Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater/Items

Active Sonar
A special radar that sends out a sonar ping to detect local wildlife. Press L3 to send out a sonar ping. Be warned though - each ping takes a small portion of your batteries, and the noise it makes may alarm nearby guards. It also wards off attacking vampire bats.

Anti-Personnel Sensor
The Anti-Personnel Sensor, like the AP Sensor from MGS2, will beep and cause the controller to vibrate at different strengths depending on proximity to an enemy, and is now far more important due to the Soliton Radar's absence in this game. If you use it in First-Person View, it will only scan the direction you are facing.

You begin the game with this.

Binoculars
A pair of binoculars with a zoom lens. While equipped, press Triangle to zoom in, and Square to zoom out. You can also peek around by holding R1 and using the L2 and R2 buttons, just like in First Person View.
 * A special trick you can do with the scope: aim at a guard with the scope (it has an aiming crosshair, strangely enough), equip any projectile weapon, press L2 to unequip the scope and quickly hold the R1 button so your view doesn't reset. You can now fire your weapon exactly where the scope was aiming.

Bug Juice
Bug Juice can be found areas before the swamp and Pain boss fight and is sometimes dropped by enemies threatened after being held up. To use it hover over it in the items menu and press circle. Bug juice is for temporarily repelling leeches and hornets.

Cardboard Box
Cardboard Box can be used to hide from enemies while remaining stationary in Urban areas. Do Not use this in the Jungle. If the box is equipped just before a stun grenade goes off it will greatly reduce the duration of blindness. This is useful for the End boss fight.


 * Cardboard Box A: Rassvet (Operation Snake Eater) or Ponizovje Warehouse in the southwest corner of the bottom floor near Thermal goggles. Wearing it inside the trucks in Groznyj Grad will allow transportation to the building's East Wing.
 * Cardboard Box B: Tikhogornyj: Behind Waterfall. Transports to Shagohod Hangar
 * Cardboard Box C: Groznyj Grad: Southeast. Useful for escaping Groznyj Grad undetected after capture. As soon as you exit the prison go around the corner to the left and quickly take out the patrol before he turns around in the narrow space with the box.

Cigar
Snake's favorite brand of Cubans. Still hazardous to your health, and also usable as a light source in dark areas. Also it used to burn off leeches in the cure menu, steadies your aim like pentazemin, and wards off insects like and Bug Juice.

Croc Cap
The Croc Cap can be used to trick enemy soldiers while the player is submereged in water and to ward off dogs (as told by an enemy soldier when interrogated ) and is found during Operation Snake Eater. The player must acquire it when climbing across a tightrope that is connected to some trees over a swamp (after meeting up with EVA and defeating the Ocelot Unit), and eventually dropping on a rock with the Crop Cap on it.

Fake Death Pill
A special pill designed by the CIA to put a person into a state of fake death. Use this in the menu to kill yourself. Enemies will believe you to be dead. When they walk away, use the Revival Pill to wake up again. Don't stay dead for too long, though, or the fake death will become real death. The Revival Pill must be used before "Game Over" turns to "Time Paradox". This is also useful if you want to restart an area, though be advised that any alerts or kills will remain even after continuing.

Life Medicine
A drug developed by the Soviet Union. The components are unknown, but it seems to activate the body's regenerative processes and causes injuries to heal faster. The only way to instantly restore Snake's Life Gauge is to use the rare Life Med syringe. They work just like the Rations from previous MGS games - Hover over the Life Medicine in the L2 menu, and press Circle to heal yourself. Since Stamina Gauge governs Life recovery rate, Life Med is rare, but you can find it in various places throughout the game and can be obtained by shaking down enemies. Save some for The Fury as it is hard to avoid damage in that fight.

Mine Detector
You can find the Mine Detector in Rassvet on Operation Snake Eater. A device which can be used to spot Claymore mines. When equipped, it will make beeping noises when the player approaches claymores at the cost of battery power.

Motion Detector
A real-time motion sensor. Consumes about as much battery power as the Active Sonar, but at a constant rate. It also only detects things in motion - so guards will not appear if they are standing in place.

Night Vision Goggles
Night vision goggles work by amplifying low light to produce an image. They work well in dark areas such as the cave after the battle with Ocelot. However, if not acquired, the player can use alternative items, such as the cigar, torch, or thermal goggles, though the previous two will draw attention from enemies. Unlike the thermal goggles, they cannot detect traps, camouflaged enemies, animals, or plants. Stun grenades will also burn into the NVGs for a few seconds.

Operation Snake Eater located in Chyornaya Peschera Cave Branch. From waterfall, go Northwest to the end off the tunnel, then enter the crawlspace heading Northeast, then East through another crawlspace to find the NVG along the far wall around a hole in the ground. Be careful not to fall in.

Revival Pill
An even more special pill designed by the CIA to bring a person back to life after they've killed themselves with the fake death pill. It's disguised as one of your molars, and weighs absolutely nothing. To use it, hold L2 when you are "dead" and press the Circle button while hovering over it to revive yourself. You can never unequip the Revival Pill. There is only one instance of you needing to use it in the whole game.

Stealth Camouflage
An electronic device that renders the user invisible by bending light. Obtained by either beating the game without triggering alert mode or shooting all 64 kerotans in one playthrough. If paired with Spirit Camo enemies won't hear your footsteps making you completely undetectable.

Thermal Goggles
Thermal goggles work by detecting heat signatures. However, in Metal Gear Solid 3, they can also be used to detect, mines, hidden food, and traps. Although designed for dark areas, they will work just as well in bright areas. The only major downside is that the player will have trouble seeing the terrain, so they may use them on-and-off every now and again. They also rely on battery power to operate.

The thermal goggles are vital against bosses such as The Fear and The End, who both use camouflage along with enemy soldiers while EVA is with you. Make sure that a stun grenade doesn't explode while using the thermal goggles as the image will burn into the screen for a few seconds (the time it takes depends on how far away the grenade explosion is from the player).

During the Virtuous Mission, they can be found in a hollow log; in the area just prior to Dolinovodno.

During Operation: Snake Eater, they may be found at Rassvet; within a locker (the room which Sokolov was held in previously, where Snake goes to sleep in-cutscene) Ponizovje Warehouse in the southwest corner of the bottom floor near Cardboard Box A and Desert Facepaint, or Groznyj Grad in the room where all the scientists are.