METAL GEAR SOLID

Metal Gear Solid was released in 1998 for the Sony Playstation. It served as a soft reboot for the the Metal Gear series, and follows similar story beats to Metal Gear 2. It was given the title of Metal Gear Solid instead of Metal Gear 3 because Hideo Kojima felt that the first two games were not widely known, since they weren't given North American releases.
With the gap between the release of MG2 and MGS, came of course many advancements to video games, arguably the biggest of which was the increased use of 3D graphics in games. This switch in style also sets Metal Gear Solid apart from the previous two installments.

We learn in one of the Briefing Files that after the events of Metal Gear 2, Snake retired to Alaska and became a dog musher (that means you do dog racing if you didn't know). That is, until he is called back into action for one last mission in order to prevent a nuclear launch from being carried out by a group of terrorists calling themselves the Sons of Big Boss. This group, made up of a Next-Generation Special Forces army as well as FOXHOUND(Snake's old unit), is being commanded by a man named Liquid Snake. Not only does the terrorist leader share a codename with our hero protagonist, the two are also nearly identical in appearance...

SUPPORT TEAM

Throughout the game Snake gets contacted by a variety of different characters on his codec, an advanced wireless form of radio communication. Some of these he meets in-game, others follow him throughout the mission from elsewhere. Nonetheless, the conversations that are had all offer a lot of insight, making the characters and the world itself feel that much more alive!

Roy Campbell, Snake's former commander and the former commander of the FOXHOUND unit. His reason for participating in the mission is partly the fact that his niece, Meryl, is being held hostage in the nuclear weapons disposal facility which has been overtaken by the Sons of Big Boss.

Naomi Hunter, a geneticist with a cold and snarky demeanor who specializes in nanotechnology-based gene therapy. She injected Snake with nanomachines, nootropics and an anti-freezing peptide during his briefing.

Mei Ling, a data analyst tasked with keeping track of mission data. What this means is that calling her lets you save your game, and when you do she also tells you a little quote or proverb relevant to your mission. During the Shadow Moses Incident, she was a student at MIT. She also developed the Codec system!

Master Miller, FOXHOUND's former drill instructor and Snake's mentor. Although he doesn't have the biggest role in this game(if you know, you know), the prequel games give him a more fleshed-out character.

Nastasha Romanenko, an expert on nukes and other weapons. She is Russian-Ukranian, and when she was ten years old her and her family were exposed to nuclear radiatiation from the Chernobyl accident, thus making her strongly against nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. Interestingly, someone could theoretically play through the entirety of MGS having no knowledge of Nastasha, since interacting with her isn't necessary to complete the game, and she is never featured in any cutscenes.