Making the Videogame with Solid Snake

"Hello, and welcome tonight's episode. Solid Snake. One of the greatest alaskian heros of the past three years. First he had a TV show, and then a movie. Now, he tells us how he created his own videogame, all by himself."

So, Snake comes up to me and says hey Mitchell. I say, my name's Mike. He begins to apoligize and then collapses on the floor. A week later he comes back and tells me he has an idea for a videogame he wanted to make.- Mike Thurman, producer of game.

The original name for the game was "Crazy Snake's House of Craziness and sem-fun hijinks." After thinking it over, I changed it to "Crazy House." Then, it was just entitled "House." We decided not to use any of these.- Solid Snake

Snake called up Mike once again and told him to get the board of directors ready. He quickly gave the presentation of a lifetime.

Yeah, I guess the presentation was alright.- Board Member

Snake unveilved his game, which was called "The Snake Brothers." He showed up some early character sketches and an early storyline. Snake and his brother, Luigiano would travel across far off lands in search of a mysterious frog that could grant wishes. We threw in a few ideas and eventually would had the game involving time travelling ninjas and a giant egg that danced.- Mike Thurman

With development given the greenlight, Snake quickly went off to work. Deciding that hiring a team would be too expensive, Snake began to work on the game by himself. A task that proved difficult because he had never tried to make one in his life.

My first idea was to havr the game entirely in 4D graphics. When someone told me that was not physically possible, I knew I was in over my head.- Solid Snake

But help was around the corner. Snake met DJ Kool Kat, a friend he had made during his days as a rapstar. Mr. Kat quickly helped Snake with the game and they soon had the first level of the game created. The level featured Mr. Kat's hit song, "Help, I need money."

Snake sent in the first level of the game and we quickly tried it out. Our first reaction was, we need to kill him and get our money back. Our second reaction agreed and we quickly took our money out of the development of the game.

I can't see how they didn't like it. You played Snake, a streetsmarts punk who must travel through Mushroom Kingdom looking for Hamburgers. Whenever you picked one up, Snake would begin to breakdace. It was basically Mario as a breakdancer, I thought everyone would enjoy the game.- Solid Snake

Now, with no money to work on the game with, Snake had to leave it behind. With his time off, Snake quickly began writing the lyrics for his next rap album, "Mixmasta' Snake's Guide to Old Schoolin'" .The album was finished and skyrocketed to number 71 when it was released. With the money from it's sales, Snake began to work on the game once again. This time, he hired a team and they decided to scrap the entire idea of hamburgers and breakdancing, and decided to go with a more spy-like gameplay.

I was opposed to the whole 3-D spy thing. Like, come on. 3-D games are just a fad, they'll be dead in a few years like rainbow suspenders or MC Hammer.- Solid Snake

But the game continued development and soon was 50% complete. It began to attract buzz and soon was one of the most awaited games for the Fall of 1998. But, a wall was in the way.

Snake still didn't approve of the game. He said he was still disappointed in the lack of rap and breakdancing. Our deadline was approaching fast, and if he didn't give the thumbs up, it would be stuck in our hands forever.- Game developer

So, the team decided to try one last effort. They added a very secret code that lets you play as Snake in a breakdancing suit. A code that has still not been uncovered.

One day, in thousands of years, people will look back and say. Wow, we've just uncovered the thing of century. Snake is wearing a breakdancing suit.- Solid Snake

And so, the game was released and began selling like hotcakes. Or, as Snake would say it. Selling like rap records. But, Snake was quickly posed with another question. Should he release another game. The answer was yes, he was extremely greedy.

This time, I decided that I wanted all say in the development. This was going to be a true rap game. My first idea was Parappa the Rapper and Snake. Of course I didn't own the rights to Parrapa, but hey. Who would sue?- Solid Snake

It seem they would sue. Snake lost almost all of his money and was forced to take an offer for the game. It seems they wouldn't let him go with rap, and instead wanted another spy game. Snake accepted and was swept under the rug while the rest of the team worked on the game. When Snake one last chance to interfere, he was knocked out and was sent away to an underground prison.

For three years I ate fried mush from a bowl made out of hardened mud while they made my game.- Solid Snake

Finally, the game was made and Snake was allowed back on the top world. When he returned, he found that he was being called a genius for the game. Of course, he hadn't played it so he went along. But when he did play it, he was outraged.

It didn't feature rap! I quickly took my name off the project, although I was still the main character. I'll never work in the videogame industry again, I'm sticking with rap.- Solid Snake


And so, either rapping with Mixmaster Kool Kat, or eating feces out of a bowl in an underground prison, Snake will be remembred as the man behind the game, even thought he hated both of them.