Dummied Out / Metal Gear

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

• The game has an unused codec conversation in its gamefiles that had Snake reaching a girl named Carrie, who said that her "daddy" (implied to be Kazuhira Miller) had gone fishing and asked her to maintain the codec frequency for him. This would have tied in to the mention of Miller's daughter, Catherine, in the manual for the game.

Metal Gear Solid

• The gamefiles have several unused items that could have been obtained, including a fourth Cardboard Box, flippers, dog food, anti-diarrhea medication (presumably for Johnny). Unused textures for Snake's bandana, as an alternate darker-color palette version of Grey Fox, an alternate Arctic Warfare Genome Soldier, and a couple of unused doors are also accessible on-disc.
• When Snake Mercy Kills Sniper Wolf, there actually is a texture for her face◊ after she's been shot and it's even used, but it's never seen as it remains off-camera until it's covered up by a handkerchief. It's likely either the developers decided it was too graphic or were made to cover it up by the censor board.
• After Sniper Wolf is defeated by Snake, the game would have played an instrumental version of "The Best Is Yet To Come", but this was changed prior to release to an alternate piece of music from the game score. The original instrumental theme can still be found on-disc, however.
• The codec screen has a leftover feature, either programmed in when there were to be far more codec frequencies or just in case they ended up having more than 8. The codec screen has fully-functioning scrolling for extra frequencies, which still works if you mod in some more, as showcased by this gif on The Cutting Room Floor◊.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has a mysterious video of the Statue of Liberty with no sound, and some sound files that were never used (like Snake shouting 'La-li-lu-le-lo? La-li-lu-le-lo! LA-LI-LU-LE-LOOO!'). The Liberty video was going to be part of a news report in the credits following Arsenal's assault on Manhattan. It was removed after 9/11.
• The FAMAS rifle is only available in the Tanker chapter using a cheat device. Snake's FAMAS rifle still appears in the game, but only in one cut-scene which uses FMV footage from one of the pre-release trailers.
• There are several more wigs available for Raiden than the ones that provide actual perks (unlimited breath, ammo, etc), which can be equipped but have no effect whatsoever on gameplay (they don't even change his hair color).
• Binoculars for Snake were included in the Trial Edition demo of the game, but were removed from the Tanker chapter for the final version of the game. Despite this, the Codec conversation where Otacon explains the purpose of the binoculars can still be found in the disc files.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has the Bandana from the previous games. You can still access it with a cheat device and even equip it, although it does nothing since this game's infinite ammo item is the Infinity Face Camo.
• The Banana camo and Monkey Mask are unobtainable in the HD Edition, although data for them still exists in the game, and a hacked save shows that they are fully functional.
• Datamining for the Snake Eater 3D version of the game revealed that it was planned to have an entire "Extra Ops" mode, similar to Peace Walker and Ground Zeroes, encompassing a series of 69 missions (yes, really) ranging from mine-clearing, helicopter battles, demolition missions, and augmented boss fights. These missions can be accessed via hacking and are mostly finished, but they lack a proper menu as well as the rating system, with missions simply booting you out upon completion.
• There exists audio files in the same batch used for the Final Boss where The Boss impatiently tells Snake to hurry up and make the final shot to take her life. This implies that the player was originally given much more control to wander about the scene before delivering the final blow, as opposed to the final game where the only acceptable input is to fire.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker had at least 20 additional Extra Ops missions which weren't included in the game, but exist (in various stages of completion) within the game files. These include missions revolving around Fulton recovery, a different marksmanship challenge, three Target Demoliton missions, prisoner rescues, a Perspective Flip Extra Op where you control ZEKE as you rampage around Mother Base, and much more. It is unknown why they were removed, though several are unable to be completed due to missing critical data.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain had a large number of elements removed or rendered inaccessible prior to release. It has been suggested that this was due to the Troubled Production/Executive Meddling that occurred between Konami and Hideo Kojima.

• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes:
  • An additional set of in-mission interrogation options (which are also present in The Phantom Pain) would have allowed Snake to force a guard to lie to his fellow soldiers over the radio to diffuse suspicion. There was also more dialogue related to guard shift changes and enemy chatter if you've triggered an alert (before/after extracting one or both prisoners) that are still present in dialogue files.
  • Text files also indicate that several additional weapons were planned but never implemented, including an AK-102, Mosin-Nagant, SCAR, Machete and M4. While a Machete does appear in The Phantom Pain, it is limited to a weapon carried by The Skulls, Eli and (after completing a certain level) an attachment for D-Walker, and cannot be used by the player in normal gameplay.
  • Dummied code uncovered after the game's release indicated that Ground Zeroes also would have included the hospital prologue of Phantom Pain (which also suggests that Ground Zeroes was intended to be the original first mission for the game).
• The Phantom Pain:
  • On-disc files indicate that there were more missions (possibly an entire chapter) that were never implemented, likely due to the Troubled Production that led to Hideo Kojima's departure. In addition to an unused title card that reads "Chapter 3: Peace", datamining showed that there are at least ten extra missions that were unused, comprising "Hard Mode" variants of missions from the final game. There was also an entire unused setpiece, "Kingdom of the Flies (Mission 51)", which would have followed Snake as he stopped Eli, who had stolen Sahelanthropus and flown to a private island with his army of child soldiers. That mission was removed prior to release and can be seen (in a pre-viz/animatic form) on the CE Blu-Ray disc, while references to it appear in the LUA files for the game itself.
  • Both Kazuhira Miller and Venom Snake had hundreds of lines of dialogue that went unused, including lines referencing the usage of guard dogs as enemies, alternate ways of signalling the chopper (using a flare grenade to call it instead of the iDroid), alternate comments during missions and much more. One set of notable lines would have occurred during the Paz storyline in the Medical Wing, and would have shown that Snake would actually talk to her (and be more emotional when responding) versus him refusing to say anything when presenting the memento photos in-game. There are also some strange lines where Kiefer Sutherland recites the names of stations in a Japanese train line, although it's hard to know what context the lines could be used in.^note In previous MGS games, this was used in a variety of scenarios, usually when an AI was malfunctioning in some way - except the original game, where it's used when Snake arrives in the hallway with people murdered by the Cyborg Ninja.
    • Interestingly, guard lines referencing the dogs are still in the game — in the FOB mode, when sneaking through the base and having the guards on alert, some will say, "You smell something, boy?" in reference to the missing guard dogs.
  • There are many unused models and references to additional camos and buddy equipment. While most of this was eventually integrated into the base game (several costumes from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater were eventually released as DLC, while a large number of additional color schemes for uniforms were released as rewards through the FOB mode), there are still some that haven't been released in any way, shape or form. These include a pair of cosmetic uniforms for D.D., which are labeled "Miller" and "Ocelot", and state in their text description that they're the "next best thing" to playing with the actual human allies. It appears that this was intended to be a DLC of some kind, but it was never finished and only references are left in the final product.
  • The Battle Gear was intended to be a usable buddy that could be deployed by the player in combat and driven around by Snake. However, it was cut prior to release for balance reasons, as Kojima felt it was too overpowered. In the end, it was reduced to an appearance in a pair of cutscenes and the ability to be sent on Combat Deployment Missions. References to the unused element can be found in one of the games LUA files and companion app.
  • There are a host of references and unused voice clips suggesting that Chico was intended to be a recruitable companion in the game. Besides concept art showing Chico wearing what appears to be a red poncho similar to the one Paz wore in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, there are unused voice clips of Snake screaming Chico's name, as well as an unused location in Zaire called "Outpost 22", which is still modeled in-game but cannot be normally accessed (as it crashes the game when the player gets too far into the village). According to an earlier script leak, Amanda would have contacted Snake at some point during the game and told him that Chico is alive and somewhere in Zaire, and Snake presumably would have fought him at some point and brought him into Diamond Dogs. The script also makes reference to an unused portion of the "Nuclear Disarmament" cutscene (listed below) that would have shown Chico, now dressed in a Diamond Dogs uniform, manning a Walker Gear during the ceremony. Mods exist that re-create the character model from the concept art and add Chico as a playable Combat Unit member.
  • There are references to an unused "Disposal" Mother Base platform in the game files - in the final product, nuclear weapons can be disposed of instantly via the iDroid.
  • Early gameplay presentations and gamefiles make reference to several elements at Mother Base that never appeared in the final game, including roaming animals on the Command Platform, and Miller and Ocelot walking alongside the player and giving personnel/status updates to them. The Infinite Heaven mod restores some of this functionality, including additional helicopters and soldiers moving around the base, Ocelot and Miller being present, and customizable Diamond Dogs outfits.
  • There are also unused audiofiles in the game that suggest that Skull Face was originally intended to be a boss, or at least have more interaction than what was seen in the final product. Several lines allude to the fact that he could either be killed or brought back to Mother Base as a prisoner. Similarly, Skull Face's lever-action rifle (referred to as "Skull Custom") was modeled as an actual weapon and can be summoned, but it is extremely bugged and can softlock the game (not to mention its reload animation is incomplete). It's unknown if this weapon was given as a reward for completing Mission 31 or could be found in another way.
  • Text strings on-disc indicate that there were plans to have a series of "Driver's Ed" Side Ops (referred to as such on-disc), that would have had Snake driving through Mother Base in a vehicle to beat certain time limits.
  • The E3 2014/2015 and Tokyo Game Show 2015 "special missions" (which include Snake going to rescue a POW that looks like one of Kojima Productions' playtesters), aren't present in the game itself, although references to it abound in the game files. At least one of these missions (the TGS Africa mission) had elements that never appear in the final product.
  • The TGS mission in particular has a large number of scripted elements that don't appear in the retail game. Chief among them is an alternate origin for D.D. — when Snake first enters the forest in Africa, a gunshot is heard in the distance. After Snake and Quiet dispatch a number of soldiers, they discover a dead wolfdog on the ground and a lone pup whimpering near it. As soon as the pup notices Snake, it begins to follow him, but is distracted by a decoy that is thrown. After the Phantom Cigar is used to pass the time, it's revealed that the pup has followed Snake into the forest, and is finally Fulton-recovered. None of this can be done in the shipped game — D.D. is only encountered near the start points of missions in Afghanistan and never leaves his spot. It's likely that this whole interaction was specifically scripted for gameplay demos.
  • The TGS mission also features a scripted instance where a gunship would rise up in front of Snake near the Lufwa Valley estate while he's escaping after rescuing the POW. No such encounter ever occurs in Lufwa Valley in the retail product.
  • The TGS mission also showcased an Active Decoy modeled after "Lisa" from the cancelled Silent Hills - while the radio broadcast from P.T. does show up in the final game as an Easter Egg (and a handful of other references are peppered throughout other missions), no such variant of the Decoy exists.
  • The physical map from the Collector's Edition strategy guide has a master list of delivery points, including several that don't appear on the map or in-game at all. It has been suggested that these corresponded to gameplay locations that were removed prior to release.
  • This also occurred in a backwards way with the Gold Bionic Arm (originally an Old Save Bonus for importing data from Ground Zeroes). Its functionality was removed from the game during the 1.05 patch so that it could be sold separately as DLC for consoles, angering people who had originally unlocked it for use in the base game. It was eventually re-added to the game with the release of the Complete Experience edition.
  • One set of Pre-Order Bonus soldiers (the "Skull" Mother Base Staff) were only offered through GameTetsuya in Japan, rendering them inaccessible unless a player modded them back into the game. They were finally reintegrated with the game as of the release of the Complete Experience.
  • The Fulton Launcher (a reward from the FOB mode) is a subversion of this, as it existed (unused) on-disc for more than two years before finally being added in the 1.10 update. Some players were disappointed when they discovered that the version officially released was the exact same as the initial on-disc version, with no changes or tweaks to its model or firepower.

---