Metal Gear Solid Games Tier List: Every Entry Ranked
Hideo Kojima's stealth saga is one of gaming's weirdest, smartest, most melodramatic runs, and every entry still gets argued about on forums years later. We've ranked all eleven games (plus the Platinum-developed spin-off, because leaving out Raiden's chainsaw would be a crime) from the series peaks down to the one entry most fans agree you can skip.
This reflects what players and critics generally land on when the debates settle, with our own call where the fanbase genuinely splits down the middle. Disagree? That's half the fun of a Metal Gear thread. Rank them yourself and see how close you get.
The tier list
The community’s tier list fills in as members vote. It appears once 5 members have ranked or voted on these.
Think you can rank them better?
Make your own tier listFree account. Your ranking stays private unless you share it, and it counts toward the community tier list.Vote
SS Tier: The ones that defined the genre
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The jungle, the camo system, The Boss, that ending. Snake Eater takes the series' silliest tendencies and its most sincere ones and fuses them into something that still gets called the best in the franchise. The Virtuous Mission alone has more tension than most entire games.
Metal Gear Solid
The PS1 original is the reason any of this exists. Psycho Mantis reading your memory card, Meryl's codec frequency on the box art, Snake crawling through ventilation shafts while Kojima invents cinematic stealth gameplay in real time. It's rough by modern standards in places but the ideas still land.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
People were furious in 2001 that Raiden replaced Snake, and twenty years later that's exactly why this game gets reappraised constantly. The Colonel's glitching monologue about information control reads like it was written yesterday. Genuinely ahead of its time, even when it's messing with you on purpose.
AA Tier: Excellent, just a notch below perfect
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Not stealth, not really Kojima, and still one of the best things with the Metal Gear name on it. Platinum Games turned Raiden into a cyborg ninja with a sword that cuts through anything, and the Blade Mode mechanic alone makes this worth playing. Senator Armstrong's nanomachine speech has outlived the game itself as a meme.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
The open-world mission design, Mother Base management, and D-Dog are all phenomenal. But the game is famously missing its third act, cut short by Konami drama, and Chapter 2's mission repeats make that absence sting. Best Metal Gear that never got to finish its sentence.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
An aging Snake crawling through war-torn Middle Eastern streets to close out a story that had sprawled across four games. The cutscenes run long, sure, but the Microwave Corridor and the final Metal Gear REX vs RAY fight deliver the send-off the saga earned.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
A faithful, modern rebuild of the series' best game, with updated controls and visuals that respect what made the original special rather than reinventing it [CHECK release details]. Whether it surpasses the PS2 version is the new argument fans are having, but it's hard to call it anything less than excellent.
BB Tier: Great games with real asterisks
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Originally a PSP game, which explains some of its menu-heavy structure, but the Mother Base and co-op systems here basically became the blueprint for Phantom Pain. Kazuhira Miller's voice work carries a lot of the emotional weight. Better than its handheld reputation suggests.
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
The GameCube remake of the original, built on the Metal Gear Solid 2 engine, with Ryuhei Kitamura directing wildly over-the-top new cutscenes. Fans are split on whether Snake backflipping off missiles fits the tone, but the gunplay and visuals are a real upgrade.
CC Tier: Solid but overshadowed
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
The PSP entry that quietly set up a lot of what Peace Walker and Phantom Pain would later build on, including recruitment mechanics. Controls feel compromised by the hardware, and the story gets tangled, but it's more important to the series' DNA than most people give it credit for.
DD Tier: Only for the completionists
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
Technically a gorgeous tech demo for what Phantom Pain would become, but charging full price for essentially one base and a handful of side ops rubbed a lot of people the wrong way at launch. Worth it now mainly as a cheap prologue, not as a standalone purchase.
How we ranked them
We weighed story ambition, gameplay systems, how well each game holds up today, and how often it comes up when fans argue about the series' best moments. Remakes and remasters are judged both as standalone experiences and against the originals they're built on. Spin-offs are judged on their own terms rather than against mainline stealth expectations.
Think we got it wrong?
Drag all 11 metal gear solid games into your own tier list, then download the image or share a link.
Rank these yourselfFAQ
What is the best Metal Gear Solid game?
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is the most common pick among both fans and critics, thanks to its jungle survival mechanics, the camo system, and The Boss's story.
Is Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance canon?
Yes, it's considered part of the official timeline, following Raiden after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4, even though it plays as a character-action game rather than stealth.
Should I play Metal Gear Solid Delta or the original Snake Eater?
Delta is a faithful remake built for modern hardware and controls, so it's the easier entry point. Series veterans still debate whether it fully replaces the original's atmosphere.
Is Ground Zeroes worth playing before Phantom Pain?
It's short, but it sets up Phantom Pain's story and introduces the open-world mission structure, so playing it first helps the opening of Phantom Pain land harder.
What order should I play the Metal Gear Solid games in?
Release order (MGS, MGS2, MGS3, Portable Ops, Peace Walker, MGS4, Ground Zeroes, Phantom Pain) is generally recommended over story chronology, since it matches how twists and references were originally revealed.
More rankings
Image credits
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear SolidCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of LibertyCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear Rising: RevengeanceCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom PainCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the PatriotsCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake EaterCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace WalkerCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear Solid: The Twin SnakesCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable OpsCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Metal Gear Solid V: Ground ZeroesCover: Wikipedia · Source