Solid Snake (Super Smash Bros.)

Snake
Physical description
Eye color	Blue gray
Hair color	Brown
Career and family information
Notable family	Big Boss (father) Liquid Snake (brother) Solidus Snake (brother)
Behind the scenes
Main appearance(s)	Super Smash Bros. Brawl Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

"Kept you waiting, huh?"

―Solid Snake

Solid Snake was a special operations soldier who engaged in solo stealth and espionage missions. With an IQ of 180 and mastery of six languages, his ability to carry out missions under any conditions made him a renowned figure.

Biography

Early life and career

Solid Snake, along with his brothers Liquid and Solidus, was born from Les Enfants Terribles, a project designed to create cloned super soldiers from Big Boss.

As a member of the special operations force FOXHOUND, Solid Snake saved the world three times from the threat of bipedal, nuclear-armed mechs called Metal Gear. During these events, he dueled both his father Big Boss and Gray Fox, the latter in Zanzibar Land. Though Gray Fox later dedicated his life to fighting Snake, he would end up protecting his sworn rival from Metal Gear REX.

Solid Snake later worked with the anti-Metal Gear group known as Philanthropy. While disguised as SEAL member Pliskin, Snake secretly infiltrated the Big Shell to suppress a terrorist group threatening to destroy it, joining forces with new FOXHOUND recruit Raiden.

The Subspace Emmisary

During his investigation of the airship Halberd, Snake stowed aboard by hiding inside a cardboard box. When his time came, Snake emerged from his box and began to look around, but when he saw other boarders Lucario and Meta Knight, he hid again inside his box. Lucario saw through the box by sensing his aura and pulled off Snake's disguise. Snake was surprised to see that he had been discovered and quickly assumed a fighting stance.

Meta Knight was glad to oblige, when Lucario sensed Primid security guards coming from the corridor behind him, so they ended up forming a partnership with Snake. After battling through the onslaught of Primids, Snake and the others met up with the kidnapped princesses Zelda and Peach. Clones of Peach and Zelda were then made by Shadow Bugs, which the trio fought.

Later, Snake, Lucario and Meta Knight found the bridge of the ship and were surprised to see a group of Mr. Game & Watches controlling the ship. Snake and Lucario threw all of the Mr. Game & Watches out of the window, and they all landed on the front deck. The Mr. Game & Watches reverted into Shadow Bugs and combined into a giant metallic monster called Duon. Lucario, Snake, and Falco joined Fox, Zelda, and Peach to battle and defeat the monster.

Snake showed up with everyone else to invade the realm of Subspace and, like everyone else, he was turned into a trophy by the Subspace Army leader Tabuu. He was later revived for a final battle against Tabuu.

World of Light

Snake was among various fighters trying to fend off Master Hands led by the entity known as Galeem. Unfortunately for him and the others, Galeem proceeded to vaporize all of them with beams of light, with Snake's attempt at evading the attack, using a cardboard box, proving of no use, with only Kirby escaping unscathed. His body was then turned into a puppet fighter, which was then used as a template for other puppet fighters, each housing various spirits. His puppet fighter original was held within a military base in Galeem's newly-created world of light until Kirby, alongside a resistance group, freed him by defeating the puppet fighter within Galleom's chambers.

Behind the scenes

Main article: Solid Snake

Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク, Solid Snake) is the major protagonist of the Metal Gear series, created by Konami. Previously popularized as a character to serve as an antithesis to the cheery and colorful Nintendo-inspired characters that were prevalent in games near the end of the 1980s, Solid Snake became the first playable third-party character in the Super Smash Bros. series, appearing in the Nintendo fighting game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and later, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Although Snake uses a large amount of explosive firepower, he has no traditional firearms, such as handguns and rifles, despite regularly making use of them in the Metal Geargames themselves. This is presumably due to Super Smash Bros. Brawl's emphasis on being friendly to almost all age groups, and thus the use of common guns would possibly raise the rating of the game. As is, many of Snake's current moves do have a real world counterpart, such as traditional Hand Grenades and the R.P.G. However, these are treated in a bit more of a comical and lighthearted fashion. Snake's character brings a high amount of Easter eggs and homages to his game series with him, from saying "Tasty" when eating food akin to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, to his down throw, resembling the sleeper/neck breaker hold featured in all the Metal Gear Solid games to date, among other things. His rather unorthodox stealth tactic of hiding within a cardboard box also makes an appearance as Snake's taunt. Like Luigi's "kick" taunt, the cardboard box can deal damage. All of his taunts make Snake wear the cardboard box, but he uses a different way of putting it on for each of his three taunts. Snake can also call one of his affiliates via the Codec, much like in the Metal Gear games, as a secret taunt, only possible on the Shadow Moses Island stage. Each character, including Snake himself (if two or more players are using him), has a distinct conversation and the original voice actors for Solid Snake, Colonel Roy Campbell, Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, and Mei Ling reprise their roles. There's even one instance of Slippy Toad appearing within the Codec while talking about Falco.

Because of his unique gameplay and overwhelming tournament dominance, Snake currently ranks 6th on the official tier list. This is often disputed due to his very successful results in tournaments as many argue that he is among the best characters in the game. His Smash appearance has also garnered criticism from casual and professional Smashers, as he has been dubbed one of the two most overpowered characters in the game (again, along with Meta Knight) mainly due to his fast, disjointed and powerful attacks which possess hitboxes that extend much further than the actual animation. Snake is also known as the Brawl equivalent of Fox's Melee incarnation, as he is known to have one of the highest learning curves due to his highly sophisticated playstyle and the fact that players must be aware of aspects such as knowing the right place to lay his explosives and making sure that he does not harm himself and, in the worst case scenario, committing suicide in the process.

Trophies

Solid Snake

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
• Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Iroquois Pliskin

A SEAL member who infiltrates the Big Shell to suppress a terrorist group threatening to destroy it. He joins forces with Raiden, a new recruit in the special-forces unit called FOXHOUND. Disguised in order to secretly infiltrate the Big Shell, Pliskin is actually Solid Snake.

• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Stickers

Name	Game	Effect	Character(s)
Solid Snake	Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes	Attack +7
Solid Snake	Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty	Attack +19

Super Smash Bros. 4

When Kojima was asked about the possibility of Snake reappearing in SSB4 during an interview in March 2014, he replied: "I'm not working on that game, but I don't think it's likely [that Snake will return]. If Mr. Sakurai is watching this, hopefully we see Snake." Snake, along with the entire Metal Gear universe, was cut in SSB4. In addition, Snake is the only cut character from Brawl who does not have a trophy in SSB4. Snake was also mentioned during the 50 Fact Extravaganza when Palutena's Guidance was being compared to the Codec Conversations.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Snake returns as an unlockable playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, after a decade-long absence. His moveset has been primarily unchanged, though he benefits most from the universal frame-3 jumpsquat and from the universal changes to the game’s speed and mobility options. David Hayter and Akio Otsuka’s voice clips from Brawl have been recycled, including those for the accompanying Codec conversations. Hayter initially confirmed his reprisal on Twitter after being asked if his voice clips were repurposed.

Spirits

• Solid Snake
• Liquid Snake
• Gray Fox
• Hal Emmerich
• Roy Campbell
• Meryl Silverburgh
• Mei Ling
• Solidus Snake
• Rosemary
• Naked Snake
• Big Boss
• The Boss
• EVA
• Revolver Ocelot (MGS3)
• Revolver Ocelot (MGS5)
• Zero (MGS3)
• Raiden
• Kazuhira Miller
• Paz Ortega Andrade
• Strangelove
• Metal Gear REX
• Metal Gear RAY
• Gekko
• Metal Gear ZEKE
• Sahelanthropus
• Cardboard box

Snake has various puppet fighters that house the following spirits:

• Commander Adam Malkovich
• Ness's Father
• Flint
• Zoda
• Liquid Snake
• Roy Campbell
• Solidus Snake
• Naked Snake
• Snake Man
• Napalm Man
• Lao
• Alessandro Inzaghi
• Kyle Hyde

Likewise, he also has fighters that assist the following puppet fighters that hold the following spirits:

• Young Samus Aran (Zero Suit Samus)
• Mei Ling (Wii Fit Trainer)
• EVA (Zero Suit Samus)
• Zero (Captain Falcon)
• Kazuhira Miller (Ken Masters)
• Tank & Infantry (Iggy Koopa; Metal)
• Andy (Dr. Mario)

His classic mode path is called "Weapons and Equipment OSP", referring to a recurring element in the series where the player character has to retrieve various weapons and equipment on-site due to it being a black operation.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Inkling (x2) (female and male)	Moray Towers	Encounter
2	Diddy Kong	Kongo Falls	Theme of Tara
3	Pit	Shadow Moses Island (Battlefield form)	Theme of Solid Snake
4	Link	Jungle Japes	Snake Eater
5	Samus (x2) (Default and Blue) and R.O.B. (x2) (Gray and Red)	Norfair	Main Theme - METAL GEAR SOLID PEACE WALKER
6	Snake (Green)	Shadow Moses Island	MGS4 ~Theme of Love~	The CPU will be default Snake (gray) if the player chooses the alternate costume.
Bonus Stage
Final	Galleom	?	Boss Battle - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Aside from it obviously referencing various elements of the mainline Metal Gear series overall (eg, Samus and R.O.B. alluding to the fight against Paz in Peace Walker), Diddy Kong being one of Snake's challengers is most likely a reference to Snake vs. Monkey from Snake Eater, and to a lesser extent Ape Escape 3.

References to Naked Snake

Due to the fact that Solid Snake is a clone and son of Naked Snake, there are definite similarities between them that carry over into Brawl. Naked Snake was the original "Snake," having been given the codename by Major Zero during the Cold War. During the Les Enfants Terribles project, Naked Snake (known as Big Boss by then because of his legendary exploits during and after Operation Snake Eater) had his genes stolen and three "sons" were eventually created: Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, and Solidus Snake. In Brawl as well as Ultimate, Snake's appearance can be said to be a hybrid between Solid and Naked Snake, as Super Smash Bros.'s Solid Snake is similar to Naked Snake in several ways:

1. His beard is a full beard, which resembles Naked Snake's beard more than Solid Snake's stubble.
2. Several of his alternate costumes feature camouflage exclusive to Metal Gear Solid 3.
3. His C4 is sometimes shaped like a butterfly, which is another reference to Metal Gear Solid 3.
4. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, two spirit battles involving Zero Suit Samus feature as her partner Snake, which is a reference to both Naked Snake's relationship to The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3, as well as a similar relationship between Samus Aran and Commander Adam Malkovich in Metroid: Other M.

In spite of the similarities, Brawl specifically identifies the playable Snake as being Solid Snake in official materials. His codec support team, consisting of Metal Gear Solid cast members Otacon, Mei Ling, and Colonel Roy Campbell, also makes references to various characters and events directly pertaining to Solid Snake's appearances in the series.

Previous character crossovers

Brawl is the second time Solid Snake and Yoshi have appeared in the same game, the first being when a Yoshi doll appears in The Twin Snakes in Otacon's lab. Yoshi would later appear in the 3DS port of Metal Gear Solid 3 wherein Yoshi dolls replace the Kerotan frog banks dotted around the game's areas.

Ultimate is the third time Solid Snake, Simon Belmont and Bomberman have appeared in the same game; the first two being DreamMix TV World Fighters and Super Bomberman R. Snake and Simon Belmont also appeared in Evolution Skateboarding as unlockable skins for Colin McKay and Kerry Getz, respectively.

Ultimate also marks the second time a Metal Gear character can fight Rathalos from the Monster Hunter series, the first being the extra missions in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Appearances

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate