19 Things We Learned From The Metal Gear Solid Series

18. Hideo Kojima Knows How To Re-Introduce A Character

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D12qGelZAi0 In one of the biggest transgressions committed in video game history (to some people anyway), was the Coolest Character Alive in Solid Snake being replaced in something of a bait 'n switch style move, for the far more effeminate Raiden; a man with the same codename, just to mess with you. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty actually allowed gamers to completely miss the smaller 'intro level' of sorts featuring Snake if they mentioned from the main menu that they hadn't played the first game. It was a move more ballsy than the first night of gay marriage-allowance, yet solidified Kojima as a major force in artistic expression over conventional expectation. Raiden was roundly despised for the vast majority of his playtime, although he did get a rather slick katana near the end of the game which provided some much needed guard-skewering as compensation. Cut to Metal Gear Solid 4 though, and who's that cloaked figure watching over our now-ageing Snake, saving him from a wealth of enemies who had been having all of us for breakfast for the first third of the game? Oh yes.

17. Just When You Think You Can Trust Someone, They're An A.I. Construct

Waltzing around spoilers is common parlance around these parts, but sufficed to some extremely prominent characters turn out to actually just be extremely well-programmed precognitive wonder-computers (or are they?) that even the late Steve Jobs would have been jealous of. One of the biggest components of the series gaining its 'off the deep end' mentality comes from the entire back half of Metal Gear Solid 2, as for some reason Kojima didn't think a vampire who could run on water was enough to garner such an accolade, but more on that later.