Ode to Hideo Kojima

In today's videogame panorama we can now divide the games into two very large categories: i annual videogames and non-annual videogames.

That might sound like a big generalization, but we're actually filled with games like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty e FIFA, while you play like The Witcher 3, Deus Ex o Batman Arkham Knight they are pushed aside. Because the average gamer no longer buys a game if it doesn't have multiplayer mode, if it doesn't last more than 30 hours or simply, because they prefer to spend money on their classic annual games.

This article is a tribute to a different Game Designer. A person who comes out of the chain generated by this difference, but who treats his every game as a work: Hideo Kojima.

"If man is made up of 70% water, then I'm 70% made of cinema."

Hideo Kojima has never denied his unbridled passion for the world of cinema, and especially for the West. His works are always "dirtied" by this Westernism, while maintaining their roots in their own oriental culture.

As you all may know, Kojima is known mainly for the saga of Metal Gear, but before that the work he did was a lot, and as for the Snakes saga, all his games had alternative, different, and often innovative ideas, but always taken aback by his colleagues or superiors.

• Penguin Adventure: racing title, saw this penguin desperate to save his princess, running stages of paths full of obstacles. It was one of the first games he worked on, and the success was remarkable. He went out for MSX.
• Metal Gear: in 1987 he had his big break, an opportunity that made him a legend in the sector. The game, influenced by films like Terminator and The Great Escape, is called the first Stealth game, as it included mechanics such as enemy recognition of gunshot noises, or lack of equipment, all to be found within the map . The game was released first for MSX, then for NES.

• Snatchers: title of 1988, combined cyberpunk themes with post-apocalypses, robots that dominated the human race, clones and genetic tests. In short, it will be both the basis of many themes for the future Metal Gear Solid, and a tribute to films like Blade Runner. The title was a great success, it was released on MSX2 and NEC PC-8801.
• Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake: Following the first chapter, this time a Japanese exclusive for MSX2, the game took up the story of the previous one, inserting a better characterization of the characters, along with adult themes. It is now clear how Kojima's works move from the classic video game, more towards cinematography.

• Policenauts: released in 1994, graphic adventure similar to Snatchers, always a great work, highly acclaimed by critics. In this game, the character of Meryl Silverburgh, famous person in the Metal Gear Solid saga. The game was released on NEC PC-9821.

• We arrive at 1996, and the game he consecrated comes out Hideo Kojima: Metal Gear Solid. Taking advantage of the 3 dimensions, just born and grown, especially on PlayStation (the game will not be called Metal Gear 3 but Solid because of the presence of the 3 dimensions, therefore polygons, synonymous with "solid"). Working with a team of young people, they always approached with filmmaking, spectacular history, and above all realistic guards (150-degree view, attentive to sounds, observing the footprints).

• In 2000, moving from his masterpiece, Kojima I Zone of the Enders, sci-fi action game with mechas. The title was a great success, reaching the second chapter, also by Kojima, in 2002. Both were released on PlayStation 2.

• Months later the second chapter came out Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. By adding many functions, such as threatening the guards or managing them collectively, the game became a success, also basing its storyline on modern topics such as the New World Order, the Internet and the meme. The game was released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater: with Snake Eater, in 2004, we get to talk about Big Boss for the first time, a character that, if you have played the previous chapters, you will know. With this leap back in time, set in 1964, we will have fewer technological devices and a greater survival experience. Also, we will switch to a camera behind the character's back. The game will always be released on PlayStation 2. An Online mode will also be included for the first time, Metal Gear Online.

• Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes: In the same year, on Gamecube, this title will be released, also edited by Kojima, remake of the first chapter, but totally redone in terms of graphics, shots and more. You will see a lot of inspiration in the second chapter, thus showing new ways to advance in the game, as well as better graphics.

• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: we arrive on PlayStation 3 with this chapter, which also sees the birth of Kojima Productions, team under Konami. This division allowed the team to no longer manage the commercial part, focusing only on the game. The title will review our Solid Snake again, aged due to a genetic problem due to cloning. The title added the modern features of the first chapters to the playability of the following ones, while remaining too cinematic, having really a lot of movies and little gameplay. Come back Metal Gear Online 2.

• Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker: Metal Gear, after the previous Portable Ops, arrives on PSP with a canonical title, becoming from Tactical Espionage Action, a Tactical Espionage Operations title. In fact, we will also have to manage all the troops, as well as carry out the missions. The title will see the mythical Big Boss as the main character.

• Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes & The Phantom Pain: we come to today, with one of the largest and most criticized chapters, divided into two parts, a prologue and a main part. Always with Big Boss, we will arrive in the title (or almost) to connect the story that will then continue in the very first Metal Gear. Comes in this title a PVP (Forward Operating Base) mode e Metal Gear Online 3.

Dwelling on this title, the Metal Gear game less similar to the previous ones in mode (completely Open World), it was also the complete closure of the saga. Having completed the story, I feel like saying that the game does not close at all, on the contrary it leaves many questions, questions that will never be explained. The story itself remains fragmented, especially in the endings. A single movie might have been more exciting. However, the game is truly a masterpiece of the genre, a Stealth Open World, the very first, and the freedom of choice, which many have called a disruption, is an excellent addition to the genre.

In all this we have not talked about the two Metal Gear Acid, Metal Gear Portable Ops or Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, as Kojima's role in them was marginal.

It should also be emphasized that neither a new Metal Gear nor the much acclaimed one will appear in the list (for now) Silent Hills, due to the split with Konami.

Besides being known as a great Game Designer, Hideo Kojima is above all a trollone. That's right, a person who enjoys "fooling" people with information hidden before the eyes of the players, insignificant details later taken up as the foundation of the story and much more. Here are some examples:

• During the Psycho Mantis boss, endowed with telekinetic and telepathic powers, you could not hit him as he was reading your mind. It was enough to put the controller of the old Psx in port 2, and Psycho Mantis would never read your thoughts.

• The same Psycho Mantis returns in MGS4, this time amazed by the technology of the PlayStation 3.

• What you know how Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, actually it used to be called solo The Phantom Pain, game developed by a certain Joakim Morgren… Joakim, anagram of Kojima. When this blindfolded individual talked about the game, there were doubts. They were taken from this presentation:

In addition, the logo of the game, when it appeared for the first time, already had the writing Metal Gear Solid V in relief, but obscured.

Hideo Kojima, stripped of the saga that gave birth and led to success, of the specially created graphics engine, and of the Kojima Productions, is now a free Game Designer, and we will surely hear about it. I advise you to try its titles, to understand the difference between a game born to excite, and a game born with the sole intention of continuing a saga.