Solid Snake

Solid Snake
Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid, drawn by Yoji Shinkawa. Shinkawa's design would mark the beginning of consistency and continuity in Snake's design, and similar designs would appear in all later games.
Game 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
Voiced by (Japanese)	Akio Ōtsuka
Motion capture actor(s)	Mizuho Yoshida (Metal Gear Solid 2), Ryoji Okamoto (Metal Gear Solid 4)
Information
Real name	David (video games)[1] [2] Justin Halley (Worlds of Power novelization of Metal Gear)[3]
Also known as	Iroquois Pliskin (MGS2), Old Snake (MGS4)
Nationality	United States
Affiliations	FOXHOUND (MG, MG2), CIA (Post-MG2)[4], Free agent (MGS) , Philanthropy (MGS2), (MGS4).

Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク, Soriddo Sunēku^?) is a video game character and the main protagonist of the Metal Gear series of video games by Konami.^[5][6][7] Introduced in the 1987 video game Metal Gear and created by series creator Hideo Kojima, Solid Snake is a combination spy, special operations agent, and mercenary who works for FOXHOUND, a fictional black ops and espionage unit, and Philanthropy in later games. He is repeatedly tasked with disarming and destroying the latest incarnation of Metal Gear, a bipedal, nuclear-weapon-armed mecha. He is voiced in the Japanese and English releases of the games by seiyū Akio Ōtsuka and actor/screenwriter David Hayter, respectively.

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.

Early Metal Gear games

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 unit FOXHOUND. Snake is sent by team leader Big Boss into the rogue nation Outer Heaven to rescue his missing teammate Gray Fox and discover who or what the "METAL GEAR" mentioned in Gray Fox's last transmission is. After rescuing a member of the resistance, Snake discovers 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 Terminator, and the in-game portrait of Snake in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake resembles Mel Gibson^[8] (who was then starring in the Lethal Weapon movies). Solid Snake was even named after another fictional special forces operative: Snake Plissken, Kurt Russell's character in Escape from New York.^[9][10] 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.^[11]

The NES port of Metal Gear was an unexpected million-seller in North America.^[8] Konami commissioned the production of an NES sequel for the North American market titled Snake's Revenge, which was developed without the involvement of the first game'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.^[9][8] This sequel, titled Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and initially released only 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.^[12]

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake sees Solid Snake once again called up to infiltrate a heavily-fortified enemy base, this time in Zanzibar Land. Zanzibar Land 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 both Gray Fox and Big Boss.

Metal Gear Solid series

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 the PlayStation 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.^[13][14]

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, 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 Snake both are clones of Big Boss. Liquid also believes Snake is the "favourite" and that he has all the recessive genes. He is driven by the desire to kill Snake in spite of his genetic destiny as Solid Snake's inferior. He then challenges his brother, a confrontation which ends in Liquid's death.

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.^[15] 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.^[16][10] 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.^[17]

Solid Snake is the playable protagonist 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 facility. Solid Snake, who survived the explosion in the prologue, appears throughout 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.^[18]

The PlayStation 3 game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots features an aged Snake, now identified as Old Snake by the game. Advanced cellular degeneration caused by the cloning process used to create him has aged him prematurely. 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). This new character design is based upon actor Lee Van Cleef.^[19] According to Ryan Payton of Konami, Guns of the Patriots will be 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 does not want the character to be handled by anyone else.^[17]

In spinoffs

Three Metal Gear spinoffs, which don't follow the storyline of the main Kojima-directed series, were directed by Shinta Nojiri.^[21] 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 were 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.

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 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.

Other appearances

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.

Hideo Kojima makes a habit of referencing his previous work. In the Policenauts Pilot Disk for the 3DO (later ported to the PlayStation as Policenauts: 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 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 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 in Policenauts.

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 Lurie instead of David Hayter, his usual voice actor) appears in the corresponding "Mesal Gear Solid" [sic] minigame featured in Ape Escape 3, where he is rescued by Pipo Snake.

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 in Brawl was done under Kojima's request, who wanted Snake to be featured.^[22] Originally Kojima wanted Snake to appear in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but the game was too far into production for inclusion.

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.^[23]

Customizations in Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3 will allow the player character, Sackboy, take on the appearance of Old Snake.^[24] These customizations will appear as paid downloadable content for the game.

References