Life Story

Much of Big Boss' previously established past is retroactively continued through Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a prequel to the entire series set in 1964. Following up on the revelation that Big Boss is Solid Snake's father, the game reintroduces Big Boss as a young patriotic soldier codenamed Jack, a former Green Beret and the first field operative for the newly established FOX unit. In his youth, Jack was virtualy identical to Solid Snake, and was trained by a legendary soldier, The Boss, who taught him survival skills. The Boss also collaborated with Jack to invent Close Quarters Combat. In his inaugural mission as a FOX agent, the Virtuous Mission (August 24), Jack was assigned the codename of Naked Snake (echoing his relationship to the Boss, who once led a special forces team known as The Cobra Unit). Snake's solo mission was to infiltrate the fictional Soviet region of Tselinoyarsk and extract a defecting Soviet scientist named Sokolov, who is being forced to design a new weapon called the Shagohod. The mission went relatively smoothly until The Boss appeared and announced her defection, providing her new benefactor Colonel Volgin with two miniature nuclear shells ("Davy Crockett" wink . Sokolov was captured by the reformed Cobra Unit, and Snake was heavily injured in combat with The Boss.

A week after the failure of Virtuous Mission, Snake was sent out on a follow-up mission, "Operation Snake Eater." This time, his mission objectives were to infiltrate Groznyj Grad, assassinate The Boss, Colonel Volgin, and destroy the Shagohod. To this end, he teamed up with a KGB spy named EVA, who has infiltrated the GRU ranks as Tatyana. In addition to confronting GRU forces, Snake also was instructed to assassinate each member of the Cobras (The Boss' former unit). Snake experienced many hardships during his mission, including undergoing extreme torture by Volgin, and losing his right eye to Ocelot, but was ultimately successful in slaying the Cobras, destroying the Shagohod (along with Volgin) and then killing The Boss in combat. Before beginning their battle, The Boss gave Snake an ominous final speech: "One must die and one must live. No victory, no defeat. The survivor will carry on the fight. It is our destiny... The one who survives will inherit the title of Boss. And the one who inherits the title of Boss will face an existence of endless battle." Just before his own death three decades later, Big Boss would paraphrase a similar statement to his successor, Solid Snake.

However, after returning to his home country, EVA (who reveals herself to be a spy for the People's Republic of China) informed Snake via a recording that his mission was a ruse; The Boss' defection was orchestrated by the United States government, and The Boss was merely used as a scapegoat for the destruction of OKB-754, caused by Volgin with the American-made shells provided by The Boss. The main purpose of the entire operation was the recovery of the Philosopher's Legacy, with the destruction of the Shagohod as a side benefit. Upon arriving at Langley, VA, Snake was awarded the title of Big Boss and a Distinguished Service Cross by President Johnson, but displayed open resentment towards his superiors, especially with the DCI John McCone,[5] who was the official who ordered the Boss's death in order to recover the Philosopher's Legacy. The game ended with Big Boss saluting The Boss's final resting place, an anonymous gravestone among acres of others.


Naked Snake in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.Big Boss would return once again in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (MPO), set six years after "Operation Snake Eater". Instead of a battle dress uniform with changeable camo patterns, Naked Snake wears a "Close Quarter Combative Enhancer" suit, which is a rough combination of Snake's battle dress uniform in Snake Eater with The Boss' sneaking suit and Volgin's red suit according to a conceptual sketch by Yoji Shinkawa. Though he is now officially titled "Big Boss," he refuses to accept this new title, since he does not feel like he has surpassed The Boss yet, and thus still goes by his old codename.

In MPO, Naked Snake was forced to clear his name when his former unit FOX revolts and takes over a former Soviet-owned base located at the fictional San Hieronymo peninsula in Colombia. The first Metal Gear prototype (codename RAXA) was being developed, threatening to ignite a nuclear war much like the Shagohod had years prior. Widely renowned as The Boss' greatest peer, Naked Snake's charismatic presence allows him to recruit several defecting soldiers as allies to "hunt" down the rogue FOX unit (laying the groundwork for FOXHOUND).

As the story progressed, Naked Snake was caught in a power struggle between the CIA and the DOD to obtain the missing half of the Philosopher's Legacy. Resenting his role as a pawn, Snake declared to his adversaries that his loyalty is with neither; the CIA nor the DOD, but to himself, and that he will not live his life like The Boss did. In the end, Snake defeats the new leader of FOX, Gene, and obtains from him a microfilm with the funds for "Army's Heaven", an ideal nation by Gene for soldiers.

After the ending credits, a short telephone conversation is played between Ocelot and an unknown third party. Ocelot agrees to help the mysterious person, but only on the condition he be allowed to invite Big Boss to join them in becoming the Patriots.