Proto:Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

This page details one or more prototype versions of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

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Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Trial Edition is a prototype build of MGS2 that was famously bundled with Zone of the Enders. The demo is set entirely during the Tanker chapter and ends after the boss fight with Olga Gurlokovich.

General Differences

• The credits during the first cutscene lists the voice actors of the five characters who appear in the demo (starting with Akio Otsuka), followed by the development team. In the final game, only the developers are credited, but more staff members were added (such as co-writer Tomokazu Fukushima).
  • You can change the text of the credits between English and Japanese by pressing Circle. This will also change some of the on-screen captions, such as when the George Washington Bridge or Solid Snake appears on-screen.
• In the codec screen, the font of the numbers, appearance of the signal bars, and the character models used vastly differ from the final game. The right stick also rotates Snake and Otacon's models fully rather than merely panning about.
• The voices in this demo are entirely in Japanese, though the codec script had been translated in order to convey critical story information. According to the Document of Metal Gear Solid 2, dubbing sessions did not begin until July 9, 2001.
• When entering a new area, Trial Edition only has loading screens in English.

Gameplay Differences

• No auxiliary calls are present in the demo.
• In the inventory, all weapons appear as red. The final game kept this coloring for lethal weapons and added a light blue coloring to denote non-lethal weapons.
• The USP is acquired much earlier, being in a locker in the southernmost part of the first room of Deck B. In the final game, the USP is acquired after defeating Olga.
• During her boss battle, Olga does not have a stamina bar underneath her health bar.
• Ammo counts for weapons are shown as numbers displayed next to the name of the weapon as opposed to the bullet icons in the final game.

Unused Content

Scope Debug

A debug display present in the Japanese version for the scope that was most likely created to make quick adjustments to the interface without having to re-compile the game to test them, it was completely removed in all retail versions. The HUD's colors can be changed using a controller in the second controller port.

Unused Items / Weapons

• The FAMAS weapon is present, albeit unused. It can only be accessed via hacking and has its own unique model. The firing animation in third person view works fine, though in first person view, Snake seems to rapidly pull back a nonexistent slide on the gun.
• Early guard logic for the shotgun reinforcement enemy was present, however not implemented.