It’s no stretch to say that Metal Gear is one of the most gripping franchises in gaming, and it owes much of its success to rich character writing. Even in Metal Gear’s early MSX days, the series featured a memorable cast at the center of the action. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake even managed to weave one of the most compelling 8-bit narratives out of its cast.
When it came time to transition the series into 3D, Metal Gear gained another layer of nuance in Solid. Not only was Snake hardened by his previous adventures, the story had been retconned into recontextualizing Snake & Big Boss’ dynamic into a clandestine father/son relationship. Metal Gear has seen many playable characters since Solid Snake, but they share a richness that keep them one of the most memorable casts in gaming.
7 Solid Snake
Metal Gear is almost synonymous with Solid Snake and not without good reason. Although Big Boss has starred is arguably the more popular protagonist at this point, there’s no removing Solid Snake from Metal Gear’s DNA. He’s the main character in Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, and Guns of the Patriots. Solid Snake’s also critically important in Sons of Liberty.
If Big Boss is the face of the franchise (he kind of has to be,) Solid Snake is the heart and soul. There’s a reason that in spite of the series featuring so many Snakes, only Solid Snake is known simply as Snake. He’s charismatic, fights for what’s right, and understands the impact one man’s actions can have on the world.
6 Raiden
The real protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Raiden takes over as the main playable character once Snake’s time is up during the Tanker Chapter. The Plant Chapter is the real meat of Sons of Liberty, a deliberate homage to Shadow Moses that comments on the nature of sequels both narratively and through gameplay.
Raiden is directly compared to Snake both in-universe and metatextuality. Audiences are forced to see Raiden struggle to accomplish what they so effortlessly managed to do as Snake just one game ago. But it’s important to feel this disconnect between Raiden and Snake, as it's integral to Raiden’s own development. Raiden would return as a playable character in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, set after the events of Guns of the Patriots.
5 Big Boss
Although Sons of Liberty ends on a cliffhanger, it’s still clear to anyone paying attention that Metal Gear Solid 2 was meant to be the story’s grand finale. This didn’t end up being the case, of course, but Metal Gear Solid 3 took a step back in time in order to preserve the integrity of Sons of Liberty’s ending.
Snake Eater stars Big Boss in the first of many Metal Gear Solid games. He’d quickly go on to become the franchise’s star, having a rather in-depth character arc across Peace Walker, Ground Zeroes, and The Phantom Pain. Big Boss is playable in Snake Eater, Portable Ops, Peace Walker, and Ground Zeroes. His importance to the series is rivaled only by Snake’s.
4 Solid Snake (Ac!d)
Metal Gear Ac!d takes place in an alternate continuity where the events of Metal Gear Solid didn’t happen. Ac!d only considers Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake as canon. Ac!d also takes plays after Guns of the Patriots should have happened with a Solid Snake who isn’t an old man, suggesting he isn’t a clone of Big Boss in the universe.
Without the events of the original Metal Gear Solid having happened, however, Ac!d Snake is more or less at the same point character-wise Snake was in MGS. Unfortunately, Ac!d doesn’t give its Snake as developed an arc, resulting in a Solid Snake who– while interesting– feels like a knockoff.
3 Solid Snake (Ac!d 2)
Even though Ac!d ends with Snake surviving and making it out of Lobito’s lab, Ac!d 2 retcons the finale so that Snake dies instead. The main character of Ac!d 2 is actually a clone of Ac!d Snake. It’s a strange way of working cloning back into the Ac!d games, but it works for what it’s worth. Ac!d 2’s Snake is basically a sadder version of Metal Gear Solid 1’s Snake who’s forced to deal with his life as a clone a bit more directly.
2 Big Boss’ Soldiers
Portable Ops, Peace Walker, and The Phantom Pain features enemy soldiers Big Boss can recruit for his army. Recruits can be kidnapped for Big Boss’ Resistance Army in Portable Ops, and fultoned for the MSF & Diamond Dogs in Peace Walker and The Phantom Pain respectively. These soldiers have their own unique stats independant of Big Boss.
While most early soldiers will be worse than their leader, the best playable characters in each game are recruits– not Big Boss himself. That said, any story sensitive content will either force Big Boss as the playable character or feature him in cutscenes. The soldier concept returns full force in Survive, with characters controlling a character only known as the Captain who they get to customize.
1 Venom Snake
Actually the medic from Ground Zeroes, Venom Snake was Big Boss’ most trusted soldier turned into yet another clone– this time by his own accord. The Phantom Pain has Big Boss coming full circle in his hypocrisy. While he might resent Les Enfant Terrible, he’s quick to create a Snake in his own image.
Venom Snake’s mind is so warped, that he’s completely loyal to the mission after finding out he’s just an imitation of BIg Boss. But it’s also important to note that neither Venom nor Big Boss see him as an imitation. Rather, Big Boss considers Venom his true equal & reflection. So much so that he brings this secret to the grave. Both times!