|This article is about a non-canonical topic in the Metal Gear series.|
During the late stages of the Cold War, in the 1980s, the Metal Gear underwent development in Eldera by the American forces, while Eldera was still under a pro-American dictatorship. Matt Campbell, a DIA agent and Marine, was involved in the mission for reasons relating to anger at his brother Roy Campbell for his affair with his wife, and thus the birth of Meryl. After America withdrew from Eldera nearing the end of the Cold War, and thus, the breakdown in Eldera down to a civil war instigated by members of Spetsnaz (specifically Gurlukovich and his men), the Metal Gear lay forgotten in Eldera. Likewise, any records of the development of Metal Gear also ended up sealed. At an unspecified time after the Shadow Moses Incident, the United States Marine Corps rediscovered and recovered the Metal Gear from Eldera and placed it on board a Marine-owned tanker. However, shortly afterwards, the tanker was attacked by the Gurlukovich Mercenaries. The Marines were tight-lipped about the incident, although Roy Campbell managed to deduce enough to realize what happened. Three days later, Solid Snake, having been dispatched to the tanker to quell the situation as a request for Roy Campbell (who asked him to help due to Meryl being believed to have been involved in the tanker hijacking). Solid Snake initially believed that the Metal Gear was simply a copy of Metal Gear REX, due to Ocelot having leaked the Metal Gear REX data worldwide, when he first heard from Campbell about the hijacking, although he quickly learned otherwise when he looked under its tarp and noticed its significantly aged appearance. Meryl was later revealed to be aligned with Gurlukovich in the theft, due to Gurlukovich claiming that Matt was killed by the Marines (in actuality, Matt was murdered by Gurlukovich himself after Matt ended up AWOL). Although it was initially believed that the Gurlukovich Mercenaries intended to give it to the Elderan guerillas, Gurlukovich, before meeting his doom at the hands of Meryl, revealed that he actually intended to salvage the nuclear-equipped ballistic missiles and the launch system for Metal Gear as a valuable commodity during the post-Cold War age. The Metal Gear was later revealed to have been significantly obsolete and a failure barely worth more than scrap metal, with nukes that were nothing more than cheap imitations.
Behind the scenesEdit
The Metal Gear was created for the non-canon Snake Tales story "Confidential Legacy."
Because of the low-budget storytelling nature of Snake Tales, the Metal Gear was never actually seen within gameplay or in the story.