, real name David, is a character and one of the protagonists of Konami's Metal Gear series, created by Hideo Kojima. He is depicted as a former Green Beret and highly skilled special operations soldier engaged in solo stealth and espionage missions who is often tasked with destroying models of the bipedal nuclear weapon-armed mecha known as Metal Gear. The first two games explored his relationship with his mentor Big Boss whereas Metal Gear Solid onwards reveal he is one of three clones of the same man, which starts a rivalry that lasts until Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots where the genes caused Snake to age rapidly into an elder. He also appears in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series as a playable fighter, as well as the battle royale game Fortnite, and has been added to the game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege.
Snake was named after Snake Plissken, Kurt Russell's character in Escape from New York. While his first appearances in the original Metal Gear games were references to Hollywood films, the Metal Gear Solid series has given a consistent design by artist Yoji Shinkawa while also following Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as inspirations for his design. During the Metal Gear Solid games, the character has been voiced by voice actor Akio Ōtsuka in the Japanese version and by Canadian-American screenwriter and actor David Hayter in the English version.
Considered to be one of the most iconic protagonists in video game history, Solid Snake has been acclaimed by critics, with his personality and both Ōtsuka's and Hayter's voice acting being noted as primary factors of the character's appeal. The character has also been praised for his rivalry with the other characters featured in the series, most notably Liquid Snake and Revolver Ocelot while his growth into an elder was also the subject of positive response.
Characteristics In the early games, Solid Snake's visual appearances were references to popular actors. He was given his own consistent design in Metal Gear Solid. He also establishes Philanthropy, an anti-Metal Gear organization carrying the motto "To let the world be", with his friend Otacon. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, he has access to OctoCamo, which allows him to change his appearance to match the surface he is leaning on. And FaceCamo, which can change his facial appearance to make him look like other characters, as well as his younger self.
Snake possesses an IQ of 180 and is fluent in six languages. Solid Snake has been on the battlefield for most of his life,Roy Campbell: ...You were there too I believe. Didn't you infiltrate western Iraq with a platoon of Green Berets? Snake: I was just a kid myself back then. (Metal Gear Solid) and says that it is the only place he feels truly alive.Snake: It's only when I'm cheating death on the battlefield. The only time I feel truly alive. Meryl: Seeing other people die makes you feel alive, huh? You love war, and don't want it to stop... Is it the same with all great soldiers throughout history? (Metal Gear Solid) He is a hardened veteran, burying his emotions within himself during missions, every one of which has different motives.Colonel Campbell: [Solid Snake], there's enough dirt in your file from your days as an agent to keep you in the stockade until you're a very old man. He is also immediately shown as a loner,Snake: Right now my fifty huskies are my only family. I've got to take care of them. (Metal Gear Solid)Meryl Silverburgh: Is there anyone you like? Solid Snake: I've never been interested in anyone else's life... Meryl Silverburgh: So you are all alone. Just like Mantis said. Solid Snake: Other people just complicate my life. I don't like to get involved. Meryl Silverburgh: You're a sad, lonely man.(Metal Gear Solid) often with no intentions of taking orders from anyone anymoreSolid Snake: I'm retired from FOX-HOUND. You're not my commander anymore, and I don't have to take orders from you or anyone else. (Metal Gear Solid) and he shows no sign of longing for the army or the country of which he was a part.Solid Snake: I told you, even if I do owe you I don't owe anything to this army or this country!. Colonel Campbell: You will accept this assignment! Solid Snake: Why should I be stupid enough to do that? I'm no patriot. (Metal Gear Solid) However, along with these traits he has a more human side, being flirtatious,Solid Snake: ...I just didn't expect a world-class designer of military technology to be so...cute. Mei Ling: You're just flattering me... Solid Snake: No, I'm serious. Now I know I won't be bored for the next 18 hours. (Metal Gear Solid) self-sacrificingNaomi: ...Why did you go so far out of your way to save her? For Campbell's sake... or... maybe it's because you like her? Solid Snake: I don't want to see any woman die right in front of me. Naomi Hunter: Oh really? Since when did anybody's death bother you so much? Colonel Campbell: Naomi! It's true that [Solid Snake] has killed a lot of people, that doesn't mean he doesn't have a heart. (Metal Gear Solid) and with a strong belief that even on a battlefield friendshipNaomi Hunter: ...Friends? Solid Snake: ...Frank Jaeger Naomi Hunter: But... didn't you try to kill each other? Solid Snake: That's true. We did. In Zanzibar. But it was nothing personal. We were just professionals on opposite sides, that's all. Naomi Hunter: And you still call yourselves friends? Solid Snake: Hard to believe? War is no reason to end a friendship. (Metal Gear Solid) and loveOtacon: I wanna ask you... Do you think love can bloom even on a battlefield? Solid Snake: Yeah...I do. I think at any time, any place... people can fall in love with each other. (Metal Gear Solid) can flourish, and that violence is not glorious.Vulcan Raven: Rejoice, Snake! Ours will be a glorious battle. Solid Snake: This isn't glorious. It's just plain killing. Violence isn't a sport! (Metal Gear Solid) Snake's perceived stance on violence may be a case of denial, as Snake's enemies and at least one of his allies have claimed that he enjoys killing, and label him as more evil than the people he has killed.Meryl Silverburgh: You monster! Snake: Let him talk. He doesn't have much time left. Psycho Mantis: I've seen true evil. You Snake. You're just like the Boss... No, you're worse. Compared to you, I'm not so bad.Solid Snake: I don't want that kind of world! Liquid Snake: Ha! You lie! So why are you here then? Why do you continue to follow your orders while your superiors betray you? Why did you come here? Solid Snake: ...... Liquid Snake: Well... I'll tell you then. You enjoy all the killing, that's why. Solid Snake: What! Liquid Snake: Are you denying it? Haven't you already killed most of my comrades? Solid Snake: That was... Liquid Snake: I watched your face when you did it. It was filled with the joy of battle. When he is not on duty, his favorite recreational activity is being a musher.talk after fight with Psycho Mantis (and before with Sniper Wolf for the first time): Meryl Silverburgh: How do you know so much? Solid Snake: I ride dog sleds. I'm a musher. (Metal Gear Solid)
Appearances Video games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
Metal Gear introduces Snake, a rookie recruit of the elite special forces unit FOXHOUND. Snake is sent by Big Boss into Outer Heaven, a rogue nation in South Africa, to rescue Gray Fox and discover who or what the "Metal Gear" is. As his mission progresses, Snake finds out that he has been set up; Big Boss's phantom intended to use TX-55 Metal Gear (the experimental, nuclear-armed weapon) to establish Outer Heaven as a nuclear power. After destroying the Metal Gear, Snake confronts and defeats Big Boss's phantom.
The sequel Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake sees Solid Snake called up to infiltrate Zanzibar Land, a heavily fortified enemy base in Central Asia that has aggravated an international oil crisis and declared themselves a nuclear power by kidnapping Dr. Kio Marv (after the creation of a bio-engineered algae that produces an oil substitute) and the Metal Gear engineer Pettrovich Madnar. Snake infiltrates the base and discovers that Pettrovich as well as Fox has defected to Zanzibar Land, and that Zanzibar Land is led by the true Big Boss. Snake destroys Metal Gear D, and defeats both Fox and the true Big Boss.
Metal Gear Solid / The Twin Snakes
Metal Gear Solid and its remake – The Twin Snakes – reveals Solid Snake's real name as . He is pulled out of retirement by Roy Campbell to deal with the "Sons of Big Boss" led by Liquid Snake who seized an isolated American nuclear weapons disposal facility on Shadow Moses Island. Snake's mission is to rescue Donald Anderson and Kenneth Baker but he is unable to prevent both hostages' deaths. As the game progresses, Snake infiltrates and learns about Metal Gear REX while meeting up with rookie soldier Meryl Silverburgh and REX's engineer Hal Emmerich, confronts and defeats each member of the corrupt faction of FOXHOUND (consisting of Revolver Ocelot, Decoy Octopus, Psycho Mantis, Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven, and the Genome Soldiers), several confrontations with the Cyborg Ninja, is able to destroy REX, and personally confronts Liquid. During their fight, it is revealed that Solid and Liquid are twin brothers artificially conceived from Big Boss's genes during the "Les Enfants Terribles" government project designed to create the perfect soldier, in which one brother was genetically modified to be superior over the other. Liquid harbors a strong resentment towards Snake since Solid was apparently given their father's dominant "soldier genes" and Liquid was seemingly cast aside. A grueling series of battles and Liquid dies from the FOXDIE virus that was previously implanted into Snake by Naomi Hunter in order to wipe out FOXHOUND without risking any damage to REX for retrieval. In the end, it is revealed that Liquid got Big Boss's superior "soldier genes" while Solid was actually the inferior one.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty shows Solid Snake as a central character. During the game's extensive prologue sequence, he is sent by Otacon's anti-proliferation organization Philanthropy to infiltrate a cargo tanker and photograph Metal Gear RAY. During the operation, however, RAY is hijacked and the tanker destroyed, with Snake apparently dead and framed for the deed. During the game's main portion, Solidus Snake steals Snake's identity, and leads the "Sons of Liberty" (consisting of Revolver Ocelot, Fortune, Fatman, Vamp and Olga Gurlukovich) while Snake himself uses the pseudonym as a non-playable character who assists rookie agent Raiden through the remote offshore Big Shell facility and in taking down Solidus and RAY while also learning about the Patriots.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots features an aged incarnation of the character who nicknamed himself as the protagonist once again. Thanks to Otacon and Sunny, he wears a sneaking suit outfitted with "Octocamo" technology which allows him to blend with his environment as well as a face mask which alters his appearance.