Solid Snake

Solid Snake (real name David, commonly referred to as Snake, and later referred to as Old Snake), was 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, including English and French, he was known as "the man who makes the impossible possible" and his exploits 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 2005 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 went into hiding, although he would later emerge to assist Raiden in 2009. 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.

Background
David was born in 1972, along with his twin brother, Liquid Snake, as a result of "Les Enfants Terribles," a secret government project designed to create the perfect soldier, using the genes of the "Greatest Warrior of the 20th Century," Big Boss.

Using the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer, eight clone embryos were created by inserting Big Boss's DNA into enucleated egg cells, donated by a healthy Japanese woman. By utilizing the Super Baby Method, the embryos were then implanted into the womb of a surrogate mother, with six of the babies eventually being aborted to promote growth in the remaining two.

The two clones were also modified on the genetic level, with one clone expressing Big Boss's dominant genetic traits, and the other, his recessive traits. Nine months later, the twins were born, who would later receive the codenames of Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. A third clone was also later created, known as Solidus Snake, who inherited an identical genetic code to Big Boss. Liquid was later led to believe that he was the result of Big Boss's "inferior" recessive traits, and would inform an unknowing Solid Snake as such.

Early life and career
Following his birth, Solid Snake was given the name "David," and spent his early life being raised and taught by a variety of foster parents. In 1974, Solid Snake and Liquid Snake was to be used by Cipher as an insurance policy, should the organization fail to either convince Big Boss to return to them, or frame the Militaires Sans Frontieres for launching a nuclear attack via Metal Gear ZEKE on the United States in 1974.

Making his way into the military, David was inducted into the Green Berets and took part in a mission to infiltrate western Iraq in 1991, during the Gulf War. Later, he joined Big Boss's special forces unit FOXHOUND, during which time he received the codename "Solid Snake." While undergoing the FOXHOUND training regiment, he became a master of high-altitude skydiving, scuba diving, and freeclimbing. Snake received training from FOXHOUND's drill sergeant, Master Miller, in regards to undertaking sneaking missions, and utilizing all of one's senses to detect an enemy's presence. Additionally, Big Boss personally trained him in the use of CQC and taught him the importance of having the will to survive on the battlefield.

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. Shortly after arriving in the general vicinity of Outer Heaven, he was contacted by Big Boss via his wireless radio and was reminded that what he was to experience would not be an exercise, as this would be his first real mission for FOXHOUND.

After infiltrating the fortress via an underwater insertion, he learned from some of the hostages after freeing them that Gray Fox was held in a high level prison cell in the basement, and the only way to find him was to get himself captured. After locating Gray Fox, he learned from him that Metal Gear was a bipedal nuclear-armed tank that can launch a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world. He was then told to locate Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar to find a way to destroy it. After a few delays, he succeeded in rescuing Dr. Madnar as well as his daughter, Ellen 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.

Post-FOXHOUND
Despite Snake's success in this mission, Snake departed from FOXHOUND and entered early retirement. He also chose not to implement a technique created by "a man who betrayed his unit," and vowed never to use CQC again.

Later he was scouted by the CIA and spent six months as an undercover 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 three 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. He accepted the mission, although it was so he could end his nightmares that he had endured since Operation Intrude N313.

Snake's mission objectives were to infiltrate the seemingly impenetrable wall that surrounded Zanzibar Land and recover Dr. 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. After rescuing Holly, she told him about Dr. Marv's carrier pigeon and that it was located on the roof. After catching the pigeon, Snake found a piece of paper on the pigeon's leg which had Dr. Marv's contact frequency written backwards. Snake contacted Dr. Marv who unfortunately only spoke Czech and Slovakian, resulting in him having to locate his bodyguard, and later the unanticipated betrayal of both Gray Fox and Dr. Madnar that resulted in Gustava and 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 an MSX2 cartridge in a locker. Deep in the heart of Zanzibar Land, he destroyed 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.

Retirement
Following the conclusion of Operation Intrude F014, Snake returned to North America and retired to an Alaskan wilderness retreat, Twin Lakes. By this time, the military had deemed that Snake had committed several acts of misconduct during his career, enough for him to serve a lengthy prison sentence, should he be brought to account. Through his retirement, Snake attempted to try and forget his war-torn past and recover from post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as come to terms with the fact that he had "killed" his own father. During this time, he began heavily drinking. He later became a dogsled racer, taking care of over 50 huskies, and competed in the Iditarod.

Snake was called back to the U.S. military in 2005 when he was deployed by his former commander Roy Campbell to Shadow Moses. However, he wasn't too happy with 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 U.S. with a nuclear strike. 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: president of ArmsTech weapons manufacturer, Kenneth Baker, and the chief of DARPA, 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 U.S. Army and ArmsTech. 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 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 just to ensure that the bodies of the Genome Soldiers and Metal Gear REX could be recovered undamaged. He was also reminded of the possibility that he had willingly returned to the battlefield because he enjoyed war, as commented upon by Meryl Silverburgh, Psycho Mantis, and Liquid Snake, and echoing Big Boss's words in Zanzibar Land.

Throughout the incident, Snake suspected that Campbell was concealing important information regarding the mission's true nature, although he later forgave the Colonel, after learning that the Pentagon had used Meryl as leverage in order to force him to cooperate with them (they had deliberately sent Meryl to Shadow Moses the same day as the revolt). Snake also discovered that Naomi was the foster sister of Gray Fox, who desired revenge for what Snake had done to her bother and had modified 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.

Post-Shadow Moses
Following the Shadow Moses Incident, Snake and Meryl disappeared after leaving the base, after Roy Campbell faked their deaths by claiming that they had died after their jeep crashed into the ocean. Sometime later, Snake lost contact with Meryl.

Revolver Ocelot, the sole surviving member of FOXHOUND, reported the events on Shadow Moses to U.S. President George Sears, for whom he had acted as a spy throughout the entire incident. He informed Sears, that it was the inferior clone, Solid Snake, who had survived, stating that Liquid had wrongly believed himself to be inferior right until his death.

Revolver Ocelot later sold REX's plans onto the black market, prompting Snake and Otacon to found the anti-Metal Gear NGO, Philanthropy. Around 2007, he also began suffering the effects of his accelerated aging.

Two years later in 2007, 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 Olga Gurlukovich (Gurlukovich's daughter) 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. When attempting to stop Ocelot, he also ended up encountering Liquid Ocelot (the alleged possession/fusion between Liquid Snake and Revolver Ocelot due to Liquid's arm being transplanted onto Ocelot's arm to replace the one he lost at Shadow Moses), during the encounter Liquid also briefly reminded Snake of his current aging problem. 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 in 2009, Snake had infiltrated the Big Shell offshore facility sometime before Raiden did, cutting a hole in the fence. He later knocked out several Gurlukovich sentries in the deep sea dock, and ascended to the roof of Strut A on an elevator; Raiden briefly saw him, though his back was turned. Snake later disguised himself as a Navy SEALS Alpha squad member named Iroquois Pliskin. There, he met Raiden and eventually met his "other brother"; the final of the three Sons of Big Boss, Solidus Snake. 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 reprogrammed 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. They are both eventually split up from one another, with Snake being captured by Fortune and brought to the top of Arsenal.

Atop Arsenal, Ocelot revealed his true colors to Solidus, Fortune, Snake and Raiden. 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 him [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 five years later, "a load of crap").

Accelerated aging and CQC
After the Big Shell Incident, Solid Snake's Werner syndrome like symptoms gradually grew worse. His body began to age rapidly, with no doctors being able to figure out the cause. By 2014, Otacon estimated that Snake's life span would be a year at best.

Sometime prior to 2014, the Pentagon (the Patriots) declassified documents relating to Big Boss's exploits during the 1960s, which evidently contributed greatly to his legend to the populace, and his CQC was also being taught in the military. After the army decided to implement CQC in an attempt to mimic Big Boss, he lifted his self imposed ban on CQC in order keep himself ahead of the other users (who had been using, as he called it, "cookie cutter imitations").

It was not until 2014 that Snake resurfaced for a final time. Liquid Ocelot (a fusion of Liquid Snake and Revolver Ocelot) 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.

Solid Snake, now occasionally referred to as Old Snake, successfully made it to the PMC base that Liquid was using as his headquarters. Snake once again met Meryl, who was now in command of the CID unit Rat Patrol Team 01. However, he failed to assassinate Liquid in time due to the latter's sudden deactivation of the Sons of the Patriots System. SOP was run by the Patriots with the purpose of monitoring and controlling every soldier engaged in combat action. Liquid's plan was to remove the system altogether, though his initial attempt had unforeseen consequences, when it caused the PMC's 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 haywire. 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, he asked if killing himself would have any impact on stopping FOXDIE. Naomi confirmed this, stating that FOXDIE will also die with its host. Snake also learned from Naomi that he had a new FOXDIE strand that was injected into him recently, and immediately deduced that Drebin 893 was the one who injected it into him.

After defeating Beauty and the Beast Unit member Laughing Octopus, Snake escaped with Naomi with the help of Drebin 893, a "gun launderer" he had met in the Middle East. They also picked up Raiden, who was now a Cyborg Ninja. He also learned from Naomi that, despite what he and anyone else believed earlier, Solid Snake was neither a perfect clone of Big Boss nor was he genetically identical to Liquid Snake, which also explained why the previous FOXDIE virus was not able to kill him earlier.

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's 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 &quot;Akiba&quot; 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' AIs, 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 turned 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's grave with his gun in his mouth, but ultimately was unable to end his own life. Big Boss then appeared, returning the Patriot to the grave of The Boss and explained the full history of the Patriots from his point of view, 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 revealed 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 was 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 decides to quit smoking and retreated with Otacon and Sunny, this time for good, to live out the remainder of his life in peace.

Trivia

 * Being a somatic cell clone of Big Boss, Solid Snake inherited mitochondrial DNA from the Japanese egg donor of Les Enfants Terribles.
 * This fact was alluded to by Vulcan Raven, during the Shadow Moses Incident, when he remarked that "Blood from the East flows within [Snake's] veins." Solid Snake was also, somewhat, aware of his Japanese heritage.
 * Solid Snake shared the same first name as that of Zero, David.
 * The Shocking Conspiracy Behind Shadow Moses was a 2007 magazine article written by journalist Gary McGolden, after he received an optical disc from an unknown source, containing Nastasha Romanenko's novel In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth. After supposedly journeying to the island himself in order to verify Romanenko's account, McGolden was captured and interrogated by an unknown party and subsequently rescued by an "invisible" saviour. The sender of the disk and his savior were suspected to be Solid Snake, presumably to help give more exposure to Romanenko's novel, though this was never confirmed.
 * During the Big Shell Incident, Snake used the alias Iroquois Pliskin, which is a reference to the character Snake Plissken from the movies Escape from New York and Escape from L.A. The name "Iroquois" has a double meaning, being both the name of a confederacy of Native American tribes headquartered in New York and a Huron word meaning "Black Snake."
 * During Operations Intrude N313 and F014, Snake smoked an unfiltered version of "Lucky Strikes." During the Shadow Moses Incident, he smoked "Moslems," designed to reduce second-hand smoke During Liquid Ocelot’s Insurrection, he smoked a brand called "The Boss," which were unfiltered hand-rolled cigarettes, each containing 26mg of tar.
 * When Snake gave Raiden the H.F. blade from Olga Gurlukovich, while inside Arsenal Gear, he revealed that he was "not a big fan of blades." However, he did show Raiden that he knew how to use it. He also refrained from using blade-based weapons during Liquid Ocelot's Insurrection, apart from his Stun knife, which was crucial to his CQC. Ironically, although he seems to refrain from using blade-based weapons, his father, Big Boss, made extensive use of his CQC knife in his younger days, partially due to the fact that it proved essential to his CQC, which he himself had developed, along with The Boss.
 * If Snake does a forward roll in MGS4, Snake may throw out his back. As his Psyche gauge will drop a bit and Snake will get up rather slowly, while holding his back.
 * Snake was foreseen in Elisa and Ursula's prophetic vision in 1970 as "the son that will save the world."

Unconfirmed history
The Twin Snakes were born as a result of a ninth batch of clones, in Carlsbad, New Mexico. David then spent the first ten years of his life in the state of Oregon where he underwent intense military training, being raised and taught by a variety of teachers. During the summer months of his childhood, he would make weekly visits to a small, privately owned theme park known as "Kiddieland."

After joining FOXHOUND, Snake became knowledgeable in various foreign languages, including Russian. Following his retirement from the unit, and his brief stint in the CIA, Snake was responsible for the assassination of several despotic dictators during his years as a mercenary. After the events of the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, Snake retreated to Alaska, where he resided in a small log cabin, and lived off the native flora and fauna, developing a taste for blueberries and salmonberries. Befriending an Inuit of the Yup'ik tribe, who helped him to train sleigh dogs, Snake indulged in Huskie sleigh racing in an attempt to banish the intense hallucinations, guilt, and flashbacks of battlefield trauma that he suffered from.

Metal Gear series
Hideo Kojima based Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク) on a number of different characters, including Escape from New York’s Snake Plissken. His appearance on the cover artwork for Metal Gear is based on a screenshot of actor Michael Biehn, in character as Kyle Reese in the 1984 film The Terminator.

The MSX2 manual for MG1 implied that Operation Intrude N313 was Snake's first experience of being on the battlefield. This was retconned in later games, since it was revealed that FOXHOUND recruits needed to have had military experience prior to joining the unit, with Snake having participated in the Gulf War as a Green Beret. In the NES manual, it was stated that prior to Operation Intrude N313, Snake had taken part in the Grenada Invasion. Based on the information presented in later installments, Snake would have been 11 years old at the time, thus making his involvement extremely unlikely.

In Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, originally released only in Japan, Snake's in-game appearance was modeled after actor Mel Gibson. His appearance was brought more in line with his presentation in the later Metal Gear Solid for the re-releases of MG2. Snake's biography, featured in the original game's manual, revealed that he was of Japanese-British descent, though his origins, much like his military background, would be retconned in later games in the series.

Metal Gear Solid series
Snake's real name, David (デイビッド), which was revealed at the end of 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.

It remains unclear as to which clone was created to express Big Boss's dominant or recessive traits, since Liquid Snake's exposition on Les Enfants Terribles is contradicted by Ocelot's later report to Solidus, regarding which clone was designated the "inferior" one. The subject of Big Boss's dominant and recessive traits, in regards to the clones' gene expression, is never once referred to again in other games in the series, after Metal Gear Solid. A recap of Liquid's dialogue was included in the fictional in-game novel In the Darkness of Shadow Moses, but there is no mention of dominant and recessive traits. However, the dialogue remains essentially unchanged from the original game, in its 2004 remake, The Twin Snakes.

A story idea, featured in Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 2 Grand Game Plan suggested that the Patriots were wary of Solid Snake, due to the possibility of him being a spy for China.

In the original ending of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, 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. The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database mistakenly places Snake's recruitment by the CIA as being after the Zanzibar Land Disturbance.

Other appearances
There are two non-canon games in which Snake does not smoke: one is Snake's Revenge, an initial attempt to make a Western-aimed sequel to Metal Gear for the NES; 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." Ghost Babel ' s opening scene, however, does show him smoking a cigarette, while waiting aboard a cargo plane, en route to Gindra.

Snake's Revenge
Solid Snake was the playable character of the unofficial sequel Snake's Revenge. Snake's in-game appearance resembles that of Austrian bodybuilder and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Snake was promoted to Lieutenant sometime after the events of Operation Intrude N313 and remained a member of FOXHOUND. He is called into action in order to investigate rumors of a nation mass producing the Metal Gear TX-55 (referred to as Metal Gear 1 in-game).

After infiltrating the enemy's main warehouse, Snake uncovered evidence that the nation had not only been mass producing Metal Gear 1, but had also began to ship them to other countries. Snake then infiltrated the enemy tanker transporting them, and then blew up its ammunition room in order to sink it. Afterwards, he learned from his support group's helicopter pilot that contact had been lost with the FOXHOUND operatives, and that the nation also built an entirely new Metal Gear model: Metal Gear 2. Snake discovered that the leader of the nation was actually former FOXHOUND commander Big Boss, the mastermind behind Outer Heaven, and that in order to defeat him, he had to lure him out of the command room. He later entered Big Boss's command room, where Big Boss explained that after Outer Heaven was destroyed, he suffered extensive injuries that resulted in him becoming a cyborg, and he wanted revenge. Snake fought his former commanding officer, but after seemingly defeating him, Big Boss transformed into a giant robotic version of himself. Placing mines at Big Boss's feet after luring him out, Snake killed Big Boss once and for all, and managed to destroy Metal Gear 2 before it could launch its nukes into New York, Tokyo, and Moscow.

Metal Gear Solid audio drama
Solid Snake reappears in the audio drama for Metal Gear Solid that is set at some point after the events of Shadow Moses. Unlike in the other games, FOXHOUND still existed. Solid Snake is sent to the country of Basra Republic by Roy Campbell to rendezvous with Meryl Silverburgh after her and a unit of U.N. peace negotiators were forced to crash land in the region, also getting help from a member of Delta Force member Allen Iishiba. Afterwards, he helped Mei Ling infiltrate a neo-communist island of San Chago in order to acquire evidence of a chemical plant that is secretly being built on the island and then expose its existence. While undergoing this portion of the mission, he also ends up getting into an argument with Mei Ling in regards to whether killing child soldiers is any different than killing regular soldiers, to which Snake states that there is no difference. Snake later has to undergo an unofficial rescue mission for Roy Campbell after the latter ended up captured by the enemy.

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 dies sometime during Acid.

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. When Snake is selected with the Wii Remote he says "It's show time!", which he said in the premiere trailer. 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 over the Codec. The Codec in Brawl is based off of the MGS1 Codec style, but Snake's icon has been modified to match his appearance. To use the Codec, you must press the down taunt button. It takes a while to master because you have to press and release very quickly. 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"), defends Luigi from being attacked verbally by what appeared to be Roy Campbell (although it is implied that this was actually GW's impersonation of him), and believes that Pit is a mutant and is skeptical towards the idea that he is an angel. When talking to Slippy Toad after the latter hacked into Campbell's frequency, he is impressed at how Slippy invented a multi-purpose shield generator, and even offers Slippy to build [Snake] a weapon. 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, "... 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."

Also, if Snake is KOed while doing a codec call in regards to his enemies, the characters that he called will start the familiar "Snake? Snake! SNAAAKE!!" shout that is often done over the game over screen. Snake also does a similar shout towards Roy Campbell when the latter is ripping down on Luigi and repeating "la li lu le lo" over and over again.

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 in one palette swap (Tiger Stripe) Snake wears a dark green bandana as opposed to his dark greyish-blue one, while Naked Snake was the one who wore a dark green bandana. In fact, if one looks closely enough, Snake's head in Brawl is Naked Snake's head sans the eye patch.

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
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. In-game Old Snake has the same stats and skills as Naked Snake but ironically his stamina and health is the largest among special characters, surpassing Raiden, Campbell and even Naked Snake. Players can unlock him by beating Infinity Mission under the Medium difficulty.

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. Although he is usually voiced by David Hayter in most of his appearances, including Snake vs Monkey, he was voiced by Peter Lurie (the voice actor of Vulcan Raven) in Mesal Gear Solid.

New International Track & Field
Solid Snake appears as a playable character in Konami's sports video game New International Track & Field.

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.

Monster Hunter Freedom 3
In the PSP game Monster Hunter Freedom 3 the player can obtain a Solid Snake Outfit for their Felyne comrade. There is also a rendering of a Snake-Felyne, which hides under a cardboard box like Snake himself.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
In Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, players can add Solid Snake's bandana and Solid Eye to Gabriel's normal attire by going to the Extras menu, after completing the game.