So, most fans know this, but yes, the original “Metal Gear” did not debut on the NES. Famously, noted auteur Hideo Kojima did not find the NES port up to his exacting standards, and thusly, the game has fallen out of favor among metalheads in recent years.
Of course, what’s interesting to consider is a whole lot of people didn’t know any of this when the game debuted back in 1988. To a whole bunch of people, Metal Gear was just Metal Gear, not some inferior version of itself.
That’s how I chose to engage with the game, enjoying it on its own merits and accepting the shortcomings as being a byproduct of another era.
Taken on those terms, the game is very much … decent.
Stealth games basically got their start here, so the game has a significance, and it can be fun. Yet, it’s oftentimes confusing and muddled and annoying.
Enjoyable at times, frustrating at others, Metal Gear is a thoroughly “NES hard” kind of game.
And that’s okay.