User:Bluerock/Solid Snake (MG1)

Solid Snake was a spy and special operations soldier of FOXHOUND. During the Outer Heaven Uprising, he was tasked with rescuing fellow agent Grey Fox and destroying the "ultimate weapon" Metal Gear.

Biography
Snake joined Special Force Group FOXHOUND in the 1990s while it was under the leadership of Big Boss. His first mission for the unit came during the Outer Heaven Uprising, when he was tasked with infiltrating Outer Heaven; a military nation deep within South Africa, led by a feared and legendary mercenary. Snake was charged with rescuing Grey Fox, a FOXHOUND agent who was missing in action, and shed light on the "ultimate weapon" Metal Gear, which Fox had mentioned in a broken radio message prior to his capture. Shortly after arriving in the general vicinity of Outer Heaven, he was contacted by Big Boss via his radio and was reminded to prepare himself for his first real mission for FOXHOUND.

After infiltrating the fortress via an underwater insertion, he learned from various prisoners of war after freeing them that Fox was being held in a high level prison cell in the basement, and the only way to find him was to get himself captured. After locating Grey Fox, he learned from him that Metal Gear was a bipedal nuclear-armed tank that could launch a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world. He was then told to locate Dr. Petrovich to find a way to destroy it.

With the help of resistance members Schneider, Diane and Jennifer, Snake succeeded in rescuing Dr. Petrovich and his daughter Ellen, and destroyed TX-55 Metal Gear. Big Boss, his mission commander, then revealed himself to be the leader of Outer Heaven, and confronted Snake in person within the 100th floor basement of the fortress. Snake defeated Big Boss in combat and escaped the base before its self destruction. However, Big Boss survived and promised Snake that they would meet again.

Personality and traits
Snake demonstrated great physical endurance, being exposed to high-voltage electric currents while traversing an electrified floor in Outer Heaven.

Snake was a cigarette smoker, his favorite brand being an unfiltered version of "Lucky Strikes."

Character design
Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク) is the main protagonist of Konami's Metal Gear (1987). Created by writer/director Hideo Kojima, Snake was a pastiche of contemporary action movie heroes, based on a number of different characters, including Escape from New York 's Snake Plissken, who inspired the name. The addition of "Solid" was Kojima's intent to create a paradoxical name, in contrast to the smooth motion commonly attributed to snakes, and to express the character's strong image. He did not choose a more specific type of snake for the protagonist's name (e.g. cobra, anaconda, viper, etc.) in order to make the character less defined and to serve as an extension of the player. Kojima described Snake's role in the original Metal Gear as the "player's presence."

Snake's 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.

Snake's military experience prior to joining FOXHOUND is not made clear in the original Metal Gear. Conversely, the instruction manual for the Nintendo Entertainment System version claims that Snake had been a former Marine in the Grenada Invasion, and had been recruited into FOXHOUND due to his heroic actions in that conflict. The Worlds of Power novelization of the game maintains the Marine background, while also giving Snake the real name of "Justin Halley."

Alternate Snake
Solid Snake, as depicted in the NES port of Metal Gear, is described in the NES manual as having been a U.S. Marine and a veteran of the Grenada Invasion prior to his joining FOXHOUND. This Snake, rather than destroying the TX-55 Metal Gear directly, attacked the "Super Computer" that controlled the weapon instead. The manual also states that, rather than Big Boss, Snake was under the command of one Commander South; in addition, the Commander of Outer Heaven is Vermon CaTaffy. His depiction on the cover of the NES version of Metal Gear is the same as the one on the MSX2 version.

Appearances

 * Metal Gear
 * Metal Gear (NES)
 * Worlds of Power 2: Metal Gear