How many 'Snakes' are in the Metal Gear Series?
##Let's get the obvious out of the way:
- Solid Snake (aka David)
- Liquid Snake (aka Eli)
- Solidus Snake (aka >!George Sears!<)
- Naked Snake (aka John)
- Punished 'Venom' Snake (aka >
!<)
From here forth, each Snake can technically be argued to not count.
6. Old Snake (aka David again)
>'Old' is obviously not a code name, but it is how this particular version of Solid Snake is differentiated from his younger appearances, both in and out of game. Additionally, there are moments (twice) where characters specifically refer to him as "Old Snake".
7. 'Snake' (aka Jack / Raiden)
>While he was Snake for all of a minute in-game, he still began the mission with the designation of 'Snake' (even addressing himself as Snake) until the Colonel changed it as a precaution upon arrival to Big Shell.
From here on, I might need to argue more than a little. So first, I want to defend what doesn't count as a 'Snake'.
###Rule 1: No Redundant Snakes >>Solid Snake is Solid Snake, even if he’s in a new uniform. SolidSnake Snake is a new guy.
Each 'Snake' has to be unique, otherwise this list would just consist of scores of Snakes from all of the crossovers, like:
- The Solid Snakes in Fortnite, Rainbow Six Seige, DreamMix TV World Fighters, Evolution Skateboarding, and New International Track & Field
- The 'Snakes' from Smash Bros. and Nintendo Amiibo
- The Old Snakes from Scribblenauts, LittleBigPlanet, The 'Michael' Trailer for PS3, and Ganbare Snake.
>>As a side note, I can't find any information anywhere about Ganbare Snake. It's possible he's called Salaryman Snake in-game, but I can't be sure - I have to go on the archived translation from Konami Japan where they say you play as Old Snake.
And even if the Solid Snake has a different backstory, they still need to be unique. For example, imagine a Solid Snake that took down Outer Heaven and retired to Alaska before being pulled out of retirement to stop terrorists with nukes and a Metal Gear - did I describe Solid Snake from MGS1 or from Ghost Babel? Existing Solid Snakes with a branching canon cannot be a unique, new Snake. It's why we cannot count Ghost Babel, Ac!d, MGS2's Snake Tales, or MGS3's Secret Theater are brand new people. >!Or, based on Snake #8, why the fella in the 1988 CYOA book doesn't count.!<
With this, I argue these are new Snakes.
8. Lt. Solid Snake from Metal Gear (NES) and Snakes Revenge > I'll admit, this particular version is a difficult argument but its comparable to the NES vs MSX games - both Lt. Snake and Solid start at the same base point, but their paths diverge before they take a single step. This Snake is so radically different from the canon Solid Snake that it's strange to say they are the same person - The Lieutenant didn't destroy a Metal Gear, infiltrates with three other soldiers, and fights Big Boss Colonel CaTaffy instead of Big Boss John. And if that's not enough to convince you, consider Lt. Snake as the NES equivalent of Old Snake.
9. Marine Captain Justin 'Solid Snake' Halley from Worlds of Power: Metal Gear by F.X. Nine >Despite this being a novelization of the Metal Gear (NES) games by Scholastic, they star a wildly different person. Justin is the leader of the 'Snake Men' anti-terror squad, refuses to smoke, and pistol whips his enemies rather than shoot them.
10. >!Clone!< Snake / >!Snake Model!< from Metal Gear Ac!d 2
>>!C'mon, clones are different people. They have to be unless you'd like to argue that Solid, Liquid, and Solidus don't count as Snakes.!< Additionally, this Snake is known only as Snake and they would be the first one so far.
###Rule 2: They have to be called Snake >>I don't care if he's called Stiff Serpent, Compressed Cobra, or Hard Hognose - none of them are Snake!
It's not enough to have a code name that is a snake, you have to be Snake, understand? Do you know how many snake adjacent names there are in this series? We've got Eli in MGSV, aka the White Mamba / Nyoka ya Mpembe. That group of chucklefucks over in MGS3 are called The Cobra Unit aka the Emotional Support Squad. Black Arts Viper is a snake, but not a Snake. Iroquois Pliskin is just a regular guy, why is he here? C'mon, he's completely unrelated, that man is not a Snake.
You know who is a Snake?
11. Snake Kojima from the liner notes in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake Original Soundtrack >In the liner notes for the soundtrack, the development team write their development stories in making Metal Gear 2 and Hideo Kojima chooses to use the alias of Snake Kojima the entire time.
###Rule 2.5: They have explicitly be called Snake >>Snake? Snake!? Are you SNAAAAAAKE???
There is being Snake and there is being called Snake, and of the two it really only matters if you're called Snake. Our favorite family of furtive fighters have been doing this a while and love to hop around to different places - aka Snake loves sneaking into other Konami games under a different name. And if it's a different name, it's not Snake.
That does mean, unfortunately, these beauties do not count:
- ??? from Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django and Boktai 3: Sabata’s Counterattack
>>For right now, at least. Supposedly, in the Japanese version of 2 it is possible for you to help ??? recover from some of their amnesia, but I cannot find a transcription that confirms what they say.
The bandana-wearing Tactical Espionage Expert from Yu-Gi-Oh! The Card Game
The secret spy in a cardboard box from Yu-Gi-Oh! 7 Trials to Glory: World Championship Tournament 2005
All of the aborted embryos from the Les Enfants Terribles project
>>Some of them may have grown up to be Snakes alongside their siblings, but we can never know. Statistically, it’s pretty good odds.
Since Snake is a code name from the FOX Unit and FOXHOUND, there may have been others who had been given the Snake code name, but we don't know who... but we do know a few other people from the world of Metal Gear that have Snake code names.
12. Solid Snake Bomberman from Super Bomberman R and Snake vs. Bomberman
13. Old Snake Bomberman from Super Bomberman R and Snake vs. Bomberman
14. Naked Snake Bomberman from Super Bomberman R and Snake vs. Bomberman
>All three of these little fellas are their own independent person, are explicitly from the Planet Metal Gear, and appear inside a Metal Gear game via MGSDelta. Their own personal history is implied to be the same as their human counterparts (but probably with more bombs), which leaves a question - did the cyborg Raiden Bomberman infiltrate the Big Shell under the codename Snake Bomberman?
And perhaps, how far from the series does it take until they are an unrelated character?
In Metal Gear Solid 3, Snake vs. Monkey exists as a crossover with the Ape Escape series. Due to the popularity of the gamemode, Ape Escape 3 had their own minigame crossover called Mesal Gear Solid: Snake Escape where the Solid Snake is captured while on a mission, and Colonel Campbell reaches out to the Ape Escape team for help, leading to...
15. Pipo Snake from Ape Escape 3's Mesal Gear Solid: Snake Escape minigame >Pipo is an ape that has been given all of Solid Snake's battle data and skills in an attempt to replicate his success on their own mission. ^(Hmmm, I wonder where I've heard that plotline before?)
###But what about...?
- Classic Snake from MGSV GZ and MGSV
>While fun, they are not a unique character and are just a cosmetic. Big Boss and Venom are just doing cosplay.
- Snake Camo from MGS3 and MGS PW
>You're in cosplay. Not Snake cosplay, just snake cosplay.
- Horned / Demon Snake from MGSV
>A unique look for Venom when his demon points get too high - the shard is lengthened to a horn and he's permanently covered in blood. Technically, I would call this a unique Snake given how much Venom describes themselves as a Demon but for one fact: Venom is never addressed as Demon Snake. Code Talker may address him as "Horned Demon" but that's it.
- Felyne Hunter Solid Snake Costume, from Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
> The cat is in cosplay. Depending on how Metal Gear and Monster Hunter share their crossovers, Solid Snake may actually be cosplaying as the cat.
The Snakes from MGS3
King Cobra, Taiwanese Cobra, Thai Cobra, Coral Snake, Milk Snake, Green Tree Python, Giant Anaconda, Reticulated Python, Snake Liquid, Snake Solid, Snake Solidus, and Tsuchinoko
>>Out of all twelve snakes, five fit the previously listed requirements: a unique Snake name, and are explicitly a ‘Snake’.
So we can add five more Snakes to the list:
16. Coral Snake
17. Milk Snake
18. Snake Liquid
19. Snake Solid
20. Snake Solidus
So there you go! Metal Gear has 20 ‘Snakes’ - unless you exclude all the duplicates and clones and the alternate doubles, in which case there are five: Big Boss, Raiden, Hideo Kojima, and two twin snakes Milk and Coral.
This drove me crazy figuring all this out.
Join me next time I lose my mind, where I discuss some of the weirdest parts of the lore, such as Solid Snake killing all four members of the pop band Ultravox, Mega64 got Raiden his job for Revengence, or that Peace Walker is the inspiration for the Monster Hunter movie!