault rifle is used, the second you press square, Raiden or Snake starts firing immediately- which means triggered alert phases (ruining hold up missions), and burning through ammo quickly.
139* ThatOneAttack:
140** Vamp's shadow hypnosis, which freezes you in place, thus leaving you helpless to defend against a nasty hit from Vamp unless you happened to toss an explosive first. Thankfully, you can shoot out the lights to prevent him from using it.
141** The knee missiles of the Metal Gear [=RAYs=], used when they get up close and personal. If you're unlucky enough for them to be fired just as you try to fire a Stinger missile, say goodbye to a good chunk of your health.
142* ThatOneBoss:
143** Fighting the Metal Gear [=RAYs=] on Arsenal Gear. On Easy mode, you only have to fight three, the pattern is pretty easy, and there are rations in the middle of the floor. How many do you fight on Extreme mode? ''[[HarderThanHard 20]]''.
144** Solidus on top of Federal Hall counts for one and only one reason; you probably still haven't had much time to really master using your sword, and your final boss battle is nothing but a sword fight. Akin to taking a test for the finals you haven't even studied for. He's even harder in the Snake Tales level: External Gazer, due to Snake not having the sword to block and fighting Solidus with his bare fists.
145* ThatOneLevel:
146** The segment where Raiden has to escort Emma through a series of flooded sections infested with aquatic mines, with Emma having shorter life and oxygen meters than Raiden's. Suddenly, Raiden saying "We managed to avoid drowning!" [[NarmCharm doesn't sound so narmy after all]].
147** Arsenal Gear-Jejunum, where you have to sneak past Tengu guards butt-naked (which prevents you from using your chokehold). If you get spotted, you're pretty much screwed and have to run all the way back to the torture room to get them off your tail.
148* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Fans disappointed with the Snake Tales, which act as a NoBudget rehash of several events in the main game, felt the entire mode should have focused on [[AnotherSideAnotherStory Snake's perspective]] during his mission at the Big Shell.
149* UnderusedGameMechanic: The High-Frequency Blade is a really cool weapon that works much differently from everything else in the game and can even parry bullets. Problem is that you only get it when the story is just about over. While it's understandable in that it would have been a GameBreaker otherwise, it still would have been a fun idea to make the sword a reward for collecting enough dog tags so you could fool around with it all throughout the plant, but even that wasn't implemented.
150* TheUntwist: Iroquois Pliskin is actually Solid Snake. Word has it they made it as blatantly obvious as possible just to see if anyone would fall for it anyway. Interestingly enough, the concept art for Pliskin shows him with blonde hair, something that would have made him look very unlike how [[spoiler:Solid Snake]] normally appears. This was, indeed, the reason why they made him a brunette in the first place: he looked [[spoiler:too unlike Snake for it to work]], despite how the first game implied that [[spoiler:Snake is a natural blonde himself.]]
151* ValuesDissonance: Part of the reason for Raiden's lukewarm reception in the West, at least in 2001. In Japan, there isn't nearly as much stigma against [[PrettyBoy men with feminine features]], and it's actually very traditional to cast them in heroic roles.
152* ValuesResonance: The AI at the end of the game discussing how the internet age is leading to rumors and half truths drowning out accurate information seems eerily prescient.
153* VindicatedByHistory: Though its gameplay and graphics were praised, the storyline was deemed convoluted at best and exploitative at a few points. However, as years go by, more are finding it to be an excellent early example of post-modernism in the video game medium, as well as a decent deconstruction of ButThouMust games. These two traits would later be championed by the critically acclaimed ''VideoGame/BioShock'' series. In addition, critically acclaimed games that act as a {{Deconstruction}} of the medium such as ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' and ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable'' have only boosted this game's vindication. As these sorts of games become more popular, ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' has also become much more accepted. Additionally, after 2016, the political side of the game went from "dense and long-winded" to "Kojima [[CassandraTruth warned us]]". It also helps that Raiden's appearances in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' helped him become one of the most popular characters in the series, which makes his appearance in ''2'' much more bearable. As a result of all this, it's become common to see people ranking ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' as one of the best games in the series alongside its [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid predecessor]] and [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater successor]].
154* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: ''HD Edition'' aside, the graphics and the detail were unbelievable for a console game when ''[=MGS2=]'' was first released in 2001. Keep in mind, the [=PlayStation 2=] was only a year old, yet the game in its original release is still absolutely gorgeous to look at. It also kept an extreme attention to detail all while running at 60 frames per second.
155* {{Waggle}}: The pressure-sensitive controls are highly awkward, at first. Especially for the assault rifles where they remain such even after you're used to them. Lightly pushing the button to shoot will make you aim your weapon, while depressing it fires. This is distinct from the pistols, where pressing the button will make you aim, and ''quickly'' releasing it fires, whereas slowly releasing the button lowers your weapon without firing. This is an important distinction, as accidentally shooting guards you're holding up can be very annoying. In addition, movement with the D-pad is also pressure sensitive just like on the left stick -- pressing a direction lightly causes the player character to sneak fairly quickly, while a full depression causes you to run noisily. ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' fixed this, where normal movement is now solely on the left stick and the D-Pad is for sneaking more sneakily.
156* {{Wangst}}:
157** Fortune seems to be a deliberate example, since even in-universe Ocelot notes that she "couldn't get enough of the drama" and was "absorbed" in her own "misfortune".
158** Rose won't shut up about her and Raiden's relationship problems, even in places where she knows he is in mortal danger.
159----
160-> ''The mission is a failure. Cut the page right now!''

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