Games Like Metal Gear

Konami's 2000 GBC stealth action game — not a port of the PS1 Metal Gear Solid but an entirely original game with a new story set in Gindra, Africa, where Solid Snake must infiltrate the nation's defenses to stop Metal Gear GANDER. Ghost Babel adapts the full MGS stealth system to top-down GBC hardware with radar, codec communications, boss battles, and 7 missions of legitimate stealth depth.

Hideo Kojima's stealth masterpiece redefined what video games could achieve narratively and mechanically. Metal Gear Solid blended Hollywood-caliber presentation with innovative stealth gameplay and fourth-wall-breaking moments that players still discuss 25 years later.

Sony's answer to GoldenEye — Gabe Logan's third-person action-stealth shooter featured a sprawling conspiracy narrative, diverse mission objectives, and over 20 weapons in one of the PS1's best action games.

Bend Studio's 2000 PS1 sequel to Syphon Filter — Syphon Filter 2 expands Gabe Logan's conspiracy-hunting across a two-disc campaign that continues the Syphon Filter virus storyline, adds playable Lian Xing segments, refines the aiming and taser mechanic of the original, and delivers the most content-rich game in the PS1 Syphon Filter trilogy.

Sony's answer to Metal Gear Solid: a third-person action-stealth game starring covert operative Gabe Logan investigating the Syphon Filter virus. More action-oriented than Konami's game, with memorable taser-on-fire mechanics and a solid PS1 exclusive that spawned multiple sequels.

Acquire's 1998 PS1 stealth-action game and the originator of the PlayStation stealth genre — Tenchu: Stealth Assassins places players as feudal Japan ninja Rikimaru or Ayame completing assassination missions through populated environments using shadow movement, tool usage, and the grappling hook, establishing the stealth assassination mechanic that Metal Gear Solid's success that same year confirmed was a genre with mass appeal.

Hudson Soft's 1987 NES platformer — Adventure Island follows Master Higgins across tropical island worlds rescuing Princess Tina, with a stamina meter that depletes as you walk (requiring constant fruit collection to survive), skateboard power-ups, and eight worlds of side-scrolling platformer action. The franchise origin that spawned multiple NES and SNES sequels.

Nintendo's Joust-inspired NES arcade game — flap balloons to fly, pop enemies' balloons before they pop yours, and avoid the thundercloud in one of the NES's earliest two-player simultaneous games.

Sunsoft's 1990 NES action-platformer based on the Tim Burton film — Batman follows Bruce Wayne as the Dark Knight through Gotham fighting Joker's gang with punches, kicks, Batarangs, and Batdiscs across five stages with tight platformer controls and Sunsoft's remarkable NES music. One of the finest licensed NES games.

A landmark crossover event for early 90s beat-em-up fans, Battletoads & Double Dragon unites Rare's bruising amphibian warriors with Technos' iconic martial arts duo against the shared threat of the Dark Queen and the Shadow Warriors. The game wisely tempers Battletoads' notorious difficulty with Double Dragon's more accessible combat pacing, resulting in a co-op brawler that rewards skilled play without punishing newcomers at every turn.

Rare's beat-em-up masterpiece is one of the most technically impressive NES games ever made — and one of the most brutally difficult. The Turbo Tunnel alone has broken thousands of controllers.

The NES game that dared to remove the jump button. Bionic Commando replaced conventional platforming with a grappling hook mechanic that created one of the most unique action experiences of the era.