“Why Did Snake Get Old?” – Sakurai’s Famitsu Column, Vol. 175

In this Famitsu column, originally published 14 years ago, Sakurai speculates about Old Snake, after watching a trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4 at TGS 2006. The actual game ended up being way more “Hollywood” than the trailer led him to believe, so it’s kinda funny to read in retrospect. Enjoy it!

Note: Do not repost the full translation. Please use the first two paragraphs, link to this translation, and credit Source Gaming and translator Brando. This translation is for fan use only, and may not accurately reflect the opinions of Masahiro Sakurai. If you enjoyed this article, I would strongly encourage you to support Sakurai by buying his books.

Source Gaming does not run ads on its website. If you enjoy this translation, please let us know on Twitter! Translation by Brando. Thanks to Crane043 for reviewing.

Why Did Snake Get Old?

Originally published in Famitsu, Vol. 175, 3 November 2006

At Tokyo Game Show 2006, amidst a sea of Playstation 3 game footage, I watched a promo movie for the much-anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. As expected, it was quite the video! In this one, viewers were able to see a variety of gameplay clips from different angles.**

**Translator’s Note: I think this is the video he’s referring to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEo5f4CCBx0

Watching the video, I saw that protagonist Snake had become an old man, and he looked rough. Or maybe I should say, his tactics and actions seemed fatigued, somehow. Closing in on the hidden Snake’s position were bipedal walking tanks, called “Gekko.” The feeble old Snake, wearing advanced camouflage (Octocamo) that changes color to match its surroundings, was lying down flat and stretched out, melted into the surrounding scenery.

But the Gekkos saw through the camouflage, and Snake was about to be crushed underfoot! Without batting an eye he pulled out a gun and began fighting back, but again, his movements had a certain weariness to them. Other scenes showed him crawling around while camouflaged, casually tossing a grenade at enemy soldiers, and hiding behind cover to avoid a storm of heavy gunfire. In all of these instances, he didn’t look strong at all. His body seemed heavy, and it was kind of saddening to watch.

In Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes*, Snake fought against quirky bosses, making full use of his small armory of weapons, even kicking a missile mid-flight to send it flying away in a different direction. Where did that Snake go!? Some people might even say, “This isn’t Snake at all!” However, after watching this video, I felt like I gradually started to understand the reason Snake became an old man.

*Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes: An enhanced edition of the original Metal Gear Solid, for the Gamecube. Cutscene direction was done by Ryuhei Kitamura, director of movies like Azumi, so he made them action-packed.

Originally, Metal Gear was a game about avoiding detection by the enemy. A solo sneaking mission into hostile territory. From the end of the hallway, an enemy gradually draws near. You’re not so well-armed, and if he finds you he’ll call for backup, and then things will really turn ugly. He’s getting closer. You’re on pins and needles. Please don’t notice me, please just walk on by…! …Ahh, I’m safe now. That’s how the game felt.

Certainly, there’s no denying that the Metal Gear games since then have headed more and more towards action-packed, Hollywood-style flashiness. There’s nothing particularly wrong with Snake being able to expertly use all kinds of weapons and smoothly carry out difficult assignments. Director Hideo Kojima himself has even said, “I think it’s fine for all sorts of Metal Gear titles to exist.”

That being said, Metal Gear was originally more down-to-earth. If an enemy comes along and you can swiftly knock them off their feet and be done with them just like that, you lose that feeling of tension from before. So when I saw Snake had grown old in the new game, I thought, “Maybe this was done more for gameplay reasons than for the story?” The codename “Snake” brings to mind words like “sneaking” and “infiltration”, but desperate “slithering” is another important part. That’s the impression I got from watching the elderly Snake flop down and stretch out along the ground.

Sticking to your true nature, without getting caught up in the flashiness in front of you. I thought, “Wow, Director Kojima has done it again.” Perhaps he can do this kind of thing precisely because he’s the original creator… Ah, not to go back on what I just said, but I think there’s no way that the Snake appearing in Brawl will stay down-to-earth and hidden!

Snake’s martial arts and camouflage abilities… If this game has an online VS mode, I wonder what it will be like?

Looking Back

Sakurai: A protagonist’s physical abilities and backstory have a big influence on how a game presents itself and how the player interacts with it, so it’s more engaging when the game’s systems mesh well with the protagonist’s abilities and personality. I wanted to talk about how a game’s mechanics and its story are usually thought of as two totally separate things, but that’s really not the case.

—When a series continues to change with every new installment, users tend to take that negatively, and even among creators, some take it negatively as well.

Sakurai: In particular [the original] Metal Gear, the game doesn’t have that much flashiness, but I think it’s one of those games where the grounded, “non-flashy” elements can still be negatively received. But there’s no avoiding that, right?