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Hideo Kojima Is An Innovator, But Metal Gear Was A Knock-Off Of This Best-Selling Capcom Classic
Hideo Kojima has always been associated with trailblazing, and games like Metal Gear helped popularize new gameplay styles, codify genres, and push the heights for what video game storytelling and presentation could be. It’s easy to think of his works as wholly original, but that isn’t always the case. While the original Metal Gear did some things that had never been done before, it was conceptualized in the shadow of an already-popular arcade game, and some of its biggest innovations simply came from its inability to achieve some of the same feats.
The original Metal Gear hit the market in 1987, two years after the release of the run-and-gun arcade title Commando. At a glance, the games might not seem much alike, with Commando focusing on more of a guns-blazing approach to the action. The top-down infiltration concept provides a reasonably similar foundation, however, and Kojima has actually confirmed that borrowing that foundation was the original underpinning of Metal Gear‘s creation.
An Action-Packed Arcade Game Caught Konami’s Eye
In a 2005 interview with MSX Magazine, translated by Tumblr user thearkhound, Kojima explained that Konami initially told him to make a game similar to Capcom’s Commando. While it took him almost two decades to share this concept, he prefaced the revelation by saying, “I think it can be told now,” so he may have once feared that either Capcom or Konami would take issue with it.
Unlike Commando, Kojima was working with consumer hardware, which tended to have significant limitations compared to what arcade machines were capable of at the time. Rather than this turning Metal Gear into an inferior competitor, however, it ultimately led to some of the game’s best ideas. Before receiving ports to game consoles, Metal Gear was released on the MSX2 home computer, and the system proved incapable of handling the amount of enemy movement and bullet spray that gave Commando its high-octane appeal.
The MSX2 Was The Perfect Home For Metal Gear
Kojima has always been known for taking advantage of all that hardware has to offer, from Metal Gear Solid‘s obsession with rumble to Death Stranding 2‘s benchmark-setting graphics on PS5. It’s interesting to think about how different things might have been if the MSX2 were more powerful, though. If Kojima could have recreated Commando‘s intensity without running into hardware limitations, he might never have produced something as memorable as Metal Gear, and the game could have been a comparative footnote in history.
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The relative unpopularity of the MSX2 market also worked to Kojima’s advantage. While the directive to make a game like Commando was handed down to Kojima, strict guidelines as to what it needed to look like weren’t, and that might not have been the case if Konami had been more focused on the MSX2. Kojima details that the “company didn’t interfere with us too much,” as the MSX2 team was “selling less than the other departments.” He also notes that the five best-selling games for the MSX2 all came out of Konami, so this hands-off approach was clearly successful.
A Long Legacy Of Trailblazing
These days, it’s usually Kojima’s titles that are spawning the imitators. Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid served as foundational games for the entire stealth genre, which has seen no shortage of masterpieces over the years. P.T., a demo for his canceled Silent Hill game, has spawned complete horror games like Visage. Kojima confidently declared Death Stranding the first “strand-type” game, and while it hasn’t spawned a genre in the same way, the Death Stranding games stand apart as an experience that can’t really be found anywhere else.
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That’s not to say, however, that Kojima abandoned Metal Gear‘s strategy of remixing inspirations. In the same interview, he shares that his next game, Snatcher, was inspired by an adventure game called Portopia Serial Murder Case. This time, he didn’t necessarily turn the core gameplay tenets on their head, but he injected everything with a healthy dose of cyberpunk sci-fi that bears obvious similarities to films like Blade Runner.
Sometimes, the key to originality isn’t ignoring what’s been done before, but taking a strong predecessor and finding an interesting way to subvert it. That worked for Metal Gear, and while Commando remains a classic, it lacks the legacy that the Metal Gear franchise ultimately accumulated over the years. When Commando was released, there were already plenty of great arcade action experiences, but when Metal Gear followed two years later, there still wasn’t anything that had embraced its unusual take on the concept.
I’m often cynical about games that lean too heavily on their inspirations, whether that’s Palworld‘s survival-crafting take on Pokémon, the glut of Lethal Company-esque games, or even the rapid oversaturation of genres like hero shooters. A few unique ideas can make all the difference, however, and Kojima might know that better than anyone. Metal Gear was born as a Commando knock-off, but decades later, it’s proven that it became so much more than that.
Source: MSX Magazine (via thearkhound/Tumblr)
- Created by
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Hideo Kojima
- Cast
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David Hayter, Akio Otsuka, Quinton Flynn, Robin Atkin Downes, Christopher Randolph, Paul Eiding, Debi Mae West, Jennifer Hale
- Character(s)
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Solid Snake, Big Boss, Liquid Snake, Raiden, Revolver Ocelot, The Boss, Gray Fox, Otacon
- Video Game(s)
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Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004), Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear Survive, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
“Metal Gear” is a renowned stealth action video game franchise created by Hideo Kojima and developed by Konami. The series debuted in 1987 with the release of “Metal Gear” for the MSX2 platform. Over the years, it has evolved to include multiple sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, expanding its intricate narrative and gameplay mechanics. The franchise is celebrated for pioneering the stealth game genre and integrating cinematic storytelling elements into video games. As of December 2023, the series has sold 61 million units worldwide.
