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Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid

17. Gear REX - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

16. Metal Gear RAYs - Metal Gear Solid 2

15. Volgin - Metal Gear Solid 3

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14. Solidus - Metal Gear Solid 2

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13. Metal Gear REX - Metal Gear Solid

12. Vulcan Raven - Metal Gear Solid

11. Laughing Octopus - Metal Gear Solid 4

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A fun, but often forgotten idea from a special collaboration between Konami, Kojima Productions, and Capcom, Gear REX is a Monster Hunter-esque take on Metal Gear Solid's iconic bipedal tank. Mechanically, the fight itself wasn’t quite as memorable since Gear REX could have been substituted for “Gear bullet-sponge,” but just look at that visual! It’s wide head and majestic stance made it a living and intimidating interpretation of a fan favorite boss. As a result, we felt it had to be a part of this list. -- Jose OteroIt’s stressful enough to face just one Metal Gear, but being forced to fight what seems like a never-ending tidal wave of Metal Gear RAYs is downright monstrous. This anxiety-inducing battle at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty doubled as an endurance test as well as a physical trial, forcing Raiden to not only focus fire on multiple RAYs, but also avoid their never-ending stream of attacks. Depending on the difficulty, players may need to defeat up to 20 RAYs before proceeding – which begs the question, “Just how many of these things did the Navy build, anyways?” -- Jon RyanIf Snake Eater is the James Bond film of Metal Gear Solid games, then Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin is its Bond villain: a nefariously over-the-top lightning-scarred Soviet draped in ammunition belts whose weapons of choice are brute force and electricity. The fight against him is set on a large suspended lift shortly after planting explosives on Shagohod, so not only is there nowhere to take cover, but Volgin is pissed. The fight itself is pretty standard, mechanically, but the build up to it, the part where Ocelot throws his revolver in for you, and how ridiculous Volgin is (even after taking on the motley cast that is Cobra Unit) makes it a memorable one nonetheless. -- Chloi RadLove him or hate him, you can’t help but feel for Raiden at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2. In the game’s final hours, there’s so much double crossing and so many plot twists flying around, it’s difficult to keep track of them all. That’s what makes the final showdown with Solidus, perhaps the most cunning of all “Les Enfants Terribles,” so memorable. It’s a one-on-one showdown, and it’s the first in the series to feature sword combat, which in hindsight was probably a bit of foreshadowing for Raiden’s character arc. Admittedly, the swordplay wasn’t perfect, but it was a novel idea, and a satisfying conclusion to an incredible game. -- Zach RyanThe big encounter with the nuclear-armed bipedal tank, dubbed Metal Gear REX, brought a chilling edge to the final moments of the Shadow Moses Incident. Kojima and his team spent a lot of the story building up this potential nuclear threat. The fight itself was quite a spectacle, even by the graphics standards of 1998. The DARPA-built monstrosity had all the weapons: a mounted laser, rotating cannons, anti-tank missiles, and a token weak spot just like Star Wars' Death Star. In fact, it was a hell of a fight, that jumped from gameplay to cutscene seamlessly, but the cruel twist at the end, where an old friend sacrificed himself in order to help Snake put REX down for good, made it memorable.-- Jose OteroThe giant shaman called Vulcan Raven was scarier outside his tank than he was in it. His enormous, fully-automatic machine-gun matched his intimidating size and demeanor. He was fear incarnate, stalking Snake through a labyrinthine frozen storage and annihilating him the instant he found his prey. With limited vision and capable weaponry, Snake is at a huge disadvantage – it's a fight he can't win. Snake's best measure was to trap his hunter, luring him into lethal claymore mines, putting himself in the line of fire to trick his enemy. It wasn't about attacking Raven. This fight was about engaging, escaping, and out-smarting the undefeatable. -- Mitch Dyer

Laughing Octopus, a cackling stealth expert equipped with a crown of mechanical tentacles and advanced camouflage tech, is the only boss in the Beauty and the Beast Unit that isn’t either terrible to fight (looking at you, Raging Raven) or based on battles from the first Metal Gear Solid. Your encounter with this stealthy, cephalopodic super soldier is a slow-paced game of cat and mouse (snake and octopus?) set in a claustrophobic shack. Making it all the more unnerving is the music, a fierce industrial track interrupted by tense intervals of eerie soundscapes and mounting electronic wails as Laughing Octopus slinks into her next hiding spot. -- Chloi Rad