Metal Gear (MSX2)

This page contains notes for the game Metal Gear (MSX2).

Keywords#

These are a list of keywords (including phrases) for both, the Japanese and English version of Metal Gear for the MSX2, which are frequently used throughout the script. Each keyword is assigned to a different byte starting at A1, which the script calls for reference when it needs the keyword. This was done as a memory-saving measure - rather than use 8 bytes to write "BIG BOSS" (including space) every time it's used on the script, it only uses a single byte to reference the database and print out the characters.

The list of keywords differ significantly between both versions in order to suit the different needs of the language being used and as a result they don't exactly match-up. The Japanese database in particular has more keywords related to items and weapons, which are absent in the English database. This is why all the item pickup messages, along with Big Boss's item commentaries were removed in the English version.

The database starts at offset 0x1995F for the English ROM and offset 0x19C84 for the Japanese ROM.

Unused Keyword#

There's a final keyword in the Japanese ROM at offset 0x19FB0, which is never assigned to any byte.　ホウホウ (houhou), which means a way or method to do something, is typed out in five instances throughout the script instead. Why they didn't assign it to one of the empty bytes is anyone's guess.

Virtual Console Changes#

The Wii Virtual Console version makes the following changes to the database in the Japanese ROM.

F1 and F2 were blank in the original Japanese ROM. The "DRAGO PETTROVICH MADNER" text string is stored outside the database at offset 0x19FE0.