When Does "Metal Gear Solid:" (1998) Take Place?
"Metal Gear Solid" is a spy video game written by Hideo Kojima with Tomokazu Fukushima (then translated for English-speaking audiences by Jeremy Blaustein), designed for the PlayStation system, that released September 3rd, 1998. So when is "Metal Gear Solid" set?
It takes place on the fictional Metal Gear timeline in the year:
We know this because Solid Snake refers to the events in Zanzibarland from the previous game as being "6 years ago" and that game takes place in 1999 AD.
The time setting is unchanged.
2005 AD
We know this because Solid Snake refers to the events in Zanzibarland from the previous game as being "6 years ago" and that game takes place in 1999 AD.
1999 + 6 = 2005.
More specifically, during one of the optional briefing videos that form a multi-part prologue to the game, Snake says, "There's a dogsled race this week. Next Saturday I have to be in Anchorage." and Colonel Roy Campbell asks, "The Iditarod? The longest sled race in the world? When did you become a dog musher?" Snake's response isn't crystal clear but he doesn't contradict the colonel. The real-world Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race traditionally starts on the first Saturday of March and the 2005 Iditarod race was held on March 5th, 2005 AD. So presumably it's late February of 2005 AD.
It is a chronologically late game in the Metal Gear universe and can be played at its timeline point or third [after "Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake" (1990)] as part of a retro release order experience or entirely separately.
This game was heavily remade and re-released March 9th, 2004 as "Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes" for the GameCube system with a tweaked script, a few new voice actors, and a dramatic change in graphics realism. So when is "The Twin Snakes" set?
