Metal Gear’s creator took to Twitter to talk about the conceptual origins behind the name of series protagonist Solid Snake. Over eight tweets.
It… makes sense if you think about it, really. Have a look:
The reason I used Snake as code name in MG was snake was the most appropriate symbol of living thing that hides his presence, (cont)
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 6, 2014
hides his presence, & sneaks w/o any noise. The reason I didn’t make any specific snake like cobra, anaconda, viper was because(cont)
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 6, 2014
(cont) because the protagonist is the player. The reason I use SOLID was to give opposite impression of soft image.
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 6, 2014
Like of all endings of the any series are, the appearance of strongest enemy was a must in MGS. It’s Snake who can surpass the Snake. (cont)
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 6, 2014
Thus I brought about “clone”. SOLID vs LIQUID. That is MGS.
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 6, 2014
As to develop sequel, the 3rd snake was needed. Since both solid & liquid express state, means same true state.(cont)
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 6, 2014
Naturally the next would be gas but gas snake is like gas human, not handsome name. So I borrowed from physics terms of (cont)
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 6, 2014
So I borrowed from physics terms of (cont) “solidus/liquidus”. SOLIDUS is not state but implies the boundary of liquid and solid.
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) March 6, 2014
Did you get that? Solid for battle-hardened, Snake for stealthy. Only a snake can beat a snake, so Solid Snake’s nemesis for Metal Gear Solid also had to be a snake — thus Liquid Snake, where ‘Liquid’ is a reference to his being a clone. And apparently, Solidus Snake from Metal Gear Solid 2 could have been called Gas Snake. That would have been really silly.
Picture: Metal Gear Wiki
Comments
23 responses to “Hideo Kojima On Why Solid Snake Is Called Solid Snake”
Still doesn’t explain Naked Snake.
He was codenamed Naked Snake in MGS3 because he was going into the mission without equipment and was going to have to procure everything on-site. The game itself made a big deal about this, and was pretty hard to miss.
Heh, cool. I sometimes called solidus, gas snake.
Or he got the name from Snake Plissken of Escape from New York.
Exactly my thought.
Gas Snake would have worked because of Solidus’ long winded monologues in MGS2.
Zing!
That may be so, Mr Kojima, but it doesn’t change the fact that you somehow ended up with a euphemism for the male member.
Uni Qlo released a bunch of MGS tshirts for the 25th anniversary. One of them says in big letters “Hungry For Some Snake?”
I wear it all the damn time.
Only a snake can beat a snake… or, y’know, a mongoose.
Or a honey badger…
Various birds…
Hedgehogs…
But do you really want a villain called The Secretary? 😛
I always though Vapour Snake sounded cool, and is basically the same as Gas Snake.
Also to be fair ‘Gas Snake’ isn’t a very ‘handsome’ name, but c’mon Solid Snake? Sounds a little like ERECT PENIS? I can’t be the only one who thinks that, right?
Full disclosure: I love Metal Gear.
Would have been quicker to just say ‘Engrish’
I was thinking that too, but they’re simple, universal terms, so they’d make the same sense, or lack of it, in English or Japanese. “Solid snake” probably lends itself to the same “hard cock” double entendre too.
It’s probably just a case of a guy not being that great with naming stuff. It’s iconic now though so it doesn’t matter.
So it had nothing to do with the protagonist of Escape From New York?
Nahh, I don’t buy it. That whole “Plissken” thing from MGS2 was there for a reason.
Kurt Russell at his finest!
Yeah – this seems really mean. Why would he back down on something that he already tacitly admitted to being true?
I guess Kojima is just having fun with us again.
Would the fourth Snake be Plasma Snake?
And the fifth probably Non-Newtonian Fluid Snake
Digital Interface Condensation Snake!
Losses something in the translation.
…still, dicks! =)
I always presumed that Solid and Liquid were more like adjectives. So the third Snake wouldn’t have been “Gas Snake”, it would have been “Gaseous Snake”, which I think sounds kind of cool.
The evil brother should have been called Blue Veiner.. Or Diamond Cutter.