Of all the emblems, one is coveted above all others: the Big Boss Emblem. To acquire this emblem you must beat the game on The Boss Extreme difficulty level (which unlocks after you have beat the game one time) with no kills, no alerts, no continues, no health or special items used, and under five hours. Certainly an impressive feat! Here are some general tips for obtaining the covet emblem.

Note that if there are any items mention below that you aren’t sure how to collect, check the unlockable or walk-through section of this game guide. Also, given the nature of this section there are game spoilers below as we expect you to have completed the game one time.

• Weapons and items carry over from your previous game so prepare yourself accordingly. On The Boss Extreme level you won’t be able to purchase non-lethal ammunition from Drebin. Sure you can find those scattered throughout the levels but more is always better! In Act 5 of your previous game, stock up on all non-lethal weapons and ammunition to their maximum capacity (it helps that everything is half-off!). You should also stock up on gas mines, chaff grenades, and other non-lethal equipment. After completing the game you can purchase emotion ammo from Drebin. It’s non-lethal so get it! Be careful, though. Shooting a soldier with emotion ammo can cause them to go crazy, which could lead to death from other soldiers. Use with caution!

• An item that can more than help the lack of non-lethal ammunition is the Solar Gun. This unique weapon is unlocked if you eliminate the four bosses with non-lethal ammunition as well as the Frog soldiers in Act 1. You’ll find the Solar Gun invaluable, especially during the Act 3 bike chase and the Act 4 battle against Vamp. He’s vulnerable to sunlight, you know! The Solar Gun can stun enemies for a short period of time. You can also use it to shoot unconscious enemies and an item might pop out!

• Obviously knowledge of enemy soldier locations and patrol routes is extremely important. It’s not a bad idea to play through on the easier difficulty levels for a bit for memorisation sake. Preparation is key! It’s generally better to avoid an enemy than incapacitate them so look for the fastest route you can manoeuvre through a map while avoiding confrontation.

• Cut scenes count toward your total game time. That should be obvious considering the requirement for the Big Boss emblem is completing the game in less than 5 hours—there’s more than 5 hours of cut scenes! As soon as a cut scene begins, hit pause and manually skip it!

• One of the requirements for the Big Boss emblem is no kills—which is why the stress on non-lethal ammunition. However, it’s important to know that some enemies don’t count as kills. You can blow away Gekkos and dwarf Gekkos and you can also use lethal weapons against the first boss forms (but not against the beauty forms). Against the Gekkos, though, remember that you can’t trigger an alert! Chaff grenades disable these machines so use them to get through an area quickly without shooting or flirting with an alert.

• Since you can attack the first boss forms with any weapon, it pays to bring a good one! The rail gun acquired from the Crying Wolf boss battle works well. Be sure to stock up on ammunition during Act 5 so you are fully loaded for Big Boss emblem play-through. Basically you’ll want to carry over every powerful weapon so you have everything you need. For the beauty forms, use a shotgun with v-ring ammunition or, ideally, the Solar Gun.

• There are a few iPod tracks that are worth taking into the Big Boss emblem attempt. Make sure you grab "Sailor" and "Rock Me Baby" during your first play-through. "Sailor" is found in the South America: Vista Mansion level. It’s behind a crate on the right side of the mansion from your start position. "Rock me Baby" is found in South America: Confinement Facility on the island within the small lakes. Listening to these tracks will help heal Snake. Remember, you can’t use a healing item so you will need that extra help!

• You are prohibited from using "special items" during the Big Boss emblem attempt and these include the bandanna (which provides infinite ammunition) and the stealth camouflage. The Middle Eastern Militia Disguise, South American Rebel Disguise, and Solar Gun are not included as special items. The militia disguise in particular will help during the first section of the game.

• Hiding will regenerate your health but that takes valuable time. There’s a sneaky way you can get back some of Snake’s health—adjust your PlayStation 3’s date! Snake will regenerate health over time—over real time—which means you can fool your PlayStation into thinking several days have passed.

• A successful Big Boss emblem run through The Boss Extreme should conclude well under the five hours. To make sure you’re on track, you should be able to complete the first three acts in less than 50 minutes each. Both of the final acts can be completed in another 50 minutes total. That’s a good benchmark but a reasonable completion time can be well under four hours.

• It pays to be ahead of the game. You’ll need some time cushion as you get to the end because there’s around 20 minutes of credits that your game-play time will have to absorb! Keep that in mind because you don’t want to see the final screen reveal 5:01:32! You certainly won’t want to backtrack. On a similar note, make sure you check each post-act screen carefully. It’s entirely possible that you could have accidentally killed someone or inadvertently used a health item. No use in carrying on if that happens!

• During Act 3 when you are tailing the resistance member, wear the civilian disguise and the Otacon FaceCamo (or the Drebin FaceCamo). The PMC soldiers will essentially leave you alone (make sure you’re walking around with your hands in your pocket, which means no weapon equipped) and you can concentrate on following the resistance member. Speaking of FaceCamo, the standard FaceCamo adds some percentage to your standard camouflage so it’s a good idea to keep OctoCamo and FaceCamo as your usual combination.

• The Act 3 bike chase is one of the hardest parts of the Big Boss run. This is because you are constantly being shot at from PMC soldiers and turrets and you have little to help repel their attacks—you can’t kill anything! The Mk 2 doesn’t do much. Use "auto aim" to target the turret gunners. The Solar Gun is a big help for this sequence but if you didn’t get it from your original play then you’ll have to stick with the Mk 2, twin barrel shotgun (v-ring ammunition), and stun and smoke grenades to provide further assistance. Memorise the location of squads and turrets. Use smoke grenades when faced with a group of enemy soldiers and concentrate on the turret gunners because keeping them alive is devastating to your health bar.

• Remember the installation that occurs between each act? That time likely counts toward your total game-play time. To be safe, make sure you save the game at the end of an act. Install the next act and then quit out. Reload that last save at the end of the previous act and you will begin the next act without the need for further installation.

• Watching a mission briefing provides game stats, such as kills, alerts, continues—the vital stats for a Big Boss emblem run! So if you’re halfway through an act and want to make sure you haven’t accidentally killed something or used a health item then watch a mission briefing from that saved game and check the stats.

• Knowing the location of all or most of the non-lethal ammunition scattered throughout the game will help your Big Boss run considerably.
  

• In the chase sequence at the end of Act 2, the zombie-like PMC soldiers do count as kills so use non-lethal ammunition to get them away (or CQC to conserve ammunition). Also, in the first part, the powered suits also count as kills. You can use a chaff grenade to temporarily disable the suits but it’s probably better to just save the grenade and try and survive the area—the powered suits don’t have to be stunned or killed because Drebin will just leave the area when he wants!