How to Play the Metal Gear Games in Chronological Order

Metal Gear, Hideo Kojima’s action-stealth series didn’t begin with Metal Gear Solid, even though that was a lot of players introduction to the series. There are more games than you can shake a cardboard box at which might leave you wondering how to play the Metal Gear games in chronological order. I’ve got the answer.

Here Are All Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Games in Chronological Order

The Metal Gear games do jump around a bit, as far as the timeline goes. So when Metal Gear Solid 2’s ending left players scratching their heads, it was seven years before they got any real follow-up to those events.

Related: The Untold Origins of the Metal Gear Mythology – Metal Gear Legend

Matters are further complicated by the fact that there are several Metal Gear games that Hideo Kojima, the creator of the series, was no way involved in.

To make things simpler, I’ve picked out the games that Kojima directed and, because of that, are considered the “main” series.

So, if you want to experience Metal Gear chronologically, here’s the order to play the games in, alongside the year they begin in.

• Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater – 1960
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker – 1974
• Metal Gear 5: Ground Zeroes – 1975
• Metal Gear 5: The Phantom Pain – 1984
• Metal Gear – 1995
• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake – 1999
• Metal Gear Solid – 2005
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – 2007
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – 2014

Peace Walker isn’t included in Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, though, if leaks are to be believed, it will figure into Volume 2.

There are plenty of other titles, though I wouldn’t count them as canon. For example, there was Snake’s Revenge: Metal Gear 2, an NES game. that Kojima had nothing to do with. It featured a cybernetically resurrected Big Boss, and the less said about Metal Gear Survive the better. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance’s canon is similarly questionable though, put out by Platinum Games, it’s a great game in its own right.

Regardless, that’s how to play the Metal Gear games in chronological order.

If you’re looking for more, check out our coverage of the new content warning in Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1.