Hideo Kojima Has Blessings of Original "Snake" Creator

[John Funk]

Hideo Kojima Has Blessings of Original "Snake" Creator

Before he created Metal Gear Solid, Hideo Kojima sought - and received - the approval of John Carpenter to base his hero on Carpenter's original badass Snake from Escape From New York.

Gamers know Solid Snake. Gamers love Solid Snake. Solid Snake is a total badass, despite some questionable hair choices in MGS2 and his newfound senior citizen status in MGS4. But Snake is by no means the first grizzled badass to bear that serpentine moniker: The character was clearly modeled on Snake Plissken, the hard-boiled main character from Escape From New York (as well as its unfortunate sequel, Escape From LA).

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has never tried to hide the inspiration for Solid Snake, even giving the hero the alias "Iroquois Plissken" in MGS2. But according to Escape director (and original Snake creator) John Carpenter, Kojima actually wrote to him asking permission to pay homage to one Snake with another before making Metal Gear Solid.

"[Hideo Kojima] has written me and asked me for my blessing on the game and I wrote him back [to say] how about it?" Carpenter told CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=252903]. "He's a very nice man."

Yeah, but can Kurt Russell use nanomachines, John? I didn't think so.

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[Sougo]

thats interesting .... news to me.

SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE

 

[Julianking93]

Hm. Not surprising.

I actually wondered while playing MGS for the first time if John Carpenter may have noticed the similarities to Snake Pliskin and Solid Snake.

 

[Logic 0]

I always had a susipction about the connection but now I know.

 

[Undercover]

Even though he technically didn't "have" to ask permission, it was a pretty cool move of Kojima to do so, and even cooler for Carpenter to say yes...

 

[Jared]

I actually never knew that! And its pretty cook Hideo actually asked for permission!

Nice little fact to know

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Decent of him to ask considering he lifted the character and basic plot for half the games from that movie. (the other half was Rambo)

 

[fanklok]

I always had a susipction about the connection but now I know.

Never was a MGS solid fan I was too busy being poor to buy any of them.

 

[Erana]

When my sister first saw me playing a Metal Gear Solid game, she took one look at Snake and said, "I'm about to kick your ass outta the world!"
It was epic.

 

[Deofuta]

Huh, for some reason I always thought the relationship was the other way around.

 

[TheGreenManalishi]

I like Solid Snake, but I like Snake plisskin as well. But which is better?

There's only one way to find out!

 

[Casual Shinji]

Kojima should've done the same thing with MGS2, by asking our permission for putting Raiden in.

 

[uppitycracker]

Ahh, escape from new york. the sequel was very unfortunate, indeed. but the first one was great. i knew they used escape from new york as inspiration, was pretty obvious lol, but it's nice to know it's true.

 

[ineedscissors]

I always wondered why John Carpenter didn't sue Kojima. Now I know.

I like Solid Snake, but I like Snake plisskin as well. But which is better?

Trust me, Solid Snake is better.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

Huh, for some reason I always thought the relationship was the other way around.

*grits teeth until they crack*

 

[Deofuta]

Huh, for some reason I always thought the relationship was the other way around.

*grits teeth until they crack*

Oh Shi- *Ducks behind Desk*

Seriously though, I used to subscribe to an old gaming magazine called Tips and Tricks (aimed for younger audiences), and one of the letters was about the likeness between the two. And I SWEAR the response was that Plissken was based off of MGS.

 

[MDSnowman]

It was easy to see a connection, by the time Snake went around using the Alias "Plisken" it was pretty much in giant neon lights.

All the same very classy move by Kojima to ask permission first.

And now we know, a MGS movie must star Kurt Russell.

 

[Blind Sight]

Yeah, but can Kurt Russell use nanomachines, John? I didn't think so.

Kurt Russell doesn't need no fancy nanomachines, he can shut down the world with a tv remote:

 

[Worgen]

Ive never really been much of a fan of metal gear or hideo kojima but I gotta say, thats class