Metal Gear Solid E-Book

Nicolas Courcier

• Herausgeber: Third Editions
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 478

Beschreibung

The Metal Gear series is unquestionably the pantheon of the great sagas of video games.

The Metal Gear Saga is one of the most iconic in the video game history. It’s been 25 years now that Hideo Kojima’s masterpiece is keeping us in suspens, thanks to its complex and deep scenario. As one of the pioneer of the stealth games, Metal Gear is its author shadow and present a varied content, a rich universe, some of the most memorable characters in video games, as well as a thorough attention to details. In this book you’ll find a complete panorama of the cult saga from Hideo Kojima, exploring all its facets: genesis of every iteration and trivia from the development, study of the scenario and analysis of the gameplay mechanics and themes.

This essential book offers a complete panorama of Hideo Kojima's cult saga!

EXTRACT

"In 1987, Kojima unveiled the first installment in the Metal Gear franchise for the MSX 2. This event would define his life forever. Before continuing with the creation of this franchise, the other works of this games designer deserve some consideration. In 1988, Snatcher was released on the MSX 2 and NEC PC-8801. This adventure game, similar to the interactive graphic novel, was inspired by Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) and the cyberpunk movement. Kojima’s interest in dense plotlines resurfaced. The game was subsequently remade for the PC Engine CD-Rom2 in 1992, and was enlivened by its use of voice acting. Snatcher was released in Europe and the United States on the Megadrive Mega-CD two years later. Its spiritual successor, Policenauts, appeared on the NEC PC-9821 in 1994, then on the PlayStation and 3DO in 1995 and the Saturn in 1996. For Hideo Kojima, Snatcher and Policenauts were major accomplishments in his career. He has retained a particular affection for these two games, so much so that they are frequently referenced in the Metal Gear series."

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Nicolas Courcier and Mehdi El Kanafi - Fascinated by print media since childhood, Nicolas Courcier and Mehdi El Kanafi wasted no time in launching their first magazine, Console Syndrome, in 2004. After five issues with distribution limited to the Toulouse region of France, they decided to found a publishing house under the same name. One year later, their small business was acquired by another leading publisher of works about video games. In their four years in the world of publishing, Nicolas and Mehdi published more than twenty works on major video game series, and wrote several of those works themselves: Metal Gear Solid. Hideo Kojima’s Magnum Opus, Resident Evil Of Zombies and Men, and The Legend of Final Fantasy VII and IX. Since 2015, they have continued their editorial focus on analyzing major video game series at a new publishing house that they founded together: Third.

Educated in law, Denis Brusseaux has worked as a journalist for fifteen years and is a specialist in the two arts that he loves: cinema and video games. He has contributed to the magazines Joypad and Videogamer, and the website DVDrama. He also co-wrote the 2012 film The Lookout (French title: Le Guetteur), which starred Daniel Auteuil and Mathieu Kassovitz.

Leseprobe

Metal Gear Solid. Hideo Kojima’s Magnum Opusby Denis Brusseaux, Nicolas Courciere and Mehdi El Kanafi is published by Third Éditions 32 rue d’Alsace-Lorraine, 31000 TOULOUSE, FRANCE [email protected] www.thirdeditions.com

Follow us: Third_Editions – Facebook.com/ThirdEditions

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

Any copy or reproduction, by any means, is a breach of copyright and liable to the penalties provided under the French Copyright Act No. 57-298 of 11 March 1957.

The Third logo is a trademark of Third Éditions, registered in France and other countries.

Editors: Nicolas Courcier and Mehdi El Kanafi Authors: Denis Brusseaux, Nicolas Courcier and Mehdi El Kanafi Chapter VIII: Damien Mecheri Proofreading and layout: Thomas Savary Covers: Nikita Kaun (classic) and Johann “Papayou” Biais (First Print) Cover layout: Frédéric Tomé Translated from French by: Jason Mulvaney (ITC Traductions)

This resource guide has been produced by Third Éditions as an homage to the great video game series Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid.

Its authors retrace the history to the video game series of Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid in this unique compendium, which reveals the inspiration, background and content of the games through reflections and original analyses.

Metal Gear Solid is a registered trademark of Konami Digital Entertainment. All rights reserved. The cover design is inspired by the artwork of Yoji Shinkawa, the character designer of Metal Gear Solid V: The Panthom Pain.

English edition, copyright 2017, Third Éditions. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 979-10-94723-61-6

FOREWORD

The Metal Gear saga can be easily summarized. Each game describes the adventures of a spy on a mission to neutralize a nuclear threat, which comes in the form of a Metal Gear, a bipedal tank equipped with nuclear weapons that can reach any location in the world. An ordinary enough synopsis, yet behind it lurks a series of untold, uncommon richness. Even though you play a secret agent in Metal Gear, it would be difficult to place this saga solely in the stealth genre or to reduce it to any other category on the basis of an isolated aspect. In the end, the only term that could suit it is the name of its creator: Hideo Kojima. Although the titles that make up the entire series have been developed by a team, its progenitor’s aura is so inextricably linked to his work that the game cannot be appreciated without studying the man behind it. The designer knew how to place his own personal mark on the series, which highlights the individuality of each episode beyond the realm of the traditional value judgment. From the storytelling and plot to the gameplay mechanics, nothing of what Kojima produced has an equal elsewhere in video games.

The mythology of the series is so rich and dense that it is only possible to grasp the different Metal Gear episodes through this prism alone. On the other hand, the universe of these games includes numerous real events and puts into perspective historical periods, organizations and well-known figures, such as the Cold War, the Pentagon and certain world leaders. But the illustrative power of the hero supplants the parallels that could be made with reality. The temporal context moves to the background and leaves the scene free for the characters to shape an exceptional fiction.

Metal Gear is not just a succession of games set against a similar backdrop, it is an endeavor created as a whole, aimed at transmitting clear messages. The series thus coincides with the development of a discourse, an aspiration, but it also attests to imperfections and failings. A creator’s soul is not plain; in fact, it is rough and marked by vicissitudes. The study of the Metal Gear series turns out to be as singular as the game it examines. In fact, despite the impossibility of being exhaustive, Konami’s official database fulfills this function very well. We wanted to avoid creating just an encyclopedic work, so our endeavor presents biases that could appear radical to some people, but their arrangement offers a cross-sectional insight into the franchise’s entire collection. Happy reading!

Nicolas Courcier and MehdiElKanafi

Nicolas Courcier and Mehdi El Kanafi were print media fans from a young age and did not wait long to launch their first magazine, Console Syndrome, in 2004. After five issues with a limited distribution in the Toulouse region, they decided to create a publishing house under the same name. A year later, the small business was bought by a major publisher in the area of video game guides and books. Over the next four years, Nicolas and Mehdi published more than twenty books devoted to major game franchises, many being their own work, such as Zelda: The History of a Legendary Saga, Resident Evil: Of Zombies and Men, and The Legend Final Fantasy VII and IX. Since 2015, they have continued their publishing careers based around analyzing the great video game sagas as part of a new publishing house that they co-founded: Third.

Denis Brusseaux

Educated in law, Denis Brusseaux has worked as a journalist for fifteen years and is a specialist in the two arts that he loves: cinema and video games. He has contributed to the magazines Joypad and Videogamer, and the website DVDrama. He also co-wrote the 2012 film The Lookout (French title: Le Guetteur), which starred Daniel Auteuil and Mathieu Kassovitz.

CHAPTER ONE — KONAMI

Konami was founded in 1969 by Kagemasa Kozuki, Yoshinobu Nakama and Tatsuo Miyasako. Although konami means small wave in Japanese, the company’s name is first and foremost an amalgamation of the initial syllable in each of the three founders’ names. In its beginnings, the business was a jukebox rental and repair shop located in Osaka; however, from the mid-1970s, the company became interested in the video-game market. In 1981, Frogger was released in the arcades: the player helped frogs cross a busy highway—a cult game if ever there was one. Konami then invested in the shoot-em up genre with Gradius (1985), one of the most famous horizontal-scrolling games of the genre, without forgetting its quirky parody, Parodius (1990). Many action games began to be released in the arcades, the most famous being Green Beret (1985) and Contra (1987). In 1985, Konami developed what would become one of the predecessors to modern fighting games: Yie Ar Kung-Fu, which presented the opportunity to control who took on different adversaries, each one with a particular fighting style.

The publisher then quickly entered the game console market and adapted its hits for the machines of that era: MSX, Atari VCS, Megadrive, etc. It was through establishing subsidiaries such as Ultra Software in Europe and Palcom Software in North America that Konami, which had begun manufacturing games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, managed to bypass the restrictions imposed by the Kyoto-based Nintendo. These restrictions limited each publisher to releasing only five titles per year. Later, official branches would open in these western regions.

Konami is best known for its many top-quality titles that were produced in the 1990s. In the action game genre, Rocket Knight Adventures, Castlevania and Ganbare Goemon are noteworthy examples. In 1992, certain team members that created these titles decided to leave the game publisher and founded Treasure, the famous developer that created, among other games, Radiant Silvergun, Guardian Heroes, Sin and Punishment and Ikaruga. Konami began testing the waters of the RPG world in 1995 with the unveiling of its first Suikoden, a role-playing game adapted from the Chinese story Water Margin. The company also invested heavily in license-based games for both consoles and arcades, for example The Simpsons and the Ninja Turtles, while still offering the whole range of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga by Kazuki Takahashi (over forty titles have already been released across almost all formats). Following Track & Field, Konami returned to sports games in 1994 with the soccer game International Superstar Soccer for the Super Nintendo, the first milestone in the renowned series, which would be rebaptized Winning Eleven in Japan (ISS Pro Evolution in the West), until finally becoming the famous PES under the leadership of Shingo Takatsuka, a.k.a. Seabass. Two years later, the publisher created its innovative music-playing game under the Bemani division: Beatmania came out in 1997 and would be followed a few years later by the offshoots Guitar Freaks and Drum Mania. Within the same genre, the dance game Dance Dance Revolution proved a hit in the smoke-filled bars of that period. Bar owners did not wait long to place the dance platforms in the street so passers-by could see the talent of DDR players and be tempted themselves to give it a try. The music game craze in Japan owes a lot to Konami; even if in the West the publisher lost out to Harmonix and its celebrated Guitar Hero. A little later, in 1999, Konami responded to Capcom’s Resident Evil by releasing Silent Hill, a survival horror developed by Keiichiro Toyama. After the departure of Toyama for Sony (he would work there on Extermination, Forbidden Siren and Gravity Rush), Akira Yamaoka was handed the reins of this series from the third installment, along with composing the soundtrack. For many players, the second episode of Silent Hill represents one of the apexes of the horror game. Today however, Yamaoka is no longer with the company and the Silent Hill franchise seems to be in its coffin.

If the 1990s were prosperous for Konami, the following decade proved to be blighted with difficulties—an observation that could be applied to the Japanese market for the then next-generation consoles (PS3 and Xbox 360). Following its large purchase of Hudson Soft stock, Konami finally acquired this 1980s video-game standard bearer on April 1, 2011, thereby allowing it to increase its presence in the gaming market and on social networks and mobile platforms. It should not be forgotten that, in 2007, the Osaka-based publisher gained about 30% of its revenue from its health and fitness club division—a market that is a far cry from video games.

What occurred next would confirm this direction. After some difficult years for home consoles, the Japanese video-game market began first to refocus on hand-held consoles and then on smartphones. Konami was one of the precursors to this swing by offering in 2010 what would become one of the greatest successes in the genre, Dragon Collection. During the 2015 Tokyo Game Show, rumors were even swirling that the software publisher no longer had any internal AAA game (big budget games) in development-apart from the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise—and that the only series still envisaged for the console were Yu-Gi Oh! and Powerful Pro Baseball. Thus, the developer-publisher has evolved into a mobile content producer, leaving behind its famous video-game heritage, much to the dismay of players (whereas a publisher like Square Enix has shown that it is possible to play across the two boards). The financial results however justify the company’s gambles: Konami is relatively healthy today.

CHAPTER II — HIDEO KOJIMA

Hideo Kojima was born on August 24, 1963 in Setagaya (one of Tokyo’s wards). Soon after, his family moved to the Kansai region. It was in Kobe that the young Hideo would live a rather classic childhood. Like many salaried workers, his parents were very absorbed in their work, and their oft-alone child would spend his time in front of the television, feeding off his country’s pop culture. Yet, his daily life was not monotonous: for example, he willingly talks about his near-death experience, the day when he had to hang from a bridge in order to avoid a train that was bearing down on him at full speed. It was through writing that he would gradually find a limitless range of expression. With a pen in hand, Kojima soon became a wordsmith and he would set down on paper stories of over four hundred pages! One of his first attempts was a long narrative entitled Battle For Survival, in which fourteen-year-olds faced off each other and with every victory they extended their life expectancy. He sent his manuscripts to specialized magazines in the hope of being published, but his stories were rejected again and again because of their length. However, his love for extremely rich plots was already taking shape. From an early age, Hideo was also a fan of cinema. A true aficionado of this art form, he began to shoot short-length films with his friends, using an 8mm camera.

At university, the young man turned to economic studies. Amongst his friends, he was an eccentric character who hoped to break into cinema or literature. He even included a short story in his thesis, in the hopes of surprising his professors. He has confessed that it unfortunately did not help him achieve a better grade. He finally gave up the idea of becoming a director when he discovered Nintendo’s Famicom (known in the West as the NES). It was through this console that Kojima started to be interested in video games. He discovered Xevious, Super Mario Bros, and Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken (a text-based adventure game that never left the shores of Japan), three titles that would forever remain engraved in his memory. For him, it truly was an epiphany: the video-game format represented the perfect synergy of his passions, and an especially effective way to distract people. Exceedingly interested in the concept of interactivity, he then decided to enter this industry whose potential he had immediately perceived. However, at this time in Japan, like elsewhere, the sector was poorly esteemed and offered very few employment opportunities. Most of Kojima’s peers tried to convince him to give up on this venture; all his friends and professors thought he was a fool and advised him to seek employment in the banking sector. Only his mother supported him.

If Kojima applied first and only to Konami, it was only because the company’s studios were closer to his home than its rivals were. In 1986, he managed to land a job within the development division for the MSX, a standardized micro-computer produced by several manufacturers which gained success in several European countries and Japan; it never penetrated the US market. Despite the good sales of this platform, its successor, the MSX 2, was never marketed in Europe. While Hideo Kojima was happy working on his favorite media, he was nevertheless disappointed about not working on Famicom, the console that opened his eyes to the world of video games. But in any case, he was then placed in the position of assistant director of Lost Warld (the last word being a combination of world and war), quite an important responsibility especially since this was only his first job. It was a platform action game, depicting a masked fighter (alluding to a famous wrestler who wore a tiger mask). Unfortunately, this first project did not lead anywhere and Konami soon decided to cancel it. Struck by this disappointment, Kojima thought about leaving the company. However, he held on. So many people had advised him against entering the video-game world that he did not want to satisfy them; he especially wanted to complete at least one project. The first completed game that Hideo Kojima worked on was Penguin Adventure, followed by Antarctic Adventure, both for the MSX.

In 1987, Kojima unveiled the first installment in the Metal Gear franchise for the MSX 2. This event would define his life forever. Before continuing with the creation of this franchise, the other works of this games designer deserve some consideration. In 1988, Snatcher was released on the MSX 2 and NEC PC-8801. This adventure game, similar to the interactive graphic novel, was inspired by Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) and the cyberpunk movement. Kojima’s interest in dense plotlines resurfaced. The game was subsequently remade for the PC Engine CD-Rom2 in 1992, and was enlivened by its use of voice acting. Snatcher was released in Europe and the United States on the Megadrive Mega-CD two years later. Its spiritual successor, Policenauts, appeared on the NEC PC-9821 in 1994, then on the PlayStation and 3DO in 1995 and the Saturn in 1996. For Hideo Kojima, Snatcher and Policenauts were major accomplishments in his career. He has retained a particular affection for these two games, so much so that they are frequently referenced in the Metal Gear series.

Nevertheless, Kojima was not afraid of radically changing his subject matter. He produced or directed three titles of the very Japanese dating sim series, Tokimeki Memorial, (on the PlayStation and the Saturn). Tokimeki Memorial became a prized series for Konami and many important employees of the software publisher have worked on it, including Koji Igarashi who is known for his work on Castlevania.

Without a doubt, the establishment of Kojima Productions in April 2005 triggered one of the most significant turning points in the designer’s career. This studio will be looked at closer when we delve into the chronological creation of the Metal Gear games.

In parallel with his favorite saga and still in his position as producer, Kojima brought about the unveiling of new franchises. He went on to supervise the two-part Zone of the Enders (ZOE): the first episode was released in 2001 and its sequel in 2003 (The Second Runner, or ZOE Anubis in Japan), both for the PlayStation 2. With these two games, Kojima beguiled the public while creating a connection through frenetic action with one of his passions, the depiction of giant fighting robots, inspired by various manga.

In 2003, between MGS 2 and MGS 3, Kojima Productions produced the first installment in the Boktai (Bokura no Taiyo) franchise, for the Game Boy Advance. The games in this series offered an action-adventure gameplay based on vampire hunting. To push the design further and take advantage of the hand-held console’s features, Kojima added a light sensor to the game cartridges. The player had to go out into the sun in order to recharge the batteries of the hero’s weapon, which was the only way to kill the blood suckers. Artificial light could also be used on the cartridge, but it was less effective. Released in 2005, the third installment in the series remained an exclusively Japanese affair. Finally, the last episode, Lunar Knights appeared on the Nintendo DS in 2006. Reverting to the more traditional concept, this episode no longer required the sun’s rays since the cartridge did not have the photometric sensor.

Still in 2006, the studio ventured into educational games. Stock Exchange Kabutore stands out among the other projects in this genre by inviting the player to enter... the world of finance. A game that gives lessons on the stock exchange, why was it only thought of now!

In 2010, Kojima Productions undertook the reboot of an old series wallowing in perdition: Castlevania. Even though the Spanish company MercurySteam developed the project, sub-titled Lords of Shadow, Hideo Kojima produced it and even had a direct influence on it. In particular, the design of the hero, Gabriel, was the result of comments from the Japanese designer. On April 1, 2011, Kojima was promoted to the position of vice-president of Konami Digital Entertainment alongside Shinji Enomoto.

In general, the man is a true workaholic. While juggling his three responsibilities of designer, manager, and studio representative, his work weeks would leave little room for rest. He does regret not spending more time with his family and, to compensate, he forbids himself from working weekends so he can be with his loved ones. An amusing anecdote tells that Kojima’s son went one day to see him at the office during the design of the first Metal Gear Solid. Kojima and his team were working on the game camera system, they modelled the setting for it with the help of Lego bricks. The child then recounted to his mother, who was already annoyed by her husband’s work load, that his father was spending his days playing with Lego.

In truth, this Twitter addict cannot easily avoid work due to his personal goal of making the impossible possible. If he feels the need to manage everything in his games (from gameplay to story), it is because, for him, that represents the essence of true game design. He compares the work of a game designer with that of a chef: “If you enter a restaurant after a change in head chef, you’ll notice the flavors of those dishes you know will be different. It’s the same thing with game designers. If they change, the entire experience is affected.” Unfortunately, the idyllic connection between designer and the publisher Konami was brutally cut in 2015, when rumors began circulating that Kojima would have to pack his bags after the release of his latest creation, Metal Gear Solid V. The next chapter will look further into this.

CHAPTER III — THE GENESIS OF THE GAMES

Metal Gear

To begin, we return to 1987. Hideo Kojima had been working for Konami since the previous year. The software publisher entrusted him with producing a military action game for the MSX 2. Unfortunately, the modest capabilities of the machine imposed severe technical limitations on the young Japanese game designer: for example, this micro-computer could not cope with more than three enemy sprites on screen at the same time, including bullet trajectories. The vision of a quality war game was greatly diminished. But what if the player had to avoid the enemies rather than confronting them? Kojima decided to rethink the design and took inspiration from his own experiences. He had often filmed hide-and-seek games that he had played in during his childhood. So, he considered developing a game in which hiding from enemies was the key. Remembering the film The Great Escape (John Sturges, 1963), he set out the concept: the hero must quietly infiltrate a hostile environment. At that time, it was a surprising choice because it would not be about escaping from a complex but penetrating a secret base, in the style of a James Bond film, for which Kojima holds a great fondness. To foster this furtive style of gameplay, Kojima decided that the main character would start the mission unarmed; during the game he would have to find equipment in the field. The player would control his character from a bird’s eye view, allowing the player to anticipate enemy reactions and movements while also offering the opportunity to hide from the guards on their patrols. The explorable world was designed to be relatively open, in the sense that progression was not linear. The player could go anywhere; but, if he found himself blocked by a door or an enemy, he would have to explore the base to find a suitable object or weapon to get himself out of the predicament. Moreover, the difficulty level proved to be a little high, given that the path for advancing the story was not always obvious. For this reason, the designers decided to introduce a radio at this stage which would allow the hero to rely on the support of various characters—each one a specialist in a certain field—and glean vital information. The concept of Metal Gear was born and with it the stealth game. The only thing left was to create the hero. Kojima was inspired by the character Snake Plissken, the main protagonist of the film Escape from New York (John Carpenter, 1981), played by Kurt Russell: the game’s hero would thus be baptized Snake. His mission was to destroy the Metal Gear, a weapon of mass destruction able to launch long-range nuclear missiles. Kojima thus wished to convey the anxiety that reigned in the region during his childhood (as in the rest of Japan, it could be presumed), where the population had been traumatized by the atomic bomb. A type of bipedal tank with missiles capable of striking anywhere in the world, the Metal Gear was the embodiment of that fear. The game was released in Japan in 1987 and its sales were encouraging. But it was in Europe and the United States, after its transition to the NES, where the title gained its success (more than one million copies sold in North America alone), which led Konami to consider a sequel.

Asides

Snake wears a bandana that instantly conjures up the film Rambo (Ted Kotcheff, 1982). However, it would seem that Kojima actually drew inspiration from The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978), starring Robert De Niro.

In the American guide for the NES version of Metal Gear, a character is mentioned but completely absent from the game. Answering to the sweet-sounding name of Vermon Ca Taffy, this Mongolian colonel turns very early to terrorism before taking control of Outer Heaven. Having become a dictator, he forcibly drafts ail inhabitants into his army and subsequently becomes head of an international terrorist network. His latest goal is to seize the weapon that is capable of making him supreme ruler of the world, the Metal Gear! The similarities with a former, infamous, Libyan dictator are palpable. The question remains why this character was removed from the game while still appearing in the booklets of the American games.

Snake’s Revenge

Snake’s Revenge came out on the NES in 1990. Hideo Kojima was not involved in its development. The storyline followed the adventures of Snake, who must once again confront the Metal Gear and the legendary soldier Big Boss.

However, progression, which placed a stronger focus on action, breaks with the original design of the first Metal Gear. Today, it is considered as a non-canonical episode. Aimed at the foreign market, it was never released in Japan, which perhaps explains the choice of making it more of an action game. While returning home from work on Tokyo’s public transport, Kojima came across the team in charge of producing Snake’s Revenge. The majority of the team had already worked on the first Metal Gear. Well aware that their work at the time did not truly fall within the continuity of the previous game, they encouraged Hideo Kojima to look into developing his own sequel to Metal Gear and to call on them at such time. Kojima had not really considered doing this; yet, the words of his colleagues kindled a great drive within him. The next day, he arrived at the offices of Konami with a complete game plan under his arm and managed to convince his superiors to give him the chance to develop an authentic Metal Gear 2.

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Kojima took the lead in the development of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, a true successor to the original episode. Released on the MSX 2 in 1990, the game broadened the gameplay of its predecessor in almost all aspects. The rudimentary stealth aspect of the original Metal Gear was greatly enhanced in this game. Kojima’s mark had already started to shine through: not only was there a proliferation of original ideas, but the fondness of Snake’s creator for cinema was clearly apparent (the credits, in particular, seemed worthy of movie theaters), and the game designer began to slip in numerous references to his previous works. One example was that after Big Boss was defeated in Metal Gear, that soldier underwent experiments to replace certain injured limbs and organs with prostheses. The operation, which allowed him to return as the villain in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, was codenamed “Project Snatcher” in the story line, a direct reference to an old Kojima game. But many observers saw Project Snatcher as a nod to the final boss in Snake’s Revenge: a cyborg Big Boss!

Since the second installment of his series, Kojima has asserted himself through unexpected dues, which only the most attentive players could hope to pick up on. In essence, what would later become the designer’s “Easter eggs” were already observable in 1990. As proof, in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, the scientist, Kio Marv, hides the formula to Oilix (a revolutionary compound that the entire world wants to get a hold of) in a game cartridge for a Konami MSX! To take credit for his own trickery, Kio Marv even leaves behind a signature that can be seen when Snake loads the cartridge after the final credits. On the opening screen, underneath the MSX logo, the player can see “VRAM: 01K bytes”, a parody of the machine’s actual title screen, on which the size of the video RAM (or VRAM) usually appears, followed by the number of kilobytes, shortened here to “Kbytes”. But VRAM: 01K read backwards gives Kio Marv! Kojima had already started mixing fiction with reality to engage the player.

Metal Gear Solid

While the development of Policenauts (released in 1994) was being concluded, rumors raised expectations for a console that would have amazing 3D capabilities. These backroom noises evidently reached the ears of Hideo Kojima. The light bulb switched on instantly; for the Japanese designer, this technology could offer a new dimension to his Metal Gear series. This much awaited machine was the Sony PlayStation, and it would provide Kojima with the means to realize his dreams, through the development of Metal Gear Solid (MGS), the third installment in the series’ canon. Immersion in the game would be the backbone for this new chapter. Everything had to be done to make MGS stand out and be believed by its players. Metal Gear Solid would be completely in 3D during both its play and its cinematic cut scenes. In the mind of its designer, it could not have a visual split between the narrative sequences and the interactive scenes. The storage capacity of the new CD format of the PlayStation allowed Kojima to integrate very long cinematic scenes and add digitized voices. The replication of minutiae would actually enhance the immersive experience and likewise reduce the gap between cinema and video games.

Constantly concerned about realism, Kojima added an unusual collaborator to his team: Motosada Mori, a veteran of several elite military units. He would act as military adviser to the creatives of the development team so that they could make the gestures and attitudes of the MGS characters more credible. Mori went so far as to organize role-playing games, in the form of training courses within the offices of Konami Japan, with the aim of giving the designers the reflexes necessary for real military situations.

In Metal Gear Solid, the player’s perspective remained aerial as in the MSX episodes. However, the 3D capability now allowed the camera view to move when Solid Snake pressed against a wall, thus giving a different perspective on the surroundings. To better understand three-dimensional space, Kojima built a 1:30 scale model of the game’s levels out of Lego bricks. Thanks to this miniaturization, the developers were better able to place the guards as well as the surveillance cameras but more importantly, determine the most suitable camera angles for the movements of the CCTV.

Hideo Kojima’s head teemed with hundreds of ideas. When he presented them to his team, he would often explain them through a considerable number of cultural references, the vast majority, though not all, originating from the world of movies and television. Not necessarily possessing the same references, his audience was often a little lost. To mitigate this problem in communication, Kojima established a fairly unique rule for his team. Once a week, he put up a list of films that he enjoyed which were being shown at the local cinema. If the team members wanted, they could leave work early to go see one of those showings.

The development of Metal Gear Solid also marked Yoji Shinkawa’s incorporation into the team. Shinkawa had already worked as a debugger in the development of Policenauts, and then as artist for the 3DO and PlayStation versions. For MGS, Shinkawa took charge of character and mecha design. He was thus responsible for the appearance of the game’s characters and the Metal Gear. Shinkawa, however, did not confine himself to his work as an artist; soon a creative partnership was born that would hold the reins of the saga. Yoji Shinkawa would play an essential role alongside Hideo Kojima. Since the first MGS game, Shinkawa had brought along his own ideas. The famous and charismatic ninja owes his presence in the series to a sketch by the artist; Kojima thought so highly of it that he decided to change the story line in order to include this character. Another example was Hal Emmerich (a.k.a. Otacon) who was originally conceived as a fat dwarf that was constantly stuffing his face full of chocolate; his final tall and lanky appearance came from Shinkawa. Incidentally, it is astonishing that Kojima even contemplated giving into the clichéd overweight tech geek, when it is known that the character of Otacon was one of his favorites and that he was considered a tribute to the otakus. The scientist was an important character in the storyline, he chose to fight with his head rather than with weapons. A final significant change contributed by Shinkawa related to Meryl, the female character who would come to Solid Snake’s aid. Kojima’s original idea for Meryl was to make her a pre-teen, inspired by the character played by Natalie Portman in Luc Besson’s Léon. When Shinkawa discovered that she would at some point be handling a Desert Eagle, this expert in firearms immediately insisted that the character’s age be changed as he considered only an adult would be capable of using such a weapon.

Yoji Shinkawa also greatly contributed to the features of the game’s protagonists through his drawings. The technical capabilities of the PlayStation permitted more detail to be added to the characters. For example, Kojima, a huge fan of westerns, was able to have Ocelot resemble the actor Lee Van Cleef (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Sergio Leone, 1966). As for Snake, his face was based on the face of Christopher Walken (Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino, 1994; Sleepy Hollow, Tim Burton, 1999), while his body was modeled on the muscular Jean-Claude Van Damme (Kick Boxer, Mark DiSalle and David Worth, 1989; Street Fighter, Steven Edward de Souza, 1994). Lastly, it should not be forgotten that Solid Snake was inspired by Snake Plissken, the anti-hero who does not take kindly to orders. The rebellious temperament of Carpenter’s protagonist, which had made a strong impression on Kojima, therefore found a natural echo in the hero of Metal Gear Solid. With the arrival of the PlayStation, Kojima was even able to contemplate endowing his game with less explicit content. Since the beginning, it had seemed important to him that a message be transmitted through his work. The Metal Gear Solid series concerned the connection between generations and the legacy passed down from one to the next. On a subliminal level, the designer was addressing the players and his team. This point will be further developed in Chapter VII.

Metal Gear Solid was, in any case, hailed by the public and the gaming press as a landmark in video gaming. Throughout the world, its sales hit astronomical levels, and Hideo Kojima gained a special status among the game designers of his time.

Aside

In MGS 1, the little musical jingle heard when the Konami logo appears is a sample from the end theme of Policenauts.

Metal Gear: Ghost Babel

Metal Gear was now synonymous with success. So it was no surprise that a new game was quickly put into development, this time for the Game Boy Color, Nintendo’s very popular hand-held game console. The game came out in 2000 in Japan under the title Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, whereas it was simply known as Metal Gear Solid in the USA and Europe, leading to confusion among players who thought that it was an adaptation of the iconic PlayStation game. However, Ghost Babel did not really need such misleading publicity; it proved to be a great success. In its story, it could even be considered a “true” Metal Gear: Snake must once again fight a team of larger-than-life adversaries, the Black Chamber, through a dense, elaborate plot. The gameplay adopted the layout of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake while using some ideas from Metal Gear Solid, such as pressing against a wall or tapping on something to make a noise. Yet, even though it was based on Kojima’s original story, there were some inconsistencies—for example, the events in Ghost Babel were supposed to be set between MG 2: Solid Snake and MGS 1, yet Snake meets Mei Ling—which takes this game out of the mainline series. Like Snake’s Revenge, it would not be considered in the official chronology. Nevertheless, the game did show innovations, by offering a multi-player battle option. This was the first MGS that was not directly produced by Kojima. Incidentally, the Metal Gear appearing in this game was based on the sketches of Shinkawa that were discarded for the first MGS.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Now that MGS 1 had been distributed throughout the world, Kojima contemplated tackling an entirely new project. He had not really envisaged making a sequel to his Metal Gear Solid. However, the craze around his last game led everyone, even Konami, to question him on a possible MGS 2. The demand from players became increasingly insistent that Kojima now understood he could not “escape his destiny” (as he put it). So, at the end of 1998, he started laying the groundwork, putting some ideas to paper, alongside Shinkawa. The pair’s work continued for many months. A first draft of the plot emerged. In it, Ocelot had sold the blueprints of the Metal Gear on the black market, so that every country had by then the capabilities of creating their own machine of death. Iraq had allegedly constructed its own model. The UN sent an investigative team to determine whether there was any truth behind this rumor, but Iraq refused to allow them into the country. An aircraft carrier was consequently dispatched to try resolve the problem; on board was a Metal Gear. Liquid Snake (the villain in MGS 1 and Solid Snake’s twin) took advantage of the situation and attacked the vessel. However, due to the uncanny similarities with events that occurred six months later—reality imitated art when the United States and United Kingdom bombed Iraq—this first outline was finally abandoned.

A new plot was drafted, containing almost one thousand six hundred pages. The final version would comprise “only” eight hundred (to put this in perspective, the story for MGS 1 contained five hundred pages). Since the PlayStation 2 development kits were not yet available, Kojima and Shinkawa continued working on the development of characters and on a storyboard. When they finally learned of the technical features of the new Sony console, a presentation video was quickly produced for internal use at Konami: it showed Snake wearing all of his normally invisible equipment. The goal of this presentation was to assess the capabilities of the PS2, a good way for Kojima’s team to gauge the machine’s potential. At this stage of development, the project was called MGS III. The idea was to surprise the players by passing from MGS 1 directly to MGS III; the use of Roman numerals alluded to the three highest skyscrapers in New York, the city chosen to host Snake’s latest exploits. Kojima and his teams visited the city to scout it out. They also visited an oil tanker to gain a better grasp of its architecture and adopt a suitable color palette for the game, the idea from the initial storyline of placing the action on board a ship had been kept. Furthermore, the Konami employees went to reconnoiter an offshore drilling platform because a large part of the story would take place in a similar location, what would become Big Shell in the game. The split between the events on board the oil tanker and those at Big Shell was already well advanced. Kojima had firstly intended the game to take place on the tanker, before he realized that it would have been too quickly explored. The same was the case for the part occurring at Big Shell. So the decision was made to have the two events as successive episodes. The tanker story would nevertheless be revealed only to those players who stated at the beginning that they had already played MGS 1.

In May 2000, Kojima’s team presented a promotional video at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo, the annual video games exhibition held in Los Angeles). For this very hollywood-style presentation, Kojima even called on the composer Harry Gregson-Williams to write some of the soundtrack, in particular a reworking of the series’ main theme. The reaction from the public and journalists exceeded all expectations of Kojima and Konami. Incidentally, the project abandoned the name MGS III and adopted Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. From this point the pressure on the designers increased considerably. Kojima cut all ties with the press so as to be able to concentrate solely on his work. The team grew; to the initial thirty employees, a further forty new members were added by the end of production. Kojima did not hesitate to solicit ideas from his colleagues. If nobody wanted to carry the torch for developing MGS 2, thereby placing him once again as lead for the project, he demanded no less from his colleagues than an original idea every day. The best ideas would be included in the game (for example, the use of a freezing spray that could disarm a bomb).

Whereas the trailer unveiled at E3 had placed Solid Snake center stage, an internal decision was made to change the principal character. Snake was still of course playable in the oil tanker chapter, but the young Raiden would end up being the hero of the adventure. This surprising decision was the result of a survey carried out by Konami on women who usually did not buy games. One of them, a student, supposedly stated that Snake was old and that she would never buy a game with a “stupid old man” as the hero. The Konami team were vexed by this response; Kojima then talked with Shinkawa and the two ended up deciding to create the Raiden character, a young recruit making his debut on the battlefield and with a contrasting physique to Snake’s: blond, pale and extremely handsome—highlighting his pure, unsullied nature. Actually, the Raiden character was used in particular to bestow greater importance on Snake, which would have been difficult to achieve if the player could play him first-hand. Seeing the adventure through the eyes of Raiden forced players to distance themselves from Snake, by considering him from an external, more objective point of view. The hero thus took on a new dimension.

In relation to the rest of the game, numerous modifications were made. Kojima, for example, wanted a vampire in the story line, called Vamp. Vamp was to be a woman, until the female character of Fortune was created. For Vamp, Shinkawa was inspired by the characteristics and gestures of the famous flamenco dancer Joaquín Cortés. This was also the reason behind the musical theme of Vamp being reminiscent of that music style. Two other characters created for Dead Cell (an enemy unit in the game) were discarded in the final version of the plot. The first was named Chinaman. He was Vietnamese but had grown up in New York’s Chinatown; on his chest he sported a tattoo of a dragon that could come to life under water. The movements of Chinaman were modeled on those of Jet Li, a favorite actor among Kojima’s team. In the end, Vamp inherited some of Chinaman’s abilities. Dead Cell was also supposed to include a character called Old Boy, a hundred-year-old Nazi soldier who had allegedly taught Big Boss his combat skills. The design of this character would be partially recycled in MGS 3 as the character The End.

MGS 2 was finally released in November 2001—the year of the snake in the Chinese calendar—after a development process that had lasted three years and cost an estimated total of ten million dollars. The attacks on September 11, 2001 and the destruction of the World Trade Center forced the team at Konami to cut out a part from the cinematic final scene set in New York, in which the twin towers had been clearly visible. Kojima announced that this was his final MGS, and any sequel would be left to his team.

Asides

During the development of MCS 2, Kojima considered installing a system that would oblige the player to repurchase a version of the game at every game over: upon dying, the game would be locked and prevent the start of a new game. Even though Kojima envisaged a relatively low sale price, this unusual idea was finally mothballed for obvious reasons.

In MGS 2, the dialog between Rose and Raiden where the young woman asks the hero if there is anything special about the next day was taken from a similar experience of Hideo Kojima where his wife was trying to remind him of the date of their anniversary.

The majority of names for the characters and Metal Gear models originated from the names of fighter planes or military weapons. In perusing the codenames given by the Allies or Japanese to the Japanese planes involved in World War Two, familiar monikers appear, such as Gekko, Irving, Zeke, and even Raiden (Japanese codename, the designation given by the Allies was Jack, the actual first name of the character in the game). As for seaplanes, one name is recognizable, Rex.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

The message after MGS 2 was clear: the series would have to do without its creator. Kojima really wanted to see someone relieve him of his duties. But his position must have borne an extremely heavy burden because no one appeared willing to take up the torch. Hideo Kojima therefore took the decision to re-enlist to close out the trilogy in style (MGS 1, 2 and 3), and completely design the game himself. Subtitled Snake Eater, the third chapter was released in 2004 in Japan and the United States, then Europe in 2005.

As was his wont, Kojima caught everyone off-guard by presenting an adventure that preceded the very first Metal Gear and which, a fortiori, was not a true sequel to MGS 2: Sons of Liberty. MGS 3 was in fact a huge leap back into the past, to the height of the Cold War: Kojima felt that this was the “golden age” of espionage. Moreover, the pacifistic, anti-nuclear message of the auteur could be easily incorporated into this context where the American and Soviet forces fought by proxy. Whereas the two nations never fought toe-to-toe, the spies of both countries faced each other directly in that war for intelligence. Kojima chose to depict these events so that younger players, who knew little about this period in history, could understand the steps that led to the current geopolitical situation. Here was the desire of the designer to educate a new generation.

Beyond the new setting, Metal Gear Solid 3 plunged the gamer into quite a puzzling environment: a jungle. With the character loose in the wilds of Russia, the gameplay now revolved around the idea of survival: finding food and restoring health was now the hero’s routine. Kojima had selected this environment very early on. However, in order to convince the American composer Harry Gregson-Williams to resume his service, the Japanese designer lied to him!

The musician had indeed declared that he did not wish to collaborate on MGS 3 if it had a similar setting. During an interview, he had, on the other hand, declared an interest if the adventure took place in the Amazon; that would motivate him to sign up again. Kojima immediately made it known to the composer that the latter’s idea was fantastic and that the setting of the next Metal Gear Solid would thus take place in the jungle—this decision had already been made some time ago. Kojima did not come clean until Gregson-Williams’ signature was on paper.

But the grand surprise for players of MGS 3 was, this time, to play the character of the series’ big baddie: Big Boss himself, the founder of Outer Heaven, whom Solid Snake had already fought twice before! The challenge for Kojima was to make the players admire an until-then detested character since he was the complete antithesis of the iconic hero of the series. Yet, in this game Big Boss was introduced as a model soldier, charming and witty. The traditional roles of the good and bad guy were shattered: Kojima had never been one for Manichean roles.

Snake Eater also differentiated itself in that it was the second installment to appear on the PlayStation 2. The development teams by then knew the machine perfectly and Kojima had a better grasp on the limits to its capabilities, to the extent that this was certainly one of the most controlled and balanced installments in the tale.

One year after Snake Eater, an expanded version of MGS 3, subtitled Subsistence was released. Kojima yielded to criticisms and finally established a free camera view that was entirely under the control of the player and now indispensable for stealth play. Subsistence also included an online mode (a first for the series), as well as updated versions of MG 1 and MG 2.

Asides

Disappointed in seeing his son uninterested in his Meta/ Gear series, Hideo Kojima did everything to include the character of Snake in Super Smash Bros., the Nintendo series that placed ail characters of the brand in wild fights; while in MGS 3, Kojima had already added a mini-game in which Snake had to deal with the monkeys from Sony’s Ape Escape games. Hardly surprising since Kojima’s son was a huge fan of Smash Bros. and Ape Escape.

Hideo Kojima wanted the launch date of the Virtuous Mission operation in MGS 3 to coincide with his date of birth (August 24, 1963). But he had to set it one year later so that the story could take into account the assassination of President Kennedy.

As strange as it may seem, the main theme of the Metal Gear series stopped appearing from MGS 3 onwards. After discovering the final movement in the orchestral suite Snow storm (MeтeлЬ) composed by the Russian Georgy Sviridov (1 91 5-1 998), Konami demanded the removal of the Meta/ Gear theme music. The many noted similarities between the music of Tappi Iwase and that of Sviridov could have led to various legal problems for the Japanese publisher.

Originally, The Boss was supposed to sport a chest tattoo of a snake. As a direct connection to Jack (the future Big Boss), the tattoo was to evoke the theme of maternity and the special relationship that The Boss had with her protégé. The tattoo was also meant to be the origin of a saying that whoever saw the snake smile would know death. A reminder that The Boss was an exceptional soldier. In the end, this distinctive symbol was removed.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

The next port of call for the series was Sony’s hand-held PSP. It came out in Japan in 2006 and everywhere else the following year. Portable Ops continued the adventures of Big Boss. In relation to the gameplay, the game adapted its levels to the portable nature of the console and provided shorter missions. Portable Ops also followed the trend born from the success of Monster Hunter in Japan; a large part of the gameplay had moved towards the exchange of soldiers and multiplayer gaming. A special version came out in 2007, entitled Portable Ops Plus; shorn of its single-player mode, it was primarily based on online gaming.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

With the release of MGS 3, Kojima had accomplished his trilogy. Once again, he wished to step back and dedicate himself to a new project. However, a swathe of players wanted to know what would happen after the events of MGS 2 and get answers to the many questions left hanging in the air. Who were the Patriots? What became of Snake and Raiden? How did Liquid’s arm manage to take control of Ocelot? Kojima had not reckoned on providing answers, but his work seemed be a matter of eternal resumption, like that of Sisyphus. He gave into the pressure from the fans and started to conceive of an MGS 4. For Kojima, to the extent that “his” MGS had now ended, the series had to evolve.

During a European promotional tour for MGS 3, Hideo Kojima announced that, this time, even if he were to supervise the project, he did intend to move on and that the next installment of Metal Gear would be directed by Shuyo Murata, one of the youngest members of Kojima Productions. Messages of all kinds poured into Konami, imploring Kojima to develop MGS 4 himself. Observing that his team had difficulty bearing the pressure and that they were not able to work on it in peace and quiet, Hideo Kojima finally decided to take the reins again and get down to directing the fourth installment in the series, Shuyo Murata was made co-director. The game finally came out in June 2008, and this conclusion... would leave many players hungry for more.

While he still hesitated on the future of Snake, after the completion of MGS 4, Kojima declared: “I’ d be very happy if Snake died, because I then wouldn’t be forced to create another Metal Gear! But seriously, in Japan, the main character often dies and then becomes a legend, but that never happens in Hollywood.”

Asides

Immediately after the release of Metal Gear Solid 4, Hideo Kojima thought about making World War II, and more specifically the Normandy beach landings, the new theater of operations for Metal Gear Solid 5. A return to the past for the series which would make way for The Boss and the Cobra Unit.

In MGS 4, Snake meets his father, Big Boss, at the very end of the game. In the Japanese version, the two characters are voiced by Akio and Chikao Otsuka respectively, father and son in real life.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Internally at Konami, MGS: Peace Walker was considered a Metal Gear Solid 5. This was in fact the project’s designation throughout its development. Released worldwide on the PSP in 2010, the game from Kojima Productions was a surprise with regard to its extremely rich content and high quality for a hand-held game. Reverting to the cornerstones of Portable Ops (with soldier recruitment and an online mode), Peace Walker corrected the mistakes of its predecessor. It had apparently been developed within a very short time (little over a year), which forced Kojima and his team to focus on game design instead of on technical features. Whereas the employees ended up on numerous occasions objecting to their boss that such and such an idea was unfeasible on a hand-held device, the restrictions imposed by the PSP allowed the designers to excel themselves. Despite his assertions that MGS 4 would be the final installment on which he would work as director, in the end, Kojima reneged on his word and took charge of Peace Walker. After having established the basic concept, the designer wanted to entrust development to a young team at Kojima Productions. But the game’s plot, which would be set in the 1970s, the era of nuclear deterrence, seemed to be too difficult for the young designers to grasp. As a result, Kojima thought that he would be the most suitable person to understand and achieve a game design around the scenario he had actually developed; this was the reason behind his choice to devote himself entirely to the game.

Asides

In Peace Walker, the young ornithologist, Cécile Cosima Caminades, was directly inspired by a former communications manager of Konami France, Cécile Caminades. After more than ten years of working together, Hideo Kojima decided to pay tribute to her and model one of his characters on her. Another fact concerning the Cécile character: in Japanese, “Cosima Caminades” is pronounced “koshima kaminadesu”, almost like “Kojima kami nan desu” meaning “Kojima is a god.” The game designer had already given the name of one of his colleagues to a NPC in Metal Gear. That was a marine commander in MGS 2, Scott Dolph who was Kojima’s assistant and interpreter at the time.

The Metal Gear universe interacts heavily with other franchises in the world of video games. In addition to the links with Assassin’s Creed, allusions to MGS are also made in Front Mission Evolved by Square Enix, Sony’s LittleBigPlanet and even in Krazy Racers, a kart-racing game that depicts ail Konami franchises (the ninja in this case represents MGS). Peace Walker itself offered numerous missions pitting Big Boss against the monsters of Monster Hunter, a very popular Capcom game in Japan.

A huge number of movie references are sprinkled throughout the entire MGS, series, Escape from New York (1997) has been mentioned but even the Jack and Rose relationship in MGS 2 conjures up the couple from Titanic. The filmography of Stanley Kubrick is regularly referenced: the names David and Hal (first names of Snake and Otacon) are taken from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), while his 1964 film Dr. Strangelove lent its name to the character. The nickname Huey for Otacon’s father is an allusion to the film Silent Running, directed by Douglas Trumbull, the visual effects director of 2001: A Space Odyssey! In the story line, Huey was a drone and Strangelove used that name for Otacon’s father, distinguished by his timid, servile attitude in Peace Walker.

Metal Gear Solid V

After MGS 4, Hideo Kojima announced not only a new episode but the introduction of a game engine that had been internally developed. Developed simultaneously with Peace Walker,