Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is a stealth game that was written and directed by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. It is the second game in the Metal Gear series and the direct precursor to Metal Gear Solid. It was initially released only in Japan for the MSX2 on July 19, 1990. The game was not ported to another platform until 14 years later, as a downloadable game for mobile phones in Japan in 2004. The game was officially released in North America and Europe for the first time as a component of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence along with the original Metal Gear in 2006.In the game, Solid Snake must infiltrate Zanzibarland (a fictional country unrelated to the actual Zanzibar that is part of Tanzania), a heavily defended territory located in Central Asia to rescue a kidnapped scientist and destroy the revised Metal Gear D.
After the release of the NES version of Metal Gear in North America, Konami commissioned the development of a sequel for the NES, Snake's Revenge (a game made specifically with the American market in mind), without the consent of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima.
According to Kojima's account of the events, he did not have any plans to design a Metal Gear sequel at the time and was unaware that a sequel was being produced until he became acquainted with a member of the Snake's Revenge development team on a train ride in Tokyo. Kojima was then informed about the development of Snake's Revenge and was told "it's not the authentic Snake, so please create a new Snake game of your own." After being given the go-ahead by his bosses at Konami, he began developing Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake with the MSX division of Konami. Metal Gear 2 serves as a follow-up to the original Metal Gear, ignoring the events of Snake's Revenge (which was unreleased in Japan), and every canonical Metal Gear title released afterward acknowledge only the events of Metal Gear 2, relegating Snake's Revenge to an apocryphal status.
