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Hideo Kojima explains why he used the codename 'Snake' in Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid is full of Snakes, but did you ever wonder why Hideo Kojima chose the slithering beasts as his protagonist's codename? Well; he's explained it on Twitter.

It follows Kojima expressing his desire to bring Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes to PC.

He said, "The reason I used Snake as a code name in Metal Gear is that a snake was the most appropriate symbol of a living being that hides his presence, and sneaks without making any noise. The reason why I didn’t use any specific snake names like cobra, anaconda or viper was because the protagonist is the player. The reason why I use SOLID was to give opposite impression of something soft.

"Like for of all endings of the any series, the appearance of strongest enemy was a must in Metal Gear Solid. It’s the Snake who can surpass the Snake. Thus I brought about a 'clone.' The struggle between SOLID and LIQUID. That was Metal Gear Solid.

"As I developed a sequel, a third snake was needed. Since both solid & liquid express an actual natural state. Obviously the next would be “gas” but Gas Snake would be like a human made of gas, and that’s not a nice name. So I borrowed from the physics terms 'solidus/liquidus'. SOLIDUS is not a real state but indicates the border between liquid and solid."

Well then. What do you think of that?

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Dave Cook avatar

Dave Cook

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Dave worked on VG247 for an extended period manging much of the site's news output. As well as his experience in games media, he writes for comics, and now specializes in books about gaming history.

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