Solid Snake

Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク) (real name David (デイビッド), commonly referred to as Snake) is a product of the Les Enfants Terribles project and "son" of legendary soldier, Big Boss along with his "brothers" Liquid Snake and Solidus Snake. Possessing an IQ of 180 and fluent in six languages, he is known as "the man who makes the impossible possible" and his exploits have made him into a living legend among the military black-ops. Initially a Green Beret, Snake was later inducted into high-tech special forces unit FOXHOUND during the early 1990s while it was under the leadership of Big Boss. From there, Snake would thrice avert potential nuclear catastrophe.

After the Shadow Moses Incident and subsequent manipulation campaign by the Patriots, the secret organization behind American politics, Snake became labeled a terrorist. He faked his own death in 2007 and proceeded into hiding, although he would later emerge in 2009 to assist Raiden in the Big Shell Incident. After that, his cells would enter a state of accelerated aging, causing his health to decline. The cause of his rapid aging was explained by Dr. Naomi Hunter, who examined Snake and determined that it was caused by planned genetic changes during the cloning process.

Early Years
Born in 1972 as a result of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project, Solid Snake was a product of a secret government project to create the perfect soldier, using the genes of the "Greatest Warrior of the 20th Century", Big Boss. By utilizing the Super Baby Method, eight clone babies were grown using Big Boss’ cells merged with eggs taken from a healthy Japanese woman. Six of the babies were aborted to promote growth in the remaining two, who were then injected into the womb of EVA. Nine months later twins were born: Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. The two clones were modified on the genetic level, with Solid receiving all the inferior soldier genes and Liquid receiving all the superior soldier genes. A third clone was also later created, known as Solidus Snake who was a perfect clone of Big Boss. Liquid Snake was led to believe that he received the inferior genes and later informed an unknowing Solid Snake as such.

Following his birth, Snake was given the name "David." He spent the first ten years of his life in the state of Oregon with intense military training. During the summer months he would make weekly visits to a small, privately owned theme park known as “Kiddieland.”

Snake made his way into the military by 1991. He had been inducted into the Green Berets and took part in a mission to infiltrate western Iraq during the Gulf War. Later, he joined Big Boss's special forces unit FOXHOUND, during which time he received the codename "Solid Snake." He also underwent personal CQC training by Big Boss at this time, but after Outer Heaven, he chose not to implement a technique created by "a man who betrayed his unit," and vowed never to use it again. However, he would lift this self-imposed ban much later in his life.

Snake's first mission for FOXHOUND came in 1995. He was tasked with infiltrating Outer Heaven, a military nation led by a feared and legendary mercenary, deep within South Africa. Snake was tasked with rescuing Gray Fox, a FOXHOUND agent who was captured earlier, and shed light on Metal Gear, which Gray Fox mentioned in a broken radio message sometime before his capture.

He succeeded in rescuing Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar and destroyed Metal Gear TX-55 with the aid of Gray Fox. Big Boss, his mission commander, then revealed himself to be the leader behind the Outer Heaven uprising, but he was promptly dispatched by Snake. Despite Snake's success in this mission, Snake departed from FOXHOUND and entered early retirement.

Later he was scouted by the CIA and spent six months as a deep cover agent before he became dissatisfied with the system and left. He then became a mercenary for hire, and after earning enough money, he went into semi-retirement in the Canadian wilderness. During this time, he found himself constantly having nightmares about Outer Heaven and Big Boss over the next four years due to PTSD.

In 1999, Snake's former commander, Roy Campbell, called upon him again for another operation in Central Asia. Apparently, a new highly militarized nation called Zanzibar Land kidnapped Dr. Kio Marv, inventor of the oil refining microbe, OILIX. Not only that, but a new Metal Gear was believed to be being developed in Zanzibar Land.

Snake's mission objectives were to infiltrate the seemingly impenetrable wall that surrounded Zanzibar Land and recover Marv as well as the OILIX formula. He succeeded in the first task, but complications arose when one of his allies in the mission, a CIA war coverage spy named Holly White blew her cover, and required a rescue, trying to catch a messenger pidgeon to get Marv's contact frequency, Marv speaking Czechoslovakian, thus resulting in his trying to locate his bodyguard, and later the unanticipated betrayal of both Gray Fox and Dr. Madnar that resulted in Dr. Marv's demise. However, utilizing the polymimetic nature of the Zanzibar Brooch Key, he later managed to succeed in recovering the OILIX formula inside of a MSX2 Cartridge in a locker. Deep in the heart of Zanzibar Land, he destroyed the Metal Gear D. Afterwards, he fought his former ally Gray Fox who piloted the Metal Gear, and successfully stopped the ambitions of Big Boss. Big Boss, the man behind Zanzibar Land, returned for a final battle/test against Snake, but Snake ultimately defeated him using a makeshift flamethrower which consisted of a lighter and an aerosol can, although not before he revealed to Snake that he was, in actuality, his father.

Following the conclusion of Operation Intrude F014, Snake returned to North America and retired to an Alaskan wilderness retreat, Twin Lakes, to try to forget his war-torn past and recover from post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as cope with the fact that he killed his father (Snake later admits this to Naomi Hunter and Roy Campbell six years later and states that this was the trauma that he had endured that Psycho Mantis mentioned). During this time, he became a dogsled racer and a competitor in the Iditarod.

Snake was called back to the US military in 2005 when he was deployed by his former commander Roy Campbell to Shadow Moses Island. However, he wasn't too happy with Colonel Campbell for how he decided to call him back into service, since he sent armed soldiers to his doorstep in a manner that seemed like they wanted to capture him and also they strip searched him as well taking all his weapons away from him. Here, a rebellion had taken place by the members of FOXHOUND, his former unit, who were threatening the USA with a nuclear missile. The Task fell on Snake, a former operative and expert, to stop them.

In charge of the renegade group was Liquid Snake. His demand, the remains of Big Boss. Solid Snake was charged with ascertaining their nuclear capability and rescuing their hostages, Kenneth Baker and Donald Anderson.

Snake infiltrated the base alone, but quickly gained help in the form of Metal Gear REX developer Hal Emmerich and new FOXHOUND recruit Meryl Silverburgh Campbell's niece, the latter of whom was actually Campbell's daughter, although Snake did not know this at the time. Metal Gear REX was a nuclear-armed bipedal walking tank developed in secret by the US Army and weapons manufacturer ArmsTech (later AT Corp). With the help of the two aforementioned, as well as his former comrade Gray Fox (now the Cyborg Ninja), Snake succeeded in destroying REX and defeating the members of FOXHOUND, including (supposedly) Liquid.

His mission, however, was a cleverly woven plot, prepared by the Pentagon. Through the secret, Pentagon-guided efforts of genetic engineer Naomi Hunter, Solid Snake's body became host to the artificial virus FOXDIE. Snake was outraged to hear that his mission was a government conspiracy, and that he was merely sent as a carrier of the virus, which was programmed to kill Baker (for knowing too much about the project), and the FOXHOUND operatives. He also suspected that Campbell was hiding important info about the mission's nature throughout the mission, although he later forgave Campbell after learning that he only did it due to the Pentagon using Meryl as leverage (they had deliberately sent Meryl on a mission to Shadow Moses the same day that FOXHOUND would rebel to force Roy Campbell to cooperate) Snake also discovered that Naomi was the foster sister of Gray Fox, who desired revenge for what Snake had done to Fox and illegally edited the FOXDIE virus so that it would kill him in addition to FOXHOUND. However, she set the virus to a "wildcard" value, leaving him vulnerable at a later time.

Following this mission, Snake disappeared yet again after leaving the base with Meryl. Sometime later, however, he lost contact with Meryl, and in actuality set up the anti-Metal Gear NGO, Philanthropy, with Hal Emmerich. Revolver Ocelot, one of the FOXHOUND operatives under Liquid, escaped assassination by the FOXDIE virus and sold REX's plans to the black market, prompting Snake and Hal (a.k.a. Otacon) to set up this organization in secret.

Two years after Shadow Moses, Otacon received an anonymous tip from someone calling him or herself "E.E." (the initials of Otacon's younger stepsister) that a new Metal Gear, codenamed Metal Gear RAY, was being developed by the U.S. Marine Corps., and was being sent via a Marine vessel disguised as an Oil Tanker.

The tanker was, however, quickly taken over by a group of Russians led by Colonel Sergei Gurlukovich. Snake met Gurlukovich's daughter Olga on board the tanker, but proceeded to defeat her in a gunfight; however, she promptly disappeared afterwards. Snake quickly made his way into the tanker's interior and, as per his mission orders, secured photographic evidence of the new Metal Gear. Neither he nor Otacon could have predicted the reappearance of Revolver Ocelot on the tanker. Ocelot proceeded to sink the vessel and steal RAY. Thanks to the photographs taken by a U.S. Army CYPHER, the Patriots framed Solid Snake and Philanthropy in a smear campaign for the deed, simultaneously exposing them to the public and destroying their reputation.

It was also widely believed that Solid Snake had been killed in the incident, thanks to propaganda circulated around by the Patriots. His body was even retrieved from the New York Harbor as confirmation. In reality, with the tanker quickly sinking, Snake managed to escape - saving Olga with the help of Otacon. Snake decided to take advantage of the situation and faked his death, using Liquid's body as a decoy.

Another two years later, Snake had infiltrated the Big Shell facility sometime before Raiden did, cutting a hole in the fence. He later knocked out a Gurlukovich sentry and sometime later catapulted three sentries, including the one that had already been koed by him earlier. Raiden briefly saw him, although his back was turned. Snake later disguised himself as a Navy SEALS Alpha squad member named Iroquois Pliskin. Rumors of another Metal Gear, Arsenal Gear, were spreading like wildfire. There, he met Raiden and eventually met his other brother; the final of the three Sons of Big Boss, Solidus Snake. During this incident, both Solid Snake and Otacon become aware of the existence of the Patriots, although how and when isn't exactly known. He also once again met Olga Gurlukovich and explained to her that it was in fact Revolver Ocelot who killed her father, Colonel Gurlukovich. Snake later helped Raiden, Otacon and Emma Emmerich (Otacon's stepsister) install the re-programmed computer virus, a digital counterpart of FOXDIE, into GW (Arsenal Gear's AI system), shortly before Emma died after being stabbed by Vamp.

Snake worked together with Olga, using Raiden in order to gain access to Arsenal Gear and to acquire the disc which contained the information about the true identities of the Patriots' Wisemen's Committee.

Once aboard Arsenal Gear, Snake and Raiden made their way through fighting the army of Arsenal Tengu soldiers. On top of Arsenal, Ocelot revealed his true colors to them. But before he could kill them, Ocelot's right arm began to twitch, and Liquid Snake possessed him once more, revealing that he leaked the information about Arsenal Gear to lure Snake out to the Big Shell so that Snake could "free [Liquid]". Liquid (in Ocelot's body) then set off in RAY to kill the Patriots via "[his] host", with Snake in pursuit. Although Snake failed to follow RAY, he placed a tracker on RAY and explained later to Raiden that his plan was for him to find the Patriots. However, the data recovered from Arsenal showed that all 12 members had been dead for over a hundred years, and Philanthropy had lost their only lead. However, Solid Snake eventually deduces that the information was a fake lead (or as he put it in the South American campaign, "a load of crap").

After the Manhattan Incident, Snake once again went into hiding, and began suffering from inexplicable accelerated aging. His body began to age rapidly, with no doctors being able to figure out the cause. It was not until 2014 that Snake resurfaced for a final time.

Liquid Ocelot (a fusion of Liquid Snake's spirit and Revolver Ocelot's body) was the leader of a new Outer Heaven, this time incarnated as less of a physical thing, and more of a dummy corporation, acting as a single mother company to five of the largest PMCs on the planet. With PMCs now taking over the world's armies in terms of firepower, Liquid was finally on the verge of world domination. With the world once again in crisis, Snake was dispatched to the middle east as a personal favor to Campbell to assassinate Liquid.

Snake, now codenamed "Old Snake", successfully made it to the PMC base that Liquid was using as his headquarters. He once again met Meryl, who was now in command of a reformed FOXHOUND group called Rat Patrol 01. He, however, failed to assassinate Liquid in time due to Liquid's sudden deactivation of the SOP (Sons of the Patriots) system. The SOP system was run by the Patriots with the purpose of monitoring and controlling every soldier engaged in combat action. Liquid's plan to disarm the system and take it for himself at first went horribly wrong when it caused the Middle Eastern base to descend into chaos (although the chaos unknowingly saved him from Snake's mission to kill him).

Later, Otacon received a message from Naomi Hunter, who had been there in the Middle East to save Snake when the SOP system went wrong. The message contained a distress call as well as an encrypted map of Liquid's South American base in Soliton Radar format (a sign from Naomi that it was truly from her), the location of which Olga's daughter Sunny was able to trace. Snake made it to the base where Naomi was held, and she gave him a thorough medical examination. It was during this that Snake discovered the harsh truth: his aging was not part of any external source, it was merely the way he was designed as a clone, and also that the FOXDIE that Naomi injected him with almost a decade earlier will finally claim his life within six months. This was because the FOXDIE was also starting to mutate due to Snake's rapid aging, and would eventually lose its ability to kill by specific DNA patterns and indiscriminately infect anyone and everyone, effectively turning Snake into a walking biological weapon who could cause the deaths of millions. Because of this, Naomi openly suggested that Snake commit suicide after he put a stop to Liquid's plan, so that the FOXDIE wouldn't be able to mutate to that point.

After defeating Beauty and the Beast Unit member Laughing Octopus, Snake escaped with Naomi with the help of Drebin, a "gun launderer" he'd met in the middle east. They also picked up Raiden, who was now a Cyborg Ninja.

Raiden explained that he was acting under the orders of Big Mama, the leader of a small resistance group in Eastern Europe. Snake found Big Mama, discovering she was the former Chinese spy who Big Boss had known, back when his codename was Naked Snake, as EVA. Due to her ties with Big Boss, she was able to explain most of the Patriots' history to him. She also revealed that she had Big Boss' body in her possession. After escaping an onslaught of FROGS and defeating the second B&B member, Raging Raven, Snake found Liquid, who was in the midst of implementing the now perfected version of his plan. Taking control of the SOP system, Liquid used his now unbeatable army to kill every last soldier there, including Big Mama, save for Old Snake and the members of Rat Patrol. Luckily, in the chaos, Otacon was able to stow the Mark II away with Naomi (who had returned to Liquid), and discovered Liquid's true plan: to destroy the Patriots themselves.

Knowing Liquid was planning to do this by using the only non-Patriot controlled weapon in existence - the rail gun from Metal Gear REX - Snake followed Liquid back to Shadow Moses Island. There Snake managed to defeat Vamp, B&B member Crying Wolf and a Metal Gear RAY piloted by Liquid, with Snake himself piloting REX for the latter. However, he was unable to kill Liquid or stop him from stealing the rail gun in time, a prize which Liquid quickly equipped to his own recreation of Arsenal Gear, Outer Haven. Snake, Meryl and Rat Patrol team member Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki infiltrated Outer Haven, where Snake defeated the last of the B&B members, Screaming Mantis, as well as finally destroying GW, the Patriot's former AI which Liquid managed to reassemble. Thanks to Sunny's virus, FOXALIVE, the infection spread to the rest of the Patriots, eliminating them once and for all, and saving the world from destroying itself. Atop Outer Haven, Snake faced his "brother" in hand-to-hand combat one last time, where it was revealed that Liquid Ocelot didn't actually have the right arm of Liquid Snake; it was a cybernetic prosthetic instead. Snake defeated Liquid, who quickly died, but not before revealing to Snake that he had wanted him to succeed in destroying the Patriots. Revolver Ocelot regained control at the very end, and before dying, performed his signature hand gesture while saying "You're pretty good." His mission, as it turns out, was the same as Snake's, putting them technically on the same side.

Some time later, Snake prepared to commit suicide to prevent the spread of the mutated strain of FOXDIE. He sat in front of Big Boss' grave with his gun in his mouth, but in the end was unable to end his own life. Big Boss then appeared, returning the Patriot to the grave of The Boss and confirming Big Mama's story that the true brains behind the Patriots were himself and Zero, and euthanized the now-vegetative Zero himself. He also revealed to Snake that Revolver Ocelot was never truly possessed by Liquid, but had put himself through hypnotherapy and implanted himself with nanomachines in order to make himself believe that he was Liquid Snake. This was done to throw off the Patriots who, being a computer program, could only repeat the same processes and would send Snake in to take down Liquid if they thought he was alive. Big Boss also reveals that when Drebin injected Snake with modern nanomachines in order to make him compatible with SOP weaponry, he also injected him with a second strain of FOXDIE, which was programmed to kill Big Mama, Liquid Ocelot, and Big Boss himself, but also canceled out the original mutating FOXDIE; thus, Snake is no longer in danger of becoming a biological weapon. Snake and his father, who calmly accepted the fact that he was dying, finally made amends, and Big Boss, before dying, made Snake promise to live, however much time he had left "not as a snake, but as a man." Determined to fulfill this promise, Snake retreated with Otacon and Sunny, this time for good, to live the remainder of his life in peace.

Evolution Skateboarding
Solid Snake is a secret character in Evolution Skateboarding. To play as Solid Snake, beat the game 100%, collecting all coins with character Colin McKay. A demo of Snake and the Big Shell level are playable as a special feature in the PS2 version of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance.

Boktai series
In Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django, Snake appears as "???", a character who has lost their memory. The player rescues him in the House of Time. Django tells him to go to Sun Avenue, where he sets up a shop. The player can then buy "Blindboxes" (weapons and items that Snake has picked up in random boxes so the player can't see what he or she is buying) from him. He also gives advice on where to go next, and gives the player titles. He also appears in Boktai 3: Sabata's Counterattack.

DreamMix TV World Fighters


Snake is one of the fighters in DreamMix TV World Fighters, the fighting cross-company game between Konami, Hudson Soft, and Takara, appearing alongside mascots like Bomberman, Castlevania 's Simon Belmont, and Optimus Prime. His appearance in the game is based on Metal Gear Solid 2 with his special moves consisting of only C4, which can be planted onto anything and detonated at will. Snake's stage is based on one of the connecting bridges of the Big Shell, with the Harrier II appearing and shooting the combatants. The music for this stage is a remix of the Metal Gear Solid Main Theme, with a remix of Yell "Dead Cell" playing when the Harrier appears. Snake also has alternate costumes like the Tuxedo, his Iroquois Pliskin alter ego, as well as one based on his original Metal Gear Solid appearance.

Metal Gear Acid
See Solid Snake (Metal Gear Acid)

Solid Snake is the main character in Metal Gear Acid. He came out of retirement to help the FBI in a mission to obtain the Pythagoras data but then begins to find out that he has worked at BEAGLE before as Hans Davis, which he's only led to believe. For more information see Hans Davis. He supposedly dies sometime during Ac!d.

Metal Gear Solid Mobile
This game is set some time after Shadow Moses. Philanthropy received intelligence from a woman named Victoria Reed that a Metal Gear REX model was being built by the company she was working for. Snake was sent in, but quickly discovered that the whole thing was a ruse. Victoria was an AI, and Snake had really been sent in so that terrorists could take over the facility once Snake had disabled the security system. Pressing on, Snake later realized that the Otacon he had been talking was also an AI, as it started to glitch. The real Otacon eventually managed to contact Snake and they decided it would be easier for Snake to finish the mission instead of Otacon hacking him out. Snake eventually overthrew the virtual terrorist threat, and defeated their leader.

When Snake awoke from the VR, he overheard two voices talking. They stated that Snake was unable to provide them with the data they needed, and proceeded to erase his memory of the events.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Solid Snake is a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii. Snake uses explosives, RPGs, and grenades, with a mix of CQC, the Cypher from MGS2, and the famous box as a taunt. His "Final Smash" super move has him hanging from a helicopter on a rope ladder, firing a grenade launcher at the rest of the combatants. In order to keep the game's rating a "T", Snake never uses knives or firearms, despite there being a pistol in his leg holster, and solely relies on explosives in-game.

Also, in the Shadow Moses Island stage, Snake can call Colonel Campbell, Otacon or Mei Ling (and, at one point, the Colonel AI, and Slippy Toad from the Star Fox series) for intel on his opponents. He is revealed as a fan of Captain Falcon, with Snake and Otacon referring to the Captain's signature Falcon Punch and Falcon Kick moves as something they've always wanted to try. When Snake contacts Otacon and Mei Ling on his Codec regarding Samus Aran (In both her Power Suit and Zero Suit), it's implied that Snake might be infatuated with the bounty hunter. Snake also knows Mario as a world-wide celebrity, criticizes Link's lack of speed due to his plethora of equipment (to which Otacon retorts, calling him "Mr. Utility Belt"), and believes that Pit is a mutant and is skeptical towards the idea that he is an angel. When using Codec calls when fighting Sonic the Hedgehog, Snake remarks that "something about that hedgehog rubs me the wrong way", but refuses to explain why, merely stating, "I just don't like him." This is most likely a reference to the fact that, in nature, hedgehogs and snakes are natural enemies. It could also be a reference to these facts:


 * Snake is jealous of Sonic's popularity outside of SSB; the Metal Gear series, which started in 1987, has sold 26 million copies, while the Sonic the Hedgehog series, which started in 1991, has sold 50 million copies, although it should be pointed out that there are far more games under the Sonic name than in the Metal Gear series. This is supported by another line from the Codec conversation mentioned above, which is said by Otacon: "Everyone loves Sonic. He's a big star."

It is believed that the Snake of SSBB actually combines traits from Solid Snake and the young Big Boss: the Snake of Brawl has a full beard; Solid Snake was only ever shown with a stubble, and Naked Snake was the one with the full beard, in addition to the fact that Snake wears a dark green bandana, while Naked Snake was the one who wore a dark green bandana.

Clearing Classic Mode with Snake will award a trophy of Snake, with the following description: "A former member of FOXHOUND with an IQ of 180 and mastery of six languages. He's an infiltration specialist whose ability to carry out missions under any conditions has made him a legend. He's saved the world three times from the threat of bipedal, nuclear-armed mechs called Metal Gear. Currently he's working with the anti-Metal Gear group known as Philanthropy."

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops/Plus
Snake is revealed in Elisa and Ursula's vision of the future to be the saviour of the world in MPO. He is a recruitable unique character in MPO+, under the Old Snake codename, and his appearance is closer to his aged look from Metal Gear Solid 4. When he is recruited, Campbell remarks "Some old guy joined our team. Kinda reminds me of Snake." (referring to Old Snake's obvious similarities to his father, Naked Snake). He is equipped with an M4(SOPMOD) when newly recruited.

Ape Escape 3
Solid Snake makes a non-canon appearance in Metal Gear Solid 3, specifically in the Snake vs. Monkey game, part of a promotional crossover between Konami's Metal Gear Solid and Sony's Ape Escape series, which included a special mode in Ape Escape 3 called Mesal Gear Solid. Here, Campbell too makes an appearance in a call, where he had to bring Snake out of vacation to capture mechanical monkeys that escaped a lab, much to Snake's dismay. Snake replies back that Campbell could have gotten Gabe or Sam (referring to Gabriel Logan and Sam Fisher, protagonists of the Syphon Filter and Splinter Cell series respectively, competitors of Metal Gear Solid in the stealth genre) to do the job, though is told that there were a number of reasons why Snake was chosen, one of them being that the lab scientist is a friend of Otacon's. Once Snake has completed all of his monkey capturing, Naked Snake can acquire a Monkey Mask.



LittleBigPlanet
The "Paint of the Patriots" costume download for LittleBigPlanet allows Sackboy to dress up as Old Snake. The pack can be downloaded at the PlayStation Store for $5.99.

Trivia

 * Hideo Kojima based Solid Snake on a number of different characters, including Snake Plissken from the film Escape from New York.
 * Snake's appearance on the boxart for Metal Gear is based on a screenshot of actor Michael Biehn, in character as Kyle Reese in the 1984 film The Terminator.
 * In the instruction manual for the NES version of Metal Gear, it was stated that Solid Snake, prior to Operation Intrude N313, took part in the Grenada Invasion.
 * In the original MSX2 version of Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Snake was modeled after actor Mel Gibson.
 * In the original manual for Metal Gear 2, Snake was originally intended to be of Japanese-British descent.
 * Metal Gear 2 which is set in 1999, features an older-looking Snake than seen in Metal Gear Solid, which is set in 2005. However, there are numerous inconsistencies between the Metal Gear Solid games and the previous incarnation of the series. Also, some of the portraits used in Metal Gear 2 were based on real actors, and the characters were redesigned for later games. In the re-releases of Metal Gear 2, Snake's portrait is brought more in line with his presentation in Metal Gear Solid.
 * Snake is voiced by Akio Otsuka in the Japanese version of the Metal Gear Solid games, and by David Hayter in the English version.
 * Snake's real name, David, which was revealed at the end of the original Metal Gear Solid, is a reference to two fictional characters: David Bowman from 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dave Forrest from Policenauts (which was also created by Kojima). While Snake shares the same given name with his English voice actor, David Hayter, this was not intentional (contrary to popular belief) and is merely coincidental.
 * In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, he uses the alias Iroquois Pliskin, which is a reference to Snake Plissken from the movies Escape from New York and Escape from L.A. The name "Iroquois" has a double meaning. The Iroquois were a confederacy of Native American tribes headquartered in New York. The word "iroquois" was also a Huron word meaning "Black Snake."
 * In the original ending of MGS4, Solid Snake and Otacon would have turned themselves in to be executed for their crimes. The staff at Kojima Productions were strongly opposed to this idea, and convinced Kojima to change it.
 * In Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, Snake smokes a generic version of Lucky Strikes. In Metal Gear Solid, he smokes a fictional brand of cigarettes called Moslems, designed to leave no taste or smell and almost no second-hand smoke. In Metal Gear Solid 2, they're still smokeless, but change to a real-life brand called Hope. In Metal Gear Solid 4, he smokes another fictional brand, called The Boss, which are lethal unfiltered hand-rolled cigarettes with 26mg tar each which he stores in a little box and stubs out in a portable ashtray. There are two non-canon games in which he doesn't smoke. One is Snake's Revenge, an initial attempt to make a Western-aimed sequel to Metal Gear for the NES that preceded the other sequels (where Snake was characterized as heavy smoker). The other is Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, where he instead starts the game with a Fogger, described by the Item box as a "Device that lights up and emits smoke."