GAME · 1998
Metal Gear Solid
- Developer
- Konami
- Publisher
- Konami
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable
31 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (31)
- #001
Hideo Kojima, the director of Metal Gear Solid, first conceived his third Metal Gear game in 1994 as a title for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.
- #002
Kojima began planning Metal Gear Solid while Policenauts, an adventure game from 1994, was still in development.
- #003
Conceptual artwork by Yoji Shinkawa depicting Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh and the FOXHOUND team appeared in the Policenauts: Pilot Disk, ahead of the full 3DO release of Policenauts in 1995.
- #004
Meryl Silverburgh, a character in Metal Gear Solid, had previously appeared in Policenauts.
- #005
The word "Solid" in Metal Gear Solid came from the codename of series protagonist Solid Snake, which was also the title of the second MSX2 game.
- #006
Metal Gear Solid's team chose a predominantly overhead 2D-style gameplay because they found first-person games difficult to control. The game still used 3D graphics and allowed players to switch to first person on the fly, which the team intended to make it feel as though the action took place in a real 3D world.
- #007
Development of Metal Gear Solid started in 1995, but was briefly halted after the Great Hanshin earthquake caused major damage to the development studio.
- #008
Once work on Metal Gear Solid resumed, the project was moved to the PlayStation platform.
- #009
During early development of Metal Gear Solid, the Huntington Beach SWAT team gave the creators a demonstration of vehicles, weapons and explosives, and weapons expert Motosada Mori served as a technical adviser on research that included visits to Fort Irwin and firing sessions at Stembridge Gun Rentals.
- #010
Kojima said that if the player is not tricked into believing the world is real, there is no point in making the game, and to that end every detail of Metal Gear Solid was adjusted, including individually designed desks.
- #011
For props and hardware, Yoji Shinkawa first built plastic models at home and then drew the final designs from those models.
- #012
According to Yoji Shinkawa, Solid Snake's physique in Metal Gear Solid was based on Jean-Claude Van Damme, while his facial appearance was based on Christopher Walken. Konami had decided that Snake's middle-aged look in previous games lacked commercial appeal and chose to redesign him as younger.
- #013
The Metal Gear Solid team did not reach full strength until September 1996; at first only a single programmer worked on the game's code.
- #014
For Metal Gear Solid, the developers chose a stylized, movie-like look over realism, so they did not use motion capture. Instead, an artist experienced in anime design created the animations by hand.
- #015
Metal Gear Solid was first shown to the public as a gameplay demo at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show, and a short video version appeared at E3 1997.
- #016
The 1997 demo of Metal Gear Solid differed from the earlier version, featuring a more controllable camera and blue-colored vision cones.
- #017
Metal Gear Solid's demo drew significant buzz and positive reviews at the event, praised for its stealth-and-strategy game design, presentation, and an unprecedented level of real-time 3D graphical detail for the PlayStation.
- #018
The enthusiastic response to Metal Gear Solid at E3 surprised Kojima and raised his expectations for the game's performance in the American market; its Japanese release, originally planned for late 1997, was delayed to 1998.
- #019
Metal Gear Solid was playable for the first time at the Tokyo Game Show in 1998.
- #020
Metal Gear Solid was released in Japan in 1998, the same year it appeared at the Tokyo Game Show.
- #021
Metal Gear Solid's release in Japan was accompanied by an extensive promotional campaign.
- #022
Promotion for Metal Gear Solid included television and magazine advertisements, in-store samples and demo giveaways, with promotional costs totaling $8 million.
- #023
According to reports, the pseudonymous credits in Metal Gear Solid were used because the Screen Actors Guild's rules at the time were unclear about performances for video games.
- #024
When the voice actors returned for the 2004 remake Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, they were credited under their real names.
- #025
Metal Gear Solid's musical score was composed by Konami's in-house musicians, among them Kazuki Muraoka, Hiroyuki Togo, Takanari Ishiyama, Lee Jeon Myung and Maki Kirioka.
- #026
Composer and lyricist Rika Muranaka wrote "The Best is Yet To Come," the song heard over Metal Gear Solid's ending credits.
- #027
Aoife Ní Fhearraigh performs "The Best is Yet To Come" in Irish for Metal Gear Solid.
- #028
Tappi Iwase of the Konami Kukeiha Club composed Metal Gear Solid's main theme.
- #029
Metal Gear Solid's in-game music has a synthetic feel, with a faster pace and strings added during tense moments, and it loops in a style common to video games.
- #030
Metal Gear Solid's cutscenes feature overtly cinematic music with stronger orchestral and choral elements.
- #031
The Metal Gear Solid soundtrack was released on September 23, 1998, under the King Records label.
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