10 Huge Gaming Moments That Didn't Matter At All
1. Eli Steals Sahelanthropus - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Of all the victims of the nasty Hideo Kojima/Konami fallout, one of the most public and most cited ones is the botched back half of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
The main focus of the game is the conflict between Venom Snake (original antagonist Big Boss’ code name in this outing) and Skull Face, a terrorist planning to use a parasite to kill the English speaking world whilst maintaining order with the nuclear threat of Metal Gear Sahelanthropus. Unlike other Metal Gears, Sahelanthropus would not contain AI, and instead be controlled psychically by ‘The Third Child’, a younger version of series favourite Psycho Mantis.
So far, so Kojima. Along for the ride is Eli, a leader of child soldiers, purported clone of Snake and MGS antagonist Liquid Snake in child form. With a fair amount of resentment and anger towards Snake and his military allies, Eli and The Third Child hijack Sahelanthropus from under Snake and pilot it away, never to be seen again.
When I say never, I absolutely mean it, as this is the one and only appearance of Sahelanthropus in the series, and the subplot or events between this and MGS is never explained or referenced again. Unfortunately, following creative differences behind the scenes Kojima and Konami parted ways, and the resolution to this and other massive plot points never materialised. A sad turn of events for sure, but at least it means I don’t need to keep spelling Sahelanthropus.