MSX Metal Gear 1 Boss FAQ Written by Jacob M. (teflon) Email: rickdias at (@) gmail.com Version: 1.4 Date: 3/25/06 Table of Contents A. Intro B. NOTE TO MGS3: S PLAYERS C. Version history D. General tips E. In-depth strategies for the bosses. 1) Shoot Gunner (Shotmaker) 2) Machine Gun Kid 3) Hind D 3N) Twin Shot 4) Tank 5) Bulldozer 6) Fire Trooper 7) TX-11 Cybernoid "Arnold" twins (Bloody Brad) 8) Coward Duck (Dirty Duck) 9) TX-55 Metal Gear 9N) Super Computer 10) Big Boss F. FAQ G. What still needs to be done H. Contact Me I. Credits J. Legal ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Intro Hello, and welcome to the Metal Gear 1 Boss guide! This guide deals with both the MSX, NES and the improved version found in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. and NES versions. All numbers marked with an N means that you'll fight that boss in the NES version instead of the regular one. Also, I HIGHLY recommend you read all sentences surrounded with =. These contain very important notes, that if not obeyed, could prevent you from beating the game! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. NOTE FOR MG3: S PLAYERS The new boss names are to the right of the names shown in the MSX and NES version. Quotes are also from the MSX version. If anybody has the boss quotes in the MGS3: S version, then feel free to submit them to me. This guide DOES NOT cover Boss Survival mode, and I have no intention of adding it to this guide. If you need any help for this mode, consult jamesters' guide (http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/metal_gear_solid_3 _sub_mg_boss_survival.txt). It's a very nice suppliment to this FAQ. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- C. Version history 1.4 3/25/06 New names for the bosses in the MGS3: Subsistence version of the game have been added to the guide. New section concering those playing this game via MGS3:S has been added. Various grammar and formatting mistakes corrected. Some bad writing (such as smilies and CAPITALIZING some words for emphesis) have been changed. Also got rid of myself and Johnny Undaunted in the credits section. In Johnny's place, trulyhardcoreguy was added. 1.3 7/17/05 Major formatting changes, new tips added to Machine Gun Kid and Twin Shot sections, What Needs to be done section changed from needing NES strategies to information about changed boss names and copyright section edited to give www.neoseeker.com and www.1up.com permission to use this guide. (sorry for not updating in a while, IGN readers!) 1.2 4/03/05 Major overhaul of the General tips section and some slight formatting changes. 1.1: 2/18/05 Various grammar mistakes corrected, extra info for the length of Coward Duck's boomerangs added, note on Shoot Gunner added, note on Twin Shot was made into a new paragraph and extra Fire Tropper strategy added. 1.0: 2/12/05 First version. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- D. General tips - It's usually a good idea to have at least 5 or so rations before fighting a boss, just in case. - As a rule of thumb, mechanical bosses (such as the Hind-D) are only vunerable to only one weapon, such as the grenade launcher, while human ones are vunerable to just about anything. - If you've run out of ammo for your weapon of choice during a boss (except Big Boss), you can always leave the screen the boss is on, collect some ammo and return. However, if you do so, the boss' health will be restored to it's max (or, in the case of the Metal Gear, the pattern will reset). Be careful! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- E) In-depth strategies for the bosses ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Shoot Gunner (Shotmaker) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I'm Shoot Gunner! Nobody has ever been able to escape from here!" Location: Building 1 basement. (Building 4 in NES) Recommended weapon: Remote Control Missile Recommended Rank: 1 Attacks: Spread shotgun Blast: Shoot Gunner will fire three of these in a row. These are much larger than your average bullet and will inflict a ton of damage. They are fairly difficult to dodge. Strategy: When you first meet Shoot Gunner, you will be unarmed (and no, your fist will not harm him at all, so don't even bother). If you want to kill him, you'll need your weapons, right? To get your old friends back, go to the right door at the bottom and punch it. It will open and you'll find a sack filled with all of the goodies you collected. Now, go back to Shoot Gunner's room, equip the remote control missiles and go to the bottom right hand corner of the room. Fire four missiles (Do not fire missles when he is moving. They will not harm him.) and you'll ruin his record of having no prisoners escape. Poor guy. If you miss him with one or two missiles, you can just stand at his side and kill him with the machine gun. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Machine Gun Kid ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= IMPORTANT NOTE: If you're playing the American NES version, you can skip this boss! Once you kill Shotgunner, grab the uniform and go straight to Building 2. The item that Machine Gun Kid guards in useless in the American NES version, so feel free to ignore him. ============================================================================ "I'm Machinegun Kid! I'll never let you go ahead!" Location: Building 1 Recommended weapon: Machine Gun, Handgun or Remote-control Missle. Recommended Rank: 2 Attacks: Machine Gun: He will constantly fire a machine gun at you. The damage can rack up and kill you quickly, so try to get out of the way ASAP. Strategy: Equip the machine gun, run up to him and open fire. He will die in a matter of seconds. Easy as hell, eh? Alternatively, you can go up to the right-hand corner and shoot him with the handgun 15 or so times. You will never be damaged. (thanks to the user Snake of the MSX Metal Gear board at GameFAQs for this strategy) Or, if you're a traditionalist, just go to the bottom of the screen, stay between the bottom of the screen and the small walls nearby and fire four missiles at him. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Hind D ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location: Building 1 roof Recommended weapon: Grenade Launcher Recommended Rank: 2 Attacks: Rapid fire Bullets: The Hind D will quickly fire about 4 or so bullets in a row. Each bullet is about as harmful as a regular guard's. Strategy: Stand near the left-hand boxes. Fire about two or so grenades at the cockpit (the black spheres) and then go to the left side of the boxes you were near. You should destroy it with about 5 or so grenades remaining. If you feel like doing your best Rambo impersonation, walk right in front of the Hind-D and attack the cockpit with the Grenade Launcher. Whenever you think you may die, use a ration. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3N) Twin Shot ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= IMPORTANT NOTE: This boss in an NES exclusive. If you are playing the MSX version, then you will fight the Hind D instead. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= SON OF IMPORTANT NOTE: You can skip this boss! Once you defeat Shotgunner and get the uniform, go straight to Building 2. You get nothing important after killing this boss, so it's fine to ignore these guys. ============================================================================= Location: Building 1 Roof Recommended weapon: Grenade Launcher Recommended Rank: 2 Attacks: Bullet Spread: They will constantly fire bullets that spread in random directions. Grenade Toss: If you stand in front of one of the brothers, they will throw a grenade straight at you. Strategy: These guys are actually much easier than the Hind D, as there is a spot in their room that will always protect you from their attacks and allows you to attack them. That spot is the upper right of the room. Go there and get one of the Shots in your Grenade Launcher's crosshair. Attack him with 10 grenades and he'll quickly die. Once he is dead, go to his former space and target the other one. 10 grenades later, the other one will also die and you be able to free the mad doctor! Unlike the other human bosses, BULLETS WILL NOT WORK ON THESE BOSSES. You MUST kill them with the Grenade Launcher. Do not enter Twin's room from the top of the previous one. Doing so will most likely spell certain death, as the one of the Shots will scoot to where you appear and open fire, point blank, while you try to get to the bottom of the screen and/or to the safe area. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Tank ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= IMPORTANT NOTICE: It is HIGHLY recommended that you get to rank 3 before fighting this boss. Without it, you might not have enough Land Mines to defeat it! ============================================================================= Location: In front of Building 2 Recommended weapon: Land Mines Recommended Rank: 3 Attacks: Rapid Fire Bullets: It has two turrets that will fire bullets alternatively. Behavior wise, they are the same as the Hind D. Bigass Missile of Death: If you stand in front of the tank's center, it will fire a large missile that will kill you in one shot. The tank itself: Unlike other bosses, merely touching it will kill you in one shot. Strategy: There are two "safe spots" that are right next to the tank's hallway. In these safe spots, you will not be harmed unless the tank is at the top of the screen and fires. Once the tank has finished firing on your side, run up to the space between it and the end of it's hallway and lay down three mines (which is the maximum amount that can be on screen at a time). Go back to your safe zone and eventually it will run into the mines. If it doesn't hit one or two, go to one of the menus and exit it. The extra mines will disappear. Around 12 or so should finish it off. If you really don't want to deal with this boss, then get hit by one of it's bullets. During the brief time you are invincible, run through it. If you are lucky, you'll make it to the next room without killing it. However, this isn't a good idea, as you'll probably have to leave Building 2 sometime and it'll still be there. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Bulldozer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Location: Building 2 Recommended weapon: Grenade Launcher Recommended Rank: 3 Attacks: Guess what? Just like the Tank, touching it will kill you in one shot! Strategy: And you were just recovering from the tank. Great. As soon as you enter the room, run up to it and start shooting grenades at it's center. It will be constantly moving (slowly, though), so reposition yourself if it gets too close. If it is beginning to corner you, go to the previous room. It should take about 10 or so grenades to kill this easy boss. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) Fire Trooper ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I'm Fire Trooper! I will burn you alive!" Location: Building 2 Basement (Building 5 in NES version) Recommended weapons: Machine Gun, Handgun or the Grenade Laucher Recommended Rank: 3 Attacks: Fire Wall of Doom: He will create a large wall of fire that spans from the top of the area to the bottom and will swing it at an approximately 150 degrees angle three times. He will then stop, move and do it again. Strategy: The quickest way to kill him is by walking up to him and shooting him point blank with the machine gun. It will be impossible to hit him with remote control missiles, as he will destroy them with the fire wall long before you can hit him. You can also walk up to his side and shoot him with the handgun. Move if he gets too close. You should receive very little damage. If you want a painless way of defeating him, go to the upper right wall and get near his fire wall. Fire grenades near where he is. The grenade itself will not hit him, but the explosion will. Eventually, you will kill him without taking one point of damage! (thanks to thagen, a member of GameFAQ's MSX Metal Gear 1 board for this strategy) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) TX-11 Cybernoid "Arnold" twins (Bloody Brad) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= IMPORTANT NOTE: You MUST have the Rocket Launcher in order to defeat this boss! In order to get it, you must be Rank 4, have rescued the POW that gives you Jennifer's number AND contacted her in the room just before the POW's room (the U shaped room with blue guards in it.) ============================================================================= Location: Building 2 Recommended weapon: Rocket Launcher Recommended Rank: 4 Attacks: One of the twins will constantly ram into you, causing a medium amount of damage. Strategy: These guys are fairly easy. First, go to the bottom left of the screen and stay in the area between the left wall and the boxes. Walk in the path of the Arnold, fire a missile and run back to your safe spot. Once it goes back to it's regular position, do it again. Do this four times and you will have killed the first one. The second one is much easier. Go to the top and stand underneath the Arnold. It will not be able to harm you. Unlike what Doom and Quake have taught us, firing a missile point blank in this game at a target will not cause you to explode into tiny pieces. So, just stay where you are and fire four missiles every time it comes near you. It'll die and give you Card 7. If you need more missiles, then go back a few rooms and collect ammo boxes. They have two rockets each. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) Coward Duck (Dirty Duck) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not hit ANY of the hostages in this fight. If you hit one, your rank will decrease and you will not have enough Plastic Bombs to destroy the Metal Gear (or the Super Computer, depending on your version)! ============================================================================= "I'm Coward Duck! You can't shoot me, can you?" Location: Building 3 Recommended weapon: Handgun Recommended Rank: 4 Attacks: Boomerang Rush: Coward Duck will constantly throw boomerangs at you. The first one will stay near Duck, the second one will reach to the middle of the room and the third one will reach to the bottom of the room. The pattern will then repeat. Unexpected Pit: Not really an attack, but a pit will open if you attempt to approach the hostage in front of Coward Duck. You should try to trigger it ASAP before it catches you by surprise in the battle. Strategy: The easiest way to defeat this boss is to get behind him and shoot him 10 times with your handgun. Make sure that he is DIRECTLY in front of you, or else the shot will kill the hostage in front of him (Jennifer's brother). It's a good idea to only shoot him once every time he is in front of you, as you will have no potential stray bullets that will kill a hostage. You can also defeat him with remote control missiles. Stay where you are and shoot 5 missiles at him. However, it is very easy to make an error and kill a hostage and you'll take plenty of damage while doing this. Also, you may run out of them, which means that you can't deactivate the electric floor after defeating Coward Duck and leaving his room. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) TX-55 Metal Gear ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= IMPORTANT NOTE: You cannot skip this boss via a glitch and go directly to Big Boss, like you can in the NES version. You must destroy it in order to advance. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= SON OF IMPORTANT NOTE: If you go to ANY of your menus while a bomb is active, it will disappear and not harm the Metal Gear! If you need to recover health, go to one of the safe spots and wait until it's gone off, THEN recover. ============================================================================= Location: Building 3 Basement Recommended weapon: Plastic Explosives Recommended Rank: 4 Attacks: Evil Camera lasers: Unlike every other Metal Gear, the TX-55 will not attack you directly. Two cameras will be patrolling each side of the screen. If they detect you, they will fire a quick laser. The Metal Gear will not protect you from the lasers, so don't try to use it as a shield. Strategy: Cool boss theme, eh? First off, there are two safe areas: they are behind the two walls sticking out. Now, you must place the bombs in this order: Right, R, Left, R, L, L, R, L, L, R, R, L, R, L, R and R. Put the bombs ON the foot, not near it or else it won't work. Once you place a bomb, go to a safe area and wait until it's safe to place the next bomb. Once the Metal Gear(?!) is destroyed, a countdown will begin and catchy music will begin to play! RUN LIKE HELL! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9N) Super Computer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= IMPORTANT NOTE: This boss is an NES "exclusive". If you are playing the MSX version, then you will fight the TX-55 Metal Gear instead. ============================================================================= ============================================================================= ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: You MUST have rescued Ellen and then talked to Dr. Petrovich before fighting this boss! If you did not, the Super Computer will be invincible! ============================================================================= ============================================================================= IMPORTANT NOTE THE THRD: Unlike the MSX, you can skip this boss and go directly to Big Boss without a time limit! As you enter the Super Computer's room, hit right when Snake disappears but BEFORE the screen fades to black and you'll be in Big Boss' room without a time limit! (Big thanks to Wilson Lau's excellent Metal Gear 1 NES strategy guide for this one! (http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/file/metal_gear_b.txt) ============================================================================= Location: Building 3 basement Recommended weapon: Plastic Bomb Recommended Rank: 4 Attacks: Guards: Four regular guards will be in the Super Computer's room. Kill them ASAP. That's it. No laser cameras. Strategy: This is it. You come face to face with...the Super Computer? What the hell? Where's the TX-55? This is the computer that's been constructing the Metal Gear or something like that. Somehow, destroying this will also destroy the Metal Gear. Anyways, kill the guards. Place 16 Plastic Bombs on the Super Computer. It'll die and activate the self-destruct sequence. Congrats, you killed the wussiest boss in Metal Gear history. Eat your heart out, The Pain. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) Big Boss ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= MINOR NOTE: Don't forget to use the cigarettes (select them and press Space on the item screen) as soon as the countdown starts! Somehow, it'll give you 2000 extra seconds! ============================================================================= "Solid Snake! I will not die alone! You will join me!" Location: Building 3 Basement Recommended weapon: Rocket Launcher Recommended Rank: 4 Attacks: Gun of Genericness +1: He will hide behind a box, randomly appear from it and fire bullets at you. These bullets are as strong as a guard's. Strategy: Looks like somebody's mad. See? It's usually NOT a good idea to break somebody's big mech and ruin his plans to use you, but no, you just HAD to do it. This guy is a MAJOR pain if you don't know what you're doing. First, hide behind the upper right hand corner box. BB will randomly appear from the upper left or bottom left of his box on the other side of the screen and fire. Go to the equiviliant side on your box and fire missiles. If you see bullets coming your way, hide to the right of your box and reappear when it's safe. Begin firing again. It will take about 3 rockets to kill him. Once he's dead, take the left ladder and you'll win! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- F. FAQ 1. Why don't you cover the Silencer battle? The Silencer fight is far too simple for me to cover. The four guards act exactly the same as regular guards do, right down to the damage they do and how many bullets they can take. Note that this does not apply to the NES version, where it's just sitting around, waiting for you to give it a home. 2. How do you use rations? On the MSX version, press F3 and move the cursor to Rations (do not exit the menu!), then press Space. On the NES version, go to the items menu, move the cursor to Rations and press A. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. What still needs to be done. I've obtained the names of the bosses in the MGS3: S version of the game, so I'd say that everything's complete. I have no plans to cover Boss Survival mode (besides, jamesters' already made an excellent guide covering it), or purchase MGS3: S for a long time, so don't pester me about either of them. However, I'm not going to slap a "Final" on this guide just yet, so I'm still acceping new tips. Just email them to me, and I'll try to add them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. Contact me My email is rickdias at gmail.com (replase the at with @) and my AIM screename is Alpha Ziron (I'm rarely on). On GameFAQs and JunkerHQ, I use the username (t)Teflon. On Gamespot, I go under the username Dunbine. On IGN, I'm known as Darkman 4 and on Neoseeker I'm Therealteflon. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Credits BlueMSX: For being such an awesome MSX emulator. (and allowing me to use savestates, as I'm not in the mood to mess with cassette files) CJayC: For hosting this in the first place. Snake (member of the GameFAQs MSX Metal Gear 1 board): For the alternative Machine Gun Kid strategy, the Twin Shot savestate and where to hit the Bulldozer with grenades. thagen (also a member of GameFAQ's MSX Metal Gear 1 board): For helping me get the Rocket Launcher and the no damage Fire Trooper strategy. Wilson Lau: For his strategy on skipping the Super Computer. If you need any help for the NES version of Metal Gear, check out his guide. It is by far the best, as it has maps and clear directions! (http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/file/metal_gear_b.txt) Nekura_Hoka's Metal Gear 1 text dump (http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/msx/file/metal_gear_dump.txt): This is a FULL script dump of the original European version, which was invaluable when I decided to add each boss' MSX intro quote into my guide. trulyhardcoreguy: For the new names of the bosses in MGS3: Subsistence. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- J. Legal This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. The only websites that are allowed to have this strategy guide are: GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) GameSpot (www.gamespot.com) IGN (www.ign.com) 1up.com (www.1up.com) and Neoseeker (www.neoseeker.com) Copyright 2005 Jacob (teflon) M.