Metal Gear Solid 3: The Boss of Stealth Action Games

Exploring the innovations that made Snake’s ’60s adventure a best-in-class production.

By: Jeremy Parish
February 17, 2012

Hideo Kojima has been trying to make a video game for 25 years now. With Metal Gear Solid 3, he very nearly succeeded.

This isn’t to say Kojima hasn’t overseen the creation of quite a few games in his time — from whimsical penguin racers to vampiric spaghetti westerns with overtones of Norse legend, he’s had his hand in several greats. But he’s best known for the Metal Gear series, the ongoing saga of a guy named Dave who constantly, reluctantly finds himself as the world’s last resort against utter nuclear armageddon, and all just because he happens to possess an acute genetic disposition to be adept at killing people. (He inherited it from his dad. Whom he killed. Twice. Once with hairspray.)