Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hideo Kojima designed the original Metal Gear, which debuted in Japan and Europe in 1987 for the MSX2 computer platform. The first game was released on the 22nd of December 1987, in Japan for the Nintendo Entertainment System port created by a separate team.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater was released later that year after the 2004 release of Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. It appeared as the third numbered entry on the PlayStation 2 following the initial Metal Gear Solid series timeline.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain deals with the themes race and revenge and how the latter can make one lose their humanity. This installment follows the pattern where each game deconstructs action movies and video games to invoke specific philosophical ideas.
The Metal Gear franchise has sold over 63.3 million units as of the end of June 2025. By February 2007, the series had grossed more than $1 billion from 100 million copies sold before reaching this total.
Metal Gear Solid won the Excellence Award for Interactive Art by the Japan Media Arts Festival. This recognition came alongside other accolades such as being ranked the best PlayStation game ever by IGN editors in 2002.