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187-403: Set in 1999, a few years after the events of the original game, Solid Snake must infiltrate a heavily defended territory known as Zanzibar Land to rescue a kidnapped scientist and destroy the revised " Metal Gear D ". The game significantly evolved the stealth-based game system of its predecessor, and uses a storyline dealing with themes such as the nature of warfare and nuclear proliferation . It

374-506: A CIA agent posing as a journalist; Natasha Marcova (Gustava Heffner in later versions), an StB agent and Dr. Marv's bodyguard; and Dr. Petrovich Madnar ("Drago Pettrovich Madnar" in newer versions), the Metal Gear designer from the first game, who was captured along with Dr. Marv. Also appearing in the game are Big Boss , the renegade former commander of FOXHOUND, and Grey Fox ("Gray Fox" in later versions), who disappeared following

561-413: A UN Security Council advisory body that monitors PMC activities. He sends Old Snake on an unofficial mission to assassinate Liquid Ocelot in order to put a stop to the latter's activities, providing resources and transportation to complete the mission. He is married to Rosemary, which causes a rift between him and Meryl, now aware that Campbell is her father. However, the marriage is a sham used to fool

748-609: A "middle ground" between the younger Snake who was in the cover artwork of the first Metal Gear and the middle-aged Snake from the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2 . For the initial events from the Big Shell chapter from Metal Gear Solid 2 , Snake's visual appearance was sightly modified with his hair being more blonde, and his appearance somewhat resembling the Man with No Name (as portrayed by Clint Eastwood ). Shinkawa commented that Snake

935-420: A 3x3 grid on the upper right of the screen shows the player's current area in the center grid (as a red dot), with enemy soldiers as white dots, allowing the player to determine what's ahead. However, the radar is disabled when the game enters alert phase. The radar can also be used with the mine detector equipped to determine the locations of enemy mines or launch Stinger missiles onto an airborne target. Many of

1122-494: A British woman named Julie Danziger with a child of her own (Emma). Hal and Emma were close, as they had no other friends. Huey later committed suicide by drowning himself in the family pool, and attempted to drown Emma as well. Afterwards, Emma became estranged from her stepbrother, blaming him for not saving her. Shortly afterwards, Hal ran away from home and did not see any of his family members until several years later. Choosing not to continue school, he began to educate himself via

1309-468: A U.S. military unit, and assigned to Shadow Moses island in 2005 as an emergency replacement when several soldiers were reported missing. Following her arrival on the island, the unit involved with the exercise revolted along with members of FOXHOUND and took over the nuclear disposal site on the island and the Metal Gear REX weapon being developed there. Meryl refused to join in with the mutiny and

1496-788: A Vietnamese war orphan. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots reveals that Frank Jaeger's murder of Para-Medic was part of a plan to free Big Boss from Zero's control. There is a Cyborg Ninja unique character card in Metal Gear Acid . Outside of the Metal Gear games, the Cyborg Ninja is featured as a player character driver in Konami Krazy Racers and as an Assist Trophy in both Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate . Additionally

1683-420: A bombing raid against Outer Heaven, not caring about the war orphans or war refugees within. Before dying, he also tells Snake that Big Boss had forgiven the resistance for being against him and rescued as many people as he could from the bombings, Outer Heaven personnel and Resistance members alike. Colonel Roy Campbell ( ロイ・キャンベル大佐 , Roi Kyanberu-taisa , Roy Kyanbel in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2 )

1870-735: A brief codec appearance in a minigame in Ape Escape 3 . Roy Campbell for most Metal Gear Solid games had been voiced by Takeshi Aono in the Japanese version and by Paul Eiding in the English translation. The character's young version in Portable Ops was voiced by Toshio Furukawa in Japanese and by David Agranov in English. However, Aono's death has resulted in the character's retirement in future Metal Gear Solid games out of respect. Master Miller ( マスター・ミラー , Masutā Mirā )

2057-528: A case of denial, as Snake's enemies and at least one of his allies have claimed that he enjoys killing, and label him as more evil than the people he has killed. When he is not on duty, his favorite recreational activity is being a musher . Metal Gear introduces Snake, a rookie recruit of the elite special forces unit FOXHOUND . Snake is sent by Big Boss into Outer Heaven , a rogue nation in South Africa, to rescue Gray Fox and discover who or what

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2244-649: A clone created from tissue samples of the man from the original Metal Gear Acid , following the events of the Lobito Island mission; the Solid Snake from the original Acid is implied to be dead in the sequel. The character appears in his Old Snake form as a playable character in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus , a stand-alone expansion to the Portable Ops focusing on online play. In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance ,

2431-555: A different name for 'Snake' in MGS , he probably would have been a totally different character." – Hideo Kojima Solid Snake was apparently named after the fictional special forces operative Snake Plissken , Kurt Russell 's character in Escape from New York . However, Kojima revealed in March 2014 that the character's name origins were something else. According to Kojima, he was given

2618-486: A female spy to the ladies' lavatory, and deciphering secret tap codes to gain new frequency numbers. The MSX2 version requires the use of either, a floppy disk drive or a Game Master II utility cartridge to save progress. In the absence of either media, a password can also be written down to reload progress. Later versions of the game removed the password feature in favor of standardized storage media such as memory cards and internal hard disk drives . Solid Snake

2805-555: A fight, maiming Revolver Ocelot and scaring Otacon in the process. After the fight, he becomes erratic and disappears in a violent rage. Throughout the game, he provides Snake cryptic advice via codec as a faceless contact calling himself "Deepthroat". Naomi Hunter eventually divulges being Jaeger's foster sister, as well as his Cyborg Ninja identity to Snake. Fox later tells Snake that he killed Naomi's parents and, out of remorse, became her foster brother. Fox fights Metal Gear REX (piloted by Liquid) and manages to destroy its radome with

2992-529: A fistfight in the middle of a minefield and is apparently killed. Gray Fox returns as the original Cyborg Ninja ( サイボーグ忍者 , Saibōgu Ninja ) in Metal Gear Solid after having been grafted into a powered armor exoskeleton and armed with a high-frequency blade. According to Hideo Kojima , the Cyborg Ninja "was born from this Shin-chan 's graffiti." During Liquid Snake's FOXHOUND revolt at Shadow Moses, Fox once again challenges Solid Snake to

3179-491: A friendship with Otacon while fighting the corrupt FOXHOUND led by his terrorist twin brother Liquid Snake in Metal Gear Solid , and uses the false name Iroquois Pliskin ( イロコィ・プリスキン , Irokoi Purisukin ) while assisting Raiden against Solidus Snake and the Patriots in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty . In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots , he gives himself the nickname Old Snake ( オールド・スネーク , Ōrudo Sunēku ) due to his accelerated aging process, and

3366-535: A habit of referencing his previous work. In the Kojima-produced Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django (and Shin Bokura no Taiyō: Gyakushū no Sabata ), Snake appears as an unnamed character who sells items to the player. Konami's Evolution Skateboarding features Snake and Raiden as hidden characters, as well as two stages set in the Big Shell (the skateboarding minigame in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

3553-477: A heavily fortified enemy base in Central Asia that has aggravated an international oil crisis and declared themselves a nuclear power by kidnapping Dr. Kio Marv (after the creation of a bio-engineered algae that produces an oil substitute) and the Metal Gear engineer Pettrovich Madnar . Snake infiltrates the base and discovers that Pettrovich as well as Fox has defected to Zanzibar Land, and that Zanzibar Land

3740-579: A jungle warfare expert from the South African Reconnaissance Command ; and Night Sight (Night Fright in later versions), an assassin from Vietnam who uses a state of the art stealth suit that renders him invisible to both radar and the human eye. A major oil crisis seriously affects the global economy in the late 1990s, with petrol deposits running out faster than previous estimates. Efforts to adopt alternative energy sources and attempts to drill for more oil fail to take up

3927-437: A kidnapped non-soldier personnel" in the beginning to "an escape sequence where Snake is accompanied by his female accomplice/love interest" at the end. IGN notes that Solid Snake introduced stealth mechanics such as making noise to attract guards, crouching and crawling on the ground, disarming mines, and enemies having view cones . Solid Snake Solid Snake ( Japanese : ソリッド・スネーク , Hepburn : Soriddo Sunēku )

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4114-514: A living legend via Venom Snake , as well as the origins of the various aforementioned organizations. While the original Metal Gear games had their character designs modeled after Hollywood actors, the Metal Gear Solid games established a series of consistent designs based on Shinkawa's ideas of what would appeal to gamers. Additionally, several of the characters he designed follow ideas from Kojima and other staff. Critical reception of

4301-642: A military squad briefly faced monsters from the Monster Hunter series , with Snake's equivalent in the narrative, US Army Ranger Artemis, being portrayed by Milla Jovovich . Solid Snake appears as an outfit in Fortnite , starting from the first season of the battle royale mode's fifth chapter in December 2023 and is unlockable from January 23, 2024 until the season's end date. "The name 'Snake' in MGS comes from creeping up on someone silently like

4488-476: A random moment in addition to its original programming. As the game progresses, Naomi realizes that some of her original perceptions of Snake were wrong and is later remorseful for modifying the virus. Uncertain of when exactly the FOXDIE would kill, Naomi tells Snake to live life to the fullest in whatever time there was left. Afterwards, Nastasha Romanenko's account reveals that Naomi was briefly arrested following

4675-463: A re-arranged version is included in the 2018 fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate . During its initial release, Solid Snake was ranked on MSX Magazine ' s Top 30 best selling MSX games list for six months, premiering at the no. 1 spot on the October 1990 issue. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake would later receive near universal-acclaim by retro game reviewers. According to Paul Soth of GameSpy ,

4862-528: A result of hardware limitations, Shinkawa designed them to appeal to gamers. Because of the time skip between titles, a few of the characters were redesigned to fit in the game's setting. With the improvements offered by video game consoles like the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 , the staff gave the characters a more realistic look starting with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , although they initially had doubts about it. This brought difficulties to

5049-521: A sequel himself at the time until he became reacquainted with a junior coworker who was assigned to work on Snake's Revenge on a train ride in Tokyo . The coworker revealed his involvement with the project and encouraged Kojima to create his own sequel. By the end of the train ride, Kojima had already envisioned the basic premise for the game. After undergoing a business trip to the sales division of Konami, Kojima successfully convinced his superiors to approve

5236-480: A significant impact among players upon their deaths following their boss battles. This also gave Shinkawa difficulties in conceptualizing their visual appearances as a result of having little to no background details. By Metal Gear Solid 2 , Kojima was inspired by the Sherlock Holmes novels to introduce a sidekick character in order to view Snake from a different perspective. Metal Gear Solid also marks

5423-426: A snake. The adjective 'Solid' expresses Snake's strong and blade-sharp image - paradoxical when combined with a snake's litheness. Normally, 'snake' and 'solid' do not go together. It's like talking about 'hot ice.' I came up with the name to express this lack of balance and equilibrium. But when I decided the codename would be Snake, the character was more Plissken than snake-like at the subconscious level. If I had used

5610-507: A stolen Metal Gear prototype, Gander. Although the actual in-game artwork of Ghost Babel was done by Ikuya Nakamura, Yoji Shinkawa provided the promotional art like he did with the original Metal Gear Solid . In the second of these titles, Metal Gear Acid , Snake must retrieve "Pythagoras" from the Lobito Physics and Research Laboratory, in order to satisfy hijackers who have kidnapped presidential candidate Viggo Hach. This mission

5797-526: A successful independence war against the Soviet Union . NATO discovers that Zanzibar Land's leaders plan to hold the world hostage by controlling the supply of oil through OILIX and nuclear warheads pillaged from old stockpiles marked for dismantling in light of global efforts toward nuclear disarmament. FOXHOUND's new commander, Roy Campbell, brings Solid Snake out of retirement and sends him to Zanzibar Land to rescue Dr. Marv on Christmas Eve 1999. Over

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5984-415: A team of FOX HOUND operatives as they infiltrate an undisclosed enemy base where the Metal Gear weapon is being mass-produced. Snake is addressed by the military rank of Lieutenant and starts the game already equipped with a handgun and a combat knife , in contrast to the first game, where Snake had to procure all of his weapons on-site. After the success of the original Metal Gear Solid , KCEJ produced

6171-555: A timeline as Solid Snake and Liquid Snake". Among the several characters he encounters, critics noticed that Snake's friendship with Otacon was one of the best parts of his character due to the contrast it has with enemies as well as how he Snake comforts him in Sons of Liberty . His rivalry with Big Boss was also popular according to journalists, especially when they are compared as son and father and genetic heir. Various gaming sites such as 1UP.com , Game Informer and Kotaku joked on

6358-519: A trilogy of Metal Gear spin-offs for portable platforms set in a parallel universe outside the main Kojima-directed series. All three of these portable games were directed by Shinta Nojiri . The first of these is Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (released outside Japan as Metal Gear Solid ), in which Solid Snake must infiltrate a rebuilt Outer Heaven (now called Galuade) to defeat a FOXHOUND-like team of rogue agents called Black Chamber and destroy

6545-640: A voice-only cameo during the game over screen, scolding the player for causing a time paradox if certain characters are killed. He also appears in the Ape Escape crossover minigame "Snake vs. Monkey". In Portable Ops , a young version of the character, then a Green Beret , is imprisoned by the FOX unit in South America with Naked Snake. The two escape to recruit Gene's disenfranchised enemy soldiers and other allies into an early version of Militaires Sans Frontières. In Metal Gear Solid 4 , Campbell works for

6732-491: Is a demo of Evolution Skateboarding composed exclusively of these elements). Solid Snake also appears in both halves of a crossover between the Metal Gear and Ape Escape franchises: the Ape Escape monkeys appear with Solid Snake in the "Snake vs. Monkey" minigame featured in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater . In turn, Snake appears in the corresponding Metal Gear Solid minigame featured in Ape Escape 3 , where he

6919-456: Is a drill instructor and survival coach. Benedict Kazuhira Miller ( ベネディクト・カズヒラ・ミラー , Benedikuto Kazuhira Mirā ) , also known as McDonnell Benedict Miller ( マクドネル・ベネディクト・ミラー , Makudoneru Benedikuto Mirā ) , known simply as "McDonnell Miller" in Metal Gear 2 and formerly commonly known by his nickname Kaz , is an ambitious mercenary properly introduced in the prequel Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker , serving as second-in-command in

7106-511: Is a fictional character from the Metal Gear series created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami , appearing as the main protagonist in many of the games of the series. He is depicted as a former Green Beret and highly skilled special operations soldier engaged in solo stealth and espionage missions who is often tasked with destroying models of the bipedal nuclear weapon-armed mecha known as Metal Gear . Controlled by

7293-529: Is a tribute to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey that has a character with the same name (and coincidentally shared with his English voice actor David Hayter ). Kojima later described Snake's role in the original Metal Gear as the "player's presence", contrasting the defined personality acquired in Metal Gear Solid . In addition to expanding Solid Snake's backstory, as the first Metal Gear game to feature voice acting, Metal Gear Solid established his characteristic voice and appearance. Various scenes from

7480-479: Is actually Olga Gurlukovich. The non-canon prequel Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops , set twenty-five years before Metal Gear , features a teenage version of the character under the codename Null ( ヌル , Nuru ) , a masked machete -wielding assassin. He is subjected to a secret CIA project to be the "Perfect Soldier" and recruited into Gene's corrupt FOX unit during the San Hieronymo takeover. During

7667-444: Is also immediately shown as a loner, often with no intentions of taking orders from anyone anymore and he shows no sign of longing for the army or the country he was part of. However, along with these traits he has a more human side, being flirtatious, self-sacrificing and with a strong belief that even on a battlefield friendship and love can flourish, and that violence is not glorious. Snake's perceived stance on violence may be

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - Misplaced Pages Continue

7854-464: Is complicated by La Clown, an expert mimic who impersonates Snake's contact Teliko, and subtle brainwashing that nearly convinces him that he is Hans Davis, a ruthless scientist that worked at the Lobito facility. He overcomes both and contacts the real Teliko, then destroys the latest model of Metal Gear, Metal Gear KODOQUE . Metal Gear Acid 2 features a main character who is not the real version, but

8041-452: Is considered one of the best 8 bit games ever made. Solid Snake builds upon the stealth-based gameplay system of its predecessor. As in the original Metal Gear , the player's objective is to infiltrate the enemy's stronghold, while avoiding detection from soldiers, cameras, infrared sensors and other surveillance devices. The biggest change in the game was done to the enemy's abilities. Instead of remaining stationed in one screen like in

8228-515: Is embittered as he sees the concept of a nation for soldiers appropriated by other groups and reduced to being mercenary bands before he's rescued from Soviet forces by Venom Snake, enabling him to help with the Diamond Dogs mercenary group's expansion. By this time, he wears a large trench coat and beret while walking with a limp due to having lost his left leg and right arm. Miller is deeply distrusting of anyone affiliated with Cipher, accusing

8415-496: Is led by the true Big Boss. Snake destroys Metal Gear D, and defeats both Fox and the true Big Boss. Metal Gear Solid and its remake – The Twin Snakes – reveals Solid Snake's real name as David ( デビッド , Debiddo ) . He is pulled out of retirement by Roy Campbell to deal with the "Sons of Big Boss" led by Liquid Snake who seized an isolated American nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island. Snake's mission

8602-481: Is now aware that Roy Campbell is her true father, but openly resents him due to the circumstances of her conception and his marriage with Rosemary who is her own age. She reconciles with him at the end of the game. At first, Meryl dislikes her subordinate Johnny due to his clumsiness and stomach problems, but forgives him after learning he does not have nanomachines in his body and falls in love with him after he saves her life on their missions and ends up marrying him at

8789-468: Is once again enlisted by Campbell to assassinate Liquid Ocelot, CEO of a giant mother company that are trying to take control of the Patriots' AIs. He also learns from Naomi that his life has been artificially shortened as part of the cloning process so that his genes can't be used as a weapon in later research, thus explaining why he has the physical appearance of an elderly man despite being only forty-two years old. Snake and his allies are forced to destroy

8976-489: Is rescued by Pipo Snake (Snake's character design in this minigame is taken directly from Naked Snake's). He has also appeared in several cross-company fighting games. In DreamMix TV World Fighters , Solid Snake appears as a playable character alongside other Konami , Hudson Soft and Takara characters such as Bomberman and Optimus Prime . Similarly, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl , the third installment from

9163-460: Is set in a near-future world in which the Cold War continued into the 1990s, with the game's events taking place in 1999 – three years after the events of the original Metal Gear (later retconned to four years in Metal Gear Solid ). Solid Snake, formerly retired FOXHOUND agent and hero of the original Metal Gear returns as the playable character. His new mission is to rescue

9350-488: Is the chief of FOXHOUND's medical staff and part of the support crew assembled to assist Solid Snake, providing the player with information on the FOXHOUND members Snake faces. Being Gray Fox's adopted sister, she attempted to get revenge on Snake for nearly killing her brother during the original Metal Gear games. When instructed to inject Snake with the FOXDIE virus, she secretly modifies it so that it will kill Snake at

9537-467: Is the playable character once more. Solid Snake was voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in the Japanese version and by David Hayter in the English translation. Gray Fox ( グレイ・フォックス , Gurei Fokkusu , spelled "Grey Fox" in the MSX2 versions) as a high-ranking agent of FOXHOUND with the "Fox" codename being the highest distinction within the unit. He first appears in the MSX2 games where his face portrait

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9724-548: Is the primary character of the original series. In the original Metal Gear games, he is a rookie agent of FOXHOUND who was given the mission to find and destroy the Metal Gear located within Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land, leading to confrontations with his comrade Gray Fox and his superior Big Boss (the phantom in Outer Heaven and his father in Zanzibar Land). In the original Metal Gear Solid games, Snake gains

9911-464: Is the second commanding officer of FOXHOUND. He was introduced in Metal Gear 2 , in which he serves as Solid Snake's primary radio contact in the game. Campbell gives information about the mission objective and general gameplay tips for Zanzibar Land. In Metal Gear Solid , Campbell has more of a personal stake in the mission on Shadow Moses, as his niece Meryl Silverburgh is being held captive by Liquid Snake's revolutionary FOXHOUND team. In one of

10098-442: Is to rescue Donald Anderson and Kenneth Baker but he is unable to prevent both hostages' deaths. As the game progresses, Snake infiltrates and learns about Metal Gear REX while meeting up with rookie soldier Meryl Silverburgh and REX's engineer Hal Emmerich , confronts and defeats each member of the corrupt faction of FOXHOUND (consisting of Revolver Ocelot , Decoy Octopus , Psycho Mantis , Sniper Wolf , Vulcan Raven , and

10285-534: The Game Boy Color game released a decade later in 2000. Retro Gamer also included it among top ten MSX games. Jeremy Parish of 1UP.com referred to Metal Gear Solid as "basically a high-spec remake of Solid Snake ." Nickolai Adkins of 1UP also noted how much of the scenario and plot elements in Solid Snake were recycled in Metal Gear Solid , ranging from "Snake emerging from retirement to rescue

10472-629: The HD remastered version of Metal Gear Solid 3 released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011 and PlayStation Vita in 2012 . Solid Snake was also released for the Wii Virtual Console exclusively in Japan on March 30, 2010 . Like all Virtual Console games, Solid Snake is emulated from the original MSX2 hardware rather than being ported from the mobile phone version like

10659-536: The Manhattan Project , and his father was born on the day of the Hiroshima bombing . Otacon had developed a strong attraction to FOXHOUND member Sniper Wolf. Distraught that Snake would have to kill her, Otacon eventually came to terms with her, himself, and his position in life. With Otacon's assistance, Snake was able to destroy REX and defeat the terrorist uprising. According to the in-universe novel In

10846-458: The Metal Gear version. Meryl's partner in Policenauts , Dave Forrest, also shares the same given name Solid Snake has, whose true name is also Dave (David). In the final scenes of Metal Gear Solid , Meryl wears an orange goose down vest similar to the one Forrest wears in Policenauts . Character designer Yoji Shinkawa stated that the staff purposely avoided mentioning her directly in

11033-430: The Metal Gear weapon, resulting in encounters in the original Metal Gear games with Gray Fox and Big Boss in Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land. In the original Metal Gear Solid games, Solid Snake works with Otacon and Raiden while opposing Liquid Snake 's FOXHOUND, Solidus Snake, the Patriots and Revolver Ocelot . Additionally, the Metal Gear Solid prequels follow Big Boss's past as Naked Snake and development of

11220-442: The PlayStation . The first port of Solid Snake to another platform was the Japanese feature phone version released on October 1, 2004 as a downloadable app on i-mode , EZweb , and Yahoo! Mobile services. This version features a few additions over the original MSX2 version, such as an easy mode and an unlockable boss rush mode after clearing the main game once, but also include some other adjustments and changes, most notably

11407-537: The PlayStation 2 , an expanded edition of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater released in Japan in 2005 that included full ports of both, the original Metal Gear and Solid Snake , as part of its newly-added content. Subsistence would later be released in North America and Europe in 2006 with full English localizations of both MSX2 games, marking the first time that Solid Snake was given an international release. The two MSX2 games would later be included in

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11594-613: The Subsistence and HD Edition ports, although this version of the game has been patched to use the revised character portraits rather than the original ones. A port of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was released as a part of volume 1 of the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection for the Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 5 , Windows , and Xbox Series X/S on October 24, 2023. The game's music

11781-520: The Worlds of Power novelization series created by F.X. Nine , Solid Snake appears in the second in the series, based on Metal Gear . In the book, written by Alexander Frost , he is Marine Captain Justin Halley. This version of the character is non-canon and is not referenced by other versions. Solid Snake has appeared in a number of other games, including other Konami games. Hideo Kojima makes

11968-670: The world championships and the Olympics under her belt), Heffner was stripped of her competition rights after being caught in an attempt to seek political asylum in Canada with Frank Jaeger, and sought to redeem herself by joining the StB . She is escorting Dr. Marv to America when Zanzibar Land agents hijack their plane. Later in the game, she joins Solid Snake in rescuing Dr. Marv, but dies when Jaeger (as Gray Fox in Metal Gear D) destroys

12155-411: The " Metal Gear " is. As his mission progresses, Snake finds out that he has been set up; Big Boss's phantom intended to use TX-55 Metal Gear (the experimental, nuclear-armed weapon) to establish Outer Heaven as a nuclear power. After destroying the Metal Gear, Snake confronts and defeats Big Boss's phantom. The sequel Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake sees Solid Snake called up to infiltrate Zanzibar Land,

12342-516: The "Snake" name because snakes are a symbol of stealth. Additionally, the "Solid" part of his code-name was given to give the opposite impression of a soft image. Kojima has compared Snake's personality with Lupin III of Monkey Punch 's Lupin III franchise, stating that in " MGS , Snake became this sharp-tongued, Lupin III-like guy who flirted with women and told lots of jokes". His real name David

12529-426: The Big Shell. When Solidus Snake seized the Big Shell, he infiltrated the facility with SEAL Team 10 to find Emma who was among the hostages. He managed to be reunited with her, but she died shortly afterwards, due to stab wounds inflicted by Vamp. Before her death, Emma admitted to always admiring Hal and wanting to follow in his footsteps. Despite falling into deep despair, Snake encouraged him to move on and rescue all

12716-455: The CIS Army. Kasler's service earns him a lasting reputation in the mercenary community; only mercenaries who have worked with him can be truly recognized as the best in the world. Johan Jacobsen ( ヨハン・ヤコブセン , Yohan Yakobusen ) , named Yozev Norden ( ヨゼフ・ノルデン , Yozefu Noruden ) in the MSX2 version, is a zoologist specializing in the preservation of all endangered species. He is

12903-614: The Darkness of Shadow Moses by Nastasha Romanenko, offered as a bonus feature with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , states that Snake and Meryl escaped together. Meryl returns in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots as the commander of Rat Patrol Team One (RAT PT 01), a fictional division of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command sent to investigate Liquid Ocelot's private military company activities. She

13090-502: The Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth , Otacon had allegedly left for Great Britain after the terrorist uprising to visit relatives. After the schematics for Metal Gear were placed on the black market by Revolver Ocelot , Snake and Otacon formed Philanthropy, an organization dedicated to the end of the proliferation of Metal Gear-type weapons. During the events of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , Otacon received an email in 2007 from his step-sister Emma, informing him of

13277-602: The English translation, the character was voiced by Greg Eagles (in Metal Gear Solid ), Rob Paulsen (in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes , Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ) and Larc Spies (in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel ). Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar ( ドラゴ・ペトロヴィッチ・マッドナー , Dorago Petorovitchi Maddonā , known simply as Dr. Petrovich in

13464-469: The Genome Soldiers), several confrontations with the Cyborg Ninja, is able to destroy REX, and personally confronts Liquid. During their fight, it is revealed that Solid and Liquid are twin brothers artificially conceived from Big Boss's genes during the "Les Enfants Terribles" government project designed to create the perfect soldier, in which one brother was genetically modified to be superior over

13651-526: The Internet. He became a big fan of anime , and started calling himself Otacon, short for the " Otaku Convention", which he never misses. He matriculated at MIT and earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University . During his college years, he was recruited by the FBI 's Engineering Research Facility, but was fired from his job after hacking into their classified database. Otacon was hired by Armstech, Inc. to be

13838-518: The Japanese version of Scribblenauts , having been published by Konami in that region. Customizations in Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3 allow the player character, Sackboy, to take on the appearance of Old Snake. In December 2020, Paul W. Anderson stated that his 2020 film Monster Hunter had been based on a 2010 Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker crossover event with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite , in which

14025-746: The Militaires Sans Frontières mercenary group. His backstory reveals his upbringing as the son of a US officer and a Japanese woman and also notes his brief service in the JSDF . Unlike Big Boss, Kaz is initially characterized as idealistic, believing in MSF's idea of a nation for soldiers free of political ideology. However, he's naïve in underestimating Cipher and assumes he can maintain a business relationship with Zero's organization. This comes into full effect with Miller in Metal Gear Solid V . Following MSF's destruction at Cipher's hands, Miller

14212-486: The OILIX data. Holly later tips him off that he actually died under Dr. Madnar's torture. In addition, Snake learns that Madnar volunteered his services to Zanzibar Land to finish work on Metal Gear as revenge against the scientific community shunning him after the events of the first game. Snake incapacitates Madnar when the latter attempts to attack him. Snake faces off against Gray Fox in Metal Gear D and eventually destroys

14399-470: The OILIX formula to Campbell. Following the success of the NES version of Metal Gear , which sold over a million units in North America, Konami began the development of a sequel for the same platform titled Snake's Revenge designed specifically for the overseas market. Hideo Kojima , who directed the first MSX2 game but was not involved with either of the two NES versions, did not have any plans to develop

14586-479: The Patriots , set in 2014. He and Sunny built a robotic companion to Snake called Metal Gear Mk. II , which he controlled remotely. The Mk. II was taken from a robotic character of the same name in Snatcher . He became romantically involved with Naomi Hunter through the course of the story although he once again lost her upon her suicide, thus forcing him yet again to witness the death of a woman he cared about. In

14773-424: The Patriots . Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots features an aged incarnation of the character who nicknamed himself Old Snake ( オールド・スネーク , Ōrudo Sunēku ) as the protagonist once again. Thanks to Otacon and Sunny , he wears a sneaking suit outfitted with "Octocamo" technology which allows him to blend with his environment as well as a face mask which alters his appearance. For his final mission, he

14960-518: The Patriots and protect Rose's and Raiden's son John. Following the Patriots' destruction, he reconciles with Meryl to walk down the aisle at his daughter's wedding. Outside the main canon, the character reprises his role as the reluctant commanding officer in the Game Boy Color game Metal Gear: Ghost Babel , a side-story which serves as an alternate sequel to the events of the original Metal Gear . He, Otacon and Mei Ling serve as Solid Snake's codec contacts in Super Smash Bros. Brawl . He also makes

15147-430: The Patriots' AI and fight through Ocelot's forces until Snake defeats Liquid's doppelgänger in hand-to-hand combat. Snake tried to commit suicide as his DNA contains a mutated FOXDIE virus that might trigger an epidemic, but Big Boss revealed a new variant overwrote the mutant version to which the two make up as father and son. David is told he still has a chance to live "not as a snake but as a man" so he decides to live out

15334-429: The Patriots. Using connections he had with an organization, he managed to steal Liquid Snake's corpse (which was missing its right arm) and dumped it into the sea. He continued to manage Philanthropy's activities while keeping Snake's survival a secret from the public. In 2009, he received another anonymous e-mail, this time from Liquid (while taking over Ocelot's mind), informing him about the development of Arsenal Gear in

15521-458: The Sega CD spells his name as Dr. Petrovich Modnar. Kyle Schneider ( カイル・シュナイダー , Kairu Shunaidā ) (known simply as Schneider in the original Metal Gear ) is the leader of a resistance movement against Outer Heaven in Metal Gear , who helps Solid Snake as a radio contact alongside fellow resistance members Diane ( ダイアン , Daian ) and Jennifer ( ジェニファー , Jenifā ) . He discovers

15708-547: The US but failed and was stripped of competition rights as a result. Afterwards, Jaeger developed a great deal of resentment toward his superiors, but was unaware that Gustava later joined the StB and is present in Zanzibar as Dr. Kio Marv 's bodyguard. During his and Snake's first direct encounter as enemies, Fox's piloting of the Metal Gear accidentally causes Gustava's death. After Snake destroys Metal Gear, Fox challenges Snake to

15895-534: The VR Missions DLC add-on for the game's Japanese version includes a new weapon that can be used by Raiden known as the Hebidamashi , a talking wooden sword which speaks with Solid Snake's voice (as portrayed by Akio Ōtsuka); the weapon was never made available for the English version. Outside video games, Solid Snake appeared in the Metal Gear Solid audio drama that focuses on his missions following

16082-527: The advanced Metal Gear D and confronts Snake a few times, while secretly assisting Snake as an anonymous informant. The character's past is fleshed out in this game: his civilian identity Frank Jaeger ( フランク・イェーガー , Furanku Yēgā , "Frank Yeager" in the MSX2 version) had a relationship with former Czech figure skater Gustava Heffner (Natasha Marcova in the MSX2 version) after they met in Calgary and fell in love. Gustava tried to seek asylum with him in

16269-412: The alert phase will go off and the game will return to normal. The player is given a variety of new maneuvers and tools to help them remain undetected and complete the game. For example, the player can now kneel and crawl in addition to walking, allowing the player to avoid making noise over certain terrains, pick up land mines, and hide in tight spaces such as under desks or inside air ducts. A radar with

16456-651: The algae to the World Energy Conference in Prague , and was on his way to a demonstration in the United States when he was kidnapped by soldiers from Zanzibar Land. Solid Snake is brought out of retirement by FOXHOUND's new commander Roy Campbell, and is sent to Zanzibar Land to rescue Dr. Marv. However, he dies of torture in his cell and leaves behind the OILIX documents for Snake to find. Holly White ( ホーリー・ホワイト , Hōrī Howaito , Horry White in

16643-464: The attention of the CIA. She infiltrates Zanzibar Land as a journalist and assists Solid Snake over the course of the mission. Gustava Heffner ( グスタヴァ・ヘフナー , Gusutava Hefunā ) , originally named Natasha Marcova ( ナターシャ・マルコバァ , Natāsha Marukobaa ) in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2 , is a former professional figure skater . Once known as one of the world's best figure skaters (with stints in

16830-586: The battle from Shadow Moses. He also appears in Alex Garner's comic book adaptations of Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 . Raymond Benson 's novelizations of these two games also feature Solid Snake; Benson's adaptation of the character frequently focuses on the comical aspects of his characterization. He also appears in Project Itoh 's novelization from Metal Gear Solid 4 where his actions are told from Hal Emmerich's point of view. In

17017-539: The best way to play the game is through the bonus disc of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence . The game mechanics of its sequel Metal Gear Solid , despite its transition to 3D , remained largely similar to its 2D predecessor and included plot summaries of the first two MSX2 games (accessible in the Special mode under "Previous Operations"). As such, Retro Gamer regarded Solid Snake to be "as close as anyone can get to playing Metal Gear Solid in 2D", putting it above

17204-557: The bridge she is on. George Kasler ( ジョージ・ケスラー , Jōji Kesurā , George Kesler in the MSX2 version) is FOXHOUND's resident strategist and advisor whose military career includes service with mercenaries from South Africa and the French Foreign Legion , plus a short stint in negotiation and combat intelligence-gathering. He is also a veteran of the 1997 Mercenary War of Independence in Zanzibar Land, fighting

17391-528: The central antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 4 as Liquid Ocelot ( リキッド・オセロット , Rikiddo Oserotto ) , and an ally of Venom Snake during Metal Gear Solid V . Playing a major role in the overall story, Ocelot often is working as a double or triple agent at any moment, with his overall intentions unclear. In Japanese, Revolver Ocelot was voiced by Kōji Totani (original depiction), Takumi Yamazaki (younger version), Satoshi Mikami (middle-aged version), and Banjō Ginga (Liquid Ocelot). In English, Revolver Ocelot

17578-464: The change from Solid Snake's character. On the other hand, 1UP.com criticized it as the most gracelessly aging characters as it gave negative messages about aging. 1UP.com listed their fight as the 13 "most dumbass" boss battles for its simple style in comparison to other more challenging bosses from Metal Gear Solid 3 and its excessive length for a hand-to-hand fight between two old people. The design resulted in mixed reactions regarding whether or not

17765-574: The character has been voiced by voice actor Akio Ōtsuka in the Japanese version and by Canadian-American screenwriter and actor David Hayter in the English version. He also appears in Nintendo 's Super Smash Bros. series as a playable fighter, as well as the battle royale game Fortnite . Considered to be one of the most iconic protagonists in video game history, Solid Snake has been acclaimed by critics, with his personality and both Ōtsuka's and Hayter's voice acting being noted as primary factors of

17952-706: The character he was given to portray. Other than the aforementioned voice actors, Solid Snake has also been dubbed in four different languages for the European localization of Metal Gear Solid ; in French by Emmanuel Bonami , in German by Stephan Grothgar , in Italian by Alessandro Ricci, and in Spanish by Alfonso Vallés . Solid Snake's character was very well received by gaming media. Retro Gamer included him in

18139-787: The character kept his original sex appeal. GameDaily made Solid Snake top their Smash Bros. characters list, while PLAY listed him as one of the characters they wanted to be playable in Mortal Kombat . The character customization in Soulcalibur IV that allowed to create Solid Snake was listed by UGO as one of the best ones from the series owing to his popularity within gamers. Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek ranked Solid Snake as 12th of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters, and stated that "bringing Snake in Smash Bros.

18326-515: The character was thought to be the game's protagonist because of his physical resemblances with Naked Snake. However, later previews speculated how was it impossible for Solid Snake to be in the game's settings, leading to the conclusion it was a young incarnation of his father. A comparison between Solid Snake's and Big Boss's characters was made by IGN in article "Stars Thunderdome: Snake vs. Big Boss." The character's appearance in Metal Gear Solid 4 has received mostly positive opinions. Before it

18513-438: The character's appeal. In the early games, Solid Snake's visual appearances were references to popular actors. He was given his own consistent design in Metal Gear Solid . He also establishes Philanthropy, an anti-Metal Gear organization carrying the motto "To let the world be", with his friend Otacon . In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots , he has access to OctoCamo, which allows him to change his appearance to match

18700-603: The character's survival. In Metal Gear Solid 4 , Old Snake is modelled after Lee Van Cleef who appeared in Escape from New York . In the games, Solid Snake has been voiced by Akio Ōtsuka in the Japanese version, and by David Hayter in the English adaptations. When working in Captain Planet , Hayter met the casting director of this show, Kris Zimmerman , who would later also be the voice-over director for Metal Gear games. When debuting in Metal Gear Solid , Hayter

18887-556: The course of his mission, Snake teams up with Holly White, a CIA operative posing as a journalist, and Gustava Heffner, an StB agent and Dr. Marv's bodyguard. He is also reunited with Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar, the Metal Gear inventor from Outer Heaven , who claims to have been once again kidnapped and forced to work on another Metal Gear project (named Metal Gear D) for Zanzibar Land, as well as oversee mass-production of smaller, non-nuclear-equipped Metal Gear units. Snake learns from Dr. Madnar that Big Boss, Snake's former superior, survived

19074-494: The days when her uncle and Solid Snake were members as the unit's heyday, and wears a paint tattoo of the unit's old logo on her left shoulder. She joined the armed forces after graduating high school and received extensive psychotherapy to prevent any attraction to the opposite sex. Her weapon of choice is a Desert Eagle pistol. She was recruited by the Next-Generation Special Forces (Genome Soldiers),

19261-466: The deed. During the game's main portion, Solidus Snake steals Snake's identity, and leads the "Sons of Liberty" (consisting of Revolver Ocelot, Fortune , Fatman , Vamp and Olga Gurlukovich ) while Snake himself uses the pseudonym Iroquois Pliskin ( イロコィ・プリスキン , Irokoi Purisukin ) as a non-playable character who assists rookie agent Raiden through the remote offshore Big Shell facility and in taking down Solidus and RAY while also learning about

19448-519: The designer. Once Shinkawa showed his artwork of Old Snake to the staff, they were all also surprised by the idea of playing as an old version of the character. However, they were satisfied with the end product as the staff began to like the character. In Metal Gear Solid 4 , one of Kojima's endings would have had Snake and Otacon turn themselves in for breaking the law, and subsequently they would be convicted and executed. However, comments from Kojima's staff who were disappointed with his death resulted in

19635-556: The development of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake . In order to accurately portray realism in the game, Kojima and his crew consulted various references, including a former Green Beret turned author, and even participated in a series of survival games in a forest located in a mountain near their workplace. Originally Solid Snake was announced with a February to March 1990 release window, but was delayed to July, undergoing an increase in ROM size from 3-Megabit to 4-Megabit. Development of Solid Snake

19822-416: The dialogue in Metal Gear Solid , became attached to the series. Various Metal Gear Solid games have been expanded upon in remakes and other media, such as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes , Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel , Metal Gear Solid 2: Digital Graphic Novel , and Metal Gear Online . Solid Snake ( ソリッド・スネーク , Soriddo Sunēku ) , real name David ( デイビッド , Deibiddo ) ,

20009-559: The end of the story. She also appears in Metal Gear Online as a playable character. Meryl Silverburgh was voiced by Kyoko Terase in the Japanese version and by Debi Mae West in the English translation. Naomi Hunter ( ナオミ・ハンター , Naomi Hantā ) , nicknamed Dr. Naomi ( ドクター・ナオミ , Dokutā Naomi ) by her staff as opposed to the more formal Dr. Hunter, is a geneticist by practice, and specializes in nanotechnology-based gene therapy. In Metal Gear Solid , she

20196-584: The events of the Outer Heaven incident. The bosses of this installment consist of Black Color (Black Ninja in later versions), an experimental drug-enhanced ninja from a disbanded NASA project (who is revealed to be Kyle Schneider from the original Metal Gear ); Running Man, a former Olympic runner turned terrorist; Red Blaster, an explosive expert from Spetsnaz ; Ultra Box (the Four Horsemen in later version), an assassination squad specializing in confined spaces; Predator (Jungle Evil in later versions),

20383-476: The events of the first game and now leads Zanzibar Land. As Snake, Heffner, and Dr. Madnar head toward Zanzibar Land's main prison, Heffner is killed by a missile fired by Metal Gear D and Dr. Madnar is recaptured by the enemy. The new Metal Gear's pilot is revealed to be Gray Fox. Determined to finish his mission, Snake fights against Zanzibar Land's elite mercenary force and manages to reach Dr. Marv's cell. Snake arrives too late, as he finds Dr. Marv's corpse and

20570-431: The faces of Snake and the radio contact he's currently communicating with. The player can also talk to children living in the fortress to gain new information; the player is penalized with a loss of health if they kill a child. The areas are more varied than in the previous MSX2 game and a number of puzzles must be fulfilled to complete the game, such as luring a carrier pigeon with a specific kind of ration, chasing after

20757-466: The finale, Otacon told Snake that he will live with Snake for the remainder of his life, to serve as a witness of his existence. By the time of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in 2018, Otacon is mentioned to have officially adopted Sunny. Outside of the Metal Gear series, Otacon has made guest appearances in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate , where he was one of Solid Snake's support crew available through taunting. Otacon

20944-410: The first game, enemy soldiers can now patrol different screens across a single map. Moreover, guards now have an expanded field of vision of 45 degrees, along with the ability to turn their heads left or right to see diagonally. The enemy can also detect sounds, with the enemy able to hear any noise made by the player, such as a punch to the wall and gunshots made without a suppressor, and will investigate

21131-488: The first sequel to Metal Gear Solid so that it could follow either of the two endings from the first game. Meryl is first introduced as the teenage daughter of Roy Campbell's deceased brother, Matt Campbell, who died during the Gulf War . Born to a house of military traditions, Meryl trained herself throughout her childhood in the 'arts' of soldiery. She admired the FOXHOUND unit (a high-tech special forces group), viewing

21318-437: The first time that characters were given voice actors, with Solid Snake and Naked Snake being voiced by Akio Ōtsuka . Ōtsuka remembers being surprised during his debut as a result of the large amount of dialogue Snake was given. In the English adaptations, the casting was directed by Kris Zimmerman and supervised by a member from Konami. Solid Snake's English voice actor was David Hayter , who, despite having issues with some of

21505-427: The game surpassed its predecessor Metal Gear in every way. In addition to praising the gameplay, he also praised the game's "gripping, well written storyline" for its "rich characterization" and its "same quality of storytelling that made MGS so compelling." He concluded that players will not be disappointed by "the great gameplay and story," and that it remains "one of the best 8 bit games ever made." Game Informer

21692-410: The game's cast has been positive, as publications have praised their personalities and roles within the series. Much as Metal Gear began as a pastiche of action movies of the time, characters were pastiches of contemporary action movie heroes. Once Shinkawa started designing the characters in PlayStation 's Metal Gear Solid , they were given their respective established visual appearances. As

21879-476: The game's endings, he reveals Meryl is his daughter, the result of an affair between himself and his late brother's wife. In Metal Gear Solid 2 , he is impersonated by an elaborate AI constructed by supercomputer GW within Arsenal Gear for the Patriots who poses as Raiden's commanding officer and only communicates via codec. In Metal Gear Solid 3 , Campbell is not involved in the main story but he makes

22066-486: The game, Null fights with Naked Snake twice. Snake eventually realizes that Null was a boy in Mozambique that used his innocence as a cover to kill dozens of government soldiers with only a knife while speaking a small amount of German, leading to the name "Frank Jaeger" (German for "Frank Hunter"). Snake defeats Jaeger and sends him somewhere outside of FOX for help. The game's backstory contradicts his true backstory as

22253-421: The game, with Kojima being inspired by the movie Sacco & Vanzetti in regards to how the duo use death as a penalty for how they are criminals rather than heroes. While the novel retained this idea, the ending in the game was changed with Snake and Otacon surviving. Following Kojima's departure from Konami, the company indicated that it does not intend to produce further Metal Gear games with Solid Snake as

22440-443: The games relate Solid Snake's ideals with Hideo Kojima's. During Metal Gear Solid 2 , Snake encourages Raiden to trust himself in making his own choices with the former representing the veteran developer and the latter the younger staff who are to decide whether a sequel to the series would be made without Kojima. In Metal Gear Solid 4 , Snake tries to protect the next generation by stopping Ocelot which represented Kojima working with

22627-580: The hostages held in the Big Shell. Apparently, he was successful in this and stays in contact to support Raiden until he defeated Solidus. When Snake met Otacon at their hideout, he was given the disk that contained data on the Wisemen's Committee to look over, which included names and whereabouts. After this (the ending note), Otacon told Snake about the information on the disc: the twelve members had been dead for about 100 years. Otacon appeared once more as Old Snake's support man in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of

22814-495: The identity of Outer Heaven's leader, but is silenced before he can mention his name. In Metal Gear 2 , Schneider appears under the guise of Black Ninja ( ブラック・ニンジャ , Burakku Ninja ) (Black Color ( ブラック・カラー , Burakku Karā ) in the original MSX2 version), a high-tech ninja under the service of Zanzibar Land and the first boss in the game. Solid Snake defeats him during a battle, but does not learn his true identity until he collapses. He then reveals to Snake that NATO led

23001-449: The kidnapped Czechoslovak biologist Dr. Kio Marv from the forces of Zanzibar Land. He is assisted by a radio support crew consisting of Roy Campbell , his new commanding officer; McDonnell Miller , a survival coach and drill instructor; George Kesler ("George Kasler" in later versions), a military strategist; and Yozev Norden (renamed Johan Jacobsen in the later revised versions), a wildlife expert. Also assisting him on-site are Holly White,

23188-406: The last 30 years." Critics have commented on his traits and appearance, often praising Solid Snake for his appealing personality. Rich Knight and Gus Turner from Complex acknowledged him as one of the best video game mascot, praising his "deep, human emotion that other characters fail to match." IGN also remarked their rivalry, saying "Few rivalries in games have spanned as massive and confusing

23375-597: The lead engineer for the Metal Gear REX project. He jumped at the chance to make an actual mecha type robot, which appears frequently in the anime he enjoys. He was led to believe that it was a mobile defense system, but in reality it was a nuclear doomsday weapon . During the events of Metal Gear Solid , Otacon encountered Solid Snake who had informed him of the true nature of Metal Gear REX. Devastated, Otacon realized that he had written yet another chapter in his family's dark history—his grandfather had worked on

23562-560: The likes of Huey and Quiet of betrayal and calling for the defectors' deaths. Miller takes little satisfaction with vengeance on Skull Face but nevertheless believes in Diamond Dogs' cause. However, his faith is shaken with the revelation that a body double was used for Big Boss which ultimately prompted him to reject Big Boss. Miller's later years has him serving as a survival coach within FOXHOUND while acting as Solid Snake's mentor in Metal Gear 2 before he's murdered for Liquid Snake's identity theft in Metal Gear Solid . The character in

23749-415: The mech. Both men later fight hand-to-hand in a minefield, and Snake defeats him. As he tries to escape, Snake meets Big Boss. Having lost his equipment and with no weapons at his disposal, Snake is forced to improvise using the only items he can find: a lighter and aerosol can. Fashioning a makeshift flamethrower , Snake defeats Big Boss for the second time. Snake and Holly escape together, and they deliver

23936-404: The new prototype Metal Gear RAY. The e-mail was actually a trap for the Patriots to lure Solid Snake out of hiding and frame him for terrorism, by having Ocelot hijack RAY and place the blame on Snake with forged evidence. When the tanker was destroyed by Ocelot, Otacon took a boat and managed to save Snake, as well as Olga Gurlukovich . Otacon was forced to fake Snake's death after he was framed by

24123-616: The nuclear strike capabilities and later is a founding member of the non-profit Philanthropy organization while dealing with more personal problems. Hal Emmerich was born in 1980 to Dr. "Huey" Emmerich and Dr. Strangelove, a pair of former scientists. When Hal was still young, Huey attempted using him as a test pilot for the Metal Gear ST-84, as the machine could only be piloted by a child. Strangelove vehemently opposed this, leading to an argument between Hal's parents and to Huey ultimately killing Strangelove. Years later, Huey married

24310-607: The original Metal Gear and Dr. Pettrovich Madnar in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2 ) is an Eastern engineer. He's responsible for creating the TX-55 Metal Gear mecha in the original Metal Gear , as well as the TX-11 Arnold (Bloody Brad) androids. Dr. Madnar is one of the hostages Snake must rescue along with his daughter Ellen ( エレン , Eren ) . In Metal Gear 2 , Dr. Madnar bitterly defects to Zanzibar Land and develops Metal Gear D after being rejected by

24497-512: The original Metal Gear Solid game and answer a series of trivia questions after fulfilling the mission. If all the questions are answered correctly on the Normal difficulty setting, the mission can be replayed with his low-polygon model from Metal Gear Solid in place of his father's standard character model. The Phantom Pain also shows that his low-polygon model from Metal Gear Solid can be an alternate outfit for Venom Snake after transferring

24684-475: The original Metal Gear Solid games as Shalashaska ( シャラシャーシカ , Sharashāshika ) where he acts as Liquid Snake's right-hand man within FOXHOUND during Metal Gear Solid , Solidus Snake's right-hand man and the Patriots' agent during Metal Gear Solid 2 , both Naked Snake's friendly rival and the Philosophers' triple agent during Metal Gear Solid 3 as Major Ocelot ( オセロット少佐 , Oserotto-shōsa ) ,

24871-782: The original Cyborg Ninja's exoskeleton appears as a downloadable content skin for Raiden in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance , and Venom Snake in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain . Kojima was interested in developing a game with Gray Fox as the main playable character. In the Japanese version, the character was voiced by Kaneto Shiozawa (in Metal Gear Solid ), Jun Fukuyama (in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops ) and Takumi Yamazaki (in Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel ). In

25058-744: The original MSX2 release of Metal Gear 2 , the character portraits for various characters were based on the likeness of various movie characters: Solid Snake was based on Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon , Big Boss based on Sean Connery in The Hunt for Red October , Grey Fox based on Tom Berenger in Platoon , Roy Campbell based on Richard Crenna in Rambo , and Holly White based on Brenda Bakke in Gunhed . The MSX2 version of Solid Snake

25245-533: The original MSX2 version) is an American freelance journalist. Born from a French mother and an English father, she became interested in literature at an early age and was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her coverage in Afghanistan plus an Emmy Award (mistakenly referred to in the original manual as a Grammy Award) for her documentary Unknown Bloodstream . Her newfound fame eventually gets her

25432-559: The original version of Solid Snake, other characters' designs were more time-consuming. During their debuts, player characters Solid Snake and Raiden are meant to represent the player, while in following games, they acquire more defined personalities. As a result of Snake's increasing experience in combat across the series, Kojima attempted creating more challenging antagonists for the boss battles . This resulted in Big Boss's clones from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 that had

25619-421: The other characters also helped expand Solid Snake's character. His interactions with veteran Solid Snake identify the former as "a Metal Gear fan". As the game progresses it is stated that Raiden "has become Snake", having developed skills similar to those he gained from taking part in the Big Shell's fights that resemble Metal Gear Solid ' s Shadow Moses Island. Before Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater ,

25806-467: The other. Liquid harbors a strong resentment towards Snake since Solid was apparently given their father's dominant "soldier genes" and Liquid was seemingly cast aside. A grueling series of battles and Liquid dies from the FOXDIE virus that was previously implanted into Snake by Naomi Hunter in order to wipe out FOXHOUND without risking any damage to REX for retrieval. In the end, it is revealed that Liquid got Big Boss's superior "soldier genes" while Solid

25993-419: The player, he must act alone, supported via radio by commanding officers and specialists. While his first appearances in the original Metal Gear games were references to Hollywood films, the Metal Gear Solid series has given a consistent design by artist Yoji Shinkawa alongside an established personality while also exploring his relationship with his mentor and father . During the Metal Gear Solid games,

26180-426: The poor relationship between the two of them as the father attempts to murder his own son. Among other character relationships, Snake and Gray Fox were popular due to the varitey of enemies the player faces. Solid Snake's Metal Gear Solid 2 design was at the bottom of the worst game character makeovers list by GamePro , condemning his conversion in hairstyle in comparison to his Metal Gear Solid design, and

26367-473: The popular fighting game series Super Smash Bros. , Solid Snake appeared as a playable fighter alongside Sega character Sonic the Hedgehog and a variety of characters from Nintendo franchises such as Mario , The Legend of Zelda , and Donkey Kong . Brawl Director Masahiro Sakurai has stated that Snake was included under Kojima's request, and that he had talked to Sakurai about adding Snake to

26554-464: The prequels was voiced by Tomokazu Sugita in the Japanese version and by Robin Atkin Downes in the English translation. Dr. Kio Marv ( キオ・マルフ , Kio Marufu ) is a Czechoslovak biotechnologist. In the backstory of Solid Snake , Marv had successfully created a new algae species called OILIX that could produce petroleum-grade hydrocarbons with little expense and effort. Marv presented

26741-588: The production of the game's packaging illustration. In the in-game portrait of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake , he resembles Mel Gibson . Yoji Shinkawa 's Solid Snake design, characterized by his navy blue bandanna and "sneaking suit", would serve as the template for all future incarnations in later Metal Gear games. According to Shinkawa, Snake's physique in Metal Gear Solid was based on that of action star Jean-Claude Van Damme , while his facial appearance inspired by actor Christopher Walken . Shinkawa described his rendition of Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid as

26928-448: The protagonist; Kojima has himself stated that Solid Snake "is one character that I don't want to entrust to other people". Much as Metal Gear began as a pastiche of action movies of the time, Solid Snake began as a pastiche of action movie heroes. On the cover artwork of the original Metal Gear he resembles actor Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese in the 1984 film The Terminator , although Kojima claimed to have no involvement in

27115-411: The remainder of his life in peace, vowing that he will live long enough to see what the future holds for the new world he has helped create. The Metal Gear Solid prequels alludes to Solid Snake's existence; Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops has him briefly alluded in a prophetic vision as Naked Snake 's "son [who] will save the world" (after Liquid and/or Solidus as Big Boss's "son [who] will bring

27302-491: The rendition being completely changed. Leaving the character's butt being reduced. Akio Otsuka's and David Hayter's performances as Solid Snake's voice actors has received praise. Ōtsuka remembers being surprised during his debut as a result of the large amount of dialogue Solid Snake was given. Hayter's performance was called one of the greatest in gaming as well as one of the character's most recognizable traits. In 2013, Game Informer ranked Hayter's role as Solid Snake as

27489-485: The replacement of the portraits used during the conversation sequences. While the portraits in the MSX2 version were modeled after real life celebrities, the new portraits were instead designed to more closely resemble Metal Gear Solid illustrator Yoji Shinkawa 's character designs in the later installments. These changes would also be implemented in the version included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence for

27676-472: The roster of the previous game Super Smash Bros. Melee , which did not materialize due to the game being too far into production. Snake returned as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate , after being absent in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U . In addition, Snake has appeared as a playable character in other Konami crossover titles, such as New International Track & Field and Super Bomberman R . Old Snake has appeared in

27863-647: The same abilities as Solid Snake, the legendary Cobra Unit from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater who participated in World War II , and the Beauty and the Beast Corps from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots that had few human traits. While villains during the first games were given detailed backstories, the Cobra Unit members were intended to have little information known about them, resulting in

28050-545: The save data from Ground Zeroes . David is also alluded to in association with Eli during a conversation between Big Boss and Revolver Ocelot. Solid Snake also serves as the protagonist in Snake's Revenge , a sequel to the original Metal Gear for the NES released for the western market in 1990 and developed without Kojima's involvement. Set three years after the events of the Outer Heaven incident, Snake's Revenge has Snake leading

28237-549: The scientific community. He comes in contact with Solid Snake in the game while posing as a hostage, but attacks him after the truth is revealed. His name is mentioned in Metal Gear Solid 4 as the scientist who saved Raiden's life after he was turned into a cyborg. A character with the same name also plays a supporting role in Hideo Kojima's adventure game Snatcher , although the English-language version for

28424-467: The section "top ten forces of good" in their 2004 list of top 50 retro game heroes. In 2005, Electronic Gaming Monthly listed Solid Snake as number one as the top ten video game characters of all time. Solid Snake appeared in multiple GameFAQs "Character Battle" contests, and was runner-up in three: the "Character Battle V" in 2006, the "Character Battle VII" in 2008, and the "Character Battle IX" in 2013. In an Oricon poll from 2008, his character

28611-507: The seventh most memorable character voice in video games for "a portrayal that's considered to be a real classic in the history of video game voice acting". In 2024, a poll conducted by BAFTA with around 4,000 respondents named Solid Snake as the fourteenth most iconic video-game character of all time. In the Tekken 7 Evo 2019 finals, the character was used to have a chat with developer Katsuhiro Harada . The organizers of Evo stated this

28798-417: The slack. To counter the problem, Czech scientist Dr. Kio Marv bio-engineers a new species of algae , OILIX, that could produce petroleum-grade hydrocarbons with little expense and effort. He unveils the algae to the World Energy Conference in Prague and was on his way to a demonstration in the United States when he was kidnapped by soldiers from Zanzibar Land, a Central Asian country established in 1997 after

28985-399: The source of the sound once it is made. They can also detect sounds made from the player walking on certain surfaces, which means players need to be careful about what surfaces they walk on. If the player is discovered by the enemy, then a counter will be displayed on the upper right side of the screen that will go down after the enemy has lost track of the player. When the counter reaches zero,

29172-471: The staff to avoid bugs from occurring within the game. Kojima introduced the cloning origins of Snake to Metal Gear Solid in order to provide Snake with an adversary who would be his equal, since the story, being a continuation of the original MSX2 games, established Snake as an experienced soldier. Kojima explained that his decision to introduce a new playable character in Snake's place for Metal Gear Solid 2

29359-400: The staff, as they had to make the faces more realistic. When illustrating characters, Shinkawa does not focus on minor details (such as eyes, which he sometimes tries not to draw), instead illustrating something more symbolic. While Solid Snake remained easy to illustrate as a result of him having a consistent design, and Big Boss's younger self, Naked Snake, was conceived via minor changes to

29546-462: The surface he is leaning on. And FaceCamo, which can change his facial appearance to make him look like other characters, as well as his younger self. Snake possesses an IQ of 180 and is fluent in six languages. Solid Snake has been on the battlefield for most of his life, and says that it is the only place he feels truly alive. He is a hardened veteran, burying his emotions within himself during missions, every one of which has different motives. He

29733-410: The top of their 2009 list of manliest men in video game history. Complex ranked him as fourth on the list of top "pervs" in games in 2012 and as the seventh greatest soldier in video games in 2013. In 2021, Chris Morgan for Yardbarker described Snake as one of "the most memorable characters from old school Nintendo games". HobbyConsolas named Snake as third of their "The 30 best heroes of

29920-495: The torture section, Snake rescues a wounded Meryl in the final section of the game and they escape the facility together before their jeep crashes with Liquid Snake's, allowing them to have their deaths faked by Roy and Mei Ling. However, if the player submits to the torture, Snake discovers that Meryl has died during her imprisonment and he leaves her body to be buried by the collapsing structure with REX's remains. When Snake informs Campbell of Meryl's death, Campbell reveals that Meryl

30107-421: The use of a prototype railgun attached to his arm. However, Fox is mortally wounded and begs Snake to kill him and destroy REX with a Stinger , but Snake refuses to shoot. Saying goodbye to his comrade, Fox is killed by REX. Raiden initially believed the original Cyborg Ninja was alive in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty during Solidus Snake's Manhattan incident before learning that the person in question

30294-430: The vice-president of the fictional Worldwide Animal Rights Federation and works for the science magazine Maxwell . He is revealed to have been acquainted with Dr. Madnar since their college days and is in Zanzibar Land to study indigenous animals. Revolver Ocelot ( リボルバー・オセロット , Riborubā Oserotto ) is a recurring gunslinger antagonist during the Metal Gear Solid games. He is a major nemesis of Solid Snake during

30481-494: The weapons and equipment from the first game are brought over along with new items such as robotic mice used to distract enemies, a camouflaged mat and three different types of rations , each with special attributes. Health and carrying capacity are increased each time a boss is defeated. The transceiver has also been greatly revamped from the first game as well, with conversations now being context-sensitive rather than being simply area-oriented. The transceiver screen now displays

30668-521: The world to ruin"), and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker shows Kazuhira Miller mentioning the "twin sons" that are two years old at the time. Solid Snake is featured/mentioned in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain . The unlockable bonus mission "Déjà Vu" on the PlayStation platform and later Xbox platform of Ground Zeroes in which Naked Snake must re-enact situations from

30855-601: Was a joke as many fans believed it was a hint for a possible usage of the character as downloadable content. David Hayter complained about this joke as Evo did not consult Konami or him when using the audio. List of characters in the Metal Gear series#Roy Campbell The Metal Gear franchise features a large number of characters created by Hideo Kojima and designed by Yoji Shinkawa . Its setting features several soldiers with supernatural powers provided by scientific advancements. The series initially follows mercenary Solid Snake given government missions of finding

31042-425: Was actually his biological daughter, conceived from an affair between him and his sister-in-law, and this secret was kept from Meryl by her biological parents and they never get the chance to tell her in this alternate ending (the subject of Meryl's paternity is brought up again in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance during "Confidential Legacy", one of the non-canonical Snake Tales missions). The fictional publication In

31229-410: Was actually the inferior one. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty shows Solid Snake as a central character. During the game's extensive prologue sequence, he is sent by Otacon's anti- proliferation organization Philanthropy to infiltrate a cargo tanker and photograph Metal Gear RAY . During the operation, however, RAY is hijacked and the tanker destroyed, with Snake apparently dead and framed for

31416-526: Was also at the top of IGN 's list of the worst video game haircuts. The book Playing with Videogames states that Raiden's inclusion was intended to surprise Metal Gear fans who, instead of playing as Snake, played as his opposite. Writer James Newman commented that fans' reactions were highly negative; they acted as though Kojima had betrayed their expectations. He compared Raiden to the controversial Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks . Eurogamer ' s Tom Bramwell commented that his interactions with

31603-408: Was an act of pure dominance." Jeremy Parish of Polygon ranked 73 fighters from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate "from garbage to glorious", listing Solid Snake as 18th, stating that "The legendary super-soldier Solid Snake remains one of gaming's greatest and most tragic figures." People expressed some disappointment on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate when Solid Snake wears a skintight stealth suit, and

31790-522: Was briefly suspended in order to help out on the development of SD Snatcher , which was being developed at the same time by a separate team. Kojima originally wanted the title of the sequel to be simply Solid Snake , the decision to use the protagonist's name for the title of a sequel being inspired by the Indiana Jones movie series, but Metal Gear 2 was added as a fore-title under the insistence of Konami's sales and marketing department. In

31977-442: Was done in order to develop Snake from another character's perspective, but also to avoid treating Snake as a rookie by having a new character be instructed via Codec instead. Snake was written to act as father figure not only to protect those he cares but also leave a message for the future generation despite his imminent death. As a pacifist message, Snake's stress increases when killing enemies. Snake and Otacon were meant to die in

32164-457: Was impressed by the game's cutscenes and the amount of dialogue. One of Snake's lines that Hayter liked was "I just didn't expect a world-class designer of military technology to be so… cute." when Snake interacts with Mei Ling, believing it showed a more fun side of him. Solid Snake's English voice was inspired by Hayter's experience with Japan's storytelling, resulting in minor changes for the script. Hayter himself felt shocked when Sons of Liberty

32351-467: Was modeled after actor Tom Berenger . In the first game , he goes missing during a mission to Outer Heaven , with his last transmission being a cryptic message simply saying "Metal Gear". Fox is later rescued by Solid Snake, and reveals the TX-55 Metal Gear's true nature to the player. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake revealed that Gray Fox left FOXHOUND and defected to Zanzibar Land. Fox pilots

32538-414: Was more critical of the game, however, giving it a 7 out of 10. They wrote that in order to reach the most pivotal moments in the game's story, "you must endure some of the most ridiculous situations Solid Snake has ever seen," and that "the game's focus on constant backtracking and keycard acquisition makes it too repetitive." They concluded that "only diehard fans will find the experience rewarding" and that

32725-484: Was one of the easiest Metal Gear characters for him to draw, as his appearance is consistent across games with only minor changes. According to Kojima, Snake's character model was specifically designed to have a well-sculpted buttocks, as the player spends the majority of the game staring at the character's back from a third-person view . By the time Metal Gear Solid 4 started development, Kojima told Shinkawa about his idea of making Snake look elderly, which surprised

32912-498: Was one of the few gaming characters that aged across video games. GamePro also listed Old Snake as one of the biggest surprises from the game, as the character was found interesting in contrast to pessimistic thoughts they had before the game's release. GameDaily listed the "old hero" as one of their list of top video game archetypes, using the old version of the character as an example of this. PLAY gave praise to his moustache considering how highly detailed it is, and represents

33099-441: Was released as the narrative focused more on newcomer Raiden rather than him. Although there were no news about Snake's future role in Metal Gear , the actor believes Guns of the Patriots gave the character a proper closure. One of Snake's final scenes in this game bothered Hayter as during the ending the character hesitates to kill himself despite having killed multiple enemies in fights. Nevertheless, Hayter stated that he "loves"

33286-501: Was released in Japan on July 20, 1990. Unlike the first MSX2 game, no official English localization was produced (as Konami had already discontinued sales of their MSX games in Europe), although a fan translation was later produced in 1997 by the MSX hobbyist group G&T International. Unofficial imports of the game had reached Europe by 1996, with some fans at the time requesting a port for

33473-476: Was released, various speculations were made regarding his role. As he was the only one who suffered from a drastic change in appearance, IGN commented that the most famous rumor was the one of his body deteriorating across the game. Moreover, since it had been announced it would be his last appearance, IGN and GamesRadar wondered whether the character would die during the game and if Raiden would replace him following his death. GamesRadar commented that his character

33660-407: Was shot and subsequently captured by FOXHOUND member Sniper Wolf. In an attempt to rescue Meryl and complete his mission, Snake engaged in a sniping duel with Wolf and was eventually lured into an ambush by her where he was also captured. Snake is then put through a series of torture trials by Revolver Ocelot; at this point, the player's actions dictate Meryl's fate. If the player successfully completes

33847-589: Was taken prisoner and placed on the same holding cell level with ArmsTech President Kenneth Baker who gave her the card needed to activate REX. She manages to escape confinement and meets up with Snake, and the two eventually begin working together. Meryl manages to stay hidden by disguising herself as one of the Genome Soldiers using the clothes she stole from Johnny Sasaki, the guard that was watching her cell. When Psycho Mantis takes control of Meryl's mind, Snake knocks her out before fighting Mantis. Later Meryl

34034-714: Was used for the VR training disc in Metal Gear Solid: Integral (which was released in North America as Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions ). Additionally, Integral features two hidden tunes based on Solid Snake available via a secret codec frequency in the main game. One is an arranged version of the "Theme of Solid Snake", while the other is an arrangement of "Zanzibar Breeze" (both listenable by contacting CODEC frequency 140.66 in certain locations). "Theme of Solid Snake" also made an appearance in Nintendo 's 2008 crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Brawl and

34221-571: Was voiced by Hideyuki Tanaka in the Japanese version and by Christopher Randolph in the English translation. Meryl Silverburgh ( メリル・シルバーバーグ , Meriru Shirubābāgu ) in the Metal Gear series is based on a supporting character of the same name in Hideo Kojima 's earlier game Policenauts (1994) where the character was originally designed by Tomiharu Kinoshita. Kojima liked the character so much that he used her name, likeness, voice actress ( Kyoko Terase ) and other characteristics for

34408-427: Was voiced by Patric Zimmerman (original depiction and Liquid Ocelot), Joshua Keaton (younger version), and Troy Baker (middle-aged version). Hal Emmerich ( ハル・エメリッヒ , Haru Emerihhi ) , nicknamed Otacon ( オタコン , Otakon ) , is a recurring character in the Metal Gear Solid series and Solid Snake's close friend. He is introduced as an employee of ArmsTech and Metal Gear REX 's engineer that learns of

34595-424: Was voted as the fourth most popular video game character. In 2011, Empire ranked Solid Snake as the 19th greatest video game character, adding that "beginning as an action pastiche, he swiftly evolved into his very own character". In 2007, ScrewAttack ranked him as the sixth "coolest" character in video games . 1UP.com listed him second in the list of top video game smokers, while GamesRadar placed him at

34782-524: Was voted as the most popular video game character in Japan, tying with Nintendo's Pikachu . In a Famitsu poll in 2010, Solid Snake was voted by readers as the most popular video game character. His character was amongst the last 16 contestants on the greatest video game hero on GameSpot contest held in 2009, and lost out to Gordon Freeman on a tiebreaker. In the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition from 2011, Solid Snake

34969-494: Was written by Konami Kukeiha Club members Tsuyoshi Sekito , Masahiro Ikariko, Mutsuhiko Izumi, Yuko Kurahashi, Tomoya Tomita, Kazuhiko Uehara, and Yuji Takenouchi . The cartridge for the MSX2 version carried a custom sound chip, the SCC (previously employed in games such as Nemesis 2 and Snatcher ), which enhanced the music and sound effects beyond the MSX's basic capabilities. Arranged music based on Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

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