Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater[b] is a 2004 action-adventure stealth video game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2.

An expanded edition, titled Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence,[c] was released in Japan in late 2005, then in North America, Europe and Australia in 2006.

[1] The same year, Konami announced a remake, entitled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, set to be released for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Windows in 2025.

Set in 1964, 31 years before the events of the original Metal Gear, the story centers on the FOX operative codenamed Naked Snake as he attempts to rescue Russian rocket scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov, sabotage an experimental superweapon, and assassinate his defected former boss.

Considered one of the greatest video games of all time, Metal Gear Solid 3 was met with critical acclaim and was a commercial success, having sold more than four million copies worldwide as of March 2010[update].

Many objects and gadgets can be found along the way to aid in this, including motion detectors[2] to track hostile soldiers, and the Metal Gear series' trademark cardboard box, which Snake can hide under to avoid visual detection.

The two primary antagonists of the game are Colonel Volgin (Neil Ross/Kenji Utsumi), an electricity-controlling GRU colonel and member of the extreme Brezhnev faction, who are attempting to overthrow Nikita Khrushchev to seize power for Leonid Brezhnev, Alexei Kosygin,[8] and The Boss (Lori Alan/Kikuko Inoue), former mentor to Naked Snake and co-founder of the FOX unit.

Grant Albrecht/Osamu Saka), a venerable expert sniper credited as the "father of modern sniping";[9] The Fear (Michael Bell/Kazumi Tanaka), who has supernatural flexibility and agility; The Fury (Richard Doyle/Masato Hirano), a disfigured former cosmonaut armed with a flamethrower and a jetpack;[4] The Pain (Gregg Berger/Hisao Egawa), who can control hornets to both defend himself and attack his enemies;[4] and The Sorrow (David Thomas/Yukitoshi Hori), the spirit of a deceased medium.

[10] Other characters include Dr. Sokolov (Brian Cummings/Naoki Tatsuta), a rocket scientist whom Snake must rescue; rival scientist Aleksandr Granin (Jim Ward/Takeshi Aono); EVA (Jodi Benson/Misa Watanabe),[11] Snake's love interest, American defector, and KGB agent sent to assist him, and a young Ocelot (Josh Keaton/Takumi Yamazaki), commander of the elite Ocelot Unit within Volgin's GRU.

[4] Aided by his superior Major Zero, medical advisor Para-Medic, and his former mentor The Boss,[13] Snake is tasked with rescuing Soviet scientist Sokolov, a prominent weapons developer who defected two years ago until the Russians forced the United States government to return him.

Zero informs Snake that following his return, the CIA received intel that Sokolov is placed in charge of a secret military project to create a nuclear-equipped tank called the Shagohod, which could end the Cold War.

While her special forces unit, the Cobras, recapture Sokolov for their new benefactor, Russian officer Colonel Volgin, the Boss defeats Snake in close combat, seriously injuring him and leaving him for dead.

Volgin swiftly captures the Shagohod, which was being tested in the region, and uses a Davy Crockett nuclear shell supplied by The Boss to destroy its research facility and cover up the theft.

To avoid a nuclear war, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, who suspects Volgin's involvement, agrees to let U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson prove the U.S.'s innocence.

[17] Snake, finding himself assigned by Zero to assist in this manner, is ordered to complete three objectives: stop Volgin's faction; destroy the Shagohod; and eliminate The Boss.

Having killed Granin, a suspicious Volgin beats Sokolov to death and tortures Snake, who loses an eye while protecting a disguised EVA from Ocelot after suspecting her of being a spy.

The game does this by intermingling historical events and people, like the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Nikita Khrushchev, with its own fictional elements.

[34] Since the game's trailers did not state that Naked Snake was Big Boss, Kojima often gave vague answers regarding the character's true identity.

[38] He explained that the reason previous games were primarily set indoors is that the current consoles were not powerful enough to portray a true jungle environment.

[41] The battle takes place over a large area of dense jungle, and the player must search extensively for The End, who attacks over a long-range from an unknown position.

[63] Depending on server settings, each round the highest-scoring player in each unit automatically assumes the role of one of the main characters (or Reiko Hinomoto from Rumble Roses), along with unique abilities and/or items.

[66] Konami's Metal Gear Online service for the PlayStation 2 closed in Japan on December 26, 2006,[67] followed by in North America on April 2, 2007, and in Europe on October 30, 2007, although a fan community has revived it by emulating the servers.

[72] The Japanese version also includes a URL for a hidden website that allows the download of OtaClock, a PC and Mac clock program that features Metal Gear Solid series recurring character Otacon.

[81] It was released as part of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, as well as a digital download on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade.

[88] At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2010, Konami displayed a technical demo for the Nintendo 3DS entitled Metal Gear Solid 3D: Snake Eater – The Naked Sample.

[104][105] The port features numerous graphical improvements over the initial PlayStation 2 version including better character models and the addition of normal mapping.

[108][109][110] A novelization of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, written by Satoshi Hase, was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan on January 25, 2014.

[111] KPE, the parlor entertainment subsidiary of Konami, announced a pachislot adaptation of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Edge commented that "laying, camouflaged, in short grass inches away from a patrolling enemy is a gripping twist on stealth",[122] while GameSpy criticized it as "just a number to monitor and not a terribly interesting one".

In 2011, Kojima revealed that he floated the idea of a Metal Gear Solid 5 set during the World War II invasion of Normandy, showing The Boss and Cobra Unit's assistance in the fight.