| Solid Snake | |
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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. |
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| Series | Metal Gear |
| First game | Metal Gear (1987) |
| Created by | Hideo Kojima |
| Designed by | Yoji Shinkawa (MGS series) Ikuya Nakamura (Ghost Babel) Tsubasa Masao (MG Acid) |
| Voiced by (English) | David Hayter |
| Voiced by (Japanese) | Akio Ōtsuka |
| Motion capture | Mizuho Yoshida (MGS2) Ryoji Okamoto (MGS4) |
| Fictional profile | |
| Real name | David |
| Nationality | American |
| Affiliations | FOXHOUND (MG, MG2) CIA (Pre-MG2)[1] Free agent (MGS) Philanthropy (MGS2) Hired assassin/Philanthropy (MGS4) |
Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク Soriddo Sunēku), real name David (デイビッド Deibiddo),[2][3] is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Konami's Metal Gear series of stealth video games. Created by Hideo Kojima, Snake is introduced in the first game of the series, Metal Gear from 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 the English voice of the character.
Introduced in Metal Gear, Solid Snake is a combination of spy, special operations soldier and mercenary commando of FOXHOUND, a fictional black operations and espionage unit. He is 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, supported via radio by commanding officers and specialists.
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Metal Gear, initially released in 1987, 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 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.
In the 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.[4]
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.
Metal Gear Solid sees Solid Snake pulled out of retirement by Colonel Campbell in a mission 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.[5] 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.[6] 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 order to wipe out FOXHOUND without risking any damage to Metal Gear REX and the Genome soldiers' bodies for retrieval.[7] In the end, it is revealed that Liquid got Big Boss' superior "soldier genes", not Solid.[8]
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.[9] During the operation, however, the Metal Gear RAY is hijacked and the tanker destroyed, with the apparently dead Snake framed for the deed.[10] 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 throughout the main portion of the game (initially adopting the pseudonym Iroquois Pliskin (イロコィ・プリスキン Irokoi Purisukin), as a non-playable character who assists Raiden.[11]
The PlayStation 3 game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots features an aged Snake, once again the main protagonist and identified as Old Snake (オールド・スネーク Ōrudo Sunēku) by the game. On account of his genetic code being a potential threat if it fell into enemy hands, he was designed with a short life span; as such, while Snake is only 42 years old, he has the body of an old man.[12] 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).[13] Snake is once again enlisted by Campbell to defeat Liquid Ocelot who is following Big Boss' will.[14] At the end of the game, Snake destroys the AIs of the Patriots, and, after meeting Big Boss once again, ultimately decides to live out the remainder of his life in peace.
Three Metal Gear spinoffs, which do not follow the storyline of the main Kojima-directed series, were directed by Shinta Nojiri.[15] 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 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.
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.[16] 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.
Hideo Kojima makes a habit of referencing his previous work. 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 composed exclusively of these elements).[17]
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 in the English version instead of David Hayter, his usual voice actor) appears in the corresponding Metal 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.
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.[18]
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.[19] Also, Old Snake has appeared in the Japanese version of Scribblenauts, having been published by Konami in that region.[20]
Customizations in Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation 3 allow the player character, Sackboy, to take on the appearance of Old Snake.[21]
Snake has been on the battlefield for most of his life,[22] a hardened veteran, he has his emotions buried very deep inside himself. Every one of his missions has different motives; while he considers himself a soldier, only Operation: Intrude N313 saw him act for the simple fact that it was an order, while Operation Intrude F014 was to avoid a world energy and nuclear crisis but even at the early stages of the series he already showed an indomitable will and courage as shown in later games when his beliefs are the only thing driving him. However, he has also committed 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."[23]
It is with the Solid series that the technology gave tools to develop Snake into a full-fledged, complex and memorable character. He is immediately shown as a loner[24][25] and with no intentions of taking orders from anyone anymore,[26] he shows no sign of longing for the army or the country he was part of.[27]
During his infiltration into Shadow Moses he is shown to be cold-hearted,[28] analytical,[29] and with a clear view of his role as a mercenary.[30]
Along with these traits he has a more human side, being flirtatious,[31] self-sacrificing[32] and with a strong belief that even on a battlefield friendship[33] and love[34] can flourish, and that violence is not glorious.[35] Although the last bit is debatable due to statements from his enemies and at least one of his allies that he might enjoy all the killing, and even being labelled as being truly evil at one point.[36][37][38]
In the second entry of the Solid series, Snake is shown to be more relaxed, openly liking better having his very own orders and in the second part of the game, acting as a supporting character, the narrative shows him being always one step ahead of Raiden who hails him as a hero and a legend, which Snake openly dismisses.[39] However, he still expresses 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.[40]
Still as a supporting character more of Snake's personality traits are shown; he expresses 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.[41][42] He expresses much more hope than in Shadow Moses and with an optimistic, philosophical view of life and personal purpose.[43]
In his final mission, Snake, now with the body of an old man, has only his willpower[44] for fulfilling what he feels is his duty driving him.[45]
While still (maybe even more than before) believing that he is in no way a hero,[46] he is full of compassion for his fellows,[47] he still has some sense of humor[48] and his courage enables 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.[49]
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 in the game's opening sequence.[50] Solid Snake was even named after another fictional special forces operative: Snake Plissken, Kurt Russell's character in Escape from New York.[51][52] In Guns of the Patriots, he is modeled after Lee Van Cleef, who appeared in Escape from New York. 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.[53]
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.[54] 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.[52][55]
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.[56] Kojima explained that his decision to introduce a new playable character in Solid Snake's place for Sons of Liberty 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.[57] In Guns of the Pariots one of Kojima's endings for the game would have had Snake and Otacon turn themselves in for breaking the law, and subsequently they would be convicted and executed.[56] 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.[58] Kojima himself stated that the series will continue but he does not want the character to be handled by anyone else.[56]
In the games, Snake has been voiced by Akio Ōtsuka starting with Metal Gear Solid. Ōtsuka remembers being surprised during his debut as a result of the large amount dialogue Snake was given.[59] In the English adaptations, Snake's role was made by David Hayter who found his work notable as he was originally a screenwriter and did not expect to become famous for dubbing a character. For the crossover game Super Smash Bros, Hayter remembers having fun in voicing the character due to the comical lines Snake had to say.[60]
The character of Solid Snake has received positive response, ranking in various polls as one of the best video games characters in history. In an Oricon poll from 2008, he was voted as the fourth most popular video game character in Japan, tying with Nintendo's Pikachu.[61] In a Famitsu poll done in February 2010, Snake was voted by readers as the most popular video game character.[62] In the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition from 2011, Snake was voted as the fourth most popular video game character.[63] Also, Electronic Gaming Monthly listed him as number three as the Top Ten Video Game characters of all time.[64]
Snake appeared in multiple GameFAQs "Character Battle" contests, and was runner-up in two, the "Character Battle V" in 2006,[65] and the "Character Battle VII" in 2008.[66] 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.[67] He was ranked seventeenth in UGO Networks's "Best Heroes in Entertainment."[68] GameDaily listed him on their top 10 Smash Bros. characters list,[69] while Play listed him as one of the characters they wanted to be playable in Mortal Kombat.[70] Sites have also commented on his traits and appearance. 1UP listed him second in the "Top 5 Video Game Smokers" while GamesRadar placed him at the top of "The 10 manliest men in videogame history."[71][72] Solid Snake's endurance in the face of extreme punishment was even made the focus of a comedy article in the satirical newspaper, The Onion.[73] The character customization in Soul Calibur 4 that allowed to create Snake was listed by UGO as one of the best ones from the series owing to his popularity within gamers.[74] The character's Metal Gear Solid 2 design received negative comments. He was at the bottom of the "8 Worst Game Character Makeovers" by GamePro, condemning his conversion in hairstyle in comparison to the one in Metal Gear Solid,[75] and was also at the top of IGN's "Worst Videogame Haircuts".[76] Before Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Snake was thought to be the game's protagonist because of the physical resemblances between him and Naked Snake. However, later previews speculated how was it possible for Solid Snake to be in the game's settings, leading to the conclusion it was a young Big Boss.[77][78][79] A comparison between Solid Snake's and Big Boss' characters was made by IGN's Phil Pirrello in articled called "Stars Thunderdome: Snake vs. Big Boss."[80] David Hayter's performance as Snake's English voice actor has received praise to the point of being called one of the best ones in gaming as well as one of the character's most recognizable traits.[81][82]
Snake's appearance in Metal Gear Solid 4 has received mixed opinions. Before it was released, various speculations were made regarding Snake's role. As he was the only who suffered from a drastic change in appearance, IGN commented that the most famous rumor was the one of Snake's body deteriorating across the game.[83] Moreover, since it had been announced it would be his last appearance, IGN wondered whether the character would die during the game and if Raiden would replace him following his death.[84] GamesRadar commented that Snake was one of the few gaming characters that aged across video games.[85] GamePro also listed Old Snake as one of the biggest surprises from Metal Gear Solid 4 as the character was found interesting in contrast to pessimisitc thoughts they had before the game's release.[86] 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.[87] Play gave praise to the his moustache considering how highly detailed it is, and represents the change from Snake's character.[88] On the other hand, 1UP placed him third in the article of "Top 5 Gracelessly Aging Characters" as it gave negative messages about aging.[89]
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