In various video games, including the Metal Gear series, there are instances of dummied code, or coding that, while included, is left over from development and is not actually used in the game. Some of these can be found in the PC versions embedded in code.

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Metal Gear

In the Japanese MSX2 version, there was dummied dialogue that implied that the player could interrogate soldiers for information.[1]

The NES version had unused icons and text, most of latter were taken directly from the MSX version. One had the handgun in the Famicom version being replaced with a more accurate depiction, while the other had the Flashlight being slightly off in the NES version.

Snake's Revenge

Some sprites were found in the code that indicated that the handgun would have been a pickup item, that a rope would have been a usable item for an unknown purpose, and a gas mask would have been used.

Similarly, there were also inventory sprites that indicated that, aside from the gas mask, there was supposed to be a cardboard box, an ammunitions cache, and a compass as well.

Lastly, there were a set of sprites depicting numbers that were presumably meant for an elevator due to the usage of "R" and "B" (which are used in elevators for "Rooftop" and "Basement", respectively).

Snake's Revenge cut overworld item sprites (Gas mask, pistol, and rope). Snake's Revenge cut menu item sprites (ammunitions cache, gas mask, cardboard box, and compass). Snake's Revenge cut elevator number sprites.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

There was a reference to COP as a name tag in the byte variable D6, and was placed between Black Color and Running Man. The name was presumably a reference to the cut boss Maniac Cop, who was mentioned in the liner notes for the official soundtrack for the game.

There was also a name tag for the soldier enemies that was unused.

The coding also implied that the wires that the player encountered in the Zanzibar Tower stairwell and the final escape were originally intended to be acquirable and useable traps by the player.

There is also a cut transceiver call warning the player about searchlights near the Zanzibar Building, which said the following:

"サーチライトは動きをよみとり，タ

イミングをはかってモノカゲからモ

ノカゲへすばやくイドウしろ

・・・OVER " ―Japanese dialogue

"Searchlights can expose where you're going.

Measure their timing and move quickly

from one cover to the next.

...Over " ―Japanese dialogue translation

The call was presumably cut due to the searchlights not being an actual obstacle in the game, although their presence is nonetheless implied by the environment growing gradually brighter as the player advances closer to the building.

There was also dialogue within Campbell's call text that had a little girl named Carrie telling Snake that her dad had left to go fishing but took his radio with him and gave him the frequency, with the girl being implied to be Catherine, Master Miller's daughter, who's mentioned in the manual for the game. The dialogue went as follows:

"おじちゃん，スネークさん？・・

わたし，キャリー。

パパはつりにいっちゃったの。

大ジョウブ・・・ムセンキ，もっ

ていったから。

シュウハスウは１４０・９９・・

こんどあそびにきてね。バーイ" ―Japanese dialogue

Mister, are you Snake?

It's me, Carrie.

Daddy went fishing.

But it's alright...

He took the codec with him.

The number is 140.99.

Come and play with me next time. Bye." ―Japanese dialogue translation.

Metal Gear Solid

The PC version, as well as dummied files in the PlayStation version, indicated that the Shadow Moses Incident took place on Monday, February 28, 2005, and that the start time of the mission was 22:01 GST.

There was also intended to be a "dying mode" on the Soliton Radar.

MGS1 Codecs - Meryl is shot (BETA VERSION)

There was also supposed to be an instrumental version for The Best is Yet to Come that would have played when Meryl was shot by Sniper Wolf, although it was replaced with standard music by the time the game was released. Nonetheless, the intended theme can be found in the game data.

MGS1 Unused Codecs - After Metal Gear Before Liquid

In addition, there were also a few cut items such as flippers, dog food and anti-diarrhea medication. There was also data for a fourth Cardboard Box, including the animation as well as even unused dialogue from a soldier referencing its intended location in the canyon. One of the unused dialogues indicated that using flashbangs would have stunned Psycho Mantis and left an opening for attack, although in the final version, it has no impact on Mantis at all. In addition, some unused dialogue indicated that Otacon was not only going to directly accompany Solid Snake in gameplay, but the player could even hurt him via melee attacks.

Metal Gear Solid 1 - Unused Beta Animations

Data in the game included Eiko Yamada in the English opening credits as a placeholder before English cast was assembled, a render that implied that the bandana would have had tails at the end, and an alternate item box that was meant for the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building, a scrapped facial render for Liquid Snake when he was aboard the Hind, as well as elements from the 1997 demo including the original design for the Arctic Warfare Genome Soldiers, Gray Fox, and some of the doors. There was also a render showing the results of Snake shooting Sniper Wolf in the head, indicating that it was planned to be visible (in the final version, the results are obscured by Snake placing the handkerchief on Wolf's face). There was also an unused texture render called Lovrhei that was presumably meant to be used for Gray Fox, giving him a green skin with yellow circular patterns.

An alternate version of the main menu music that featured an electric guitar was cut. Originally when firearms would be fired, shells from the bullet casing would drop to the floor. An unused model also features Snake in an Arctic Genome Solider outfit without the traditional balaclava. First person camera coordinates were also cut very early on in development. Enemies in the game also once had their own physics and could be bummed into or moved.

There was some unused Codec data, most of which were in Japanese, and there was a way to bypass the eight Codec limit. In addition, there were three Codec calls (two from Roy Campbell [with one merely being a repeat of his final line in the Codec call], and one from Mei Ling) that were presumably supposed to take place after Metal Gear REX was destroyed, but before Liquid's speech to Snake.

One of Ocelot's dialogues to Snake during the torture sequence censored a line attributing the French with the invention of electrical torture.[2] In the English-language versions of the game, the cut was poorly implemented, as Snake's response to Ocelot remains in the final version ("But I never heard that before"), although the continental European releases muted the line.

Unused textures

Unused Bandana texture. Lovrhei, unused skin for Gray Fox.

Opening

VR select stage

Face variant of target that appears in VR stages proper. Early name for the Gun Shooting Mode.

Demo Theater

Snow Genome

Miscellaneous textures

Unused voice actor credit, possibly from early stage of localization. Unused item box in the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building. Selectable option that appeared on the demo completion screen. Liquid Snake's face inside the Hind. Early Cyborg Ninja head (front), used in the E3 demo. Early Cyborg Ninja head (back), used in the E3 demo. Early door for the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building (B1). Early door for the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building (B1). Sniper Wolf's face after Solid Snake kills her.

Japanese cast from the English demo

Unused Codec data

Unused Memory Window code. Snake, you can't go north unless you defeat Mantis first. Metal Gear's maintenance base is located in the northern area, isn't it? You can't go ahead until you've defeated Mantis. Wrong flag. Flag is wrong. Wrong flag. Empty [Wrong flag]. This warining [sic] should not appear!!

Obsolete item behavior

Box crouch.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Binoculars are included in the Trial Edition demo, although they were cut in the Tanker Chapter of the final version. However, the Codec conversation meant for the binoculars was included in the data of the game:

Otacon: Good, you have a pair of binoculars. You'll be able to use them to survey enemy territory from a distance. They come with a zoom function and auto-focus, and have all the durability of military equipment. You won't have to worry about breakage with these.

The demo also had some data in the game for various weapons and equipment not included in the game, including the SPP-1M Underwater Pistol, a Balloon, the FAMAS, a fire extinguisher, an M spray, and an ST Camera. In addition, although it isn't actually found anywhere, the debug area had Fatman's ultimate C4 package signature. The anti-personnel sensor was apparently going to be called the "V sensor." Finally, the dummied content included some weapons that are only available during the Plant Chapter.[3] In addition, the demo also had a cigarette box with a message popping up that said that the cigarettes inventory was full, implying that the game, or at the very least the Tanker Incident, was originally going to have cigarettes be depleted as they are used similar to ammo and rations.[4]

In the game itself, there were several minutes worth of Codec conversations that were either cut or otherwise rarely encountered.[5] Dummied data indicated that an Abrams tank, an Osprey helicopter, and even Metal Gear REX were to make an appearance.

In Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for the Windows PC, there was a dummy model composed of various question mark panel textures, which was used as a placeholder for any NPC models for Snake Tales, namely that of Otacon and Meryl.[6]

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

There was a Cardboard Box D embedded in the game, although this doesn't actually show any box, although it does show Snake's position when inside the box.

On July 1, 2017, Jonathan Ingram of The Snake Soup uncovered some data in Snake Eater 3D that the original game may have been planned to feature Extra Ops, similar to in Peace Walker and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. This was further confirmed on October 9, 2017 via data extractions that featured at least five such Extra Ops planned and fully developed. They were the following:[7]

CD04: Claymore Disarmament

CD05: Claymore Disarmament

CB01: Attack Chopper Battle

CB02: Attack Chopper Battle

CB03: Attack Chopper Battle

The sound files n004a, t011a, and t012a also were present only in 3D. In the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid 3 HD, there was also an unfinished stage that was implied by the file names to be a variant of Brown Town.[8] 3D and to some extent HD also had some holdover data from Subsistence, including sound data from both Snake vs. Monkey and Metal Gear Online.

Similarly, Red Code indicated that the developer menu for the HD Collection revealed that the Monkey Mask was still in the game, albeit unused.[9]

Although not technically dummied out from the game, datamining the Guy Savage minigame had coding that indicated that it was meant to be Zone of the Enders 3, which was eventually confirmed at Tokyo Game Show 2011 and 2012.[10]

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Debug data indicated that the Infinity Bandana would have appeared in Portable Ops, and that there were at least image icons for both the blueprint and secret doc items.[11]

Secret Docs icon Blueprint icon

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Dummied audio from Metal Gear Solid 4 indicated that in Act 3, Snake was going to escort Big Mama to the Pyx in a similar manner to how Big Boss escorted EVA, including Snake restoring Big Mama's life by feeding her various meals; as well as audio indicating that Snake would have explored a far larger portion of Shadow Moses than in the game (specifically, that it would have allowed a revisit to the ladies room, the wolfdog cave [and presumably the Commander's Room right before it due to Snake mentioning the book case], and the communication towers). At least one set of audio also had Otacon giving a Snake hard time regarding the latter being spooked by a surveillance camera, even proceeding to mimic his voice. This was presumably removed due to the fact that Otacon had not even met Snake when he encountered the camera. In addition, there was at least one Codec call among the dummied audio, occurring in Act 3, that referenced Snake's rescue of Madnar and his daughter Ellen from Outer Heaven and indirectly referenced Madnar's antagonism of Snake in Zanzibar Land, and also gave some further details about Madnar and Ellen during this time.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Cut Content Big Mama Escort Mission Metal Gear Solid 4 Shadow Moses Was Originally Bigger! Metal Gear Solid 4 - Funny Codec A Surveillance Camera Metal Gear Solid 4 · Dr. Madnar and Ellen (Rare Codec Call)

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Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

There exist several dummied out Extra Ops missions, playable in both the original PlayStation Portable version of the game and in the HD Edition:[12]

[8]Marksmanship Challenge: This took place in Ruinas de Xochiquetzal, and required the player to take out 20 targets in a minute.

[17]Fulton Recovery: The player has to rescue several FSLN POWs via Fulton Recovery in Selva de la Muerte's Top of the Cliff area within 5 minutes.

[20]Fulton Recovery: The player has to rescue three prisoners from the torture chamber of the Mine Base within three minutes. The player has to go through a firefight before getting to the detention center, which the player can either use the Carl Gustav Fulton to evacuate the prisoners or otherwise open up the cell doors via the control room.

[21]Target Demolition: The player needs to blow up a designated target at Puerto del Alba, and it can only be destroyed via C4. The time limit is 3 minutes.

[23]Target Demolition: The player needs to blow up a designated target at Bananal Fruta de Oro's Sorting Shed, and it can only be destroyed via C4. The time limit is 3 minutes.

[25]Target Demolition: The player needs to blow up a designated target at the U.S. Missile Base in Nicaragua's Small Maintenance Dock, and it can only be destroyed via C4. The time limit is 3 minutes.

[27]Cargo Truck Demolition: The player has to blow up all the cargo trucks at Cafetal Aroma Encantado's entrance with C4 in under 5 minutes. The total amount of targets is 2.

[29]Eliminate Enemy Soldiers: The player has to neutralize the enemy presence in the areas up to the Bananal Fruta de Oro plantation in under 10 minutes. There are 13 enemies total.

[38]Item Runner: The player has to locate and pick up any cardboard boxes they find at Selva de la Leche and bring them to the goal without being caught by the enemy, as otherwise they'll lose any they had already found.However, there are no cardboard boxes at all in the mission, therefore it cannot be completed. It also contains incomplete map data for the AI Laboratory because it loads map collision data from the previous map and some textures from the AI lab.

[39]Stealing Gear: Steal the enemy's gear at Puerto del Alba after defeating them, then head for the goal. There is one enemy target and the time limit is 3 minutes.

[40]Stealing Gear: Steal the enemy's gear at Fuerte la Ladera after defeating them, then head for the goal. There is one enemy target and the time limit is 3 minutes.

[41]Stealing Gear: Steal the enemy's gear at the Mine Base's miner's residence after defeating them, then head for the goal. There is one enemy and the time limit is 3 minutes.

[44]Base Defense: The player (as an MSF soldier only) needs to defeat several enemy reinforcements that are arriving via the underpass at the U.S. Missile Base in Nicaragua, in order to buy Snake enough time. The player has to take out 20 soldiers.

[50]Prisoner Escort: The player has to escort escaped scientists at the Mine Base's Miner's Residence and cover them from the enemy presence. Any scientists who die will result in a mission failure.

[51]Prisoner Escort: Located in the Mine Base's AI weapon hangar, the player has to escort a captured mole and try to protect him from enemy soldiers. However, it seems to end with a Mission Complete upon starting the mission.

[58]Defend key Supplies: The player needs to defend supplies from the enemy at the Miner's Residence, with a mission being a failure if the enemy successfully manages to retrieve three supply crates ( the mission description says 2 supply crates). There are 10 enemies to watch out for ,and the 10th enemy does not spawn.

[61]Prisoner Escort: Cover a prisoner's escape at the back gate of the U.S. Missile Base at Nicaragua. (Incomplete level)

[69]Dead Man's Treasure: Retrieve items from the Ruinas de Xochiquestzal, while also avoiding the ghosts. Three items need to be located.

[73]Pooyan Mission: Shoot down enemy balloons that are abducting soldiers at the U.S. Base in Nicaragua. You must not let three balloons leave.

[75]One Shot: Take down all enemies (3) with a single bullet at Catarata de la Muerte.

[79]Ghost Photography: Take a picture of the ghost at Selva de la Muerte's Top of the Cliff area (Incomplete level)

[120]Metal Gear Zeke - Cross Battle: Pilot ZEKE via remote control and eliminate intruders from Mother Base, this mission has no codec conversation before the mission begins, however there is a codec in the Japanese version which is yet to be translated as the dialogue has no captions

[128]Lav Type C/ Custom alternate map.

[129]Lav Type C/ Custom alternate map.

Two of these missions contain alternate methods of obtaining the straw box, and only dummy extra ops 40 contains items the player can pick up.

In the Japanese version of the game, instead of being marked with a number identifier, missions appear to be marked with the kanji 没, which translates to "discarded."

There are additional playable missions marked with SBM followed by a number. In the Japanese version the number is followed by a description of the mission. Additionally, there exist four extra missions in the Japanese version which all contain the same name as the main ops ZEKE battle. The game will crash upon loading them.

Metal Gear ZEKE - Cross Battle is the only mission in which the player can pilot an AI weapon. It's also the only mission that requires at least two players to commence.

Although technically not a true dummied element of the game, resources for Metal Gear Acid 2 were found within the game code.[13]

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

24 Metal Gear Rising Unknown Battle Song A - Possibly Mistral's Theme ~Medley A~

Although not in the game itself, the TGS demo, depicting the beginning of the Abkhazia mission up to the fight against LQ-84i, has a glitch where the player can bypass the force field generator at the edge of the map and access the bridge portion early. Accessing it reveals some items as well as the missile launcher, although its description only lists its name, unlike in the final version where it is given a full description.

An unused Medley was found within the game files. The overall song resembled that of "A Stranger I Remain" save for the opening, implying that the song was meant to be used for at least part of the battle against Mistral. Aside from this, versions of both "A Stranger I Remain" and "The Stains of Time", that were previously used in demos, were included in the game files.

In addition, Raiden had unused animations for throwing a knife, different sword combos and for throwing a grenade. The latter was overall similar to the final version, but he did so with his right hand; in the final game, Raiden throws it left handed.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Six weather implementations were considered, although ultimately only four were included in Ground Zeroes. They are:

this.WeatherNames = { sunny = 0, cloudy = 1, rainy = 2, sandstorm = 3, foggy = 4, pouring = 5, }

Sunny was included for most of the side ops; cloudy was included for the extra ops, and pouring and rainy were for the main mission.

In addition, the ending scene can be ripped to be seen in full view, thus revealing the medic's face in full as well as the entirety of his actions.

Aside from the cut lines relating to interrogation listed above, there was also dummied dialogue and vocal sounds that were in the code yet not actually usable in the game itself. For instance, there was a reference to a soldier yelling "HQ!" in a context that implied that the player would actually participate in the Mother Base evacuation in the end of the game rather than simply view the destruction. Similarly, there were also grunting sounds from Big Boss as well as a line about Mother Base that was later used in The Phantom Pain during the prologue chapter/truth chapter and visits to Mother Base, respectively.

Not in the game itself, but dummied content for the Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Companion App indicated that Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov would have been an unlockable officer for the Mother Base mode.[14]

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Some unused recorded dialogue made by Kiefer Sutherland was unearthed. The context of some of the lines suggested they were intended to be used when interacting with Paz's hallucination,[15] while others had dialogue such as "You're fired!" (presumably said when dismissing a soldier from Diamond Dogs) and "Consecutive C-Q-C" (which was likely intended for when CQC was used in a chain).[16] Similarly, soundbytes for the character Skull Face implied that at one point, the character was not only going to be fought as an actual boss, but the player also had the option of actually imprisoning him instead of simply killing him. At least 500 pieces of dialogue intended for Miller were found in the game, half of which were cut.[17] Similarly, at least 180 English CP lines were also uncovered, with about half also being cut.[18]

The Phantom Episode 51: Kingdom of the Flies was going to be included in the game and even had 30% of its cutscenes rendered, although it was cut before release. Nonetheless, it is shown on a special Blu-ray Disc.

Owing to Ground Zeroes originally being planned to be released around the same time as The Phantom Pain, there was data text for the game in the coding.[19][20]

There are unused images and textures in the game including an image for a third chapter called "Peace", textures for a skinless human and upper half of a female buddy with a scar on it. The female buddy featured at least two scars, one featuring a "V" mirroring Paz's scar post-incision, and the other featuring a snake-like scar, mirroring that of The Boss.[21] The former was also commented upon by Kojima in three Twitter posts.[22] Similarly, Reddit also uncovered a reference to VOL3 and LET.[23][24]

An ending was uncovered in the PC version involving Diamond Dogs playing a large role in eliminating nukes from the world.[25] In addition, at least four audio files were uncovered in the same source. One file was apparently meant to take place right after Eli hijacked Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, where Miller relayed to Snake the hijacked pilot's retrieval, as well as XOF becoming involved in the search for the stolen Metal Gear and Eli.[26] The second had Ocelot describing the functions of Battle Gear.[27] The third one had Miller giving various comments about attack dogs, their role, and how to avoid them (implying that they were to appear in the game as an enemy).[28] The last one, presumably taking place after the mission where Quiet leaves permanently, has Ocelot trying to tell Snake to let it go.[29] In addition, the PC files revealed that there were intended to be twelve uniforms, six base colors, thirty weapons colors, at least six camouflage fatigues, eight faceplates, four blueprints for weapons, and roughly 31 emblem pieces, not counting the Venom Snake emblem, plus the emblem for No Alert.[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] Some of these were later released via the Event Points update. Similarly, after the May 10 update came out, dummied text indicated that there were to be at least thirty new uniforms (not counting Night Splitter), and images were uncovered depicting the various uniforms.[40][41]

The player data text implied that Eli as Liquid Snake would have been playable at some point. It also had camouflage names such as Panther and Real Tree, and indicated that there would have been customization options for the MGS3 wear, including an unused DLC pack for D-Horse called "Horse Rage Cone".[42][43]

Although not in the game disc itself, some dummied data relating to the game was also found in the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Companion App. Among these were coding that implied that there would have been a mission involving Chico (who was originally intended to survive the helicopter crash) on at least one part of the game, as well as data that was presumably related to the United States Naval Prison Facility in Cuba, and references to a tape called "Diamond Dogs Anthem." Leftover Battle Gear part names and LangIds indicate that it was intended to act as a customizable buddy, with a 30mm gatling gun, missile launcher, and rail-gun as weapon options.[44][45]

Content on the disc relating to soldier profiles implied that the commander of the rogue Mbele child soldiers was intended to be an actual staff member for Diamond Dogs.[46] In addition, further content unveiled that, aside from Combat, R&D, Support, and Medical Teams as well as non-specific skillsets, the skillset icons would also have included those specific to the Security Team, Base Development Unit, and Intel Team, plus a speech bubble skillset (implying that the interpreter skillsets were originally going to be their own category rather than simply part of the Support Unit).

Mother Base was planned to have at least three vehicle side ops. They were called Driver's Ed and had in-game descriptions explaining that were going to be checkpoint-based time trials.[47]

The Elephant codename was also found inside the data for The Phantom Pain, hinting it was initially going to be a codename in the game, but was discarded and found use in Metal Gear Online 3 instead. Several unused textures for weapon camouflage patterns can be found in the game's texture0.dat file.

D-Dog was originally going to have an additional two outfits; one themed for Miller and another for Ocelot. They have similar descriptions to the one for Quiet's Sniper Wolf outfit. [48]

There were also going to be various other equipment as well, like an alternate version of the INT Scope with lights.

Dummied data for the August 2017 update indicated that they would have released the grade 10-12 wormhole generators as blueprints similar to the first version, but by the time of the Skulls Attack event on September 19, the wormhole blueprint was the same as the initial version.

On March 2, 2019, textures indicating that The Phantom Pain was going to have a Codec screen similar to the one found in Peace Walker had been uncovered.

Dummied Codec screen for The Phantom Pain.

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Notes and references