Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (officially abbreviated MPO) is a Metal Gear game released for the PlayStation Portable in 2006. Following the release of a few Metal Gear spinoffs for the PSP (both Metal Gear Ac!d, Metal Gear Ac!d 2 and Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel), Kojima Productions decided to develop a legitimate Metal Gear Solid game for the handheld system that remained true to the stealth action game design of its console counterparts, with a story that followed the events of Metal Gear Solid 3.
Set in 1970 (six years after Operation Snake Eater), Naked Snake (a.k.a. Big Boss) finds himself abducted by members of his former unit (FOX) and imprisoned in a base somewhere in the San Hieronymo Peninsula in Colombia. After escaping from prison, Snake finds out that FOX has allied themselves with members of the Red Army and have taken over a secret Soviet missile base. They're now threatening both the US and Russia, and the U.S. government thinks Snake is leading the FOX revolt. Unable to take down the FOX unit by himself, Snake joins forces with a Green Beret soldier named Roy Campbell, forming the core of a soon-to-be-much-larger team dedicated to saving the day.
Built on a modified version of the Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence engine, Portable Ops introduces a "comrade system" which emphasizes a squad-based approach to the Metal Gear Solid formula in lieu of the traditional solo infiltration style. Featuring a stage-based structure, the player can deploy a team of up to four members to infiltrate various enemy facilities and fulfill mission objectives, as well as scout other territories and gather information. Snake can recruit numerous type of soldiers to his unit, as well as medics, engineers and even main characters from both, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Portable Ops. In addition to the single-player story mode, there is also various multiplayer modes based on Subsistence's online component (Metal Gear Online) where two players pit their teams against others', including a Cyber-Survival mode where the winning team gets to recruit a member of the losing team.
Portable Ops was followed by a stand-alone expansion titled Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus (MPO+) in 2007. It drops the story mode from the original game with an "Infinity Mission" mode, while introducing new multiplayer modes, maps, units and unique characters based on Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 and even Metal Gear Solid 4, rather than being based strictly on Metal Gear Solid 3.
While initially advertised as the missing link between Metal Gear Solid 3 and the original Metal Gear, Portable Ops is considered more of a sidestory, as it wasn't directed by Hideo Kojima. Kojima would take directorial helm of the next PSP game in the series, Peace Walker, building upon the game design of Portable Ops and chronicling the further exploits of Big Boss. Kojima has since clarified that while the game is part of the Metal Gear canon, future games may take some liberties with certain elements of the plot.
Tropes common to this game are:
- Alas, Poor Villain:
- Cunningham laments Snake's decision to disobey the Department of Defense's mission when defeated. In addition, Cunningham is later pitied by Gene upon learning of his attempted betrayal and death.
- Python, if the player chooses to let him die.
- And I Must Scream: In the mission where Snake has to do reconnaissance at the Soviet Patrol Base and recover a launch schedule for a stolen American weapon, eavesdropping on the Soviet officer will have him state his fear and desire to flee, but finding himself unable to before questioning what is the power Gene possessed, implying that Gene's Compelling Voice also leaves the soldiers fully aware of emotions such as fear, but completely incapable to reacting to said emotions via methods like fleeing from the peninsula.
- Animal Theme Naming: Snake himself and the generic members of his team. Subverted by the members of FOX: Gene and Cunningham are also known as Viper and Boa, respectively, but they're never really addressed by those codenames; Null didn't use the codename "Gray Fox" until years after the events of this game; and Ursula's name (which coincidentally means "little bear") barely counts as a codename since it's a common given name. Only Python uses an animal-themed codename.
- Art Shift: The cutscenes are drawn in an animated graphic novel style in lieu of using in-game graphics. Worked so well, in fact, that the next PSP game in the series, Peace Walker, used a similar style for most of its cutscenes as well.
- Badass Army: Practically the whole point of the game is to start your own.
- Badass Longcoat: Gene wears one.
- Badass Pacifist: Elisa prefers not to fight.
- Big Bad: Gene is the main antagonist of the game.
- Brick Joke: In an optional radio conversation with EVA in Metal Gear Solid 3, she will state that Raikov possessed a weak stomach despite being a big eater, which acted as the reason why he often goes to the bathroom. When recruiting him, the location you find him at is right in front of a urinal in his cell.
- Broad Strokes: How the events are interpreted in succeeding installments. Basic details, such as Big Boss forming FOXHOUND to take down renegade FOX members and Zero gaining the missing half of the Philosophers' Legacy, are still considered canon. However, the entire side mission to recruit EVA contradicts how Big Boss and EVA were actually reunited according to Metal Gear Solid 4 and Metal Gear ZEKE from Peace Walker is now considered to be the first Metal Gear tank ever built (in-universe) instead of the ICBMG. Though considering the usual treatment given to the non-Kojima installments, it actually got off comparitively light.
- Call-Forward: Ursula and Elisa have different visions about Snake, regarding his "accursed Snake children". As she lay dying, Elisa has one final vision for Big Boss and his future; him building the TX-55 Metal Gear at Outer Heaven, one of his sons will bring the world to ruins, while another will save it.
- Casting Gag:
- This isn't the only time Daisuke Gōri played someone who defected to another group and sold out his allies. Although unlike Pigma, who was motivated by greed, Cunningham was motivated more by revenge, and given what he had to go through thanks to his allies/group, the CIA, its kind of hard to blame him for wanting revenge. Here's a quote from Pigma and Cunningham that has some similarities:
Pigma: My beautiful reward!''' Gyaaahhahahaha...!Cunningham: Why, Snake...? If you'd just gone home to America, you and I would have been given the '''highest honors a soldier can achieve.- Toshio Furukawa played the young Campbell to Takeshi Aono's older Campbell. This is in reference to Dragon Ball, where Aono played King Piccolo and Furukawa played Piccolo Jr.
- Clear My Name: The reason why Snake had to participate in the events of the game in the first place. To put it simply, the U.S. Government thought that Snake was involved in the FOX rebellion because the person who caused it had similar abilities to Snake. The direct instigator was Gene.
- Comically Missing the Point: In one of Snake's radio calls to Para-Medic, after she explained to him about the lost city of Gold, El Dorado, and similar locations in South America, including golden knives, Snake expressed interest in the golden knife part as he would use it to distract the enemy with CQC. This causes Para-Medic to exhasperatedly state that she didn't mean it like that. This was also somewhat in-character with Snake, or rather Big Boss's ending speech in Metal Gear 2, where he made it clear that he doesn't even care for wealth.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: A rare occurance where the heroes use this. The player can only control one soldier at a time.
- Continuity Nod:
- An optional radio call with Campbell has Snake explaining to Campbell when he is asked about The Boss that she was a true patriot who died for her country, referring to EVA's debriefing tape.
- Similarly, EVA herself and her MIA fate is referenced (although not by name) by Campbell and Snake in an optional radio call.
- EVA's call sign when contacted by Snake is "Tatyana", which is the same alias as the one she used when she infiltrated Groznyj Grad as Sokolov's lover.
- Snake stripping Raikov of his clothes was referenced by Para-Medic, as is her brief witnessing of Snake in the infirmary.
- Sigint and his UMA Finders Club is referenced by Snake and Sigint.
- Para-Medic's dream of creating a group of parachuting medics is referenced in an optional radio call.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover depicts some palm trees, even though there is not a single jungle area in the game.
- Cut and Paste Environments:
- Most of the characters and areas in the original Portable Ops were recycled from Metal Gear Solid 3, right down to using the same textures. This especially noticeable with all the returning characters from Metal Gear Solid 3 (aside for Snake himself, Para-Medic and Sigint) who look and dress exactly like they did during Operation Snake Eater six years earlier. Ocelot, Raikov, and Sokolov in particular were playable characters in the original incarnation of Metal Gear Online included with Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, so their abilities were carried over from that game intact.
- Teliko and Venus also use the same character models from their respective Acid games.
- Defector from Decadence: It's heavily implied that this was the reason why Snake left the FOX Unit after gaining the title of Big Boss.
- Developer's Foresight:
- Shoot Campbell with the Mk. 22 in the tutorial and the dialogue will hilariously change.
- Later in the game, you need to know the location of the Guest House by either stealing a map from the rail bridge, or interrogating the government official at the town. This is the same official interrogated from the airport earlier, so if you recruit him at the airport, he won't appear in the town, and the only way to know the location is from the rail bridge. Consequentially, recruiting him at the town will make you unable to recruit EVA and Ocelot as he plays part in their recruitment.
- The virtual calendar on the Briefing screen initially starts on November 2, 1970 and moves forward as the player participates in missions, but if you allow the calendar to reach December 31, 1971, the date will simply say "Time Paradox" from then on.
- Disney Death: Elisa is presumed dead after Snake destroys Metal Gear RAXA, only for her to show up alive to save Snake from Gene. Subverted when she gets stabbed by Gene afterward.
- Disney Villain Death:
- Colonel Skowronski, after Ursula awakens and takes direct psychic control over RAXA, ends up falling "out" of RAXA, and is implied to have been killed as a result.
- Possibly Cunningham as well, assuming that he wasn't killed by the explosion of his flying platform.
- Drunk with Power: Skowronski, who is also earlier drunk for other reasons, ended up hijacking Metal Gear RAXA, and although he missed his intended target, Gene, he starts to become drunk with RAXA's power, claiming that with it, "no one will make an exile of [Skowronski]!" Although it is short lived thanks to it shutting down.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Python (due to being An Ice Person) and Ursula (due to Psychic Powers).
- Enemy Mine: Raikov's recruitment into FOXHOUND. He sets aside his hatred of Snake for killing his former lover Volgin in order to stop Gene.
- Expy: Lt. Cunningham and Gene are based on Benson Cunningham and Black Arts Viper respectively, Ursula is a psychic girl similar to Alice Hazel, and Null is literally a younger version of the Cyborg Ninja.
- Fake Defector: Subverted with the FOX Unit. The CIA intended to have the FOX Unit fake defection to the Soviet Union so they could supply the ICBMG to the Soviets and thus have the CIA maintain all the power it gained during the Cold War. However, this plot was undone by the Pentagon (of whom Cunningham was a plant to), where FOX was to launch the ICBMG at Soviet Russia in order to tarnish the CIA's reputation. It's even further subverted when Gene intended to nuke America with the ICBMG. See Gambit Pileup below.
- Fan Disservice: Snake does wind up naked at one point, but the circumstances and art style drain all the possible fanservice out of the moment.
- A Father to His Men: Snake plays this straight, while the big bad does a twisted parody of this.
- Flash Step: Gene is so fast that he can dodge machine gun fire while appearing to stand still.
- Foreshadowing:
- Gene's speech as well as Elisa's precognition. See Harsher in Hindsight below for the former.
- Campbell states that he left the Marines and joined the Green Berets because he and his brother fell in love with the same woman and he didn't want to interfere. This is a subtle indication of the eventual affair with his brother's wife that results in the birth of Meryl.
- Four-Star Badass: Snake and Gene.
- Gaiden Game: Notable in that knowledge of this game is not required to enjoy the series, although the ending does foreshadow plot details of Metal Gear Solid 4.
- Gambit Pileup:
- The CIA, the Pentagon, Gene are all running The Plan against each other, with Snake/Big Boss serving as the Spanner in the Works.
- And Ocelot is using all the above, Snake included, to fulfill his own plan.
- And Zero is in turn using him to take out the Philosophers and found the Patriots in The Boss' memory.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation:
- Cutscenes triggered during and after some missions will mostly show at least one ex-Soviet soldier with Snake, despite who you take with you, if anyone at all.
- During subsequent playthroughs, you can start the game with your previous roster. This includes characters who aren't supposed to be on Snake's side at that point of the story and those who aren't even supposed to be on his side at all.
- Most of the optional unique recruits, like EVA, Ocelot, Raikov, and others, appear to be non-canon as far as the story goes, as they do not affect the larger story at all, and at times contradict it (particularly Ocelot). This is in contrast to Python, who actually has different cutscenes depending on if you defeat him lethally or recruit him.
- Groin Attack:
- Cunningham places his artificial leg directly on Snake's groin when attempting to extract info from Snake as to where he took the other half of the Philosophers' Legacy.
- Also, if Snake or another soldier gets into a confrontation with female Soviet officers (and in the case of Portable Ops Plus, female Soviet soldiers) and is in close quarters, they'll subdue Snake/the soldier by kneeing them in the crotch.
- Guest Fighter:
- Every surviving character from Metal Gear Solid 3 can be added to Snake's squad, including a few that don't exactly make sense in the context of the game's story (namely Zero and Ocelot).
- Teliko and Venus, the heroines from the Metal Gear Acid games, can also be recruited by having save data from their respective games.
- In Portable Ops Plus, Old Snake and Raiden (in addition to Campbell) can both be recruited as well, despite being from the future.
- Guide Dang It!: Although for the most part well done, some of the special recruiting missions have proven to be tedious, with Raikov and Sokolov being the only ones who are given any hints at how to recruit them in the actual strategy guide, and even then, only the first part with Sokolov's recruiting missions.
- Recruiting EVA if you botch recruiting her on a run where you recruit Ocelot all-but requires a guide, as her recruitment side-quest is tied to Ocelot's, the issue is that the game won't trigger alot of the same spy reports/interrogation dialogue that you used for Ocelot but they are still required for EVA, (For instance, you'll need to interrogate an official, with Ocelot Available, he'll give unique dialogue, if you've already got him, despite him now giving generic dialogue, you still need to interrogate him to trigger the flags for EVA.)so alot of it is interrogating characters unprompted, with no indication unlike the first time around that you've triggered events.
- Handicapped Badass: Cunningham.
- Harsher in Hindsight: In-universe, Gene's speech that resulted in most of his men going through mass riot suicide, as it turns out, the part about how after the Cold War ends the flames of hatred are fanned even more as well as nuclear stockpiles being stolen from the various superpowers was actually quite correct.
- Heel–Face Turn:
- Elisa definitely qualifies. Heck, she does it both times (although one time was completely against her will, as Gene was starting to forcibly awaken her other personality half.), and later does it with her twin sister (or rather, split personality). Raikov also technically counts, namely in regards to allying with Snake (in the last game he appeared in, he was an enemy. Of course, considering what Snake did in Metal Gear Solid 3, he probably does still view him as his enemy, and probably would fight against him had it not been for the fact that they had a common enemy), though he also wished to redeem himself in the Soviet Army's eyes (they exiled him to the San Hieronymo Peninsula for abusing Soviet soldiers, as well as Volgin's death).
- Python will join Snake's squad if defeated non-lethally.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Jonathan.
- Improperly Placed Firearms: Soviet soldiers armed with M1911A1s and other American weapons. This can be justified as being FOX equipment, but it's a bit of a stretch to suggest that they have no Makarovs available.
- Insistent Terminology:
- Big Boss is still uncomfortable with the title at the beginning and still insists on being called Snake, but by the end of the game, it becomes something of a term of endearment by his men.
- Konami themselves prefer to use MPO as the official acronym for the game instead of "MGSPO". This is because MPO was largely based on Subsistence's free-to-play online component, Metal Gear Online or MGO. MGO and MPO are play on NGO (non-government organization) and NPO (not-for-profit organization), respectively.
- Interface Spoiler: If the player decides to unlock Elisa and/or Ursula prior to fighting RAXA either by busting hard on recruiting medics or simply by code, you'll notice that you can't recruit them both simultaneously. This foreshadows the fact that Elisa and Ursula aren't physical twins, but two different personalities of a single girl.
- Gotta Catch Them All: There are several enemy soldier types (including unique characters) that can be added to your roster throughout the game, including scientists and engineers. The Portable Ops Plus expansion adds an encyclopedia of all the character types and how many you've recruited.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Snake aided the Soviet soldiers in their time of need, especially when it became apparent that Gene was seemingly going to launch a nuke at Russia. The Soviet soldiers repaid Snake handsomely by helping him destroy the ICBMG when the target was actually America.
- Laughing Mad:
- Cunningham laughs rather insanely when trying to use his Davy Crockett on the base in a failed attempt to bring Big Boss down with him.
- Also, Skowronski really begins to lose it after Snake met him, causing Snake to shoot the lock out of his cage to spare him of his desperate rantings and manic laughter. In this case, however, his manic laughter is implied to be a result of his being exceptionally drunk.
- Lightning Bruiser: The ICBMG combines the best of the Cruise (pinpoint accuracy in hitting the targets) and ballistic variants (virtually impossible to intercept once launched) of nuclear missiles, and has none of the worst aspects.
- The Man Behind the Man: Cunningham establishes that he was this before the boss battle with him, but just before the battle with Gene, he explains that he knew the truth all along and used the circumstances to his advantage.
- Mega Manning: Variation: recruiting enemy soldiers means that you'll also have access to any item or weapon they may possess. The only exceptions are the four FOX bosses (Null, Python, Cunningham and Gene), who each come with a permanently-equipped weapon (a machete, liquid nitrogen grenades, a laser cannon and bowie knives respectively).
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal:
- Cunningham's reasons for defecting from the CIA to the Pentagon, and thus trying to have FOX and Gene launch a nuke against Russia, as well as presumably wipe out both FOX and the Russians on the peninsula with a Soviet Davy Crockett, stemmed from the fact that the CIA pretty much forced him into a desk job after he ended up having his leg amputated, and it is also implied that their role in The Boss's defection also had him similarly sore with the government group he worked for.
- Also the real reason why the Soviet soldiers are serving Gene and FOX after they usurped the command chain even though they obviously don't completely trust either him or his unit (not brainwashing): The Soviet personnel, despite working in harsh conditions and losing many of their men either to malaria or during their allied battles with FARC against the Colombian government, and having little food and laboring under intense weather all so they could accomplish their mission directives for the Soviet government, and weren't even allowed to tell their families due to its top secret nature, ended up being cast aside (in Jonathan's words, "stabbin [the personnel] in the back!") after a regime change and the SALT talks between Brezhnev and Nixon, with all communications and supply transports either being cut or diverted, and they were forced to remain on the peninsula instead of returning back to Russia so that in the event the missile base was discovered, the Soviets would come up with the "convenient" coverstory of it being done by Renegade Russians.
- Motion Comic: In contrast with the main console games, both this game and Peace Walker use animated comic book panels for its cutscenes.
- Nerf: CQC, even when used by Snake, is a lot less effective than it was in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
- You cannot perform a chokehold from the frontnote , instead, doing that will cause you to wrestle an opponent until they either break free, or slam them to the ground. You also cannot slit their throats there, rendering their CQC knife being merely a Weapon for Intimidation.
- Unlike in Snake Eater where you can either slam or perform chokeholds on certain bosses (such as Volgin and The Boss), you cannot do the same to on-foot bosses such as Python, Null, and Gene.
- No Hero to His Valet: Campbell has a brief moment of feeling like this when he first meets Snake.
- Noodle Incident: Not much is revealed about Snake and Python's last mission together other than it took place in Vietnam, presumably North Vietnam, it occurred around 1960/1961, and Python apparently ended up with a serious enough injury that Snake was led to believe that Python had died.
- No Smoking: Despite Snake having a thing for cigars, Snake does not smoke even once in this game. He does, however, briefly mention wanting a cigar to Ocelot during the recruitment mission for him late in the game.
- Oh, Crap!: Cunningham's reaction when he realizes, while threatening Snake and his men to make Snake reveal where he knew where he hid the other half of the Philosophers' Legacy (something Snake genuinely doesn't even know, as he never had it), that he implied that he was actually working for the Pentagon and that they were involved in the mission as well.Cunningham: You're lying! You know where you're hiding it! The Pentagon told me...Snake: The Pentagon?!(Cunningham gapes at the realization of what he said)
- Old Save Bonus: Players can add three secret characters to their squad (namely Teliko, Venus, and Zero) for a second playthrough by having save files from Metal Gear Acid, Metal Gear Acid 2 and Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel respectively. They're also available via passwords.
- Permanently Missable Content:
- When you get the rescue Raikov mission, if you wait too long, you'll fail the mission before you even attempt it, you can at least attempt it again on NG+.
- If you miss meeting EVA at the Airport, like Raikov, she is lost for that playthrough without using the unlock code.
- Pet the Dog: Apparently, Gene generated mind shielding to prevent even Ursula from reading in what his true plans were, and only let it down when it seemed as though she died, presumably to avoid the risk of her revolting. The fact that he would do this to prevent her from revolting despite his demonstrating that he is more than capable of defeating her anyways due to his speed if they did end up fighting implies that he may not have wished to kill her.
- Plot Twist: Although it has several twists left and right, the biggest one that deserves a mention on here is that the American branch of the Philosophers were not the founders of the Patriots, as previously stated in the scrolling timeline of MGS3, but rather the CIA Director was murdered by Ocelot under orders from Zero. Furthermore, the organization was founded by Zero in the aftermath. This sets up the backstory of MGS4.
- Promoted to Playable: It's possible to recruit returning characters from MGS3, such as Zero, EVA, Ocelot, Sigint, Para-Medic, and Raikov, and have them perform missions in the field.
- Recycled Premise: A retired war hero is called back into action in order to stop his former unit, who are now rogue. This is the same exact plot as the original Metal Gear Solid, only with Solid Snake and FOXHOUND replaced by Naked Snake and the original FOX unit.
- Renegade Russian: Subverted with the Soviet soldiers on the San Hieronymo Peninsula: They were doing exactly what the Soviet government told them to do on the San Hieronymo Peninsula (build a missile base), and carried on with the top-secret mission while suffering all the while specifically because they thought doing the mission under the Soviet government would greatly benefit Russia. However, when Detente came, and the Soviet Union experienced a policy shift, the Soviet government screwed them over, cancelling all shipments and cutting all communications with them, not even allowing them to come home specifically because they wanted to make it seem as though the Soviet soldiers were of this trope in case the missile base was ever discovered.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: This is the reason for Raikov's presence on the San Hieronymo Peninsula.
- Reassignment Backfire: If the player recruits Raikov, he'll have a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the Soviets, although it is not revealed whether the Soviets did accept him back, or if they decided to keep him exiled anyways.
- Retcon: Sokolov didn't die in Metal Gear Solid 3, and the first meeting between Big Boss and Gray Fox is completely different to the latter's account of said event in Metal Gear 2.
- See Broad Strokes above, but the game wound up being on the receiving end of this, more than any other Metal Gear game.
- Shirtless Scene: Snake twice. First time at the beginning, then totally naked, albeit briefly, later on. It happens again at the very end.
- Shout-Out: Raikov's carrying an Ithaca M37 shotgun upon being recruited may have been a reference to General Blue, who similar to the former character, is also strongly implied to be homosexual.
- Skyward Scream: Big Boss, after Jonathan dies in his arms.
- Snub by Omission: Meta-example: Konami's treatment of this game following the release of Peace Walker. It's been omitted in most of the subsequent Metal Gear Solid-related literature and merchandising, particularly in Kojima Productions' latest timeline
(where there's only a passing mention of Portable Ops in the Peace Walker page). Portable Ops didn't even have the privilege of getting an HD console release. It also wasn't included in The Legacy Collection (a collection that contains all the other canonical Metal Gear games). - Start of Darkness: Here's where Snake's disillusionment with the shabby and disgusting treatment of soldiers by their ungrateful governments really starts to solidify.
- Taking the Bullet: Jonathan does this with Snake when the latter is fired at during a mass-hysteria riot incited by Gene, resulting in both a chest and a head wound, making his death inevitable.
- Taking You with Me: Cunningham attempts to do this to Snake after the latter defeated him and refused his offer to get on the chopper to go home to allow the Pentagon to continue their conspiracy... by attempting to launch a Soviet-made Davy Crockett at Snake, the weapon originally intended to be launched after Gene launched the ICBMG at Russia. However, he wasn't able to go through with it thanks to his hovercraft exploding seconds before he could push the trigger, and it lands with Snake.
- Temporary Online Content: Konami's online servers for both, Portable Ops and Portable Ops Plus, were shut down in 2012, removing the game's online functionality. However, players can still experience the game's multiplayer modes with other PSP users via ad-hoc.
- Timed Mission:
- Towards the end, when you are infiltrating the Very Definitely Final Dungeon where you need to reach the goal before the timer expires.
- In a way, your stamina gauge works like this. Overtime, it will slowly start to drain, necessitating the need to store rations to automatically (or manually) refill it when it runs out. Without the ration on hand, your character will go down.
- Torture Always Works: Gene is critical of Cunningham's methods and says that physical pain and truth drugs are unreliable, effectively deconstructing the idea.
- True Companions: Snake's own recruited troops repay his loyalty as their commander by rescuing him from captivity around the midpoint of the game, and it's quite clear he feels the same.
- Vodka Drunkenski: Skowronski's mannerisms when he first appears imply that he was heavily drinking. If Para-Medic's altitude-amplified hangover radio call is anything to go by, then possibly all of the Soviet personnel on the Soviet Missile Base in Colombia (FOX too, although they technically aren't Russian by birth or by nationality) are as well. It's kinda hard to blame them when they had been betrayed by their own country.
- Weapon for Intimidation: Due to the simplified CQC mechanics, the CQC knife has been reduced to this. It's only useful for interrogation and cannot be used to slit someone's throat.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: The European version of Portable Ops, as well as all regional versions of Portable Ops Plus, have soldiers who wear uniforms that are designed to resemble the flag of each respective country: the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, Greece, Finland, and the Netherlands.
- Wham Line: In The Stinger, delivered by none other than Ocelot.Ocelot: I'll help you with the project. But on one condition... I want him to join us. Yes, Big Boss... So that we can become the Patriots.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Subverted. The San Hieronymo Pennisula exists in the real world, it's just not called that. A map is in-game to show you where. It's the Magdalena River basin in Colombia, for those interested.
- You Have Failed Me: Averted. At one point, scaffolding fell down, with Gene and Ursula having predicted that it would collapse and promptly warning Cunningham to stay still. The soldier apologizes for the blunder. Gene's response is to tell him to stand still, as well as demand that medics arrive to retrieve him due to the soldier's wounded status, and then promptly apologize (in his hypnotic voice) for working the soldiers too hard.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Gene has his men commit mass-riot suicide at the assembly plant after the ICBMG is completed.
- You Monster!: Skowronski calls Python this after his attempt to kill Python failed due to Python's ice abilities. Python did not react well to the statement:"You try to kill a man, and then call him 'monster?' Such crude behavior!" (proceeds to freeze Skowronski's gun, and his arm in the process.)
