Merry Gear Solid

Merry Gear?!

Merry Gear Solid is a fan-made freeware game Affectionate Parody of the Metal Gear series and Christmas Specials of all kinds, by the creator of The Underside. There are two games:

• Merry Gear Solid, in which you play as Saint Nick, codenamed "Solid Santa," during his mission to sneak into 14015 Hideo Drive to deliver presents. At the end, he is killed by Solid Snake, mistaking him for "Big Beard."
• MerryGearSolid 2: Ghosts of Christmas Past, in which you play as Old--er, Cold Snake during his mission to infiltrate Outer Savin' Mall.
• Merry Gear Solid 3: The Dead Of Winter has been announced... Or should I say, Merry Fear Solid?

Tropes used in Merry Gear Solid include:

• Affectionate Parody: Very much so.
• An Ice Person: The milkman in the second game.
• Arc Number: Your Mission Control in both games has the codec frequency of 12.25.
• A Worldwide Punomenon: Plenty:
  • Outer Savin' Mall.
  • The "Revolting Omelot" restaurant:

Recording: Six buffets. More than enough to fill anything that moves!

• • Nearly all of the weapons, including the "Holid Eye" and "Nova Cane."
  • The soundtrack titles, including the remix of "Encounter", "He Sees You When You're Sneaking."
• Bilingual Bonus: The "Bigotes Perfectos" project mentioned in the first game, and the store "Les Enfants Clotildes" in the second.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Invoked by Otacon to power some of the items. Used fairly disturbingly when explaining why the Missiletoe Launcher (missiles with giant lips on the end) doesn't kill the kids.

Otacon: Tell you what. Let's call it a... Missiletoe Launcher!
Snake: Missiletoe Launcher?!
Otacon: Yeah! It's just like the Nikita but it fires... hmmm... Let's see... Let's say it fires a missile with a pair of lips on it... A Kissile!
Snake: Otacon, you can't just--!
Otacon: That's right! And smooching a kid with the Kissile will overwhelm them... with love! (explains how to use it)
Snake: Kissiles?! Missiletoe Launcher?! This is ridiculous! Why should I believe a single thing you've said --
Otacon: Well, because if you don't... ...You'll end up blowing up a lot of child---
Snake: Alright! Alright! I believe you!

• Continuity Nod: Often during codec conversations.
  • All of 2 is one big reference to the original Metal Gear 2; the TADPOLE ambush on the elevator was actually a boss fight in the original game, and all of the backtracking plays just like the original.
• Fission Mailed: In a part where Otacon thinks he can't reach you, he begins to yell "Snake? Snake?! SNAAAAAA--" until Snake interrupts.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: In Name Only, but in the second game, "Santa's Little Helper" sounds exactly like Liquid, in a parody of Master Miller from the first game...until it turns out that it was Solid Santa all along.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: About half the dialogue. Or probably more. Ask Deceased Crab.
• Interface Screw: See Puzzle Boss below.
• In the Style Of: The soundtrack mostly consists of Christmas songs in a minor key made to sound like Metal Gear Solid tracks.
• The Jimmy Hart Version: The "doo, doo, doo, doo doo doo" of the opening Konami-esque logo is finished by the Jingle Bells melody. Ditto with the "Game Over" music.
• Mission Control: Tiny Tim in the first, Otacon in the second.
• No Fourth Wall: Frequently parodied, and in one scene doubly subverted:

Otacon: Snake, do you know what it means to "break the fourth wall?"
Snake: I think I remember you telling me about this... It had something to do with that wall in Shadow Moses that sounded a bit difference when I tapped on it... Sounded a bit more... hollow... That's when I broke the fourth wall... ... With some plastic explosives! I'm pretty sure Revolver Ocelot was just a few rooms further...
Snake: ... But why are we talking about Metal Gear Solid 1?
Otacon: What?! That's not it at ALL, Snake!

• Parrot Exposition: Used very often, and to the point of Lampshade Hanging in certain scenes.
• Private Military Contractors: Parodied in the second game with the PNCs--Pretty Naughty Children.
• Puzzle Boss: Both the milkman and the postman in the second game. To defeat the milkman, you have to set your computer clock ahead a couple of weeks, and to defeat the postman, you have to drag a file in the game directory onto the window.
• Retraux: The graphics and overall style are roughly SNES-level, except for the voice acting.
  • Judging by the trailer for Merry Gear Solid 3, the series has moved up a bit to parody PS 1-era graphics with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots's free camera system.
• Sequel Hook: At the end of Merry Gear Solid 2, a mysterious group called the "Ha He Ho Ho Ho" has apparently taken possession of the Merry Gear.
• Shout-Out: Numerous.

Foreign Kid: DeceasedCrabcakes...? Let's eat!

• Shocking Swerve: The Merry Gear is actually a virtual reality machine meant to train the next Santa Claus.
• Speed Run
• Stealth Pun: The "Holid Eye" gadget works by filtering out the "sad blues and greens" of Christmasses past to (somehow) grant you infrared vision - Otacon all but says "rose-tinted glasses".
• Sure Why Not: How most of the items work. Otacon makes up some reason why something would work the way it does; for example, the toast can be used to un-jam the radar because the mold on the toast absorbs jam.
• Talking to Himself: As all the voice work in the first game was done by a single person (except for the naughty children, who were voiced by the main programmer of the game), this was inevitable. Avoided in the second game due to the addition of five more voice actors, and though he voices a lot of characters once more, they never interact.
• What Have I Done: Snake after realizing he just killed Santa.