20 Things You DIDN'T Know About Metal Gear Solid 4
20 Things You Didn’t Know About Metal Gear Solid 4
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we are looking at one of my favourite MGS and entries (and probably your least favourite), and seeing what nobody saw. These are 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Metal Gear Solid 4. Let’s go!
A Long Time Coming
The Metal Gear Mk. II ended up being one of the cooler gadgets in "Metal Gear Solid 4", even if the game weirdly forgets you own it half the time. Being able to hide Snake in a cardboard box somewhere and send out a tiny robot to scout enemy positions felt like classic Kojima nonsense in the best possible way, even if (once again) I never used it. What a lot of fans do not realise though is that the Mk. II was originally planned all the way back for the original "Metal Gear Solid". Early footage and screenshots showed the little robot appearing in Snake’s inventory during the E3 1997 build, where it likely would have helped players scout Shadow Moses from a first-person view. Honestly, with the top-down design of the PS1 game, it probably would have been even more useful there .. Did I mention I never used it?
Crop Circle
"Metal Gear Solid 4" is packed with bizarre little secrets, but one of the strangest has to be the hidden crop circle during Act 2. After defeating Laughing Octopus and moving into the scouting section, players exploring the grassy fields can accidentally run into this mysterious pattern carved into the ground. Walking near it suddenly triggers a flashback to one of the weirdest codec calls from "Metal Gear Solid 2", where a character rambles about seeing a glowing orange object in the sky before mysteriously waking up back at home. It is classic Kojima behaviour: aliens, conspiracy theories, and random nonsense hidden in the middle of a stealth mission about war and nanomachines.
Before Its Time
One of the coolest little details in "Metal Gear Solid 4" is how the game uses a Bluetooth headset for immersion. If you connect a headset to the PlayStation 3, certain conversations from Otacon during normal gameplay will actually come through the headset instead of the TV speakers. It makes it feel like Snake is genuinely receiving mission updates through an earpiece while sneaking around the battlefield. The feature only works outside of codec screens, which somehow makes it even cooler because the voices suddenly pop into your ear unexpectedly while you are crawling through the environment. It’s dope, and now I gotta go buy some PS3 tech to try it, I want to be Solid Mat.
Choke Out
One surprisingly hidden mechanic in "Metal Gear Solid 4" is that you can actually kill enemies through CQC choking, even though the game barely tells you this exists. After "Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops", a lot of players assumed choking was strictly for knocking guards unconscious, so most people never even thought to test it further. But if you keep applying pressure during a hold long enough, Snake will straight-up kill the enemy instead. It feels like one of those classic Kojima secrets where the game quietly trusts players to stumble across it on their own rather than spelling everything out in tutorials.
Syringe Kill
Most players fight Vamp in "Metal Gear Solid 4" by emptying enough bullets into him to start a small war, but there is a much sneakier way to deal with him. Instead of standing your ground, you can actually run away and break his line of sight entirely. Once Vamp loses track of Snake, the boss fight weirdly flips roles and turns into a stalking game where he slowly creeps around trying to hunt you down. That is your chance to become the predator instead. If you circle around unnoticed and get close enough, you can grab him with CQC and inject the Syringe immediately without needing to rely on normal weapons at all. Sneaky sneaky stuff.
Art imitates Life
The ending of "Metal Gear Solid 4" was already designed to emotionally destroy players, but the Japanese version somehow makes the final scene between Snake and Big Boss hit even harder. In the original dub, Big Boss is voiced by Chikao Ohtsuka, the real-life father of Akio Ohtsuka, who voices Solid Snake throughout the series. According to stories surrounding the production, the two reportedly had a somewhat distant relationship, and Kojima intentionally cast them together for the finale. Knowing that detail completely changes the tone of the scene. What already feels like a heartbreaking goodbye between two legendary characters suddenly carries this extra layer of real-world emotion underneath it.
Cutscene Restoration
"Metal Gear Solid 4" loves reminding players that Old Snake is basically held together with cigarettes, stress, and pure stubbornness, which is why certain cutscenes actually drain his Psyche gauge. Whenever Snake starts reflecting on how wrecked his body has become, the game quietly chips away at his mental state in the background. What many players never realise though is that you can fight back against it. During some of these moments, mashing the X button lets you recover a portion of Snake’s Psyche instead of helplessly watching it drop. It is a tiny mechanic, but also a very fitting one for the character. Even during emotional breakdowns and existential crises, Snake is still out here refusing to stay down through sheer force of will and arthritis-powered determination.
Scanning Probe
If you only played "Metal Gear Solid 4" after the shutdown of "Metal Gear Online 2", there is a decent chance you never even knew the Scanning Plug existed. Back in the day, the item was originally tied to the online component, which meant unlocking it normally required interacting with multiplayer features that have now vanished into gaming history alongside old forum signatures and blurry YouTube tutorials. Thankfully, the item can still be obtained through a password system, meaning it is not completely lost forever. Once equipped, the Scanning Plug becomes a surprisingly useful stealth tool because tagging an enemy reveals the positions of nearby soldiers.
Kojima’s Cameo
Nobody loves sneaking Hideo Kojima into a "Metal Gear" game more than Hideo Kojima himself, and "Metal Gear Solid 4" continues the tradition almost immediately. Right at the start of the game, during the bizarre fake television broadcasts playing before the action properly kicks off, Kojima briefly appears on the right side of the screen for a few seconds. It is incredibly easy to miss unless you are paying close attention, especially because the intro is already packed with weird ads, military propaganda, and enough visual noise to melt your eyeballs. Still, it is a fun little cameo from the mastermind behind the series. If you’ve forgotten .. Also, how could you forget.
Psycho Mantis
Near the end of Act 1 in "Metal Gear Solid 4", there is a tiny hidden detail tucked into a cutscene that most players probably never noticed because the game barely draws attention to it. During the moment where you can press L1 to switch into Snake’s perspective, moving the camera off to the left reveals something seriously creepy lurking in the background: the spirit of Psycho Mantis seemingly controlling Screaming Mantis. It only appears for a brief moment, so if you are not actively looking around during the cutscene, you will miss it completely. The detail works perfectly though, because the Beauty and the Beast unit already feels unsettling enough without ghost-powered puppet nonsense being added into the mix.
The Smash Bros. Spoiler
For a game called "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale", the roster sometimes felt less like a celebration of PlayStation history and more like Sony rummaging through the leftovers drawer at the last minute. Metal Gear fans especially felt the pain because the series was represented by Raiden instead of Solid Snake or Big Boss, which stung even more considering Snake had already shown up in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" years earlier. To make things funnier, Snake’s Shadow Moses Island stage in "Brawl" accidentally spoiled parts of "Metal Gear Solid 4" before the game even released. If matches lasted long enough, Metal Gear REX, Metal Gear RAY, and GEKKO units would appear in the background, directly hinting at the return to Shadow Moses and the giant mech battles from "Guns of the Patriots". Nintendo unintentionally leaking a major PlayStation exclusive is still incredibly funny to think about today.
Dwarf Gekko following Snake
Act 3 in "Metal Gear Solid 4" already feels tense enough with Snake awkwardly tailing a resistance member through crowded streets, but Kojima quietly adds an extra layer of paranoia most players never notice. If you pay close attention while sneaking around, you can sometimes spot these strange little shapes watching from the environment. They are actually groups of Dwarf Gekkos secretly tracking Snake’s movements and feeding information back to the enemy. The creepiest part is that they vanish almost immediately if you try to get close, making the whole thing feel like Snake is being stalked by tiny robotic rats. It is such a small detail that many players completely miss it, but it cleverly hints at the ambush waiting later in the chapter. Basically, the game was spying on you before you even realised it.
MGS4 Retconned
After spending most of "Metal Gear Solid 2" being told not to trust information, authority, or even the game itself, a huge number of fans became convinced the Big Shell incident was secretly some giant VR simulation. Honestly, the theory made perfect sense at the time. Raiden constantly stumbles into situations that awkwardly recreate Shadow Moses almost beat for beat, while the final act completely abandons reality and starts psychologically attacking both the character and the player directly. The entire game feels designed to make you question whether any of it is even happening. Then "Metal Gear Solid 4" arrived and basically went, “Nope, all of that definitely happened for real.” Suddenly the VR interpretation got shoved aside so the sequel could continue normally. For many fans, it weakened some of the fascinating ambiguity that made "Metal Gear Solid 2" feel so unique in the first place.
An Act of Rebellion
By the time "Metal Gear Solid 4" entered development, it really felt like Hideo Kojima had reached the stage of creative burnout where a man either takes a vacation or makes the weirdest game possible out of pure spite. After repeatedly trying to move on from the series, Kojima somehow ended up directing another "Metal Gear" anyway, and the result feels less like a normal sequel and more like a giant emotional breakdown with nanomachines. Old Snake’s accelerated aging practically screams exhaustion, the fan service gets so excessive it borders on parody, and moments like the microwave hallway feel specifically designed to make players physically suffer alongside Snake. Yet somehow, all of that frustration gives the game a bizarre amount of personality. Messy or not, "Metal Gear Solid 4" feels completely authored in a way many big-budget games never do.
Restoring Health During Final Fight
The final fight against Liquid Ocelot in "Metal Gear Solid 4" can get surprisingly brutal, especially once both characters start throwing punches like two exhausted dads arguing in a supermarket car park. Thankfully, there is a small trick hidden in the battle that can save you if things start going badly. Whenever Liquid pauses to do one of his dramatic taunts, you can press Triangle to recover a portion of Snake’s health. The catch is that Liquid also regains health at the same time, so it is not exactly a free win button. Still, it works incredibly well as a panic reset if you are close to losing and need a second to recover. Honestly, it fits the tone of the fight perfectly: two old soldiers stubbornly refusing to stay down no matter how much damage they take.
The Sorrow
After the battle with Screaming Mantis in Act 5 of "Metal Gear Solid 4", the game suddenly goes full nostalgia mode as Psycho Mantis starts breaking the fourth wall again just like he did back in "Metal Gear Solid". Most players are already distracted by the creepy dialogue and memory trip at that point, which makes it incredibly easy to miss one extra hidden detail tucked into the scene. If you randomly press L1 during the cutscene and look upward, you can actually spot the spirit of The Sorrow standing quietly on a balcony above the room. The game never tells you this exists either, so discovering it feels like stumbling into a ghost story by accident. It is such a classic Kojima touch: rewarding paranoid players who constantly poke at cutscenes looking for secrets the rest of the audience never notices.
Mark III Takedown
Act 4 in "Metal Gear Solid 4" gives players another sneaky little shortcut during the return to Shadow Moses. Down on the B2 floor of the nuclear warhead storage building, a Gekko eventually stomps into the hallway and blocks the path toward the elevator like an angry robotic giraffe with machine guns attached to it. Most players immediately prepare for a firefight, but there is actually a much easier solution hiding right in front of you. By using the Metal Gear Mk. III, you can activate the electrified floor panels and instantly fry the Gekko without needing to waste ammo or risk getting launched across the room by its terrifying breakdance kick attack. It is one of the most satisfying “work smarter, not harder” moments in the game, especially because the giant machine barely gets a chance to react before collapsing.
Grooming Minigame
Old Snake’s gigantic mustache became one of the defining images of "Metal Gear Solid 4", but Kojima originally planned to take the facial hair obsession way further. Early ideas for the game included a full grooming system where Snake’s beard would gradually grow in real time as you played, forcing players to shave and style him manually with a razor. Kojima had apparently wanted to try something similar as far back as "Metal Gear Solid 2", but felt the PlayStation 2 hardware could not properly handle his dream of tactical beard technology. By the PS3 era, though, the idea was back on the table. Different beard styles were even previewed publicly, including a full beard that made Snake look uncannily like an older Big Boss. For whatever reason, the mechanic quietly vanished before release, leaving fans robbed of the greatest stealth grooming simulator never made.
The BB Corps Gone Wild
Every "Metal Gear Solid" game has its signature boss squad, and in "Metal Gear Solid 4" that role belongs to the deeply unsettling Beauty and the Beast Unit. On the surface, they seem like giant armored murder machines inspired by past bosses from the series, but underneath all the mechanical chaos is a much darker idea centered around trauma and PTSD. Each fight starts with Snake battling their monstrous “Beast” forms before shifting into the bizarre second phase where the armor breaks away and the Beauties slowly approach Snake in skintight suits while the game cranks the uncomfortable tension to maximum levels. Even that apparently was not enough for Kojima. According to stories from development, he originally wanted the Beauties completely nude during these scenes and even filmed motion capture for it before the idea was scrapped to avoid an Adults Only rating.
Original Ending
The ending of "Metal Gear Solid 4" is surprisingly hopeful once all the cigarettes, trauma, and nanomachine insanity finally settle down. After everything Snake goes through, the game ends with him choosing to live out the little time he has left peacefully instead of giving in to despair. His final conversation with Big Boss at the cemetery ties the whole saga together beautifully and gives the character a rare sense of closure. What makes it even more interesting though is that Kojima originally planned something far darker. Early versions of the story reportedly had Snake and Otacon surrendering themselves to the United Nations after stopping Liquid Ocelot, only to face execution for their involvement in decades of Metal Gear-related terrorism. Apparently the idea was so bleak that Kojima’s own staff pushed back hard enough to convince him to change it. Honestly, knowing Kojima, he probably considered that the uplifting version.
