Raiden's original cyborg body

Raiden's original cyborg body, circa 2014.

The original cyborg body used by Raiden was a cyborg frame that replaced most of his body with artificial materials to increase combat capabilities. While a prisoner of the Patriots, Raiden was used as a subject for experiments in exoskeletal enhancement surgery, the enhancements too severe to allow him to live again as a normal human. After escaping captivity and undergoing surgery to clear his body of nanomachines, Raiden utilized his new body during the Guns of the Patriots Incident in 2014.

Aesthetic design

Primarily colored white, silver and black, with his shoulder areas colored gold, the overall appearance of the exoskeleton was largely masculine by design. However, the feet also somewhat resembled high-heels, and his hands possessed claw-like nails. Although Raiden's head from the mouth-up was still flesh, the lower jaw was cybernetic, resulting in a skull-like appearance. Unlike prior models of Cyborg Ninja exoskeletons, it was not equipped with an encompassing facial helmet, instead possessing a visor attached to the subject's forehead. Two Solid Eye-like devices were connected to the visor, which deployed in front of Raiden's eyes during combat. The right-side device was destroyed at Shadow Moses Island when Raiden was buried in rubble from a collapsing supply tunnel.

Integrated technology

Muscle enhancement - The suit could, when necessary, expand its muscle areas to enhance the user's speed, agility, and strength. It was strong enough to forcibly move a Gekkp's turrets, lift a Metal Gear RAY unit, and even temporarily halt the warship Outer Haven in its tracks. If the suit was penetrated by certain projectiles, the internal pressure could be utilized to propel them outwards from the body, as demonstrated by Raiden against Vamp's throwing knives.

White blood - The suit utilized the white blood, which possessed a higher oxygen carrying capacity than normal human red blood cells. This provided a faster rate of respiration for energy production within the muscles. The main drawback was that the blood had to be externally dialyzed with special equipment following prolonged use, in order to avoid autotoxemia, and had to be replaced if lost through injury.

Artificial voice box: The subject, because of his body from the lower jaw down being replaced with mechanics, had an artificial voice box for speech. This voice box can also activate an auxiliary speech enunciator in the event that the subject was himself too weak to give actual speech. This trait was especially evident in the aftermath of the mission to South America, as Raiden, despite losing consciousness and being too injured to speak from his fight against Vamp, managed to relay a message to Solid Snake and Hal Emmerich to locate the Paradise Lost Army in Europe and specifically to find their leader, Big Mama, before completely losing consciousness.

Pain inhibitors: The subject generally showed a virtually unflinching demeanor when suffering various wounds, with the most notable instance of this being while Raiden fought Samuel Rodrigues in Africa. After losing not only his eye, but also his arm to the mercenary, he barely even flinched, only expressing minor irritation at losing an arm again. He also showed similar unflinching behavior throughout the Guns of the Patriots Incident in South America, though in that case, it was also because of his not fearing death to suicidal levels by that point due to past events.

Behind the scenes

Raiden's cyborg body first appears in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. It features a holstered MK23 that is used in neither gameplay nor cutscenes, although the player can utilize it when using Raiden in Metal Gear Online (2008).

The cyborg frame returns as the character skin Original Cyborg Body in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which was initially made available as DLC. Its battlefield potential is described as "extremely limited" in the context of the game's setting. The original's appearance is the basis for that of the Standard Cyborg Body, featured in the opening of Metal Gear Rising.

"A recreation of the cyborg body used by Raiden in the Guns of the Patriots incident. Functionally obsolete and boasting an obviously unnatural jaw, its battlefield potential is extremely limited."

― Original Cyborg Body description in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

The body, merely titled "Raiden", is a wearable suit in Metal Gear Survive, and can only be unlocked by purchasing it with 5000 BP. It is exclusive to male avatars, and it overrides the Accessory/Head setting when worn. Otherwise, the functionality is the same as other suits.

This article uses content from the Metal Gear wiki.