Solid Snake

• 1. Origins And Evolution

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  Hideo Kojima created Solid Snake, a character whose name was chosen to symbolize stealth through the snake and contrast that image with solidity. The original Metal Gear game released in 1987 presented Snake as a pastiche of action movie heroes like Michael Biehn from The Terminator. Cover artwork for that first title showed him resembling Kyle Reese, while later versions drew inspiration from Mel Gibson. Yoji Shinkawa provided the definitive design starting with Metal Gear Solid in 1998. His navy blue bandanna and sneaking suit became the template for all future incarnations. Shinkawa based Snake's physique on Jean-Claude Van Damme and his facial features on Christopher Walken. By 2014, Kojima revealed the true origin of the name came from snakes being symbols of stealth rather than just an homage to Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken. The character evolved from a silent player avatar into a sharp-tongued figure who flirted with women and told jokes. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which arrived in 2008, Snake appeared as an elderly man despite being only forty-two years old due to genetic manipulation. This aging process surprised staff members when they first saw Shinkawa's artwork of Old Snake.

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• 2. In-Universe Biography

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  Solid Snake was pulled out of retirement by Roy Campbell to deal with Sons of Big Boss led by Liquid Snake on Shadow Moses Island. He infiltrated a cargo tanker during operations for Otacon's anti-proliferation organization Philanthropy before RAY hijacked it and destroyed the vessel. During the main portion of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Solidus Snake stole Snake's identity while he used the pseudonym Jack to assist rookie agent Raiden. His real name is David, a tribute to the film 2001: A Space Odyssey that shares the same name with his English voice actor David Hayter. Snake possesses an IQ of 180 and is fluent in six languages. He has been on the battlefield for most of his life and says it is the only place where he feels truly alive. As part of the Les Enfants Terribles government project, he was artificially conceived from Big Boss's genes alongside twin brother Liquid. Liquid harbored strong resentment because Solid was given their father's dominant soldier genes while Liquid was seemingly cast aside. In Metal Gear Solid 4, Naomi revealed his life had been artificially shortened as part of the cloning process so his genes could not be used as weapons later. Snake tried to commit suicide because his DNA contained a mutated FOXDIE virus but Big Boss revealed a new variant overwrote the mutant version. He decided to live out the remainder of his life in peace after vowing to see what the future held for the new world.

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• 3. Psychological Profile

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  Snake buries his emotions within himself during missions even though every one has different motives. Colonel Campbell noted there was enough dirt in his file from days as an agent to keep him in stockade until he was very old. He stated that fifty huskies were his only family and that other people just complicated his life. Meryl Silverburgh called him a sad lonely man who did not like to get involved with anyone else's life. Yet he showed a human side by being flirtatious and self-sacrificing when saving others. Naomi Hunter asked why he went so far out of his way to save her and he replied he did not want to see any woman die right in front of him. He believed friendship could flourish on a battlefield despite violence not being glorious. Vulcan Raven rejoiced at their battle while Snake insisted it was just plain killing. Psycho Mantis claimed Snake enjoyed all the killing and labeled him more evil than those he had killed. Liquid Snake watched his face during fights and said it was filled with joy of battle. When not on duty, his favorite recreational activity was being a musher who rode dog sleds. His stress increased when killing enemies because Kojima intended this as a pacifist message.

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• 4. Voice Acting Legacy

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  Akio Otsuka voiced Solid Snake in the Japanese version while David Hayter provided the English adaptation. Hayter met casting director Kris Zimmerman while working on Captain Planet and later became voice-over director for Metal Gear games. One line Hayter liked from Metal Gear Solid was I just didn't expect a world-class designer of military technology to be so cute. He felt shocked when Sons of Liberty released as the narrative focused more on newcomer Raiden rather than him. Hayter stated that Guns of the Patriots gave the character proper closure even though one final scene bothered him where Snake hesitated to kill himself. He loved the character he portrayed throughout the series. In 2013 Game Informer ranked Hayter's role as the seventh most memorable character voice in video games for a portrayal considered a real classic. Akio Otsuka remembered being surprised during his debut due to the large amount of dialogue given to Snake. The European localization featured Emmanuel Bonami in French, Stephan Grothgar in German, Alessandro Ricci in Italian, and Alfonso Vallés in Spanish. A 2024 poll conducted by BAFTA with around 4,000 respondents named Solid Snake as the fourteenth most iconic video-game character of all time.

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• 5. Cultural Impact And Reception

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  Retro Gamer included Solid Snake in their section top ten forces of good within their 2004 list of top fifty retro game heroes. Electronic Gaming Monthly listed him number one as the top ten video game characters of all time in 2005. An Oricon poll from 2008 voted his character as the most popular video game character in Japan tying with Nintendo's Pikachu. A Famitsu poll in 2010 had readers vote him as the most popular video game character again. He appeared among the last sixteen contestants on the greatest video game hero contest held by GameSpot in 2009 but lost out to Gordon Freeman on a tiebreaker. The Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition from 2011 voted him fourth most popular video game character. Empire ranked him nineteenth greatest video game character in 2011 adding that he swiftly evolved into his very own character after beginning as an action pastiche. ScrewAttack ranked him sixth coolest character in video games in 2007 while 1UP.com listed him second in top video game smokers. GamesRadar placed him at the top of their 2009 list of manliest men in video game history. Complex ranked him fourth on the list of top pervs in games in 2012 and seventh greatest soldier in video games in 2013. Chris Morgan for Yardbarker described Snake as one of the most memorable characters from old school Nintendo games in 2021.

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