is a
fictional characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
and the main
protagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, video game, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to share the most empathy...
of
Konamiis a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
's
Metal Gear seriesis a critically acclaimed series of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. In the series, the player takes control of a Special Forces Operative repeatedly facing off against the latest incarnation of the eponymous superweapon "Metal Gear"; a bipedal walking...
of stealth video games. Created by
Hideo Kojimais a Japanese video game designer originally employed at Konami. Formerly the vice president of Konami Computer Entertainment Japan, he is currently the Executive Corporate OfficerDirector of Kojima Productions...
,
Metal Gear is Konami's main franchise and has sold approximately 26.5 million units as of February 2009. Introduced in the first game of the series,
Metal GearMetal Gear is a video game first released in 1987 for MSX computersMetal Gear may also refer to:*Metal Gear , a series of sequels and spin-offs based on the 1987 game*Metal Gear , bipedal tanks appearing in the Metal Gear series...
(MG) (1987), Snake has appeared in the majority of subsequent games and spin-offs.
Japanese voice actorA is a Japanese voice actor that works in radio, television, or movies. Seiyū perform voice-overs for non-Japanese movies, provide narration, and also work as anime and video game character actors...
Akio Ōtsuka voices Snake in
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...
, while actor and screenwriter
David HayterDavid Bryan Hayter is a Canadian-American voice actor, actor, and screenwriter. He is best known for providing the English voices of Solid Snake and Naked Snake in the Metal Gear video game series, and for writing the screenplay for X-Men and co-writing the screenplay for The Scorpion King and X2...
provides the
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
voice of the character. In his guest appearance in
Ape Escape 3Ape Escape 3 is a platforming video game published and developed by Sony for the PlayStation 2 video game console and also partially based on the Gex series. It was first released in Japan on July 14, 2005, and was later released in North America on January 17, 2006, in Europe in May 5, 2006, and...
, he is voiced in English by
Peter LuriePeter Hill Lurie is an American television personality, Sports anchor and voice actor who has worked in several television shows, movies, and dubbed anime, since the mid-1990s. He is well known as the voice of Vulcan Raven in the Metal Gear Solid video game series...
.
Solid Snake is a combination spy,
special operationsSpecial operations are military operations that are considered "special" .Special operations are typically performed independently or in conjunction with conventional military operations. The primary goal is to achieve a political or military objective where a conventional force requirement does...
agent and
mercenaryA mercenary is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of a sovereign state. He or she takes part in armed conflict on many different scales, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain...
of FOXHOUND, a fictional
black operationA black operation or black op is a covert operation typically involving activities that are highly secret.-Origins:Black ops missions often fit into the deniable category, a situation in which there is no claim of responsibility for the action, and/or a false flag operation is used to give the...
s and
espionageEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, as the legitimate holder of the information may change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
unit. He is repeatedly tasked with disarming and destroying the latest incarnation of
Metal GearMetal Gear is the name for a series of fictional mecha in the Metal Gear series. While each game has a new Metal Gear with a different role, they are typically autonomous nuclear launch platforms which the player must destroy in order to save the world and complete the game...
, a bipedal
nuclear weaponA nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion...
-armed
mechaMecha, also known as meka or mechs, are walking vehicles controlled by a pilot, often appearing in anime, science fiction, or other genres involving a fantastic or futuristic element. Mecha are generally, though not necessarily, bipedal, with arms, hands, and fingers capable of grasping objects...
. 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 Gearis a stealth game designed by Hideo Kojima. Metal Gear was developed and first published by Konami in 1987 for the MSX2 home computer...
, initially released in 1987 on the
MSX2MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s. It was a Microsoft-led attempt to create unified standards among hardware makers, conceived by one-time Microsoft Japan executive Kazuhiko Nishi. Despite Microsoft's involvement, MSX-based machines were seldom seen in the...
home computer and later
portedIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
to the
Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in . In most of Asia, including Japan , China, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines, it was released as the , commonly abbreviated as the...
, 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
mechaMecha, also known as meka or mechs, are walking vehicles controlled by a pilot, often appearing in anime, science fiction, or other genres involving a fantastic or futuristic element. Mecha are generally, though not necessarily, bipedal, with arms, hands, and fingers capable of grasping objects...
—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 moviesAction movies are a film genre wherein the story is largely told through physical action as opposed to dialogue. The action typically involves individual efforts on the part of the hero. While action has long been an element of films, the "Action film" as a genre of its own began to develop in the...
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 BiehnMichael Connell Biehn is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in James Cameron's science fiction-action films The Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss. He has also acted in other genres in such films as Tombstone, The Rock, and Planet Terror...
in
The TerminatorThe Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film directed and co-written by James Cameron and distributed by the independent film studio Orion Pictures. It features Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Terminator, Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor and Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese. The film was followed by...
, and the in-game portrait of Snake in
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snakeis a stealth game that was written and directed by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. It is the second game in the Metal Gear series and the direct precursor to Metal Gear Solid. It was initially released only in Japan for the MSX2 on July 19, 1990...
resembles
Mel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American Australian actor, film director and producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in the Mad...
. Solid Snake was even named after another fictional special forces operative:
Snake PlisskenS.D. "Snake" Plissken is a fictional character in John Carpenter's films Escape from New York and Escape from L.A., played by Kurt Russell.-Character history:Snake Plissken is a former U.S...
,
Kurt RussellKurt Vogel Russell is an American actor. He started acting as a child in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has continued appearing in a wide variety of films since, including Follow Me, Boys!, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, The Barefoot Executive, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China,...
's character in
Escape from New YorkEscape from New York is a 1981 science fiction/action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Nick Castle. The film is set in the near future in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into a maximum security prison...
. 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 Solidis a stealth action video game directed and written by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Kojimas early MSX2 computer games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid...
.
The NES port of
Metal Gear was an unexpected million-seller in North America. Konami commissioned the production of an NES sequel for the
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n market titled
Snake's RevengeSnake's Revenge is a stealth action game by Konami released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. The game was produced as a sequel to the original Metal Gear, made specifically for the North American and PAL market following the success of the first NES game...
, 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. This sequel, titled
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snakeis a stealth game that was written and directed by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. It is the second game in the Metal Gear series and the direct precursor to Metal Gear Solid. It was initially released only in Japan for the MSX2 on July 19, 1990...
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.
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 Gray Fox, in a hand-to-hand fight in a minefield, and kills (supposedly) Big Boss by setting him ablaze with a makeshift flamethrower.
Metal Gear Solid games
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
PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
game
Metal Gear Solidis a stealth action video game directed and written by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Kojimas early MSX2 computer games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid...
. This game, which debuted at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo to great fanfare, soon became an international hit and garnered critical acclaim worldwide.
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, in which one brother was genetically modified to be superior over the other. Liquid harbors a strong resentment towards Snake, believing that his brother was given their father's "dominant genes". 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 was actually the superior clone, not Snake.
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.
Yoji Shinkawais a Japanese comedian and conceptual artist. He is most famous for his character, environment and mechanical designs for the Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders series....
'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 DammeJean-Claude Van Damme is a Belgian martial artist and actor who is best known for martial arts and action movies. His most successful films include Bloodsport , Universal Soldier , Hard Target , and Timecop...
, while his facial appearance in the same game was inspired by actor
Christopher WalkenChristopher Walken is an American actor of stage and screen. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New York, Batman Returns, True Romance, Catch Me If You Can,...
. 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. 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.
Solid Snake is the playable protagonist of the extensive prologue sequence of
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Libertyis a stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima, developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. It is the fourth Metal Gear game produced and directed by Kojima and the direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid...
, in which he is sent by the anti-
proliferationNuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of nuclear weapons, fissile material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information, to nations which are not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the...
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, whose real name is Jack, is a character in the Metal Gear series. He is the protagonist of the Plant Chapter, the main act of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , and a supporting character in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots ...
(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, again taken from the name of the character
Snake PlisskenS.D. "Snake" Plissken is a fictional character in John Carpenter's films Escape from New York and Escape from L.A., played by Kurt Russell.-Character history:Snake Plissken is a former U.S...
from
Escape from New YorkEscape from New York is a 1981 science fiction/action film directed and scored by John Carpenter. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Nick Castle. The film is set in the near future in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into a maximum security prison...
) 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.
The
PlayStation 3The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series...
game
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the PatriotsMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, commonly abbreviated to MGS4, is a stealth action video game developed by Kojima Productions for the PlayStation 3. Guns of the Patriots is the latest addition to the Metal Gear series and was directed by Hideo Kojima...
features an aged Snake, once again the main protagonist and identified as
Old Snake by the game. Advanced cellular degeneration caused by a purposeful flaw in the cloning process used to create him has aged him prematurely. Snake himself wished for Otacon to call him
Old Snake, which
old 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). 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.
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. Kojima himself has stated that the series will continue but he does not want the character to be handled by anyone else.
In spinoffs
Three
Metal Gear spinoffs, which do not follow the storyline of the main Kojima-directed series, were directed by
Shinta NojiriShinta Nojiri is a Japanese video game designer at Konami. Born in Tokyo, he has been working for Konami since 1995, and has directed various games in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear series.-Selected works:*...
. The first of these games is the
Game Boy ColorThe is Nintendo's successor to the Game Boy and was released on October 21, 1998 in Japan, November 19, 1998 in North America, November 23, 1998 in Europe and November 27 1998 in UK. It features a color screen and is slightly thicker and taller than the Game Boy Pocket. As with the original Game...
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
BoktaiBoktai is a video game series developed by Konami for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS handheld consoles. The title is an abbreviation of the series' full Japanese title Bokura no Taiyō or Our Sun. They are recognized for using a solar sensor that is a key element of gameplay...
series.
In
Metal Gear AcidMetal Gear Acid is a turn-based collectible card video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan for the PlayStation Portable handheld game console...
, 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 RunnerZone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, known in Japan as , is a video game that was developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. The sequel to Zone of the Enders, the game was produced by, and is closely associated with Hideo Kojima. The game is based around mecha combat...
. In
Metal Gear Acid, the in-game models do not reflect Masao's
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
-style designs, instead closely resembling the designs used in the
Metal Gear Solid series.
The sequel,
Metal Gear Acid 2Metal Gear Acid 2 is a turn-based collectible card video game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami for the PlayStation Portable...
, 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 presumed 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 Opsis a stealth game directed by Masahiro Yamamoto, written by Gakuto Mikumo with series creator Hideo Kojima acting as a producer. Portable Ops was developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami in 2006 for the PlayStation Portable...
, he is mentioned, though not referred to by name; Elisa, a teenage German psychic with
multiple personalitiesDissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a condition in which a single person displays multiple distinct identities or personalities , each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment...
, has a
prophetic visionPrecognition , also called Future Sight, refers to perception that involves the acquisition of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information...
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 . He appears (in his
MGS4 form) as a recruitable character in
Portable Ops Plus.
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
Sonyis a video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a full subsidiary of Sony. The company was established on November 16, 1987 in Tokyo, Japan prior to the launch of the original PlayStation video game system...
and
Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel...
.
Hideo Kojima makes a habit of referencing his previous work. In the
Policenauts Pilot Diskis a cinematic adventure game, with a hard science fiction storyline published by Konami, written and directed by Hideo Kojima. It was initially released for the PC-9821 computer platform in 1994, followed by remade versions for the 3DO in 1995, and the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1996...
for the
3DOThe 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is a video game console originally produced by Panasonic in . Further renditions of the hardware were released in by Sanyo and Goldstar. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by Dave...
(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 eggA virtual Easter egg is an intentional hidden message, in-joke or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, web page or video game. The term was coined – according to Warren Robinett – by Atari after they were pointed to the secret message left by Robinett...
. In the Kojima-produced
Boktai 2: Solar Boy DjangoThis article refers to the second game in the series. For the manga, see Solar Boy Django ., also known as Zoktai, is a video game that was developed and published by Konami for the Game Boy Advance...
(and
Boktai 3: Sabata's Counterattack), Snake appears as an unnamed character who sells items to the player. Konami's
Evolution SkateboardingEvolution Skateboarding is a skateboarding video game released by Konami for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube. It consists of several popular skateboarders, such as Rick McCrank, Arto Saari, Kerry Getz, and Danny Way. There is also a create-a-skater feature and an unlockable character for every...
features Snake and
Raiden, whose real name is Jack, is a character in the Metal Gear series. He is the protagonist of the Plant Chapter, the main act of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , and a supporting character in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots ...
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
MSX2MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s. It was a Microsoft-led attempt to create unified standards among hardware makers, conceived by one-time Microsoft Japan executive Kazuhiko Nishi. Despite Microsoft's involvement, MSX-based machines were seldom seen in the...
role playing-gameA console role-playing game is a video game genre that has its origin rooted in video game consoles and includes game mechanics and, frequently, settings derived from those of traditional role-playing games...
SD SnatcherSD Snatcher is a 1990 RPG released for the MSX2 computer by Konami. It is a spinoff of Snatcher which tells an alternate version of the same story...
; 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 Gearis a critically acclaimed series of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. In the series, the player takes control of a Special Forces Operative repeatedly facing off against the latest incarnation of the eponymous superweapon "Metal Gear"; a bipedal walking...
and
Ape Escape franchises: the
Ape Escape
Ape Escape is a platform game for the PlayStation, which launched a series of the same name.Ape Escape was first released in North America on May 31, 1999, and shortly after in Japan under the name , on June 24, 1999. It was released in PlayStation Network Japan on August 30, 2007...
monkeys appear with Solid Snake in the "Snake vs. Monkey" minigame featured in
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eateris an award winning stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima. Snake Eater was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2, and was released on November 17, 2004 in North America; December 16, 2004 in Japan; March 4, 2005 in Europe; and on...
. In turn, Snake (voiced by
Peter LuriePeter Hill Lurie is an American television personality, Sports anchor and voice actor who has worked in several television shows, movies, and dubbed anime, since the mid-1990s. He is well known as the voice of Vulcan Raven in the Metal Gear Solid video game series...
instead of David Hayter, his usual voice actor) appears in the corresponding "Mesal Gear Solid" minigame featured in
Ape Escape 3Ape Escape 3 is a platforming video game published and developed by Sony for the PlayStation 2 video game console and also partially based on the Gex series. It was first released in Japan on July 14, 2005, and was later released in North America on January 17, 2006, in Europe in May 5, 2006, and...
, where he is rescued by Pipo Snake.
He has also appeared in a pair of cross-company fighting games. In
DreamMix TV World Fightersis a 2003 multiplayer fighting video game for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 in Japan. It features licensed characters from a few well-known Japanese companies, including Konami, Hudson Soft, and Takara.-Story:...
, Solid Snake appears as a playable character alongside other third-party characters such as Bomberman and Convoy (
Optimus PrimeOptimus Prime is a fictional character from the Transformers franchise. He is the main protagonist and leader of the "heroic" faction in most of the various Transformers continuities.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
). Similarly, in
Super Smash Bros. BrawlSuper Smash Bros. Brawl, known in Japan as , is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games, developed by Sora and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. Brawl was announced at a pre-E3 2005 press conference by Nintendo president and Chief...
, a popular fighting game from
Nintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel...
, Solid Snake appeared alongside Nintendo-owned characters such as
Mariois a fictional character in his eponymous video game series, created by video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
and Donkey Kong, and
Segais a multinational video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan...
's
Sonic the Hedgehog, trademarked Sonic The Hedgehog, is a video game character and the protagonist of the eponymous video game series released by Sega, as well as in numerous spin-off comics, cartoons and books. The first game in the franchise was released on June 23, 1991, in order to provide Sega with a mascot to...
. According to producer
Masahiro Sakuraiis a Japanese video game designer, the creative force behind both the Kirby and the Super Smash Bros. series on Nintendo platforms. He is currently Director of Software Development for the video game developer's Sora Ltd. and Project Sora. He is also the author of a weekly column for Famitsu...
, Snake's inclusion in
Brawl was done under Kojima's request, who wanted Snake to be featured.
Snake has appeared as a playable character in the
Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
game,
New International Track & Field, is a sports video game by Konami for the Nintendo DS. Developed by Sumo Digital, it is the latest game in Konami's Track and Field series.-Overview:...
, alongside fellow Konami characters such as
SparksterSparkster is a video game character featured in the following video game titles:* Rocket Knight Adventures released for the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1993....
and Simon Belmont, as well as new original characters.
Customizations in Media Molecule's
LittleBigPlanetLittleBigPlanet, commonly abbreviated LBP and developed under the title The Next Big Thing, is a puzzle platformer video game for the PlayStation 3 first announced on 7 March 2007, by Phil Harrison at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California...
for the
PlayStation 3The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series...
allow the player character, Sackboy, to take on the appearance of Old Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, Screaming Mantis, and Raiden. These customizations appear as paid downloadable content for the game.
Reception
Snake ranked third on
GameDailyis a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 with the name Gigex, the site was acquired by AOL on August 16, 2006. The site offers articles on different video game topics, with a lot of lists where games are ranked....
's top 10 Smash Bros. characters list. In an
Oricon, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
poll from 2008, he was voted as the fourth most popular video game character in Japan, tying with Nintendo's
Pikachuis one of the fictional species of Pokémon creatures from the Pokémon media franchise—a collection of video games, anime, manga, books, trading cards, and other media created by Satoshi Tajiri. As do all Pokémon, Pikachu fight other Pokémon in battles central to the anime, manga, and games of the...
.