Rated E for Everyone! A guy who get off on burning people. A serial killer who obsess over their first kill who was a lover (?). A kid literally blown up. I always thought this game was the darkest in all the series even darker then GZ.
Funny enough, the E rating was the reason the game replaced the cigarette with the “fogger” because they knew kids would be playing the game. Can’t have cigarettes, but murder is cool lol.
And unfortunately, the reason this theory gained traction is because most people passed on Ghost Babel despite being an excellent spinoff. It's not quite accurate, and it's made pretty clear when you're done with it. It's actually an alternate timeline in which MG2 and MGS never happened. This character 'Jack' only appears in an unlockable mode, and he's going through a VR simulation of what you've already gone through as the real Solid Snake in the main campaign. It was a whole new universe using some of the same characters we know. It's a shame it never got sequels that expanded on it because that would've been neat.
This video's title is very accurate. What Ghost Babel was able to do and replicate on the damn GameBoy is incredible. So many limitations, but so much effort packed into that tiny cartridge. Bite-sized Metal Gear.
Rather than filling out the series with an endless parade of prequels that really mess with the technological development of the continuity, it'd be great if they just straight up adapted this story as a 3D title. And, if successful, continue the story from there.
I played Ghost Babel so much. I tracked down every version of Metal Gear I could find just before V dropped, was worth the trouble. I still wish I had my PSP and my ACID2 save.
A small detail is that Pyro Bison actually says the number of people that you had killed up to that point, an early nod to what would eventually become more fleshed out in MGS3. I had 4 kills at that point in the game for example. There's also some story mixed up with the VR missions (although they are outright torturous to play) that I'd advise you look up that gives more context to the relationship between Gardner and Parker, plus it gives an MGS2 easter egg as JMsolidsnake pointed out. Really great review. My thoughts were about the same as yours. The story is mostly well-done and the visuals are great, but almost everything else in regards to the gameplay, level design, and lack of boss fights could use a lot of work. Though we can still be in awe of what they managed to pull off on such underpowered hardware, even if the final product didn't come together all that well.
My favorite Metal Gear ever, in no small part due to how far it surpassed my expectations going in. It's actually INSANE that they were able to pull off this gameplay variety and this level of storytelling on a GBC of all things. Also, the Black Chamber are second only to Foxhound as the best group of antagonists in the series. Viper did nothing wrong.
Probably the best game on the gameboy color. The conveyor belts was probably the most frustrating part of the game and was why I immediately picked up a magazine with the full walkthrough. I still have that magazine and the game today.
Great to see someone talking about this forgotten gem from the GBC. I remember playing this game for hours when I was a kid, and also it helped a lot to improve my english. Greetings from Brazil🍻
This was my first Metal Gear. Got it my last day of middle school. I played it all summer long until I started highschool. Absolutely loved it. I really need to replay this.
I love this game. I feel like it boiled MG to it's core and it's just so impressive how much it feels and looks right on underpowered hardware with a tiny screen.
I do love your criticism of the level design because it just reminds me of that excitement and joy of purchasing the ultimate guide from your local game shop so you’d have a massive magazine/laminated book with the plans and boss fights along with your game and it just added so much more to your collection. I miss those days so much
Solid review! I just beat the game a few days ago so it’s nice to see it get a little attention. Just a heads up, you can fight Marionette Owl with the thermal goggles instead of the NVGs and he (yeah it’s a guy) won’t throw flash bangs at you. You can’t really tell which one is him, but if you keep eyes on the correct one before you swap, it makes the fight a lot easier. Also when you get down to the 100th floor of the Metal Gear hangar, you can go left instead of right and you will see the remains of Metal Gear TX-55 you destroyed on your original mission to Outer Heaven.
In Metal Gears Solid 2- Ai Campbell knows about this game because he quotes the mission briefing to Raiden when GW starts glitching out from the Fox Alive Virus. My theory that the operation was part of Raiden’s “simulation” training him on a proxy version of what happened on Shadow Moses while revealing nothing about the Shadow Moses incident. If GW wanted to train someone on how to be solid snake and go through something similar to shadow Moses without name dropping FoxHound as the terrorists (seeing as Raiden is supposedly part of Fox Hound despite it being canonically dispensed and members going renegade by MGS1) you wouldn’t want Raiden to get the wrong information. You also wouldn’t want him to know that the Pentagon developed Fox Die and blackmailed Campbell into using Snake as a vector to spread the super virus. You also wouldn’t want to reveal the government’s little black project about Les Enfents Terribles and how they’re cloning Big Boss. So if he played a VR training version of Shadow Moses, it was Ghost Babel, or a program just like it. But Raiden read Nastasha Romanenkos book about the truth of Shadow Moses, which Ai Campbell denounces and calls trash- because obviously the truth would put everything out in the open. And Raiden trying to find the truth compromises the whole Big Shell operation by painting the colonel and his entire former unit as less than trustworthy. Ghost Babel is a safe, sanitized, re contextualizad Shadow Moses incident with every other person switched out so that GW can control the narrative. Raiden is allowed to know Gallaude is a proxy for Shadow Moses but everything he knows about Shadow Moses feels wrong- and when he asks Campbell: it gets deflected. If you look at Ghost Babel with this in mind the inconsistencies with the mainline games make more sense
Nice man, I've literally never seen anyone else review babel And thinking back of the metal gear series as a whole I find that I honestly miss the art style of the handheld spinoffs especially this and Acid 2
This is legitimate and genuine forgotten gem. It's also a fantastic successor on the classic Metal Gear formula from a gameplay perspective by introducing reworked mechanics influenced from Solid and implementation of 8-way movement. If anyone hasn't played it yet and just watched this video, I really suggest giving it a shot. Not only is it a great hidden gem on GBC, it's a great Metal Gear game. Perhaps it would even get you to try the original 8bit Metal Gear games. I also completely forgot how many story beats it takes from MGS2, which makes sense since MGS2 was in development at the same time.
I recently found a copy of this game amongst my things that I don't remember ever buying. I never owned a Nintendo handheld until the DS Lite came out.
Thank you, I played this when it was released on GBC, even finished it. I can't say I would have wanted to do it again, especially because of the whole box level. As a kid I didn't understand the story and likely didn't bother reading much, so it was a nice touch to get an understanding for the story this time around.
My favorite Metal Gear. I was disappointed to see MGS later and see that the boxes would not have transport belts and that the stages were much smaller u_u I hope Ghost Babel is included in Volume 2 of the official collection. But I doubt it 😅
And if you play through all of the VR missions, you learn that this was all a simulation. And the game congratulates Jack for completing them. Jack aka. Raiden I presume… 🤔
The introduction theme (Theme of Tara) also plays when playing a VR Mission in Metal Gear Solid 1. The alert music for a VR mission also happens to be the alert music for Metal Gear 2. Same as this game. Nice little nod to it's secret VR nature.
I think Marionette Owl is a pretty fantastic boss fight, as it's basically a sort of a shuffle puzzle in a boss form. You're meant to use Thermal Goggles, so he doesn't keep lobbing stun grenades. He also never attacks you directly himself, and that's how you tell him apart from his dolls. I really wish they had recreated a fight like that in the one of the 3D games, as it could've worked great. But yeah, this is one of my favorite Metal Gear games and I'm glad to see it get more recognition. Would love to see it get remade either as a full 3D game or perhaps as a smaller scale indie-style 16 bit game with better inventory handling and maybe like twin-stick shooter type controls? Hope Konami at least includes it in the MC Vol.2 down the line.
Wait… “Jimmy the Wizard”… is that a reference to Jimmy from the movie The Wizard, who is supernaturally good at NES and 80s arcade games? Would be funny, if so lol
Bought this game when it was brand new. It's a really good non-canon entry, with pretty insane level design and a very functional, though repetitive, visual style. It's no Metal Gear 2 - Solid Snake, but worth playing for what it is.
Wow I never knew about this one. Man when the whole Gameboy craze came out I thought they were just porting well known games for the Gameboy, I had no idea they had different stories or continuities to them.
Chole! Read this before you play MGS2 and MGS3. It's stuff you should be aware of prior to playing. No spoilers. If you want an experience as close to an "original experience" as possible then you must play the original Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater, NOT Substance and Subsistence. And not the later "HD Collection" release (which is based on Substance and Subsistence). Substance and Subsistence changes things from Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater. For MGS2 while there are many small changes, there's no dramatic change. So one might say Sons of Liberty vs Substance doesn't matter. However Snake Eater vs Subsistence is extremely important. From the point of view of wanting to have an as-original-as-possible experience, the worst thing about Subsistence is that it has a new camera completely different from Snake Eater. In Subsistence you can freely spin the camera around and move it up and down however you want. Two things note: This makes the game much easier. And it's not how the game was meant to be played, nor how it should be played the first time. I'm saying this as someone who played these games when they were new (played the numbered MGS's since the MGS PSX demo when it first came). I remember thinking _both_ that the new camera was a cool addition as it allowed you to see the game in a way you hadn't in Snake Eater and also simultaneously thinking how game-breaking and dumb it was. Something to consider is that people who play Subsistence (or the HD/Master release) first and get used to that camera, they make themselves unable to enjoy Snake Eater if they try it. They, being used to Subsistence's free camera, complain about the """fixed""" camera in Snake Eater (the camera of course moves; it isn't truly fixed as in the early RE games). Which is sad since MGS3 was made with all those camera angles in mind; the angles were carefully chosen by the devs; it's how they intended the game to be viewed and experienced; every area you move through was planned and created with those angles in mind. And the fact people play Subsistence first and then find Snake Eater difficult due to the camera, that proves Subsistence's free camera is essentially an "easy mode" - an easy mode present on all difficulties. So, indeed, it makes the entire game easier than it was intended to be. And also it makes it more unrealistic, since you can see a huge amount stuff that Snake actually can't see. So as cool as it was, it did break the game in these ways. If you were to ask a bunch of random people who've played the game, many will probably say they prefer the Subsistence camera. But the vast majority of such people played Subsistence first instead of Snake Eater and thus they're victims of experiencing the free camera first and thus unable to view this issue objectively, and/or they're used to more modern games where such a camera is common. And what I'm talking about here isn't whether one personally prefers the camera in Snake Eater or Subsistence, what one likes or dislikes, that's entirely beside the point. Rather I'm talking strictly about how the game is meant to be experienced and the fact the free camera of Subsistence makes the game easier (it's sort of like a cheat, an aid, that's always available). Whether one likes or dislikes the free camera, it's simply not the way the game should be experienced the first time nor was it designed with it in mind. So for the camera reason alone, you should absolutely play Snake Eater. You should however play both Substance and Subsistence later, to see the changes and additions. And you'll better appreciate the changes and additions if you've first played Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater. This way you'll get the most out of both MGS2 and MGS3. Whichever versions you play make damn sure you have _pressure sensitivity_ (and, although less important, vibration - as it increases the immersion); make sure the pressure sensitivity works! Because MGS2 and MGS3 require it for correct gameplay. The games are meant to be played with a DualShock 2. Using firearms and doing some other things rely on the DS2's pressure sensitive buttons. I've seen so many first time playthroughs where people are playing with a controller lacking pressure sensitivity, or playing some version where the pressure sensitivity isn't working, and this results in absolutely disasterous gameplay with the player constantly complaining how difficult the controls are and crying about not being able to use the guns or grab enemies without unintended consequences. On a PS2 with a DS2, as intended, you raise your firearm and aim by pressing gently (not all the way down). Pressing hard fires the weapon. If you change your mind while aiming and don't want to shoot, then you simply let go of the button and the weapon is lowered. Pressure sensitivity is also crucial for grabbing enemies. It determines whether you simply grab and hold them, or whether you kill them. I've seen so many players trying to grab enemies only to always kill them over and over and over again, and whining _"Why can't I grab them!? NOOO! I didn't want to kill him! I just want to interrogate them, waaah, why is this happening!?!?"_ etc, and thinking the game is supposed to be that way and thinking the controls are bad - not realizing it's happening because they're lacking pressure sensitivity. Nowadays most people new to the games have no idea the games were designed with the DS2's pressure sensitivity in mind (nor have they ever held a DS2 in their hands and many have never even played any game featuring pressure sensitivity), and as a result (of playing a later release and/or with a newer controller or through an emulator where the pressure sensitivity isn't working) they absolutely fumble around with the controls and cause unintended Alerts and unintended kills and stupid situations entirely due to this. A huge chunk of their experience of the game becomes centered around this controls-fumbling. People ruin their experiences of MGS2 and MGS3 that way. And it's painful to watch. Lack of pressure sensitivity severely impacts the gameplay as it cripples your control over Snake. With regards to weapons, in some later releases of MGS2 and MGS3 with semi-auto weapons you can sort of work around the problem by de-selecting the weapon via the weapons menu while you're aiming but that's awkward and less than ideal to say the least. How all the pressure-based actions work on a PS2 with a DS2 is absolutely brilliant; it's 100% intuitive and natural and results in super smooth gameplay where Snake is super easy to control; no struggle whatsoever with the controls - Snake does exactly what you want him to, never any unexpected behavior. And while a DS3 also has pressure sensitive buttons, the L2 and R2 buttons on a DS2 are better since on a DS3 the "travel" of those buttons is much greater. So a DS2 provides a tighter and quicker L2 R2 experience. Another thing to note is the games in the "HD" release (those in the "Master" release are the exact same as the "HD Collection" and hence have the same problems) in many ways look worse than the PS2 versions. The rendered resolution is higher, sure, but many effects are missing or displayed incorrectly and there are other problems like for example some small cutscenes play incorrectly or at the wrong time. Even if you're playing the PS2 versions on a PS2, so that the resolution is limited to the native res (as opposed to emulating the PS2 versions at higher res), then the graphics overall are better than the "HD" release. And apart from the "HD" versions having graphical (and other) glitches, something else to consider is that the simple act of rendering MGS2 and MGS3 at higher than original resolutions make various aspects of the graphics worse since bad textures stand out more and the graphical "cohesion" is somewhat broken. Everything looks more proper and cohesive at the native res. From that particular perspective, aside from being free from graphical glitches the PS2 versions played on a PS2 actually look better _due to_ the lower res as well. But of course that comes at the cost of less clarity. If you can't stand the PS2's native res, then the best option is to emulate the PS2 versions at higher resolutions _(if you can get the pressure sensitivity to work with the emulator that is)._ Naturally the NTSC versions are better than the PAL versions. Higher framerate. So if you can, you definitely should play the PS2 versions (with a DS2 or alternatively a DS3) and specifically Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater (at least). From the perspective of you wanting your videos to look as good as possible for your audience, maybe you want to play the "HD" release. But you shouldn't let such a consideration determine which version you play. Two solutions to that, though: You can either play and record the original PS2 releases emulated (via PCSX2) set up to look as good as possible and even use widescreen hack if you really want to (but remember the camera angles and enemy placements and the games in general weren't made with widescreen in mind). Or you can simply do one playthrough first that's only for you; play the original PS2 releases on a PS2 or emulated, and then later play the "HD" versions for recording. But I say that's unnecessary work. Just record the PS2 versions, even if off a PS2 - most won't mind. A different thing: Consider playing both on Hard, especially MGS3. Normal is too easy. Only Extreme and E-Extreme are properly hard. A final note is that it would be _based_ of you to play the original releases, as almost nobody on UA-cam (or elsewhere) does that - rarely are the PS2 releases played, and it's even more rare to see people play Sons of Liberty or Snake Eater (some people upload videos titled as "Sons of Liberty" or "Snake Eater" but they're actually playing the HD/Master release which is Substance and Subsistence). So it's an opportunity to be different in a based way.
@Azumangoloid I also played MGS2 and 3 on the PS2 back when they came out. I'd say the pressure sensitive buttons are the biggest thing missing from the remasters. Having to carefully place your finger on the "trigger" was so immersive and really added to the tension. I also love the way the vibration function in those games matches what's going on on screen so well. I switch the vibration off for most games because it's too jarring- but MGS2 and 3 used it in such a balanced and immersive way.
I played MGS2 and MGS3 on release and I couldn't disagree more about the camera on subsistence. The old school camera angles and semi fixed camera still worked okay in the linear tanker and big shell of MGS2, but the more organic jungle setting of MGS3 really showed how limited this technique was. Of course it makes the game easier, you would naturally expect better controls to make a game easier to play. It's not as big of an issue though, with this game as it was with the twin snakes remake. The problem with twin snakes was they added in totally new mechanics, specifically hanging from rails, which completely trivializes certain areas. The tank hangar specifically comes to mind since you can directly go to the elevator after you enter instead of having to sneak past cameras and guards.
I was not expecting the name Chris Jenner in my vid about a Metal Gear I’ve often heard of but never played. Not the same spelling but it caught me off guard for a sec nonetheless.
My favourite thing about this game was the comic strip hidden in the codex every level had a story progression was another incentive to get further in the game
Chole, about what I wrote earlier here (in this comment section) regarding SOL vs Substance and SE vs Subsistence. Some ideas/suggestions relating to that: I noticed you played SOL, like I recommended. That was cool. Whether you did it due to my text or not I don't care. Just want to say it would be cool if you included Substance and Subsistence in your Metal Gear series. You could have a short Substance video where you go over the differences and play some skateboarding etc and give your thoughts about Substance vs SOL. And then after playing Snake Eater and putting up that video, then do the same thing; make a video about Subsistence and say what you think of it. Would be very short videos though, so might not feel worth it. And if you really insist on doing the games in release order then it's too late for that now, since Substance was released before The Twin Snakes. However due to the fact a Substance-only video and a Subsistence-only video would be very short, you could do both together in one video titled "Substance and Subsistence" and put that up after Snake Eater. So what you could do is this: Do Snake Eater, and then do a "Substance and Subsistence" video, and then do Portable Ops, and then a video about _that old game_ I wrote about in that old Community post of yours (like I said there it would look a bit out of place, but ultimately it would work out - especially considering it sort of "leads into" MGS4 through certain connections/references), and then do MGS4. Just a suggestion. Do whatever you want.
@@matchesmalone2355 Either pronunciation is acceptable in American English. British English pretty much exclusively uses BAY-bel. This applies to the tower and other contexts.
I finish this game as well, and my only substantial complaint was the fact that replaying any chapter would completely reset your inventory, even if you had finished the game and collected everything.
I wonder if the Boktai games are based off the same game engine or had the same artists. The animations of Snake in this are is SO close to Django's animations.
Yeah, Ikuya Nakamura did the character design and sprite art for both Ghost Babel and the Boktai series (as I recall, Shinkawa only designed Metal Gear and did promotional art.) GB director Shinta Nojiri was also the lead planner on the first Boktai, with Nakamura serving as the series director/writer.
Awesome video. I actually don't remember this game at all and I would have been like 11 years old, with a Game Boy color at the time. Hm. Is Babel a reference to the Tower of Babel, or is it just a weird translation from Japanese that didn't quite work out?
I honestly don’t really know, the “Project Babel” from the story doesn’t share any similarities to the parable so it seems totally random unless I’m missing something.
Yeah the conveyor belt with the switching of boxes was a nightmare this game would drive me crazy but it was one of my favorites on the gameboy then my friend got his gameboy stolen when hebborrowed it and thats when i found the joy of emulation and savestates lol
I remember thinking it was kind of lame that the final boss was just a fight against Viper again. I can't remember what my specific reasoning is, but I wanted it to be McBride or Weasal instead as the final boss, since both of them turning about to be traitors of some sort kind of has no actual impact on the plot when it's all just happening off screen (and does the story suggest one of them actually goes there in person and is pretty close to Snake? Can't remember, it's been a few years).
10:34 I know it's kinda nitpicking but that's not actually what omnidirectional means, as omnidirectional would imply having infinite degree of freedom (or at the very least 360 degree). Closest word to describe it would probably be "octagonal movement"
if you oplay the extra missions youll find out you were doing vr missions as a character called "jack". this was released before metal gear solid 2 as well, so its a pretty cool tease
Reason they used the alert theme from mg2 is because on a technical level, thia game was almost a remake of mg2. Similar gameplay, similar radar. Story wise it isnt, obviously, but the two are close in ways. Hell, ghost babel is even an alternate timeline replacement for mg2
I’m surprised you didn’t bring up the TERRIBLE four door puzzles(I think there’s two or three of ‘em). Anyway I really sucked at them, skill issue I suppose. lol I’ll tell ya didn’t suck at, I remember beating Owl without the thermal googles! I’m not saying it was easy and I certainly don’t recommend it! But I also feel I deserve some brownie points for that one😁! Also, I remember rescuing Jimmy(VIA the wall) before actually talking to him. Just a fun thing to do on a second playthrough. Also also, I remember I couldn’t beat Viper second time around. Had to have my Dad beat it for me. lol I might have to find a way to emulate this! I certainly don’t have a GBC anymore😅. But your review reinvigorated me a bit!
HOLY SHITE! Update: I do still have my GBSP! And its charger! Can’t believe the battery is still working. lol. As soon as it’s done charging I’m going to pop in Ghost Babel and see if that still works. 🤞
This game is damn good. Believe me, technically speaking it's a marvel, easily one of the best Gameboy Color games ever made. And the gameplay is so good too. TBH i've always found it way more polished than, say, Metal Gear 1 and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
Oh btw I left an argumentative comment on your other video, but I actually like at least this little series of yours, so have a sacrifice for the Algorithm Gods under this one as well
I really enjoyed Ghost Babel. I thought it had a decent story and I thought the characters were relatable and semi realistic. I thought revisiting Outer Heaven was cool too!
The only other games I know that killed a child was Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey. What happened to the kid in Origins I was like dude wtf because of the way the kid died.
Series cowriter Fukushima wrote the story, probably the man who kept Kojima grounded. After he left, the series did get even wackier, with MGS4, PW and Lord forbid the abomination that is V.
What an anti-colonial twist. Kind of cool that the plot is grounded in real-world villains instead of the Patriots being Illuminati with AI entities. Really cool explanation for the purpose of Outer Heaven and why there's so many special forces teams and mercenaries running around.
Tomokazu Fukushima wrote this game, and he did a lot of the research and codec writing for MGS 1/2/3. Kojima gets all the credit, but given how weak the story is in MGS 4 and 5 I feel Fukushima is the unsung hero of the series.
Rated E for Everyone! A guy who get off on burning people. A serial killer who obsess over their first kill who was a lover (?). A kid literally blown up. I always thought this game was the darkest in all the series even darker then GZ.
I never even noticed the rating 😂
It's definitely the darkest game so far, but hey no blood and gore so parents can rest easy ig 🤷♂️
Funny enough, the E rating was the reason the game replaced the cigarette with the “fogger” because they knew kids would be playing the game. Can’t have cigarettes, but murder is cool lol.
oh someone quotes dark id! And the fella had done the special missions no less!
Owl was just fucked up, man.
Not to mention your codec contacts talk about drug trafficking from the country
If i recall correctly theres a theory that Ghost Babel is actually a VR mission Raiden trained in before the events of MGS2
I've heard that too, and actually would love it if it's true. That'd be epic.
And unfortunately, the reason this theory gained traction is because most people passed on Ghost Babel despite being an excellent spinoff. It's not quite accurate, and it's made pretty clear when you're done with it.
It's actually an alternate timeline in which MG2 and MGS never happened. This character 'Jack' only appears in an unlockable mode, and he's going through a VR simulation of what you've already gone through as the real Solid Snake in the main campaign.
It was a whole new universe using some of the same characters we know. It's a shame it never got sequels that expanded on it because that would've been neat.
Ghost Babel is set in the Metal Gear Acid timeline. In the timeline Shadow Moses never happened.
Ultimate twist: we are all raiden and we have been playing simulations for years.
It’s not a theory it is canon. Ghost of Babel is the Shadow Moses simulation Raiden did.
This video's title is very accurate. What Ghost Babel was able to do and replicate on the damn GameBoy is incredible. So many limitations, but so much effort packed into that tiny cartridge. Bite-sized Metal Gear.
They did a great job capturing that Shinkawa art style in pixel form.
They really should include this game in the mgs vol2 collection
Sad this never ended up as a series on nintendo handhelds. The Parker/Gardner storyline was going places.
Rather than filling out the series with an endless parade of prequels that really mess with the technological development of the continuity, it'd be great if they just straight up adapted this story as a 3D title. And, if successful, continue the story from there.
I played Ghost Babel so much.
I tracked down every version of Metal Gear I could find just before V dropped, was worth the trouble.
I still wish I had my PSP and my ACID2 save.
A small detail is that Pyro Bison actually says the number of people that you had killed up to that point, an early nod to what would eventually become more fleshed out in MGS3. I had 4 kills at that point in the game for example. There's also some story mixed up with the VR missions (although they are outright torturous to play) that I'd advise you look up that gives more context to the relationship between Gardner and Parker, plus it gives an MGS2 easter egg as JMsolidsnake pointed out. Really great review. My thoughts were about the same as yours. The story is mostly well-done and the visuals are great, but almost everything else in regards to the gameplay, level design, and lack of boss fights could use a lot of work. Though we can still be in awe of what they managed to pull off on such underpowered hardware, even if the final product didn't come together all that well.
Played this alot as a kid. One of the killer apps on the gbc.
My favorite Metal Gear ever, in no small part due to how far it surpassed my expectations going in. It's actually INSANE that they were able to pull off this gameplay variety and this level of storytelling on a GBC of all things.
Also, the Black Chamber are second only to Foxhound as the best group of antagonists in the series. Viper did nothing wrong.
Imagine what they could've done on GBA...
@@Cr4z3d a weapon to surpass Metal Gear
Probably the best game on the gameboy color. The conveyor belts was probably the most frustrating part of the game and was why I immediately picked up a magazine with the full walkthrough. I still have that magazine and the game today.
Great to see someone talking about this forgotten gem from the GBC. I remember playing this game for hours when I was a kid, and also it helped a lot to improve my english.
Greetings from Brazil🍻
This was my first Metal Gear. Got it my last day of middle school. I played it all summer long until I started highschool. Absolutely loved it. I really need to replay this.
I love this game. I feel like it boiled MG to it's core and it's just so impressive how much it feels and looks right on underpowered hardware with a tiny screen.
Not only did I love this game on GBc, I also had an official port of it on my sliderphone in 2007. No bs. This game was sick.
I do love your criticism of the level design because it just reminds me of that excitement and joy of purchasing the ultimate guide from your local game shop so you’d have a massive magazine/laminated book with the plans and boss fights along with your game and it just added so much more to your collection. I miss those days so much
Also, the OG Metal Gear remains are able to be found, followed by a moment between Snake and Campbell
Solid review! I just beat the game a few days ago so it’s nice to see it get a little attention.
Just a heads up, you can fight Marionette Owl with the thermal goggles instead of the NVGs and he (yeah it’s a guy) won’t throw flash bangs at you. You can’t really tell which one is him, but if you keep eyes on the correct one before you swap, it makes the fight a lot easier.
Also when you get down to the 100th floor of the Metal Gear hangar, you can go left instead of right and you will see the remains of Metal Gear TX-55 you destroyed on your original mission to Outer Heaven.
The ending has the first appearance of Jack
Love to see gb getting the love it deserves
Literally one of the very best games on the gbc alongside resident evil
In Metal Gears Solid 2- Ai Campbell knows about this game because he quotes the mission briefing to Raiden when GW starts glitching out from the Fox Alive Virus.
My theory that the operation was part of Raiden’s “simulation” training him on a proxy version of what happened on Shadow Moses while revealing nothing about the Shadow Moses incident.
If GW wanted to train someone on how to be solid snake and go through something similar to shadow Moses without name dropping FoxHound as the terrorists (seeing as Raiden is supposedly part of Fox Hound despite it being canonically dispensed and members going renegade by MGS1) you wouldn’t want Raiden to get the wrong information.
You also wouldn’t want him to know that the Pentagon developed Fox Die and blackmailed Campbell into using Snake as a vector to spread the super virus.
You also wouldn’t want to reveal the government’s little black project about Les Enfents Terribles and how they’re cloning Big Boss.
So if he played a VR training version of Shadow Moses, it was Ghost Babel, or a program just like it.
But Raiden read Nastasha Romanenkos book about the truth of Shadow Moses, which Ai Campbell denounces and calls trash- because obviously the truth would put everything out in the open. And Raiden trying to find the truth compromises the whole Big Shell operation by painting the colonel and his entire former unit as less than trustworthy.
Ghost Babel is a safe, sanitized, re contextualizad Shadow Moses incident with every other person switched out so that GW can control the narrative.
Raiden is allowed to know Gallaude is a proxy for Shadow Moses but everything he knows about Shadow Moses feels wrong- and when he asks Campbell: it gets deflected.
If you look at Ghost Babel with this in mind the inconsistencies with the mainline games make more sense
Nice man, I've literally never seen anyone else review babel
And thinking back of the metal gear series as a whole I find that I honestly miss the art style of the handheld spinoffs especially this and Acid 2
I played this game like no one else on the gameboy color. It was great!
Nothing bolder that wearing a blue suit in the middle of a green jungle
This is legitimate and genuine forgotten gem. It's also a fantastic successor on the classic Metal Gear formula from a gameplay perspective by introducing reworked mechanics influenced from Solid and implementation of 8-way movement. If anyone hasn't played it yet and just watched this video, I really suggest giving it a shot. Not only is it a great hidden gem on GBC, it's a great Metal Gear game. Perhaps it would even get you to try the original 8bit Metal Gear games. I also completely forgot how many story beats it takes from MGS2, which makes sense since MGS2 was in development at the same time.
what I would love to see is a rom hack that basically turns this game into a gbc port of mgs1.
I recently found a copy of this game amongst my things that I don't remember ever buying. I never owned a Nintendo handheld until the DS Lite came out.
How the hell am I just now finding out there was a MGS Gameboy color game?
Thank you, I played this when it was released on GBC, even finished it. I can't say I would have wanted to do it again, especially because of the whole box level. As a kid I didn't understand the story and likely didn't bother reading much, so it was a nice touch to get an understanding for the story this time around.
My favourite game in the Metal Gear series. Loved the music. Loved the playstyle. The cardboard box levels were the best for me, a great puzzle.
I got this game for my 9th birthday. I got hundreds of hours out of this gem. I still have it today!
This reminds me of mission impossible for gbc so much. The whole time I played mission impossible i was hoping they would eventually have a mgs port.
I thought you wrote "This game is GOLD." Which still would have been accurate
My first metal gear. Super underrated.
My favorite Metal Gear. I was disappointed to see MGS later and see that the boxes would not have transport belts and that the stages were much smaller u_u
I hope Ghost Babel is included in Volume 2 of the official collection. But I doubt it 😅
This game has to come with the Master Collection Vol 2. This game is awesome.
Holy shit someone actually acknowledged this game!
And if you play through all of the VR missions, you learn that this was all a simulation. And the game congratulates Jack for completing them. Jack aka. Raiden I presume… 🤔
the VR mini game mode is awesome too!
The introduction theme (Theme of Tara) also plays when playing a VR Mission in Metal Gear Solid 1. The alert music for a VR mission also happens to be the alert music for Metal Gear 2. Same as this game. Nice little nod to it's secret VR nature.
My friend had this game, we loved alternating playing it. Never got that far, but it was a good time.
I played it on an emulator about 20 years ago, and I remember actually enjoying it quite a bit
The number of soldiers that pyro bison states you've killed is your actual kill count up until that point of the game
Viper ? You mean LT. Surge ? I guess this is the war he talks about before you fight him.
I think Marionette Owl is a pretty fantastic boss fight, as it's basically a sort of a shuffle puzzle in a boss form. You're meant to use Thermal Goggles, so he doesn't keep lobbing stun grenades. He also never attacks you directly himself, and that's how you tell him apart from his dolls. I really wish they had recreated a fight like that in the one of the 3D games, as it could've worked great.
But yeah, this is one of my favorite Metal Gear games and I'm glad to see it get more recognition. Would love to see it get remade either as a full 3D game or perhaps as a smaller scale indie-style 16 bit game with better inventory handling and maybe like twin-stick shooter type controls? Hope Konami at least includes it in the MC Vol.2 down the line.
Solid review. While hard to tell, Marionette owl is a man.
Wait… “Jimmy the Wizard”… is that a reference to Jimmy from the movie The Wizard, who is supernaturally good at NES and 80s arcade games? Would be funny, if so lol
Bought this game when it was brand new. It's a really good non-canon entry, with pretty insane level design and a very functional, though repetitive, visual style. It's no Metal Gear 2 - Solid Snake, but worth playing for what it is.
thoroughly underrated game imo!
Wow I never knew about this one. Man when the whole Gameboy craze came out I thought they were just porting well known games for the Gameboy, I had no idea they had different stories or continuities to them.
Metal Gear is my favorite game series and your videos got me into Armored Core and Ace Combat so hell yeah man.
Chole! Read this before you play MGS2 and MGS3. It's stuff you should be aware of prior to playing. No spoilers.
If you want an experience as close to an "original experience" as possible then you must play the original Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater, NOT Substance and Subsistence. And not the later "HD Collection" release (which is based on Substance and Subsistence). Substance and Subsistence changes things from Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater. For MGS2 while there are many small changes, there's no dramatic change. So one might say Sons of Liberty vs Substance doesn't matter. However Snake Eater vs Subsistence is extremely important. From the point of view of wanting to have an as-original-as-possible experience, the worst thing about Subsistence is that it has a new camera completely different from Snake Eater. In Subsistence you can freely spin the camera around and move it up and down however you want. Two things note: This makes the game much easier. And it's not how the game was meant to be played, nor how it should be played the first time. I'm saying this as someone who played these games when they were new (played the numbered MGS's since the MGS PSX demo when it first came). I remember thinking _both_ that the new camera was a cool addition as it allowed you to see the game in a way you hadn't in Snake Eater and also simultaneously thinking how game-breaking and dumb it was. Something to consider is that people who play Subsistence (or the HD/Master release) first and get used to that camera, they make themselves unable to enjoy Snake Eater if they try it. They, being used to Subsistence's free camera, complain about the """fixed""" camera in Snake Eater (the camera of course moves; it isn't truly fixed as in the early RE games). Which is sad since MGS3 was made with all those camera angles in mind; the angles were carefully chosen by the devs; it's how they intended the game to be viewed and experienced; every area you move through was planned and created with those angles in mind. And the fact people play Subsistence first and then find Snake Eater difficult due to the camera, that proves Subsistence's free camera is essentially an "easy mode" - an easy mode present on all difficulties. So, indeed, it makes the entire game easier than it was intended to be. And also it makes it more unrealistic, since you can see a huge amount stuff that Snake actually can't see. So as cool as it was, it did break the game in these ways. If you were to ask a bunch of random people who've played the game, many will probably say they prefer the Subsistence camera. But the vast majority of such people played Subsistence first instead of Snake Eater and thus they're victims of experiencing the free camera first and thus unable to view this issue objectively, and/or they're used to more modern games where such a camera is common. And what I'm talking about here isn't whether one personally prefers the camera in Snake Eater or Subsistence, what one likes or dislikes, that's entirely beside the point. Rather I'm talking strictly about how the game is meant to be experienced and the fact the free camera of Subsistence makes the game easier (it's sort of like a cheat, an aid, that's always available). Whether one likes or dislikes the free camera, it's simply not the way the game should be experienced the first time nor was it designed with it in mind. So for the camera reason alone, you should absolutely play Snake Eater. You should however play both Substance and Subsistence later, to see the changes and additions. And you'll better appreciate the changes and additions if you've first played Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater. This way you'll get the most out of both MGS2 and MGS3.
Whichever versions you play make damn sure you have _pressure sensitivity_ (and, although less important, vibration - as it increases the immersion); make sure the pressure sensitivity works! Because MGS2 and MGS3 require it for correct gameplay. The games are meant to be played with a DualShock 2. Using firearms and doing some other things rely on the DS2's pressure sensitive buttons. I've seen so many first time playthroughs where people are playing with a controller lacking pressure sensitivity, or playing some version where the pressure sensitivity isn't working, and this results in absolutely disasterous gameplay with the player constantly complaining how difficult the controls are and crying about not being able to use the guns or grab enemies without unintended consequences. On a PS2 with a DS2, as intended, you raise your firearm and aim by pressing gently (not all the way down). Pressing hard fires the weapon. If you change your mind while aiming and don't want to shoot, then you simply let go of the button and the weapon is lowered. Pressure sensitivity is also crucial for grabbing enemies. It determines whether you simply grab and hold them, or whether you kill them. I've seen so many players trying to grab enemies only to always kill them over and over and over again, and whining _"Why can't I grab them!? NOOO! I didn't want to kill him! I just want to interrogate them, waaah, why is this happening!?!?"_ etc, and thinking the game is supposed to be that way and thinking the controls are bad - not realizing it's happening because they're lacking pressure sensitivity.
Nowadays most people new to the games have no idea the games were designed with the DS2's pressure sensitivity in mind (nor have they ever held a DS2 in their hands and many have never even played any game featuring pressure sensitivity), and as a result (of playing a later release and/or with a newer controller or through an emulator where the pressure sensitivity isn't working) they absolutely fumble around with the controls and cause unintended Alerts and unintended kills and stupid situations entirely due to this. A huge chunk of their experience of the game becomes centered around this controls-fumbling. People ruin their experiences of MGS2 and MGS3 that way. And it's painful to watch. Lack of pressure sensitivity severely impacts the gameplay as it cripples your control over Snake. With regards to weapons, in some later releases of MGS2 and MGS3 with semi-auto weapons you can sort of work around the problem by de-selecting the weapon via the weapons menu while you're aiming but that's awkward and less than ideal to say the least. How all the pressure-based actions work on a PS2 with a DS2 is absolutely brilliant; it's 100% intuitive and natural and results in super smooth gameplay where Snake is super easy to control; no struggle whatsoever with the controls - Snake does exactly what you want him to, never any unexpected behavior. And while a DS3 also has pressure sensitive buttons, the L2 and R2 buttons on a DS2 are better since on a DS3 the "travel" of those buttons is much greater. So a DS2 provides a tighter and quicker L2 R2 experience.
Another thing to note is the games in the "HD" release (those in the "Master" release are the exact same as the "HD Collection" and hence have the same problems) in many ways look worse than the PS2 versions. The rendered resolution is higher, sure, but many effects are missing or displayed incorrectly and there are other problems like for example some small cutscenes play incorrectly or at the wrong time. Even if you're playing the PS2 versions on a PS2, so that the resolution is limited to the native res (as opposed to emulating the PS2 versions at higher res), then the graphics overall are better than the "HD" release. And apart from the "HD" versions having graphical (and other) glitches, something else to consider is that the simple act of rendering MGS2 and MGS3 at higher than original resolutions make various aspects of the graphics worse since bad textures stand out more and the graphical "cohesion" is somewhat broken. Everything looks more proper and cohesive at the native res. From that particular perspective, aside from being free from graphical glitches the PS2 versions played on a PS2 actually look better _due to_ the lower res as well. But of course that comes at the cost of less clarity. If you can't stand the PS2's native res, then the best option is to emulate the PS2 versions at higher resolutions _(if you can get the pressure sensitivity to work with the emulator that is)._ Naturally the NTSC versions are better than the PAL versions. Higher framerate.
So if you can, you definitely should play the PS2 versions (with a DS2 or alternatively a DS3) and specifically Sons of Liberty and Snake Eater (at least). From the perspective of you wanting your videos to look as good as possible for your audience, maybe you want to play the "HD" release. But you shouldn't let such a consideration determine which version you play. Two solutions to that, though: You can either play and record the original PS2 releases emulated (via PCSX2) set up to look as good as possible and even use widescreen hack if you really want to (but remember the camera angles and enemy placements and the games in general weren't made with widescreen in mind). Or you can simply do one playthrough first that's only for you; play the original PS2 releases on a PS2 or emulated, and then later play the "HD" versions for recording. But I say that's unnecessary work. Just record the PS2 versions, even if off a PS2 - most won't mind.
A different thing: Consider playing both on Hard, especially MGS3. Normal is too easy. Only Extreme and E-Extreme are properly hard.
A final note is that it would be _based_ of you to play the original releases, as almost nobody on UA-cam (or elsewhere) does that - rarely are the PS2 releases played, and it's even more rare to see people play Sons of Liberty or Snake Eater (some people upload videos titled as "Sons of Liberty" or "Snake Eater" but they're actually playing the HD/Master release which is Substance and Subsistence). So it's an opportunity to be different in a based way.
Snake Eater's original camera sucked, no wonder why they added a full 3rd person camera later.
@Azumangoloid I also played MGS2 and 3 on the PS2 back when they came out. I'd say the pressure sensitive buttons are the biggest thing missing from the remasters. Having to carefully place your finger on the "trigger" was so immersive and really added to the tension. I also love the way the vibration function in those games matches what's going on on screen so well. I switch the vibration off for most games because it's too jarring- but MGS2 and 3 used it in such a balanced and immersive way.
I played MGS2 and MGS3 on release and I couldn't disagree more about the camera on subsistence. The old school camera angles and semi fixed camera still worked okay in the linear tanker and big shell of MGS2, but the more organic jungle setting of MGS3 really showed how limited this technique was. Of course it makes the game easier, you would naturally expect better controls to make a game easier to play. It's not as big of an issue though, with this game as it was with the twin snakes remake. The problem with twin snakes was they added in totally new mechanics, specifically hanging from rails, which completely trivializes certain areas. The tank hangar specifically comes to mind since you can directly go to the elevator after you enter instead of having to sneak past cameras and guards.
You wrote all that?!😂😂
Bruh…it aint that serious to write all of this…people are going to play whichever version they like. Who cares! 😂
I was not expecting the name Chris Jenner in my vid about a Metal Gear I’ve often heard of but never played. Not the same spelling but it caught me off guard for a sec nonetheless.
Thank you! It’s so underrated.
I loved this game!
beat it 3 times when I was a kid
this review series is realy good and i can't wait for mgs2. nice work!
Great video! Gonna have to play it
My favourite thing about this game was the comic strip hidden in the codex every level had a story progression was another incentive to get further in the game
I hated that damn conveyor belt!
Chole, about what I wrote earlier here (in this comment section) regarding SOL vs Substance and SE vs Subsistence. Some ideas/suggestions relating to that:
I noticed you played SOL, like I recommended. That was cool. Whether you did it due to my text or not I don't care. Just want to say it would be cool if you included Substance and Subsistence in your Metal Gear series. You could have a short Substance video where you go over the differences and play some skateboarding etc and give your thoughts about Substance vs SOL. And then after playing Snake Eater and putting up that video, then do the same thing; make a video about Subsistence and say what you think of it. Would be very short videos though, so might not feel worth it. And if you really insist on doing the games in release order then it's too late for that now, since Substance was released before The Twin Snakes. However due to the fact a Substance-only video and a Subsistence-only video would be very short, you could do both together in one video titled "Substance and Subsistence" and put that up after Snake Eater.
So what you could do is this: Do Snake Eater, and then do a "Substance and Subsistence" video, and then do Portable Ops, and then a video about _that old game_ I wrote about in that old Community post of yours (like I said there it would look a bit out of place, but ultimately it would work out - especially considering it sort of "leads into" MGS4 through certain connections/references), and then do MGS4. Just a suggestion. Do whatever you want.
1k, mate!
Is there a reason everyone pronounces Babel like "Babble" instead of like (The Tower of) Babel, which I assumed it was referencing?
It's just the difference between American and British English. Here in the US/Canada we say it as "babble" 🙂
@@notcole interesting! Is that the same with the Tower too?
@@matchesmalone2355 Either pronunciation is acceptable in American English. British English pretty much exclusively uses BAY-bel. This applies to the tower and other contexts.
This game 100% deserves a remake.
I finish this game as well, and my only substantial complaint was the fact that replaying any chapter would completely reset your inventory, even if you had finished the game and collected everything.
My favorite metal gear games finished a rom hack of this game.
I wonder if the Boktai games are based off the same game engine or had the same artists. The animations of Snake in this are is SO close to Django's animations.
Now that you say it i also see it.
Yeah, Ikuya Nakamura did the character design and sprite art for both Ghost Babel and the Boktai series (as I recall, Shinkawa only designed Metal Gear and did promotional art.) GB director Shinta Nojiri was also the lead planner on the first Boktai, with Nakamura serving as the series director/writer.
Awesome video. I actually don't remember this game at all and I would have been like 11 years old, with a Game Boy color at the time. Hm. Is Babel a reference to the Tower of Babel, or is it just a weird translation from Japanese that didn't quite work out?
I honestly don’t really know, the “Project Babel” from the story doesn’t share any similarities to the parable so it seems totally random unless I’m missing something.
@@notcole There are probably like 6 million Reddit pages about it that I could just look up hahaha. Great video, though.
Also, i really wish we could have gotten a follow up, as snake was on his way back to the states to kick some ass
Yeah the conveyor belt with the switching of boxes was a nightmare this game would drive me crazy but it was one of my favorites on the gameboy then my friend got his gameboy stolen when hebborrowed it and thats when i found the joy of emulation and savestates lol
I remember thinking it was kind of lame that the final boss was just a fight against Viper again. I can't remember what my specific reasoning is, but I wanted it to be McBride or Weasal instead as the final boss, since both of them turning about to be traitors of some sort kind of has no actual impact on the plot when it's all just happening off screen (and does the story suggest one of them actually goes there in person and is pretty close to Snake? Can't remember, it's been a few years).
This game was good as fuck
Someone should just make a 2D fangame going off of this timeline.
10:34 I know it's kinda nitpicking but that's not actually what omnidirectional means, as omnidirectional would imply having infinite degree of freedom (or at the very least 360 degree). Closest word to describe it would probably be "octagonal movement"
Just wait till you 100% this game after beating 2. You will go insane.
I’ve rewinded 4 times now to confirm that Jimmy, indeed (and unfortunately) has no neck
The helicopter is an MI28 Havoc, not a Hind
You killed 89 by the time you got to bison. My most recent tweet play was only 23. So much for stealth lol
if you oplay the extra missions youll find out you were doing vr missions as a character called "jack". this was released before metal gear solid 2 as well, so its a pretty cool tease
Black Chamber is the most badass unit in the series
Easily the best Metal Gear plot
I might try this one, probably wont finish it though
kris jenner? in metal gear?
Reason they used the alert theme from mg2 is because on a technical level, thia game was almost a remake of mg2.
Similar gameplay, similar radar. Story wise it isnt, obviously, but the two are close in ways. Hell, ghost babel is even an alternate timeline replacement for mg2
I’m surprised you didn’t bring up the TERRIBLE four door puzzles(I think there’s two or three of ‘em). Anyway I really sucked at them, skill issue I suppose. lol
I’ll tell ya didn’t suck at,
I remember beating Owl without the thermal googles! I’m not saying it was easy and I certainly don’t recommend it! But I also feel I deserve some brownie points for that one😁!
Also,
I remember rescuing Jimmy(VIA the wall) before actually talking to him. Just a fun thing to do on a second playthrough.
Also also,
I remember I couldn’t beat Viper second time around. Had to have my Dad beat it for me. lol
I might have to find a way to emulate this! I certainly don’t have a GBC anymore😅. But your review reinvigorated me a bit!
HOLY SHITE!
Update: I do still have my GBSP! And its charger! Can’t believe the battery is still working. lol. As soon as it’s done charging I’m going to pop in Ghost Babel and see if that still works. 🤞
Its got m'f' cinematic cutscenes
I honestly never knew this game existed! I may have to break out a GBC emulator and give it a shot!
This game is damn good. Believe me, technically speaking it's a marvel, easily one of the best Gameboy Color games ever made.
And the gameplay is so good too. TBH i've always found it way more polished than, say, Metal Gear 1 and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
14:46 That's a Havoc, not a Hind.
how interesting, i think ill try this game
Oh btw I left an argumentative comment on your other video, but I actually like at least this little series of yours, so have a sacrifice for the Algorithm Gods under this one as well
The only MGS that I could not compelet i have played but decided to stop not sure why maybe because felt not like others
Did You completed all the extra misiones?
Wow this is the grandfather of Kojima's Boktai franchise huh?
I really enjoyed Ghost Babel. I thought it had a decent story and I thought the characters were relatable and semi realistic. I thought revisiting Outer Heaven was cool too!
The only other games I know that killed a child was Assassins Creed Origins and Odyssey. What happened to the kid in Origins I was like dude wtf because of the way the kid died.
Series cowriter Fukushima wrote the story, probably the man who kept Kojima grounded. After he left, the series did get even wackier, with MGS4, PW and Lord forbid the abomination that is V.
I love all mgs games
What an anti-colonial twist. Kind of cool that the plot is grounded in real-world villains instead of the Patriots being Illuminati with AI entities. Really cool explanation for the purpose of Outer Heaven and why there's so many special forces teams and mercenaries running around.
6:52?? Is Insane
Tomokazu Fukushima wrote this game, and he did a lot of the research and codec writing for MGS 1/2/3. Kojima gets all the credit, but given how weak the story is in MGS 4 and 5 I feel Fukushima is the unsung hero of the series.