Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GameCube) - RetroAchievements/guides GitHub Wiki

Guide by Paradise1

1) Synopsis / Table of Contents
Set Difficulty 3/10 to beat, 8/10 to master
Approximate time to master 30 hours
Minimum numbers of playthroughs needed 5-6 (1 for each difficulty, 1 Big Boss run)
Number of missable achievements 74
Does difficulty affect achievements? Yes
Hardest achievement of the set You Are Above Even the Boss (50)

This guide is quite sprawling, so here's a table of contents:

2) Introduction

Six years after his retirement, legendary soldier Solid Snake is living a quiet, solitary life in the Alaskan wilderness. When his former unit, the special operations group FOXHOUND, goes rogue and threatens a nuclear strike, Snake is thrown back into action. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and whatever he can find on-site, Snake must defeat the terrorists and rescue the hostages they've taken. But as his mission progresses, unexplained occurrences and ulterior motives lead to more questions than answers...

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a remake of the 1998 stealth action classic Metal Gear Solid. Co-developed by Silicon Knights and Konami, Twin Snakes was released for the GameCube in 2004. The game runs on an engine very similar to 2001's Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and as such integrates the graphical and gameplay improvements that that game introduced, such as first-person aiming (Integral did it first, technically, but we don't talk about that), new stealth techniques like hanging from ledges or holding guards at gunpoint, more advanced guard AI, and being able to interact with the environment in interesting ways (Nothing quite as interesting as watching individual ice cubes melt, though). Twin Snakes was received quite favorably by critics and the general public upon its release, but is polarizing among Metal Gear fans. The game is perhaps most infamous for its incredibly over-the-top cutscenes (spoilers!) that some argue ruins the more grounded (well, relatively more grounded) tone of the original game. Twin Snakes also features rerecorded dialogue and a more directly-translated script (that some find inferior to the original game's), and a replacement of the iconic soundtrack. Finally, although many praised the inclusion of Metal Gear Solid 2's gameplay improvements, fans of the original game felt that the level design of the original game (mostly intact in Twin Snakes) didn't account for first-person aiming, making many parts of the game less challenging than they were in the original, especially the boss fight against Revolver Ocelot. All that being said, Twin Snakes is by no means a bad game, and really only looks bad in comparison to the rest of the series (which, let's be clear, includes some of the best games of all time!). If you've never played a Metal Gear Solid game before, this is definitely a very accessible one. And if you're a seasoned Metal Gear fan who missed this entry, it's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of MGS2. Just don't take the cutscenes too seriously.

This set, developed by WilHiteWarrior (the developer of many Metal Gear sets on the site), contains 123 achievements and is worth 1200 points. The set is very comprehensive, covering all of the collectible dog tags (another MGS2 addition), the additional Boss Rush mode, the camera ghosts, good old Kojima weirdness, challenges for boss encounters, and many cool showcases of new mechanics imported from MGS2. Of course, because the set is so comprehensive, it's also quite long. You'll need to do at least 5 playthroughs (and probably 6) to master the set. This isn't quite as bad as it seems, though - you can play through the game pretty quickly after your first time if you skip cutscenes and codec conversations.

I've written this guide to be pretty comprehensive. Each playthrough contains achievements in chronological order, as well as tips for certain areas or encounters. Each area also includes a count of Dog Tags. Note that this is the maximum amount of Dog Tags you could have by this point, so feel free to leave some for later if you'd prefer. I've structured the guide with six playthroughs. You'll need to do one on each difficulty anyways to get all of the Dog Tags, so I've placed the playthroughs in ascending difficulty, with different optional objectives during each playthrough. If you only want to do one playthrough to beat the game, or just don't want to start on Very Easy, feel free to start with whatever difficulty you'd like! Most of the optional objectives can be completed on a first run anyways (except the Ghost Photos) if you'd like to. This set is very enjoyable to beat, and is probably one of the easier Metal Gear sets to master. That's not to say it's easy to master - you'll definitely need to put some effort in for the Big Boss and Boss Survival achievements. Speaking of Boss Survival, it's definitely the hardest part of the game (harder than Big Boss, even). I've put it at the end of my guide, but you can either save it for the end, or do it before your Hard/Extreme playthroughs to get some practice on the bosses.

As always, feel free to message me with any corrections or suggestions!

Previous Story

The events of the first two games (Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake) have some bearing on the plot of this game, but it's not necessary to know every single detail. The game does a decent job at filling you in on what you need to know, but if you want a deeper understanding of the themes and Snake's character development, you might want to read up on the first two games. In the Main Menu, you can go to Special > Previous Operations to read a summary of the two games if you'd like. Or, I've prepared an even more abridged version that hits everything I think you need to know, especially as it relates to Snake's character:

Metal Gear

  • The year is 1995. After reports that Outer Heaven, a rogue "fortress state" in Africa, has been developing weapons of mass destruction, Big Boss, the commander of special ops group FOXHOUND (and a legendary mercenary in his own right, known as the "Greatest Soldier of the 20th Century"), sends his most elite operative Gray Fox to investigate. FOXHOUND loses contact with Gray Fox after one final transmission: "METAL GEAR..."
  • Big Boss then sends a rookie operative named Solid Snake to rescue Gray Fox and neutralize the threat posed by Outer Heaven. Against all odds, Snake manages to infiltrate Outer Heaven, rescue Gray Fox, and is able to destroy the weapon of mass destruction, a nuclear-equipped walking tank known as Metal Gear.
  • It is finally revealed that Big Boss himself is the founder and leader of Outer Heaven. Big Boss had sent Snake, a rookie operative, fully intending for him to fail. After an intense firefight, Snake kills him and escapes Outer Heaven before it is destroyed.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

  • In 1999, a scientist who could solve the energy crisis is kidnapped by Zanzibar Land, a rogue Central Asian state that was once a region of the Soviet Union. Solid Snake, commanded by Colonel Roy Campbell, is sent in to rescue him. Snake's support staff this time includes FOXHOUND's expert on survival, McDonnell "Master" Miller, who provides numerous tips on local wildlife and stealth techniques.
  • As his mission progresses, Snake learns that Big Boss has somehow survived the events of the previous game and is now in command of Zanzibar Land. Big Boss has assembled a mercenary army and created a new model of Metal Gear known as Metal Gear D. Metal Gear D is piloted by none other than Gray Fox, Snake's former comrade.
  • Determined to stop Metal Gear, Snake destroys it and then reluctantly fistfights Gray Fox to the death. With his dying breath, Gray Fox explains why he and so many others are loyal to Big Boss. During his travels as a mercenary, Big Boss would often save children from war zones and take them under his wing. While this may seem kind, his ulterior motive was to take vulnerable people with nothing left to live for and groom them into soldiers who can't imagine living for anything else besides war. Gray Fox explains that he joined Zanzibar Land not because he loves war (he says he hates it, actually), or even because he owes Big Boss for saving him. He says he fights because conflict is "in his blood," and his traumatic experiences on the battlefield have left him so jaded that he can't relate to other people, function in "normal" society, or even imagine anything else besides being a soldier. Gray Fox implies that it will happen to Snake too, but Snake rejects this view, telling Gray Fox that he'll never be like him. As Gray Fox dies, he applauds Snake's conviction, and seems to genuinely hope that Snake can avoid the fate that befell him.
  • After killing Gray Fox, Snake confronts Big Boss himself, who explains his motivation a little further. "Normal" society, Big Boss says, is happy to send out soldiers to protect its interests, but rejects those same soldiers when they return broken and traumatized. When Snake says that he's trying to get rid of the nightmares he's been having since the Outer Heaven incident, Big Boss assures him that "they never go away, Snake." Big Boss claims that once a soldier experiences war, nothing else will satisfy them and they'll be unable to function in traditional society. The only "logical" solution, then, is to create a new society by soldiers, for soldiers, separate from the established world order (a sort of "Outer Heaven," if you will) where soldiers serve their own interests instead of that of a nation. Big Boss even goes so far as to say that he will fan the flames of conflict to create more soldiers - "the victims of one war will make fine soldiers in the next." He justifies this by saying that conflict is inevitable, and the world will always have more newly-broken soldiers ready to join Big Boss' ranks. After all, if other nations can use war to further their interests, what's so bad about the soldiers of the world uniting and furthering their own interests through war?
  • Snake vows to defeat Big Boss and end his reign. Big Boss states that there's only one way for this to end - one of them will be "liberated from the battlefield" through death, while the other will continue to lie out the rest of his days as a soldier. Snake, ever defiant, insists that he's different and that he won't end up like Big Boss. Snake ends up killing Big Boss with a makeshift flamethrower. Having toppled entire armies of hardened mercenaries not once, but twice, Snake becomes a legendary soldier. But, fearing that Big Boss was right and that he's doomed to live out the rest of his days on the battlefield, Snake disappears into the Alaska wilderness, cutting himself off from the world...

Well, so much for "even more abridged." I do think that understanding these two story beats from MG2 is pretty crucial to understanding Snake's character development, as well as that of most other characters in this game. Essentially, Snake, traumatized by these experiences, has shut himself off from the world and from human connection. The cruel irony is that by trying to avoid Gray Fox's fate, he's put himself in much the same position - he's cut himself off from human contact, and can't adjust to living in "normal" society. By trying to prove Big Boss wrong, he's proved him right. And Colonel Campbell says basically the exact same thing in the hidden briefing tape. That's where he's at in the beginning of the story, anyways. Was Big Boss right? Is death the only way to gain "liberation from the battlefield?" I guess you'll have to play the game (and the rest of the series) to find out!

Note that half of this has been retconned to hell over the past 20 years (including by this very game), especially with the shift of Big Boss from a villain to a more tragic figure in the series. In fact, I'm sure that Big Boss' characterization in the rest of the series influences my analysis of MG2. Here's a link to the full original conversations with Gray Fox and Big Boss if you want to take a look for yourself and see what you think.

3) General Tips / Strategy

Controls / Controller Setup

There are a few control quirks that aren't really explained too well in-game, so I'll go ahead and list them here:

  • When holding B and A at the same time, Snake will be able to move around while aiming, and will auto-target enemies. This is a very useful ability, especially for holding up guards. The auto-target even works in First-Person mode, although you won't be able to move. MGS2 did this with the L1 button, which the GameCube doesn't have.
  • When pressing A to aim a weapon, you can hold Y to prevent Snake from firing. This allows you to aim with the FAMAS, and allows you to put a gun down without firing (keep holding Y and release A). MGS2 did this with pressure-sensitive face buttons, which were always a little too finicky for my taste. I think Twin Snakes' approach has aged a little better, to be honest.
  • When aiming in First-Person, you can lean one direction or the other by holding the triggers. If you hold both at the same time, Snake will stand on his tiptoes. This can come in handy if you're trying to line up a shot from around a corner or over a railing.
  • When pressed up against a wall, you can shimmy to the right or left by holding the triggers instead of using the analog stick. This can be helpful if the camera angle changes and you don't know which direction to hold to move Snake.
  • Snake can flip and hang below some railings when pressed up against them by pressing Y. While hanging, you can move from side to side, press Y to flip back up, or press X to drop down. Hanging can be useful for avoiding guards, rapidly moving to a lower floor, or for accessing new areas. If you hold down L and R while hanging, Snake will do a pull-up. Pull-ups provide no tactical advantage whatsoever, but if you do enough of them, you will upgrade your Grip Level, which will let you hang for longer. In some rooms, you'll be able to drop and catch another ledge. Press X to drop, and at the right moment, press Y while you're falling to catch the ledge. The easiest way to do this is to just mash Y as you're falling. Not only does this let you access new areas, it also counts as 10 pull-ups, letting you rapidly increase your grip strength. There is a great spot to do this in the Metal Gear Rex hangar (and we will be doing it for an achievement), so don't worry too much about grinding out your Grip Rank before then.
    • The Rappelling sequence about halfway through the game also provides a massive amount of Grip Strength. If you stall for long enough, you can get to Level 3 in one go!
  • You can open some lockers by pressing Y next to them. Many lockers will have extra items in them! You can also press Snake into the locker to hide inside. Note that this will disable your radar, so it can be hard to judge if an enemy is going to see you when you exit. You can press L and R to look through the grate at different angles, and Snake's heartbeat will get faster when there are enemies nearby the locker. Finally, you can gently tilt the C-stick forwards to put your face closer. Note that if you do this too fast, Snake will smack his face into the locker, which guards can hear.

If you're not playing with a GameCube controller, the default control scheme might be a bit strange (especially if you're used to MGS2). If you'd like, you can customize your controls in Dolphin to whatever you'd like. Even better, you can save it as a profile so you can switch to it easily when playing TTS and switch back when playing something else! Here are my recommendations to make the controls more similar to MGS2, with heavy inspiration from this video and NoxYokai/XeroLimitGaming's posts in the game's forum topic:

  • If your controller's analog triggers work with Dolphin, great! If not, you might want to set "L-Analog" and "R-Analog" to L3 and R3 (for example), as this will allow you to quick-switch weapons.
  • To get MGS2 controls for the face buttons, you're going to want to bind A to Square, Y to Triangle, B to Circle, and X to Cross. I would also bind B to L1 - this will let you use that button to move while aiming like in MGS2.
  • For one-button codec calls, you can also bind A to Start. That way, when you push Start, it will register as Start and A at the same time and immediately open up the codec. This will leave you unable to open the map, though (normally Start+B). I don't use the map very much, but if you wanted it back, you can bind Start and B to Select as well.
  • To bind multiple buttons to the same input in Dolphin, right-click on the option and enter the two buttons (between backticks) divided by a vertical bar (this one: | ). For example: `Button A`|`Start`. If you don't know what the button is called, press it and it should light up next to its name in the display. See this link for more information. Twin Snakes Config
  • Here's an image of my config. It should be decently easy to recreate, or you can download it and use it yourself if you'd like. Note that this is for an Xinput gamepad (specifically, an 8BitDo Pro 2 set to Xinput mode, which recognized the analog triggers).
  • User NoxYokai has created a texture pack that replaces the input icons with Playstation icons, if you'd prefer. They also include their own controller profile.

Gameplay Tips

  • STEALTH CAMO AND BANDANNA WILL DISABLE ALL ACHIEVEMENTS IF EQUIPPED. WHAT'S MORE, YOUR ENTIRE PLAYTHROUGH WILL BE FLAGGED AS HAVING USED SPECIAL ITEMS AND YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO EARN ACHIEVEMENTS. So, if you accidentally use a special item, make sure that you quit the game without saving. If you do save, then the whole Save File isn't lost, thankfully - just finish your current playthrough to reset it.
  • Playthroughs: You'll need to do at least 5 playthroughs to master this set (and probably 6, unless you're pretty good). You'll need to do one playthrough on every difficulty to collect all of the dog tags, one playthrough where you take all or the ghost pictures, one playthrough where you destroy all of the cameras (Normal+), one playthrough where you never save before the torture sequence, one Big Boss playthrough, and one playthrough on Normal or higher with a couple of requirements that aren't required for Big Boss (0 rations, <400 shots, <5 life bars of damage, <5 saves). Thankfully, you can overlap most of these requirements! I'm going to structure my guide with six playthroughs, which will overlap as much as we can. See the Walkthrough section for more details, Feel free to customize playthroughs to your liking, or do more if you think it makes it easier! Make sure, however, that you do your Dog Tag runs on the same save file.
  • Dog Tags: Most guards in the game will have a Dog Tag. In order to get it from them, you'll have to hold them up with a gun while you're close (Snake will say "Freeze!"), maneuver around to their front, and point the gun at their head (or groin). The easiest way to maneuver while holding the gun at them is to hold A+B to move around. After a few seconds, they will start shaking and their dog tag will pop out. Thankfully, unlike MGS2 there aren't any "tough guys" who need extra persuasion. For most Dog Tags, you can go back and get the ones you missed. Be advised, though, that there are seven MISSABLE Dog Tags. Here's the list:
    • Johnny Sasaki, obtained from Meryl while she is disguised as a Genome Soldier. If you hold her up, she'll just run away, so you have to tranq her and shake her body (press A with no weapon equipped) to get it.
    • Meryl Silverburgh, obtained from Meryl when she is undisguised. Again, you'll need to tranq her and shake her to get it.
    • Psycho Mantis, obtained after his boss fight. Shake his corpse to get it.
    • At one point in the game, you'll need to find a sniper rifle. On Easy difficulty and above, this will spawn a guard in the Armory who guards the PSG-1. If you grab the PSG-1 and leave the area, he will despawn, never to be seen again. He will stay as long as the PGS-1 is left there, though, so you don't need to hurry to grab it.
    • Sniper Wolf, after her second boss fight Shake her corpse (by the legs, specifically) to get it.
    • Vulcan Raven, after his boss fight. It will be on the floor by his gun.
    • Liquid Snake, during his fistfight atop Metal Gear REX. You'll need to knock him off to get it.
  • The only other tricky Dog Tags are the ones in the Warehouse where you fight Raven. The guards won't be there until you are trying to activate the PAL key. Everyone else should be relatively easy to find. I've made a (pretty barebones) checklist to keep track.
  • MGS2 had a bunch of cool rewards for getting all of the Dog Tags. I wonder what cool things Twin Snakes gives you?
  • Alerts: If you don't have "Game Over if Discovered" on, then an alert won't count until the enemy calls in to base and activates the alert. If you're quick enough, you can take him out before he has the chance to call in (or shoot his radio to disable it). Leaving the screen will also prevent them from calling in. If he manages to make contact with the base but doesn't finish calling the alert, the base will send a guard patrol to look for him, so be careful.
  • Kills: It's a little hard to tell sometimes what counts as a kill or not. Obviously, shooting someone in the head with your SOCOM does, but things like "accidentally" blowing someone up with an explosive barrel don't. Also, "inadvertently" knocking a guard over a railing to their death apparently counts as a kill in some rooms and doesn't count as a kill in others. For good measure, if you're going for a no-kill run, it's probably a good idea to check your Rich Presence on your profile page to make sure you're still at 0 kills.
  • Saving: When you save, the game saves what your progress was when you entered the room you're currently in. Therefore, don't grab a bunch of items, save, and expect to keep the items - you'll have to exit to a different room to be able to save that progress. The one exception seems to be Dog Tags - if you save after collecting one of them, it will count as collected even if you reset before going to another room.
  • Continues: Much like saving, using a Continue will put you at the point you entered the room you're currently in. If you got any alerts or kills before dying, they will still be counted, though, so be careful! For the Big Boss run this is a bit of a moot point, as you can't use any continues anyways.
    • If you have "Game Over If Discovered" on, alerts actually won't count - the game will end immediately, before the guards can call the alert in.
  • Missable Achievements: This game has many missable achievements. Thankfully, most of them can be done on a subsequent run, so don't sweat it too much if you miss some. The only exceptions are I Repeat: Do Not Engage the Enemy, because the camera won't show up on subsequent runs, and the Dog Tag achievements, as those are tied to difficulty.
  • Mutually Exclusive Achievements: Many of the achievements in this set are mutually exclusive. Most bosses have both a lethal and non-lethal achievement, some challenges are impossible to do at the same time, and of course the game has two different endings. I will list all of the obtainable achievements in their respective playthroughs, and leave it up to you if you want to reload a save to get the other one, or leave it for a future run. Note that if you're going for a Big Boss run, you'll have to do all the bosses non-lethally anyways.
  • Miscellaneous tips: Here are a few other tips:
    • Pressing the elevator button multiple times will in fact make it come faster. Just like real life!
    • You can mash Y to make Snake hold his breath. This gives you more time in gas rooms and underwater.
    • When Snake's health gets low, he'll start bleeding and his health will turn orange. You can stop the bleeding (and recover health, too!) by crouching or going prone and staying still. If you do something like move or aim a weapon, though, Snake will continue bleeding. Snake won't die just from bleeding - once you hit 1 HP, you'll stay there.
    • Ocelot says he'll know if you use turbo during the torture sequence, but reports are mixed as to if it works or not. From what I can gather, there's some threshold of presses per second that causes the game to assume you're using a turbo controller (some speedrunners can mash so fast they set it off, actually!), at which point Ocelot will just electrocute you to death. But some turbo controllers (including my 8BitDo Pro 2) don't seem to mash fast enough to register. I would still tread with caution, especially if you're going for the achievement where you get through 3 torture sessions without saving.
      • You could maybe combine turbo with speedup to make it easier than mashing without going over the threshold.

Useful Resources

4) Walkthrough

Step 1: Very Easy + Misc Achievements

This first run will be focused on playing through the game normally and collecting as many miscellaneous achievements as we can along the way! Most missable achievements that don't require being on Normal+ difficulty will be in this section. You can do almost all of them (except the Dog Tags and the Camera) on a later playthrough if you need to, so don't sweat it too much if you miss one.

Missable Achievements:

Step 2: Easy + No Save + Ghost Photos

This run will focus on playing through until the torture scene without saving, and getting the Ghost Photos with the camera. Photos are saved independently from the game data, so don't worry about having to go back and get them again because you didn't save. This also means you can save them for a later run or do them over multiple runs if you'd prefer.

Missable Achievements:

Step 3: Normal + Challenges

This run will focus on doing the challenges that say "on Normal difficulty or above." Note that some of these are mutually exclusive, so either reset to get them both in the same run, or try to do them during a later run.

Missable Achievements:

Step 4: Hard + Saves/Shots

This run will focus on getting through the game with less than 5 saves and less than 400 shots.

Missable Achievement:

Step 5: Extreme + Rations/Damage

This run will focus on getting through the game with 0 rations used and less than 5 life bars of damage. We'll also grab a few Extreme-exclusive achievements.

Missable Achievements:

Step 6: Big Boss

The final run is the legendary Big Boss run, where you achieve the highest ranking in the game.

Step 7: Boss Survival

The ultimate challenge is the Boss Survival mode, unlocked after beating the game. This is probably the hardest part of the set. You can save this for the end, or you can try to do it between runs, whatever you prefer.

Step 1: Very Easy + Misc Achievements | Total points: 325

Run Intro

On this run, we'll be focused on playing through the game, earning the story achievements, and earning any optional achievements that don't have a difficulty requirement. Use this playthrough to enjoy the story (especially if you've never played before), and familiarize yourself with the games' mechanics. All missable achievements can be done on other playthroughs (with one exception), so don't sweat it too much if you don't get all of them.

In each new area, I'll give a Dog Tag counter. This will represent the maximum Dog Tags you could have at the end of the area. Regular guards' Dog Tags aren't missable (see the General Strategy section for those Tags that are missable), so feel free to come back later to get them if you'd like. You can check the number of Dog Tags that you have in the Item Menu (and the achievement popup when you collect one), and you can check which Dog Tags you have specifically from the main menu of the game.

Raison D'être (5)
Listen to all the briefing files, including the two hidden ones

Before you even start the game, head to the Briefing option on the main screen. The Briefing files are short cutscenes giving context to the game's story and a few of the game's characters. You'll need to watch each file to the end for it to count.

After you watch the first file (the one that automatically plays), as WilHiteWarrior states in the comments, immediately exit the menu before playing any other files. A secret file will play in which Snake attempts to refuse the mission. You'll need to watch all of the files in one session, so if you miss this one you'll have to start all over.

The files are rendered with the character models and a moveable camera. This actually makes it one of the more graphically demanding parts of the game - speedup might not even work, depending on your setup. If you want to get through as quickly as possible, you can point the camera all the way up and zoom all the way in, which will make it less demanding to speed up.

Once you've watched all the files, exit the menu and the last file should play, earning you the achievement!

Dock
Dog Tags 0/27
Missables 1 
Nintendo Sensorship (1)
Find the Anti-Personnel Sensor before leaving the Cargo Dock

Now that Snake has made the long swim into Shadow Moses, grab the M9 tranquilizer pistol to the right and then head right back into the water. Underwater you can find a ration (mmm, soggy!) and, if you head to the right, the AP sensor will be at the foot of the stairs. This item will make your controller vibrate when an enemy approaches.

Heliport
Dog Tags 3/27
Missables 3

Here we have our first mutually exclusive achievements. Grab the SOCOM in the truck for All I Can See is Red, or leave it for Rookie Rookie! My Super Rookie Rookie! Infiltrate both ducts without being spotted for I Spy With My Little Eye, or infiltrate both ducts after being spotted for Sorry to Intrude and I'm Not Being Stealthy At All! It's up to you, but I might recommend leaving the SOCOM on this run, as the Thermal Goggles will be useful in upcoming runs (especially the Normal one).

Wise-Ass Say... (4)
Tease Mei Ling until she's had enough of you

Simply call Mei Ling and select "Do Not Save" many times in a row. Eventually, she'll get annoyed and stick her tongue out at you. You won't be able to do this during certain story events, though.

I Can’t Just Knock on the Door and Ask Them to Let Me In (2)
Knock on the door and ask them to let you in

In order to get this one, you'll have to go to the large door at the north end of the Heliport and knock on it. To knock, press yourself against the wall and hit the B button. It might take a few tries - try knocking at different spots if you aren't able to get it.

They're Going After the Lights! (2)
Take out the searchlights in the Heliport

You can shoot the searchlights with either the M9 or the SOCOM. Afterwards, go ahead and collect the chaff grenades without a care in the world!

I Spy With My Little Eye (5)
Spy on the guards in both ventilation ducts without ever having been spotted

Getting past these guards isn't too bad. Just watch out for the cameras.

If you're looking to grab the Dog Tags, you can get them from the two walking around pretty easily. Hold them up with your M9, and hold A+B to move while aiming to go around to the front. Aim the gun at their head, and once they drop them, go ahead and tranq them. The sleepy guy near the first floor vent is a little trickier, though, because of the camera. You can hold him up fine, but getting in front of him while staying outside of the camera's view is harder. Remember, you can always come back to get it once you have the suppressed SOCOM to deal with the camera.

To view the conversation in the 1F ventilation duct, you'll have to go the wrong way at the fork, i.e. away from the mice.

Sorry to Intrude (2)
Infiltrate the 1F ventilation duct and spy on the guards talking about the intruder

You'll need to have at least 1 alert for this one. If all the guards are sleeping already, you can still trigger an alert by walking in front of the cameras. To view the conversation, you'll have to go the wrong way in the vent, i.e. away from the mice. Once you view the conversation, you can go back out and get the 2F one too if you need.

I'm Not Being Stealthy At All! (2)
Infiltrate the 2F ventilation duct and spy on the guards talking about the intruder
You'll need to have at least 1 alert for this one. After viewing the conversation, you can go back out and get the 1F one too if you need.
Tank Hangar 1F
Dog Tags 5/27
Missables 1

One Dog Tag is inaccessible for now (the guy in the Level 1 Room).

All I Can See is Red (2)
Find the Thermal Goggles before meeting the DARPA Chief

If you grabbed the SOCOM from the truck outside, the Thermal Goggles will be in the room on the SE side of the second floor. Watch out for the cameras. If you didn't grab the SOCOM, it will be in there instead.

Holding Cells B1
Dog Tags 5/27
Missables 3 
Don't Take the Piss, Johnny (2)
Spy on a soldier taking a leak

After entering the vent, take the first left to view this scene.

I Swear, I Did It for the Achievement! (5)
Watch the woman in the cell perform five different workout routines without those pesky pants in the way

As fngreg7, WilHiteWarrior, and Dysfuncional10 state in the comments, once you find Meryl in the vent, you'll have to leave the vent entirely and then come back to see that she's taken her pants off. Once she has, simply go around the corner and come back until you've seen all the exercises. To look down and see her, hold Z when you're right above the vent.

Sorry Things Didn't PAN Out! (5)
Find the DARPA Chief

Story-related, cannot be missed.

Rookie Rookie! My Super Rookie Rookie! (5)
Standoff with the soldier in the prison without the SOCOM

If you skipped the SOCOM in the truck and in the Tank Hangar, you'll get this achievement! A SOCOM will spawn for you in the battle - go ahead and pick it up now.

Armory / Armory South B2
Dog Tags 5/27
Missables 2

Watch out for the pits in the floor. There aren't any guards in this area before you beat Ocelot.

To: Satan. Merry Christmas (3)
Drop a hand grenade down the pit in the armory

You can find grenades behind an L1 door in the Armory. Once you do, use First Person mode to throw one of them into an open pit.

MROW! (5)
Defeat Revolver Ocelot using lethal means

You Don’t Have What It Takes to Kill Me (5)
Defeat Revolver Ocelot using non-lethal means

The first-person aiming makes Ocelot a total pushover. A few headshots from the M9 or SOCOM will be enough to put him down.

Armory / Armory South B2
Dog Tags 7/27
Missables 1

Now that you've defeated Ocelot, there will be 2 guards patrolling the Armory. You'll also be able to open L2 doors - there are a few in here.

Uno Mas (3)
Get the FAMAS in the Armory without triggering an alert

The FAMAS is found behind a L2 door in the southeast corner of the Armory. BE CAREFUL, there are lasers that will set off an alarm if they are tripped. Use the Thermal Goggles or Snake's Cigarettes to see them.

Tank Hangar 1F
Dog Tags 8/27
Missables 1

Now you can access the L1 door on the first floor, which contains the final Dog Tag for this area, and the SOCOM Suppressor. Also make sure to check out the room on the NE of the second floor, which contains the Mine Detector.

I Suppress My Emotions (2)
Collect the suppressor

The SOCOM Suppressor is located behind a L1 door in the first floor of the Tank Hangar. It's stashed in the corner of the room, so don't miss it. You can get it before you fight Ocelot, or you can grab it on your way out after beating him. To attach it, simply equip the suppressor and SOCOM at the same time.

Beaming With Joy (4)
Get through the laser corridor in the Tank Hangar without using the cigarettes or thermal goggles

There are two ways to do this. On the far side of the corridor is a fire extinguisher - you can shoot it with either the M9 or SOCOM to have it spray everywhere and reveal the lasers. Alternatively, on the bottom left corner past each laser is a control unit (like the SEMTEX control units from MGS2) that will disable the laser if you shoot it with the SOCOM (but not the M9!). Good thing we found a SOCOM suppressor a few moments ago, right?

Canyon
Dog Tags 8/27
Missables 2

As you enter the Canyon, Snake will receive an optional Codec call. MAKE SURE you answer it, as it is required for an achievement. After that, equip the Mine Detector and either avoid the claymores, or collect them by crawling over them.

There are some soldiers who have Dog Tags in the Canyon, but they don't show up until later in the game, so don't worry about them for now.

You're The Toughest, Craziest, Hardcore Badass On the Planet! (5)
Take out both gunners in the M1 Tank using lethal means

You're the Shit! (5)
Take out both gunners in the M1 Tank using non-lethal means

There are a few ways to take out the tank. You can either chuck grenades or stun grenades into the gunner's seat (Snake will automatically throw them in if you get the angle close enough), or you can try to hit the gunner with rounds from the SOCOM or M9. Chaff grenades will prevent the tank from using its main gun, allowing you to close the distance at the start.

Nuke Building 1F
Dog Tags 8/27
Missables 0

The guards on this floor don't have any Dog Tags, even though you can use the M9 on Very Easy.

Uh-Oh! The Truck Have Started to Move! (5)
Use a box to hitch a ride

You can do this now, but you might want to wait until you get Box 2 (available behind a L4 door on B1 of this building) so you don't have to walk all the way back. Simply get into a truck (located at the Heliport, 1F of the Nuke Building, or the Snowfield) and equip a box to be transported to the area it says on the side.

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 10/27
Missables 0

For Dog Tags, there's one guy who starts at the urinal in the bathroom. After getting both of the Dog Tags, grab the Nikita and head to B2 - there's not much else to do here right now.

Nuke Building B2
Dog Tags 10/27
Missables 1

When you first get to B2, make sure you save so you can blow up the electrical panel in 1 shot. If you miss it, you can leave the floor and come back to try again, but it's good to have a backup just in case.

When exploring B2, you can have Snake hold his breath by mashing Y. When combined with the Gas Mask you find on this floor, you can survive a pretty long time.

Maggie Q (10)
Destroy the high-voltage panel in one shot from the Nikita launcher

On Very Easy, it's not too bad. The Nikita will speed up after a second if you don't turn it, so if you have a straight section, let it fly fast to make sure you don't run out of fuel.

If you're doing it on a harder difficulty, there will be gun cameras in the office room that will try and shoot the missile down. You'll probably have to go on the right side of the room where there's a clear path and let the missile speed up to avoid them.

If you miss, you can (at least on Very Easy) exit the floor and come back to try again. It's probably worth having a backup save just in case, though.

Hey, Dum-Dum. You Bring Me Gum-Gum? (3)
Find a Moai

After blowing up the panel, the Moai is located in the first door on the right. Simply walk up to the table to unlock the achievement.

Nuke Building B2 Office
Dog Tags 10/27
Missables 0 
Urine Trouble Now (5)
Defeat That Ninja and rescue Dr. Emmerich

The way to beat the Ninja is to put away your weapon and engage in hand-to-hand combat. Bait him into doing a strike, and then follow up with one of your own. It shouldn't be too bad on this difficulty. If you have the Thermal Goggles, they might be helpful during the phase where he turns invisible and hides.

This Is the Chance of a Lifetime! Show Him What You’re Made Of! (3)
Execute the plumber to restore some health

In the office, there's two figurines of Mario and Yoshi. Shoot the Mario figure to play the 1-up sound and restore a tiny bit of health.

Nintendomachines, Son! (2)
Test the Gamecube's durability by throwing a hand grenade onto the desk with it

In the office, there's a purple GameCube sitting on a desk. Use First Person view to toss a grenade right next to it. It does need to be decently close, so it might take a few tries. What worked best for me was getting as close to the desk as possible and very briefly tapping A.

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 12/27
Missables 2

I would save when you get back here, just so you don't miss the achievements in this area.

Note that we also have our first MISSABLE Dog Tags here. While disguised as a Genome Soldier, Meryl will be carrying Johnny Sasaki's Dog Tag, and after changing her outfit she will be carrying her own Dog Tag. In both cases, you'll have to tranq her and shake her body (press A with nothing equipped) to get them. Holding her up while she's disguised does not work. Meryl is the one walking around the left side of the lower room - you'll know it's her because she makes a different noise when you tranq her. Meryl will get spooked and run to the women's bathroom if she sees you, so make sure you stay out of her sight until you're ready. If she enters the bathroom, she will come back out after a little while.

Also, while you're here, make sure you grab the Box 2 for the Uh-Oh! The Truck Have Started to Move! achievement if you haven't already got it.

Now This Is a Topic I Can Get Behind! (4)
Follow Meryl into the bathroom and catch her before she can finish preparing for your arrival

For this achievement, you'll have to follow Meryl into the bathroom very quickly, so she'll show up without her pants on in the following cutscene. The easiest way to do this is to have her spot you while she's facing North so you get a small head start and just beeline for the women's bathroom. It's the one on the right.

Stop and Stare (3)
Stare at Meryl for a while

Simply go into first-person view and stare at Meryl for a little bit. Unlike the original, she won't turn the color of a tomato, but you'll get the achievement once she starts repeating her lines. Also, make sure you tranq her and shake her body to get the Meryl Silverburgh Dog Tag. Note that you have to shoot her in the head to knock her out. She also will be (understandably) pretty mad once she wakes up, and will try and punch you, so make sure you're not on low health for whatever reason. Or do be on low health to see what happens.

Commander's Room
Dog Tags 13/27
Missables 4

And here we have the iconic Psycho Mantis boss fight. If you somehow didn't know, the way to beat this boss fight is to plug your controller into Controller Port 4 so Mantis can't read your mind. If you want to do that in Dolphin, just set the 4th controller to "Standard Controller" and map the exact same controls to it (use a preset, if you have one). There is an alternate way to beat him that grants an achievement, though, so let's do that instead. After the fight, make sure you shake his body for the Dog Tag before you leave the room.

It's Etched Into My Memory (5)
Do not doubt Mantis' power! He knows all about you!

Before the fight, Mantis will give a few comments about your playstyle, and will read your memory card for a few select games. Don't skip the cutscene, or else it won't trigger. To get this achievement, you'll need save files for four games:

  1. Super Mario Sunshine
  2. Super Smash Bros. Melee
  3. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
  4. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

(If you're wondering why Eternal Darkness is included seemingly out of nowhere, it's because it was developed by Silicon Knights, the same developers of this game.)

Mantis only checks for the presence of these save files, so you don't need to actually have any progress in these games beyond creating a save file. As TrogdorTheBurninator points out in the comments, the save files need to be from the same region as whatever copy of TTS you are running. That is to say, if you're running the USA version of TTS, you need saves from the USA version of all 4 games, and if you're running the EUR version of TTS, you'll need saves from the EUR version of these games.

Busted! (10)
Defeat Psycho Mantis using an alternate method

To earn this achievement, you'll have to call the Colonel until he tells you to use a different controller socket. Don't do that, though - instead just let Psycho Mantis kill you (try placing some C4 and see what happens!) and then continue. You'll have to do this three times - on the 4th time, call the Colonel again and he'll tell you you can destroy the busts on either side of the room. Do this, and you should be able to fight Mantis normally.

Left Alone in My Own World (5)
Defeat Psycho Mantis using lethal means

No Past. No Future. We Live In the Moment (5)
Defeat Psycho Mantis using non-lethal means

Psycho Mantis has a few tricks, but he shouldn't be that hard to take down on this difficulty. Note that if you use first-person view to aim, your view will switch to Mantis' POV after a few seconds. Mantis will attack by shooting psychic orbs at you and by attacking with the furniture in the room. Dodge his attacks and shoot him with the SOCOM or M9 to take him down. When he's attacking with the furniture, you can lie prone on the ground to avoid all of it. When he controls Meryl, shoot her in the head with the M9 (not the SOCOM, obviously) to put her to sleep. Again, MAKE SURE you shake his body for the Dog Tag once you're done.

Caves
Dog Tags 13/27
Missables 1

Note that this is the last chance you have to get the Meryl Silverburgh Dog Tag, if you haven't already. Before you leave the Caves, make sure you place all of your claymores to empty your inventory before the next area. Just make sure you don't hit the doggos (or Meryl) with them, as that wouldn't be very nice. There will be plenty of opportunity for animal cruelty later in the set, anyways.

And They Called It Puppy Love (3)
Lose ownership of your box to a puppy

To get this achievement, you'll have to punch Meryl and then very quickly open the item menu to equip a box. Open it after the punch connects, but before the animation finishes, if you can. If you did it right, a cutscene will play where Meryl instructs a wolf puppy to pee on Snake's box. This isn't actually all that bad, however, as the box will now make the wolves unaggressive towards Snake, similar to Sniper Wolf's Handkerchief.

Underground Passage
Dog Tags 13/27
Missables 1

I would save upon entering this area - it's easy to accidentally trigger the story continuing without getting all of the mines.

Mine Now (5)
Collect or destroy all the claymore mines in the Underground Passage

There are 14 mines on Very Easy. If you have the Thermal Goggles, you can see them easily. Otherwise, just crawl back and forth, bottom to top of the screen to collect them all. If you emptied your inventory of claymores, you should be able to pick them all up. If not, you might need to blow up a few of them (which counts for the achievement too). Either walk in front of them or shoot them (with Thermal Goggles).

It is pretty easy to trigger the Sniper Wolf cutscene at the top of the screen, so be careful.

At this point, you have two options for the Sniper Wolf fight. You can grab the PSG1-T from the B1 level of the Nuke Building, or you can head back to the Armory to grab the PSG1 proper. The PSG1-T is quicker, but there is an achievement for grabbing the PSG1 and you'll be able to grab a few Dog Tags from the Canyon along the way. You can grab all of those after the torture sequence anyways, though, so it's really up to you. I'm going to write this guide assuming you go back to the Armory, and grab the three Dog Tags from the Canyon. To get to the Armory, you can either walk back through the Canyon or take the truck to the Heliport using Box 1.

Canyon
Dog Tags 16/27
Missables 0

The Canyon will feature three new guards and a few security cameras, so go ahead and grab their Dog Tags and shoot the Cameras out with the SOCOM to make things easier. Once you reach the Tank Hangar, grab the Thermal Goggles from the SE room of the 2nd floor if you didn't have them already.

Armory B2
Dog Tags 16/27
Missables 1 
I Am the Type Who is Liable to Snipe You (4)
Collect the PSG-1 in the armory without triggering an alert

The PSG-1 is located behind an L5 door in the northwest of the Armory. There are lasers in this room, so make sure to equip your Thermal Goggles to avoid them. After you grab the PSG-1, backtrack to the Underground Passage to face off against Sniper Wolf. If you want, you can grab the PSG1-T from B1 of the Nuke Building, as well as some Pentazemin in the same room. You won't need the Pentazemin if you're playing on Very Easy, though. You can also find some extra ammo for both rifles in the Caves.

Underground Passage
Dog Tags 16/27
Missables 2 
I Always Kill What I Aim At (5)
Defeat Sniper Wolf in the Underground Passage using lethal means

Kept You Waiting, Huh? (5)
Defeat Sniper Wolf in the Underground Passage using non-lethal means

If you're playing on Very Easy, Snake's aim will be steady without the help of Pentazemin. With that in mind, it's just a matter of following where Sniper Wolf is and landing shots on her. Note that when she crouches she will be able to line up a shot very quickly, so try and hit her before she can. When she's standing, she takes a while to fire, so try and go for a headshot. When she's hiding behind the pillar, you can see the condensation from her breath coming out - aim around there, and when she pops out your crosshair should be about at head level. After you beat Sniper Wolf, make sure you save (Mei Ling will tell you she has a bad feeling).

You Dirty Rat! (4)
Kill rats until the Colonel gets tired of it

Right above where Sniper Wolf was is a railing. If you look closely, you'll see rats walking back and forth across it (Thermal Goggles help a lot here). There will be two walking across the top, and one walking inside the beam. Use the PSG-1 to snipe all three of them, and the Colonel will call and tell you "We don't need a rattrap, we need someone to stop the goddamn nuke from launching!" This line will become even more hilarious in a few hours' time.

Medical Room B1
Dog Tags 16/27
Missables 4

During the Torture sequence, there are several mutually exclusive achievements, There are three different ways to escape the cell, each with their own achievement, and whether you decide to resist the torture or submit will ultimately determine the ending you get. On this Very Easy run, I would recommend you resist 5 rounds of torture and have Gray Fox come and rescue you, as the torture is easier here than on other difficulties. You can also save in between torture sessions to reset and get all four achievements, too, if you'd like!

Let's Ketchup Later (5)
Escape the cell using Otacon's plan that he didn't bother to tell you, then kick the crap out of the guard to vent your frustrations

After the second torture session (or the first if you surrender), Johnny will run to the bathroom and Otacon will bring you a ration and a bottle of ketchup. Before Johnny comes back, while Snake is lying down, use the Ketchup by pressing A and it will look like he's lying in a pool of blood. When Johnny returns, he will investigate, at which point you should immediately get up and leave the cell, so he doesn't lock you in again. Make sure you don't exit the next door, though, as you'll have to KO Johnny in order to get the achievement!

Chickenshit (5)
Escape the cell using your own ingenuity and escape without knocking the guard out

After the second torture sequence (or the first if you surrender), Johnny will run to the bathroom. Ignore Otacon's meager offerings and hide yourself under the bed. When Johnny returns, he will open the cell door to check things out. Once he does, run straight out the door as fast as you can, and run out the other door too. Johnny will run to the bathroom again and the achievement will pop.

Tough Enough to Eat Nails and Ask for Seconds (10)
Successfully resist 5 torture sessions and finally receive some help from an unexpected source

If you resist 5 torture sessions, Gray Fox will come and slice the lock open for you. What a nice guy! For this one, you can either KO Johnny or run away, whatever you prefer.

Pain Is Inevitable. Suffering Is Optional (5)
Successfully resist the torture and escape your cell

If you resisted the torture, this achievement will pop when you retrieve your gear. If you surrendered to the torture, you'll miss it, but you can get it again on subsequent playthroughs.

If you resisted the torture, Ocelot will have placed a time bomb in your items. DO NOT throw it away - we'll need to have it for the second Deepthroat call.

Armory / Armory South B2
Dog Tags 16/27
Missables 2

After escaping the prison, our first stop will actually be the Armory South on B2 to grab the Camera.

Nice to Have a Fan Like You (5)
Answer both of Deepthroat's optional calls

Once the time bomb in your items reaches about 30 seconds, you'll get an optional Codec call. Make sure you answer it! If you also answered the call about the mines way back in the Canyon, this achievement will pop. Once you answer it, you can throw away the bomb - just note that this will likely cause an alert if there are awake guards, and is entirely impossible if you're on 1F of the Nuke Building.

I Repeat: Do Not Engage the Enemy (3)
Find the camera on a new game file

Now that we have the L6 Card, head to the hallway in Armory South right before the room where you fought Ocelot. On the rightmost wall, there will be a spot you can blow open using C4, which leads to another hallway. In this hallway, there's an L4 and L6 room, both filled with gun cameras. Toss a chaff grenade and snipe them with your SOCOM, and you should be able to grab the Camera from the L6 room. You'll need to squeeze into a hole in the fence.

Note that this achievement is kinda missable - after you beat the game, you'll have the Camera from the start, and it won't show up in this room. Remember that all of your Dog Tag runs have to be on the same file, so we really don't want to have to do another run if we can avoid it. It's best to grab the camera on your first playthrough. You have until the end of the game to do so, but this is the last time we'll be close to the Armory, so you should just grab it now.

Nuke Building B2
Dog Tags 16/27
Missables 1

Our next stop is going to be back to the Nuke Building. Before continuing, we're going to grab the Body Armor from B2.

At this point, you might also be wondering about the Medicine in B1 of the Nuke Building, and how to catch a cold for that achievement. Based on my testing, you seem to get a cold after surrendering to Ocelot's torture on Normal difficulty or above. In MGS2, you can get a cold from staying out in the rain too long on Hard or Extreme difficulty, but that doesn't seem to happen in Twin Snakes, as far as I can tell.

Not a Real Man (3)
Find the Body Armor before reaching the Communications Tower

The Body Armor is located behind an L6 door in B2 of the Nuke Building. It's the southernmost door in the western room. The Body Armor is a very useful item - when equipped, it reduces the damage taken by half!

Communication Tower A
Dog Tags 16/27
Missables 0

Make your way back to the area you fought Sniper Wolf, and head through the door at the end. You'll be prompted to change discs - the easiest way is to go to the Dolphin menu, right click Disc 2, and click "Change Disc."

For the climb, there aren't any achievements to worry about on Very Easy difficulty, just make sure you get the Rope at the bottom before you climb up to save time.

If you're having trouble with the climb, I would suggest liberal use of stun grenades and/or the FAMAS (remember, press A + B to run and shoot), the Body Armor, and Rations if you get low. Once you reach the top, rappel back down with the Rope. While rappelling, you may notice you're making progress towards an achievement. This is your Grip Strength increasing! You may want to stall a bit during the rappel to try and get it your strength as high as you can to save some effort later. In fact, you can get your Grip Strength all the way to 3 if you'd like! If you need to refill your grip stamina, you can stand on the metal beams with the right positioning.

Connecting Bridge
Dog Tags 16/27
Missables 0 
Open Sez Me (2)
Open the frozen door in Communication Tower A from the outside

Before you do anything else, you can turn around and use C4 on the frozen door to open it. If you don't have any C4, there's some tucked away to the right.

Communication Tower B
Dog Tags 16/27
Missables 0

Make sure you grab the Stinger and ammo before you head to the roof to fight the Hind D.

When Metal Gear Jumped the Missile (5)
Destroy the Hind D

The Hind D has two phases. In the first phase, Liquid will fly around the perimeter, occasionally swooping in to take shots at Snake. In the second phase, Liquid will hide under the tower's rim, and then pop up and attack. While fighting him, equip the Body Armor and use the Stinger to pile on damage. You can use the radar to try and put cover in between you and the Hind to avoid damage. In this game you can shoot the Stinger and then lock on, allowing you to shoot from behind cover if you'd like. It's probably not necessary on Very Easy, but may come in handy on harder difficulties.

During the fight, Liquid will launch 2 missile volleys. The first one will hit the southeast part of the roof (where the bridge was), and the second one will hit the tanks in the center of the roof. They're pretty easy to avoid.

Snowfield
Dog Tags 17/27
Missables 2

Remember to shake Sniper Wolf's body by the legs to get her Dog Tag after you defeat her.

Born On a Battlefield (5)
Defeat Sniper Wolf in the Snow Field using lethal means

What Are You Fighting For? (5)
Defeat Sniper Wolf in the Snow Field using non-lethal means

To find Sniper Wolf, you can either use the Thermal Goggles or the Stinger (which will show her as a target). Wolf will take cover behind trees on the far side of the field, and you won't be able to see her until she pops out. It's a good idea to try to keep track of her while she moves between them, so you don't have to find her again. When she's behind a tree, if you look closely you can see the condensation from her breath. Aim around that area, and your crosshair should be at around head level when she pops out, so go for a headshot. While moving between trees, she may crouch and fire a shot fairly quickly, so try and hit her before she does so you don't lose her. Once she goes down, make sure you shake her body for the Dog Tag before you leave. If it doesn't work, make sure you're grabbing her by the legs.

Not a Very Uplifting Message (5)
Discover the parachute

Before you move on, head to the southeasternmost tree in the Snowfield and look east above the fence in first-person. Snake will automatically notice a parachute hanging in a tree, triggering a Codec call.

Before you leave the Snowfield, pick up the Box 3 from the northwestern room. This will let you use the Truck to get back here if you need to backtrack for any reason!

Blast Furnace
Dog Tags 19/27
Missables 0

2 more Dog Tags to get from regular guards. There are a couple ways to get across the room, several of them involving the hanging feature.

If Do Right, No Can Defense (3)
Completely destroy the crane in the blast furnace

The crane is the thing in the west side of the room that will knock you off the narrow platform if you're not crouching. Hit it once with the Stinger to break it, and hit it again to completely destroy it. It won't show up as a target - just shoot the part that moves. Note that this will cause an alert if there are any awake guards.

Cargo Elevator
Dog Tags 19/27
Missables 2

You might want to save when you enter, so you don't miss Miller's poem.

This is My Real Skin Color! (2)
Learn about Nastasha's past

You can do this earlier, but the set puts it around here. If you call Nastasha enough, eventually she will tell you about her childhood witnessing the Chernobyl disaster in Pripyat. She will repeat conversations (about START-2, nuclear deterrence, Russia selling military assets) a few times before she talks about it, so just keep calling her.

Quoth the Master (2)
Listen to a gloomy poem from Master Miller

On the second elevator, when ravens start swirling overhead, call Master Miller. He'll recite a poem by 16th-century English poet Kit Marlowe, which Snake will describe as "gloomy." It's possible to call him too early, so if he just has his usual things to say, try exiting the Codec and calling him a few seconds later. Miller will awkwardly segue into his normal dialogue afterward.

A Murder of Crows (4)
Kill at least 3 crows, then encounter Vulcan Raven in the Warehouse

To get this, you'll have to kill 3 of the ravens circling overhead as you ride the elevator down. You can pick them off with the SOCOM, spray with the FAMAS, or shoot them with the Stinger if you really want. After you shoot 3, the Colonel and Naomi will call you, disappointed. Once you enter the room with Raven, he will scold you for killing them before the battle.

Warehouse
Dog Tags 20/27
Missables 2

There are Dog Tags from soldiers in the Warehouse, but they won't show up until later. Once you defeat Raven, make sure you find his Dog Tag. It will be near his gun.

That Which is No Longer Needed (5)
Defeat Vulcan Raven using lethal means

A World I Do Not Wish to Know (5)
Defeat Vulcan Raven using non-lethal means

Raven will run around the Warehouse looking for Snake and shooting with his minigun when he finds him. The classic way to defeat Raven is to play cat-and-mouse, hitting him with traps like C4, claymores, and Nikita missiles while avoiding direct confrontation.

In TTS, there's a speedrun trick you can use that is probably the easiest way if you're going for a non-lethal kill. Just get to the point in the video, and snipe Raven's head with good timing, and he'll go down pretty easily without damaging you too much. We will become very familiar with this trick by the time the set is over.

Once Raven is defeated, his Dog Tag will drop directly (as his body disappears). It will be next to his gun.

Warehouse North
Dog Tags 22/27
Missables 0

2 guys with Dog Tags here, and not much else.

Underground Base
Dog Tags 24/27
Missables 2

There are two guards with Dog Tags in this room. The floor is very noisy, so be careful sneaking up on them. Where the PAL key will go is dependent on how many alerts you have - if you have less than 30 (which you probably do) a rat will eat it, and if you have more than 30, it will fall into the ditch.

Ditch This Job (5)
Find the PAL key in the drainage ditch as one would expect

If you have more than 30 alerts, the PAL key will fall into the ditch. You can use the Mine Detector to find it easily, although do note that there are some cheeky Time Bombs hidden in the ditch as well. It's pretty hard to get 30 alerts without specifically trying, so you might need to grind some if you want this achievement. What worked for me was going to Warehouse North, getting spotted, waiting for the alert to activate, then falling into one of the pits (make sure you continue) and repeating until I got to 30. I'm not sure if it's greater than or greater than or equal to 30, so I'd go to 31 just in case.

Covert Critter (5)
Get the PAL key back from the thieving rat!

Unless you're specifically trying to get 30 alerts, this is probably what's going to happen. The rat is located on the ground level near the southern ditch. You can use the mine detector to find him easily. There are a couple ways to deal with him: you can shoot him with the SOCOM or PSG-1, blow him up with a grenade, or set a claymore where he pops out and wait for him to trigger it.

Once you retrieve the PAL key, DON'T start entering it quite yet - first we're going to go to the Warehouse to collect the two normal Dog Tags we're still missing.

Warehouse
Dog Tags 26/27
Missables 0

There are now two guards inside the Warehouse - take their Dog Tags and then go back to the Underground Base. We'll get the final Dog Tag during the boss fight with Liquid.

Underground Base
Dog Tags 26/27
Missables 1

Note that entering all the PAL keys is the point of no return, so make sure that you've collected all 26 of the Dog Tags you can get up to this point and picked up the Camera from the Armory before you continue.

Thanks, PAL! (5)
Input all 3 PAL keys without leaving the Underground Base in one session

This is one of the more universally-beloved additions in Twin Snakes. In the original game, you'd have to backtrack all the way to the Warehouse and Blast Furnace to cool and heat the PAL key, but in Twin Snakes you don't even have to leave the Underground Base! Well, we did have to backtrack to the Warehouse anyway to get the Dog Tags, but at least we didn't have to ride the slowest elevator known to man.

First, input the room temperature PAL key. Once that's done, on the right side of the top floor, head to the area shown in the image below:

Flip over the railing on the left, and get ready to drop to the next floor down. Drop down using X, and mash Y to catch the next floor. Flip up, and you should see two pipes, one labeled "LIQUID NITROGEN" and one labeled "STEAM." If you shoot these, they will spray out at you and cool/warm the PAL key instantly. Flip over the railing again once you're done, and do the same thing as before to grab onto the rope before you drop onto the ground. You can drop straight to the ground, too, but you'll take some damage.

Damn It, Otacon! Get a Grip! (10)
Raise your grip strength to level 3

If you didn't get your Grip Strength to 3 during the Rappelling sequence, then this is a good spot to grind it. Every time you drop and catch a railing, it counts as 10 pull-ups. If you wanted, you could climb up both flights and drop to the pipe platform and to the rope (equivalent to 20 pull ups) until you reach Level 3. You can also just climb up 1 flight of stairs and just drop to the rope right next to it, if you'd prefer.

Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave (5)
Learn the truth about what's really going on

Story related. This one will pop shortly before you enter the third PAL key.

They Played Us Like a DAMN FIDDLE!!! (5)
Input the PAL codes

Once you input the PAL codes, the room will lock and fill with gas. Equip the Gas Mask and call Otacon immediately, and he'll start working on unlocking the door.

Supply Route
Dog Tags 26/27
Missables 0 
Tools of the Government (5)
Destroy Metal Gear REX

To make this fight much easier, toss chaff grenades. This will prevent REX's missile attack from locking on to you, and the rest of the attacks are relatively easier to avoid if you keep your distance. Shoot the Radome (big circular thing) with the Stinger to damage REX in this phase. After 5 or 6 missiles, REX will move to the next phase after a lengthy cutscene.

In the second phase, the cockpit will be open, exposing Liquid, so you'll have to shoot the Stinger in there. Keep tossing chaff grenades, and use a similar strategy to the first phase. REX will be destroyed, and the next boss fight will begin.

Supply Route
Dog Tags 27/27
Missables 0 
The Twin Snakes (5)
Defeat Liquid Snake

Note that in order to get Liquid's Dog Tag, you'll need to knock him off Metal Gear REX. Once he grabs on to the side, it will pop out for you to collect. I'd recommend using the somersault roll when he's close to the edge. In fact, I'd recommend using the somersault roll in general. If you're lucky with your angle, it can hit multiple times and take out a good chunk of his health in one go! It might seem like it leaves you vulnerable to counterattack, but Liquid tends to miss you with his counter when you somersault past him. Otherwise, the fight's not too hard on this difficulty. If you knock him off too many times, you might get close to running out of time, but I don't think that should be a problem on Very Easy.

I Hope You Can Furgive Me (5)
Collect all dog tags on Very Easy difficulty

Assuming you got all the earlier Dog Tags, this should pop when you get Liquid's.

A Trip to Jupiter (10)
Escape Shadow Moses with Otacon

A New Path (25)
Escape Shadow Moses with Meryl

Infantry (1)
Complete the game on Very Easy or higher difficulty

The Jeep Escape is the last thing you have to get through. There are a few Rations tucked away in the first room of the garage, so grab those before you get in the car. Shoot the explosive barrels to clear the way. In the final sequence with Liquid, make sure to keep shooting him. It may not look like it, but he does have a health bar in this section that needs to be depleted before he goes to the next phase. Once you get to the end, you've beaten the game!

Step 2: Easy + No Save + Ghost Photos | Total points: 50

Run Intro

On this run, we'll go through the game up to the torture sequence without saving, and we'll start to work on the Ghost Photos at the same time.

No Saving

On this run, we won't save until after the torture sequence. Starting from a New Game + is okay for the achievement, as is saving the Ghost Photos. Continues are OK too. Just make sure the save counter on your profile's Rich Presence stays at 0.

Note that this means you must play through to the torture sequence in one session. If you want to wait to grab Dog Tags and Ghost Photos until you're able to save, you mostly can - just remember that some are missable (I will note those that are).

Ghost Photos

After beating the game once, you will start with the Camera item, which you can use to take pictures. Pictures are saved onto the Memory Card directly. If you take pictures of certain areas, when you view them in the Photo Viewer accessible from the main menu, there will be a "ghost" of a staff member overlaid on top. Make sure you save each one independently (don't overwrite any), as you'll have to have all 40 of them at the same time. Once you have them all, you can go through and "edit" each picture with a ghost. There will be an option to "Exorcise" the ghost under each photo. Make sure you don't do that before you collect all the photos, though, as you'll need to exorcise all 40 ghosts in one session.

Before you take any pictures, though, there's a quirk on Dolphin that causes all photos to come out as a pink screen for some reason. To solve this, go to Graphics Settings>Hacks>External Frame Buffer (XFB) and uncheck "Store XFB Copies to Texture Only." This will also fix the CODEC screen being blue instead of black like it's supposed to be. The ghosts still show up even on the pink screen photos, so I don't know that it's fully necessary to do this to get the achievement, but it's probably a good idea anyways to better keep track of which photos you have.

Each photo is stored directly on the memory card (taking up 3 blocks each), meaning that you don't have to get all of them on 1 run if you don't want to. I'm mostly putting these all in 1 run to structure the guide a little better, but feel free to spread them out over multiple playthroughs if you'd like. I'll be describing the general location of each photo, but you can also consult this FAQ if you'd like a little more detail on where exactly to stand. I'll also provide a photo (without ghosts) of each site to help you line it up. Here's a full gallery of the photos if you'd like, and here's a gallery of the photos with the ghosts! Finally, here is a video detailing the location of all ghost photos if you're having a lot of trouble with any of them specifically.

Dock
Dog Tags 0/28
Photos 1/40

Our very first Ghost Photo is of the Forklift in the northwest of the Dock. Note that this photo is missable, as you can't return to the Dock. It's at the very beginning of the game, though, so it's not a big deal if you miss it.

Heliport
Dog Tags 3/28
Photos 4/40

There are 3 photos in the Heliport. The first one is of the large door to the Tank Hangar.

The second is at the entrance to the room west of the Helipad itself:

And the third is the Helipad H. Make sure you stand far enough south to get as much of the H as you can.

Tank Hangar
Dog Tags 5/28
Photos 4/40

Remember, there's a guy behind the L1 door that has a Dog Tag that's inaccessible for now.

Holding Cells
Dog Tags 5/28
Photos 6/40

After the guard fight, there's two photos we can snap in the Holding cells. The first is of Decoy Octopus' corpse. (You can also get it without the corpse there, like I did).

The second is obtained looking out of the cell Meryl was in:

Armory/Armory South
Dog Tags 7/28
Photos 7/40

To get this photo, you'll need to use C4 to access a hidden room east of the elevator.

Tank Hangar
Dog Tags 8/28
Photos 8/40

Once Meryl opens the airlock with the lasers, stand at the door and take a pic:

Canyon
Dog Tags 8/28
Photos 9/40

There's a large rock on the east side as you enter. Go up really close to it and take a pic:

Nuke Building 1F
Dog Tags 8/28
Photos 11/40

Before you enter the room itself, head to the window on the catwalk on the right side and snap a picture: On Easy, you can still use your M9 in this building if you'd like. Use it to tranq the guards, and take a picture of the lockers on the west side (stand back a little):

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 10/28
Photos 13/40

Our first photo is of the men's room mirror. Make sure to tranq the guy at the urinal so he doesn't surprise you.

The Second photo is of the door to the Commander's Room.

Nuke Building B2
Dog Tags 10/28
Photos 15/40

The first photo is of the hallway with the electric floor:

The second is of the northeast corner in the hallway with all of the dead soldiers leading to the Laboratory. This one can be a little tricky; position yourself in between the two bodies closest to the corner and try to just get the wall, no floor or ceiling.

Laboratory B2
Dog Tags 10/28
Photos 17/40

After the Gray Fox fight, we can grab two pictures in here. The first is the poster on the wall for Zone of the Enders 2:

The second is of the broken windows in front of the supercomputers on the west side of the room. You'll have to get the top of the leftmost two windows:

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 12/28
Photos 17/40

Remember to grab the Johnny and Meryl Dog Tags before the Psycho Mantis fight.

Commander's Room
Dog Tags 13/28
Photos 19/40

After the Mantis fight, make sure to get his Dog Tag. There are two photos in this room. he first is of the holographic model of the Communication Towers on the west side of the room. Try to get the whole towers in the picture:

The second is the mirror in the room, next to the bookcase:

Caves
Dog Tags 13/28
Photos 22/40

There are three photos available in the caves. Tranq the dogs to make them easier to get. The first is at the end of the area, looking at the door to the Underground Passage:

The second is looking out from the first crawlspace (on the Commander's Room side):

The third is pretty tricky. It's a photo of the puddle in the northern part of the Caves, and needs a pretty precise setup to get. Go to the southeast side of the puddle, and as guddentehpwner recommends in the comments, crouch before you take the picture. Watch this video if you're having trouble.

Canyon
Dog Tags 16/28
Photos 22/40

Head back to grab the Dog Tags in the Canyon (and 1 new one in the Armory!)

Armory
Dog Tags 17/28
Photos 22/40

Starting on this difficulty, there will be a third guard in the Armory who shows up to guard the PSG-1 after Meryl is shot. If you grab the PSG-1 and leave the area, he will disappear, so don't miss him. Based on my testing, he seems to stay as long as the PSG-1 is there, though, so it's possible to come back later to get his Tag.

Underground Passage
Dog Tags 17/28
Photos 24/40

After the Sniper Wolf fight, there are two photos you can grab. The first is a picture of Meryl's blood taken from the north side:

The second is a picture of the platform Sniper Wolf was on, taken from the ground.

Medical Room
Dog Tags 17/28
Photos 26/40 
Just Can't Wait to Get On the Road Again (10)
Successfully resist at least 3 torture scenes and escape the cell without ever saving

If you've made it here without saving, make sure you resist the torture for three sessions before escaping however you wish (Also, make sure you don't save in between sessions).

After retrieving your gear, we can grab a few photos. The first is of the DARPA Chief's body. If you're following the FAQ I linked above, you're going to want to stand farther away from his body than the guide makes it seem. Stand closer to the middle of the room.

The second photo is of the torture machine:

After that, we don't have any more photos until we reach the top of Communications Tower A.

Communication Tower A Roof
Dog Tags 17/28
Photos 27/40

For this photo, you're going to want to stand on the platform near the broken bridge and shoot a photo of the other tower. Note that this photo is missable - after the rappelling sequence, you won't be able to get back to the roof.

Connecting Bridge
Dog Tags 17/28
Photos 28/40

After you take care of the guards on the Connecting Bridge, head to the south end of Tower B and take a picture facing north. You can scare Liquid away by aiming the Stinger at him.

Communication Tower B
Dog Tags 17/28
Photos 29/40

Once you get into the tower, go down to the broken stairway and take a picture of the opposite wall.

Communication Tower B Roof
Dog Tags 17/28
Photos 30/40

During or after the fight with the Hind, stand on the southern platform and take a picture facing Tower A:

Snowfield
Dog Tags 18/28
Photos 31/40

After defeating Sniper Wolf, shake her down for her Dog Tag and then go prone to her south so you can take a picture of her body and the door behind her:

You can also take the picture without her body there if you come back later.

Blast Furnace
Dog Tags 20/28
Photos 33/40

There are two photos in here. First, go to the southern walkway, and take one facing straight north:

Second, go to the ground floor on the northern side and grab a pic of the molten metal pit, standing east of it:

Cargo Elevator
Dog Tags 20/28
Photos 34/40

One simple photo: just snap the first cargo elevator:

Warehouse
Dog Tags 21/28
Photos 36/40

After the Raven fight, grab his Dog Tag from near his gun. While you're there, grab a pic facing the wall with his gun slightly visible at the bottom:

Then, go north in between the second set of crates and take a picture facing south:

Warehouse North
Dog Tags 23/28
Photos 37/40

Take care of the two guards (and grab their Dog Tags), and then take a picture of the majestic sewage waterfall:

Underground Base
Dog Tags 25/28
Photos 39/40

There are two photos to grab in here. The first is a head-on view of Metal Gear REX, from right in front of the Control Room at the top. As guddentehpwner notes in the comments, this one can be tricky. Don't stand too close to the back wall, or else you might miss it.

The last picture before the endgame is of the World Map on the south side of the Control Room at the top:

Warehouse
Dog Tags 27/28
Photos 39/40

Remember to grab the Dog Tags from the guys who show up in the Warehouse, even if you're using the pipes for the PAL key. As always, inputting the PAL key codes is the point of no return, so make sure you have all the Dog Tags and photos you need before you put them in.

Supply Route
Dog Tags 28/28
Photos 40/40

The final photo of the run is taken during the Metal Gear REX fight. Without moving from your starting position, just quickly take a photo between REX's legs. You may want to save and reset to check that it came out right.

Howl I Live Without You? (10)
Collect all dog tags on Easy difficulty

During the Liquid fight, remember to knock him off of REX to get his Dog Tag. Once you pick it up, the achievement should pop!

Rookie (5)
Complete the game on Easy or higher difficulty

Who Ya Gonna Call? Luigi! (25)
Exorcise all 40 ghosts in one session

Once you beat the game, head to the photo gallery (under Special). When you open each photo, the menu should be colored red, and there should be a button that says "exorcise" that will remove the ghosts. Make sure you're ready to do all of them - it takes a while, and you have to do them all in one session for it to count. TO save some time, you can select "no" when it asks you if you want to keep your changes. This won't actually put the ghosts back, but it will prevent a few seconds of saving for every picture.

Step 3: Normal + Challenges | Total points: 360

Run Intro

During this run, we'll do all of the challenges that require you to be on Normal Difficulty or above. These are mostly challenges with boss encounters or other "difficult" portions of the game. Many bosses have challenges that are mutually exclusive, so I'll leave it up to you to determine if you want to reload a save do do both of them in this run, or if you want to do them on a later run. Do note that higher difficulties typically increase boss damage and sometimes health, so strategies will be easiest on Normal difficulty. During this run we'll also be destroying all of the security cameras for Camera Shy.

If you've looked over the whole set, you may also notice a couple of achievements for completing a whole run under certain conditions on Normal or higher. Many of these achievements will be required for your Big Boss run anyways, but there are four that aren't required for Big Boss:

  • Never Be Game Over - Complete the game without using a continue and no more than 5 saves on Normal or higher difficulty (Big Boss requires no continues, but you have virtually unlimited saves).
  • Not THAT Hungry - Complete the game without using a ration on Normal or higher difficulty (Big Boss lets you use 1 Ration).
  • I Don't Like to Waste Bullets - Complete the game firing no more than 400 shots on Normal or higher difficulty (Big Boss has no shot requirement).
  • The Trial to Survive - Complete the game without taking more than 5 life bars of damage on Normal or higher difficulty (Big Boss has no damage requirement).

Now, it probably wouldn't be too hard to tack on a few of these to your Big Boss run, if you'd like. But, if you'd like to make things easier on that run, I've split up two of these conditions on Hard (Saves/Shots) and two on Extreme (Damage/Rations). I agonized over how to split these up, and it's by no means a perfect solution, so if you have a different idea (or you just want to do another Normal playthrough) then go for it. This is mainly presented as a suggestion.

If you want, you could also do one of them on this run too. If you're going for the challenges, you probably won't be able to do 5 saves (unless you have the patience of a monk), and you're probably going to blow way past the other requirements (I think I took more than 5 life bars of damage, used multiple Rations and fired almost 400 shots on the Hind fight alone). But if you save judiciously you could reload the save and do it normally to try and get the damage/ration (these two kinda synergize) requirements done on this run. The damage/ration condition is harder (but still very doable) on Extreme, so if you're not confident about that you might want to consider doing it on this run. Note that you will need ~50 extra shots to take down all the cameras (and reloading a save doesn't work in this case), so 400 shots might be a little tight, but it's also very doable.

Challenges

Most of these challenges are going to be during boss fights or other difficult encounters. MAKE SURE to save before each of them, just in case you fail. Some boss fights will have 2 mutually exclusive challenges, so you'll either have to reload your save or come back and do them on a later run. I'll be writing my guide for these challenges based on Normal difficulty, though, so beware that things might be significantly harder if you try them on a different difficulty. I would specifically recommend doing Don't Shoot! Think!, Hindsight Is 20/20, My Thoughts to Your Thoughts, Bleeding the Lizard, and Beep Beep, I'm a Jeep on Normal difficulty, as they become much harder on Hard and Extreme.

Cameras

We'll be destroying all 57 cameras on this run. These include both the surveillance cameras and the gun cameras. You can destroy a camera with a bullet (not with the M9, though) or with an explosive. Any cameras that are destroyed will (mostly) stay destroyed, and none are missable (except the last one, I guess). You may want to wait until you get the SOCOM Suppressor to get the ones in the Heliport and 1F Tank Hangar. I've created a checklist for cameras on the same spreadsheet as my Dog Tag checklist, so feel free to use it!

As DirectorBison states in the comments, the last camera is the one that spots Meryl/Otacon during the escape sequence. Make sure you have 56/57 before you enter the PAL key!

Redd Foxx (5)
Beat up That Ninja dressed in bright red

Foxy Lady (5)
Meet up with Meryl who has taken her love of Foxhound a little too far

Snake. Solid Snake (25)
Complete the game in style

If you've gotten both of the endings on the same save file, then on your next run there will be a few cosmetic changes - Gray Fox will be red, Meryl will wear a Sneaking Suit, and Snake will wear a tuxedo. If you've been following my recommendations, you may have gotten the Meryl ending twice, which is OK. We've got plenty of runs to go, so maybe do the Otacon ending on this run if you haven't already.

Dock
Dog Tags 0/29
Cameras 0/57

On Normal, you can grab the M9 from inside the leftmost locker. MAKE SURE you grab it, as we'll need it for a challenge coming up very soon. If you miss it here, you can grab it from under the truck in the Heliport.

I Got Your Stealth Right Here! (10)
Survive for five minutes in high alert status on Normal or higher difficulty

As TheGreatMax6713 suggests, the Dock is a great place to get this achievement. Simply get spotted, return to the area you started from, crawl under the pipes, and press up against the barrels on the right side. If you alternate between standing and crouching, you should be able to keep the Alert phase going without taking any damage. Sometimes I was able to have the alert bar stay at around 30% without having to do anything at all, but I'm not sure exactly what causes that. If you drop down to Evasion it doesn't seem to cancel the achievement, so just get spotted again and it should be fine.

Plus, you get to listen to this absolute banger of an alert theme! One wonders why they put the best alert theme in the place you're least likely to get caught.

Heliport
Dog Tags 3/29
Cameras 3/57

There are three cameras in this area, and the SOCOM is in the truck as always. I would recommend picking up the SOCOM so you can get the Thermal Goggles early, which will help with some of the challenges. If you want to destroy the cameras now, you can tranq the guards with the M9. Alternatively, just come back at some point after getting the SOCOM suppressor. The three cameras are on the northeast side near the staircase, on the northwest side near the vents, and in the room west of the helipad.

There are some stun grenades in the western room that might come in handy for the guard rush, but you can get through well enough with just the M9.

Tank Hangar 1F
Dog Tags 5/29
Cameras 3/57

Three cameras in this room too, all on the second floor. You can't get them without alerting the guard in the locked room, so I recommend just coming back after you meet the DARPA chief and you can grab the SOCOM suppressor (this is why I didn't include them in the count above). Make sure to grab the Thermal Goggles (although the door should still be open if you come back right after the DARPA chief, so you can get it at the same time as the cameras if you want).

Holding Cells B1
Dog Tags 5/29
Cameras 3/57

Make sure you have a good amount of M9 ammo before you rescue the DARPA chief, as we'll need to take out all the soldiers non-lethally. I would save either while Meryl is beating up Johnny or during the encounter just in case you fail the challenge.

Don't Shoot! Think! (10)
Defeat the soldiers in the holding cells without taking damage or killing anyone on Normal or higher difficulty

I wouldn't recommend trying this on anything besides Normal. On Hard, the M9 isn't available until after this fight, so you'll have a much harder time. You do get the M9 on Extreme, but the guard AI is much more aggressive, so it is a lot more difficult to get through without damage.

Anyways, right as the fight starts, head back into Meryl's cell. If you got the stun grenades from the Heliport, now's a good time to throw one. Otherwise, the guards should line up one-by-one; just headshot them with the M9 before they can get a shot off, and you should be good. Occasionally the guards will do a little roll, and will give you a second to shoot them before they start firing. After you tranq the first three, Snake will exit the cell automatically and tell Meryl to shoot. Any guards that Meryl kills won't count against you, so retreat back into the cell and let her do her thing. Some guards will probably still come try and get you, so headshot them before they have a chance.

Tank Hangar 1F
Dog Tags 6/29
Cameras 6/57

After the guard encounter, go back up to the first floor to grab the Dog Tag from the guy we couldn't get before, and the all-important SOCOM suppressor. Now we're in business! Take out the three cameras in this room - one in the NW second floor near the stairs, one in the NE second floor near the vent, and one in the SE room on the second floor containing the Thermal Goggles. If you haven't grabbed the Thermal Goggles yet, do it now. If you don't come back right after the DARPA chief, the door will be closed and you'll have to wait until later in the game.

Armory South B2
Dog Tags 6/29
Cameras 8/57

Head to the area leading to the Ocelot fight, and blow up the wall on the right to reach a hidden hallway. There are two gun cameras in here, so use the lean buttons to take them out with your SOCOM. After that, head to the Ocelot fight. Here we have our first two mutually exclusive challenges, so make sure to reload your save if you want to get them both in one run.

You're Pretty Good! (10)
Defeat Revolver Ocelot without letting him reload his gun on Normal or higher difficulty

This one is pitifully easy, and you can probably get it without even trying. Ocelot will go down in three headshots from either the M9 or the SOCOM. If you lean and crouch in first-person view at the same time, Ocelot will be much less likely to hit you, and you can very easily line up shots on him.

Are You Getting Steamed? (10)
Defeat Revolver Ocelot without attacking him directly on Normal or higher difficulty

To get this one, you'll have to hit Ocelot with the steam that comes out of the large pipe on the sides of the arena. You can shoot the pipe with either the SOCOM or the M9. After getting steamed, he'll have an invincibility to it for a while, but keep hitting the pipe and he will go down eventually. You'll have to steam him about 10 times before he goes down. Make sure you don't actually hit him with your gun, or you'll have to start again.

Armory B2
Dog Tags 8/29
Cameras 8/57

Two more Dog Tags to get. For some reason, the cameras on Tank Hangar 1F respawned for me, but didn't make any achievement progress upon destroying them again (and I was able to get the achievement still without destroying one of them). If I had to guess, it probably has something to do with the Thermal Goggles door closing (2 different "versions" of the room?). Oh well.

Canyon
Dog Tags 8/29
Cameras 8/57 
I Owe You My Tanks (10)
Destroy the tank using only Chaff Grenades, Socom, M9 and Magazines and without using rations on Normal or higher difficulty

Use a chaff grenade at the start to close the distance. With the SOCOM or M9, if you hold B+A in first-person view, then Snake will lock on to the gunner. If you flick upward just a little bit, you should be able to land a headshot. 3 headshots from the SOCOM should bring each gunner down. You can try to run in circles around the tank so that the gunner isn't pointing at you to avoid damage. If you start bleeding, you can hide in the trench to heal (crawl under the floor), but make sure you're careful coming out so you don't get hit again.

You might be wondering why on earth you would want to use magazines in this fight. Well, this fight is programmed so that whenever you throw anything (including magazines) into the gunner's seat, the next hit, whatever it is, will do massive damage. Speedrunners use this to get through the fight quicker. For our purposes, though, it's pretty hard to line up the throw and you probably don't even have many magazines unless you've been specifically trying to get them.

Nuke Building 1F
Dog Tags 8/29
Cameras 8/57

There are a few cameras on this floor, but they don't count towards the achievement, as there's no way to destroy them.

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 10/29
Cameras 8/57

Grab the two Dog Tags and the Nikita.

Nuke Building B2
Dog Tags 10/29
Cameras 15/57

There are a whopping 7 cameras in this room. 1 in the southernmost room of the central hallway, 1 near the door to Otacon's office, and 5 in the left hallway/office area.

Hurt Me More! (10)
Defeat the Ninja without taking damage or using weapons of any kind on Normal or higher difficulty

This one is probably a little tougher than the other challenges so far. It was for me, at least. Thankfully, there are a couple things we can do to even the odds a little bit.

First of all, even though the achievement prohibits "using" weapons of any kind, you can actually equip them, so long as you don't fire them. You might be wondering what the point of that may be. As it turns out, equipping certain weapons will increase your melee damage. Equipping the SOCOM doubles your punch damage, and equipping the Nikita will give massive power to your rolls and kicks. You can also do a really slow melee whack with the Nikita, but I don't recommend that. The easiest way to take advantage of this is to equip the SOCOM and do a PPK (punch-punch-kick) combo. It does the same amount of damage as a Nikita roll, and is easier to use. If you're really good, you can do the punches with the SOCOM and switch to the Nikita for the kick, but if you can do that reliably you probably don't need my help anyways.

The fight is spit into four phases. In the first phase, the ninja will walk at you menacingly with his sword. This phase is easy to deal with - just equip the SOCOM, walk up, and PPK . The Ninja will enter a stance for a second as you walk up, leaving himself vulnerable to attack. After 2 PPKs, he'll enter the second phase.

The second phase is the longest, and probably the hardest. The Ninja will jump to a spot, and if he's close enough will launch a flying barrage of kicks towards Snake which can be hard to avoid. If you're pretty good, you can move to where he jumps and punch him before he can get an attack out, but this can be difficult to pull off for the whole fight without getting hit. Luckily, there is a way that I found a lot easier.

Sometimes, the Ninja will do a leaping attack where he jumps above Snake and then crashes down. This one is much easier to avoid, and is easier to counterattack afterwards. You can actually bait this attack by having Snake crouch - the Ninja will go for the jumping attack 95% of the time (with the other 5% being if Snake is too close, or if you crouch after he's already "decided" to use his flying kick), and you can dodge and counterattack. Note that in this phase the Ninja will run off if he sees you holding a gun, so what worked best for me was equipping the SOCOM right before the PPK and unequipping it right afterwards. For this strategy, I would recommend hanging out near the southern part of the area (the narrow hallway at the bottom, specifically), as sometimes the Ninja can do his jumping attack from off-screen, which I found a lot harder to dodge. One final thing for this phase: when the Ninja sees you with a gun, he will be stunned for a split second (he'll have a red ! above his head), which you can exploit to get a PPK combo in if you're quick. I found that proactively trying to do this was a bit dicey, though, as sometimes he would just attack anyways. It's probably better to stick with baiting the jump attacks, but if he does spot you with a gun, try to capitalize if you can.

The third phase is not as bad. The Ninja will jump around to a few hiding spots, waiting for Snake to find him. Here's where the Thermal Goggles come in handy. The game will show you the first spot he goes, but after that you'll have to find him yourself. The easiest way is to scan the room quickly in first-person view - if you have the Thermal Goggles it shouldn't be too hard to spot him. If you don't have Thermal Goggles, it will be a little harder, but still possible. Run up to him as quick as you can and SOCOM PPK him. If you take too long, he'll start running after you to attack, so dodge him and get ready to find him again. You shouldn't have to do it more than 3 times before you proceed to Phase 4.

The fourth phase might be the easiest of them all. The Ninja will slowly walk up to Snake, teleport around a bit, then throw a slow punch that's pretty easy to dodge. Retaliate with a SOCOM PPK afterwards, and the Ninja will drop to the floor and monologue for a second before starting to walk slowly again. Repeat a few times, and the battle should be in the bag!

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 12/29
Cameras 15/57

Again, remember to grab the Johnny and Meryl Dog Tags, then get ready to fight Mantis.

Commander's Room
Dog Tags 13/29
Cameras 15/57 
Damn Right I'm Gonna Hit That! (25)
Defeat Psycho Mantis without Snake or Meryl taking damage or going prone on Normal or higher difficulty

Note that this achievement doesn't start until the fight proper starts (when Mantis shouts "Blackout!"), so you can punch Meryl to subdue her in the first part if you'd like to avoid taking damage from her shots.

Once the fight itself starts, Mantis will float around and shoot orbs. Dodge them and then retaliate with the SOCOM. Try and aim for a headshot, but if you take too long in fist-person view, your view will change to Mantis'. For some reason Mantis' right leg (his right, not your right), counts as a critical hitbox as well, so you can try aiming for that if you find it easier. The Thermal Goggles will be very helpful in this phase to track where Mantis is going.

After a few orbs, Mantis will attack with the objects in the room. At this point, I would recommend heading to a corner of the room to avoid the attacks. The northwest corner worked well for me. This should put you out of range of most of the attacks, so you can focus on aiming and landing shots on Mantis. The exception is an attack involving vases - you can either shoot them proactively, as BiggsBiggsby suggests (they're on the shelf next to the mirror on the east side), or you can crouch when they come near. Just make sure you don't go prone. if you take too long on this phase, Mantis will do another blackout, and will return to throwing orbs. This isn't a big deal, just make sure you don't get stuck in the corner when you're trying to dodge.

Eventually, Mantis will possess Meryl and have her aim her gun at you. In order to subdue her without damaging her, you have to use the M9. Try to aim for the head to put her down instantly. When Mantis makes her point the gun at herself, just headshot her again. After that, Mantis will return to throwing orbs, so just dodge and shoot with the SOCOM. Once he's really low, he'll do his ultimate attack, using everything in the room to attack at once. Just head back to the corner, and line up one more headshot, and he should be done.

MAKE SURE you remember to grab his Dog Tag after the fight!

After Mantis, continue the story as normal until you get to the part where Meryl is shot. I'd recommend you go back to the Armory for the PSG-1, as that will let you take care of the cameras in the Canyon, which will be very useful for an upcoming achievement.

Canyon
Dog Tags 16/29
Cameras 19/57

There are four cameras in the Canyon - two gun cameras near the northern door, and two surveillance cameras near the center of the screen. The surveillance cameras have a wide FOV, so either snipe them with the SOCOM or use a chaff grenade to close the distance and take them out up close.

Armory
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 19/57

Remember to grab the Dog Tag from the guy guarding the PSG-1. Also, before you fight Wolf, make sure you're prepared for How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. You're going to want to make sure you have plenty of stun grenades and FAMAS ammo. They will be very useful for the tower climb, and we won't have time to grab any before we get back there. You're also going to want plenty of Rations, and you're definitely going to want to take out the cameras in the Canyon to make your life easier.

Underground Passage
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 20/57 
Woo Loo Loo. Woo Loo Loo (10)
Defeat Sniper Wolf in the Underground Passage without missing a shot on Normal or higher difficulty

This one's not bad if you aim deliberately You can take as much damage as you need to from Wolf's shots (assuming you have Rations), so take your time and make sure you have it lined up before you shoot.

Pentazemin last for 30 seconds each, and if you take multiple in a row, it will stack. So, feel free to take a whole bunch as you begin the fight so it doesn't wear off right as you're about to shoot.

If you want, you can open the Item Menu to pause time and make sure that you're on target before you shoot. I call this technique Menu Aiming, and it will be very useful in Boss Survival mode later on.

Finally, if Wolf is about to land a shot on you, you might want to hold off on firing, as her shot landing will cause your scope to jerk way up, causing you to miss your shot. Remember, you have all the time in the world, so don't rush and this achievement should be a breeze.

After you defeat Sniper Wolf, there's one camera hidden in this area. It's in one of the alcoves lining the long hallway - specifically the one that's closest to the north side, on the right.

I would recommend saving into a different slot for now after you defeat Sniper Wolf - our next challenge will be reaching the Communication Tower A Roof with the time bomb still in our inventory, and you might want to go back to before the Sniper Wolf fight if your supplies aren't sufficient.

Medical Room
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 20/57

Ocelot won't put the time bomb in your gear if you submit to the torture, so we have a few mutually exclusive achievements here (How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb vs Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz, Oh What a Relief It Is, mainly). If you want to get them all in one run, I'd recommend either saving in the Communications Tower after Sniper Wolf, or saving after the first torture sequence.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (25)
Reach the Communications Tower A Roof with the time bomb still in your inventory on Normal or higher difficulty

The timing is a little tight on this one, so I would highly recommend making a save before you pick up Snake's gear. Once you pick up Snake's gear, you'll have four minutes to get to the top of Communication Tower A. Thankfully, this timer is paused when you're in the item menu, Codec menu, etc.

We'll ignore all of the cameras and other objectives for now, and just beeline straight for the Communications Tower. After we get this achievement, you can reload an earlier save and submit to the torture if you want, or just go through and get all the cameras and such that we missed.

Once you grab Snake's gear, the clock starts ticking. Ignoring the cameras, head straight out the door and take the elevator up. Leave the Tank Hangar for the Canyon.

In the Canyon, take out the second guard to slip by easily (assuming you destroyed the cameras earlier), and head into the Nuke Building.

In the Nuke building, use the Box to slip by the first guy on the ground, and then just watch out for the guy in front of the elevator. Take the elevator down to B1, and it should be a straight shot to the Communication Tower entrance. Once you get there, you can pick up the Rope if you want to, or skip it if you're going to reset.

The climb can be a little rough, but it shouldn't be too bad if you use stun grenades liberally. Basically, once you throw a stun grenade, start cooking the next one and throw it either after a few seconds, or whenever you see some enemies. This won't be a perfect strategy, but it doesn't really need to be - as long as you get up the tower decently quick, you should have plenty of time to spare. I got through with 25 seconds left, and I had plenty of interruptions on the climb. Don't be afraid to pull out the FAMAS and start blasting if a guard is giving you too much trouble, either. It's very possible to get the Don't Mess With Me, I'm the Stair Master! achievement at the same time as this one, but you can get it even more easily after you reset, so don't worry if you miss it.

Once you reach the top floor, go through the zigzag path, and make sure you're facing the ladder before you press Y, or else Snake won't climb. Once you're done, either reset or continue on, whichever you prefer.

Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz, Oh What a Relief It Is (5)
Catch a common cold, then take the cure

If you submit to the torture on Normal or higher difficulty, Snake will catch a cold from our old friend Johnny. To check if you have a cold, you can call Otacon (141.12), and Snake will sound congested. While he has a cold, Snake will sneeze occasionally, potentially alerting the guards. Snake seems to sneeze more often when pressed against a wall or looking in first-person view, and doesn't seem to sneeze at all when inside a box.

To cure the cold, you can find some Medicine on B1 of the Nuke Building. It's in the middle room on the left of the southern section.

I think the cold goes away after a little while, but I had enough time to destroy the cameras in the Armory South before heading back to the Nuke Building. You might want to keep a save handy just in case, though.

Medical Room
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 21/57

There's one camera in the Medical Room, close to the exit.

Holding Cells B1
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 23/57

Two new cameras have been added here, so take them out before you head up. Our next stop will actually be returning to the Armory South to destroy a few newly-accessible cameras.

Armory South
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 27/57

Head to the secret hallway to the right of Ocelot's boss room. Inside is a L4 and L6 door. Behind the L4 door are three cameras, and behind the L6 door is one. If you're on your first playthrough, make sure to grab the Camera while you're here.

After this, head to the Nuke Building and grab the Body Armor (and Medicine, if you need it) before you get back to the Communication Towers. Make sure you're well-stocked on stun grenades, too.

Communication Tower A
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 27/57 
Don't Mess With Me, I'm the Stair Master! (10)
Climb Communication Tower A without killing anyone or using rations on Normal or higher difficulty

This one is even simpler if you have the Body Armor equipped. As stated above, your best bet is to throw stun grenades liberally. Throw one, then start cooking another, and release either after a few seconds or when you encounter some enemies. If someone gets in your way, you can quickly punch him and continue. You'll probably take quite a few hits, but with the Body Armor you should have plenty of life to spare.

You Rappel Me (10)
Rappel down the wall of Communication Tower A without taking damage on Normal or higher difficulty

This one might take a few tries. Basically, what you want to do is jump down as quickly as you can while dodging Liquid's bullets. The most consistent strategy I found was to (as you're rappelling down) veer towards the right do dodge the first round, towards the left to dodge the second round, and then you should be clear to rappel the rest of the way down. Make sure you avoid the steam, though. If you're unlucky, Liquid's third round can hit you while the screen is fading out, so make sure that you've got the achievement before continuing.

Connecting Bridge
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 27/57 
Bridge the Gap (10)
On the Communication Tower Connecting Bridge, take out the soldiers firing only 3 shots from either the M9 or SOCOM on Normal or higher difficulty

The easiest way to do this is to hang off the side of the bridge and shimmy to get close to the guards, then melee them to take them down in 0 shots. You'll probably need to flip up a few times (taking some damage, likely) along the way. If you do want to try and shoot them, the Thermal Goggles will be very helpful.

Communication Tower B
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 37/57

There's a ludicrous amount of cameras in this tower (10 of them). After going up from the elevator, you'll encounter them periodically - a group of 1,2,3, and finally 4. Use the Stinger to destroy them - we're going to want to conserve our SOCOM ammo for the Hind fight (yes, you read that right).

Before you challenge the Hind, make sure that you are full on ammo for the PSG-1, the FAMAS, and the SOCOM. There is plenty of FAMAS and SOCOM ammo in Communication Tower A, and you can head to the Connecting Bridge or Underground Passage for more PSG-1 ammo (check the alcoves!). Make sure you're full on Rations too. We'll be taking on the Hind with just bullets, so we'll need as many as we can get.

Hindsight Is 20/20 (10)
Destroy the Hind D without using the Stinger on Normal or higher difficulty

I don't know if I'm missing something, but I found this one to be much harder than the other challenges, including the 25-point ones. I really wouldn't recommend trying it on any difficulty besides Normal.

For this achievement, we'll have to take the Hind down with our bullet weapons. In the first phase, Liquid will fly around the perimeter, frequently taking shots at Snake. For this phase, I recommend you use the PSG-1, as it will be much less useful during the second phase. You should also equip the Thermal Goggles; it will help a lot in aiming for the Hind. Try to lead the Hind a little bit, and then fire shots when it crosses your crosshair. The Hind will have an invincibility period after you damage it enough, so don't just spray wildly, either. A good rule of thumb is to stop shooting whenever Liquid screams or says something. After you do enough damage, Liquid will say "Nice shot!" This is your cue that he's about to launch his first missile attack, which will hit the platform on the south side of the screen. He'll always go east to launch it, so look that way with your rifle and you should hopefully be able to get some shots in.

After the missiles impact, the second phase will start. Liquid will fly below the rim of the building, and will periodically zoom up and shoot Snake before flying back down. For this phase, you'll want to use the FAMAS. What worked well for me was going north of the structure in the middle, aiming the FAMAS (press A+Y) in first-person, and only firing when the Hind is within line of sight, when it comes up on the north edge, or sometimes on the east edge. At this point, you should also probably switch out your Thermal Goggles for some Rations - you'll likely take some shots, and the laser from the FAMAS is a little hard to see with the Thermal Goggles anyways. If you're patient and conserve your ammo by only firing a short burst, you should make it through the rest of the fight without much trouble. Hopefully you take it down before you run out of FAMAS ammo, but if you do, you'll have to take it down the rest of the way with the SOCOM. Once the Hind runs out of health, it will fire a missile barrage at the structure in the middle of the roof, so move to the southwest corner to avoid it.

Here's a video of this fight if you're having trouble.

Before We Get Started, Does Anybody Wanna Get Out? (10)
Defeat the invisible men in the elevator without using any weapons on Normal or higher difficulty

This one's not bad. You can use the throw/roll to try and knock them into each other, or just use the PPK combo. If you equip the Body Armor, you won't take much damage at all.

Communication Tower B 1F
Dog Tags 17/29
Cameras 41/57

There are four cameras on this floor. As you exit the room with the elevator, the first will be in an alcove to the right, behind some cardboard boxes. There are three in the hallway that leads outside to the Snowfield - one in the corner, one in the middle, and one at the end. Before you move into the Snowfield, make sure you have enough Nikita missiles to take down Wolf (you probably do, as I can't imagine what else you would use them for).

Snowfield
Dog Tags 18/29
Cameras 48/57 
Making the Impossible Possible (25)
Defeat Sniper Wolf in the Snow Field with only headshots and without missing a shot on Normal or higher difficulty

Again, this one isn't too bad if you take your time. When Wolf is hiding behind a tree, you can estimate where her head will be by looking at her breath in the air. If you lose her, you can use the Stinger to find her - she'll show up as a target. You can open the item window before each shot to make sure it's on target, or see what adjustments you need to make. I wouldn't recommend trying to shoot her while she's running, or even while she's crouching, as it's likely that she might get a shot on you and ruin your aim. Just go for her when she's standing from behind a tree. You'll need to get six headshots to take her down.

This time, the fight can drag on a lot longer, so you might need to space your Pentazemin use so you don't run out. You can use only one or two at a time, when you're ready to line up the shot.

La Femme Nikita (10)
Defeat Sniper Wolf in the Snow Field using only the Nikita missile launcher on Normal or higher difficulty

This one is more tedious than difficult. You should launch the missiles crouching from behind the hill on the right side. Keep in mind that the missiles can only go up shallow inclines, so you'll have to go up the hill on the left or right side of the screen to get the missile over to Wolf's side. Finding Wolf can be a little difficult. Usually she will be somewhere on the opposite side (the northwest), but you can use the "ENEMY" indication on the Nikita to narrow it down. The Nikita has no splash damage to speak of (at least in this case), so you'll have to score a direct hit on Wolf for it to count. Also note that each missile has only a certain amount of fuel, so you're probably going to want to go fast across the battlefield and try to only turn when you need to target Wolf.

Once you defeat Wolf, make sure to get her Dog Tag, and get ready to explore the Snowfield for a few cameras. There are seven cameras in this area: one in the northwest room (with the Box 3), two in the west room, two in the east room, and two in the hallway to the Blast Furnace. Also, while you're here, grab some claymores (they're on the ground, so don't get blown up( from the northeast room for the Raven fight.

Blast Furnace
Dog Tags 20/29
Cameras 50/57

The Blast Furnace has two Dog Tags and two cameras. The cameras are located on the floor below, in the area a little west of where you start. You can shoot the northwestern one from the bridge by standing on your tiptoes (L+R in first-person), and you can shoot the southeastern one by going to the west end of the bridge and leaning right (it requires some finagling). Alternatively, you can go to the platform itself by either dropping off of the bridge (causes damage) or going through the steam maze south of the Cargo Elevator entrance.

Cargo Elevator
Dog Tags 20/29
Cameras 51/57 
We’re on an Express Elevator to Hell! Goin' Down! (10)
Defeat the enemies on the cargo elevator in 20 seconds on Normal or higher difficulty

The easiest way to do this is to pull out the FAMAS and start blasting. You can press A+B to run and auto-aim, so it shouldn't be a problem taking these guys down.

Note that the time will continue to tick on the weapon/item menu and the Codec screen, so be careful.

There's a camera in the room between the first and second elevator.

Warehouse
Dog Tags 21/29
Cameras 51/57 
My Thoughts to Your Thoughts (10)
Defeat Vulcan Raven without letting him spot you on Normal or higher difficulty

This one requires some patience. Using claymores is going to be your best bet. Start the fight by setting a claymore immediately, and then going south. What Raven does next depends somewhat on what you do, so I wasn't able to find a 100% reliable route to place the claymores, but what worked well for me was placing claymores in the four central intersections. When placing a claymore, try to get it on the edge of the intersection facing in, so it hopefully will blow up if Raven approaches it from any direction. See the image below:

Sometimes, Raven will go around the perimeter and pause to shoot down each row. If he does this, you can head to the rows he's yet to reach and place a claymore facing out into the perimeter (don't go into the perimeter itself, as Raven will spot you immediately). Besides that, it's mostly just patience and keeping out of sight.

If you need to figure out where Raven is and he's not on the radar, you can pull out the Stinger to estimate his location. You could also try to attack him with the Stinger, but I wouldn't really recommend it, as it's pretty inconsistent whether he will notice you or not. I wouldn't recommend attacking with the Nikita either, as him noticing the missile will count as noticing you and will fail the achievement.

Becawse I Can (10)
Defeat Vulcan Raven using only guns and without using rations on Normal or higher difficulty

Thankfully, this one's very easy due to a speedrun strategy that lets you kill Raven with minimal risk. Note that Raven behaves differently on different difficulties. The easiest way to set this up on Normal is to go to the right end of the second row to the bottom. Raven should be almost at the end of this row, so shoot to draw his attention (if he didn't see you already), and then headshot him down as best as you can.

Make sure to grab Raven's Dog Tag after you defeat him.

Warehouse North
Dog Tags 23/29
Cameras 53/57

Two Dog Tags, and two cameras. The cameras are located above the exit door, to the left and right.

Underground Base
Dog Tags 25/29
Cameras 56/57

There's one camera in the northwest corner of the room, apparently guarding the drainage ditch. Strange. You can shoot it from the platform down the stairs. The other two in this room are located in the control room. The last camera is the one that spots you during the escape sequence, so if you have 56, you're good to go!

Warehouse
Dog Tags 28/29
Cameras 56/57

Make sure you go back to the Warehouse to grab the three Dog Tags found there. As always, inputting the PAL keys is the point of no return, so make sure you have 28 Dog Tags and 56 cameras before you continue.

Supply Route
Dog Tags 29/29
Cameras 56/57 
I Rex Your Shit (25)
Destroy Metal Gear REX without taking damage on Normal or higher difficulty

This one is not as bad as it may seem, especially if you have chaff grenades. See the Boss Survival section for a more detailed strategy, but the gist of it is to keep moving to dodge the missiles, and keep your distance so REX doesn't use any other attacks. If you have chaff grenades, feel free to spam them - they will stop the missiles from locking on to you, letting you shoot your Stingers in peace.

Do note that upon the second phase starting, Liquid will immediately use the machine guns or laser, so head north to dodge those as soon as the cutscene ends.

Bleeding the Lizard (25)
Defeat Liquid Snake without taking damage with at least 1:00 remaining on Normal or higher difficulty

The Pug Life (10)
Collect all dog tags on Normal difficulty

This one's a little tougher. First of all, make sure that you grab the Dog Tag by knocking Liquid off at least once during the fight.

Again, there's a more detailed strategy in the Boss Survival section. Liquid is a little less aggressive on Normal than he is on Extreme, but the basic strategy remains the same - use the roll attack during the first phase, and be a little more aggressive with PPK combos during the second phase to prevent Liquid from using his tackle attack. The time limit isn't too tight, but you might need to watch out if you're knocking him (or yourself) off of the edge too much.

If you take damage, you can easily reset the fight by going off the edge and pressing X to fall to your death.

Supply Route
Dog Tags 29/29
Cameras 57/57 
Camera Shy (5)
Destroy every possible camera in the game on Normal or higher difficulty

The final camera in the game is the one that spots Meryl/Otacon in the garage with the cars. As Snake has lost all of his weapons, you'll have to destroy it with the mounted gun on the Jeep. Make sure you do that before you blow up the explosive barrel, or else Meryl/Otacon will drive off.

Beep Beep, I'm a Jeep (10)
Escape from Liquid Snake in the jeep battle, taking damage no more than three times on Normal or higher difficulty

I would highly recommend doing this on Normal - Liquid seems to be a little bit less aggressive with his shots, and you'll get two Rations to heal with (preventing the bleed damage from messing you up).

Liquid doesn't have a "health bar" per se, but you do need to hit him a certain number of times to advance to the next "stage" of the chase. So, just keep your crosshair on Liquid as best as you can, and fire away. Taking damage seems to be difficult to avoid at some points - I needed to use all three hits we're allowed.

During the second phase (when Liquid is running into you from behind), aim just a little bit higher to account for the jeep lurching back. During the fourth phase (when Liquid is to your right on the other side of the pillars), lead him just a tiny bit. Otherwise, just keep your gun trained on Liquid as best as you can to try and damage him before he can get a shot off.

Bleed damage also seems to count for the achievement, so if you're bleeding beforehand, or you start bleeding after Liquid hits you, use a Ration to heal yourself up before it ticks again.

Soldier (10)
Complete the game on Normal or higher difficulty

Step 4: Hard + Saves/Shots | Total points: 55

Run Intro

On this run, we'll go through the game with five saves or less, and less than 400 shots. This may seem daunting, but it's honestly not so bad if you know how to deal with the bosses. If you haven't already, you might want to try Boss Survival mode to get a sense for the most efficient way to clear each boss. You don't need to go all the way through right now (it's pretty hard), but if you're able to take the bosses down reliably in Hard Boss Survival (perhaps in Softcore, so you can use save states), they'll be a cinch in the regular game.

As a reminder, the way I've structured these runs is a suggestion for how to get all of the achievements in the minimum number of runs, and is designed to make your life easier, not harder. If you're having trouble with the save requirement on Hard, there's nothing wrong with doing another playthrough on Normal to get it instead. It's 100% up to you.

Saves

You'll have to use five saves or fewer (and no continues) in this run. I myself used four saves:

  1. After M1 Tank
  2. After Torture (in Canyon, specifically)
  3. After Wolf 2 (in Blast Furnace)
  4. Before entering PAL key (after the cutscene with Liquid and Ocelot)

This leaves you with one extra save of wiggle room. Here are some possible suggestions:

  • After DARPA Chief
  • After Ocelot
  • After Ninja
  • After Mantis
  • After Stairway Climb
  • After Hind D
  • After REX/Liquid

After the beginning part of the game, it's honestly not too bad to get through long stretches without using a continue. Use plenty of Rations and kill guards as needed, and you'll probably be fine. Try not to take risks, especially in the early part of the game when you have fewer tools. You have plenty of shots to spare (see below), so don't be afraid to shoot guards to make it easier to get by. I would recommend the M9 over the SOCOM for this, as you can incapacitate a guard with 1 round if you wait long enough.

If you're spotted, you can salvage it by leaving the area (if possible) or by killing/KOing the guard before he can call it in. If you punch a guard repeatedly without using the kick, you can just punch him until he's knocked out (a bit slow and risky if there are other guards). Alternatively, you can knock him down with a PPK, roll, or throw, and choke him out (stand behind him and spam A without weapons equipped) before he can call in. If the alert is called in, take evasive action, or leave the area if possible. I wouldn't recommend trying to fight the guards, as this will likely use a lot of shots.

Note that because you can't use continues, if you get a Game Over, make sure to select EXIT and reload your last save.

Collecting Dog Tag might be a little risky and tedious, if you have to reload your save. What I ended up doing was skipping most of them the first time through (remember to grab the missable ones), and after beating the game, reloading my save to go back and get them all. Make sure you get to the codename results screen so all the achievements unlock, and select NO when it asks you if you want to save. Also remember not to overwrite your save if you're saving after the REX/Liquid fight. Using the Boxes and trucks (in the Heliport/Nuke Building 1F/Snowfield) will make this process a lot easier. If you skipped Box 1, like I did, you'll be able to find it in Warehouse North on the upper platform. How nice! Don't worry if you kill any guards early in the run - they will respawn for you to collect their Dog Tag. I can also personally confirm that the guy who's guarding the PSG-1 will still be there at the end of the game (but only if you didn't collect the PSG-1!), so feel free to just get the PSG1-T from Nuke Building B1 for the Wolf fight to minimize the risk.

Shots

400 Shots is really not as bad as it might seem. I got through with 152 being reasonably conservative with my shots (avoiding guards instead of tranqing them, not destroying cameras, going for headshots on bosses), and I could definitely have saved more if I wanted to. So, there's plenty of wiggle room.

Basically, firing any weapon counts as a shot. This includes guns, of course, but also includes throwable weapons like grenades, and placeable weapons like books. The one exception seems to be the mounted gun during the jeep chase - I didn't seem to gain any shots during that part (or at least not 1 per bullet fired),

To save shots, consider avoiding guards instead of shooting them if you can, and try to land headshots on bosses as much as possible. Also, don't shoot out cameras unless it's super necessary - you can tank the damage and heal with a Ration if needed. Like I said, though, you have plenty of wiggle room. So if you need to take out a guard to avoid reloading your save, go for it. Just don't spray wildly with the FAMAS (I didn't even pick up the FAMAS on this run) and you'll probably be fine.

For this run, I won't be providing super detailed instructions on every room, just a count of maximum Dog Tags (feel free to skip the non-missable ones, as stated above) and anything I feel like you might need to watch out for.

You can always see how many saves and shots you have by checking your Rich Presence on your RetroAchievements profile.

Saves are represented by the pencil and paper, continues are the looped arrows next to it, and shots are the gun and explosion on the end.

(Note that this is after finishing the game - I didn't really go on a rampage in the Cargo Dock)

Dock
Dog Tags 0/33

You can choke out the guards to kill them if it makes it easier. The M9 is not located in the locker anymore - it's actually not accessible until after the DARPA Chief when you get C4. Avoiding guards is going to be your best bet for a while.

Heliport
Dog Tags 3/33

I'd recommend going through the top vent - not only is it easier to get to, it puts you in an easier spot in the Tank Hangar.

Tank Hangar 1F
Dog Tags 5/33
Holding Cells 1F
Dog Tags 5/33

You can find a Ration in the ground vent east of the ladder, and another under the DARPA chief's bed. It's probably a good idea to grab them in case you need them for the guard rush.

You can try to melee the guards in the guard rush if you really want to save shots, but it's not the end of the world to just shoot them in the head with the SOCOM.

Armory/Armory South B2
Dog Tags 5/33

The M9 is located in kind of an obtuse location on this difficulty. It's in the secret room located to the left of the elevator. You'll need to blow up the wall using C4, so I would get it before the Ocelot fight when there are no guards to hear.

Land three headshots on Ocelot to finish him. If you lean and crouch at the same time in first-person view, he'll have trouble hitting you, giving you ample opportunity to line up a shot.

Armory B2
Dog Tags 8/33

The Armory has three guards patrolling now, so watch out. The fourth Armory guard is the PSG-1 guard, so he won't show up until later.

Tank Hangar 1F
Dog Tags 9/33

Make sure to grab the SOCOM suppressor, as it will come in handy. I would recommend taking the shots to destroy the control units for the lasers, especially if you haven't saved yet.

Canyon
Dog Tags 9/33

Grab some claymores from the ground before you fight the M1 Tank. I took down the Tank by blowing up its treads with 4 claymores point blank, then used the SOCOM to headshot the gunners. It's a lot easier when the tank doesn't move.

My first save is right after this fight, upon entering the Nuke Building 1F.

Nuke Building 1F
Dog Tags 9/33

Wait for the guard to pass, then head for the stairs on the left. You should be able to sneak behind the guy in front of the elevator (he isn't very observant, I guess), or you can choke him out if you prefer.

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 11/33
Nuke Building B2
Dog Tags 11/33

Gray Fox is easy to do without shots (it's the intended way, even). You should have plenty of Rations by now, so equip those and it should be fairly easy to take him down.

You can equip your weapons to increase your melee damage if you'd like.

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 13/33

MAKE SURE you grab the Johnny and Meryl Dog Tags even if you're not going for the other ones!

Commander's Room
Dog Tags 14/33

For Mantis, just aim for headshots (or right leg shots) with the SOCOM. You can dodge the furniture attacks easily by going prone.

MAKE SURE to grab Mantis' Dog Tag after you defeat him!

Underground Passage
Dog Tags 19/33

(Note that this Dog Tag count includes the PSG-1 guard and the 4 guards from the Canyon)

I would recommend you just grab the PSG1-T from B1 of the Nuke Building instead of going back for the PSG-1. I can personally confirm that the PSG-1 guard stays there until the end of the game (as long as the PSG-1 is still there).

For Sniper Wolf, just take your time and aim for headshots.

Medical Room
Dog Tags 19/33

I personally submitted to the torture (just because I didn't want to lose progress), which makes things slightly harder in Nuke Building 1F, as you will catch a cold. It's not too big of a deal, though.

My second save was after the torture sequence, after entering the Canyon.

Communication Tower A
Dog Tags 19/33

You can get pretty far in the climb just tanking with Rations and punching enemies to get by them.. Feel free to throw a few stun grenades - this is probably a good spot to use some of your extra shots. I wouldn't use the FAMAS, though - even a few magazines are a significant part of your shot budget.

After that, do the rappel and use a few shots from the PSG1-T to take out the bridge guards.

Communication Tower B
Dog Tags 19/33

I used the Stinger to take out the cameras in this tower (Stinger destroys two at once), just because you go through this area twice. It's probably more economical than chaff grenades.

For the Hind D, take it out normally and use your Rations, and you'll be fine. Just don't try to take it down with bullets this time.

Melee the guys in the elevator - shouldn't be too hard.

Snowfield
Dog Tags 20/33

For Sniper Wolf, again just take your time and go for headshots. If you run out of PSG1-T ammo, you can just park yourself on top of the box on the left side.

MAKE SURE you get her Dog Tag after the battle.

My third save was after this battle, upon entering the Blast Furnace.

Blast Furnace
Dog Tags 23/33

Again, there are 3 guys in this room on Hard, so be careful.

Cargo Elevator
Dog Tags 23/33

You can melee the elevator guys without too much trouble, especially with Rations.

Warehouse
Dog Tags 24/33

Using the sniper strat (see Normal/Boss Survival) is probably the best way to take Raven down. Make sure you keep your Rations equipped, though.

MAKE SURE to grab his Dog Tag after the fight.

Warehouse North
Dog Tags 26/33

If you skipped the Box 1 in the Tank Hangar (like I did), you can find it next to the upper guard in this room. Very convenient for going back to get Dog Tags! I'm not sure about the other boxes, as those are less risky to go for in their initial locations, so I went ahead and grabbed them.

Underground Base
Dog Tags 29/33

These guards can be nasty, so don't hesitate to use a shot to take them out. My fourth (and final) save was right after the cutscene with Liquid and Ocelot in the control room. You can go through the rest of the game (all the way to the codename screen, but don't overwrite the save) and then reload the game from this save to grab any Dog Tags you may have skipped!

Warehouse
Dog Tags 32/33
Supply Route
Dog Tags 33/33

The REX fight is easy to do with minimal shots - just use the Stinger and keep on the move to avoid attacks instead of using chaff grenades. Use Rations to heal any damage.

The Liquid fight may be a little rough, especially if you haven't saved. See Boss Survival for my strategy. If you want, you could put your extra save before this fight. Just make sure you don't overwrite your old one if you still have Dog Tags to get.

Escape Route
Dog Tags 33/33

Grab the Rations from below the stairs and the jeep on the right, and keep them equipped. The shots from the mounted gun don't seem to count towards your shot total (as far as i can tell, anyways). So, play this part as you see fit, and the achievements should be yours!

Green Beret (10)
Complete the game on Hard or higher difficulty

Never Be Game Over (10)
Complete the game without using a continue and no more than 5 saves on Normal or higher difficulty

I Don't Like to Waste Bullets (10)
Complete the game firing no more than 400 shots on Normal or higher difficulty

After you reach the codename screen, make sure you say NO when the game asks you to save if you still have Dog Tags to get. Reload your save from before the PAL code, and go ahead and round up all the Dog Tags you're missing. Make sure you get the Dog Tag from Liquid during his fight!

A New Leash on Life (25)
Collect all dog tags on Hard difficulty

Step 5: Extreme + Rations/Damage | Total points: 255

Run Intro

On this run, we'll be clearing the game on Extreme while trying to take less than 5 health bars' worth of damage, and without using a single Ration. We'll also pick up a few Extreme-exclusive achievements along the way.

Damage/Rations

This run, you'll need to take less than 5 life bars' worth of damage. To check how much damage you've taken, take a look at your Rich Presence on your RetroAchievements profile.

The damage taken is the number next to the broken heart. Each life bar is 100 points, so you'll have to end the game with less than 500 points of damage. Make sure to check the Rich Presence frequently!

500 points of damage is pretty tight, but it is possible with judicious saving and careful play. Assuming that you don't take any damage during stealth segments, these are the most likely points you'll take damage:

  • Guard Rush
  • Revolver Ocelot (!)
  • M1 Tank (!)
  • Cyborg Ninja (!)
  • Psycho Mantis (!)
  • Sniper Wolf 1
  • Communication Tower Climb
  • Rappelling
  • Hind D
  • Communication Tower Elevator Ambush
  • Sniper Wolf 2
  • Cargo Elevator Ambush
  • Vulcan Raven (!)
  • Metal Gear REX (!)
  • Liquid Snake
  • Jeep Escape

This list contains 16 items, so if we distributed the damage equally, that means each encounter has a "budget" of ~30 damage. However, I've marked a few encounters with a (!), which indicates that (in my opinion) it's relatively easy to get through completely damageless. This removes 6 encounters, leaving us with 10, and a budget of around 50 damage for each. Some of these encounters will likely damage you more than others, e.g. the Jeep Escape will likely require almost 100 damage, while Sniper Wolf 1 might only require ~10.

If you haven't already, you might want to try Boss Survival. It's very tough (probably the hardest thing in the game), but it will definitely teach you how to beat bosses damageless. I'll be linking to my Boss Survival guide pretty often, as the tips are very applicable to getting through the bosses on Extreme with little or no damage.

We'll also get through the game without using a Ration, which goes pretty hand-in-hand with not taking too much damage. Twin Snakes is pretty generous with healing you after bosses, so we hopefully won't have too much trouble with this.

Why do all this on Extreme difficulty, then? Well, my thinking was that it was the least worst option if you're trying to do only six runs. For one, you'll have to get through Extreme using one Ration or fewer for Big Boss rank anyways, so it's probably good practice for that run to try and limit your damage as much as you can anyways. Second, the Extreme achievements (detailed below) are significantly easier if you are able to use continues, meaning that the low saves run is better suited for Hard. Finally, having Game Over if Discovered on (which I recommend) will eliminate the damage you take during stealth segments, as the game will end instantly instead of giving the guard a chance to shoot at you first. As I've said before, though, this guide is designed to make your life easier, not harder. So if you're really having trouble getting through Extreme with low damage, it might be worth just doing another Normal run instead. It's truly up to you.

Obviously, I would recommend saving very frequently so you can retry certain parts if you take damage. Take things slow, and be deliberate. Take out gun cameras when you can, and don't damage yourself by hang-dropping from high places. We don't have too much damage to spare, so if you end up taking any extra damage, I would recommend just resetting. ALSO NOTE that if you continue from a Game Over, you will keep any damage you've taken! To avoid this, either reset the emulator, or press Exit on the Game Over screen.

If you want, you can try to add these two requirements to your Big Boss run instead, but this does limit a few strategies due to the no-kill requirement.

Extreme Achievements

There are five achievements exclusive to Extreme difficulty that require you to go through sections without alerts, using weapons, or radar. Now, this sounds pretty similar to the Big Boss requirements, so it's possible to tack them on to that run as well if you're so inclined. But, as foxsevent notes in the comments for When Heavens Divide, you will not fail the alert condition if you have Game Over if Discovered on, as the game will end immediately before the alert is actually raised. The same is true for security cameras, even though they typically raise an alert immediately after spotting Snake. The one exception is the security cameras in the control room of the Underground Base, for whatever reason.

This allows you to continue from the same room after being spotted, making these achievements significantly easier! As you can't use any continues on your Big Boss run, it might be better to get these achievements done on this run. What's more, some achievements will be easier if you can kill guards, which is not possible during the Big Boss run.

Note that these achievements have to be done in one sitting - you can't continue from a save in the middle of it. What I would recommend is to create a save in a different slot at the beginning the achievement to use as a fallback in case something happens (you accidentally shoot a weapon, or you close the emulator). Also, keeping this save allows you to reset after you're done with the achievement to go back and collect Dog Tags, which will be much easier with weapons and radar.

Speaking of radar, you can actually turn it on and off at will in the Settings option on the main menu. This can be useful for collecting Dog Tags, and can be especially useful for the Hind D fight. There's no way to do this in-game, so you'll have to save and reset to change the setting. If you start the game up from scratch, you'll have to load your save file, then cancel out when it asks you to view the Mission Log. I can personally confirm that if you save at the beginning of an Extreme achievement with the radar on, reset the game, turn the radar off, and load the save, it will count for the achievement. Just make sure you save at the right spot (or a little early), and make sure you see the achievement icon in the corner.

I Can't Say Goodbye To Yesterday (25)
Infiltrate the cargo dock, then find the DARPA Chief without any alerts, weapons or radar on Extreme difficulty

Before you start the game, make sure radar is turned off and Game Over If Discovered is turned on! Make sure that the achievement icon is in the corner at all times. If at any point a guard sees you, just go ahead and continue - the achievement should still be active.

As the game begins, quickly crawl under the big structure in the middle, instead of the pipe on the left. If you're too slow, the guard on the right side will see you, and will come investigate, spotting you even though you're in the crawlspace (welcome to Extreme difficulty). The left guard will come down close to you - wait until he turns around, then follow him back up. Go through the middle to avoid the guards, and when the coast is clear, head to the locker on the rightmost side. You can chill in here until the elevator comes. If you want a better view, you can slowly tilt the c-stick forward to push Snake's face against the grate. If you tilt it too fast, Snake will audibly whack his face against the grate, likely prompting a guard to investigate (welcome to Extreme difficulty).

Once the elevator comes, you should be safe to exit the locker and head to the left side of the opening of the elevator. If you're in the right spot, the guard exiting the elevator should walk right past you, and you can slip behind him to enter the elevator.

In the Heliport, grab the SOCOM if you want (just don't fire it), and head for the upper grate. The Thermal Goggles will (as always) be decently useful during this run, but you can grab them without picking up the SOCOM if you go immediately after the guard rush. In the Tank Hangar, head to the left upon exiting the grate and use first-person to look at the guards on the first floor. When the coast is clear, drop down from the railing (you shouldn't take any damage) and take the elevator to B1. After that, it's a straight shot to the DARPA Chief! MAKE SURE you equip the M9 (not the SOCOM!) before you start the guard rush to minimize the damage you take.

Guard Encounter
Dog Tags 0/37

On Extreme, it's very hard to get through this encounter damageless, as the guards are much more aggressive. If you try the "retreat into the cell" trick from the Normal run, you'll likely take quite a lot of damage unless you have the reflexes of a speedrunner. Thankfully, I found an alternative strategy that minimizes the damage you take (although it doesn't completely eliminate it). Note that you can save during the battle and it will put you at the start when you reload (just make sure you have the M9 equipped for the starting trick)

As the battle begins, use this trick to take out the first three guards. Basically, as the battle begins, hold A, B, and Z, and Snake will aim at the heart of the first guard in front. As soon as you can, release A to fire and start mashing A to fire at the guard on the right as soon as you can. This will hopefully KO the two enemies in one shot each. For the third guard, you'll need to flick the stick up for a quick headshot, as Snake won't be aiming at his heart. You'll likely take one shot during this maneuver, but that's okay.

After the cutscene, head south to the desk area and press yourself against the wall so you see the open door, and crouch so you're not exposed to fire through the window, like so:

From this position, you should be relatively safe from enemy fire, and you can quickly pop out to fire M9 shots at any guards that approach. Snake will automatically aim at guards in his line of sight when you do this, and may even line up a heart shot if they're in the right position. If Snake won't fire, he might not be far enough over to the right - hold R, and Snake should shuffle over. Just be careful - enemies can hit him when he's peeking around the corner!

Meanwhile, Meryl will hopefully be mowing down guards with her FAMAS. If you're unlucky, she might let a guard get close to her, north of your location. In that case, you might need to go into first-person and line up a headshot quickly to take them down.

Using this strategy, I managed to get through with only 10 damage (the shot at the start) after a few tries. Realistically, if you manage to get through with 20-50 damage, then that's more than good enough!

After this fight, you can go to the settings in the main menu and turn the radar back on if you'd like. It might come in handy while collecting Dog Tags.

Tank Hangar 1F
Dog Tags 3/37

Grab the SOCOM suppressor and the three Dog Tags in this floor, then head out to the Heliport to collect the Dog Tags out there. If you didn't grab the Thermal Goggles yet, go ahead and do it now if they're there. Destroying the cameras in this room might also come in handy a little bit later.

You may also want to grab the Box 1 while you're here - it might make an achievement later in the game a little easier.

Heliport
Dog Tags 7/37

On Extreme, there are four guards in the Heliport, so make sure to grab all four. Destroying the camera near the stairs may also come in handy later. After that, head to the Ocelot boss fight.

Armory South
Dog Tags 7/37

Ocelot is very easy to do damageless. Check Boss Survival for more details.

Armory
Dog Tags 10/37

Three Dog Tags to collect, then it's off to the M1 Tank battle. Grab the FAMAS and some grenades while you're here, for good measure.

Canyon
Dog Tags 10/37

Before you start the fight, clear out the claymores, especially those on the left side. You'll need at least 4 claymores to use my strategy, and clearing out the ones on the left side will allow you to more consistently set up the tank.

Once the fight begins, refer to Boss Survival for my strategy. If you keep moving while throwing the grenades, you should be able to get through without any damage after a couple tries.

Once you've defeated the Tank, save immediately upon entering the Nuke Building, as this will be our starting point for the next Extreme achievement. You might want to save in another slot, just in case something goes wrong. If you have the radar on, reset Dolphin and turn it off in the settings in the main menu, then load your new Nuke Building save. Your radar should be off, and the achievement icon should pop up.

Son, You've Got a Way To Fall (25)
After reaching the Nuclear Warhead Storage Building, rescue Otacon and meet with Meryl without alerts, weapons (except Nikita) or radar on Extreme difficulty

This achievement poses a few problems for our run as a whole. First, it's more difficult to do the Ninja without damage if you don't have access to the SOCOM and chaff grenades. Second, it's harder to get the Johnny Sasaki Dog Tag (remember, it's missable!) without access to the M9. To solve these problems, you could either use the ninja's jump-baiting strategy from the Normal run (or loop him with the Nikita, lol), and KO disguised Meryl with punches. Alternatively, you could just reload your original Nuke Building save and use the easier strategies. I'll leave it up to you.

Nuke Building 1F is a tough stealth section. What worked best for me was crawling up to the big door and waiting for the close guard to go by. Make sure you're not too close to the entrance, as he can see you through the opening. Once he passes, head to the shadowy corner south of the lockers on the west wall. Stand in there, facing the elevator. You should be able to see the guy on the second floor. He'll head to the top of the staircase and look in your direction (but hopefully won't see you). Another guard will also come close to you, but won't look in your direction. Once those two have turned, it should be a straight shot to the elevator.

On B1, just make a beeline for the Nikita and head back out as quickly as possible - the guard shouldn't see you.

On B2, blow up the panel. The gun camera in front of the door to the lab might be a problem damage-wise, but you can blow it up with the Nikita without voiding the achievement.

Defeat the Ninja however you see fit. Do note that if you die and continue, your damage is saved (adding 100 to your total), so if you continue during the fight you might want to reset to your earlier save.

After that, just find Meryl on B1 and head to the bathroom, and the achievement is yours! If you want to get the Johnny Sasaki Dog Tag without resetting, the easiest method without the M9 is probably to send her to the bathroom, get a bit ahead of her, and when she's close to the bathroom, KO her by punching her repeatedly (don't kick, as we don't want to knock her down). If you're not quick enough, the other guards might hear you punching her out and cause an alert. Otherwise, reload your initial Nuke Building 1F save, and get ready to grab Dog Tags.

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 12/37

Remember, there's one guy in the bathroom and one in the office area.

Nuke Building B2
Dog Tags 12/37

If you want to loot the left side, you can take out the gun cameras with the Nikita. The Nikita ammo isn't useful for too much else, so go ahead!

The Ninja can be taken down damageless much more easily by following my Boss Survival strategy. Alternate the PPK and SOCOM PPK until he's at 0 HP, then advance to the next phase and toss a chaff grenade for a risk-free damageless fight!

Nuke Building B1
Dog Tags 14/37

Once you get back to B1, tranq Meryl with the M9 for the Johnny Sasaki Dog Tag, and then tranq her after the cutscene for the Meryl Dog Tag. To avoid the damage from her punch, do it close to the Commander's Room door so you can run into the loading zone before she can get you.

If you didn't grab the Box 1, grab the Box 2 after Meryl changes - it will be useful for stealth.

Commander's Room
Dog Tags 15/37

Mantis is pretty easy to take down damageless. See Boss Survival for more details. Make sure you take Meryl down quickly when she's aiming at you - I would recommend just punching her until she goes down. You can also use the Thermal Goggles to make tracking Mantis and dodging his orbs a little easier.

Once Mantis is down, as always, MAKE SURE you grab his Dog Tag before you move on.

Caves
Dog Tags 15/37

Tranq the wolves to prevent them from damaging you. Make sure to grab the Meryl Dog Tag if you haven't already.

Underground Passage
Dog Tags 15/37

Grab as many of the claymores off the ground as you can (use the Thermal Goggles) so they don't damage you as you're trying to run back out. Once you're ready, trigger the Sniper Wolf cutscene. This is the beginning of our next Extreme achievement.

The Best Is Yet to Come (25)
After encountering Sniper Wolf in the Underground Passage, collect the PSG-1 in the Armory and return to the Underground Passage without alerts, weapons or radar on Extreme difficulty

After the cutscene where Sniper Wolf shoots Meryl, before you do anything else, save before you leave the Underground Passage. This is our reset point in case something goes wrong. What's more, unless you get the PSG-1 guard's Dog Tag (a little risky), you won't be able to get it after this achievement, so you might want to reset to this point anyway.

This one is tougher than the other two so far. The Canyon is a bit of a nightmare to navigate without weapons due to the large, sweeping surveillance cameras, the four guard patrols, and the hill in the middle that conveniently blocks Snake's line of sight to the bottom two guards, making it a little difficult to figure out where they are. In order to even the odds, you might need to kill a few of the guards. The easiest way to do this is to hold them up (remember, don't shoot!), put your weapon away, and choke them out. Make sure you put your weapon away when you're behind them - if they see you unarmed, they will raise an alert. If you really don't want to kill them, you can instead KO them instantly by punching them in the groin. This is most easily done by getting very close to their back (clipping just a little bit, even), going into first-person view, and aiming around their kidney region or a little lower. If you did it right, they will make a choking noise and fall over instantly. Note that they will wake up relatively soon, though.

Starting from the Underground Passage, head up to Nuke Building 1F. If you have the Box 1, it might be easier to take the truck to the Heliport and infiltrate through the top vent again. From the elevator, go south right away and drop from the railing, and then make a beeline for the truck to the east. Someone might see you, but if you get into the truck and into a box quickly enough, it shouldn't be a problem.

If you don't have the Box 1, you'll have to head through the Canyon. In the Nuke building, wait in the elevator for the guy to move away from the stairs, then you can pretty much run straight for the door. Just make sure you're running near the south wall so you' don't hit the noisy floor. Once you hit the door, make sure to hold down to enter it and switch to holding up when you're in first-person view, otherwise you'll just crawl right back out the door again.

Going south through the Canyon is pretty difficult. I would recommend methodically killing some or all of the guards to make things easier for you. It'll make it easier on the way back, too! Here's a video of my route.

Once you're in the Tank Hangar (however you got there), it should be relatively easy to get to the elevator and take it to the Armory. Once you reach the Armory, there are two guards we want to take out: the guard right in front of the PGS-1 door, and the guard in the westernmost hallway. Here's a video of my route. Remember, there are lasers in the PSG-1 room!

After you grab the PSG-1, head back to the Underground Passage any way you'd like. If you killed everyone in the Canyon earlier, you should get through no problem. If you didn't, not to worry - it's a lot easier going north, as you can see the upcoming guards a lot better. You'll likely be able to avoid everyone fairly easily except the guy by the camera. You can hold him up from the ditch and then either kill him or just run past him and make a break for the Nuke Building door - he'll call in a Caution, but it won't matter.

Once you get back to the Underground Passage, the achievement will pop! If you needed to go back to grab Dog Tags, now you can reload your save.

Canyon
Dog Tags 19/37

Now that we can shoot people (and cameras), getting these Dog Tags should be a breeze! I would definitely take out all the cameras in the Canyon, as that will make our next Extreme achievement easier.

Armory
Dog Tags 20/37

Make sure you grab the PSG-1 guard's Dog Tag.

Underground Passage
Dog Tags 20/37

Sniper Wolf 1 is a bit of a pain to do completely damageless, but it shouldn't be to bad to do it with minimal damage. Just follow her with your crosshair and make sure to get her when she's crouching before she gets a shot off. Each bullet only seems to do 5 damage, so if you can get past this fight taking 1-5 shots, that should be more than enough.

See Boss Survival for more tips.

Medical Room
Dog Tags 20/37

Any damage taken during the torture sequences doesn't seem to count, so go for whichever ending you'd like. Both endings have a disadvantage for our next Extreme achievement, but I think the Meryl disadvantage (the time bomb) is less of a problem than the Otacon disadvantage (catching a cold). I would try to make it through the first two rounds so you can change to the other ending if you're having trouble.

I'm Still In a Dream, Snake Eater (25)
Retrieve your equipment and reach the Underground Passage without alerts, damage, weapons or radar on Extreme difficulty

The starting point for this achievement is when Snake picks up his gear. If you save, it will put you right at the end of the Otacon cutscene, letting you choose the other ending if you need to. If you're on the Meryl ending, foxsevent notes in the comments that throwing the time bomb away counts as using a weapon. Therefore, you do have a time limit to get over to the Underground Passage. Thankfully, on this run we don't have to make it to the top of the Communication Tower, so there's plenty of time.

This one has one extra condition - you can't take any damage. Hey, I've seen this one before! Anyways, the only thing you're at risk of taking damage from is gun cameras, which shouldn't be too much of a problem. Once you pick up Snake's gear, head straight out the door (watch out for the gun camera). In the hallway there are two gun cameras, but if you go straight to the elevator button they shouldn't be able to hurt you.

After that, you should be able to get through the Canyon and Nuke Building relatively easily. If you've got a cold the Nuke Building might be a little harder, but it's honestly not too bad. Snake doesn't seem to sneeze when he's in the Box, so use that to move around if you need to. Once you get to Nuke Building B1, you're pretty much home free. Make sure to equip the Handkerchief in the Caves so the wolves don't damage you, and the achievement should pop once you enter the Underground Passage. Make sure you throw the time bomb away if you still have it. Before you do the tower climb, head back to Nuke Building B2 to grab the Body Armor.

Communication Tower A
Dog Tags 20/37

I wouldn't worry that much about saving damage on the Tower Climb. As long as you've been saving damage on the other fights, you can probably afford to go a little over budget on this one. Just put on the Body Armor, throw stun grenades as needed, and try to get through with 30-80 damage. If you're below 150 damage at this point, you should have nothing to worry about. If you're above 150, you might need to think about retrying more encounters going forward to limit your damage.

Communication Tower A Roof
Dog Tags 20/37

Damageless Rappelling isn't really any harder on Extreme, so go for it if you'd like. Otherwise, getting through with 1-2 hits should be fine.

Connecting Bridge
Dog Tags 20/37

You should be able to take the three guys out with the PSG-1 damageless pretty easily. Lie down on the bridge to make yourself harder to hit. Watch out for the Hind, though.

Communication Tower B
Dog Tags 20/37

Go ahead and take out the gun cameras - they're hard to avoid, anyways.

Communication Tower B Roof
Dog Tags 20/37

The Hind is another fight that you might need to go over budget for. See Boss Survival for my Hind D strategy. I would definitely recommend switching the Radar back on for this fight, as it will make it a lot easier to keep track of where the Hind is, and therefore will make it a lot easier to avoid damage. If you die during this fight, make sure to choose Exit (or reset the emulator) so you don't add extra damage to your total.

My damage count at this point was 196 - if you're below 250 at this point, you're under budget, and a lot of the remaining encounters do much less damage on average.

Communication Tower B
Dog Tags 20/37

Before you get on the elevator, equip the Body Armor and the FAMAS. During the cutscene, hold down A, B, and Z, and Snake should automatically start aiming and firing at the enemies. Once the FAMAS runs out, exit first-person to do a tactical reload (unequip + equip), and then resume holding A, B, and Z to mow down any remaining enemies. If all goes well, you should get through only taking 10-20 damage.

At the bottom, watch out for the cameras in the hallway heading to the Snowfield. Either destroy them, or just toss a chaff grenade and run through.

Snowfield
Dog Tags 21/37

Sniper Wolf 2 is pretty easy to minimize damage on - just keep up the pressure and take shots at her while she's running, and she shouldn't get too many chances to fire at you. See Boss Survival for more details. As always, make sure you get her Dog Tag after the fight.

Make sure you have a decent amount of sniper ammo for Raven. If you need some more, there's a room on the east side of the Snowfield that has some. Watch out for the gun cameras on the way to the Blast Furnace.

Blast Furnace
Dog Tags 25/37

Watch out - now there are 4 guys in here.

Cargo Elevator
Dog Tags 25/37

Much like the last elevator, equip the Body Armor and FAMAS, and hold A+B+Z, and you should be good to go. There's one guy that might be right on top of you, so move away a little, tactical reload, and take him down the same way.

Watch out for the gun camera in between the two elevators.

Warehouse
Dog Tags 26/37

Using the Boss Survival strategy, you can get through Raven damageless. You start at a different spot in Extreme compared to Boss Survival, but if you head to the bottom left corner you should be able to execute the strategy. As long as you interrupt him moving forward a few times, you shouldn't take any damage (but I would keep the Body Armor on just in case). You can also place a claymore facing south of where you start to tack on a little bit of extra damage. As always, make sure you grab Raven's Dog tag before you move on.

Warehouse North
Dog Tags 28/37

Our next Extreme achievement begins after entering the Underground Base (specifically during the Metal Gear REX cutscene), so get ready to save.

When Heavens Divide (25)
Find Metal Gear REX and input all three PAL codes without alerts or radar or using weapons except during rat hunt on Extreme difficulty

This is our final Extreme achievement, and it's probably the hardest of all. First of all, a warning: unlike every other security camera in the game, the two cameras in the control room don't end the game upon discovering you. What this means for us is that getting spotted by the cameras will void the achievement and you'll have to start all over again. Thankfully, there's a pretty easy strategy I found for getting by them.

Before we get to that, though, we'll have to get up to the control room. You can kill the four guards in this room to make things quite a bit easier in the long run. Make good use of the noisy floor to lure guards to a specific spot, and then hold them up and choke them out.

Once you finish the cutscene with Liquid and Ocelot, head down to kill the rat. If all four guards are dead, you can feel free to use a claymore. Otherwise, use the suppressed SOCOM. You can seemingly shoot as many shots as you like during this part, so don't be too afraid about missing.

Once you get back up to the control room, take this path to avoid the cameras. Basically, get under the camera next to the door, wait for it to point as far north as it can, and then take the bottom path right, then the middle path up to the desks containing the computers. The only spot that either of the cameras can see Snake is right east of the door camera (around the darker line on the floor), and that's only if the camera is pointing east. On the way back, use first-person view to make sure the camera is pointing north before you run back underneath it and then out the door.

After that, it's just a matter of changing the card! We can't use any shots, so the pipes are out - we'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way. In Warehouse North, you can sneak behind the top guy pretty easily to kill him, and then knock on the southern wall of that area to lure the other guy and kill him. After that, head to the Warehouse. In the Warehouse, you can just put the box on immediately after loading in and park yourself halfway into the loading zone. Nobody will bother you, and once the card changes, you can just head straight north a little bit to go back to Warehouse North. After the card changes (you can hold L1 to check without leaving the box), head back to enter it (watch out for the camera!), and then make the long trip to the Blast Furnace.

In the Blast Furnace, you can hide in the box in the corner to the east of the door and head back through it when the coast is clear. Our friends in Warehouse North and the Underground base have likely respawned by now - to get through the Warehouse North, press up against the wall to see the guy on the bottom floor, and when his back is turned, somersault into him and make a break for the door. The top guy will see you, but probably won't be able to get you if you're quick enough. In the Underground Base, either avoid the guards or kill them again, and input the final card (make sure you watch out for the cameras!). Unless you collected all the Dog Tags along the way, reload your initial Underground Base save and get ready to go back and get them.

Underground Base
Dog Tags 32/37

If you killed the guards earlier, you should be an expert at luring and holding them up by now.

Warehouse
Dog Tags 36/37

And here we are, the final Dog Tags of the game. Make sure you have all 36 before you input the PAL keys to fight Liquid.

Supply Route
Dog Tags 36/37

REX is not too bad to do damageless. See Boss Survival for more details.

If you're at 350 or less (~50 for Liquid, ~100 for Jeep Escape), you should be home free!

Supply Route
Dog Tags 37/37

Liquid is a bit harder to do damageless, so take a look at how much damage you have left before you hit 500. You're likely going to want 100 (or close to it, anyways) for the Jeep escape, so as long as you're below 400 after Liquid, you should be fine.

One Ruff Day (25)
Collect all dog tags on Extreme difficulty

Make sure you knock Liquid off once during the fight. Once you pick up Liquid's Dog Tag, this should pop! You can save after picking it up and safely reset if you need to save on damage.

Dogs of War (50)
Collect all dog tags in the game

If you've picked up all the Dog Tags on the other difficulties, this one should pop too. Congratulations!

Escape Route
Dog Tags 37/37

The Jeep Escape is a little tough, and you're likely going to want to budget close to a whole health bar for it. Make sure to save right as you enter the parking lot, so you can reset if you die. The instructions in this video provide a strategy for getting through the garage with minimal damage. Head to the left of the barrels and lie on the ground so your feet are about in line with the vertical girder. The guards should stay in the corner they start from, and you should be able to get through with minimal damage.

Before the checkpoints, have Snake aim the gun at around 2 o' clock. This will make it so you're aiming around the guards. You may want to consider just shooting the guards directly instead of shooting the barrels. Shooting the guards will stun them and prevent them from taking a shot at you, possibly avoiding some damage.

Once Liquid is chasing you, you'll want to damage him as frequently as possible so he doesn't get any shots off. In the second phase (where he's ramming you), aim a little high to account for his jeep lurching back. Otherwise, just keep the gun trained on him as best as you can and fire away, and hopefully you should take him down with some health to spare!

Remember, you keep any damage taken after continuing, so if you die you should reload your save unless you have enough extra damage in your budget.

Foxhound (25)
Complete the game on Extreme difficulty

The Trial to Survive (10)
Complete the game without taking more than 5 life bars of damage on Normal or higher difficulty

Not THAT Hungry (10)
Complete the game without using a ration on Normal or higher difficulty

Make sure you wait until the results screen for these to pop. It won't actually show you the amount of damage you've taken, so make sure you see the achievement before you overwrite your save.

That Ninja (10)
Complete the game with no more than 8 alerts on Normal or higher difficulty

You probably also got this one if you didn't have it already, assuming you played with Game Over If Discovered on. A nice little bonus!

Step 6: Big Boss | Total points: 70

Run Intro

The final run of the game will be to get the iconic Big Boss rank. This is the highest rank in every Metal Gear game, signifying that you're equal to The Greatest Soldier of the 20th Century, Big Boss. Typically in order to get this rank, you'll have to go through on the hardest difficulty with no alerts, no kills, no continues, and a few other requirements that vary by game. Here are the specific requirements for Twin Snakes, with some of my commentary:

  • Difficulty: Extreme
  • Time: Under 3 Hours
    • Note that this includes cutscenes, codec conversations, and time spent in the item menus or codec screen. Once you cut all of those out, three hours really isn't as bad as it might seem. I myself got through in two hours, so you have plenty of time. If you need to pause, either use Dolphin's pause, or pull up the map screen - otherwise, the timer will keep ticking.
    • If you're a speedup addict like me, you might need to be a little careful, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem unless you're just sitting there with it on.
  • Continues: 0
    • If you get a Game Over, you'll have to click Exit and reload your last save. A little tedious, but not as bad as it could be thanks to the lenient save requirements. If you click Exit, you'll be able to skip the logos at the beginning, letting you get back in the action a little bit faster than resetting.
  • Alerts: 8
    • All 8 alerts are mandatory story events. As WilHiteWarrior notes, this is kind of a moot point, as you need to have Game Over If Discovered on anyways, and you can't have any continues.
  • Kills: 0
    • What counts as a kill is a little ambiguous. According to MGSR, knocking guards over the railing counts as a kill in some areas and doesn't count in others. Strange. I would keep an eye on your Rich Presence just to make sure you don't have something weird like that happening. Crucially, during the Jeep Escape "accidentally" blowing up guards with explosive barrels doesn't count as a kill. It's not your fault they decided to stand there, I guess.
    • Non-lethal ammo is somewhat limited on Extreme - you'll only be able to carry 16 M9 shots. I'll try and point out spots to refill along the way.
  • Rations: 0-1
    • We just went through with 0, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem going through with 1. If you're going to use a Ration, you might want to use it on the Hind fight - doing it on Extreme without radar is no joke!
  • Saves 0-80
    • 80 saves is virtually unlimited. I think if you saved literally every time you changed rooms you still wouldn't hit 80. This is the requirement that typically makes or breaks how difficult a Big Boss run is, and the very generous limit here means Twin Snakes' is one of the easier ones.
  • Game Over If Discovered: Required
  • Radar: Off
    • Not a requirement for Big Boss, but it is required for the achievement.

If you've made it through all the previous runs, this run should really be no problem for you. I won't give a full, detailed guide on every room, but I'll write down a few notes as I go. If you're having trouble with a specific part, take a look at Wallguy's commentated Big Boss speedrun to get an idea of a good strategy.

Beginning-Ocelot

  • Save after you go through the Docks so you don't have to go through that whole thing again.
  • M9 ammo is a little tight. If you need some more after the Guard Rush, there's some in the southeast corner of the Tank Hangar, in the hidden room to the west of the elevator in the Armory, and in Ocelot's boss room.
  • Ocelot might not count as a kill if you take him down lethally, but he's easy enough to take out with the M9 that it probably doesn't matter anyway.

Tank-Mantis

  • The tank is a little bit of a pain to take out non-lethally on Extreme. Your best bet is to spam claymores on the treads, run circles around the tank and aim an M9 shot when you're able. There's some more M9 ammo in the left side of the trench.
  • Feel free to use the trick from Boss Survival for the Ninja - it won't count as a kill even if you shoot him with the SOCOM.
  • After the Ninja fight, grab some stun grenades from the middle door in the center hallway in Nuke Building B2. You can also find some in Nuke Building B1 in the northeast corner - you can easily grab them once you meet up with Meryl.
  • There's some M9 ammo in the second locker from the bottom on the east side of B1 Nuke Building if you need it for Mantis.
  • Mantis is similar to Boss Survival, but use the M9 instead of the FAMAS. If you run out of ammo, there's some more on the bottom left. You can also do a Nikita roll when he's shooting orbs to do increased damage and save on ammo.

Wolf 1 - Wolf 2

  • Don't bother going back for the PSG-1 - just grab the PSG1-T from Nuke Building B1.
    • You can grab some more ammo in the same room as the rifle, in the Caves, and in the Underground Passage.
  • After the torture sequence, grab the Thermal Goggles if you haven't already, and stop by Nuke Building B2 to grab the Body Armor - it will come in handy for the tower climb and the Hind D fight.
  • Unless you've been going out of your way to collect stun grenades, you probably won't have that many for the tower climb. Throw one before you trip the lasers, preferably so it explodes right when the guards walk over it, and then use them as sparingly as you can. If you run out, you can run and gun with the M9 - Snake is decent at aiming up stairs, apparently. If they don't go down, you can either roll or PPK to knock them down, at which point they're neutralized anyways. You can try and imitate this video if you'd like a strategy for the whole run.
  • Try and save as much health on the rappel and the bridge as you can - we'll need all the health we can get for the Hind D fight.
  • The Hind D without radar is no joke. If you're going to use a Ration, you're probably going to want to use it here. You can try and use the stereo sound to figure out where it is, but the sounds are so loud and back-to-back that I found it to be really confusing. What worked best for me was using the Thermal Goggles during the second phase to try and keep track of it. If you press up against the structure in the middle, you can tilt the C-stick to angle the camera around and get a pretty good view of most of the arena (on the other side, at least). Once the Hind starts exploding, it's a little easier to keep track of it - you can swap the Thermal Goggles out for the Body Armor if you want.
  • For the elevator fight, you can shoot a guard with the M9 and roll into him to neutralize him. Alternatively, you can tank the damage (use the Body Armor) and just aim for headshots. You can refill your M9 ammo on the ground floor.
  • If you're low on PGS1-T ammo in Wolf 2, you can park yourself right on top of the ammo spawn on the west side. It will refill you after you run out. If you need some more for the Raven fight, you can find some in the room on the east side of the Snowfield, and in the Cargo Elevator. You can find some M9 ammo in the Cargo Elevator as well, if you need some.

Raven-End

  • Make sure you have enough PSG1-T ammo before you challenge Raven. Use the Boss Survival strategy, and you should be fine.
  • If you're doing the pipe trick for the PAL key, be aware that the guards will wake up sooner than you think. I would save after every PAL key entry just to avoid frustration.
  • The Jeep Escape is much the same as last time. However, make sure you explode the barrels instead of shooting the guards to kill them. You can shoot the guards once or twice to prevent them from shooting you if you need to, but make sure you kill them by blowing up the barrels, as it won't count as a kill. On the second checkpoint, you may have to wait for the guy on the right to walk a little bit towards the barrel before you blow it up.
  • Make sure you get to the results screen and actually get the Big Boss rank before you overwrite your save, just in case you accidentally killed a guard during the Jeep Escape.
Age Hasn't Slowed You Down One Bit (10)
Complete the game in under 3 hours on Normal or higher difficulty

Peace Walker (10)
Complete the game with 0 enemies killed on Normal or higher difficulty

The Greatest Soldier of the 21st Century (50)
Complete the game with a Big Boss rank with no radar

Congratulation! You've earned the highest rank in the game! Head on to Boss Survival mode if you haven't done it already.

Step 7: Boss Survival | Total points: 85 

Let's Call Him 'Little Boss' (10)
Complete Boss Survival

Bigger Boss (25)
Complete Boss Survival on Hard difficulty

You Are Above Even the Boss (50)
Complete Boss Survival in 30 minutes on Hard difficulty

Get ready for a hard one. In Boss Survival mode, you'll face all the major bosses (specifically Ocelot, M1 Tank, Ninja, Mantis, Wolf 1, Hind D, Wolf 2, Raven, Metal Gear REX, and Liquid). What's more, on Hard mode, the bosses will be on Extreme difficulty. WHAT'S MORE, you'll have to do them all in a row with limited resources. Ammo will be somewhat scarce, and you'll have to do them all on 1 health bar with no healing besides a measly Ration you get halfway through (and Mario). WHAT'S MORE, for some ungodly reason the developers decided to BOOST the damage done by many boss attacks, so even one single mistake can shred up to half your health bar. This is probably the toughest challenge in the game (at least as far as the combat mechanics go), but with enough practice and the right strategy, you'll be able to get through it.

The first thing I would recommend is trying to go for this on Softcore mode before you try it on Hardcore. Not only does this mean you'll be able to continue instead of losing your progress, you'll also be able to make save states on each boss so you can practice them individually instead of spending hours resetting and listening to how the power of a gun isn't in its "muzzle velocity" or "caliber" (I still don't know what he means by this). Trust me, you're going to want to practice the Liquid fight a few times before you get to it at the end of a 25-minute run when your nerves are high.

The second thing I would recommend is not worrying too much about the time limit. As Bumegg94 and Hdot12 note in the comments, the time limit isn't too strict as long as you do the bosses reasonably fast. The fights that can drag on the most if you let them are probably the Sniper Wolf fights and the Raven fight, but there are some strategies that let you finish these fights a lot quicker (especially Raven's).

The final thing I would recommend is to use a simple trick I call Menu Aiming. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do this or talk about it (although I'm sure someone definitely has), but I found it to be very helpful, especially during the Sniper Wolf and Raven fights. When aiming with the PSG-1, open your item menu to pause the action and see where your crosshair is relative to your target. Once you close the menu, you can adjust your aim, open the menu again if you need to, and if your crosshair is on your target, close the menu and fire! I found this to be insanely valuable in lining up headshots on Sniper Wolf and Vulcan Raven, and you could maybe use it for the Stinger as well during the Hind D fight, although it's probably not quite as valuable there. There is one caveat, however - while the item/weapon menus are open, the timer does not stop. If you use this trick effectively, you shouldn't be losing that much time, but just keep that in mind. Also, if you have an item equipped (like a Ration), it can be easy to accidentally use it, so be careful with your menuing.

One last reminder: you can't pause during this mode unless you use Dolphin's pause, so make sure that's accessible if you want to prepare yourself before fights. Also, make sure you duplicate your control scheme in Controller 1 AND Controller 4 (for the Mantis fight) before you start so you don't have to do it in the middle of the run. It will say USE CONTROLLER IN CONTROLLER SOCKET 1 on a few of the boss fights, but everything will still work perfectly.

Here is a video of my run if you want to see the strategies. To be fair, I don't follow my strategies super well in some parts of that run (specifically Wolf 1 and REX), so take it with a grain of salt. If anything, hopefully it proves that this is achievable even without being perfect at the game!

Here are my individual boss strategies:

Revolver Ocelot

  • Ocelot is the easiest boss in the game. 3 headshots from the M9 will take him down. I would recommend using the M9 to save your SOCOM ammo for the Ninja fight. You'll have to wait for his invincibility frames anyways, so the slower rate of fire of the M9 doesn't matter too much.
  • When the fight starts, head to the right side of the beam closest to you, and use the L and R buttons to lean and aim a shot on his head while he's lecturing you about how hiding won't help (we'll see about that). There should be a sliver of head visible that you can just barely shoot (or press L+R to stand on your tiptoes and try a different angle).
    • If you're quick, you can hit him once before he says "Draw!" but that's probably not necessary.
  • After the first shot, lean out and land another shot on his head. You could also shoot the pipe behind him to distract him with the steam. If you crouch while in first-person view, Ocelot will have a harder time hitting you, letting you line up the second shot.
  • Once you've hit him twice, retreat into the bottom right corner and wait for him to waste the rest of his shots. Try and stand specifically in the bottom right corner of the square on the ground, as it seems that this is the spot he has the most trouble hitting. When he reloads, head north to grab the SOCOM ammo, then line up your third headshot while he's reloading (he should be standing still, making it easy for you. If all goes well, you'll be done in less than 30 seconds.
    • Make sure you don't skip the SOCOM ammo, as we can use it to get a lot of health back in the Ninja fight. It's definitely worth taking the extra ~10 seconds for Ocelot to shoot the rest of his bullets. There's a second box of SOCOM ammo in the northwest of the room, too, but I don't know that that one is worth the extra trouble.
  • If Ocelot manages to hit you, I would suggest you just reset immediately by running into the C4 in the middle. We're going to need all the health we can get, and it's super easy and quick to reset this fight.

M1 Tank

  • When the battle starts, grab the three pickups in front of you and the chaff grenades in the bottom right, then immediately throw a chaff grenade. While the grenade is cooking, head to the left and grab the stun grenades. Equip the claymores you picked up, and (since the chaff has exploded by now) head straight north.
  • If all has gone well, you should reach the tank as it's facing west. Head right up to the treads and set all 4 claymores point blank so they immediately explode. This should render the tank pretty immobile.
    • If the tank turns, it might be a little harder, but still doable.
  • The rest of the fight, you should run in circles around the tank and throw grenades liberally. Make sure you pick up as much as you can while you're at it - the SOCOM ammo in the top left, the chaff grenades in the right and top right, and the claymores on the bottom right (for Raven, just in case). There's M9 ammo and Stun grenades in the trench, too, but those aren't quite as useful.
    • Beware that if you get far enough from the tank, it may shoot you with the main gun if it has a line on you. It shouldn't be too much of a problem unless the tank veers far south.
  • Snake will throw the grenades in the general area of the top of the tank, but if you're at just the right angle and distance, you'll get a perfect throw where it will play a cutscene of the grenade going into the hatch and will do increased damage. This is hard to do consistently, but here's a few tips from my personal observations:
    • It seems to depend on the angle you throw the grenade and how hard you throw it. The longer you hold A, the farther Snake will throw the grenade. Therefore, the closer Snake is to the tank, the shorter you should hold the button. In terms of the angle, you're going to want to face Snake towards the gunner's seat as much as you can.
    • It seems to happen a lot more often when Snake is standing still. If you're not in immediate danger of being shot, try pausing for a second to let Snake throw it while stationary.
    • Standing on the hill south of the ditch seems to help too.
    • You can get one pretty consistently after you claymore the tank. The barrel should be pointing south at this point - put Snake around 90% of the way down the barrel, face him north, stand still, and tap the button It should have a higher chance of a perfect throw.
  • You may run out of grenades at some point. Fortunately, this doesn't mean you're completely out of luck. In this mode, ammo will respawn if and only if you completely run out of it. So, if you run out of grenades, you can return to one of the spawn points at the top or the right to grab some more. Note that the ammo will only respawn if it's not in your field of vision, so you may need to scroll the screen a little bit to get it there.
  • You can also try to snipe the gunners with the M9 or SOCOM, which is likely faster if you have good aim. I found this to be more frustrating, though, and the grenade method is plenty fast.

Ninja

  • If you're good, you can defeat the Ninja normally. If you're bad like me, though, there's an easier and more consistent method I adapted from the similar speedrun strategy.
  • Start out by equipping the SOCOM, and keep it equipped for the rest of the fight.
    • If you punch with the SOCOM equipped, it actually does more damage! The speedrun strat equips the Nikita with Snake's kick to do massive damage, but we don't have that.
  • Start off by doing a regular Punch Punch Kick (PPK) combo.
  • When the Ninja moves, run and gun (A+B) and get right up in his face with the SOCOM. He should enter a defensive stance for a second. Shoot him with the SOCOM (he will deflect the bullet) and then immediately PPK to tack some extra damage on.
    • The M9 doesn't work as well, as Snake will have to operate the slide after shooting, missing your chance to punch afterward.
  • The Ninja should then jump again, at which point you should follow him and do a regular PPK combo. After that, do the shoot+PPK combo again, and keep alternating these two for the rest of the fight. If all goes well, you'll keep him from entering phase 2. He should be much easier to deal with in phase 1, as he'll pause as you approach him before attacking.
    • Sometimes you're able to get 3 hits with the normal PPK combo, sometimes you can only get 2. Maybe it depends on your positioning, and maybe the game just decides to be nice to you. Shoot+PPK seems to be capped at 2 hits, though.
    • Sometimes after the shoot + PPK combo, he'll stay in place instead of jumping and then attack Snake immediately. I'm not really sure why this happens, but it seems to happen less if you run away from him after doing the shoot+PPK combo.
    • If you forget whether your next combo should be shoot+PPK or regular PPK, you can listen to the voice line. If the Ninja says "That's good, Snake!" then you need to do a shoot+PPK; if he says "Snake, you can't defeat me with a weapon like that!" then do a regular PPK. Alternatively, if you're in doubt, you can just do a shoot+PPK just to be safe, as this will never advance the fight to phase 2.
  • When you're close to the end of the fight, toss a chaff grenade and unload the rest of your SOCOM ammo into the Mario statue in the northeast of the room (poor Mario). You can do a tactical reload (unequip + equip) if you have more than 1 magazine of SOCOM ammo. As Bumegg94 notes in the comments, this will provide a significant amount of healing, which is a rarity in this run.
    • You should be able to get through all of your ammo with 1 chaff grenade if you're quick enough. If not, toss another one.
    • You could also use some of your M9 ammo too if you really wanted, but that's a lot slower.
  • When the ninja says "you can't defeat me with a weapon like that," he's not lying. You'll need to advance the fight to phase 2 to beat him. When he gets low enough, simply PPK twice in a row, and then PPK him once more to end the fight (you can toss a chaff grenade for safety).
    • If you toss a chaff grenade in phase 2 and don't end the fight, Ninja will move to phase 3 (hide and seek) if his health is low enough.

Psycho Mantis

  • First things first, make sure your controller is in port 4. If you're using a non-native controller, the easiest way to do this is simply mapping controller 1 and 4 to the same inputs.
  • Once the fight starts, grab the FAMAS from the center of the room. Mantis will fly around shooting orbs at you, so take this opportunity to go to all 4 corners and grab the ammo. We're mainly looking for the FAMAS ammo, but there's some for the SOCOM and M9 as well. When Mantis throws an orb at you, dodge it and get up in his face, then shoot a few rounds with the FAMAS point blank.
    • The orbs don't do that much damage, but try your best to avoid them.
    • In this difficulty, if you use first-person view, your view will change to Mantis' after about 1 second, making it very hard to line up a shot. For this phase, I would recommend just hip-firing.
    • As Mantis has invincibility frames, fire the FAMAS in short bursts only. You could also use the SOCOM instead if you'd like, once you pick up the ammo.
  • After a few orbs, Mantis will start attacking with the objects in the room. Thankfully, you can very easily dodge all of them by simply going prone on the floor. Once you do that, crawl up next to Mantis.
  • For whatever reason, Mantis' right leg/foot counts as a critical hitbox. Note that this is Mantis' right, not your right. Once you crawl up to him, go into first-person and try to quickly line up with his leg and then fire a burst with the FAMAS. With any luck, at least 1 bullet will connect and deal massive damage.
    • If you point Snake right at his leg when you're point-blank, it should be decently easy to hit.
    • Note that you can hit Meryl with the FAMAS while you're prone, so be very careful. If Mantis is in between you and Meryl, you should probably just wait for him to move.
    • Mantis will move around with some attacks. You can either try and crawl up to him or try and hit his leg from a distance.
    • As Mantis gets closer to around half health, you're probably going to want to stick close to Meryl so you can subdue her quickly.
  • Eventually, Mantis will possess Meryl. Meryl's Desert Eagle will absolutely wreck you if it connects, so we're going to want to subdue her as fast as possible. Don't bother with the M9, just stand, run up, and punch her twice as quickly as you can. If you're far away, you might need to roll into her to knock her down before she gets a shot off. After that, Meryl will point the gun at her own head. She will be miraculously healed, so go ahead and punch her twice again and then pop Mantis with a FAMAS shot for good measure.
    • If you knock Meryl down with a roll or otherwise take too long, Mantis might shoot an orb at you. This surprised me on one run!
  • At this point, Mantis will return to flying around and shooting orbs. Follow him with the FAMAS and shoot him after dodging. Once you get him to low enough health, he'll go back to the middle and summon all of the objects in the room for his ultimate attack. Just go prone again and get 1 more leg shot, and the battle is won.
    • Mantis doesn't seem to advance to the final phase until you damage him enough, so you will have to run and gun for this phase.

Sniper Wolf 1

  • When the battle starts, pick up both rifles, ALL FOUR boxes of ammo, and the Pentazemin in the bottom left.
    • These 5 Pentazemin are the only ones you'll get for the entire run (even if you use them all. they won't respawn), so use them wisely. You'll also definitely want to keep one for the Raven fight, so keep that in mind.
  • This fight isn't too bad, all things considered. Wolf's shots don't do too much damage, so she won't completely ruin you if you get hit. That being said, we'll want to conserve as much health as we can for the next boss fight, so try to avoid getting hit as much as possible.
  • Wolf will run between the left edge, the right edge, and the pillar in the middle. She'll either go for a crouching shot (very quick), a lying shot (pretty quick, but you have time to line up while she's lying down) or a standing shot (slow).
    • On the left edge, she'll go for crouching shots. On the right edge, she'll either crouch or lie down. From behind the pillar, she'll either go for a standing shot or lie down. Finally, about halfway between the pillar and right edge, she'll often crouch.
  • I would recommend using the PSG-1 for both of the Wolf fights because the ammo is more plentiful. We'll pick up the PSG1-T ammo just to have it for the Raven fight as a backup.
  • You can lie down on the ground to limit the tremors. I would recommend only using 1 or 2 Pentazemin during this fight to save the rest for Wolf 2 and Raven. If you're going to use the Pentazemin, wait until you're trying to line up a headshot to maximize its effectiveness.
  • I would mainly go for headshots when she's lining up a standing shot or lying down for a prone shot. For the crouching shots, she fires very quickly, so just trying to hit her anywhere should be your priority. Menu Aiming (as detailed in the intro to this section) can help you line up headshots a little better, as well as line up shots to stop her when she's crouching.
  • If Wolf hits you, Snake's view will go way up. At this point, just unequip and re-equip your rifle instead of trying to fix it.
  • If you need to reload, try to do it when she's behind the pillar so she doesn't connect a shot on you. Just unequip and re-equip your rifle.
  • If you hit her while she's lying down, more often than not you'll be able to hit her with another shot before she finishes her standing-up animation.
  • Don't worry too much about running out of PSG-1 ammo, as each pickup has 20 bullets. Don't be afraid to fire wildly to catch her as she's running, or to stop her from getting off a crouched shot.

Hind D

  • This one is definitely the hardest. I can't recommend enough using save states to practice this fight individually, especially the second phase.
  • The first phase is not too bad, at least compared to the second. Liquid will fly around the perimeter, swooping in to attack. These attacks aren't too hard to dodge as long as you keep the cover between you and the Hind. Do note that the Hind will attack from different angles while swooping, so you might need to move as it rushes past.
    • As WilHiteWarrior notes in the comments, in this game you can lock on through walls and then shoot the Stinger around a corner. This will be absolutely essential to defeating the Hind, so make sure to practice this skill. You can also fire the Stinger and then lock on, although this is a little bit less useful.
    • The Hind will always be north to start with, so grab the Stinger and face north to get your first shot.
    • On the right side, there's a box of Stinger ammo and the mode's one and only Ration (on the bottom right, tucked in between the platform and a vent thing). Grab them when you have a chance, but be careful you don't expose yourself to attack.
  • Once Liquid shouts "Nice shot!" for the first time, this is your cue that he's going to the east to fire the first missile volley. Note that he sometimes fires a few bullets after saying "nice shot," so be careful. Eventually, he'll meander to the east side and prepare to launch his missiles. If you're quick you can hit him once before he launches and then twice after he launches. You can launch the second shot a little before the target box appears (count to 5) and then lock on while the missile is in the air.
    • If Snake is bleeding, you can crouch before the cutscene and the healing will continue to tick during it.
  • Phase 2 is much harder, and is probably the hardest part of the whole mode. Liquid will hide under the edge of the building, then will pop up and start shooting while flying over the top of the building. Once the Hind stats shooting, it's hard to dodge, as it can fly right over top of you, rendering your cover useless. So, we'll have to come up with a different strategy.
  • I cannot emphasize this enough: in this phase, the best defense is a good offense. If you hit the Hind with a Stinger, Liquid will back off (sometimes he gets a few shots in first) and go back below the rim of the building. If you can get a good tempo going, you can attack the Hind as soon as it comes up, minimizing your exposure to the Hind's attacks and limiting the damage you take. Conversely, if you play defensively and lose track of the Hind, it can be very hard to determine where it is, and whether it's up or down. What's more, you won't have the jump on the Hind, so if you try and launch a missile, you'll likely take a hit.
    • With that in mind, I would just go ahead and equip the Ration, and don't freak out if you take a hit. Try not to, of course, but if you do take a hit just stay calm and stick to the strategy. If you end up using the Ration, it is what it is. If Snake is bleeding, just let him bleed - don't try to crouch and heal it, as this will give up the tempo and cause more problems. You'll have an opportunity to crouch at the end of the fight anyways.
  • Here is my three-step strategy to get through this phase
  • Step 1: Pull out the Stinger, and follow the Hind's path while it's below the building. The way I did this was by lining up Snake's FOV cone with the Hind D on the radar. I would recommend aiming the Stinger at about 30-45 degrees upwards so you can lock on to the Hind as soon as you can after it pops up. Once you're locked on, immediately fire (around a corner if necessary) and unequip the Stinger.
    • The Hind D seems to have around 5 or 6 specific points where it comes up from underneath. With enough practice, you can probably figure out about where to aim based on where the Hind currently is.
    • Unfortunately, the Stinger kinda sucks in this game compared to MGS2. Sometimes even if you're aiming right at a target it will refuse to lock on. This seems to happen a lot to me when the Hind is very close. If you have line of sight, you can fire the Stinger without locking on and hope it hits. If you don't have line of sight, you can try to fiddle around for a second to lock on, or you could just cut your losses and take evasive action.
    • You could also track the Hind by looking at the Stinger lock-on boxes, but this makes it a little bit harder to get a shot off quickly.
  • Step 2: After unequipping the Stinger, immediately run and put some cover between you and the Hind. This will probably be the structure in the middle of the roof. This lets you avoid the gunfire from the Hind.
    • Usually the Hind will back off and go back down when you hit it with the Stinger (it might shoot a few rounds first), but sometimes it does something weird, like flying across the roof, in which case you might take a hit.
  • Step 3: Once you're in cover, equip the Stinger again and start tracking the Hind all over again.
    • You could wait to hear the Hind going back down (the audio cue is slightly different) before equipping the Stinger, just in case the Hind does something weird like I described above. The problem with this is that the Hind will sometimes go down and then pretty much immediately come back up, at which point you don't have the jump on it anymore. What's more, for some reason the ascending/zooming noise will often play over and over again, making it really confusing to figure out what's happening. In any case, I think keeping the tempo going is more valuable, so I usually equip the Stinger right away when I'm in cover. That being said, if you lose your tempo and need to know when to pull the Stinger out, listening for the descending audio cue is probably your best bet
  • Rinse and repeat these three steps, and hopefully you should take the Hind down without too much damage. Unfortunately, there's no cheesing your way out of this one, so make sure you practice this fight a lot before you attempt your full run.
  • The last thing I would recommend is keeping an eye on your Stinger ammo count. It's very easy to run out and not realize until you try to fire and nothing comes out. The Stinger ammo on the right side will respawn for you, so grab it when you can.
  • Once you get the Hind down to 0 HP, it will launch another barrage of missiles at the structure in the center of the roof. Head to the southwest corner, and go ahead and crouch to heal if Snake is bleeding. After a few seconds, the missiles will impact, and the battle will end! Congratulations! You've beaten the hardest boss! Don't let your guard down, though, as the rest of the bosses are certainly no joke. If you made it through without using the Ration, then you're doing great! If you did end up using the Ration, it's not the end of the world - the rest is doable without it.

Sniper Wolf 2

  • After the Hind, this one is not bad at all. Sniper Wolf's shots do pitiful damage, and you'll have plenty of time to have Snake lie down and heal while she's hiding behind trees.
  • If you lose track of Sniper Wolf you can (hilariously) pull the Stinger out and she will show up as a target.
  • As the battle begins, make sure you grab the PGS1-T ammo on the left (you should have 21 by now if you picked up all of the boxes - more than enough to take down Raven) and then go have Snake lie down on the PSG-1 ammo box on the right. Lying on the ammo spawn should make it so that your ammo will refill as soon as you run out.
    • For whatever reason, sometimes the ammo didn't respawn for me unless I left the screen. If you run out and it's not refilling, you may have to try that.
  • In this fight, Wolf will run between trees and pop out to take standing shots at Snake. While she's running, she may also crouch without warning and line up a shot, which can happen very quickly.
  • Wolf will spend a lot of time running, so make sure to take shots at her while she's going. I would probably try and aim for her body instead of her head as she's running, just so you get some damage on her instead of going for a headshot and missing. Remember, our ammo is basically unlimited, so feel free to shoot liberally.
    • While running behind the hill, Wolf will sometimes double back and go to the side she came from. If she doesn't show up when you expect her, make sure to look at the other side.
  • Menu Aiming is again helpful here, especially when she crouches in the middle of running.
  • As you're nearing the end of the fight, take a look at your ammo. The PSG-1 is slightly better for the Raven strat due to its larger clip size, so it would be ideal to leave Wolf 2 with enough ammo (15+ would be very comfortable) to use it. If you're low, it might be worth wasting the rest of your shots and picking up the ammo respawn. The Raven strat is still very feasible with the PGS1-T, though (and that's why we've been picking up all the ammo, as a backup), so don't feel like you absolutely need to get the PGS-1 ammo.
  • This fight probably has the most potential to drag on, so watch your time. Shooting her while she's moving will help a lot.
    • If you take too long on this fight, it's possible that your Ration may freeze. It happened to me once. This can put you in a bad position for Raven, so make sure you check and equip it to thaw if it freezes.

Vulcan Raven

  • Raven has the potential to be either one of the easiest bosses or one of the hardest bosses, depending on the approach you take.
    • The classic strategy of cat-and-mouse with claymores is risky, stressful, and pretty slow. What's more, one single slip up could cost you the run.
    • Thankfully, there is an awesome cheesy speedrun strategy that I slightly adapted to work a little better in this mode. It's relatively easy to pull off (I would definitely recommend practicing it with save states until you get it down, though), and if you execute it well, you won't even take any damage!
  • The strategy involves sniping Raven while lying prone on the ground. That may seem incredibly reckless at first, but for some reason some enemies in this game get kinda wonky with their aim when it comes to first-person view. With this setup, Raven won't be able to hit you until he gets fairly close, and with well-timed shots, we can prevent him from getting close enough to hurt Snake.
    • To be fair to the developers, I'm sure they didn't design Raven taking this into account. I don't know what kind of person sees this giant hulking man with a minigun and thinks "Yeah, let me face him head on with a sniper rifle!"
  • Our first objective is going to be getting to the bottom left corner. Raven starts off heading that way, so stay out of his way. If you get too close (even behind him) he will turn around and wreck you, so be careful. If you head left too fast, he can also catch you in his FOV cone, so watch out for that.
    • The normal speedrun strat uses the bottom right corner, but you start at a different position in Boss Survival, so it's harder to get there. It's still possible, according to Bumegg94, but it's a lot riskier and doesn't work as well anyways. It is definitely faster, though, so that's probably why they use it for the speedrun,
    • Don't even pick up the Nikita. It's useless even if you're trying to do this fight legit, and it just makes switching to the Stinger more annoying for the REX fight.
  • Once you get to the corner, you'll have 10-15 seconds before Raven comes into your sights. Equip your PSG-1 (or PSG1-T), pop a Pentazemin (assuming you have one), and aim at the poster on the opposite wall, a little above and to the right of the small line's corner. See this part of my video for the precise location.
    • Note that I have a texture pack installed, so your poster may look slightly different. The area should be about the same, though.
  • When Raven turns the corner, use Menu Aiming to zero in on his head, then fire. Now we're going to have to start timing our shots. If you don't time them, Raven will likely get close enough to damage you, which will also throw your aim off if he doesn't kill you outright. We can prevent this by firing at him while he's lurching forward to stop him dead in his tracks. I do this by using Menu Aiming to sort of slow things down. Open the menu several times in succession, and if you catch him while he's moving forward, take the shot to stop him. If you do this just a few times, you should be able to take him down without receiving any damage! There's quite a bit of leeway, even - see this separate video in which I don't do a very good job at stopping him from advancing and still make it through without damage.
  • You might notice that I don't equip the Ration I have in my inventory in either of those clips. Here's a video that I believe explains my rationale.
    • In all seriousness, if you still have the Ration you should probably equip it just in case. Just make sure you take your time with your menuing so you don't accidentally eat it.
  • If you really want to do Raven the old-fashioned way (or you somehow completely ran out of sniper ammo), your best bet is probably to follow this route courtesy of GameFAQs user TLeHn. Note that this route assumes you grabbed the extra 4 claymores from the Tank fight. If you didn't, I guess you'll have to improvise.

Metal Gear REX

  • Rex is not as hard as it might seem. It's pretty easy to get through damageless if you keep moving and keep your distance.
  • When REX targets you with missiles (you'll hear the beeping), make sure to keep moving and the missiles will miss you.
    • At least that's what I thought, but some missiles hit me in my run even though I was moving the whole time. Maybe I was doing something wrong, or maybe the game just hates you sometimes. In any case, stay moving - it's definitely your best bet.
  • If you keep enough distance from REX, he shouldn't use any other attacks. If you get closer, he might use the machine gun or laser, or he might try to step on you. If you circle around him, though, he'll probably be too busy turning to do much of anything else.
  • Your main strategy for the first phase should be running around REX in a counter-clockwise circle, as Bumegg94 suggests. We want to go counter-clockwise because this will allow us to have a good line of sight to the Radome, which is our main target. Your best opportunities to shoot a Stinger are right after you dodge the missiles, and if you get far enough ahead of REX's vision that the cone turns blue.
  • If you thought the Stinger sucked during the Hind fight, wait until you see what it does now. During my fight, the Stinger sometimes either refused to lock on to the radome, or locked on to something else and refused to unlock. If you're having trouble, it's probably better to quickly fire without locking on (thankfully the radome is a pretty big target) or just cut your losses and keep moving. You don't want to open yourself up to a missile strike by waiting too long to lock on.
  • There's plenty of Stinger ammo around the perimeter. There's also a few chaff grenades on the lower-ish right - you might want to grab them, as they'll come in handy next phase. Just be careful - it's easy to get stuck on the wall, and you don't want to be there when a missile's headed your way. If you have chaff grenades left over from earlier, I would suggest saving them until the second phase, as they're a little more useful there.
  • Phase 2 is more difficult, but still not too bad. As the phase begins, Liquid will likely immediately attack with machine guns, so head north as soon as you get control to dodge them. After that, keep on the move and shoot Stingers when you have a chance (usually right after the missiles land). The target is the open cockpit at the front, which is harder to hit from the sides, so you may want to try moving back and forth at the south end instead of circling REX. This is easier with chaff grenades.
  • If you have chaff grenades, now's the time to use them. They will prevent the missiles from locking on to you, hopefully letting you get a few free shots in.
    • Note that the missiles will still go somewhere (I almost got unlucky and took a hit in my fight), so make sure they're not headed your way by random chance.
  • Unfortunately, our Stinger problems get even worse in this phase, as our intended target (the cockpit) is right next to a couple of other targets. If you lock on to the wrong target, it's probably better to just unequip and re-equip the Stinger to try and lock on to the right one.

Liquid Snake

  • Out of all the boss fights, this is the one I recommend practicing with save states the most. One mistake can cost you the run, and you're more than likely going to be a little nervous at the end, so it's good to have the fight down before you try it in a run. I myself choked a few runs at Liquid due to nerves, and I very nearly choked my successful run.
  • During the first phase, Liquid will run around and occasionally enter a fighting stance. If you attack him while he's in the fighting stance, then he will counter with a spinning hook kick.
  • In this phase, I recommend that you attack primarily with Snake's roll attack. This may seem incredibly reckless, but it actually has several advantages. First, if you're lucky, the roll will hit Liquid multiple times due to hitbox shenanigans, causing massive damage. Second, the roll actually does really well at dodging Liquid's hook kick (I've never seen the hook kick hit after a roll in all of my practice, although I can't say it definitively never does), leaving you in a good position for a PPK combo if the roll doesn't connect.
    • It's decently likely that you'll roll off the side if Liquid is close to the edge. This isn't a big deal, just get back up as soon as you can. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT PRESS X WHILE HANGING! YOU WILL DIE INSTANTLY.
    • You might also knock Liquid off the side, at which point you can try to start ledge-looping him (described below). I always had more trouble with that in the first phase, for whatever reason.
    • At the very beginning of the fight, you can get a guaranteed roll for a decent chunk of damage (known as the "JM Chunk" among speedrunners) by taking a small step left and then rolling left at Liquid. If you just roll as soon as you're able, you might miss.
  • At some point, Liquid will say "Is that all you've got?" which marks the transition to the second phase. I'm not sure what exactly causes this - it seemed to happen at different health thresholds for me. My guess is that it's some combination of damage, time, and RNG. In this phase, Liquid will have his hands up and he will bob and weave. He also becomes significantly more aggressive. In this phase, Liquid will often punch you if you're close, and will do a devastating tackle attack if you're a little farther away. This tackle attack will do MASSIVE damage, and will more than likely end your run if it connects, unless you've still got the Ration. Avoiding it should be your highest priority. At this point the roll attack is too risky, so we'll need to change our strategy.
    • If you're close to Liquid, I would recommend being aggressive and going in for a PPK combo. Alternatively, maybe punch-punch-punch to avoid the endlag of the kick. Just make sure you have a small pause between the first two punches and the third. This will catch him before he can use his tackle attack, which is harder to avoid at short distance.
    • If you're far away from Liquid, it might be too risky to close the distance. Instead, wait for him to gear up for the tackle and then dodge it. Note that there are two "phases" to the tackle - an initial forward lunge, and a second very slightly delayed lunge, so make sure you don't counterattack too early. After you dodge, you should have a chance to close the distance and counter with PPK/PPP.
  • With any luck, you'll be able to knock Liquid off the side. At this point, you can start ledge looping him to take his health down relatively safely. The idea is basically to knock him off, and then when he gets up knock him off again as soon as he becomes vulnerable. The two important factors in doing this are spacing and timing. To better illustrate, let's take a look at my (imperfect) ledge loops from my successful run.
    • Spacing: You're not going to want to be too close to the edge. If you are, Snake will stumble when Liquid pops back up, giving him a chance to escape or attack. You can see this a couple times in my video - I get lucky by catching him with the large hitbox of the kick, but it could easily have gone the other way. On the northern edge, the sweet spot seems to be a decent bit below the line - you can see it as I get a couple good loops. I lose him when he gets to the corner, as I'm too close and my punches don't connect. What I probably should have done was gone further down (extending the line in my head) and faced directly north instead of trying to angle myself into the corner.
    • Timing You're going to want to time it about so the first punch hits right when the camera changes. I would aim early rather than late - if you're a little early with the first punch, you can likely hit him with the second punch or the kick, but if you're late, he might slip out. Again, you can see this with the couple of good loops that I get.
  • Once you get Liquid's heath down enough, you'll start knocking him onto his back with your combos. You can also use this to loop him. Just be very careful - the flip he does to get up can damage Snake., so back off and rush back in to hit him again before he moves.
  • You probably shouldn't have to worry about the time limit unless you're playing really defensively or you miss a lot of rolls and send yourself over the edge way too much. It is something to keep in mind, but you have plenty of time to do ledge loops or miss a few rolls if you need to. I ended my run with more than a minute to spare.
  • You can also use the throw (hold A and a direction on the Control Stick) to damage Liquid. One guide described punch-punch-throw as less risky than the PPK, due to the endlag of the kick. But if you're not careful (and maybe even if you are) Snake will attempt to choke Liquid (when you just press A without moving the stick) at which point Liquid will counter to escape your grab, doing some damage. I would just stick to the PPP if you think the PPK is too risky.
  • If you're bleeding, you can attempt to crouch and heal while you're ledge looping. You'll be able to survive a small punch at the healing threshold, so it might be worth it if you can get the timing right.

Acknowledgements

  • Thanks to the developers at Konami and Silicon Knights for making a re-imagining of Metal Gear Solid that is close to my heart.
  • Thanks to WilHiteWarrior for his work on this set showcasing the unique aspects of this game.
  • Many thanks to the Metal Gear Speedrunners community (MGSR), whose strategies I have shamelessly stolen.
  • Thanks to the many RetroAchievements commenters who shared their tips. I've tried to cite their contributions as best as I can.
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