| Series | Metal Gear series |
|---|---|
| First game | Metal Gear (1987) |
| Created by | Hideo Kojima |
| Designed by | Yoji Shinkawa (Metal Gear Solid series) Ikuya Nakamura (Ghost Babel) Tsubasa Masao (Metal Gear Acid) |
| Voiced by (English) | David Hayter Peter Lurie (Ape Escape 3) |
| Voiced by (Japanese) | Akio Ōtsuka |
| Motion capture actor(s) | Mizuho Yoshida (Metal Gear Solid 2), Ryoji Okamoto (Metal Gear Solid 4) |
| Fictional information | |
| Real name | David[1][2] |
| Nationality | American |
| Affiliations | FOXHOUND (MG, MG2), CIA(Pre-MG2)[3], Free agent (MGS), Philanthropy (MGS2: Sons of Liberty), Hired assassin/Philanthropy (MGS4: Guns of the Patriots) |
Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク Soriddo Sunēku) is a fictional character and the main pr
otagonist of Konami's Metal Gear series of stealth video games. Created by Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear is Konami's main franchise[4] and has sold approximately 26.5 million units as of February 2009.[5] Introduced in the first game of the series, Metal Gear (MG) (1987), Snake has appeared in the majority of subsequent games and spin-offs. Japanese voice actor Akio Ōtsuka voices Snake in Japanese, while actor and screenwriter David Hayter provides theEnglish voice of the character. In his guest appearance in Ape Escape 3, he is voiced in English by Peter Lurie.
Solid Snake is a combination spy, special operations agent and mercenary of FOXHOUND, a fictional black operations and espionage unit. He is repeatedly tasked with disarming and destroying the latest incarnation of Metal Gear, a bipedal nuclear weapon-armed mecha. Controlled by the player, Solid Snake must act alone (or with the help of allies he meets during missions), supported via radio by commanding officers and specialists.
Metal Gear, initially released in 1987 on the MSX2 home computer and later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, introduces Solid Snake, the rookie recruit of the elite special-forces unitFOXHOUND. Snake is sent by team leader Big Boss into t
he rogue nation Outer Heaven to rescue his missing teammate Gray Fox and discover who or what the "METAL GEAR" mentioned is, and as his mission progresses he finds out that he has been set up; the leader of Outer Heaven is actually Big Boss, who
intends to use Metal Gear—an experimental, nuclear-armed mecha—to establish Outer Heaven as a nuclear power. After destroying the Metal Gear itself, he then confronts Big Boss and defeats him.
Much as Metal Gear began as a pastiche of action movies of the time, Solid Snake began as a pastiche of contemporary action movie heroes. For example, on the cover artwork of the original Metal Gear, he resembles Michael Biehn in The T
erminator, the in-game portrait of Snake in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake resembles Mel Gibson in the game's opening sequence.[6] Solid Snake was even named after another fictional special forces operative: Snake Plissken, Kurt Russell's character in Escape from New York.[7][8] Kojima later described Snake's role in the original Metal Gear as the "player's presence", contrasting the defined personality Solid Snake acquired in Metal Gear Solid.[9]
The NES port of Metal Gear was an unexpected million-seller in North America.[6] Konami commissioned the production of a NES sequel for the North American market titled Snake's Revenge, which was developed without the involvement of the first ga
me's director, Hideo Kojima. Given the North American success of his game and its sequel, Kojima went on to develop his own sequel to Metal Gear.[6][7] This sequel, titled Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and initially released o
nly in Japan for the MSX2, follows after the original Metal Gear rather than Snake's Revenge; indeed, all later games ignore the events of Snake's Revenge.[10]
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake sees Solid Snake once again called up to infiltrate a heavily-fortified enemy base, this time in Zanzibarland. Zanzibarland has aggravated an international oil crisis and declared themselves a nuclear power by kidnapping Dr. Kio Marv, the creator of a bio-engineered algae that produces an oil substitute, and Dr. Pettrovich Madnar, the developer of the original Metal Gear. Snake infiltrates the base and discovers that Pettrovich
and his former comrade Gray Fox have defected to Zanzibar Land, and that Zanzibar Land is led by none other than Big Boss. Snake destroys their new Metal Gear D, confronts and defeats Gray Fox, in a hand-to-hand fight in a minefield, and defeats Big Boss by setting him ablaze with a makeshift flamethrower.
Following the release of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Solid Snake did not appear in another game until 1998 (a full eight years later), when he re-emerged as the protagonist of thePlayStation game Metal Gear Solid. This game, which debuted at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo to great fanfare, soon became an international hit and garnered critical acclaim worldwide.[11][12]
Metal Gear Solid sees
Solid Snake pulled out of retirement by Colonel Campbell to deal with FOXHOUND. Under the leadership of Liquid Snake, FOXHOUND has gone rogue, seizing Shadow Moses Island, an isolated American nuclear weapons disposal facility. Snake infiltrates the base and meets up with Meryl Silverburgh, a rookie soldier, and Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, the designer of Metal Gear REX. Snake defeats each member of FOXHOUND one by one, destroys Metal Gear REX, and confronts Liquid. Liquid reveals that he and Solid are twin brothers artificially conceived from Big Boss' genes during a government project designed to create the perfect soldier titled "Les Enfants Terribles", in which one brother was genetically modified to be superior over the other. Liquid harbors a strong resentment towards Snake since his brother was given their father's dominant "soldier genes" and Liquid was cast aside. After a grueling series of battles, Liquid dies from the Fox-Die virus that was previously implanted into Snake. In the end, it is revealed that Liquid got Big Boss' superior "soldier g
enes", not Solid.[13] According to Konami, Solid Snake's height keeps changing, from the first series, the Metal Gear series, he was 178 cm, and in the Metal Gear Solid series (the current series), he is approximately 183–184 cm.
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.[14] Yoji Shinkawa's Solid Snake design, characterized by his navy blue bandanna and "sneaking suit", would serve as the template for all future incarnations of Snake 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 in the same game was inspired by actor Christopher Walken. Shinkawa described his rendition of Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid as a "middle ground" between the younger Snake who graced the cover artwork of the first Metal Gear and the middle-aged Snake from the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2.[8][15] Kojima introduced the cloning origins of Solid Snake to Metal Gear Solid in order to provide Solid Snake
with an adversary who would be his equal, since the story, being a continuation to the original MSX2 games, established Snake as an experienced soldier.[16]
Solid Snake is the playable character of the extensive prologue sequence of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, in which he is sent by the anti-proliferation organization Philanthropy to infiltrate a cargo tanker and photograph Metal Gear RAY, the latest Metal Gear model. During the operation, however, the Metal Gear RAY is hijacked and the tanker destroyed, with the apparently-dead Snake framed for the deed.
The remainder of Sons of Liberty follows the actions of the rookie FOXHOUND agent Raiden (the character now controlled by the player), who has been assigned to rescue the U.S. President and a number of other government officials being held hostage at a remote offshore oil shell facility. Solid Snake, who survived the explosion in the prologue, appears throu
ghout the main portion of the game (initially adopting the pseudonym Iroquois Pliskin, again taken from the name of the character Snake Plissken from Escape from New York) as a non-playable character who assists Raiden. Kojima explained that his decision to introduce a new playable character in Solid Snake's place 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.[17]
According to Ryan Payton of Konami, Guns of the Patriots is the final canonical Metal Gear game to feature Solid Snake as the main character.[20] Kojima himself has stated that the series will continue but he does not want the character to be handled by anyone else.[16]The PlayStation 3 game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots features an aged Snake, once again the main protagonist and identified asOld Snake by the game. In this game, he is modeled after Lee Van Cleef, who appeared in Escape from New York (This redesign would make both Ocelot and Snake based on Van Cleef). On account of his genetic code being a potential threat if fallen in enemy hands he was designed with a short life span, because of that while Snake is only 43 years old he has the body of an old man.[18] Snake is called Old Snake, whichold is a dissolved word by removing the S and I from solid, leaving old. In the game, 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 (allowing the player to use his younger look during gameplay as well and disguise Snake as other characters).The "Young Snake" mask and civilian outfit Snake wore in Europe, resembles Michael Biehn's costume that he wore in Terminator.[19] At the end of the game, Snake destroys the A.I.s of the Patriots, and, after meeting Big Boss once again, ultimately decides to live out the remainder of his life in peace.
Snake has been in the battlefield for most of his life, [21] a hardened veteran, he has his emotion buried very inside himself. Every one of his missions has different motifs; while he considers himself a soldier, only Operation: Intrude N313 saw him act for the simple fact that is was an order, his second one is to avoid a world energy and nuclear crisis but even at the early stages of the series he already showed a indomitable will and courage as showed in later games when his beliefs are the only thing driving him. However, he has also done some criminal acts in war, with Colonel Campbell mentioning that Snake committed enough crimes for him to serve jailtime until he was a "very old man."[22]
It is with the Solid saga that the technology gave tools to develop Snake into a full fledged, complex and memorable character. He is immediately shown as a loner[23][24] and with no intentions of taking orders from anyone anymore [25], he shows no sign of longing for neither the army nor the country he was part of. [26] But accepts the mission for the thrill of the fight and to return a favor to Campbell.
During his infiltration into Shadow Moses he is shown cold-hearted,[27] analytical,[28] and with a clear view of his role as a mercenary[29].
Along with these traits he has a more human side, being flirtatious,[30] self-sacrificing[31] with a strong believe that even on a battlefield friendship[32] and love[33] can flourish, and that violence is not glorious[34] Although the last bit is debatable due to statements from his enemies and at least one of his allies that he may enjoy all the killing, and even being labelled as true evil at one point.[35][36][37]
In the second entry of the solid series, Snake is shown more relaxed, openly liking better having his very own orders and in the second part of the game, acting like a supporting character the narrative show him always one step ahead of the central character who hails him as a hero, a legend, which Snake openly dismiss[38] However, he does still to an extent express his cold nature, such as having nothing to feel about SEAL Team 10's deaths at the hands of Dead Cell, causing Raiden to chastise him as a result especially when they were technically his allies.[39]
Still as a supporting character more of Snake's personality traits are shown; he express a strong friendship towards Otacon, stating that only his beliefs got him in the mission, citing Gray Fox's sacrifice as a result of this.[40][41], expressing much more hope than in Shadow Moses and with a optimistic, philosophic view of life and personal purpose[42].
In his final mission Snake, now with the body of a decaying old man, has only his willpower[43] for fulfilling what he feels is his duty driving him[44].
While still (maybe even more than before) believing that he is in no way a hero[45], he is full of compassion for his fellows,[46] still has some sense of humor[47] and his courage allow him to endure inhuman punishments to accomplish his duty.
At the end of his life, Snake finds some peace and vows to live long enough to see what the future holds for the world he helped to build.[48]
Three Metal Gear spinoffs, which do not follow the storyline of the main Kojima-directed series, were directed by Shinta Nojiri.[49] The first of these games is the Game Boy Color version of Metal Gear Solid (released in Japan as Metal Gear: Ghost Babel). In Ghost Babel, Solid Snake infiltrates a rebuilt Outer Heaven (now called Galuade) to defeat a FOXHOUND-like team of rogue agents called Black Chamber and destroy a stolen Metal Gear prototype, Gander. While the promotional art for the game was drawn by Yoji Shinkawa, the actual in-game character designs were done by Ikuya Nakamura, who would go on to direct the Kojima-produced Boktai series. Ghost Babel has however been briefly spotted in various Metal Gear games, such as a poster in MGS1 and the "Patriot" AI refers to infiltrating "Galuade" in MGS2.
In Metal Gear Acid, Solid 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 is complicated by La Clown, an expert mimic who impersonates Solid 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. The character designs in Metal Gear Acid were done by Tsubasa Masao, character designer of another Kojima-produced game, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner. In Metal Gear Acid, the in-game models do not reflect Masao's anime-style designs, instead closely resembling the designs used in the Metal Gear Solid series.
The sequel, Metal Gear Acid 2, features a main character who is not the real Solid Snake, but a clone created from tissue samples of the Solid Snake from the original Metal Gear Acid, following the events of the Lobito Island mission; the Solid Snake from the original Acid is dead. The character designs in the sequel were once again done by Tsubasa Masao, with the game's cel-shaded graphical style and more-stylized character designs adhering closely to his colourful, clearly-inked concept art.
Though Snake does not explicitly appear in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, he is mentioned, though not referred to by name; Elisa, a teenage German psychic with multiple personalities, has a prophetic vision of Naked Snake's future as she dies: she mentions that one of his sons will save the world after another son (Liquid Snake) brings it to ruin.[50] He appears (in his MGS4 form) as a recruitable character in Portable Ops Plus.
Solid Snake has appeared in a number of other games, including other Konami games, and more unusually, under license in games developed and published by other companies, such as Sony and Nintendo.
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 (voiced by Peter Lurieinstead of David Hayter, his usual voice actor) appears in the corresponding Mesal Gear Solid minigame featured in Ape Escape 3, where he is rescued by Pipo Snake. Snake's character design in this mini-game is taken directly from Naked Snake's.Hideo Kojima makes a habit of referencing his previous work. In the Policenauts Pilot Disk for the 3DO (later ported to the PlayStation asPolicenauts: Private Collection) features early conceptual illustration of Snake and Meryl, as well as a group shot of FOXHOUND commandos, from the then-unreleased Metal Gear Solid as an easter egg. In the Kojima-produced Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django (and Boktai 3: Sabata's Counterattack), 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 two stages set in the Big Shell (the Skateboarding minigame in Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance is a demo of Evolution Skateboarding comprised exclusively of these elements). Solid Snake's name is also used as an alias by Gillian Seed in the MSX2 role playing-game SD Snatcher; as the name of a vehicle in the PlayStation racing game Speed King; and as the name of a bar inPolicenauts.
He has also appeared in a pair of cross-company fighting games. In DreamMix TV World Fighters, Solid Snake appears as a playable character alongside other third-party characters such as Bomberman and Convoy (Optimus Prime). Similarly, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a popular fighting game from Nintendo, Solid Snake appeared alongside Nintendo-owned characters such as Mario and Donkey Kong, and Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. According to producer Masahiro Sakurai, Snake's inclusion inBrawl was done under Kojima's request, who wanted Snake to be featured.[51] In the game, Snake can receive codec transmissions from Col. Roy Campbell, Otacon, Mei Ling and Slippy Toad from the Star Fox series, each of whom briefs him on his opponents' abilities.
Snake has appeared as a playable character in the Nintendo DS game, New International Track & Field, alongside fellow Konami characters such as Sparkster and Simon Belmont, as well as new original characters.[52]
Customizations in Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3 allow the player character, Sackboy, to take on the appearance of Old Snake[53], Meryl Silverburgh, Screaming Mantis, and Raiden. These customizations appear as paid downloadable content for the game.
Solid Snake/Old Snake is most widely considered and most often cited as one of the greatest video game character of all time. Some have even gone as far as to say he is the "greatest character of all time." GameDaily listed the "old hero" as one of their top 25 video game archetypes, using the old version of Snake as an example of this.[54] They also listed him on their top 10 Smash Bros. characters list.[55] In an Oricon poll from 2008, he was voted as the fourth most popular video game character in Japan, tying with Nintendo's Pikachu.[56] His character was amongst the last sixteen contestants on the greatest video game hero on GameSpot contest held in 2009, and lost out to Gordon Freeman on a tiebreaker which Gordon Freeman lead to the victory of the contest.[57] He was ranked #17 in UGO.com's "Best Heroes in Entertainment."[58] He was ranked #8 on the "8 Worst Game Character Makeovers" by GamePro, condemning his conversion in hairstyle from Metal Gear Solid to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.[59]