20 Mind-Blowing Things You Didn't Know About Metal Gear Solid 2
10. The Game Passes Commentary On Japanese Censorship
Though much of Metal Gear Solid 2 feels massively ahead of its time with the complex issues it confronts - but more on that shortly - it also took sly aim at an aspect of Japanese society you may not even know much about.
In the year 2000, as Kojima was working on the game, it came to light that government-approved textbooks were downplaying the Empire of Japan's atrocities during World War II.
This has been a major issue in Japanese society ever since the end of WWII, and when a nationalist, right-wing textbook intended to whitewash Japan's history was disseminated to many high schools in 2000, Kojima felt he had to comment upon it in his new game.
And so, in the game's closing cutscene, the stirring monologue from Solid Snake is loaded with extra meaning for Japanese players, or those familiar with the country's ideological struggles:
"We need to pass the torch, and let our children read our messy and sad history by its light. We have all the magic of the digital age to do that with."
Ultimately the book was thankfully rejected for use in almost all Japanese school districts, though hopefully that was more a result of common sense than a video game telling them it was the right thing to do.