Metal Gear is a game released in 1987 that not only launched one of the most famous video game series but also created a new genre. 1)
According to Solid Snake's voice actor David Hayter and many forum posts, Metal Gear Solid 4 holds the Guinness World Record for the longest cutscenes sequence in a video game, one after the other, lasting as long as 71 minutes. 2)
The creation of the game in this form was not a planned action but an improvisation due to hardware limitations. Hideo Kojima debuted at Konami with a simple arcade game called Penguin adventure. After it, he received a game with the working title Intruder as a legacy from one of his designers. This game was supposed to be a simple shooter. In the course of work, the developers came up against a wall. MSX computer was not able to display enough enemies and bullets on the screen, even despite the use of advanced tricks. It was necessary to reduce the number of objects. However, shooting soldiers popping up one by one took away from the game's dynamism. To remedy this, Kojima proposed to remodel the gameplay. Instead of shooting enemies, he proposed avoiding them. 3)
The name Snake, Kojima borrowed from the main character in the movie Escape from New York - Snake Plissken. This is one of Kojima's favorite movies. References to Snake's name can be found in Metal Gear Solid 2, where one of the characters introduces himself as Iroquois Pliskin. 4)
According to Kojima, the word Solid had three meanings. First, it was the name of a character. Second, the word was meant to symbolize a solid (three-dimensional) object, as the developers believed their game was three-dimensional in some sense. Third, it was meant to be a slight poke in the nose at Konami's competitors Square, the creators of Final Fantasy. Since Square means square and Solid means solid (a 3D object), it was supposed to somehow prove that their company was better than the competition. Honestly, I don't see how it proves anything, maybe the specificity of the Japanese language is such that this “joke” sounds better. 5)
Snake explains in Metal Gear Solid how Big Boss exposed himself to be his father during their struggle in Zanzibarland. This is certainly a reference to Metal Gear 2, yet playing MG2 will reveal that such a scenario does not exist. Solid Snake and Big Boss are simply fighting. This “twist” was created exclusively for the first entry in the Solid series.6)
Metal Gear 2 is essentially a 2D version of Metal Gear Solid. In the end, Metal Gear Solid is essentially a soft reboot of Metal Gear 2.7)
Instead of rediscovering the will to life and opting to enjoy his final months, however short they may be, Kojima planned Snake and Otacon to turn themselves in as terrorists in order to be executed in the game's dramatic finish. Naturally, the whole crew was opposed to this notion and refused to work unless Kojima agreed to change the conclusion.8)
After being disarmed of their suits in Metal Gear Solid 4, Kojima wants the Beauty and the Beast ladies to be entirely nude. Obviously, this didn't fly because it would very certainly result in MGS4 receiving an AO rating, therefore cannibalizing the game's sales.9)
Konami forbade Kojima from engaging with his colleagues in the same room. During the game's final stretch, Kojima sent messages to and from his team as they urgently fought to pull together and make the game a reality in a brutally short amount of time. Konami basically expelled Kojima from his own organization.10)
Konami barred him from attending The Game Awards in 2015, an award presentation that was primarily concerned with recognizing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Not only was Kojima's name virtually wiped away from Konami's record, but they also took it upon themselves to keep him as far away from the final game in a series he committed decades to as possible.11)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is infamous for only having two chapters, however data miners uncovered a third chapter labeled “Peace” in the game's archives. With the title card comes a sequence in which Kaz informs Venom and the rest of Mother Base that all nuclear weapons in the world have been decommissioned. This clip is said to appear only once all in-game nukes have been deactivated through the game's internet servers, however this achievement appears implausible given the prevalence of hackers in-game and the significance of The Phantom Pain's online.12)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain's look is so steeped in the 1980s that it's only logical that it has an 80s filter to truly bring up that 80s movie atmosphere. Kojima and his team intended to use an 80s filter early on in production to make the gameplay look like it came from a movie of the time. Imagine Venom Snake creeping through Africa, playing A-ha on his non-iPod while dressed like a character from Escape from New York. Unfortunately, owing to technological limits, the filter was far too demanding and had to be deleted.13)
Chico's death is one of the most significant casualties in Metal Gear Solid V. After spending the whole game idolizing Big Boss and striving to find his position as a soldier in Peace Walker, he is abducted by Skull Face, tortured in Camp Omega, and blown up at the conclusion of Ground Zeroes, rendering the game's events null and void. It's a terrible, awful finish for a youngster who never had the chance to mature.
However, looking at concept drawings suggests that Chico was originally intended to survive Ground Zeroes and appear in The Phantom Pain. His artwork clearly depicts him as an adult, virtually taking on the role of the game's fictitious Cyborg Ninja, a franchise mainstay.14)
Kojima had to delete the hypothetical Decoy Octopus combat because it was deemed too demanding for the PlayStation's technology. This boss would have noticed Decoy Octopus blending in with the background of his arena, fooling Snake from corner to corner. Thankfully, the fight was subsequently redone by Laughing Octopus in Metal Gear Solid 4.15)
When it came time to record dialogue for The Twin Snakes, the Gamecube version of Metal Gear Solid, Hayter had to forego a large portion of his income merely to reunite the original cast. According to tradition, David Hayter gave up half of his total income since the original audio recordings for the PlayStation release were practically unplayable.16)
When you sit down and actually evaluate Metal Gear Solid 2's finale, it's evident how much Hideo Kojima didn't want to continue the series. Sons of Liberty concludes with nearly every story line, character development, and overall concept resolved. What many consider a cliffhanger, Snake running after Ocelot, is simply the game's goal to make players doubt reality. If you've ever wondered why MGS4 goes to such efforts to avoid mentioning MGS2, it's because MGS2 told the entire narrative.17)
Given that Metal Gear Solid 2 pushes the player to doubt the game's reality, many began to speculate that Sons of Liberty was all along a VR mission. At least for the most part. Raiden is often thrust into scenarios that are uncannily similar to the happenings at Shadow Moses. By the last act, the characters and the game itself have lost all pretense of being genuine and are working tirelessly to tear Raiden and the player down. Then came Metal Gear Solid 4. To make a sequel work, what was clearly a correct theory was thrown out the window. Suddenly, everything in the game transpired, despite the fact that no one commented on Big Shell's occurrences.18)