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00:00The spirit of the warrior will always be with you.
00:05Welcome to MojoPlays and today we're looking at one of my favourite Metal Gear entries and probably your least favourite
00:10and seeing what nobody saw.
00:12These are 20 things you didn't know about Metal Gear Solid 4. Let's go.
00:16Before we continue, we publish content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get
00:22notified of our latest videos.
00:24A long time coming.
00:33It's me, Snake.
00:35The Metal Gear Mark 2 ended up being one of the cooler gadgets in Metal Gear Solid 4, even if
00:39the game weirdly forgets you own it half the time.
00:41Being able to hide Snake in a cardboard box somewhere and send out a tiny robot to scat enemy positions
00:46felt like classic Kojima nonsense in the best way possible, even if, once again, I never used it.
00:51What a lot of fans do not realise is that the Mark 2 was originally planned all the way back
00:56for the original Metal Gear Solid.
00:58Early footage and screenshots showed the little robot appearing in Snake's inventory during the E3 1997 build, where it likely
01:06would have helped players scout Shadow Moses from a first-person view.
01:09Honestly, with the top-down design of the PS1 game, it probably would have been more useful there.
01:13Did I mention I never used it?
01:20Crop Circle
01:24MGS4 is packed with bizarre little secrets, but one of the strangest has to be the hidden Crop Circle during
01:30Act 2.
01:31After defeating Laughing Octopus and moving into the scouting section, players exploring the grassy fields can accidentally run into this
01:38mysterious pattern carved into the ground.
01:40Walking near it suddenly triggers a flashback to one of the weirdest codec calls from Metal Gear Solid 2, where
01:44a character rambles about seeing a glowing orange object in the sky, before mysteriously waking up back at home.
01:50It is classic Kojima behaviour. Aliens, conspiracy theories and random nonsense hidden in the middle of a stealth mission about
01:57war and nanomachines.
01:58Orange object in the sky, to the east. It was moving very irregularly.
02:04Before it's time.
02:05It's pretty dark in there. Switch the solid eye to night vision mode.
02:09One of the coolest details in Metal Gear Solid 4 is how the game uses a Bluetooth headset for immersion.
02:15If you connect a headset to the PlayStation 3, certain conversations from Otacon during normal gameplay will actually come through
02:21the headset instead of the TV speakers.
02:23It makes it feel like Snake is genuinely receiving mission updates through an earpiece while sneaking around the battlefield.
02:29The feature only works outside of codec screens, which somehow makes it even cooler because the voices suddenly pop into
02:33your ear unexpectedly while you're crawling through the environment.
02:36It's dope. And now I've got to go buy some PS3 tech just to try it. I want to be
02:41solid, Matt.
02:43Snake, hurry and get to the rendezvous point with our informants.
02:46Choke out.
02:51One surprisingly hidden mechanic in Metal Gear Solid 4 is that you can actually kill enemies through CQC choking, even
02:57though the game barely tells you this exists.
02:59After Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops, a lot of players assumed choking was strictly for knocking guards unconscious.
03:04So most people never thought to test it further.
03:07But if you keep applying pressure during a hold long enough, Snake will straight up kill the enemy instead.
03:12It feels like one of those classic Kojima secrets where the game quietly trusts players to stumble across it on
03:16their own, rather than spelling everything out in the tutorials.
03:26Syringe Kill
03:32Most players fight Vamp by emptying enough bullets into him to start a small war, but there is a much
03:36sneakier way to deal with him.
03:38Instead of standing your ground, you can actually run away and break his line of sight entirely.
03:43Once Vamp loses track of Snake, the boss fight weirdly flips roles and turns into a stalking game where he
03:47slowly creeps around trying to hunt you.
03:49This is your chance to become the Predator instead.
03:52If you circle around unnoticed and get close enough, you can grab him with CQC and eject the syringe immediately
03:57without needing to rely on weapons at all.
04:00Sneaky sneaky stuff.
04:07Art imitates life.
04:16The ending of MGS4 was already designed to emotionally destroy players, but the Japanese version somehow makes the final scene
04:22between Snake and Big Boss hit even harder.
04:24In the original dub, Big Boss is voiced by Chikai Uatsuka, the real-life father of Akiya Uatsuka, who voiced
04:30Solid Snake throughout the series.
04:31According to stories surrounding production, the two reportedly had a somewhat distant relationship, and Kojima intentionally cast them together for
04:39the finale.
04:39Knowing that detail completely changes the tone of the scene.
04:43What already feels like a heartbreaking goodbye between two legendary characters suddenly carries this extra layer of real-world emotion
04:49underneath it.
04:50Big Boss?
04:57Cutscene Restoration
05:04Snake.
05:08I knew you'd come.
05:10MGS4 loves reminding players that Old Snake is basically held together with cigarettes, stress, and pure stubbornness, which is why
05:17certain cutscenes actually drain his psyche gauge.
05:19Whenever Snake starts reflecting on how wrecked his body has become, the game quietly chips away at his mental state
05:25in the background.
05:26What many players never realize is that you can fight back against it.
05:29During some of these moments, mashing the X button lets you recover a portion of Snake's psyche, instead of helplessly
05:35watching it drop.
05:36It's a tiny mechanic, but also very fitting for the character.
05:39Even during emotional breakdowns and existential crisis, Snake is still out here refusing to stay down through sheer force of
05:45will and arthritis-powered determination.
05:50Half a year.
05:54Scanning Probe
06:01If you only played Metal Gear Solid 4 after the shutdown of Metal Gear Online 2, there's a decent chance
06:06you never knew the scanning plug existed.
06:08Back in the day, the item was originally tied to the online component, which meant unlocking it normally required interacting
06:14with multiplayer features that have now vanished into gaming history alongside old forum signatures and blurry YouTube tutorials.
06:20Thankfully, the item can still be obtained through the password system, meaning it's not completely lost forever.
06:26Once equipped, the scanning plug becomes a surprisingly useful stealth tool, because tagging an enemy reveals the positions of nearby
06:32soldiers.
06:37Kojima's Cameo
06:52Nobody loves sneaking Hideo Kojima into a Metal Gear game more than Hideo Kojima, and Metal Gear Solid 4 continues
06:59the tradition almost immediately.
07:01Right at the start of the game, during the bizarre, fake television broadcasts playing before the action properly kicks off,
07:06Kojima briefly appears on the right side of the screen for a few seconds.
07:10It is incredibly easy to miss, unless you're paying close attention, especially because the intro is already packed with weird
07:15ads, military propaganda, and enough visual noise to melt your eyeballs.
07:19Still, it is a fun little cameo from the mastermind behind the series.
07:22What are you cooking for?
07:23Psycho Mantis
07:30Near the end of Act 1 in MGS4, there's a tiny hidden detail tucked away in a cutscene that most
07:35players probably never notice, because the game barely draws attention to it.
07:39During the moment where you can press L1 to switch into Snake's perspective, moving the camera off to the left
07:43reveals something seriously creepy lurking in the background.
07:47The spirit of Psycho Mantis seemingly controlling Screaming Mantis.
07:51It only appears for a brief moment, so if you're not actively looking around during the cutscene, you will miss
07:56it completely.
07:57The detail works perfectly though, because the Beauty and the Beast unit already feels unsettling enough without ghost-powered puppet
08:03nonsense being added into the mix.
08:09The Smash Bros. Spoiler
08:15For a game called PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, the roster sometimes felt less like a celebration of PlayStation history,
08:21and more like Sony rummaging through the leftovers drawer at the last minute.
08:25Metal Gear fans especially felt the pain, because the series was represented by Raiden instead of Solid Snake or Big
08:31Boss, which stung even more considering Snake had already shown up in Super Smash Bros. Brawl years earlier.
08:36To make things funnier, Snake's Shadow Moses Island stage at Brawl accidentally spoiled parts of Metal Gear Solid 4 before
08:42the game even released.
08:44If matches lasted long enough, Metal Gear Rex, Metal Gear Ray, and Gecko units would appear in the background, directly
08:50hinting at the return to Shadow Moses and the giant mech battle from Guns of the Patriots.
08:55Nintendo unintentionally leaking a major PlayStation exclusive is still incredibly funny to think about today.
09:03Dwarf Gecko Following Snake
09:12Act 3 in Metal Gear Solid 4 already feels pretty tense, with Snake awkwardly tailing a Resistance member throughout crowded
09:19streets, but Kojima quietly adds an extra layer of paranoia most players never notice.
09:24If you pay close attention while sneaking around, you can sometimes spot these strange little shapes watching from the environment.
09:29They are actually groups of dwarf geckos, secretly tracking Snake's movements and feeding information back to the enemy.
09:35The creepiest part is that they vanish almost immediately if you try to get close, making the whole thing feel
09:40like Snake's being stalked by tiny robotic rats.
09:43It is such a small detail that many players completely miss it, but it cleverly hints at the ambush waiting
09:49later in the chapter.
09:50Basically, the game was spying on you before you even realised it.
10:08After spending most of Metal Gear Solid 2 being told not to trust Information Authority or even the game itself,
10:14a huge number of fans became convinced the Big Shell Incident from MGS2 was secretly some giant VR simulation.
10:21Honestly, the theory makes perfect sense at the time.
10:25Raiden constantly stumbles into situations that awkwardly recreate Shadow Moses almost beat for beat,
10:30while the final act completely abandons reality and starts psychologically attacking both the character and the player directly.
10:37The entire game feels designed to make you question whether any of it's actually happening.
10:41Then Metal Gear Solid 4 arrived and basically went, nope, all of that definitely happened for real.
10:45Suddenly, the VR interpretation gets shoved aside so the sequel could continue normally.
10:49For many fans, it weakened some of the fascinating ambiguity that made Metal Gear Solid 2 feel so unique in
10:55the first place.
10:57Nothing.
11:00Can I ask you something?
11:02Who am I, really?
11:04I wouldn't know.
11:06An act of rebellion.
11:15By the time Metal Gear Solid 4 entered development, it really felt like Hideo Kojima had reached the stage of
11:20creative burnout where a man either takes a vacation or makes the weirdest game possible out of pure spite.
11:26After repeatedly trying to move on from the series, Kojima somehow ended up directing another Metal Gear anyway, and the
11:32result feels less like a normal sequel and more like a giant emotional breakdown with nanomachines.
11:37Old Snake's accelerated aging practically screams exhaustion and fan service gets so excessive it borders on parody.
11:44Moments like the microwave hallway feel specifically designed to make players psychically suffer alongside Snake.
11:50Yet somehow, all of that frustration gives the game a bizarre amount of personality.
11:55Messy or not, Metal Gear Solid 4 feels completely authored in a way many big budget games never do.
12:08Restoring health during Final Fight
12:17The final fight against Liquid Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid 4 can get surprisingly brutal, especially once both characters start
12:24throwing punches like two exhausted dads arguing in a supermarket car park.
12:27Thankfully, there's a hidden small trick in the battle that can save you if things start going badly.
12:32Whenever Liquid pauses to do one of his dramatic taunts, you can press triangle to recover a portion of Snake's
12:37health.
12:38The catch is that Liquid also regains health at the same time, so it's not exactly a free win button.
12:43Still, it works incredibly well as a panic reset if you're close to losing and need a second to recover.
12:49Honestly, it fits the tone of the fight perfectly, two old soldiers stubbornly refusing to stay down no matter how
12:54much damage they take.
13:05The Sorrow
13:13After the battle with Screaming Mantis in Act 5 of Metal Gear Solid 4, the game suddenly goes full nostalgia
13:19mode as Psycho Mantis starts breaking the fourth wall again, just like it did back in 1998.
13:24Most players were already distracted by the creepy dialogue and memory trip at that point, which makes it incredibly easy
13:29to miss one extra hidden detail tucked into the scene.
13:33If you randomly press L1 during the cutscene and look upwards, you can actually spot the spirit of the Sorrow
13:38standing quietly on a balcony above the room.
13:40The game never tells you this exists, so discovering it feels like stumbling into a ghost story by accident.
13:45It's such a classic Kojima touch, rewarding paranoid players who constantly poke at cutscenes looking for secrets the rest of
13:52the audience never notice.
13:53This warrior will always be with you.
13:58Mark 3 Takedown
14:02Act 4 in Metal Gear Solid 4 gives players another sneaky little shortcut during the return to Shadow Moses.
14:08Down on the B2 floor of the nuclear warhead storage building, a gecko eventually stomps into the hallway and blocks
14:14the path towards the elevator like an angry robotic giraffe with machine guns attached to it.
14:19Most players immediately prepare for a firefight, but there's actually a much easier solution hiding right in front of you.
14:25By using the Metal Gear Mark 3, you can activate the electrified floor panels and instantly fry the gecko without
14:31needing to waste ammo or risk getting launched across the room by its terrifying breakdance kick attack.
14:36It's one of the most satisfying work-smart, not-hard moments in the game, especially because the giant machine barely
14:42gets a chance to react before collapsing.
14:51Grooming mini-game
15:04Old Snake's gigantic moustache became one of the defining images of Metal Gear Solid 4, but Kojima originally planned to
15:11take the facial hair obsession way further.
15:14Early ideas for the game included a full grooming system where Snake's beard would gradually grow in real time as
15:19you played, forcing players to shave and style him manually with a razor.
15:22Kojima had apparently wanted to try something similar as far back as Metal Gear Solid 2, but felt the PlayStation
15:282 hardware couldn't properly handle his dream of tactical beard technology.
15:32By the PS3 era, the idea was back on the table. Different beard styles were even previewed publicly, including a
15:38full beard that made Snake look uncannily like an older big boss.
15:41For whatever reason, the mechanic quietly vanished before release, leaving fans robbed of the greatest stealth grooming simulator never made.
15:56The BB corpse gone wild.
16:05Every Metal Gear Solid game has its signature boss squad, and in Metal Gear Solid 4, that role belongs to
16:11the deeply unsettling Beauty and the Beast unit.
16:13On the surface, they seem like giant armored murder machines inspired by past bosses from the series, but underneath all
16:20the mechanical chaos is a much darker idea centered around trauma and PTSD.
16:24Each fight starts with Snake battling their monstrous beast forms before shifting to a bizarre second phase where the armor
16:30breaks away and the beauties slowly approach Snake in skin-tight suits while the game cranks the uncomfortable tension to
16:37maximum levels.
16:38Even that apparently wasn't enough for Kojima. According to stories from development, he originally wanted the beauties completely nude during
16:45these scenes, and even filmed motion capture for it before the idea was scrapped to avoid an adults-only raid.
16:50Your anger flow.
16:53Huh?
17:02Original ending.
17:04Even the mighty patriots began with a single man.
17:08The ending of Metal Gear Solid 4 is surprisingly hopeful once all these cigarettes, trauma, and nanomachine insanity finally settle
17:15down.
17:15After everything Snake goes through, the game ends with him choosing to live out the little time he has left
17:20peacefully instead of giving in to despair.
17:22His final conversation with Big Boss at the cemetery ties the whole saga together beautifully and gives the character a
17:29rare sense of closure.
17:30What makes it even more interesting is that Kojima originally planned something way, way darker.
17:35Early versions of the story reportedly had Snake and Otakon surrendering themselves to the United Nations after stopping Liquid Ocelot
17:42only to face execution for their involvement in decades of Metal Gear-related terrorism.
17:47Apparently, the idea was so bleak that Kojima's own staff pushed back hard enough to convince him to change it.
17:53Honestly, knowing Kojima, he probably considered that the uplifting version.
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18:15Theme music
18:19.
18:20You
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