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Hideo Kojima's Prediction: Metal Gear Solid 2 Will Be Bigger
by Steven Kent for Gamers Today
Hideo Kojima is not always right. Responsible for creating two Metal Gear games for the MSX computer, the first of which was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, then reviving the series for PlayStation, Kojima is a clever guy; but he severely underestimates the appeal of his games.
"Back in 1997, when we showed it at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), nobody knew Metal Gear Solid," Kojima says modestly.
He's wrong, of course. A lot of people remembered the original Metal Gear, enabling Konami to create quite a stir by showing video taped footage of the PlayStation version.
Kojima's instincts are undeniably sharp when it comes to creating great games. This is a man who listens and learns. The biggest complaint he's dealing with these days is that the original Metal Gear Solid was too short. "People have been asking me this question [will Metal Gear Solid 2 be longer than the last Metal Gear?] all the time, every day. Our goal is to make it longer than the previous game," says Kojima.
But he doesn't just mean longer, he means bigger. "As to the total volume of the game, not just the linear size, but the events, Metal Gear Solid 2 will have more stuff than the previous game," claims Kojima. "If you remember, in the previous game you had to heat a cardkey, then later freeze it. You had to go through the same area a couple of times to proceed in the game. This time, that is not going to happen."
"The game is going to be a little longer than the original game, and this time you will constantly be going through new stages."
Kojima plans to keep the quirky touches that makeMetal Gear unique. Asked if the new game would have the lectures like the ones in Metal Gear Solid 2 about robotics and the environment, Kojima says, "It would not be a Metal Gear without them."
"We have some ideas that may be quite interesting, but we are still not sure if we can do them," says Kojima. (When you consider that this interview was held in March and Metal Gear Solid 2 is scheduled for release next fall, it is a surprise to hear that Kojima's team is still developing features for the game.)
"If we are able to overcome certain issues, then we will implement the ideas we are considering. When I created the game Snatcher, 10 years ago, I was much younger and I did not think much about important rules in society such as product liability. There was this part in Snatcher in which you go into this building and the game's volume drops. You don't hear anything, and the game tells you to pump up the volume. When you do that, you start hearing this tick. It's a bomb. When the bomb explodes... Obviously, you've pumped up the volume, so you get this huge noise in your room. Things like that are not allowed anymore."
Sony sets the rules for PlayStation 2 games. Kojima had to ask for permission to do some of his best tricks in Metal Gear Solid. He says he is currently getting permission for some of the magic he is planning in Metal Gear Solid 2.
