10 Video Game Villains Created Out Of Spite

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty may be an excellent game, but that's largely in spite of the fact that so many players felt hoodwinked by franchise protagonist Solid Snake being switched out for effeminate charisma vacuum Raiden for most of the game.

Though prequel Metal Gear Solid 3 delivered a more crowd-pleasing follow-up by putting players back in the shoes of the Solid Snake-adjacent predecessor Big Boss, Hideo Kojima decided to keep Raiden alive through his own spiritual ancestor.

Mid-way through the game we're introduced to Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov, the second-in-command to primary antagonist Volgin.

Raikov is effectively a Russian parody of Raiden with the volume turned up to 11, which would be enough to make players groan if not that they're at least given the opportunity to kill or incapacitate him during Snake's mission.

Though it's clear that Kojima has a sense of humour about the fanbase's disdain for Raiden, it's also evident that he couldn't resist including him in the sequel in some fashion, thumbing his nose at everyone who loathed the character.