The Boss's gun, "The Patriot," is based on a gun later to be invented, the Olympic Arms 93(OA-93), an assault pistol firing 5.56x45mm rifle rounds in a small pistol size. It is fitted with another future device: the Beta-C magazine which is a dual-drum magazine holding 100 rounds (infinite ammo in the game because it is shaped like an infinity symbol). It even lacks a front sight and has no stock with the bolt spring housing sticking out instead (the long black tube behind the handle). Its rate of fire is a little too slow but its recoil is well depicted as low (the 100 round mag adds some heft, especially when it never runs out of ammo).
Additions to the original Snake Eater include:
- Team-based online deathmatch game
- Features only available in European and Japanese releases
- Third-person
- 3D camera view
- Demo Theater and Boss Survival modes
- In-game cutscenes edited into three-hour movie (only available in the first edition)
- "Secret Theater" containing gag movies created by the development team
- New Snake vs. Monkey levels
- Fully ported and translated versions of the original MSX Metal Gear games, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- Duel Mode with new special rules
- New difficulty: "European Extreme"
While the original version of the game was a two-disc set, only the first disc was included when Konami re-released it in a bundle with Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. This could have been a cost-saving measure or it could have been because the Metal Gear Online mode included in Disc 2 had been discontinued by the time the bundle was released.