This guide gives hints and tips on the bosses of Metal Gear Solid. If
you own the Japanese version, the boss strategies will be the same as
outlined in here, with the exception of the parts exclusive to the
Normal, Hard, and Extreme difficulty settings.
So, why a boss guide? Many people have trouble with the bosses, and
there are so many general MGS FAQs out there, I wanted to make
something different. If you need help with a boss, you can find what
you need quickly and easily right here. This is only my second FAQ
(the first being a full guide to F-Zero X for N64), but I'm pretty sure
of what I'm doing. As always, though, if you have any additions or
suggestions, be sure to let me know at the address above.
For your own good, only look at this when you are having serious
trouble, or when you want to beat a certain boss with less time and
rations. I'd never be able to forgive myself for spoiling such a great
game for anyone.
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Revolver Ocelot
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This is pretty much the same for all difficulty levels, and no one
should have any trouble with it. The only real concern is running out
of ammo. There are three ammo boxes, each with 12 shots in them. Only
pick one up if you have 13 shots or less in your SOCOM, so you get the
full 12 from them all. Stay on the outside, being careful not to trip
the wire that's holding Baker. Follow Ocelot around, and stay alert
when he still has bullets in his gun. While he's reloading is the
easiest time to hit him, but don't be afraid to hit him at other times
as well. Watch out for ricocheting bullets, as they will probably
cause you the most trouble.
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Raven's Tank
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First off, you can use the Thermal Goggles to see where the mines are
before the fight. They are much more effective than the mine detector.
Use a Chaff Grenade to disable its long range gun so you can get up
close, then throw a grenade at the top. If you get the grenade to land
by the guy in the tank, you'll blow him right out, but it will take two
hits to get rid of him if your aim is a little off. There are two
guys, so it should take 2-4 grenades. Be sure to know where the tank
is at all times, because if you get too far away, you'll need to use
another Chaff. You can keep tabs on it on the radar, or if you're
playing in Hard of Extreme, by the direction the rail gun shots are
coming from. If the tank runs you over, it won't do as much damage as
you might think, but don't make a habit of it.
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Cyborg Ninja
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First, hit him with some punches and kicks. He'll put his sword away,
and ask to take you on in hand to hand combat. He has some strong and
frustrating kicking attacks, so it's best to hit him right when he
comes out of an attack. Always hit him with Snake's punch-punch-kick
combo. The best thing to do is to get to the opposite side of a desk
so that he has to jump over it to hit you. When he lands, attack.
After a while, he will turn on his stealth suit and hide somewhere in
the room. Find him, and attack. Keep this up, until he starts his
next phase, where he teleports when you punch him. This is the best
time to use your Chaff Grenades. Use one, then when he screams, attack
him. After that Chaff runs out, repeat with another until you're out
of them. He'll teleport after the first punch, and sometimes the
second, but the third will always connect. During this phase, don't do
a combo on your first and second punches, or he'll hit you in mid kick.
If the second punch connects, follow immediately with a second. After
this phase, when all of his life is gone, move away post haste. A
large electric field will surround him, which will hurt you
considerably. Now is the time to open fire. After each shot hits,
he'll teleport somewhere else. After three solid hits, he'll be gone,
and Dr. Emmerich will come out. Since you need to speak to Dr.
Emmerich often in the game, just in case you miss it in the next
cutscene, his Codec frequency is 141.12.
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Psycho Mantis
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My guess is that more than half of the people who accessed this guide
did so for help with Psycho Mantis. Konami was really sneaky with this
guy, but when you know the trick, he's incredibly simple. When Psycho
Mantis "reads your mind," he's reading your controller. If you press
circle, he knows that you're about to punch him, and moves out of the
way 7 times out of 8. So, how do you prevent him from reading your
mind? Switch the controller to port 2. That will throw him off, and
every shot will hit. You still can't use Nikitas, C4, and grenades,
though, because he'll explode them instantly. You can crawl under the
flying chairs to get a clean shot at him when they leave. When he
starts warping around the room, throwing psycho forces at you, turn on
your Thermal Goggles to track where he goes. You can hit him whenever
he stops, and not even let him get one shot out at you. After the
phase where he does that continuously, he'll hit you with all he's got.
Just be careful, and only try to hit him when you're not trying to
avoid anything flying at you. When Meryl is up, throw a Stun Grenade
to get her back down without harming her at all. The simple switch to
port two will cut the time it takes you to beat Psycho Mantis by at
least 15 minutes. So you're welcome. :-)
And yes, I know that you can hit triangle to see things from his point
of view, but the use of Thermal Goggles eliminates the need for that.
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Sniper Wolf
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While you're in sniper mode, you'll always move involuntarily, unless
you use some Diazepam. If you run out, go ahead and use a Cigarette.
They help, but deplete life slowly. Sniper Wolf is always on the
second floor, and only comes out to shoot you. A good idea is to press
yourself against a wall so that your back is to Wolf, so you can see
her in the distance. Come out to shoot her when she is hiding behind
something so that she won't shoot you while you're lining up your own
shot. When she hits you, if you lose your orientation, it is quicker
to de-equip the PSG-1, align yourself with Sniper Wolf by pressing up
on the pad, then re-equip it than it is to find her again from the
PSG-1's scope. If you run out of ammo, run as far to one side as you
can, then cross to the other side to find five bullets. Don't worry;
the mines are gone. Be sure to save afterwards, because the continue-
free torture event is up next.
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The Hind
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Yawn. Aim with Stinger, lock on with Stinger, hit with Singer. The
only things you need to keep in mind are that you should spend a lot of
time between the two narrow structures for safety, and to only go to
the high ground when you need an ammo fillup. When Liquid yells, "Eat
this!," get as far away from the higher area as you can, or you'll lose
a large amount of your life. The strategy is easy, but one hit can
really hurt, so be careful. On the higher difficulty levels, when you
have no radar, it can help to use sound to figure out where he is. If
you don't have a stereo hookup, you'll just have to follow from where
the rail shots are coming from.
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Sniper Wolf Rematch
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Sniper Wolf will always be behind the trees in front of you. The
easiest thing to do is hide behind a tree and hit her with Nikitas.
Don't forget that you can see from the missile's eye view by holding
triangle. After that, lock on to her with every Stinger you have left,
and make sure that they all hit. They're much easier to hit her with
than PSG-1 shots, and they do much more damage than the simple PSG-1
shots. The rest of the fight is just like the first fight, except for
the fact that she has more hiding places this time. Just keep careful
track of where she is at all times, and you'll be fine.
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Raven
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There are two main attacks you can use on him: C4 and Stingers. If you
have radar, you can place C4 on the ground, and detonate it when you
see him walking nearby. If not, you can use Stingers. Wait for him by
a corner, and when he walks out into an intersection, fire and run.
Stay as far away from him as you can, as he has some of the strongest
attacks of anyone you'll face. Nikita missiles work sometimes, but he
will shoot them down if he sees them.
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Metal Gear Rex
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Don't even think of entering this fight without all of the rations you
can take. You'll need them for the second form. As Otacon will tell
you, the first thing you'll need to take out will be the sensor dish
on Metal Gear Rex's left shoulder. Since Liquid can't see outside of
Rex's pilot seat, use a Chaff Grenade to disable the homing missiles.
Then, fire a Stinger and repeat. All the while, keep moving. When you
see its energy getting low, you can fire the last two shots without a
Chaff in between. If you do it right, you can get past this first form
without using even one ration.
In its second form, Liquid will aim at you manually, and track you with
his own two eyes. The closer you are, the less chance there is that
you'll be hit by the missiles. The only safe places are right behind
Rex and right under him. Just be careful not to let him step on you,
or you'll be dead instantly, rations or no. Try to get out of his line
of sight as much as you can, and fire stingers from the side. If this
is too difficult, you might be able to just run around and fire
Stingers at him, but this is very ration consuming, and rarely works on
Hard and Expert. Don't worry about using all of your rations, as
you'll never see any of your stuff again. There is one more ration in
the top left of the room, which you should get as soon as possible when
you can hold it.
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Solid vs. Liquid
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This fight is pretty easy in Easy and Normal modes. Always use your
punch-punch-kick combo, and try to hit Liquid from the side if
possible. If you fall off Rex, hit any button as fast as possible to
get back up quickly. When Liquid loses all of his life, the fight
still isn't over until you knock Liquid off of Rex with a kick or throw
(weapon button while running). If you lose, don't worry; you'll
restart at the beginning of the fight with the full three minutes. On
the Hard and Extreme modes, his attacks do a lot of damage, so be very
careful not to get hit carelessly.
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Shootout with Liquid
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Be sure to pick up the three rations before you hop on the truck, but
chances are you'll only need one. One ration is out the door you came
in, one is by the stairs, and the other is on the lower left of the
room with the trucks. The easiest way to aim the machine gun is to
hold both the first person view button and the weapon button, so that
you can see from behind the gun and put whatever you want shot in the
center of the screen. When you and Liquid are separated by pillars,
just continue aiming in the spot that hits him. He'll return there
before shooting you. As soon as you're done with that part, you've
finished the game. Congratulations! Now, try the next difficulty
level...
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Thanks for reading the MGS Boss Guide. Remember, if you have any ideas
for future versions, be sure to send them to me at megamanx@iname.com.
And hey, check out my F-Zero X FAQ!
If you want to, you can download four different versions of the main
theme to Metal Gear Solid (one is a remix from Beat Mania) at my FTP,
ftp://24.3.23.250/. Just be sure to upload some sounds I don't have,
okay?
Contributors:
Kevin Cheah kevin_cheah@pacific.net.sg
Version history:
1.1: Updated strategies for Cyborg Ninja, Sniper Wolf, The Hind,
Sniper Wolf Rematch, Metal Gear Rex, and Solid vs. Liquid.
1.0: First release.
Metal Gear Solid and all character names are trademarks of Konami, and
are copyright 1998 Konami. This guide is copyright 1998 Michael
Kelehan. Distribution is permitted (in fact, it's encouraged), as long
as this guide is unedited and in its entirety. Don't sell it.