Tweet
18 Things You Might've Missed in Metal Gear Solid 5
All the Cool Stuff You Need to Try
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a massive open world game filled with all kinds of interesting stuff to do and see. But because of how detailed it is, there's a lot of content in the game that you might not know to try. Whether it be calling in a supply drop on an enemy or recruiting Hideo Kojima to Mother Base, here's a gallery of the most entertaining things you might have missed!
Happy Birthday to You!
During the opening moments of MGS V, you're asked to enter your name and birth date. While this doesn’t serve any purpose to gameplay, it does trigger a hilarious cut scene upon returning to Mother Base on the selected birth date where your staff welcomes you with a surprise Birthday greeting.
A Supply Drop to the Face
Calling for helicopter supply drops in MGS V is an easy way to replenish your ammo and item reserves in the field, but it's also a creative means to take out stationary enemies. Just pick supply drop from the Missions tab, choose an enemy's location as a drop point, and wait as the incoming package plops right on their head, rendering them unconscious.
Cardboard Box Sledding
The classic cardboard box is back, and it's got a hidden feature: it doubles as a sled! Run down a hill with the box equipped and use the dive command to sled down hills and mountains. You pick up speed pretty quickly, and have surprisingly good steering, too. Box sledding is a great way to take out unexpected enemies, and it's just plain fun!
Box Posters
The cardboard box also comes with the ability to customize it with posters you can find and collect in the game. Depending on the poster you pick, it’ll have different humorous effects on your enemies. If you attach a Soviet Guard poster, enemy guards in Afghanistan can be fooled from a distance into thinking you’re a comrade, and if you attach a pin-up girl poster, you can attract the attention of enemy guards over to your position. To equip a poster, press the square/X button to cycle through your available images.
Recruit Hideo Kojima to Mother Base
Metal Gear Solid series creator Hideo Kojima can join Mother Base if you transfer a save file from MGS V: Ground Zeroes with the ‘Intel-Operative Rescue’ Side-Op completed. Kojima will then randomly show up as a volunteer recruit in the results screen after completing missions 4-6. Though, if you're already farther into the game by the time you transfer your save, you can replay one of the mentioned missions again to trigger Kojima's appearance. Alternatively, you can also recruit Kojima if you unlock and complete Side-Op 112.
Old School Snake
Using the save transfer feature, you can also unlock the ability for R&D to develop an MGS 1-era Snake uniform if you cleared its MGS V: Ground Zeroes' Déjà vu Side-Op. Requiring 100,000 GMP to make, the skin is a useful outfit that dulls the sound of your footsteps.
Fast Travel via Cardboard Box
In MGS V, there’s a faster way to travel between areas of the map than the typical helicopter pickup method. This is done by activating orange delivery platforms located within various enemy base camps or outposts. To activate them, approach the signs placed beside them and pickup the invoice attached. Once you’ve activated at least two platforms, you can perform fast travel by standing on one and equipping your cardboard box. This will bring up a prompt that takes you to the iDroid’s map where you can then pick from the various activated platforms to travel to.
Customize Your Guns
Contrary to what you might think, it's possible to customize guns with different parts and color schemes. All you need to do is complete a series of of three Side-Ops involving extracting a so-called Legendary Gunsmith. To start the process, you need to complete Mission 13, which will unlock Side-Op 107: Extract the Legendary Gunsmith. Upon completion, you'll trigger Side-Ops 108 and 109. Once you've finished, return to the ACC, open up your iDroid, and choose Customization under the Mother Base tab to find a Weapons option available. (Note: If the Legendary Gunsmith Side-Ops aren't appearing, try completing other available Side-Ops on the map until you unlock them.)
Take a Look at These Photographs
While sitting around in your ACC (Aerial Command Center), you'll notice photographs and notes attached to the walls. As you get further in the game’s story, more photographs and mementos from your adventures will be added and even removed from the wall. Make sure to keep checking back, you just might find something interesting, potentially even mind-blowing.
Forget C4, Sabotage Vehicles With Horse Poop
As you complete missions with D-Horse, you’ll notice in the mission results screen that a bond meter increases. After reaching a high enough level, you can unlock the ability for your horse to defecate at any time. But this isn't just for a cheap laugh, defecating can be a handy trick that can cause light vehicles to spin out and crash. It's a useful tactic if you're plotting a roadside ambush on an incoming enemy jeep but don't have enough time to call in C4 from Mother Base.
Listen to Music and Make Custom Playlists
In your travels, you’ll occasionally encounter radios playing cassette tapes of popular 80’s music hits. You can actually collect these tapes and listen to them yourself in-game. Just go into your iDroid once you've snatched one, highlight the Mother Base section, and pick cassettes. It’ll be on a tab to the right of the story cassettes. However, if you're not a fan of 80's music but are playing on the PC, you can upload your own custom music tracks to listen to. To do this, go to the game directory to find a folder called ‘CustomSoundtrack,' and simply drag and drop your favorite tunes.
Animal Conservation Platform: Your Personal Zoo
You can develop an Animal Conservation Platform for Mother Base, which is essentially a personal zoo for all the different types of animals you can procure in the field via Fulton recovery system. To get access to its development, complete missions 7-10 and extract at least six wild animals. Once you’ve done so, you can visit the platform any time from any Mother Base landing zone or the ACC by pressing triangle/Y button from the LZ selection map overview to switch to its location.
Diamond Dog
As previously seen in MGS V trailers, it's possible to acquire a puppy--aptly named D.D (Diamond Dog)--who'll eventually grow up to become a tactical buddy you can take out on the field. To get him, boot up the fourth mission and he'll be to the right of your start-point. If you can't see him, try to listen for barking to clue in on his location. Once you've found DD, use your Fulton recovery system to send him to Mother Base. After that, keep playing missions and going back to Mother Base to visit him when Ocelot requests you to. You'll eventually trigger a cutscene that'll give you the ability to take DD out on missions. Keep him around, and you'll even the ability to unlock his battle dress, which gives him an equippable knife to pounce on enemies with.
The Demon Meter
In MGS V, there's a secret statistic called the Demon Meter. Like the Heroism Meter, it'll increase depending on certain kinds of actions you take while playing. For the Demon Meter to increase, you need to constantly engage in bad behavior, like killing or critically wounding soldiers, prisoners, and animals, destroying a support helicopter, or even failing a Fulton recovery. If you're successful, a cutscene will trigger that enlarges the shrapnel in Big Boss' head, making it into the shape of a demon's horn. Keep it up, and Big Boss' face will eventually be covered in an irremovable coat of blood.
Secret Cutscene at the Medical Platform
You can trigger a secret cutscene if you've unlocked the Medical Platform and completed one of the many Side-Ops involving recovering a wandering MSF soldier. Once you've done so, go to the third floor deck of the Medical Platform and you'll find an automatic opening door you can enter. Check it out, it's a shocker, especially if you've played MGS V: Ground Zeroes.
Hygiene is Important
As you play MGS V, you'll start to notice Big Boss slowly become covered in blood. Luckily, you can wash away these stains thanks to the portable shower units scattered throughout Mother Base. However, if you constantly neglect to take a shower or spend too much time in a dumpster, you'll eventually trigger a cutscene upon returning to your base where your staff is less-than-enthused about your negligence towards daily hygiene. Though, if you have Quiet with you upon returning to Mother Base, a different version of the scene will play out, granted that her bond level is above 60%.
The Chicken Hat
Announced previously during a Kojima Station livestream, the chicken hat is a special equippable item that slows down an enemy's ability to react and spot you. While the game offers it to you if you keep dying consecutively, you can actually manually activate it via the options screen. Simply discard all pride, go to the Game Settings screen, and toggle it on. But be weary, the chicken hat will prevent you from getting a mission rank higher than an A.
Dancin' in the Rain
When you bring along Quiet as a buddy in MGS V, it's possible to trigger a secret cutscene upon returning to Mother Base where she jumps out of your helicopter and starts dancing in the rain. In order to activate it, you need to get Quiet's bond level maxed out. Once you've done this, equip her as your buddy, wait in the ACC until the game warns you of incoming rain, and then return to Mother Base.
More...
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a massive open world game filled with all kinds of interesting stuff to do and see. But because of how detailed it is, there's a lot of content in the game that you might not know to try. Whether it be calling in a supply drop on an enemy or recruiting Hideo Kojima to Mother Base, here's a gallery of the most entertaining things you might have missed!
Happy Birthday to You!
During the opening moments of MGS V, you're asked to enter your name and birth date. While this doesn’t serve any purpose to gameplay, it does trigger a hilarious cut scene upon returning to Mother Base on the selected birth date where your staff welcomes you with a surprise Birthday greeting.
A Supply Drop to the Face
Calling for helicopter supply drops in MGS V is an easy way to replenish your ammo and item reserves in the field, but it's also a creative means to take out stationary enemies. Just pick supply drop from the Missions tab, choose an enemy's location as a drop point, and wait as the incoming package plops right on their head, rendering them unconscious.
Cardboard Box Sledding
The classic cardboard box is back, and it's got a hidden feature: it doubles as a sled! Run down a hill with the box equipped and use the dive command to sled down hills and mountains. You pick up speed pretty quickly, and have surprisingly good steering, too. Box sledding is a great way to take out unexpected enemies, and it's just plain fun!
Box Posters
The cardboard box also comes with the ability to customize it with posters you can find and collect in the game. Depending on the poster you pick, it’ll have different humorous effects on your enemies. If you attach a Soviet Guard poster, enemy guards in Afghanistan can be fooled from a distance into thinking you’re a comrade, and if you attach a pin-up girl poster, you can attract the attention of enemy guards over to your position. To equip a poster, press the square/X button to cycle through your available images.
Recruit Hideo Kojima to Mother Base
Metal Gear Solid series creator Hideo Kojima can join Mother Base if you transfer a save file from MGS V: Ground Zeroes with the ‘Intel-Operative Rescue’ Side-Op completed. Kojima will then randomly show up as a volunteer recruit in the results screen after completing missions 4-6. Though, if you're already farther into the game by the time you transfer your save, you can replay one of the mentioned missions again to trigger Kojima's appearance. Alternatively, you can also recruit Kojima if you unlock and complete Side-Op 112.
Old School Snake
Using the save transfer feature, you can also unlock the ability for R&D to develop an MGS 1-era Snake uniform if you cleared its MGS V: Ground Zeroes' Déjà vu Side-Op. Requiring 100,000 GMP to make, the skin is a useful outfit that dulls the sound of your footsteps.
Fast Travel via Cardboard Box
In MGS V, there’s a faster way to travel between areas of the map than the typical helicopter pickup method. This is done by activating orange delivery platforms located within various enemy base camps or outposts. To activate them, approach the signs placed beside them and pickup the invoice attached. Once you’ve activated at least two platforms, you can perform fast travel by standing on one and equipping your cardboard box. This will bring up a prompt that takes you to the iDroid’s map where you can then pick from the various activated platforms to travel to.
Customize Your Guns
Contrary to what you might think, it's possible to customize guns with different parts and color schemes. All you need to do is complete a series of of three Side-Ops involving extracting a so-called Legendary Gunsmith. To start the process, you need to complete Mission 13, which will unlock Side-Op 107: Extract the Legendary Gunsmith. Upon completion, you'll trigger Side-Ops 108 and 109. Once you've finished, return to the ACC, open up your iDroid, and choose Customization under the Mother Base tab to find a Weapons option available. (Note: If the Legendary Gunsmith Side-Ops aren't appearing, try completing other available Side-Ops on the map until you unlock them.)
Take a Look at These Photographs
While sitting around in your ACC (Aerial Command Center), you'll notice photographs and notes attached to the walls. As you get further in the game’s story, more photographs and mementos from your adventures will be added and even removed from the wall. Make sure to keep checking back, you just might find something interesting, potentially even mind-blowing.
Forget C4, Sabotage Vehicles With Horse Poop
As you complete missions with D-Horse, you’ll notice in the mission results screen that a bond meter increases. After reaching a high enough level, you can unlock the ability for your horse to defecate at any time. But this isn't just for a cheap laugh, defecating can be a handy trick that can cause light vehicles to spin out and crash. It's a useful tactic if you're plotting a roadside ambush on an incoming enemy jeep but don't have enough time to call in C4 from Mother Base.
Listen to Music and Make Custom Playlists
In your travels, you’ll occasionally encounter radios playing cassette tapes of popular 80’s music hits. You can actually collect these tapes and listen to them yourself in-game. Just go into your iDroid once you've snatched one, highlight the Mother Base section, and pick cassettes. It’ll be on a tab to the right of the story cassettes. However, if you're not a fan of 80's music but are playing on the PC, you can upload your own custom music tracks to listen to. To do this, go to the game directory to find a folder called ‘CustomSoundtrack,' and simply drag and drop your favorite tunes.
Animal Conservation Platform: Your Personal Zoo
You can develop an Animal Conservation Platform for Mother Base, which is essentially a personal zoo for all the different types of animals you can procure in the field via Fulton recovery system. To get access to its development, complete missions 7-10 and extract at least six wild animals. Once you’ve done so, you can visit the platform any time from any Mother Base landing zone or the ACC by pressing triangle/Y button from the LZ selection map overview to switch to its location.
Diamond Dog
As previously seen in MGS V trailers, it's possible to acquire a puppy--aptly named D.D (Diamond Dog)--who'll eventually grow up to become a tactical buddy you can take out on the field. To get him, boot up the fourth mission and he'll be to the right of your start-point. If you can't see him, try to listen for barking to clue in on his location. Once you've found DD, use your Fulton recovery system to send him to Mother Base. After that, keep playing missions and going back to Mother Base to visit him when Ocelot requests you to. You'll eventually trigger a cutscene that'll give you the ability to take DD out on missions. Keep him around, and you'll even the ability to unlock his battle dress, which gives him an equippable knife to pounce on enemies with.
The Demon Meter
In MGS V, there's a secret statistic called the Demon Meter. Like the Heroism Meter, it'll increase depending on certain kinds of actions you take while playing. For the Demon Meter to increase, you need to constantly engage in bad behavior, like killing or critically wounding soldiers, prisoners, and animals, destroying a support helicopter, or even failing a Fulton recovery. If you're successful, a cutscene will trigger that enlarges the shrapnel in Big Boss' head, making it into the shape of a demon's horn. Keep it up, and Big Boss' face will eventually be covered in an irremovable coat of blood.
Secret Cutscene at the Medical Platform
You can trigger a secret cutscene if you've unlocked the Medical Platform and completed one of the many Side-Ops involving recovering a wandering MSF soldier. Once you've done so, go to the third floor deck of the Medical Platform and you'll find an automatic opening door you can enter. Check it out, it's a shocker, especially if you've played MGS V: Ground Zeroes.
Hygiene is Important
As you play MGS V, you'll start to notice Big Boss slowly become covered in blood. Luckily, you can wash away these stains thanks to the portable shower units scattered throughout Mother Base. However, if you constantly neglect to take a shower or spend too much time in a dumpster, you'll eventually trigger a cutscene upon returning to your base where your staff is less-than-enthused about your negligence towards daily hygiene. Though, if you have Quiet with you upon returning to Mother Base, a different version of the scene will play out, granted that her bond level is above 60%.
The Chicken Hat
Announced previously during a Kojima Station livestream, the chicken hat is a special equippable item that slows down an enemy's ability to react and spot you. While the game offers it to you if you keep dying consecutively, you can actually manually activate it via the options screen. Simply discard all pride, go to the Game Settings screen, and toggle it on. But be weary, the chicken hat will prevent you from getting a mission rank higher than an A.
Dancin' in the Rain
When you bring along Quiet as a buddy in MGS V, it's possible to trigger a secret cutscene upon returning to Mother Base where she jumps out of your helicopter and starts dancing in the rain. In order to activate it, you need to get Quiet's bond level maxed out. Once you've done this, equip her as your buddy, wait in the ACC until the game warns you of incoming rain, and then return to Mother Base.
More...