The franchise has also been adapted into other media, such as comics, novels, and drama CDs. Notable traits of the series include cinematic cutscenes, intricate storylines, offbeat and fourth wall humour, and exploration of cyberpunk, dystopian, political and philosophical themes, with references to Hollywood films to add flavor. The series is credited for pioneering and popularizing stealth video games and 'cinematic video games'. As of November 2022, 59.3 million copies of games in the franchise have been sold worldwide, with individual installments critically and commercially acclaimed and receiving several awards. It was ported two years later by Microsoft Game Studios to Windows, marking the franchise's debut on the platform. The third game in the series, Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation, marked a transition to 3D graphics and gained the series international fame. Several sequels have been released for multiple consoles, which have expanded the original game's plot, adding characters opposing and supporting Snake, while several prequels have explored the origins of Metal Gear and recurring characters. The player often takes control of a special forces operative (usually Solid Snake or Big Boss), who is assigned the task of finding the titular superweapon, ' Metal Gear', a bipedal walking tank with the ability to launch nuclear weapons.

Developed and published by Konami, the first game, Metal Gear, was released in 1987 for MSX home computers.

Metal Gear ( Japanese: メタルギア, Hepburn: Metaru Gia) is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima.

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