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METALGEAR SOLID: THE TWIN SNAKES
Boss Battle Strategies
Written by Raver_Raijin
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THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Contents:

1.      Birth of the Boss Battle Strategies  [PS1]
2.      Key Items  [KI1]
3.      Revolver Ocelot  [RO1]
4.      M1 Tank  [MT1]
5.      Ninja  [N1]
6.      Psycho Mantis  [PM1}
7.      Sniper Wolf-1  [SW1]
8.      Hind D  [HD1]
9.      Sniper Wolf-2  [SW2]
10.     Vulcan Raven  [VR1]
11.     Metal Gear Rex-1  [MGR1]
12.     Metal Gear Rex-2  [MGR2]
13.     Liquid Snake  [LS1]
14.     Legal/Contact/Misc.  [PS2]

THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
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Birth of the Boss Battle Strategies  [PS1]

I loved the Playstation version of this game.  My friend and I would
play through the demo disc for hours, honing our skills and doing all
there was to do in that sample disc in preparation for the actual game.
When we heard there was going to be a remake for the Gamecube, we were
very excited, to say the least.  Overall, I enjoy the remake.  There
are parts that I found a little disappointing, such as some of the
cinemas that showed cool scenes for the sake of "Hey, this looks cool."
While every once in a while a scene like that would be nice, I feel it
was overdone and so came across more as silly than cool.  Another part
I was displeased with was the voice acting of Ninja.  In the
Playstation version he sounded much more haunted, much more pained.  He
sounds fine in the Gamecube version, just not as good as in the
original game.  My last, and perhaps most major gripe, was that the
game seemed far too easy.  I remember the boss battles being harder,
the truck escape being longer and more of a pain, and just some weapons
being much more necessary to proceed through the game.  The boss
battles especially needed balancing, but it did not detract too much
from the overall experience of the game.

This is the first FAQ I have ever written.  Or rather, this is the
first FAQ I have ever written for people other than my friends and
myself.  It all started when I went to my friend's house and we raced
through the game against each other.  The two sets were set up side by
side so we could see what the other was doing and for the most part we
stayed on the same path, even helping each other out on occasion.
There were times I would fall behind, but I always seemed to catch up
or pull ahead during the boss encounters.   Later that night while
sitting with nothing to do I decided to write up my strategies and post
them for all to see and enjoy.

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Key Items  [KI1]

There are two items you should go out of your way to get as early as
possible.  First is the Thermal Gear.  This enables you see things like
cloaked enemies, enemies that tend to be hidden or blended into the
background, and mines.  The second is Body Armor.  This halves the
amount of damage you take, which can give you enough life to survive
those battles you maybe having trouble with.

Thermal Gear: You should get these when you first enter the Tank room
from the Helipad.  It is on the second floor and the door is open.  If
you do not get it now the door will close and you will not be able to
get it again until you have the Level 4 Key Card.

Body Armor:  This is behind the Level 6 Key Card door in the gas hall
area before you reach Otacon's lab.  You can get this after you escape
the Ocelot's interrogation.


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Revolver Ocelot  [RO1]

There are two ways to take this boss: Fast while taking damage, or not
so fast without taking damage.  The first few times I went through, I
took no damage, but then I started racing my friend through the game
and so I did not mind taking damage in order to finish faster, since
your health is refilled at the end of the battle, as with all boss
battles.

NO DAMAGE!
As soon as the battle starts, take out your weapon of choice and hold
the B button to run with it out.  Run around the outside of the pillars
towards Ocelot and shoot him.  Each time he is hit, he will recoil,
allowing you to catch up to him.  He is invulnerable for a few seconds
after the hit so just keep following and take another shot.  The timing
of it is fairly simple.  If you are directly on top of him, he may
sometimes change directions, so be aware of that.  If you follow him
like this, he will never stop to fire at you, and so you will take no
damage whatsoever.

FAST BATTLE!
As soon as the battle starts, take position slightly to the left or
right of any pillars outside corner and aim across Baker to the other
corner.  The opposite corner is where Ocelot will take position and
fire at you.  From here, go into FPV and with your weapon of choice,
aim and fire shots into his face.  Headshots will do much more damage
and since you are not pursuing him, he will never move from this
corner.  You will take a few shots and you will have to wait while he
reloads before you can fire on him again, but you will not need to fire
as many shots since he is taking so much more damage per shot than the
standard body shot of the NO DAMAGE! tactic.

Ammo spawns around the edges of the room and near the wires in the
middle of the room.  The ammo near the wires are risky, so it would be
safe to avoid them.

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M1 Tank  [MT1]

This battle will begin when you reach the halfway point of the
snowfield.  Before you get there, be sure to collect all the Claymore
Mines in the front area.  You will need this to disable the tank's
maneuverability.

When you begin, toss a Chaff grenade.  When it goes off, run to the
tank and place a mine pointing directly at its treads.  There are six
places to damage the treads, three on each side.  The places are at
each corner, and one in the middle of either tread.  Do not get too
close when placing mines so that a quick turn will not crush you
underfoot for heavy damage.

Once the tank is nearly crippled, it is best to crouch down near one of
the tank's sides and go into FPV mode, then cook off your grenade of
choice for two to three seconds, then aim up a little as you toss the
grenade toward the top of the tank.  Any explosion near the machine gun
will cause damage when the gunner is up, but if you see a little cut
scene of your grenade falling into the gunner's lap, then you will do
heavy damage, ending the battle that much faster.  By staying crouched
near the tank, you stay out of the sight of the gunner and so you are
free to attack without fear of injury.  It is key that you disable the
tank's movement first or else you will not be given enough time to
crouch and cook off your grenade.  After you finish the first gunner, a
second gunner will appear.  Finish him as you did the first.  There is
extra ammo in the northeastern part of the field, as well as in the
channel in the middle of the field.  If you need to leave the tank's
side, be sure to drop a Chaff first to avoid being hit with the big
guns, and if the gunner is out, be sure to go in a circular pattern
away from the tank in order to avoid machine gun fire.

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Ninja  [N1]

This hand-to-hand fight gets a little difficult in the harder levels
just because Ninja moves faster and hits harder, but once you get the
pattern down, it should not be a problem.  The key is staying hand-to-
hand.  If you fire a weapon at him, he will deflect it away with his
sword, and usually run to you for retribution, so stay with the fists.

Ninja starts out with sword in hand.  Simply run up to him and do your
three hit combo.  Two sets of combos should be all it takes to bring
him to the next stage.

When Ninja puts away his sword, he will walk or jog around.  When Ninja
is three to four arm-lengths away, he will perform a somersault kick or
other form of acrobatic attack.  You can either dodge out of the way
and hit him when he lands with a three hit combo, or if you have time,
run in before he starts and dish out your damage.  Immediately after
you finish your combo, run away so that he does not damage you in his
retreating attacks.  Every other combo Ninja will float up into the air
above you and slam down with a kick, causing damage if you happen to be
in that area.  Simply run a few paces out of the circle and run in to
attack after he lands.  If you cannot see where he is, be wary when
exploring because you can walk right into an attack without knowing.
If you have an idea of which direction he is coming from you should
perform a diving roll in that direction.  Doing this will be performing
an attack that, while doing little damage, will prevent him from
launching an attack at you when you come into range.  This is also a
good tactic of making room if he is following too closely to you.
Continue until his next stage.

Ninja's next stage is a game of hide-and-seek.  Ninja will cloak and
stand in an area of the room.  Simply put on your Thermal Gear and find
the bright orange/red ninja.  When you see him, be sure to run directly
to him and attack.  If you are not quick enough, Ninja will run to you
and put you to the ground, so be sure in your movements and do not get
hung up on any walls or corners.  After one combo he will pick a new
hiding spot.  Continue until the final stage.

At this point, Ninja will simply walk to you.  For the first part of
this stage as soon as you get near him, he will teleport behind you and
launch an attack.  Simply run toward him and when he teleports, wait
until he punches and then run up and counterattack.  When he gets near
death he will teleport twice, so wait until he punches after the second
teleport and counterattack.  This is the easy part of the fight if you
just remember to keep moving.

If you are having trouble with Ninja, there are two things you can do:
    First tactic is to throw out a Chaff grenade.  This will mess with
his power-suit, leaving him defenseless for a few moments.  While he is
shaking, run up and deal some damage.  Once he is hit, he will kneel
down and be invulnerable until the interference ends.  Do not be too
close when he gets up or he will quickly attack you with his sword,
dealing heavy damage.  This method gives you only one attack during
each grenade, and if you do not attack him quickly enough, he will
kneel down without taking any hits and you will have not dealt any
damage to him at all.
    The second tactic is to take out a gun and shoot the little Mario
toy at the northeastern corner of the room.  This will regain some
health back if you do not have or do not want to use any rations.  Of
course, you will have to go into FPV to shoot the mini-plumber, which
is not a good idea to do when being stalked by the Ninja.  To buy
yourself time, you can either toss out a Chaff grenade to disable
Ninja, or you can time your health spurts to when the Ninja is kneeling
after an attack.  Also, there is a health ration near the
supercomputers in the little glassed off area on the west side of the
room.

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Psycho Mantis  [PM1]

When the battle starts Meryl will be firing at you.  Quickly take her
out with a three hit physical attack.  When she goes down, the real
battle will begin.  FPV is key in this battle, but you can only be in
it for a few seconds before Mantis changes it to HIS FPV.  During this
time, you can do nothing but sit and watch yourself be beaten so let go
of the Z button when this happens.  If you do not know where Mantis is
in the room, holding Z until this happens can show you which direction
Mantis is from you.  Just remember to release to Z button so you can
regain control of yourself.

When the HIDEO screen appears, quickly change your controller from the
first port to the fourth port.  When the battle resumes, watch for
where Mantis appears and dodge the force ball he will through at you.
After he throws this, quickly take aim in FPV and shoot him.  If you
are fast enough you can hit him before he throws the ball while he is
stretching back and grunting prior to his attack.

When Mantis is not throwing his force ball at you, he summons objects
from around the room to hit you with.  These include, vases, pictures,
books, chairs, and the big suit of armor in the southwestern corner of
the room.  When you start to see objects flying around, go prone aim at
Mantis through FPV.  While you are prone the flying objects cannot hit
you and you will a clear shot of Mantis.  Just remember to let go of
the Z button so that you do not lose control of your character.

After you deal a good amount of damage to Mantis he will revive Meryl
to attack you again.  Take her down with a three hit combo and she will
place the gun to her own head.  At this point you have to be quick
because if you do not hit her in time, she will blow herself away and
the battle will end.  In order to make sure this does not happen, deal
two three hit combos.  After each combo, quickly go into FPV and shoot
Mantis with your weapon of choice while he is floating directly behind
where Meryl was just standing.

Once Meryl is put out of battle for the last time, Mantis resumes his
normal strategy.  When he has only one hit left in him he will call all
the objects in the room.  Simply lie down on the ground and deal the
final shot through FPV to end the battle.

On a related note, if Mantis begins saying things like "I can read your
every move" pause the game and switch controller ports.  Ammo spawns in
various points around the edges of the room and rations spawn in the
northeastern corner of the room.

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Sniper Wolf-1  [SW1]

When the battle begins, run away.  There is nothing you can do with the
weapons in your inventory, so no point in standing around while Meryl
slowly dies.  There are two weapons you can get for this battle: the
PSG-1 and the PSG-T.  The PSG-1 has a larger clip, so more shots
between reloads.  However, this is in the armory room back in the other
building.  You know the way there, but you can get this weapon much
easier if you just pick it up after Ocelot's interrogation.  The PSG-T
is in the large office area south of the Commander's Room (Psycho
Mantis).  You could enter this room before the Mantis battle, but the
rifle does not appear there until after Meryl is bloody on the floor.
This rifle has a smaller clip and only shoots tranquilizers, but it is
much closer than the PSG-1, so I would recommend getting this weapon as
opposed to the PSG-1.

When you get back to help Meryl, she is gone, but Wolf is still firing
away at you.  Run around to avoid being shot when you see the laser
sight.  When the sight disappears this means Wolf is changing
positions.  Take this opportunity to find a sniping position.  Lie
down, pop some Pentazemin, and bring up the rifle.  Wolf is on the
second floor landing across the way.  Obviously, you can only hit her
when you see her, which is also the only time you can be hit by her.
When she appears from behind a pillar she will usually walk to a
position nearby, turn, kneel or go prone, and fire at you.  For
potshots, hit her when she is walking from one place to another.  For
head hits, wait until she kneels down or goes prone.  This is risky
because while you are aiming at her, she is aiming at you, and if she
hits you, the attack will throw your sight off.  So, if you are going
for the headshots, be quick, and be ready to settle for an arm or body
shot if you think you are running out of time because it is better to
hit her for a little damage then be hit and not deal any damage to her
at all.  There are no changes in tactics with Wolf.  Just pop the
Pentazemin as you need it, or puff on your cigarettes for similar
effect.  Ammo respawns at the corners of your little room, so get up
and get it if you need it.

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Hind D  [HD1]

When the battle begins take out your Stinger missile, aim at the
helicopter, and fire.  A good place to battle is between the entrance
and the structure to the right of it.  From here, target the Hind and
fire, then put away the Stinger and put a structure between you and the
helicopter to avoid taking machine gun fire.  On the radar the Hind
will appear as a red block/line along the border of the screen.  Use
this as a guide for where to aim.

The fun part about the Stinger is that once you lock-on-target you can
pull the weapon away in order to shoot over and around structures.  In
other words, if you lock onto a target at a 45degree angle from you,
you can then aim up at a 90degree angle and fire.  The missile will go
straight up, then correct its course and head straight for the target.
This is great for hitting the Hind when you lock onto it through a
structure.

About halfway through the battle there will be a cut scene where Liquid
fires missiles at the tower.  Simply stand between the entryway and the
structure to the right of it and you will be safe from the explosion.
At then end of the battle there will be another cut scene similar to
the first.  This time, go to the southwestern corner of the structure
to avoid the explosion when Liquid destroys the aforementioned
structure.  There is a ration that will spawn south of the entryway and
more stinger missiles will spawn to the right of the structure.

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Sniper Wolf-2  [SW2]

When this battle starts, pick a spot to fire from.  If you go to the
southeastern area of the level near the Pentazemin and ammo spawn you
will be behind a little hill on the east side of the level, so you only
have to worry about being fired upon from the north and northwest
portion of the level.  This also means that you can only fire upon Wolf
when she is here, so it can drag the fight out a little longer.  I
prefer to stay right in the middle part of the southern area so that I
am still slightly shielded by the hill, but I also have more area in
which to attack her.

Just like the first battle, lie down when you are not being targeted,
but wait to pop the Pentazemin until you see Wolf.  She will do a lot
of hiding behind trees so when you begin quickly scan from left to
right in order to find her.  Once she is located DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF
WOLF.  After she hides behind a tree, she will stay half hidden and
turn to fire, or she will walk to another tree for cover, or she will
walk to a point in the open and kneel down to fire upon you.  Like the
previous battle, you can take shots at her while she is going between
places, or you can wait until she takes a firing position and deal out
a headshot.  This battle is exactly like your previous encounter with
Sniper Wolf, just with a bigger playing field.  Just remember that a
light hit is better than taking damage without dealing any, and you
should be fine.

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Vulcan Raven  [VR1]

When the battle begins, hide behind a crate.  Never let yourself be
caught in Raven's sight.  The best weapon for this battle is the
Claymore mine so be sure you have plenty.

For me, the best place to mine is the southwestern corner of the room.
Later in the battle there will be certain paths blocked off, and so he
traverses this area quite frequently.  When you have an opportunity,
lay several mines between the southwestern most container and the west
and south walls.  Do not place the mines too close together as he will
be invulnerable for a short time after taking damage.  Space the mines
about three to four arm lengths apart, always aiming their spread
across the center of the gap.  If done correctly you can string four or
five hits together in this corner alone.  When he has cleared the area
of mines, return and replace them in the same fashion.

By following the strategy listed above you will never be hit because he
will never see you, you never have to worry about walking on your own
mines because you know exactly where your mines are, and you will
easily defeat Raven because he will always walk along that path.  If
you run out of ammo, walk around the edges of the room and near the
fallen boxes.  Also, if you do happen to get hit, or think you may, be
sure to keep the Rations equipped so that they do not freeze.  It is
better to have it and not use it, then not be able to use it when you
need it.

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Metal Gear Rex-1  [MGR1]

As soon as the battle starts, toss a Chaff grenade, then wait a few
seconds and toss another while running to the northeastern corner of
the room.  The Chaff will blind Rex, keeping him immobile, and in the
northeastern corner you will be in perfect position to hit his Radome
(scanning device to the upper right on Rex).  It is usually safe to
fire two missiles at Rex before tossing another Chaff grenade.  They
key to this battle is to keep Rex blind with Chaff grenades and fire at
the Radome.

Rex has three attacks: the laser, the machine gun, and the missiles.
If he begins to charge the laser, back up.  The beam he cuts is rather
slow and should be easy enough to avoid.  The machine gun fires
straight from the front of Rex, so dodge to either side.  The missiles
will home in on your position, so just run in one direction to avoid
them.  If there is Chaff interference the missiles will not be very
accurate at all, so it is much easier to dodge.  Do not hide behind any
of the large metal drums.  If the missiles strike these, they will
explode in a big way, so try to stay out in the open.  Alternate
between Chaff and Stingers and you will do well.

Rex does not do very much damage with the machine guns or missiles, so
if you wanted, you could just stand in one place and plug away at the
Radome.  You will be knocked down from time to time, but it really
isn't an issue if you have Rations to heal yourself.  Still, it is
safer to Chaff and Sting, and not very hard to do either.

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Metal Gear Rex-2  [MGR2]

As soon as the battle starts, toss a Chaff grenade and run.  The Radome
is destroyed so the vulnerable point is now the open cockpit.  The
Chaff will no longer blind Rex, but it will keep the missiles at bay,
giving you free time to fire into the mouth of the beast.  Rex has no
new attacks, so you can use the previous strategy to finish him
quickly.

Again, if you do not mind taking the damage, you can stand in one spot
and keep firing missiles at the cockpit.  The missiles will hit you but
you will usually do more damage to Rex than Rex will do to you.

After you hit the cockpit the targeting box will disappear, but you can
still dumb-fire your missiles (firing without locking on to a target)
and hit the cockpit for damage.  You will have to time it so that the
missile will hit just as the targeting box reappears.

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Liquid Snake  [LS1]

Another hand-to-hand battle awaits you, but this time you have a time
limit.  Do not let the time limit bait you into recklessness, because
that will get you killed.  Once you set your pattern, follow it
methodically and you should have plenty of time to finish him.

Unlike the battle with Ninja, Liquid usually likes to wait until you
are near, then dodge to the side of you and kick you down.  Liquid does
a lot of walking parallel to you and away from you and then attacks
when you get near.  The best way to counter this is to run at him to
bait him into his attack, back up until he finishes his move, then move
in for a three hit combo.  If you are worried about the time limit, do
not kick Liquid over the edge until you need to.  If you kick him off
the edge, it will take time for him to get back up to battle you.

After Liquid takes a good amount of damage he will gain a new attack.
This new attack begins with him crouching down to one knee and
growling/yelling at you, and then he charges at you with shoulder down
in an effort to put you on your back.  This does heavy damage, but is a
straight-line attack, making it easy to dodge.  At the end of his
charge he will quickly move away so be sure to be prompt in your
attack.

When Liquid is low on health he will fall to his back.  This is the
easiest part of the battle because you no longer have to worry about a
counter attack.  You can fairly easily trap him in a corner and punch
him out.

One item to note is that Liquid does a lot of damage.  One of his hits
is equal to four to five of your hits, so avoid getting hit if you can.
If your health gets low enough to the point of bleeding, knock Liquid
off one of the edges and immediately crouch to regain health.  You have
no items and there are no item spawns, so you need to be careful in
this battle.  You can also kneel when Liquid falls on his back during
the latter part of the battle.

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Legal/Contact/Misc.  [PS2]

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by
their respective trademark and copyright holders.

This document is copyright Patrick Hanan c2004.  It is not to be
reproduced, altered, or used for profit.  It is to be found only at
GameFAQs www.GameFAQs.com.  Feel free to download it, print it, or give
it to friends for personal use only, so long as you give credit where
credit is due.

For further questions, tips, or suggestions, contact me at
[email protected].  Please title all emails in full caps
BOSSBATTLESTRATEGIES or I will delete them unread.

Thanks go out to Konami for the game, Silicon Knights and Nintendo for
the remake, and the friend I mentioned in this guide three times now
for making this and most other games so much more fun than they would
be by themselves.  ^_^

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