Thread:Shintis/@comment-187956-20161027005546

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops itself has a shaky place in the canon, as it is not present in certain official timelines and the game's story was not written by Hideo Kojima. Kojima himself, however, confirmed in an interview that while the main story of the game is canon, specific details present in the game are not to be considered canon if they interfere with future entries in the series

Stance in the canon
While officially confirmed as a canonical installment in the series, Portable Ops is considered a spin-off game, despite the relative importance of events that occur in its storyline. As such, the events of Portable Ops has received notably little mention in official Konami media and press when compared to other installments in the series. This has caused confusion among the fanbase.

Portable Ops is not mentioned in the documentary Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2, though it is included in the timeline at the end, and footage is seen during the credits. The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database and timeline on the Metal Gear Solid 4 website also mentions Portable Ops.[29] Likewise, Metal Gear Solid 4 itself frequently uses stills from Portable Ops in its cutscenes, which is especially apparent with the EVA and Liquid Ocelot montage cutscenes in Acts 3 and 5, respectively, alongside the rest of the games, and artwork for Portable Ops by Noriyoshi Ohrai likewise briefly appears in the church in Act 3 alongside other artwork by Ohrai, and some plot elements from Portable Ops are also referred to subtly (two notable examples being the revelation that Zero acquired the Philosophers' Legacy and founded the Patriots).

Despite being its chronological predecessor, the events of Portable Ops are barely acknowledged in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, though it was included in the Metal Gear website's timeline during Peace Walker's development.[30] In addition, Kazuhira Miller says the line, "Now we can leave that crap at San Hieronymo behind," early in the Prologue mission of Peace Walker. This caused debate among fans, as to whether Miller was referring to the events of Portable Ops, in which he was not involved, or whether this statement debunked the events of that game altogether. Two maps from Portable Ops were also included in Peace Walker's online mode, specifically the Silo Entrance and the Soviet Patrol Base.[31]

Unlike Peace Walker, Portable Ops did not receive an HD update, and thus was not included in any version of the Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection or the Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection. Kojima later revealed on Twitter that the reason why Portable Ops was not be included in The Legacy Collection is due to the fact that he was not directly involved in the game's development.[32] As such, it remains confined to the PSP platform, while all other canonical games are playable on the PlayStation 3 console (the MSX2 games are included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence). It is also the only canonical Metal Gear Solid title to not be asked as a favorite of the player, in the upload screen of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D. The MSX2 games are similarly not asked as a favorite of the player in the same game.

In a podcast for Kojima Productions, Kojima stated via his translator that Portable Ops is canon.[33] The Saga timeline previously hosted on the series' official website, featured Portable Ops, although only as a brief footnote, with the MSX2 games given similar treatment. In addition, the Japanese Konami site had a 25th Anniversary timeline that omitted Portable Ops, although it was still included in the chronology section of the site.

In an interview on Twitch in March 2014, Kojima stated that while the core story of Portable Ops is canon, details that doesn't match with the other games in the series are not part of the main Metal Gear saga due to the fact that he didn't write the game's story.[34]

The logo for Portable Ops appears on the wall of a building in the Déjà Vu/Jamais Vu bonus missions in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, with Miller commenting, "I don't think I remember that one."[35] Miller makes the same remarks about other Metal Gear titles not directed by Kojima, which cannot be removed using the special flashlight-equipped rifle found during the mission, with Miller commenting that they're "nothing important."

It should be noted that Kojima's use of a Metal Gear timeline only reflects the games where he was personally involved in their development, as well as whether they reflect his personal worldviews, philosophies, and messages rather than a direct indication of canon. He made this clear in the Japanese version of his response on Twitch in 2014.[4]  