Gray Fox (Metal Gear)
Encyclopedia
is a fictional video game character
in the Metal Gear
series.
as a high-ranking agent of FOXHOUND (the "Fox" codename being the highest commemoration within the unit) who goes missing during a mission prior to the events of the game, his last transmission being a cryptic message simply saying "Metal Gear". Solid Snake
's initial objective in the game is to rescue Gray Fox, who reveals the true nature of Metal Gear
to the player.
Fox returns in Metal Gear 2, having left FOXHOUND and defected to Zanzibar Land to join Big Boss' side. Fox pilots the new model Metal Gear D and confronts Snake a few times, while secretly assisting him as an anonymous informant. Snake destroys Metal Gear D and ends up being challenged by Fox to a fistfight in the middle of a minefield. Fox's past is fleshed out in this game and his civilian identity is revealed to be , Naomi Hunter being his foster sister. His face portrait in the MSX2 version was modeled after actor Tom Berenger
.
In Metal Gear Solid
, Gray Fox appears under the identity of the , an assassin in a powered armor exoskeleton
and armed with a high-frequency blade, who challenges Solid Snake to a fist fight, even though his ultimate goal is to help him. He also provides Snake cryptic advice via CODEC as a faceless contact named Deepthroat
. After he destroys Metal Gear REX's radome
with the use of a prototype railgun
attached to his arm (this scene was featured in GameSpy
's retrospective article "Top MGS Moments"), Gray Fox is killed by Liquid Snake, piloting Metal Gear REX.
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
, a prequel set two decades before the events of the first Metal Gear, features a teenage Gray Fox as a masked machete
-wielding assassin named , one of the FOX members that Naked Snake faces in the game. Null is a teenage assassin subjected to a secret CIA
project to be the "Perfect Soldier" and recruited into Gene's Fox unit. During their second fight, Naked Snake discovers that Null was a boy that he met four years prior in Mozambique
, where the boy used his innocence as a cover to kill dozens of government soldiers with only one knife while speaking a little German so his enemies called him, Frank Jaeger (German for "Frank Hunter"). After defeating him twice, Snake sent Null to somewhere outside of FOX for help.
Despite Gray Fox's death in Metal Gear Solid, the Cyborg Ninja incarnation of the character would still appear in subsequent games in some form or another. The Ninja appears as a hidden character in the Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions expansion as a playable character for three special missions; and the character's exoskeleton is used as an alternate outfit for Raiden
in the extra missions mode of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. The role of the Cyborg Ninja is taken by other characters in the subsequent Metal Gear Solid sequels, and his identity was assumed by Olga Gurlukovich in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
.
Outside of the Metal Gear games, the Cyborg Ninja is featured as a player character
driver in Konami Krazy Racers
and as an assistant fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
.
in 1998. Another one was released by Konami
in 2004. In 2007, a block-style figure
was also released in the Kubrick line. In 2011, another Cyborg Ninja figure, as designed by Hideo Kojima
himself, was announced to come from Square Enix
's Play Arts Kai line of Metal Gear figures.
in 2008. He was also frequently featured in the lists of top ten fictional ninja characters in video gaming and even overall in all fiction, including by Virgin Media
, 1UP.com
in 2004 (ranked fifth), CrunchGear in 2008 (ranked ninth), Unreality in 2009 (ranked second), and Nintendo Power
, GameSpot
(ranked fourth), and ScrewAttack
(ranked second) in 2010. In 2011, PLAY featured him among the top ten ninjas for PlayStation
consoles, with a comment that although Raiden "may have completely redeemed his character", he "can never outdo" Gray Fox.
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
in the Metal Gear
Metal Gear (series)
is a series of stealth video games created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. The first game, Metal Gear, was released in 1987 for the MSX2. The player takes control of a special forces operative Solid Snake who is assigned to find the eponymous superweapon "Metal Gear", a...
series.
In video games
Gray Fox first appears in the original Metal GearMetal Gear (video game)
is an overhead military action-adventure video game originally released in by Konami for the MSX2 computer standard in Japan and parts of Europe. Considered to be the progenitor of the stealth game genre, it was also the first video game designed by Hideo Kojima, who also directed many of the...
as a high-ranking agent of FOXHOUND (the "Fox" codename being the highest commemoration within the unit) who goes missing during a mission prior to the events of the game, his last transmission being a cryptic message simply saying "Metal Gear". Solid Snake
Solid Snake
Metal Gear, initially released in 1987, introduces Solid Snake, the rookie recruit of the elite special-forces unit FOXHOUND. Snake is sent by team leader Big Boss into the rogue nation Outer Heaven to rescue his missing teammate Gray Fox and discover who or what the "METAL GEAR" mentioned is, and...
's initial objective in the game is to rescue Gray Fox, who reveals the true nature of Metal Gear
Metal Gear (weapon)
is the name for a series of fictional mecha in the Metal Gear series. In the series, a Metal Gear is defined as a bipedal nuclear equipped tank, but in the case of Metal Gear RAY, is a large bipedal tank designed to destroy other Metal Gear...
to the player.
Fox returns in Metal Gear 2, having left FOXHOUND and defected to Zanzibar Land to join Big Boss' side. Fox pilots the new model Metal Gear D and confronts Snake a few times, while secretly assisting him as an anonymous informant. Snake destroys Metal Gear D and ends up being challenged by Fox to a fistfight in the middle of a minefield. Fox's past is fleshed out in this game and his civilian identity is revealed to be , Naomi Hunter being his foster sister. His face portrait in the MSX2 version was modeled after actor Tom Berenger
Tom Berenger
Tom Berenger is an American actor known mainly for his roles in action films.-Early life:Berenger was born as Thomas Michael Moore in Chicago to an Irish Catholic family. Berenger's father was a printer for the Chicago Sun-Times. Berenger has a sister, Susan...
.
In Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid
is a videogame by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Kojimas early MSX2 computer games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake...
, Gray Fox appears under the identity of the , an assassin in a powered armor exoskeleton
Exoskeleton
An exoskeleton is the external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal skeleton of, for example, a human. In popular usage, some of the larger kinds of exoskeletons are known as "shells". Examples of exoskeleton animals include insects such as grasshoppers...
and armed with a high-frequency blade, who challenges Solid Snake to a fist fight, even though his ultimate goal is to help him. He also provides Snake cryptic advice via CODEC as a faceless contact named Deepthroat
Deep Throat
Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal...
. After he destroys Metal Gear REX's radome
Radome
A radome is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a microwave or radar antenna. The radome is constructed of material that minimally attenuates the electromagnetic signal transmitted or received by the antenna. In other words, the radome is transparent to radar or radio waves...
with the use of a prototype railgun
Railgun
A railgun is an entirely electrical gun that accelerates a conductive projectile along a pair of metal rails using the same principles as the homopolar motor. Railguns use two sliding or rolling contacts that permit a large electric current to pass through the projectile. This current interacts...
attached to his arm (this scene was featured in GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
's retrospective article "Top MGS Moments"), Gray Fox is killed by Liquid Snake, piloting Metal Gear REX.
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
is a stealth game directed by Masahiro Yamamoto and written by Gakuto Mikumo, with series creator Hideo Kojima acting as a producer. Portable Ops was developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami in 2006 for the PlayStation Portable. It is the third Metal Gear title for the PSP and the...
, a prequel set two decades before the events of the first Metal Gear, features a teenage Gray Fox as a masked machete
Machete
The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
-wielding assassin named , one of the FOX members that Naked Snake faces in the game. Null is a teenage assassin subjected to a secret CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
project to be the "Perfect Soldier" and recruited into Gene's Fox unit. During their second fight, Naked Snake discovers that Null was a boy that he met four years prior in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
, where the boy used his innocence as a cover to kill dozens of government soldiers with only one knife while speaking a little German so his enemies called him, Frank Jaeger (German for "Frank Hunter"). After defeating him twice, Snake sent Null to somewhere outside of FOX for help.
Despite Gray Fox's death in Metal Gear Solid, the Cyborg Ninja incarnation of the character would still appear in subsequent games in some form or another. The Ninja appears as a hidden character in the Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions expansion as a playable character for three special missions; and the character's exoskeleton is used as an alternate outfit for Raiden
Raiden (Metal Gear)
, whose real name is , is a video game character in the Metal Gear series of stealth games by Konami. Created by Hideo Kojima and designed by Yoji Shinkawa, Raiden was introduced in the series as the main playable character of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty...
in the extra missions mode of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. The role of the Cyborg Ninja is taken by other characters in the subsequent Metal Gear Solid sequels, and his identity was assumed by Olga Gurlukovich in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
is a stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima, developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2001....
.
Outside of the Metal Gear games, the Cyborg Ninja is featured as a player character
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
driver in Konami Krazy Racers
Konami Krazy Racers
Konami Krazy Racers is a kart racing video game published and developed by Konami for the Game Boy Advance handheld video game console and iOS. It was first released in Japan, and was later released in North America and some PAL regions. It was a launch game for the system...
and as an assistant fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, known in Japan as , often abbreviated as SSBB or simply as Brawl, is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games, developed by an ad hoc development team consisting of Sora, Game Arts and staff from other developers, and published by...
.
Merchandise
A Cyborg Ninja figure was released by McFarlane ToysMcFarlane Toys
McFarlane Toys, a subsidiary of Todd McFarlane Productions, Inc., is a company started by Todd McFarlane that makes highly detailed models of characters from movies, comics, musicians, video games, and sport figures...
in 1998. Another one was released by Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
in 2004. In 2007, a block-style figure
Block-style figures
Block-style figures are a type of collectible toy action figures marked by a generally simplistic representation of the human form, usually made of block-shaped appendages and torsos. Generally, the block-style figures are no bigger than two to three inches in height.The first widely produced...
was also released in the Kubrick line. In 2011, another Cyborg Ninja figure, as designed by Hideo Kojima
Hideo Kojima
is a Japanese game director originally employed at Konami. He is currently the director of Kojima Productions and was promoted to Vice President of Konami Digital Entertainment in early 2011...
himself, was announced to come from Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
's Play Arts Kai line of Metal Gear figures.
Reception
Gray Fox was by far best received and now remains best remembered from his Cyborg Ninja appearance in MGS. As such, Gray Fox was ranked as the fourth best boss character in the series by IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
in 2008. He was also frequently featured in the lists of top ten fictional ninja characters in video gaming and even overall in all fiction, including by Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
, 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
in 2004 (ranked fifth), CrunchGear in 2008 (ranked ninth), Unreality in 2009 (ranked second), and Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
, GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
(ranked fourth), and ScrewAttack
ScrewAttack
ScrewAttack . is a video game-related website that showcases original entertainment for an audience of video game enthusiasts. Its content is also shown on GameTrailers and IGN...
(ranked second) in 2010. In 2011, PLAY featured him among the top ten ninjas for PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
consoles, with a comment that although Raiden "may have completely redeemed his character", he "can never outdo" Gray Fox.
External links
- IGN: Gray Fox (Metal Gear)
- Grey Fox at the Metal Gear Wiki
- Ninjas in Games - Gray Fox of Metal Gear Solid | UGO.com