Media influences on the Metal Gear series

Owing to Hideo Kojima's love of movies, the Metal Gear franchise contained several film references. Examples are listed below:

007
The 007 series is cited by Kojima as the films that influenced him the most regarding the birth of Metal Gear. Secret missions on which hang the fate of the world, espionage action and solo infiltration all inspired the setting of the Metal Gear games.

Zero is revealed to be a major 007 fan in a radio conversation with Para-Medic. The same game also had Naked Snake remarking that he can't help but compare himself to 007 in a negative manner, which indirectly referenced that Naked Snake/Big Boss's design was inspired by Sean Connery, who was well known for the role of James Bond.

24
The split screen views that are occasionally shown (such as prior to Naked Snake and Ocelot's duel in Bolshaya Past Crevice) in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, were cited by Kojima in his commentary as being based on the drama series 24.

In the Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection, the trophy/achievement "Tell Me Where the Bomb Is", earned when CQC-interrogating an enemy, is derived from the series as well.

Austin Powers
Kojima had stated that one element in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was inspired by the spy satire series Austin Powers, although he did not reveal which element. However, if the player positions a naked Raiden against a raised torture bed in Metal Gear Solid 2, and presses against it, he will raise his arms and the in-game camera will zoom out to a drink can in the foreground, its straw obscuring Raiden's crotch in a similar manner to scenes in the Austin Powers films.

A bonus scene in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, relating to EVA removing a transmitter implanted into Naked Snake by Ocelot in Tikhigornyj: Behind Waterfall, occasionally cut to their shadows undergoing a wrestling match/dance while their actual actions differed, referencing similar scenes that occurred throughout the Austin Powers franchise.

In the Metal Gear Solid 3: HD Edition, the name of the trophy/achievement, earned by defeating the Shagohod, is based on the titular character's catchphrase, "Shagadelic, baby!"

Criterion Collection Films
The spinning peace-sign logo for loading scenes in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is based on the spinning logo for the Criterion Collection.

2001: A Space Odyssey
Hal Emmerich's first name was derived from the antagonistic supercomputer, HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also implies that he was named after the computer.

Solid Snake's real name being "David" is partially inspired by the protagonist of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, made more apparent in the Meryl Dies ending.

In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the tanker and the computer terminal was named "Discovery" and Monolith (mistransliterated as "Monorith"), referring to the ship as well as the evolution-inducing object in 2001.

Para-Medic will discuss the film after saving in Metal Gear Solid 3.

Both Strangelove and Huey Emmerich will discuss the film in their briefing tapes, with it being implied that their discussing the film significantly improved their relationship and Huey implying he'll name his future child after the computer because of their getting together.

In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Doktor after learning that Raiden's not going to break the thermosphere, said "And here I thought you were going to bring me back a monolith!" referring to the evolution-inducing object from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Django (1966 Italian film)
This film, alongside other Spaghetti Westerns, was the inspiration of the design and characterization of Revolver Ocelot.

Escape from New York
Kurt Russell's character, Snake Plisskin, influenced the name of the original game's protagonist, Solid Snake. The name "Plisken" is later used as an alias by Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 2.

Full Metal Jacket
The instruction manual for Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake contained the anonymous mercenary song "If I Die in a Combat Zone," a reference to Full Metal Jacket, which featured a similar song.

The scene in which Sniper Wolf shoots Meryl Silverburgh in Metal Gear Solid was also influenced by the film.

The Fury
Psycho Mantis' powers were inspired by another fictional psychic character from the 1978 film The Fury, for which Kojima told his motion designer to watch a scene in which a man flies.

Ghostbusters
The Electromagnetic Wave Gun's properties mirror the use of the Proton Packs in the first Ghostbusters, particularly the climax where the titular main characters were forced to merge the Proton Pack's energy streams to seal Gonzor's dimension away.

The Great Escape
Kojima cited The Great Escape as a large influence on the development of the original Metal Gear, in which the character attempts to run away and escape without a fight, while avoiding the sight of the enemy.

The Guns of Navarone
The idea of an indomitable warrior with special skills, infiltrating a fortress and accomplishing an impossible mission to destroy a powerful new weapon, were all influences on Metal Gear. The background of Captain Keith Mallory, such as his fluency in multiple languages and his being an expert rock climber, inspired that of Solid Snake. Kojima was particularly impressed by the scene depicting the main characters stealthily scaling a cliff face, which is echoed in the openings of both Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.

The Mummy
The ghostly faces made by The Fury's death throes were taken from the 1996 remake of The Mummy, where the titular antagonist Imohtep occasionally imprints his face into sand dunes with his supernatural powers (and in the case of the sequel, a wave of water).

North by Northwest
Alfred Hitchcock's compositional arrangement and the camera work in North by Northwest and other films inspired Kojima's directing style in Metal Gear Solid. Like Hitchcock, Kojima limited the player's perspective through various camera views to create a sense of unity with the character and the tension of infiltration, made possible by switching between the first person view and the objective view (mostly a bird's-eye perspective), and the corner view camera that visualizes the distance between the player character and the enemy.

Pink Panther
The style of humor for the Metal Gear franchise was derived from the Pink Panther film franchise.

Planet of the Apes
Kojima's impressions of the anti-war themes in Planet of the Apes inspired the inclusion of his own anti-war messages in the Metal Gear Solid games.

Pulp Fiction
In an optional Codec conversation during Chapter R-05, Courtney Collins attempted to tell the "ketchup joke" from the film before Raiden mentioned that he had heard it before.

Rambo
The designs for Roy Campbell and The Colonel were inspired by Richard Crenna's portrayal of Colonel Samuel Trautman.

Silent Running
Huey Emmerich's nickname was derived from the crippled service robot from the film, as a stealth insult towards his being crippled.

Star Wars
The Boss's post-mortem advice for Naked Snake to remember the basics of CQC when fighting Ocelot for the final time was taken directly from Obi-Wan's communicating with Luke in the climax of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

In Metal Gear Solid 4, Solid Snake briefly compares Liquid Ocelot's Outer Haven to the Death Star.

In Metal Gear Solid 2: Bande Dessinée, Solid Snake says, "Great shot kid, that was one in a million" to Raiden after the harrier jet is shot down. Han Solo also said this line in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

The Terminator
The cover art for the original Metal Gear was taken directly from a screencap of Michael Behn's character of Kyle Reese in The Terminator. In addition, the Bloody Brads from the same game were a direct reference to the titular characters from the same film. In the original releases of the game, the references were more explicit with their being named "Arnold," referring to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the action film actor, politician, and bodybuilder whose well known role is as the titular character.

The twist about Raiden not being Solid Snake was based on the plot twist that Schwarzenegger's Terminator was not the bad guy in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

In the Secret Theater film, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eraser, Raiden attempts to travel to the past to kill Naked Snake (and later his son, Solid Snake) so he could become the main character of the series, mirroring the main plotline of The Terminator franchise, which dealt with the titular character trying to kill the main protagonist (Sarah Connor in the first film, and John Connor in future installments) in order to prevent the birth of the one who will lead the human resistance into defeating Skynet in a dark future. Coincidentally, at one point in the film, Raiden briefly spies Naked Snake inside of a cell in Groznyj Grad with a head-up display vision mirroring that of the titular antagonist/protagonist.

In Ground Zeroes, Raiden (by this point a Cyborg Ninja) goes back in time again, this time to aid Big Boss and the Militaires Sans Frontières in taking out several Body-Snatchers that were threatening Cuba and by extension the entire world, mirroring how future installments of Terminator had the titular cyborg traveling back in time to defend the main protagonist(s) (John Connor mainly) from another Terminator sent to kill him.

In the Make it Right viral marketing and to a lesser extent Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance itself, Raiden and other cyborgs point of view prominently displays data and graphs, mirroring the titular character's frequent usage of the HUD throughout the franchise.

Titanic
The characters of Raiden (real name Jack) and Rosemary were derived from the protagonistic love couple from the film.

The sinking Tanker in Metal Gear Solid 2 is also a reference of Titanic.