User:Prolyfic8/Sandbox
| Hideo Kojima 小島秀夫 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| File:Hideo Kojima.jpg | |||
| Born | |||
 Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
| |||
| Occupation | Video game designer, writer, director, producer. | ||
Hideo Kojima (小島秀夫), born August 24, 1963, is a video game designer formerly employed by Konami, and the creator of the Metal Gear series. His involvement was instrumental in bringing Solid Snake to Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Biography
At Konami and Kojima Productions
Initially interested in entering the film industry, he would use video games as a stepping stone to get noticed as a writer. He frequently lied about his confession because most people would look down on him for being in the video game industry. Also, there was no formal phrase for "game developer" in the Japanese language at the time, so it was easier to say he was part of a financial firm. To make this façade seem more credible, he decided to join a company on the public stock exchange, and the only publicly traded video game company at the time was Konami, so he applied there. He ended up joining the company in 1986 with the MSX and personal computer division. Kojima really wanted to be in the home console division, as he believed the hardware of the MSX was too restrictive. Nevertheless, he ended up being assistant director for Penguin Adventure before taking over a title called Metal Gear as creative director. Due to hardware limitations making combat difficult to implement, the direction was changed to be more focused on stealth.
Metal Gear became a critical and financial success. While Kojima only planned for that one game, an NES port and sequel to that port were made without his involvement. He notoriously criticized those games and returned with a canonical sequel to right the series back on track. Metal Gear eventually became a long-running franchise and Kojima's main claim to fame. Other projects he was involved in include the film-noir inspired graphic adventure game Snatcher and the science fiction graphic adventure game Policenauts, as well as producing the Zone of the Enders and Boktai series and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Kojima would also found a subsidiary within Konami called Kojima Productions, which existed to develop the Metal Gear franchise and other miscellaneous projects, like 2019's Death Stranding with the help of Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Acknowledgment of Super Smash Bros. Melee
According to Masahiro Sakurai, Kojima "practically begged" him to include Snake in Super Smash Bros. Melee, but at that point the game was too far in development to allow adding any additional characters.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
When work on Super Smash Bros. Brawl began several years later, Sakurai contacted Kojima about adding Snake, which led to his inclusion in the game. Kojima developed Snake's stage, Shadow Moses Island. After losing a test match of Brawl against Sakurai, where he played as Snake and Sakurai played as Mario, he stated that he felt the game was "very complete" to the point that Nintendo could have put Brawl out on the shelves then and it would sell millions of copies. When asked about the inclusion of Snake in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Kojima remarked that he enjoys playing Super Smash Bros. with his son, who asked Kojima to put Snake in Brawl. Kojima also cited the lack of Metal Gear games on Nintendo consoles as a reason to include Snake in Brawl.
Departure from Konami and Super Smash Bros. 4
During an interview with Geoff Keighley for Twitch on March 2014, Kojima was asked about the possibility of Snake reappearing in Super Smash Bros. 4, to which Kojima replied that he had no input on the game and felt Snake's return was unlikely, although he was supportive of Snake returning. Upon the release of Super Smash Bros. 4, it was confirmed that Snake does not make an appearance in the game, and indeed all elements of the Metal Gear universe from Brawl do not return.
In late 2015, Kojima left Konami amidst rumors of disagreements with the company's management, and in December of that year reestablished himself as the head of the now independent Kojima Productions studio.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In June 2018, with the formal announcement of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, it was revealed that Snake would again appear in the Smash roster. His series symbol, formerly the logo of Metal Gear's FOX Unit, was changed to an exclamation point, likely because the FOX logo was also the logo of Kojima Productions while Kojima worked for Konami. Kojima has not publicly commented on Snake's return in Ultimate.
