Before Naked Snake landed on the Sony PSP in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Solid Snake was already there with Metal Gear Acid, a turn-based collectible card video game. The unorthodox Metal Gear game was released in Japan on December 16th 2004, in North America on March 22nd 2005, and finally Europe on September 1st, 2005.
In Metal Gear Acid, you use trading cards to determine your character’s moves and actions. “Acid” is actually an acronym standing for “Active Command Intelligence Duel.” Of course, this doesn’t make any sense when the “I” is replaced with an exclamation mark, like on the box art, but I’ll let it slide.
The game is divided into rounds, and in each round the player’s hand can hold up to six Metal Gear Acid cards. These cards are based on elements from the entire Metal Gear series, including weaponry and characters. And yes, Metal Gear is a card.
Although the gameplay is radically different, your objective remains the same. That is, to complete your mission, with an emphasis on stealth! The Metal Gear Acid cards are simply a way of accomplishing this.
The year is 2016 and a jumbo jet carrying Senator Viggo Hach, a future presidential hopeful, is hijacked by terrorists. Their only demand is Pythagoras, a research project being conducted by the Moloni Republic in South Africa. The Moloni government refuses to get involved in the situation, so the United States sends in Solid Snake to infiltrate the laboratory and get answers.
Aside from Solid Snake, Metal Gear Acid contains a cast of primarily new characters. Teliko Friedman is a member of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team and rendezvous with Snake in Africa as a second playable character. She also appears in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops as a hidden character. Roger McCoy, a CIA operative, serves as Snake’s commanding officer. He’s an acquaintance of Roy Campbell, Snake’s usual commanding officer. Alice Hazel is an English girl with psychic abilities who has aided the FBI and the CIA in the past and will help Snake on his mission. Finally, Lt. Leone is the leader of an anti-government militia in the Moloni Republic.