Hideo Kojima's magnum opus, the Metal Gear saga, encompasses several mainline games, all of which are connected to craft an overarching timeline renowned for its depth while simultaneously infamous for its over-the-top nature. A staple aspect contributing to this status is the frequency of its off-the-wall plot twists that change the entire course of the narrative in both large and small ways.

These aren't the only twists in Hideo Kojima's famed video game series, but they are certainly among the most memorable and emotionally resonant among fans. Wherever Konami may take the series with Kojima's departure, fans can only hope that they continue the trend of fun, multi-layered storytelling.

RELATED: Remaking The Original Metal Gear Could Perfectly Bookend The Series

Liquid Snake's Deception

The first Metal Gear Solid is likely most people's introduction to the Metal Gear saga. Released in 1998, its brilliant presentation and gripping story were revolutionary for the time, bringing some of gaming's first (and biggest) mind-blowing twists and turns. But the biggest story twist, beyond all the controller-switching and FOXDIE heart attacks, is the revelation that Snake's mentor, Kazuhira "Master" Miller, was big bad Liquid Snake in disguise, having killed the real Miller days before the events of the game. Tricking Snake into activating Metal Gear REX for him, Liquid played pretty much everyone, including the player, right into the palm of his hand--a hand that would continue to cause headaches for future games.

"I need scissors, 61!"

Metal Gear Solid 2 seems utterly dedicated to one-upping its predecessor not only in gameplay and presentation but also in completely bamboozling the player with constant trickery and surreal sci-fi horror. It starts with the twist that the player character is a young man named Raiden; the famous Solid Snake is a background character, something which was done deliberately so fans could see what Solid Snake really looks like in action.

Metal Gear fans would also find that recurring commanding officer Colonel Roy Campbell is acting very out-of-character. That's because the real twist of the game is that Raiden's boss isn't the real Campbell, but an off-kilter A.I. created by the Patriots that's been manipulating Raiden the whole time, including confusing the poor sap with non-sequiturs and telling him to turn the console off.

RELATED: 4 Games Bluepoint Should Remake Next

The Boss' Sacrifice

In the beloved Metal Gear Solid 3, Naked Snake's mentor, the legendary soldier known only as "The Boss," has defected to the Soviet Union as a traitor. Naked Snake is recruited to put her down to save the United States from nuclear war.

After killing the Boss in an emotional final battle, Snake learns from EVA that the Boss was under US orders to pose as a traitor to absolve America of any involvement in Soviet soil. With the revelation that the Boss was never a traitor, Naked Snake, now known as "Big Boss," would be fueled by his anger against the world. That anger led him to become the original Metal Gear's main antagonist...or at least, that's what everyone believed.

Big Boss' Reunion

Metal Gear Solid 4 serves as the ultimate conclusion to Solid Snake and Big Boss' story, tying up as many loose ends as possible in an emotionally resonant (if not completely nonsensical) finale. Regardless of whether or not it made any amount of sense, there was no way this game was going to end without some kind of final reunion between Snake and his old arch-nemesis dad, Big Boss. Extremely wordy, campy as all hell and almost coming out of nowhere, Big Boss' survival and subsequent true death is a shocking, albeit fitting, end to the Metal Gear saga.

Venom Snake's Identity

The many twists and turns in Metal Gear Solid V are shocking enough, but perhaps the biggest reveal was foreshadowed since the very beginning. In the opening sequence of Phantom Pain, "Big Boss," aka "Ahab," is guided through the hospital by a mysterious bandaged man named "Ishmael." Eventually, "Ahab" looks into the mirror and sees not the face of Big Boss, but that of the player's online persona. The opening ends with Big Boss escaping, eventually adopting the codename Venom Snake.

In the final hours, the opening is revisited and one of gaming's biggest twists comes almost out of nowhere. "Venom Snake" isn't the real Big Boss, but an equally skilled doppelganger meant to throw off Cipher and allow the real Boss to build Outer Heaven. This reveal has become very divisive among the fanbase, but it resolves one of the series' most infamous plot holes: how could Big Boss actually be the villain of the original Metal Gear? By establishing that there are actually two Snakes active at the time -- Venom Snake and Big Boss -- a canon explanation is presented in that Metal Gear's big bad is actually a demented Venom Snake.

KEEP READING: Metal Gear Solid Movie Taps Oscar Isaac as Solid Snake