Best Metal Gear Solid Boss of All Time Face-Off: The Winner Revealed

With the release of the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol.1 we asked you to help us decide which boss from the MGS series is the best. Would the audacity of Psycho Mantis conquer all? Would Liquid Ocelot’s emotional encounter with MGS4 prevail? Or would Fatman and his rollerblading antics come out on top?

Now, after thousands of 1v1 battles between the likes of The End, Sniper Wolf, and Quiet. We have our winner.

So, which boss claimed the top spot as the most memorable in the series? The winner is…

It was maybe always fitting that a character named The Boss would come out on top as our overall winner. With an 85.3% win rate after winning 4,303 of its 5,043 battles, the iconic finale fight from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater takes the crown.

We here at IGN always think highly of The Boss, but denied her a top spot, instead placing her at number three on our list. Here’s what we had to say:

“No encounter manages to hit on as many levels as Naked Snake’s encounter with The Boss at the end of Metal Gear Solid 3. Not only was The Boss pivotal in the events of Metal Gear’s faux history, but as Snake’s mentor and friend, she helped shape the man that he would eventually become. Aside from this, the fight itself was a tense, gorgeous battle that acted as the culmination of the camo and CQC mechanics that Snake Eater taught the player throughout the course of the game.

Among her final words to Naked Snake is this emotional statement that foreshadows the events of the rest of the series. ‘One must die and one must live. No victory, no defeat. The survivor will carry on the fight. It is our destiny... The one who survives will inherit the title of Boss. And the one who inherits the title of Boss will face an existence of endless battle.’"

Rounding out the top three was another MGS3 boss in the shape of everyone’s favorite pensioner with a parrot The End, who came in third with a 76.9% win rate. Coming in second was the iconic Psycho Mantis from the original Metal Gear Solid whose fourth-wall-breaking mechanics earned them the runner-up position after winning 83.6% of their face-offs. 

Completing the top 10 in descending order from fourth were Cyborg Ninja, Liquid Ocelot, Sniper Wolf, Liquid Snake, Metal Gear REX, Revolver Ocelot, and RAY vs REX. 

At the bottom of the list, we find poor Eli from Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain who was victorious in just 18.1% of their clashes.

Making up the rest of the bottom ten are Parasite Unit (The Skulls), Raging Raven, Fortune, Man on Fire, Olga, Hind-D, Crying Wolf, Metal Gear Sahelanthropus, and Screaming Mantis.

All in all, It doesn’t make great reading for MGS5 in general, with the game’s highest boss only reaching number 16 thanks to Quiet. Want to see where your favorite MGS boss turned up? Make sure to check out the full list.

And for our choice of the ten best, check out the video below:

Simon Cardy will always think The End is the best. Follow him on Twitter at @CardySimon.