OK, I  totally apologize for the headline of this article. I get that a lot of MGS fans just may not agree to how I feel about Portable Ops (PO) being a part of the MGS canon. Good thing this is just an opinion of mine. Though it IS an opinion froth with facts.

The clip above is an IGN review of PO, stating the various pros and cons of this Big Boss game, such as this being the first full blown MGS title with actual stealth elements, and not just turn based fare, as with the previous two Acid games. I’ve played some of both Acids too, mind you, and they’re great. I just like the feeling of actually controlling Snake during missions, and sneaking around, being, well Snake!

There’s a lot of controversy among fans stating that PO isn’t a canon game because it’s 1) a handheld game, 2) it wasn’t considered part of the Legacy Collection that just came out recently, 3) Miller tells Snake in Peace Walker (PW) that he’s glad they’re “leaving all that crap in San Heironymo behind“, and 4) during a TWITCH interview with Geoff Keighley, Kojima was asked some fan questions, one of which asked how Hideo felt about the situation with Portable Ops and whether or not this game was considered canon to the MGS progenitor, himself. The interview can be found here. Or you can just watch the whole thing below. Skip to the 43:30 mark. Hideo considers PO mostly canon, though some of the details are “a bit off.” Basically, to save himself and his fans a lot grief, he explains that the MGS games he considers canon are those labeled with “A HIDEO KOJIMA GAME” whereas the game without that tagline are just spinoffs. I still don’t buy it, but that’s just me.

There are even some MGS fan sites which contain ample content about this matter such as The Snake Soup. There is one article which I find very interesting to say the least, and really go in to extreme detail to hold up some substantial truth as to why PO should be considered canon in the first place. Metal Gear Wiki elaborate on the plot of  PO as well, explaining important details such as Gene (the main antagonist in PO) giving Naked Snake (Big Boss) the idea for Outer Heaven in the first place, only Gene called it Army’s Heaven. Another big thing to note is that Snake also acquired the funds (the Philosophers Legacy) from Gene to build Outer Heaven in the first place.

OK, so there are some retcons like Sokolov still being alive in PO rather than thought to have been killed by Volgin in MGS3, or the fact that Big Boss new Gray Fox aka Frank Jaeger whose codename in PO is Null. But then these retcons wouldn’t be validated had Portable Ops not been canon. After all, isn’t a retcon the essence of canonicity in any story in the first place? It’s not a spinoff like the Acids or even Ghost Babel, which all have self contains stories and plots. No, Portable Ops is canon, boys and girls.

And like I said, some people will still feel that PO, for all intents and purposes, is not canon because it doesn’t that KOJIMA stamp of approval, that he was just a producer behind the scenes. Perhaps some of this is true, but only 1/3rd. The other remaining 2/3rds are legit. And quite honestly, all arguments aside, Portable Ops is a pretty great MGS game. Sneaking, rations, boss battles WITH ACTUAL PEOPLE, a couple of Metal Gears. PO has it all. And let’s get real here, Peace Walker wouldn’t be what it is today without Portable Ops. Recruiting, comradeship, base building, acquiring special soldiers. All that started with PO. And for those not in the know, PO actually had a living breathing METAL GEAR ONLINE (MGO) packed and ready to go with the game. PW doesn’t have that. It’s got CO-OP and AD-HOC capabilities (PSP), which is still pretty awesome because I’ve played, but never had a dedicated Online Multiplayer on day one. So for those who scoff at Portable Ops, just know that without Portable Ops, Peace Walker, and dare I say this because it’s the truth, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (at least) wouldn’t exist in it’s current form today. Just saying.