Metal Gear Solid has a lot to offer: a strange cast of characters, a wide variety of weapons, plot twists aplenty, and loads of cutscenes. But it’s also about the titular giant mechanical menaces that one villain or another uses to terrorize the world.
However, some are more threatening than others. The TX-55 in the original Metal Gear never got activated, Portable Ops' Metal Gear RAXA was pretty weak, and the Arsenal Gears don’t really count. So, what are the strongest Metal Gears in Metal Gear Solid? Here are our selections, ranked on power, performance, and payload.
7 Metal Gear EXCELSUS - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
With Raiden’s cyber-dorkiness, and the alpha male meme machine Senator Armstrong, it’s easy to forget Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance had its own Metal Gear. EXCELSUS was a 6-legged variant armed with plasma cannons, plasma blades, and missiles. It was originally designed as a UG (Unmanned Gear) to make short work of cyborg troops and smaller UGs. Armstrong just managed to get one that could be controlled from a sealed, VR-like cockpit.
EXCELSUS does look intimidating with its sheer size, and it might’ve given the Snakes a run for their money if they had to deal with it. However, for a Metal Gear designed to destroy cyborgs, it got sliced up fairly quickly by one cyborg with a katana. Armstrong ended up testing players more when he chucked its wreckage at Raiden than when he was behind its proverbial wheel.
6 Sahelanthropus - Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
Made by Huey Emmerich for XOF, Sahelanthropus was designed to accelerate nuclear development around the world. When the rest of the world discovered a giant, upright mech armed with ICBMs was ready to strike, they would rush to stock up on nukes. Nukes they’d have to get from Skull Face as he’d use metallic archaea to destroy any rival stock. That’s on top of his language-eradicating parasites. Skull Face’s plans are crazy, and so are Sahelanthropus’ weapons.
It had homing missiles, surveillance mines, and a rail gun for local threats. Plus, it had a set of gatling guns, a flamethrower, and a burrowing whip. That’s not to mention it could release metallic archaea to rust up any tanks or helicopters. Shame it couldn’t be piloted properly. In-game, it’s controlled by Psycho Mantis while he was working off of Eli's negative feelings. Even when Eli got to pilot it he still needed Mantis' help. Without a psychic kid, it was just an eyesore.
5 Peace Walker - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
While it wasn’t officially codenamed "Metal Gear," Peace Walker was built by Dr. Strangelove and Huey Emmerich based on designs they received from Metal Gear’s true inventor Dr. Aleksandr Granin. It was run by two AIs that would act as its brain, with one controlling movement and the other deciding how to attack and proceed. Peace Walker had an intimidating amount of weaponry, like its drill missiles, S-mines, flamethrower, and an EM Pulse to deflect missiles.
It was also "fail deadly," meaning it wouldn’t launch its nuclear ICBM unless appropriately threatened. Shame it was easy to fool with false data, and a pain to change its mind. While it was a nasty fight, it was brought down by persistent rocket strikes. That, and its AI was modeled after The Boss. She was the best soldier of her time, but she also sacrificed herself to save the world. So, Peace Walker did the same thing, becoming the only Gear to destroy itself.
4 Metal Gear ZEKE - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Made for Big Boss’ Militaire Sans Frontières (MSF) by Huey Emmerich and Dr. Strangelove, ZEKE followed Granin’s two-legged designs more than Peace Walker's quadruped look. It’s unique as its weaponry and AI can be customized by the player. ZEKE can be the most difficult fight in the game, with its missiles, machine guns, and rail gun supplemented by S-mines, electric bursts, cannon fire, and more.
Or it can be less formidable if the player skimped on its development or didn’t grind enough AI boards. This helps out when Paz turns traitor and mods the machine to pilot it directly. Like flooding the cockpit with water for shock absorption. It kind of sounds more like an excuse to show off her swimwear than anything else, but be that as it may, it makes ZEKE less convenient to pilot than the other Metal Gears.
3 Metal Gear D - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
The number of retcons over the years has made the original Metal Gear designs kind of awkward compared to the others. Yoji Shinkawa’s angular Metal Gears look sturdier and more intimidating than the old ones, which are cutesy by comparison. While the first one, the TX-55, was a bust, its follow-up was a better contender. The Metal Gear D was a modified TX-55 piloted by Gray Fox in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
Aside from being able to launch up to 6 nuclear missiles, it had regular surface-to-air missiles, a rotary cannon, and machine guns, and could detect threats with its motion, infrared, and laser sight cameras. If its legs had sturdier armor, Solid Snake would’ve been in a lot of trouble when he had to shut it down. As it was, Snake managed to bring it down to size by going for its pins.
2 Metal Gear RAY - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty
There are actually quite a few RAY variants, from the AI-driven, mass-produced ones in Arsenal Gear to the Desperado one Raiden hacked up in Metal Gear Rising. The original, a prototype design by the US Marines based on Granin’s work, was the one that got the ball rolling in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. It can’t fire nukes, but it was made to destroy other Metal Gears.
Armed with machine guns, a water jet cutter, and a variety of missiles made to wreck tanks and ships alike, it had an impressive set of weapons. It could also operate in water, swimming on the surface and diving deep. On paper, it would be the best Metal Gear for its versatility alone as the other models were land-only. If it had a good pilot, it would be the best. But it got beaten out by its predecessor.
1 Metal Gear REX - Metal Gear Solid
Yoji Shinkawa’s first Metal Gear design became the most iconic one in the series. It’s inspired nearly all subsequent models, including ones that chronologically precede it like ZEKE and Sahelanthropus. In lore, it was designed by Granin, but built by Hal "Otacon" Emmerich. He thought it would be used for defense, using its machine guns and cannons to stop incoming missiles, then retaliating with its own anti-tank missiles, electron laser, and giant rail gun.
However, that rail gun could also fire nuclear warheads that were virtually undetectable by radar or satellites. Its reliance on its radome was a drawback, as was exposing the cockpit when it gets destroyed. Yet it was also surprisingly sturdy. After Solid Snake destroyed it in Metal Gear Solid, Otacon was able to reactivate it with some hacking, where it stopped RAY in a mech-on-mech fight. If REX didn't have Otacon’s "character flaws," it would be the perfect Metal Gear.