Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5085906-20130627191357/@comment-4807396-20150803044025

IIRC there was barely anything in MGS2's pre-release material to suggest Raiden was in the game at all, let alone that you spend the majority of the game playing as him.

By contrast, people were able to glean that Naked Snake = young Big Boss and a basic understanding of MGS3's plot from its pre-release stuff. Then again, MGS3 was a saving throw of sorts for Kojima after MGS2 polarised the fanbase.