This article is about the character, Solid Snake. You may be looking for the video game, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

"We can tell other people about - having faith. What we had faith in. What we found important enough to fight for. It's not whether you were right or wrong, but how much faith you were willing to have, that decides the future." ―Solid Snake [src]

Solid Snake, real name David, also known as Old Snake, and briefly known as Iroquois Pliskin, or simply Snake, was a former spy, special operations soldier, and mercenary. Possessing an IQ of 180 and fluent in six languages,[1][5] he was known as "the Man Who Makes the Impossible Possible" and his exploits made him into a living legend among the military black ops.

A product of Les Enfants Terribles project, Snake was a clone of world-renowned soldier Big Boss, along with his brothers Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake. Initially a Green Beret, Snake was later inducted into the High-Tech Special Forces Unit FOXHOUND in the mid-1990s while it was commanded by Big Boss. Repeatedly tasked with disarming and destroying the latest incarnation of Metal Gear, a bipedal nuclear weapon-armed tank, Snake would thrice avert potential nuclear catastrophe, becoming a famed war hero.

Following the Shadow Moses Incident and subsequent smear campaign by the Patriots, the secret organization behind American politics, Snake was labeled a terrorist. He faked his own death in the Manhattan Tanker Incident, though he re-emerged years later to assist Raiden in the Big Shell Incident. During this time, his body entered a state of accelerated aging, due to intentional genetic changes made during the cloning process, causing his health to decline.

In 2014, Snake performed his final mission, during which he defeated Liquid Ocelot and destroyed the Patriots. After one last encounter with Big Boss, Snake chose to live his remaining days in peace.

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Biography

Background

Warning: The following information is from outside Hideo Kojima's core "Metal Gear Saga." It has some level of canonicity within the continuity, but reader discretion is advised.[?]

In 1970, Solid Snake was foreseen in a prophetic vision by Elisa and Ursula as the son of Big Boss that would "save the world."[6]

Non-"Metal Gear Saga" information ends here.

In 1972, David and his twin brother Eli were born as a result of the secret government project "Les Enfants Terribles,"[7] designed to create the perfect soldier, using the genes of the "Greatest Warrior of the 20th Century" Big Boss. The twins were also to serve as an insurance policy for the Patriots, should Big Boss abandon their organization.

Using the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer, eight clone embryos were created by inserting Big Boss's DNA into enucleated egg cells, donated by a healthy Japanese woman.[8] By utilizing the Super Baby Method, the embryos were then implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother with six of the babies eventually being aborted to promote growth in the remaining two.

The two clones were also modified on the genetic level, with one clone expressing Big Boss's dominant genetic traits and the other expressing Big Boss's recessive traits. Nine months later, the twins were born and would later receive the codenames of Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. Being a somatic cell clone of Big Boss, Solid Snake inherited mitochondrial DNA from the Japanese egg donor of "Les Enfants Terribles," later demonstrating some awareness of this heritage.[9] A third clone was created afterward.

Early life and career

Following his birth, Solid Snake was given the name David. He spent his early life being raised in the United States by a variety of foster parents.[10] Making his way into the military, David was inducted into the Green Berets as a teen[11] and took part in a mission to infiltrate western Iraq in 1991, during the Gulf War. During the war, some U.S. soldiers were injected with soldier genes in an attempt to replicate the results of Les Enfants Terribles, making them, and the reported "Gulf War Babies," David's siblings, in a sense.[12]

Later, David joined Big Boss's special forces unit FOXHOUND, during which time he received the codename "Solid Snake." While undergoing FOXHOUND's training regimen, he became an expert of high-altitude skydiving, linguistics, closed-circuit open-circuit combat diving, and free climbing.[13] Big Boss personally trained him in the use of CQC[14] and taught him the importance of having the will to survive on the battlefield.[15] It was at FOXHOUND's training camp that he also met survival instructor Master Miller.[16] During this time, Snake's real name and origins were classified under National Security.[4]

Main article: Outer Heaven Uprising

Snake's first mission for FOXHOUND came in 1995, when he was tasked with infiltrating Outer Heaven; a military nation deep within South Africa, led by a feared and legendary mercenary. Snake was charged with rescuing Gray Fox, a FOXHOUND agent who was missing in action, and shed light on the "ultimate weapon" Metal Gear, which Fox had mentioned in a broken radio message prior to his capture. Shortly after arriving in the general vicinity of Outer Heaven, he was contacted by Big Boss via his radio and was reminded to prepare himself for his first real mission for FOXHOUND.[17]

After infiltrating the fortress via an underwater insertion, he learned from the various prisoners of war after freeing them that Fox was being held in a high-level prison cell in the basement, and the only way to find him was to get himself captured.[18][19][20][21] After locating Gray Fox, he learned from him that Metal Gear was a bipedal nuclear-armed tank that can launch a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world. He was then told to locate the weapon’s developer, Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar, to find a way to destroy it.[22]

With the help of resistance members Schneider, Diane, and Jennifer, Snake succeeded in rescuing Dr. Madnar and his daughter Ellen, and destroyed TX-55 Metal Gear. Just as he was making his escape, Snake discovered that his mission commander, Big Boss, was secretly the leader of Outer Heaven, and was apparently confronted by the man himself within the fortress's 100th-floor basement.[23] Snake defeated Big Boss in combat and escaped the base before its self-destruction. However, the "Big Boss" that Snake fought was actually the body double Venom Snake, while the real Big Boss fled to Central Asia.[4][24]

Post-FOXHOUND

Despite his success in Outer Heaven, Snake departed FOXHOUND and entered early retirement. He also chose to abandon the CQC techniques taught to him by Big Boss, due to its association with the man who had betrayed his unit.[14]

Snake was later scouted by the CIA and spent six months as an undercover agent, until he became dissatisfied with the organization and left. He then became a mercenary for hire, and after earning enough money, he went into semi-retirement in the Canadian wilderness. For the next few years, Snake experienced PTSD, caused by memories of Big Boss and Outer Heaven.[25]

Main article: Zanzibar Land Disturbance

In December 1999, Snake was called upon by FOXHOUND’s new commander, Roy Campbell, for an operation into Central Asia. Apparently, a new highly militarized nation called Zanzibar Land had kidnapped Dr. Kio Marv, inventor of the oil refining microbe, OILIX. Not only that, but a new Metal Gear was believed to be under development in Zanzibar Land. Snake accepted the mission, in part to end the nightmares that he had endured since Operation Intrude N313.[25]

Snake's mission objectives were to infiltrate the seemingly impenetrable wall that surrounded Zanzibar Land, and to recover Dr. Marv and the OILIX formula, as part of Operation Intrude F014. His radio support team consisted of Colonel Campbell, former FOXHOUND instructor Master Miller, and mercenary adviser George Kasler. Snake succeeded in the first task, but complications arose when one of his allies in the mission, a CIA war coverage spy named Holly White blew her cover, and required rescuing. After freeing Holly, Snake learned how to contact Dr. Marv by radio, but after discovering that he could only speak Czech and Slovakian, he was forced to locate his STB bodyguard Gustava Heffner.[26] However, the two were attacked by Snake's former comrade Gray Fox while attempting a rescue, after being betrayed by his supposed ally Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar, resulting in both Gustava and Dr. Marv's death.[27][28][29] Despite these events, Snake succeeded in recovering the OILIX formula, utilizing the polymimetic nature of a special brooch key, bequeathed to him by Gustava on her deathbed.

Deep in the heart of Zanzibar Land, Snake destroyed Metal Gear D and defeated Gray Fox, successfully thwarting the ambitions of Big Boss. As the man behind Zanzibar Land's rise to power, Big Boss returned for a final battle against his former subordinate. Snake ultimately defeated Big Boss with a makeshift flamethrower, consisting of a lighter and lacquer spray.[30] Snake and Holly then escaped the fortress, fending off enemy troops in the jungle until they were extracted by helicopter.[31] During the mission debriefing, Snake declined Campbell's request to rejoin FOXHOUND, stating that his nightmares were now over. Likewise, Snake also confirmed to Holly and Campbell that the cartridge he retrieved was indeed the one Marv used to store the OILIX plans, citing that Marv's signature was written backward on the MSX loading screen when used. Despite promising to have Christmas dinner with Holly following the mission,[31] Snake stood her up and disappeared shortly afterward. Campbell also implied that this was not the first time Snake disappeared without warning.[32]

Retirement

Following the conclusion of Operation Intrude F014, Snake returned to North America and retired to an Alaskan wilderness retreat, Twin Lakes. By this time, the military had deemed that Snake had committed several acts of misconduct during his career, enough for him to serve a lengthy prison sentence, should he be brought to account.[33] Through his retirement, Snake attempted to try and forget his war-torn past and recover from PTSD, as well as come to terms with the fact that he had "killed" his own father. During this time, he began heavily drinking.[34] He later became a dogsled racer, taking care of 50 huskies, and competed in the Iditarod.

Main article: Shadow Moses Incident

In February 2005, Snake was called back to the U.S. military when he was deployed by his former commander Roy Campbell to Shadow Moses Island. A rebellion had taken place at Shadow Moses by rogue members of FOXHOUND, who had threatened the U.S. with a nuclear strike and demanded that the remains of Big Boss be turned over to them. Unhappy at how Campbell had sent armed soldiers after him and had his personal effects confiscated, Snake reluctantly accepted the assignment on the condition that he only take orders from Campbell, and that he be given full disclosure of all mission information. Due to his resemblance to the terrorist leader Liquid Snake, Solid Snake had his hair cut shortly before departing to Shadow Moses, to avoid being mistaken for him.[35] Snake was charged with ascertaining their nuclear capability and rescuing their hostages: president of ArmsTech weapons manufacturer Kenneth Baker, and the DARPA Chief Donald Anderson.

Snake infiltrated the base alone, but quickly gained help in the form of Metal Gear REX developer Hal Emmerich and new FOXHOUND recruit Meryl Silverburgh, Campbell's niece. Metal Gear REX was a nuclear-armed bipedal walking tank developed in secret by the U.S. Army and ArmsTech. Although he largely was in shape for the mission, he did end up exhausted after climbing the flight of stairs up to Tower A's roof, causing Campbell to briefly joke that Snake's mushing had him get out of shape. However, he ended up being tricked into activating Metal Gear due to misinformation supplied by Liquid (who had infiltrated Snake's support group by posing as Master Miller, having had him murdered three days prior). With the help of the two aforementioned, as well as his former comrade Gray Fox (now the Cyborg Ninja), Snake succeeded in destroying REX and defeating the members of FOXHOUND, including Liquid. Prior to their final battle, Liquid taunted Snake with the knowledge that he had killed many of his brothers in the Next-Generation Special Forces, who like Snake, had been experimented on to replicate Big Boss’s genes.[12]

Snake soon learned that the mission had been a cleverly woven plot, prepared by the Pentagon. Through the secret, Pentagon-guided efforts of genetic engineer Naomi Hunter, Snake's body had become host to the artificial virus FOXDIE. Snake was outraged to hear that his mission was a government conspiracy and that he was merely sent as a carrier of the virus, which was programmed to kill Baker (for knowing too much about the project), and the FOXHOUND operatives just to ensure that the bodies of the Genome Soldiers and Metal Gear REX could be recovered undamaged. He was also reminded of the possibility that he had willingly returned to the battlefield because he enjoyed war, as commented upon by Meryl, Psycho Mantis, and Liquid Snake, and echoing Big Boss's words in Zanzibar Land.

Throughout the incident, Snake suspected that Campbell was concealing important information regarding the mission's true nature, although he later forgave Campbell after learning that the Pentagon had used Meryl as leverage in order to force him to cooperate with them (as they had deliberately sent Meryl to Shadow Moses the same day as the revolt). Snake also discovered that Naomi was the foster sister of Gray Fox, who desired revenge for what Snake had done to her brother and had modified the FOXDIE virus so that it would kill him in addition to FOXHOUND. However, she set the virus to a "wildcard" value, leaving him vulnerable at a later time.[36] To enable Snake some peace, Campbell reported Snake died when his jeep sank into the ocean. This cover story was short-lived, assuming it fooled anyone at all.

Post-Shadow Moses

Following the Shadow Moses Incident, Snake and Meryl disappeared after leaving the base, after Campbell faked their deaths by claiming that they had died after their jeep crashed into the ocean. Sometime later, Snake lost contact with Meryl. Because of his exploits at Shadow Moses, he also became a hero to the public, which greatly concerned the Patriots.[37]

Revolver Ocelot, the sole surviving member of FOXHOUND, reported the events on Shadow Moses to U.S. President George Sears, for whom he had acted as a spy throughout the entire incident. He informed Sears, that it was the inferior clone Solid Snake, who had survived, stating that Liquid had wrongly believed himself to be inferior right until his death.[38] Ocelot also reported that the FOXDIE in Snake would activate soon,[39] although Snake would ultimately remain unaffected due to differences between his and Liquid's genetic codes. Three weeks after the Shadow Moses Incident, Naomi escaped from confinement at a high-security facility during debriefing due to someone breaking her out. As Nastasha Romanenko and the U.S. Government believed Snake to have been the one who broke her out (in actuality, it was Liquid Ocelot who did the deed), the U.S. military also added Snake's supposed involvement in her escape to his rap sheet.

Ocelot later sold REX's plans onto the black market, prompting Snake and Otacon to found the anti-Metal Gear NGO, Philanthropy. With the goal of eradicating all Metal Gear technology, Snake participated in investigating its development across the world, often by illegal means, which Philanthropy then exposed to the public via the Internet.[40] His missions and activities in the group included data collection and various sabotage missions and were also extremist in nature.[41] During one of these operations in a facility, Snake, along with Otacon, also stole Liquid Snake's corpse, which was kept in cold storage. Around 2007, Snake also began suffering the effects of accelerated aging.[42]

In August 2007, Otacon received a tip from his estranged stepsister Emma Emmerich that a new Metal Gear was being developed by the United States Marine Corps, and was being transported via a Marine vessel disguised as an oil tanker.[43] Solid Snake would later reminisce that the intelligence had been suspicious, but Philanthropy had grown complacent due to its previous successes in sabotage.[44] Snake boarded the tanker while en route to its destination, and quickly discovered that a group of Russian mercenaries led by Sergei Gurlukovich had their own plans for Metal Gear RAY, arriving shortly thereafter to take over the vessel. Snake soon encountered Olga Gurlukovich (Sergei’s daughter) onboard the tanker and proceeded to defeat her in a gunfight, knocking her unconscious with his modified M9 tranquilizer pistol.

Snake quickly made his way into the tanker's holds and, as per his mission objectives, secured photographic evidence of the new Metal Gear. Neither he nor Otacon could have predicted the reappearance of Revolver Ocelot on the tanker, who proceeded to detonate Semtex explosives onboard the ship in order to sink it. While attempting to stop Ocelot, Snake was confronted by the spirit of his deceased brother Liquid Snake, who had apparently taken over the mind of Ocelot through an arm transplant (Liquid's arm having been grafted onto Ocelot, to replace the hand he lost at Shadow Moses). Snake's presence had seemingly released Liquid's personality, who went on to comment that he had evaded the accelerated aging that Snake was now undergoing.[42] After Liquid escaped in the stolen RAY, Snake successfully escaped the sinking tanker and made his way the surface of the river, where he was rescued by Otacon on a small boat. The two also rescued Olga, and, taking advantage of the situation, decided to fake Snake's death by using the corpse of Liquid Snake as a decoy.

Thanks to the photographs taken by a U.S. Army Cypher, the Patriots framed Solid Snake and Philanthropy in a smear campaign for the tanker sinking, simultaneously exposing them to the public and destroying their reputation. It was widely believed that Snake had been killed in the incident, after Liquid's body was retrieved from the New York Harbor, its genetic similarity to Snake's providing apparent confirmation.

" I'm not an enemy. Calm down. My name is S... My name is Pliskin." ―Iroquois Pliskin

In April 2009, Snake had received Intel that a new Metal Gear was being developed at the Big Shell offshore facility, which was occupied by the Sons of Liberty, composed of the remnants of the GRU unit and other unidentified soldiers. Feeling that he had been in hiding long enough, Snake infiltrated the Big Shell by cutting a hole into the oil fence. He later knocked out several Gurlukovich sentries in the deep sea dock, and ascended to the roof of Strut A by elevator; Raiden, who had infiltrated shortly after Snake, briefly saw him, though his back was turned. Snake later disguised himself as Lieutenant Junior Grade Iroquois Pliskin, a member of the Navy SEAL Team 10 Alpha squad. He chose the alias as a reference to "Snake Plissken" of Escape from New York, and the name of a confederacy of Native American tribes headquartered in New York (also a Huron word meaning "Black Snake").

“Pliskin” first encountered Raiden in the Strut B transformer room, which was strewn with the bodies of SEALs who had been killed by Dead Cell member Vamp. Raiden was nearly attacked by Vamp, but only received a scratch from a bullet grazing his face thanks to an intervention from Pliskin. Vamp then went to attack Pliskin, but stopped short, remarking that Pliskin smelled just like "him." Raiden then picked up Pliskin's M4 carbine, which was not ID-locked like the other SEALS' weapons, and fired on Vamp to drive him off, who then left the area after being ordered to retreat. Claiming to have entered the Big Shell by a "fast rope descent from a navy chopper," Pliskin aroused Raiden’s suspicions after a sea louse crawled out of his clothes. Pliskin told Raiden about Vamp's origins, as well as Dead Cell, though he wasn't able to continue on because he needed a few moments to recover from Vamp's attack, having become disorientated from blood loss. However, he also exaggerated slightly to Raiden, as he intended to go separate ways and watch him from afar, until he could gauge whether Raiden was trustworthy enough for him to ally with.[45] Before Raiden left, Pliskin provided him with a SOCOM pistol.

Pliskin later met Raiden and bomb disposal expert Peter Stillman within Strut C. Stillman provided the two with a coolant spray and sensor to disarm C4 explosives, which had been planted throughout the facility by Stillman’s former protégé Fatman of Dead Cell. Pliskin’s possession of headphones, usually worn by SEAL commanders off the battlefield, and his use of other military organizations' mottos ("Semper Fi" and "Who Dares, Wins" of the U.S. Marines and SAS, respectively), clued Stillman in to the fact that Pliskin wasn’t actually a SEAL. Pliskin then left to begin his bomb disposal of Shell 2, and located: the first C4 on the Strut H heliport behind some cargo; the second C4 on the ceiling of another strut (which required him to get onto a stand to reach it with the coolant spray); the third C4 planted on the back of a Gurlukovich mercenary; the fourth C4 in an area so narrow he needed to crawl inside to reach it; and the fifth C4 that required a much closer inspection to locate.[46] Olga Gurlukovich became alerted to Pliskin's presence aboard the Big Shell, after seeing "a man in a cardboard box." This unorthodox tactic clued Solidus Snake in to Pliskin's possible identity. Raiden also briefly witnessed the same man in a cardboard box, and called Pliskin about it and inquired if the man in the cardboard box was a member of Dead Cell, unaware at the time that Pliskin had been that man in question.

At some point later, Pliskin was contacted by Peter Stillman and requested that he investigate Shell 2 in case there were C4 planted that the C4 sensors couldn't pick up. Pliskin managed to stumble upon a large cache of C4 explosives that both were vapor-sealed and didn't contain any of Fatman's cologne, at the bottom of Strut H, and contacted Stillman and Raiden. However, he also ended up inadvertently activating the same C4 cache when he disarmed the last of Shell 2's decoy C4 explosives due to the same cache being rigged to activate when all of the decoy C4 were disarmed. Pliskin ended up knocked out in the resulting explosion shortly after Stillman's final message warning Pliskin and Raiden about the proximity microwave trigger with a seven foot (two-meter) radius, on the C4. He ended up surviving the blast with the help of Otacon. In addition, after Raiden questioned him about toxins being released after Shell H was heavily damaged, Pliskin revealed he never heard of that and decided to investigate, also revealing that Shell 2 did not contain any hostages, meaning they were most likely in Shell 1. He also implied that saving U.S. President James Johnson and the hostages wasn't his mission, arousing Raiden’s suspicions further. Afterward, acting on Raiden's tip, Pliskin conducted a thorough investigation of Shell 2 and managed to hijack a Kasatka helicopter, with Otacon acting as pilot. Afterward, he then briefly introduced Raiden to Otacon, via Codec, although they had to cut the meeting short when Pliskin had to fight off several Gurlukovich Mercenaries who had spotted them and attacked.

Snake eventually met his genetic brother, the terrorist leader Solidus Snake, though he refused to acknowledge him as such. After aiding Raiden in his attack on Solidus’s Harrier jet on the Shell 1-2 connecting bridge, Snake revealed his true identity and mission to him, as the latter had overheard Solidus using Snake's name. He also once again met Olga and explained to her that it was in fact Revolver Ocelot who had killed her father Sergei. Snake later helped Raiden, Otacon and Emma install the reprogrammed computer virus, a digital counterpart of FOXDIE, into GW (Arsenal Gear's AI system), shortly before Emma died after being stabbed by Vamp. Snake worked together with Olga, using Raiden in order to gain access to Arsenal Gear and to acquire a disc that contained information on the true identities of the Patriots’s Wisemen's Committee. Once aboard Arsenal Gear, Snake gave Raiden Olga's H.F. Blade, and despite not being "a big fan of blades," he instructed Raiden on how to use it. He and Raiden then fought their way through an army of Arsenal Tengu soldiers. They were both eventually split up from one another, with Snake being captured by Fortune and brought to the top of Arsenal.

Atop Arsenal, Ocelot revealed his true colors to Solidus, Fortune, Snake and Raiden. But before he could kill them, Ocelot's right arm began to twitch, and Liquid Snake possessed him once more, revealing that he had leaked the information about Arsenal Gear to lure Snake out to the Big Shell so that Snake could "free him [Liquid]." Liquid (in Ocelot's body) then set off in RAY to kill the Patriots via his host, with Snake in pursuit. Although Snake failed to stop RAY, he placed a tracker on the Metal Gear and explained later to Raiden that his plan was for him to find the Patriots by deciphering the source code of Emma's worm cluster, admitting that the disc they gave Raiden was a decoy. He also declined Raiden's request to help Snake in Philanthropy and save Olga's child, as he suspected that even after the S3 Plan was complete, the Patriots would still monitor Raiden's vital signs and thus place Sunny in further danger of being killed should he try to help, and also hinted that Rosemary did indeed exist and that he should maintain his relationship to her before joining. He then slipped away unnoticed to Otacon's car and left, being long gone by the time Raiden remembered about Snake.[47] However, the data recovered from Arsenal showed that all 12 members had been dead for over a hundred years, and Philanthropy had lost their only lead. However, Snake eventually deduced that the information was a fake lead (or as he put it, five years later, "a load of crap").

"Life isn't just about passing on your genes. We can leave behind much more than just DNA. Through speech, music, literature and movies...what we've seen, heard, felt...anger, joy and sorrow...these are the things I will pass on. That's what I live for. 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. The human race will probably come to an end some time, and new species may rule over this planet. Earth may not be forever, but we still have the responsibility to leave what traces of life we can. Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing." ―Solid Snake's speech following the Big Shell Incident

Accelerated aging and CQC

After the Big Shell Incident, Snake's Werner syndrome-like symptoms gradually grew worse. His body began to age rapidly, with no doctors being able to diagnose the cause. In addition, in 2011, although Snake had earlier promised Raiden that he would rescue Sunny from the Patriots, he wasn't able to get that chance and ended up receiving Sunny via Raiden (albeit covertly on the latter's part). By 2014, Otacon and the various doctors who treated Snake estimated that Snake's life span would be a year at best.

Sometime prior to 2014, the Pentagon declassified documents relating to Big Boss's exploits during the 1960s, which evidently contributed greatly to his legend to the populace, and his CQC was also being taught in the military. Otacon initially believed that Snake lifted his self imposed ban to show them how it's really done but Snake corrected him and said his body just simply reacts with the "real deal" when he sees their "cookie cutter imitation" coming at him and adopted the use of a stun knife.

It was not until 2014 that Snake, now occasionally referred to as Old Snake, resurfaced for a final time. Liquid Ocelot (a fusion of Liquid Snake and Revolver Ocelot) was the leader of a new Outer Heaven, this time acting as a single mother company to five of the largest PMCs on the planet. With PMCs now taking over the world's armies in terms of firepower, Liquid was finally on the verge of world domination. With the world once again in crisis, Snake was dispatched to the Middle East as a personal favor to Campbell to assassinate Liquid. In addition, he was to meet up with a PMC investigation group, and was also given the cover job of inspecting PMCs.

Failed assassination attempt

Snake successfully made it to the PMC base that Liquid was using as his headquarters by disguising himself as a militia instructor for the militia in the region fighting off the Praying Mantis PMC, although he briefly lost the disguise after an ambush by several Gekko units, escaping with the use of his new OctoCamo suit. Snake once again met Meryl, who was now in command of the CID unit Rat Patrol Team 01. He also briefly witnessed the Beauty and the Beast unit when they wiped out a Middle Eastern militia platoon. However, he failed to assassinate Liquid in time due to the latter's sudden deactivation of the Sons of the Patriots system, which resulted in all the soldiers in the vicinity to experience mass convulsions from the sudden release of emotions, including Snake himself, although he was affected to a lesser degree. SOP was run by the Patriots with the purpose of monitoring and controlling every soldier engaged in combat action. Liquid's plan was to remove the system altogether, though his initial attempt had unforeseen consequences, when it caused the PMC's Middle Eastern base to descend into chaos (although the chaos unknowingly saved him from Snake's mission to kill him).

Infiltrating South America

Later, Otacon received a message from Naomi Hunter, who had been there in the Middle East to save Snake when the SOP System went haywire. The message contained a distress call as well as an encrypted map of Liquid's South American base in Soliton Radar format (a sign from Naomi that it was truly from her), the location of which Olga's daughter Sunny was able to trace. In addition, he was able to arrive at Liquid's base, located in a mountainous region (implied to be the Andes) surrounded by forests, by landing at the El Dorado International Airport with the cover job of a UN inspector as well as gaining a 4x4 vehicle, driving it as close to the security perimeter as he could before sneaking into the region, due to Roy Campbell's influence. Although Snake initially was to meet up with a rebel group to aid him in getting into Liquid Ocelot's primary base, the Vista Mansion, he was forced to change plans after Laughing Octopus murdered some rebel soldiers and spared one under the condition that he not forget "his" face (Laughing Octopus having disguised herself as Old Snake via FaceCamo at that time).

Snake made it to the base where Naomi was held, and she gave him a thorough medical examination. It was during this that Snake discovered the harsh truth: his aging was not part of any external source, but the way he was designed as a clone, and also that the FOXDIE that Naomi injected him with almost a decade earlier will finally claim his life within six months. This was because the FOXDIE was also starting to mutate due to Snake's rapid aging, and would eventually lose its ability to kill by specific DNA patterns and indiscriminately infect anyone and everyone, effectively turning Snake into a walking biological weapon who could cause the deaths of millions. Because of this, he asked if killing himself would have any impact on stopping FOXDIE. Naomi confirmed this, stating that FOXDIE will also die with its host. Snake also learned from Naomi that he had a new FOXDIE strand that was injected into him recently, and immediately deduced that Drebin 893 was the one who injected it into him.

After defeating Laughing Octopus of the Beauty and the Beast Unit, as well as procuring her FaceCamo, Snake escaped with Naomi with the help of Drebin 893, a "gun launderer" he had met in the Middle East. They also picked up Raiden, who was now a Cyborg Ninja. He also learned from Naomi that, despite what he and anyone else believed earlier, Solid Snake was neither a perfect clone of Big Boss nor was he genetically identical to Liquid Snake, which also explained why the previous FOXDIE virus was not able to kill him earlier.

In Eastern Europe

Raiden explained that he was acting under the orders of Big Mama, the leader of a small resistance group in Eastern Europe. He then disguised himself as a civilian in Eastern Europe, also putting his FaceCamo to good use by giving himself a younger look, and was tasked to meet up with a contact that Campbell supplied. However, Raven Sword anticipated this move and made sure to blacklist him if he carried the same nanomachines, which nearly resulted in his cover being blown before his contact, Meryl, managed to get him through. However, Snake and Meryl ended up getting into an argument regarding Liquid's threat level, as well as some of Snake's decisions. Snake, stalking a member of the resistance group, Paradise Lost, eventually found Big Mama, discovering she was the former Chinese spy who Big Boss had known, back when his codename was Naked Snake, as EVA. Due to her ties with Big Boss, she was able to explain most of the Patriots' history to him. She also revealed that she had Big Boss's body in her possession. After escaping an onslaught of Haven Troopers and defeating a second BB Corps member, Raging Raven, Snake found Liquid, who was in the midst of implementing the now perfected version of his plan. Taking control of the SOP system, Liquid used his now unbeatable army to kill every last soldier there, including Big Mama, save for Old Snake and the members of Rat Patrol. Luckily, in the chaos, Otacon was able to stow the Mk. II away with Naomi (who had returned to Liquid), and discovered Liquid's plan: to destroy JD and use GW to take over the Patriots AI system. As a result of the chaos in the final legs of the mission, he also received severe burns to the left side of his face.

Return to Shadow Moses and infiltrating Outer Haven

Knowing Liquid was planning to do this by using the only non-Patriot controlled weapon in existence - the rail gun from Metal Gear REX - Snake followed Liquid back to Shadow Moses Island. There Snake managed to defeat Vamp, BB Corps member Crying Wolf, and a Metal Gear RAY piloted by Liquid, with Snake himself piloting REX against the latter. However, he was unable to kill Liquid or stop him from stealing the rail gun in time, a prize which Liquid quickly equipped to his own recreation of Arsenal Gear, Outer Haven. Snake, Meryl and Rat Patrol team member Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki infiltrated Outer Haven from the USS Missouri, where Snake defeated the last of the BB members, Screaming Mantis, as well as finally destroying GW, the Patriots' former AI which Liquid had managed to reassemble. Unbeknownst to Snake, the FOXALIVE worm cluster that he had uploaded to GW, spread to JD and the rest of the Patriots' AIs. Atop Outer Haven, Liquid revealed to Snake that he had wanted him to succeed in uploading the worm, and thus eliminate the Patriots' control, though he was unaware that the societal collapse, which he anticipated would come about, had been averted. Snake faced his "brother" in hand-to-hand combat one last time, where it was revealed that Liquid Ocelot no longer possessed the right arm of Liquid Snake, but rather a cybernetic prosthetic instead. Snake ultimately defeated Liquid, with Ocelot's former personality temporarily reasserting control prior to his death. After performing his signature hand gesture and commenting, "You're pretty good," he passed away, having succumbed to the new FOXDIE virus within Snake's body.

Final encounter with Big Boss

Some time later, Snake prepared to commit suicide to prevent the spread of the mutant strain of FOXDIE. He sat in front of Big Boss's grave with his gun in his mouth, but ultimately was unable to end his own life. Big Boss then appeared, returning the Patriot to the grave of The Boss and explained the full history of the Patriots from his point of view, and euthanized the now-vegetative Zero himself. He also revealed to Snake that Revolver Ocelot was never truly possessed by Liquid, but had put himself through hypnotherapy and implanted himself with nanomachines in order to make himself "believe" that he was Liquid Snake. This was done to throw off the Patriots who, being a computer program, could only repeat the same processes and would send Snake in to take down Liquid if they thought he was alive. Big Boss also revealed that when Drebin injected Snake with modern nanomachines in order to make him compatible with SOP weaponry, he also injected him with a second strain of FOXDIE, which was programmed to kill Big Mama, Liquid Ocelot, and Big Boss himself, but also supplanted the original FOXDIE; thus, Snake was no longer in danger of becoming a biological weapon. Succumbing to illness from exposure to the new FOXDIE strain, Big Boss finally made his peace with Snake and urged him to live out the rest of his days "not as a snake, but as a man." Determined to fulfill this notion, Snake decided to quit smoking and retreated with Otacon and Sunny, this time for good, to live out the remainder of his life in peace, resolving to live long enough to see what the future held for the new world he helped to create.

Personality and traits

"If you ask me, there's no happiness to be found in death... no peace either. I'm leaving here alive." ―Solid Snake

Solid Snake, a hardened career soldier, often displayed a calm and collected demeanor, rarely showing any signs of fear in extreme circumstances. He buried his emotions deep inside himself, causing some to see him as cold and uncaring.[48][49] Despite this perceived attitude, Snake occasionally showed a more human side, expressing great concern for allies' well being during dangerous operations, and even demonstrating compassion towards fallen enemies. During the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, Snake claimed to be different from Big Boss, and that he loved life.[50] Unlike his clone brothers, Snake never displayed anger over his origins and accepted who he was.

Though mostly reserved, Snake showed some prominent change in his outlook towards life throughout the years. Big Boss's betrayal in 1995 and his battle to the death with Gray Fox and again with Big Boss in 1999 left a deep-seated emotional pain leading to PTSD, alcoholism and cynicism. His reunion with Gray Fox at Shadow Moses, as well as his newfound friendship with Otacon and love towards Meryl, invigorated his desire to live. With Philanthropy, Snake aspired towards building a better future for the world by eradicating Metal Gears and liberating humanity from digital subjugation. His accelerated aging, however, would create a morbid willingness to accept death as he was no longer exuberant in his words or actions in 2014. It was only by Big Boss's dying words that Snake was finally able to absolve himself of all guilt and torment and accept peace.

Though he was born with what were known as Big Boss's "flawed recessive genes," he defeated Liquid Snake, the clone with the "dominant genes" on multiple confrontations in 2005. Unlike Liquid and Solidus who spent their lives under the pressure of Big Boss's legend, Snake did not burden himself with such weight and defiantly sought out a life of his own. In the end, his indomitable will for justice made him the final survivor and victor among the clones because he lived through Naomi Hunter's theory spoken in Shadow Moses: not "to be chained to fate."

Due to his extensive military background, Snake found his calling on the battlefield, having spent most of his life there,[51], and believed it was the only place where he felt truly alive.[52] Because of this, he was often accused of enjoying the killing in warfare, by both allies and enemies.[52][53] Although Snake refused to admit to such views, his clone brother Liquid believed that he was in self denial,[53] while Psycho Mantis remarked that he was even "worse" in this regard than Liquid himself.[54] Despite conceding that he was "heartless," Snake showed himself to be self-sacrificing[55] and with a strong belief that even on a battlefield friendship[56] and love[57] can flourish, and that violence is not glorious.[58] Even so, Snake rejected any idea that he was a hero, in the face of praise and admiration from fellow operatives.[52] Though willing to take on the mission to Shadow Moses, Snake showed no sign of longing for the army or the country he was part of,[59] and has also referred to himself as a "nomad" during the Tanker Incident when asked about his American status.[60] Snake also had a disdain for politicians.[61]

Snake was often flirtatious towards his female team members,[62][63][64] and expressed interest in intimate relationships on occasion, although he did not like getting involved with other people's lives and was a loner by nature, even going so far as to stand Holly White up despite promising to have Christmas dinner with her. Snake was somewhat disapproving of May-December relationships, remarking that Rosemary was young enough to be Roy Campbell's daughter, upon learning of their apparent marriage.

During the events of the Guns of the Patriots Incident, Snake calmly accepted the inevitability of his impending death. Because of this, he was more willing to risk his life, as demonstrated during the Missouri debriefing. However, he would often become annoyed upon being reminded of his accelerated age, once telling Otacon to "cut the senior citizen crap" and his psyche dropping at occasional moments when called "Old Snake." When Raiden offered to head to the microwave-protected server room on Outer Haven, Snake refused, saying that Raiden shouldn't "waste [his] youth." Through sheer willpower, Snake survived passing through the corridor, and went on to defeat Liquid Ocelot in hand-to-hand combat. Naomi stated an ordinary person wouldn't even be able to stand in his condition in 2014 and the only thing keeping him mobile, albeit limitedly, is his will. Big Boss noted that Snake had always fought for something more than himself. Big Boss also noted that if Snake had been in his place then the mistakes that he had made may not have come to pass. By this time, Snake had also developed an apprehension to nanomachine injections, due to Naomi's betrayal at Shadow Moses, and initially refused to allow Drebin 893 to administer a shot to him.

Through years of training and experience, he developed heightened levels of endurance and reflexes, surviving prolonged periods of pain,[65] torture,[66] and narrowly evading numerous near-fatal incidents.[67]

Snake was a heavy cigarette smoker. During Operations Intrude N313 and F014, he smoked an unfiltered version of "Lucky Strikes."[17][4] During the Shadow Moses Incident, he smoked "Moslems,"[68][69] his favorite brand at that time, which was a type of "bent cigarette"[69] designed to reduce second-hand smoke.[70] During Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, he smoked a brand called "The Boss," which were unfiltered hand-rolled cigarettes, each containing 16 mg of tar. Snake didn't like being lectured on the dangers of smoking. During the same time, he often ignored the no-smoking policy onboard the Nomad, often resulting in Sunny telling him off when she found out or caught him in the act, once even having his cigarette confiscated and disposed of by Sunny before he could get the chance to smoke it. After sharing one last smoke with Big Boss, Snake decided to quit smoking.

Snake disliked wearing hats, preferring his bandana, despite "Master Miller" warning him that 70% of body heat dissipates from the head. Snake likewise was not too keen with using bladed weapons, informing Raiden as much during the Big Shell Incident. He did nonetheless have knowledge on how to use them, and in 2014, he also utilized a stun knife during his operations.

Snake did not possess any qualms for doing things that are normally considered unacceptable social behavior if it meant completing a mission. For example, Snake entered the women's bathroom in both the Zanzibar Land and the Shadow Moses facilities in order to find a disguised female contact (Gustava Heffner and Meryl Silverburgh, respectively). In the former instance, after Snake made contact with Dr. Marv, Dr. Madnar told Snake to look for Gustava there due to her disguise.[71] In the latter, even though Colonel Campbell, Otacon, and Master Miller had no problems about it,[72][73][74] Nastasha complained to Snake about being in there,[75] while Mei Ling was angry at him.[76] He even encouraged Raiden to do the same thing during the Big Shell Incident.[77]

Snake was fluent in six languages, including French.[78] Although he was unfamiliar with Czech during the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, he was able to recognize the term "Matka Pluku," when Raiden told him of Big Mama's alias during the Guns of the Patriots Incident. Conversely, his knowledge of computing was somewhat limited, often relying on more technical-minded allies to deal with such matters during missions.[79][80] Snake was somewhat knowledgeable about pop culture, having partially named an alias from the character Snake Plissken from Escape from New York, and once referenced Star Wars by describing Outer Haven as Liquid Ocelot's "very own Death Star."

Snake did not believe in the supernatural; when Otacon explained the technology to attach to walls, he asked if Vamp could have used it during the Big Shell Incident. Otacon said it was possible, and Snake said that Vamp was not supernatural and despite the visual evidence, believed that Vamp was not actually immortal.

Relationships

Big Boss

Of all the relationships Snake has had, his connection to Big Boss had the biggest impact on him. When he first met the living legend, Snake felt honored to be serving alongside him in FOXHOUND. Big Boss saw great potential in Snake and personally trained him in advanced combat skills, particularly CQC. He even came to see him as a father figure, though not knowing that in truth he was Big Boss's clone. It was only until after he discovered that Big Boss was behind the Outer Heaven incident that he lost his faith in him. He constantly struggled between respect and anger towards his former commander as he truly respected Big Boss. When Snake found out that Big Boss was actually the leader of Outer Heaven, he thought that this was unacceptable. Because of this, he refrained from using CQC for years. Moreover, he suffered greatly with the thought that he committed "patricide" despite being forced to save the world from a disaster. Before Snake faced off with Liquid at Shadow Moses, he described Liquid's desire for re-creating Outer Heaven insane and pointless, calling it out as "Big Boss's fantasy". Snake struggled to understand Big Boss's true motive for two decades believing that his betrayal was based on foul intentions. Nevertheless, he could never truly give up his respect to the legendary soldier as he visited his grave and saluted it and later chose to end his life right then and there after destroying the Patriots. After deciding against it at the last moment, Big Boss appeared. When he explained his reasons for his uprising in the 1990s, Snake was finally able to find closure between their fates as old enemies.

Gray Fox

Snake described Gray Fox as his best friend and when he was a rookie he looked up to the only man to earn the code name "Fox". Much like Big Boss, Fox took on a mentor role in Snake's life. Fox was the one who "showed him the ropes" as he put it. Even when Fox betrayed him in Zanzibar Land, Snake, although shocked, held no anger towards Fox. Even during the fist fighting, they had towards the end of Snake's mission, he still considered Fox as his friend. Years later during the Shadow Moses Incident, when it was revealed Fox had survived his injuries as the Cyborg Ninja, Snake was horrified and felt nothing but remorse for what Fox had become. Fox would later go on to battle REX. During this battle, Snake contemplated destroying REX and killing Liquid at the cost of Fox's life. In the end, however, he could not go through with it. Fox's final words had a deep impact on Snake's personal beliefs to the point where he would echo them to Raiden years later during the Big Shell Incident.

Meryl Silverburgh

During the Shadow Moses Incident, Snake developed a powerful bond with Meryl, displaying uncharacteristic concern and care for her.[81] Although he was often blunt and logical with Meryl as he was with everybody else, he did show her a softer side of his personality, stating the beauty of Alaska and Meryl herself before leaving Shadow Moses.[82]

Hal Emmerich

When Snake first met Otacon during the Shadow Moses Incident, Snake was irritated by Otacon's logic and just wanted his help to destroy REX, however throughout the incident Snake and Otacon opened up after Sniper Wolf's death. When Otacon was willing to sacrifice himself so Snake and Meryl could escape, Snake fully respected him. Following the Shadow Moses Incident, Snake and Otacon formed Philanthropy and developed a strong friendship, even creating their own personal handshake. When they returned to Shadow Moses and went to Otacon's office, where they first met, they looked back on the memory. Otacon was the only person Snake told about his plan to kill himself in order to prevent a FOXDIE outbreak and Otacon decided to stick with Snake to the day he died to pass his legacy and accomplishments with others.

Raiden

Just as Gray Fox did for him during Outer Heaven, Snake "showed the ropes" to Raiden, acting as a de facto mentor to the "rookie" and teaching him about his supplies and how to become a better soldier. Despite this, Snake was willing to use Raiden to further his mission, allowing him to infiltrate Arsenal Gear more easily during the Big Shell Incident by having enemy forces capture him temporarily. Following the conclusion of the Big Shell Incident, Snake gave Raiden advice on how to live his life. Throughout Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, Snake was somewhat adamant about Raiden not fighting more than he was and for him to "not waste his youth" on fighting, as Snake believed that it wasn't Raiden's fight.

Snake tends to see Raiden as a whole as being an example of the "next generation" he's fighting for. While often condescending and harsh to Raiden during the Big Shell Incident, he's also trying his best during the end to give him a sense of identity and what he should be fighting for. Yet this had more of an influence in a way than he didn't intend and during his talks with Raiden, he carries a sense of regret that he wasn't a better teacher to him and that Raiden's life was made a living hell due to Snake's generation.

Liquid Snake/Liquid Ocelot

Liquid Snake was Snake's twin brother, one of his greatest rivals and one of his most dangerous enemies. Though Snake did seem to at the very least understand the motivation of Liquid's actions during the Shadow Moses Incident, in which Liquid wished to use the facility and Metal Gear REX to create eternal conflict in order for soldiers to be free from being pawns, he heavily disagreed with creating global widespread conflict to achieve this goal. Snake exclaimed that "(he didn't) want that kind of world" when Liquid revealed his intentions. Liquid was also the man who killed Fox and nearly killed Meryl, which no doubt only intensified Snake's hatred of him.

What Liquid had put Snake through in Shadow Moses had a negative effect on him. While disguised as Pliskin, Raiden observed Snake screaming "Liquid!" in his sleep. Additionally, when the mental doppelgänger of Liquid Snake took complete control of Ocelot, Snake frantically chased after him and attempted to track him down. In 2014, Snake was willing to come out of retirement to stop Liquid Ocelot, though he was reluctant to assassinate him at first due to the mission being more of a "hired hit" than "justice" as Roy Campbell put it. In the end, Liquid Snake was one of Solid Snake's most unpredictable and hated adversaries.

The Shocking Conspiracy Behind Shadow Moses

It was implied that a stealth camo-equipped Snake returned to the Fox Archipelago in 2007, while trailing journalist Gary McGolden. According to his magazine article, The Shocking Conspiracy Behind Shadow Moses, McGolden had received an optical disc from an unknown source, containing Nastasha Romanenko's novel In the Darkness of Shadow Moses. After supposedly journeying to the island himself in order to verify Nastasha's account, McGolden was captured and interrogated by an unknown party and subsequently rescued by an "invisible" savior. The article helped to give more exposure to Nastasha's novel, though its publisher raised doubts as to the accuracy of McGolden's report.

Unconfirmed history

The following information has been detailed in official Konami-licensed media, written by various external authors. Its status in the Metal Gear canon is unconfirmed.[?]

The Twin Snakes were born as a result of a ninth batch of clones, in Carlsbad, New Mexico.[83] David then spent the first ten years of his life in the state of Oregon where he underwent intense military training, being raised and taught by a variety of teachers.[84] During the summer months of his childhood, he would make weekly visits to a small, privately owned theme park known as "Kiddieland."[85]

When first joining FOXHOUND, Snake attended an initiation ceremony where Big Boss gave a speech. However, he did not make the connection between his words and those of the dying Gray Fox at Shadow Moses, until meeting with Big Boss at Arlington nearly twenty years later.[86]

After joining FOXHOUND, Snake became knowledgeable in various foreign languages, including Russian[87] and other Slavic languages.[88] Following his retirement from the unit, and his brief stint in the CIA, Snake was responsible for the assassination of several despotic dictators during his years as a mercenary.[89] When Snake retreated to Alaska after the events of the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, he resided in a small log cabin and lived off the native flora and fauna, developing a taste for blueberries and salmonberries.[89] Befriending an Inuit of the Yup'ik tribe, who helped him to train sleigh dogs, Snake indulged in Huskie sleigh racing in an attempt to banish the intense hallucinations, guilt, and flashbacks of battlefield trauma that he suffered from.[89]

Snake did not believe in a god, and asked his friend Otacon to give him strength before his attempted suicide.[90]

Snake's last days were peaceful, traveling the world with Otacon and Sunny passing on his story. He died, with a smile on his face, around 2015.[91]

Behind the scenes

Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク, Soriddo Sunēku?) is one of the protagonists of Konami's Metal Gear series. Created by Hideo Kojima, Snake was introduced in the first game of the series, Metal Gear (1987), and has appeared in the majority of the subsequent games and spin-offs. Akio Ōtsuka provided Snake's Japanese voice, while actor and screenwriter David Hayter provided his English voice.

While Snake is depicted as the primary protagonist of the Metal Gear series, his father, Big Boss, acquired a prominent status as the central character in the four prequel games that he has starred in.

Early Metal Gear games

Snake's original (left) and revised (right) appearance in the intro/outro of Metal Gear 2.

Much as Metal Gear began as a pastiche of action movies of the time, Snake began as a pastiche of contemporary action movie heroes. Kojima based Snake on a number of different characters, including Escape from New York's Snake Plissken, who inspired the name.[92][89] The addition of "Solid" was Kojima's intent to create a paradoxical name, in contrast to the smooth motion commonly attributed to snakes, and to express the character's strong image.[92] He did not choose a more specific type of snake for the protagonist's name (e.g. cobra, anaconda, viper, etc.) in order to make the character less defined and to serve as an extension of the player.[93][94] Kojima described Snake's role in the original Metal Gear as the "player's presence," contrasting the defined personality he acquired in later games. The ambiguity of his character was contributed to by Metal Gear's limited script, in which he only speaks five times. Although Snake Plissken inspired the name, Kojima denied that he was the basis for Snake's personality, which instead was developed as the series itself progressed.[96] Snake's appearance on the cover artwork for Metal Gear is based on a screenshot of actor Michael Biehn, in character as Kyle Reese in the 1984 film The Terminator.[97][98] His manual artwork, likewise, bore similarities to the character James Baxter from the manual for game Gradius, also made by Konami, which was due to both games being made around the same time period (and presumably using the same illustrator).[99]

Snake's original (left) and revised (right) Transceiver Mode portrait in Metal Gear 2.

Snake's military experience prior to joining FOXHOUND is not made clear in the original Metal Gear.[100] Conversely, the instruction manual for the Nintendo Entertainment System version claims that Snake had been a former Marine in the Grenada Invasion, and had been recruited into FOXHOUND due to his heroic actions in that conflict. The Worlds of Power novelization of the game maintains the Marine background, while also giving Snake the real name of "Justin Halley." Later games and sources, however, ignore the artistic license used in the Western materials, instead revealing that Snake had been a Green Beret during the Gulf War prior to Operation Intrude N313.

In the Previous Operations section of Metal Gear Solid, it is stated that Snake received injuries during Operation Intrude N313.[101]

In the original version of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, released exclusively in Japan, Snake's appearance resembles actor Mel Gibson. In the re-released versions, Snake's appearance was brought more in line with his altered presentation in the sequel Metal Gear Solid, and was to a certain extent reused from his Codec portrait from Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. Similarly, he also had an additional transceiver portrait accessible only when using the transceiver upon using the hang-glider to reach the other side of the Bridge of Sorrow, which depicted him with a cigarette in his mouth. In the initial MSX2 release for the game, the cigarette was located on the left side of his mouth, while in the re-releases, it was located on the right side. His biography, featured in the MSX2 manual, revealed that he was of Japanese-British descent. While Snake's Japanese heritage was retained, the nature of it was altered in later games in the series.

While Snake states that defeating Big Boss ended his nightmares, the Previous Operations section claims that he wasn't happy because "Big Boss's last words kept ringing in [his] head."[102]

Metal Gear Solid

It is first revealed that Big Boss is the "father" of Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid. Snake tells Naomi Hunter that Big Boss had told him of this prior to his defeat in Zanzibar Land. It is commonly assumed that Big Boss relayed this information to him immediately prior to their final battle in Metal Gear 2, though the only detail made clear is that Snake knowingly "killed" his own father at that time, with only himself and Roy Campbell being aware of this.[103]

In addition to expanding Snake's backstory, Metal Gear Solid established his characteristic voice and appearance. Yoji Shinkawa's Snake design, characterized by his navy blue bandana and "sneaking suit", would serve as the template for all future incarnations of Snake in later Metal Gear games. According to Shinkawa, Snake's physique in Metal Gear Solid was based on that of action star Jean-Claude Van Damme, while his facial appearance in the same game was inspired by actor Christopher Walken. Shinkawa described his rendition of Snake in Metal Gear Solid as a middle ground between the younger Snake who graced the cover artwork of the original Metal Gear and the middle-aged Snake in the MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2.[89] Kojima introduced the cloning origins of Snake to Metal Gear Solid in order to provide him with an adversary who would be his equal, since the story, being a continuation to the original MSX2 games, established Snake as an experienced soldier. Kojima later expressed that he "cheated" when came up with this decision.

Snake's real name, David (デイビッド, Deibiddo?), which was revealed at the end of Metal Gear Solid, is a reference to two fictional characters: David Bowman from 2001: A Space Odyssey[105] and Dave Forrest from Policenauts (which was also created by Kojima). While Snake shares the same given name with his English voice actor, David Hayter, this was not intentional, contrary to popular belief, and is merely coincidental. The name David is of Hebrew origin and was used by the biblical King David, who managed to slay the giant Goliath with a slingshot and a sword. Similarly, Snake also overcame several almost impossible challenges despite being a clone created from supposedly inferior genes. David Hayter, prior to voicing Snake, had voiced some animated incarnations of the Marvel Comics character Captain America, who coincidentally was also the result of a secret supersoldier project like Solid Snake himself.

In the Shadow Moses briefing files for the original game, the animated Shinkawa artwork appears to depict Snake with fair-colored hair. Shinkawa said in an interview that Snake's hair might be naturally blond, and that he had probably dyed it brown before infiltrating Shadow Moses, while commenting on his designs for Snake's alias in the game's sequel, Iroquois Pliskin.[106] In the remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Snake is clearly depicted with dark-colored hair in the corresponding briefing files, which are now polygon demos.

It remains unclear as to which clone was created to express Big Boss's dominant or recessive traits, since Liquid Snake's exposition on Les Enfants Terribles is contradicted by Ocelot's later report to Solidus, regarding which clone was designated the "inferior" one. The subject of Big Boss's dominant and recessive traits, in regards to the clones' gene expression, is never referred again in other games in the series, after Metal Gear Solid. A recap of Liquid's dialogue was included in the fictional in-game novel In the Darkness of Shadow Moses, but there is no mention of dominant and recessive traits. However, the dialogue remains essentially unchanged from the original game, in its 2004 remake, The Twin Snakes.

Just prior to the second fight with Vulcan Raven during Metal Gear Solid and its remake, Raven referred to Snake as "Kasack," which is a word similar in pronunciation with the Ukrainian name "Cossack," which means "One of a warlike, pastoral people, skillful as horsemen, inhabiting different parts of the Russian empire and furnishing valuable contingents of irregular cavalry to its armies, those of Ukraine and those of the Don forming the principal divisions."

The cover for the Japanese manual for Metal Gear Solid depicts Snake with a combat knife, although he never actually uses one in the game itself.

Although it can be difficult to notice due to the graphical limitations of the time, one can observe that both Solid and Liquid Snake share the exact same face model. The only differences being Liquid's longer blonde hair and darker skin tone. Otherwise both Solid and Liquid Snake share the same facial appearance.

Snake's Codec portraits in the initial demos (left) and the final version (right) of Metal Gear Solid.

In the earliest demos that were released in Japan for Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake's Codec portrait was different, bearing a closer resemblance to his artwork such as having his eyes obscured in shadow.[107]

Metal Gear Solid audio drama

Solid Snake reappears in the audio drama for Metal Gear Solid that is set at some point after the events of Shadow Moses. Unlike in the other games, FOXHOUND was not disbanded following the incident. Solid Snake is sent to the Basra Republic by Roy Campbell to rendezvous with Meryl Silverburgh after her and a unit of UN peace negotiators were forced to crash land in the region, also getting help from a member of Delta Force member Allen Toshiba. Afterward, he helped Mei Ling infiltrate a neo-communist island of San Chago in order to acquire evidence of a chemical plant that is secretly being built on the island and then expose its existence. While undergoing this portion of the mission, he also ends up getting into an argument with Mei Ling in regard to whether killing child soldiers is any different than killing regular soldiers, to which Snake states that there is no difference. Snake later has to undergo an unofficial rescue mission for Roy Campbell after the latter ends up captured by the enemy.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

For Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Kojima explained that his decision to introduce a new playable character in Solid Snake's place was done in order to develop Snake from another character's perspective, but also to avoid treating Snake as a rookie by having a new character be instructed via Codec instead.

An early rendition of Snake as Iroquois Pliskin (イロコィ・プリスキン, Irokoi Purisukin?) possessed blond hair, much like his originally intended hair color in Metal Gear Solid. The idea made it as far as actual game testing, and was also included in the official script but was shelved in favor of dark hair.[108] Testers cited a lack of association to Snake from Metal Gear Solid as the reason. Snake was also given a mullet hairstyle that would continue to be used in his later appearances, and was also implemented in the design of the young Big Boss in the prequel games. Pliskin's attire in the game is almost identical to Snake's appearance in Metal Gear right down to the headset and the color of his clothing. Upon closer inspection of Pliskin's equipment, a few shotgun shells can be seen tucked into his vest.

In Kojima's "Grand Game Plan" for Metal Gear Solid 2, Pliskin was originally to have come off as seemingly bumbling in order to have the player doubt that he was Solid Snake. He was also to have worn a cross around his neck, which is what saved him from being killed by Vamp (as Vamp was afraid of crosses/crucifixes due to the church bombing in Romania). Snake’s true identity would have been revealed after Fortune identified his blood. In addition, he was originally supposed to hold the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer. He also was to end up captured alongside Raiden and interrogated by Vamp and Fortune, when their attempt at rescuing Emma Emmerich backfired. Pliskin during this time would also have apparently died during the torture, although he would later be revealed to have survived. A story idea suggested that the Patriots were wary of Snake, due to the possibility of him being a spy for China.

In Metal Gear Solid 2, due to a placement error of Codec calls, Snake will deny any knowledge of Outer Heaven if asked by Raiden about it shortly after the Harrier battle despite the fact Snake was no longer using the alias of Iroquois Pliskin by that point.

If the player inputs the Konami Code on the game clear screen, Solid Snake will be heard saying either "What do you think you're doing!?" or "STOP FOOLIN' AROUND KID!"

If the player manages to retrieve the shaver and supply it to Solid Snake (while disguised as Iroquois Pliskin) during their first meeting, Snake will appear clean-shaven when meeting up with Raiden on Arsenal Gear.

During the Tanker chapter's Codec conversations, if the player presses R1 to listen to his positive thoughts, Snake will remark "Hey, I'm the main character!" or "I'm the hero of this game!", the latter of which is despite Snake remarking in both Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 4 that he was not a hero and never will be.[52]

Depending on the difficulty level, Snake's armament and to a certain degree competency will vary during the push through Arsenal late in the game. In the Easy and Normal difficulties, he will have an M4 and will kill the Arsenal Gear troopers at the first opportunity. In Hard difficulty, he will only have a handgun with him, which will allow him to take on some enemies yet require the player to aid him if overwhelmed. In Extreme difficulty, he is completely unarmed and remains idle, thus requiring the player to find any enemy they can find coming near Snake and take them out.

In the ending of Metal Gear Solid 2, Snake gives a speech to Raiden about how absolute reality doesn't exist and that they ultimately have to create their own meanings and world views, and fight for said beliefs. This is reminiscent of a Japanese philosophical belief known as Mono No Aware ("The impermanence of all things"), which claims that there is nothing permanent, though with the caveat that they are beautiful while in their fleeting existence still requires fighting to preserve them regardless.

Gameplay

During Raiden's first meeting with Pliskin in Strut B, the player has the opportunity to directly interact with him:

If the player points their weapon at Pliskin while he is asleep, the blue "!" will be displayed above his head, and he will point his M4 at the player immediately, asking "Think you can shoot that thing?!/I wouldn't do that if I were you?/What are you thinking!?"

If the player punches Pliskin after he falls asleep, he becomes confused upon waking and the blue "?" will appear above his head.

If the player calls Pliskin by Codec while he is sleeping, he will start to mumble in his sleep. He can even be heard saying "Meryl..." and later shouting "Liquid!" before falling back asleep.

Shooting at Pliskin with the SOCOM pistol, or punching him two times, will cause him to shoot back and yell "Damn Kid/Moron!" Shooting him enough times will cause him to remain alert and shoot on sight until the player either leaves the area or tranquilizes him with the M9.

If the player shoots Pliskin and calls him on the Codec, he will yell "Raiden, I am on your side!" However, during the last cutscene on the Big Shell, right before the player is attacked by Olga Gurlukovich and Pliskin, Raiden will ask "You're changing sides now?", to which Pliskin responds "Changing sides? I don't recall saying I was on yours."

Exiting to the CD connecting bridge immediately after the meeting, will cause the player to see a man in a cardboard box sneaking across to Strut D. Shooting or closely approaching the box will cause a red "!" to show above the man's head, who will then run away to escape. If the player calls Pliskin, he will feign ignorance, with Raiden humorously commenting that the man in the box "must be completely insane," and a "psycho," to be seen like that, and even speculated that he might have been a member of Dead Cell. [109]

If the player shoots and damages the box the man was in and calls him after obtaining and using a box, after explaining how Raiden should use it, Pliskin will humorously mutter "You know, I lost a couple because of you." which will confuse Raiden, before Pliskin tells him to forget it.

Snake Tales

Solid Snake was also playable in the non-canonical Snake Tales stories. In Confidential Legacy, Solid Snake wears the MGS1 Sneaking Suit, while in Dead Man Whispers he is dressed as Iroquois Pliskin.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Although Solid Snake himself does not appear in the prequel Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, he is foreshadowed on a few occasions, such as comments made by The Sorrow and Para-Medic, regarding Naked Snake's sons and his genes, respectively. In addition, the pre-end credits timeline also mentions the birth of the "Sons of Big Boss." On a related note, the game also first revealed the birth year of Solid Snake, being born in 1972 as noted in the timeline. Coincidentally, this also made Snake during the events of Metal Gear the same age as Hideo Kojima when he first released Metal Gear (as it had been released a month before Kojima's birthday).[110] Hideo Kojima differentiated Naked Snake's character from that of the "man-made monster" Solid Snake by having him be more youthful and expressive with his feelings. In addition, Solid Snake appears a few times in the Snake Eater intro (which plays after playing the Virtuous Mission), which can be identified by his having a shorter haircut and lacking a beard.

Solid Snake does serve as the player character in the minigame Snake vs. Monkey, as part of a promotional crossover between Konami's Metal Gear and Sony's Ape Escape series. In it, he is summoned from vacation by Colonel Campbell to retrieve monkeys (or rather, apes) that have escaped. Because Snake vs. Monkey uses Metal Gear Solid 3's game engine, Solid Snake's appearance in this game is based on Naked Snake's pre-torture character model.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus

San Hieronymo rebel staff Old Snake Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Plus) Career N/A Equipment M4 (SOPMOD)

Stun Knife Max LIFE Max STMN SNS 200 650 50 Combat Ability S B A B A A S2 A A A A





"OLD SNAKE

Destroying both Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land single-handedly won him the moniker "Legendary Soldier." His retirement from FOXHOUND was short-lived as he returned to action to neutralize a terrorist threat on Shadow Moses Island." ―Official bio on the Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus Official Site.

Snake is an unique recruitable character in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus, under the Old Snake codename, and featuring his aged appearance from Metal Gear Solid 4. In addition, because Portable Ops Plus was released before Metal Gear Solid 4, this also marks the first time that Solid Snake appeared as Old Snake in terms of the overall series. When he is recruited, Campbell remarks, "Some old guy joined our team. Kinda reminds me of Snake" (referring to Old Snake's obvious similarities to his father, Naked Snake).[112] He is equipped with an M4 (SOPMOD) and a stun knife when newly recruited. In-game, Old Snake has the same stats and skills as Naked Snake but his maximum stamina and health are the highest among special characters, surpassing Raiden, Campbell, l, and even Naked Snake. Players can unlock him by completing "Infinity Mission" under the Medium difficulty.

"A legendary mercenary and former member of FOXHOUND, he single-handedly overthrow the fortress states of Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land, and ended the terrorist crisis on Shadow Moses Island. Along with Otacon, founded "Philanthropy," an anti-Metal Gear movement." ―Character description in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus

Although Snake does not actually appear in Portable Ops due to it taking place two years prior to his birth, he was briefly alluded to by Elisa/Ursula while dying, where she explains the future to Big Boss.





Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Solid Snake is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Nintendo's Wii console. When Snake is selected with the Wii Remote he says "It's show time!", which he also said in the premiere trailer. Snake uses explosives, RPGs, and grenades, with a mix of CQC, the Cypher from Metal Gear Solid 2, and the trademark cardboard box as a taunt. His "Final Smash" super move has him hanging from a helicopter on a rope ladder, firing a grenade launcher at the rest of the combatants. In order to keep the game kid-friendly, Snake never uses knives or firearms, despite there being a pistol in his leg holster, and solely relies on explosives in-game. In addition, Snake's entrance has him appearing with electric bolts on the ground before rising up, referring to his opening appearance in Metal Gear Solid 2's Tanker Chapter, where after landing on the U.S.S. Discovery tanker, his stealth camo malfunctions. He was originally supposed to appear in the preceding game, Super Smash Bros. Melee, but the game was too far into development by the time Kojima asked for him to be included.[113]

He is the first third party character in the game, the other being SEGA's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. In the Shadow Moses Island stage, Snake can use the Codec to contact Colonel Campbell, Otacon, or Mei Ling, in order to acquire intel on his opponents. The Codec in Brawl is based on the Metal Gear Solid version, which utilizes animated character artwork, though Snake's icon has been modified to match his in-game appearance. To use the Codec, the player must press the down taunt button and release very quickly.

During Codec dialogue, Snake is revealed to be a fan of Captain Falcon, with he and Otacon referring to the Captain's signature Falcon Punch and Falcon Kick moves as something they have always wanted to try themselves. When Snake contacts Otacon and Mei Ling, regarding Samus Aran, it is implied that Snake may be infatuated with the bounty hunter. Snake also knows Mario to be a world-wide celebrity; criticizes Link's lack of speed due to his plethora of equipment (with Otacon implying that Snake was being a hypocrite in his criticism of Link by calling him "Mr. Utility Belt"); defends Luigi from verbal attack by the Colonel (presumably the AI); considered Yoshi to be food; and believes that Pit is a mutant due to skepticism towards his being an angel. Slippy Toad, from the Star Fox series, hacks into the Colonel's frequency when trying to get information on Falco; Snake is impressed at Slippy's invention of a multi-purpose shield generator, requesting that he also build a weapon for him. It is also revealed that Snake fears Ganondorf, stating "This guy is giving off a murderous vibe! Even getting close to him makes my skin crawl..." Snake also indicates that he's less than impressed at the fact that Mario continuously saves Princess Peach despite the latter constantly getting herself abducted by Bowser, to the extent that he bluntly stated that Mario should be smart enough to tell her to stop getting herself kidnapped (which caused Mei Ling, who largely found Mario's saving Peach to be romantic, to ask if he ever got many dates).

If Snake is KOed by his enemies while making a Codec call, the characters that he has called will repeatedly shout his name in the same manner as the main series' Game Over screen. Snake also acts in a similar fashion towards Colonel Campbell, when the latter vilifies Luigi and begins repeating the phrase "La Li Lu Le Lo." When fighting Sonic the Hedgehog, Snake remarks "something about that hedgehog rubs me the wrong way," but refuses to explain why, merely stating, "...I just don't like him." This is a reference to the father of Snake's Japanese voice actor being the Japanese voice of Dr. Robotnik, Sonic's worst enemy. Another meaning of the joke (and the one that makes sense in America) is that hedgehogs actually eat snakes.

Solid Snake's character model in Super Smash Bros. Brawl combines traits from both the Metal Gear series' Solid Snake and the young Big Boss; Naked Snake. While the Snake of Brawl wears the MGS2 Sneaking Suit, he also has a full beard similar to Naked Snake, whereas his Metal Gear counterpart is usually portrayed with only stubble. Additionally, in one palette swap (Tiger Stripe), Snake wears Naked Snake's green bandana as opposed to Solid Snake's trademark gray-blue one. Furthermore, in his Codec call about Yoshi, Snake suggests to Otacon that he capture him and "see what he tastes like," which was Naked Snake's typical response to animal life in Metal Gear Solid 3. This design for Solid Snake was later reused for one of his renders in the 2012 E3 Battle.

Snake is the only character to be given actual dialogue in "The Subspace Emissary" Adventure mode, when he first becomes playable in the storyline, remarking "Kept you waiting, huh?" Similarly, he is the only character to refer to the events of "The Subspace Emissary" in gameplay outside of the Adventure mode, commenting that he has seen Meta Knight's ship, the Halberd, while speaking to Mei Ling via Codec.

In "The Subspace Emissary," Snake infiltrates the Halberd, and spends most of the story hiding in the cardboard box. He attempts to hide from Lucario and Meta Knight, but fails after Lucario detects him hiding in the box using his aura powers. A fight seemed inevitable, but they put aside their differences and team up when they realize that some security primids are approaching in their direction. After becoming involved in saving the princesses on the Halberd, he, Lucario, and Meta Knight infiltrate the bridge area, where they discover various Mr. Game and Watches copies manning the bridge. They then tackle them, knocking them all from the bridge, though the multitude of Mr. Game and Watches later merge together into Duon. Snake attempts to fight it along with Fox, Zelda/Sheik, Peach, Lucario, and Falco. He is later turned into a trophy by Tabuu, only to be revived before the final confrontation.

Clearing "Classic Mode" with Snake will award a trophy of Snake, with the following description:

A former member of FOXHOUND with an IQ of 180 and mastery of six languages. He's an infiltration specialist whose ability to carry out missions under any conditions has made him a legend. He's saved the world three times from the threat of bipedal, nuclear-armed mechs called Metal Gear. Currently he's working with the anti-Metal Gear group known as Philanthropy.

An unlockable Pliskin trophy is also available, featuring the following description:

A SEAL member who infiltrates the Big Shell to suppress a terrorist group threatening to destroy it. He joins forces with Raiden, a new recruit in the special-forces unit called FOXHOUND. Disguised in order to secretly infiltrate the Big Shell, Pliskin is actually Solid Snake.

Besides his various trophies, Solid Snake also has two stickers, one depicting his Twin Snakes artwork, and another, his Metal Gear Solid 2 artwork. The former is exclusive to Snake and increases his arm and leg attacks by 7, and the latter increases the affected characters' explosive attacks by 19.

On April 25, 2013, Brawl's Tier List updated to the current list, Snake is currently ranked 6th out of 38 and sits in the A- Tier alongside Fire Emblem's Marth and Star Fox's Falco, Marth is the highest, Snake sits in the middle, and Falco is the lowest, Among the competitive fanbase, Snake is considered to be one of the best fighters in Brawl.

Like the other characters, he has three victory poses. His first victory pose has him removing his Cardboard box and standing up, stating "Not even close" to his opponent. His second victory pose has him in a crouching position using the Codec where he says "Colonel, mission accomplished." His third victory pose has him crawling forward before conducting a roll before landing in his crouching position and, while his hands are outstretched, he says, presumably into his Codec, "This is Snake. I'm done here." Likewise, his victory theme is a cover for the iconic "Game Over" music from his series.

Metal Gear Solid Mobile

Metal Gear Solid Mobile is set some time after the events of the Shadow Moses Incident. Philanthropy received intelligence from a woman named Victoria Reed that a Metal Gear REX model was being built by the company she was working for. Snake was sent in, but quickly discovered that the whole thing was a ruse. Victoria was an AI, and Snake had really been sent in so that the terrorists could take over the facility once Snake had disabled the security system. Pressing on, Snake later realized that the Otacon he had been talking to was also an AI, as it started to glitch. The real Otacon eventually managed to contact Snake and they decided it would be easier for Snake to finish the mission instead of Otacon hacking him out. Snake eventually overthrew the virtual terrorist threat, and defeated their leader.

When Snake awoke from the VR, he overheard two voices talking. They stated that Snake was unable to provide them with the data they needed, and proceeded to erase his memory of the events.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is the final canonical Metal Gear game to feature Solid Snake as the main character. Kojima himself stated that the series would continue but he does not want the character to be handled by anyone else.[114]

In the original ending of Metal Gear Solid 4, Solid Snake and Otacon would have turned themselves in to be executed for their crimes. The staff at Kojima Productions were strongly opposed to this idea, and convinced Kojima to change it.

The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database mistakenly places Snake's recruitment by the CIA as occurring after the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, rather than before.

During gameplay, Snake may throw out his back after doing a forward roll (with his Psyche gauge decreasing slightly) and will get up rather slowly, while holding his back, further portraying his now-advanced years. Similarly, if the player dies during combat or some other related death, chooses to continue, and calls Rosemary, he will mention seeing himself having been killed in that manner (or in the case of the player being killed via explosion, Rosemary will admit she dreamed of Snake being killed via an explosion). In one particular call, Rosemary will also speculate that Snake is suffering from a mild case of depersonalization disorder.

According to the director's commentary, most of Solid Snake's mannerisms (including the way he smokes his cigarettes) were replicated from that of his voice actor, Akio Ōtsuka.[115]

In 2017, Hideo Kojima would compare Solid Snake's situation to the 2017 film Logan starring Hugh Jackman.[116]

Metal Gear Online

Although Old Snake was not playable in the initial release of the SCENE Expansion of Metal Gear Online, he was downloadable on June 16, 2009 for the SCENE Expansion, alongside the stage Icebound Inferno, based on the Snowfield area of Shadow Moses Island. He also comes with a unique weapon called the OctoCamo suit. Solid Snake's OctoCamo, unlike the main game, and Sneaking Matches, will not render him completely invisible, but rather it will help him blend into the main environment. In addition, his Command Vest and his holster are also included as unlockable equipment in the rewards shop with its own colorized index, four of which are based on the areas he went to. If tranquilized, he will sometimes say either "Liquid..." or "Makes me too frisky..." It should be noted that he is the only playable character, unique or otherwise to have more than one sleep talk phrase (having two).

Besides his playability, he is also alluded to in a sleep talk by Female Soldiers with the "H" option of voices, where she says "...Uhmmm... watch it, Snake..."

Other Metal Gear appearances

Solid Snake appeared in the Versus Battle feature on the official website, where he competed for fan votes against Naked Snake.

STRENGTHS:

The Most Decorated Snake, Warrior Extreme

WEAKNESSES:

Accelerated Aging, FOXDIE, Cigarettes

FEATURED FACT:

A cloned “son” of Big Boss, Solid Snake was the “brother” of fellow clones Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake, & ultimately battled them both

FEATURED GAME:

METAL GEAR SOLID: THE LEGACY COLLECTION " ―Solid Snake bio in Versus Battle

Aside from his mention in Kazuhira Miller's phone call, Solid Snake also makes a cameo appearance in the English version of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, on the cover of the appropriately named Solid Magazine. The cameo resulted when the English version had to change a few items during localization due to their being real life products (in Solid Magazine's case, it was Weekly Famitsu). Although the cover mentioned references to UMAs and Area 51, there was one line that was uttered by Solid Snake, "KeptYOUwaiting", a variation of his line in Metal Gear Solid 2 indirect reference to the player in the beginning of the Tanker Chapter.

Because Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance takes place four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4, and thus Snake's implied death by that point, he does not actually appear in this game. Snake does, however, receive a brief mention by Raiden in an optional Codec conversation with Kevin Washington, where he explained that he decided to use Raiden in place of Jack to craft a new life based on someone's advice (referring to Snake's speech at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2). During another Codec conversation with Kevin, due to the ambiguous nature of his fate, Raiden referred to Snake in the present tense, while Kevin referred to him in the past tense. Additionally, when Sunny is launching the vehicle to send Raiden to Pakistan, she says "this is a no-smoking flight," obviously referring to Snake and his smoking habits, and Raiden chuckles in response. There is also a wooden sword called "Snake's Soul", a DLC-exclusive item. It contains voice samples from Snake whenever it is swung.[117] It was released in Japan in April 2013 along with the VR DLC.

One of the trading cards in Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops was based on Snake during the Shadow Moses Incident. Unlike most cards, the card wasn't actually based on a prior game appearance (either Metal Gear Solid or its remake, The Twin Snakes). Rather, it was based on the Play Arts Kai figurine.

Metal Gear Solid V

Several audio flashbacks featuring Solid Snake occur in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, during the "Déjà-Vu" Extra Op. The flashbacks occur after the player successfully recreates several scenes from MGS1. Snake's dialogue from the original game was re-recorded by Big Boss's voice actor Kiefer Sutherland.

Snake’s likeness appears as an alternate character skin named "Classic Snake," which is based on the MGS1 polygon model. This reflects the original PlayStation's technical capabilities in supporting retro lower-polygon models, and lower-resolution textures. The skin is unlocked by answering all questions on the Normal Mode quiz correctly. During the quiz, Kazuhira Miller alludes to the skin by stating that completing the quiz with 100% correct answers will grant them "a special bonus,"[118] to be awarded later.[119] When unlocked, the main menu screen will feature Psycho Mantis shouting "blackout" offscreen, and after the Hideo scree,n the Classic Snake render will replace that of Big Boss on the main menu.

Besides his appearance as Classic Snake, Solid Snake also appears as an officer character for the Mother Base developer on the Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Companion App. He is unlocked by completing the Deja Vu mission with an S-rank and on Hard Mode, all while interacting with the app.

In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Solid Snake is mentioned in audio tapes and in the game's ending timeline, along with the return of the Classic Snake character skin from Ground Zeroes. Snake was also speculated to appear as a child in the same game prior to its release due to the ending of the E3 2015 trailer showing two "Elis" with the narration mentioning Les Enfants Terribles. However, this was later proven false, as the second "Eli" in the scene was actually imagery invoked by the character Tretij Rebenok due to the latter being drawn to Eli's hatred of Venom Snake (whom he believed to be his father, Big Boss).

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Prior to his formal announcement, Solid Snake appeared on the splash image of various characters in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which implied he may be making a return as a playable character. David Hayter reprised the role in the English version, the first time he voiced the character since Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel and Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée, as well as the first time he did voice work for the series since Kojima replaced him with Kiefer Sutherland for Big Boss.[120] His voicelines are reused from Brawl. Most of his move set is the same as in Brawl, though he has a new attack that involves multiple missiles targeting the area for his Final Smash. His down smash is also a more standard kick in front into a kick behind unlike the old version where he set a mine in the floor.

Comparison with other Snake characters

Among the four protagonists of the Metal Gear series (himself, Big Boss, Venom Snake, and Raiden), Snake is the only one to have not lost either the use of an eye or the eye itself, although he did wear the eyepatch-like Solid Eye. Similarly, he does not lose any limbs, unlike Raiden who lost most of his body after becoming a Cyborg Ninja, and Venom Snake who lost his left arm (Big Boss has limbs amputated by the Patriots after their fight in Zanzibar Land).

While Big Boss's clones are most often referred to as his sons in the series, they are biologically more similar to identical twins, since they share more genes with him than children born by normal sexual reproduction.

Solid Snake, directly or indirectly, is responsible for the death of three Snakes: Big Boss's body double Venom Snake, his brother Liquid Snake and Big Boss himself.

Alternative versions of Snake

Aside from the character depicted in the canonical games, various incarnations of "Solid Snake" have been featured in different, non-canon Metal Gear games.

Solid Snake (Operation 747) - Solid Snake, as depicted in the NES port of Metal Gear and Snake's Revenge, is described in the NES Metal Gear manual as having been a U.S. Marine and a veteran of the Grenada Invasion prior to his joining of FOXHOUND. This Snake, rather than destroying the TX-55 Metal Gear directly, attacked the "Supercomputer" that controlled the weapon instead. The NES Metal Gear manual also states that, rather than Big Boss, Snake was under the command of one Commander South; in addition, the Commander of Outer Heaven is Vermon CaTaffy and the leader of the enemy forces is Higharolla Kockamamie. Snake was featured again in the NES port's sequel, Snake's Revenge, where, along with fellow FOXHOUND operatives John Turner and Nick Myer, was sent in as part of Operation 747 to investigate rumors of a new weapon that is being developed in a location known as Fortress Fanatic, the weapon later being revealed to be a new Metal Gear. In-game, he once again fights Big Boss, now a cyborg, though the manual states the enemy leader is Higharolla Kockamamie. His depiction on the cover of the NES version of Metal Gear is the same as the one on the MSX2 version, while his appearance in Snake's Revenge is based on Austrian actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Solid Snake (Galuade) - In Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, known as Metal Gear Solid in the overseas versions, Solid Snake is an offshoot of the canonical Snake, being a version made especially for the game stylized as the handheld version of the original Metal Gear Solid. Snake is similarly brought out of retirement by Roy Campbell to go on a mission to Galuade, a fortress-state that is built on the ruins of Outer Heaven.

Solid Snake (Lobito Island) - In Metal Gear Acid, Solid Snake is depicted as another offshoot of the canonical one, having served in the Green Berets and having been a friend of Roy Campbell, and has since retired to Alaska. He is close in personality to his canonical counterpart. His in-game render depicts him wearing the Sneaking Suit from the original Metal Gear Solid and having the same general build, facial features, and bandana as the canonical Snake; however his hair color and style is different, having light brown hair and a rounder hairstyle. However, his art depicts him with a mullet closer to the canonical Snake. In this game, Snake is brought out of retirement in 2016 by Roger McCoy, a friend, to go on a mission to Lobito Island to investigate a secret experiment known as "Pythagoras", where he meets and teams up with an FBI agent named Teliko Friedman and discovers a new Metal Gear codenamed "Metal Gear KODOQUE".

Snake (SaintLogic) - In Metal Gear Acid 2, this incarnation of Snake is a clone of the Solid Snake from the previous game, the latter having died during after the conclusion of the first game on Lobito Island. In this game, Snake must combat a military arms manufacturing company known as SaintLogic and must destroy their new Metal Gear, Metal Gear Chaioth Ha Qadesh.

Appearances in other media

Silent Hill 3

In another Konami title, Silent Hill 3, there is a corpse that has been trapped inside a wall of a construction site. According to the BradyGames strategy guide, this was intended to be a cameo of Solid Snake, as the corpse is wearing military fatigues and has a silencer for a pistol.

Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou

In chapter 18, the manga Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou references Snake in his cardboard box with a Genome Soldier. In the later parts, a character called Miia sneaks away from a crowd in a box with the word "SNAKE" written on it and is wearing a different version of Snake's Sneaking Suit. Another character called Rachnera is wearing a rather exposed version of The Boss's white Sneaking Suit.

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies

In the third case of this Capcom adventure game, Athena Cykes encounters a character named Myriam Scuttlebutt, who constantly hides under a cardboard box similar to Snake's stealth tactics. When Apollo Justice notices the box, he says, "Don't let it be a SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" The final reference is after Woods's acquittal, when Cykes thinks to herself, "Myriam's got this Tactical Espionage Action stuff down to a science..."

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Snake makes a cameo appearance in the Game Boy Advance game, Yu-Gi-Oh! 7 Trials to Glory: World Championship Tournament 2005, after the player unlocks the Mystic Lands. He is hiding in a cardboard box and when spoken to says "I don't know why I'm revealing this, but I'm a secret spy. I was hired by an organization, which shall remain nameless, in order to study this Shadow World."

In the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, the card "Tactical Espionage Expert" is based on Snake, though with elements of Raiden as well.

Evolution Skateboarding

Solid Snake is a secret character in Evolution Skateboarding. To play as Solid Snake, beat the game 100% and collect all coins with the character Colin McKay. A demo of Snake and the Big Shell level are playable as a special feature in the PS2 version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance.

Boktai series

In Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django, Snake appears as "???", a character who has lost their memory. The player rescues him in the House of Time. Django tells him to go to Sun Avenue, where he sets up a shop. The player can then buy "Blindboxes" (weapons and items that Snake has picked up in random boxes so the player can't see what he or she is buying) from him. He also gives advice on where to go next, and gives the player titles. He also appears in Boktai 3: Sabata's Counterattack.

DreamMix TV World Fighters

Snake is one of the fighters in DreamMix TV World Fighters, the fighting cross-company game between Konami, Hudson Soft, and Takara, appearing alongside mascots like Bomberman, Castlevania's Simon Belmont, and Optimus Prime. His appearance in the game is based on Metal Gear Solid 2 with his special moves consisting of only C4, which can be planted onto anything and detonated at will. Snake's stage is based on one of the connecting bridges of the Big Shell, with the Harrier II appear