Metal Gear Solid is one of the best video game franchises of all time, especially in the stealth and action genres. It has the most overblow cutscenes—which players either love or hate—stealth that doesn’t feel contrived, amazing gameplay, and all of Hideo Kojima’s stylistic quirks. It is, quite frankly, a franchise unlike any other. Now that Hideo Kojima has left the series to work on other games like Death Stranding, his vision will no longer be applied to any future Metal Gear Solid games.

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Even though the Metal Gear Solid franchise is almost universally loved by gamers, everyone has their favorite—and has one or two games that they can’t stand. But, for most of them, there is usually one point to agree on: the actual mechs are awesome. Metal Gears are the massive weapons the series revolves around that rain death and destruction.

10 Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear

The Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear is probably the least impressive metal gear in the franchise. As a mobile nuclear platform, it was lacking in so many areas that it was practically useless. For starters, it had small legs and didn’t have any arms. It also lacked any big guns.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the mech could not launch by itself, so it needed to be attached to a rocket. Then, the rocket launched and dropped the mech to parachute down towards its intended target. Furthermore, the Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear then needed three whole helicopters to airlift it. So, pretty useless.

9 Metal Gear Mk. II

Debuting in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the Metal Gear Mk. II was developed by Sunny and Otacon for Solid Snake to use on the battlefield. The mech was functional; Solid Snake used it to scout ahead and to give enemies a shock and knocking them out whenever necessary. It could also turn invisible.

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However, the mech tried too hard to be lovable, what with its curvy shape and how it acted like R2-D2. More significantly, the Metal Gear Mk. II ran on batteries, which often ran out while the mech was on a mission.

8 Metal Gear Raxa

The Metal Gear Raxa was the first-ever Metal Gear to be built since it is a prototype made by the Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear. So, it is identical to the Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear. But, when it moves, it looks different.

The Metal Gear Raxa debuted in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, which came out in 2006. The game was not the best in the series—not even close. Likewise, the mech is not much to write home about. However, the Metal Gear Raxa is notable because it fought Naked Snake.

7 Metal Gear D

Making its debut in 2001’s Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, the Metal Gear D was a proper mech. It was a hulking bipedal tank equipped with a machine gun, a six-missile launching pod, and a mounted rotary cannon. Seven times more powerful than the Metal Gear in the first MGS game, it was an intimidating piece of machinery capable of taking out tons of enemy by itself.

However, its opponent was Solid Snake. He couldn’t easily damage it, but he managed to destroy it by targeting the machine’s legs, which were its weak spot.

6 TX-55 Metal Gear

The TX-55 is the original Metal Gear, appearing in the first game of the franchise. It is also known simply as Metal Gear, with no specific meaning for its codename. The TX-55 appears similar to the Metal Gear D, but its design is simpler and its legs are more robust.

1987’s Metal Gear came out on the NES, and one of the reasons the player couldn’t directly fight the TX-55 was the limitations of the hardware. So, the developers’ solution was simple: to get Solid Snake to plant a number of C4 explosives around an unmanned TX-55 in order to destroy it.

5 Arsenal Gear

When it comes to obscenely large Metal Gears, the Arsenal Gear cannot be beaten. It's practically a mobile army base that can fly or submerge. It was introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, during the final act.

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The Arsenal Gear doesn’t look as impressive as many of the other Metal Gears, but its massive size and its immense power more than made up for that. The mech housed thousands of missiles and dozens of Metal Gear Rays. If that wasn’t enough, the Arsenal Gear was also capable of manipulating data on a worldwide scale.

4 ST-84 Metal Gear

The ST-84 Metal Gear, also known as the Sahelanthropus, was a Metal Gear unit introduced in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It was a bipedal mech developed by the mysterious XOF organization together with the Soviet Union.

The mech was heavily armored, and, in its crouched position, it worked as a battering ram. In this position, it could also use its prototype railgun. It was armed with a tensile rod that could condense and release microbes that caused a series of explosions or that could separate into whip-like threads. To make it even more dangerous, the ST-84 Metal Gear was also armed with tons of missile launchers and machine guns. It is clearly one of the most powerful mechs in the series.

3 Metal Gear ZEKE

Metal Gear ZEKE is one of the more standout mechs in the franchise because it allowed players to customize it using the materials they accumulated throughout the game. Created under Big Boss’ guidance in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, the mech resembled Metal Gear Rex. And like Rex, ZEKE was later hijacked.

In its base form, the Metal Gear ZEKE was armed with three machine guns, numerous guided missiles, and a railgun. Players could later attach weapons from the four main AI weapon bosses, including a nuclear weapon from the remains of Peace Walker.

2 Metal Gear RAY

Introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Ray was an anti-Metal Gear. It came in two versions: an unmanned computer-controlled version that was refitted to protect the Arsenal Gear and manned prototype that fought Metal Gear derivatives.

The Metal Gear RAY was more flexible and maneuverable than other Metal Gears, as it could be deployed on both water and land. It was armed with missile launchers, a pair of Gatling guns, and a water jet cutter that could cut through enemies with heavy armor. It might not have had nukes, but the Metal Gear RAY was a scarily-powerful mech.

1 Metal Gear REX

The Metal Gear REX might just be the most popular mech in the franchise, and with good reason: it was an intimidating, hulking Metal Gear that launched in 1998’s Metal Gear Solid. The Metal Gear REX was frustrating to play against. Its compound armor was near-impenetrable and its legs were reinforced and heavily armored. It was also armed with anti-tank missiles, a free-electron laser, two Gatling guns and a magnetic railgun that could send an undeliverable nuke anywhere around the world. It also had a radome that increased the accuracy of the REX’s weapons and kept the driver safe.

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