20 Mind-Blowing Things You Didn't Know About Metal Gear Solid 2
19. Hideo Kojima Went To Extreme Lengths To Hide The Raiden Twist
Considering how basically every major video game spoiler is leaked out weeks or even months ahead of time these days, it's fascinating that Kojima was largely able to keep Metal Gear Solid 2's Raiden twist firmly under wraps until the game's release.
Kojima is admittedly an uncommonly cagey storyteller, and went to the at-the-time extreme lengths of even swapping out Raiden's character model for Solid Snake's in the game's trailer footage of the Big Shell section, giving the impression that Snake was the protagonist.
Beyond that, critics who played the game for review were under strict embargo which prevented them from addressing the elephant in the room, such that when the overwhelming majority of fans played it, they had no idea what was coming.
Except more curious players in Europe, of course, who had to wait another four months to play the game without importing it, and may have freely read spoilers online.