Kojima conflicted on Metal Gear Solid remake

Metal Gear Solid series creator Hideo Kojima talks about the original game and why he feels conflicted about working on a remake of the classic.

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Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima has heard your cries for a remake of the original game, but personally feels conflicted about the prospect. He says the idea interests him as a producer, but creatively he would want to be hands-off the project if it ever came to fruition.

"There are a lot of people wanting remakes of the original, and as producer I want to answer those calls" said Kojima. "But as a creator I'm not very interested in going back."

"If we were to do it, it would have to be a total remake - the only thing that would be the same would be the story," he told OPM (via Joystiq). "If it happened at some point I would stay as a producer, but would have to hand off most of the actual creating."

That may sound like he has changes in mind, but he actually doesn't want to touch it. "If you change anything, you change the game - and I want to avoid that," he said. "If you bring the gameplay up to modern standards, then you lose a bit of the original game. It was a game made for a certain era - not just the story, but the controls and everything about it reflect that era in which the game was made."

So in summary, Kojima wants to provide a remake, but doesn't want to create the remake, and he feels it would have to be completely redone, but doesn't want to change anything and harm the purity of the original's gameplay. It seems like he's of two minds about the issue, so it's hard to tell which will win out in the end.

His hesitance might be justified, due to a previous remake attempt, The Twin Snakes from Silicon Knights. While critically acclaimed thanks to its improved graphics and smarter AI, the addition of an MGS2-inspired first-person mode was blamed for making the game too easy and ruining the Sniper Wolf boss battle entirely.

If you want to play HD revamps of other Metal Gear Solid games, the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection includes MGS2, MGS3, Peace Walker, and MSX2 games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    December 27, 2011 4:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Kojima conflicted on Metal Gear Solid remake.

    Metal Gear Solid series creator Hideo Kojima talks about the original game and why he feels conflicted about working on a remake of the classic.

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      December 27, 2011 4:14 PM

      honestly this remake trend among many japanese games is pretty sick.

      The major developers/publishers have pretty much sat out the last generation of home consoles, unable to put up competitive offerings versus western games, which are now breaking sales records on a yearly basis... and the best offerings have come from unlikely startup developers that have only been around for the past 5 years or so (who unfortunately have yet to produce a real hit, despite producing consistently awesome games).

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      December 27, 2011 4:39 PM

      With Big Boss becoming so much more important to the series, they should remake the original 8-bit Metal Gears.

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      December 27, 2011 5:23 PM

      The only reason I want this, is because without it I'm not getting the full story. I've never played any of them, and I'm hesitant to pick up the HD collection because of my previous point.

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        December 27, 2011 6:42 PM

        Just buy MGS on PSN or Twin Snakes for the GC. The MGS Collection is awesome though, I can attest to that. Waking up at 9am during christmas break (plus i took a week off work) transported me to being 15 again. It was magical.

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          December 28, 2011 11:46 AM

          I'm not gonna buy a PS3 or a Gamecube just for one game, dude.

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            December 28, 2011 9:58 PM

            Doesn't seem as if you would spring for it at any rate so why cater to you?

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              December 28, 2011 10:57 PM

              I would, if it were available on a platform I own. I'll be damned if I'm gonna pay 200 dollars just to play one game, though. And I'm not really too big on the Gamecube, it would just take up room and gather dust after I finish Twin Snakes.

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      December 27, 2011 6:14 PM

      He's spot on about the gameplay. You either dumb things down a ton or it won't be the same. Bringing up the games' controls to modern standards would involve changing the gameplay so it feels the same.

      MGS1 is my favorite of all time. Toying with that would need some serious time spent to keep the feel.

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        December 27, 2011 6:32 PM

        [deleted]

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        December 27, 2011 6:44 PM

        The worst part about MGS1 is the touchiness of the choking mechanism. It feels like more often than not I end up flipping the guy or not being close enough to register a grab. I really would like to see an updated control scheme for this game.

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      December 27, 2011 6:28 PM

      [deleted]

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      December 27, 2011 6:41 PM

      Twin Snakes is amazing, they should just let you buy that digitally

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        December 27, 2011 10:25 PM

        It being done at the behest of Nintendo and released on the Gamecube has something to do with it not showing up on other platforms. Story is that it was born from a lunch conversation that Miyamoto was having with Kojima one day where he asked Kojima to make a Metal Gear game for the Gamecube. I love that Miyamoto can just ask some other japanese big shot developer to make something and release it as a Nintendo exclusive.

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      December 28, 2011 9:43 AM

      No Kojima! Remake Metal Gear. The one with freaking sprites that hasn't had a remake already.

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