In the popular PS2 game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, an extremely long boss fight almost sneaked in. The game’s director, Hideo Kojima, had a fancy idea that would have cost players two weeks of playtime. And we’re not talking about “in-game weeks”, but calendar weeks.
Who is Kojima? The well-known Japanese developer Hideo Kojima is famous for his unconventional ideas and distinctive style that is evident in the games he developed. His games from the Metal Gear series are considered legendary and milestones in game development.
However, some of Kojima’s creative impulses can be a bit too unconventional, such as one of his ideas for the game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The popular game was released in 2004 for the PS2 and takes place before the events of its predecessors.
Kojima had intended to incorporate a special fight into his game. Players would have struggled for almost 2 real weeks on a single boss fight if the developer had gotten his way. The original voice actor of Snake, David Hayter, talked about this in a video.
This is the boss fight in question: The setting of MGS3 is an alternate history during the 1960s, in the Cold War. Players take on the role of CIA agent Naked Snake, who must rescue a Russian scientist and destroy an experimental superweapon.
One of the boss fights in the game is against a rival agent named The End. He is a legendary sniper that players must find in a large area spanning three zones. They will be shot at repeatedly and must deduce his location based on clues such as footprints and the direction of darts from The End.
The sniper duel was supposed to be as realistic as possible
Hayter describes: In a video from the gaming trivia channel “Did You Know Gaming” on YouTube, voice actor David Hayter told a story about how the fight against The End was originally supposed to last 2 weeks. It was meant to replicate the torturous, lengthy, deadly hide-and-seek game between snipers in the real world:
[…] During development, Kojima fell in love with the stories of author Stephen Hunter, whose books “The Master Sniper” and “Point of Impact” revolve around snipers in the mountains attempting to take each other out.
Kojima’s idea was for Snake’s fight against The End to be as close to a real sniper fight as possible. It was supposed to take place over a span of two real-time weeks.
David Hayter
Players would have to use their environment to stay hidden and quiet. At the same time, they would need to search for clues indicating where The End is hiding, to land the perfect sniper shot.
The developers in Kojima’s team had to read Hunter’s books to better visualize the fight between two snipers. Their boss even dragged them to the mountains to participate in “real training”.
The crazy part is that this boss fight actually made it to the prototype phase. At one point, it was truly part of the playable build. However, when it came to testing the fight, no one could locate the old man [The End]. Numerous players spent hours searching for The End and found nothing. […]
David Hayter
Kojima’s unconventional idea did not resonate with his colleagues. They found the fight to be incredibly boring and frustrating, as it blocked progress through the game. The team even booed the developer for it.
This is how it ended: Although the idea for the fight did not make it into the final game, traces of it can still be found in MGS 3. The boss fight against The End is a shorter version of Kojima’s idea and can be completed in different ways:
- On one hand, you can find “The End” normally through clues.
- On the other hand, you can also wait a week or set the system date forward by a week. Then The End’s shooting suddenly stops, and when you discover him, you find that he has died of old age.
A little wink that 2 weeks of playtime for a single boss fight is a bit too long.
What do you think of Kojima’s idea? Do you find realism in games exciting and desirable, or not? Let us know in the comments.
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