The Metal Gear Solid franchise has been no stranger to insanity. Hideo Kojima’s writing and directing frequently ranges from appropriately genius to downright baffling, but it is entirely because of his manic style of storytelling that the se꧋ries has managed to remain such an important part of video game history.

Playing through the games themselves will naturally expose the series’ unpredictable twists and turns that somehow make perfect sense in hindsight. Some of the highlights of experiencing Metal Gear Solid comes from that very first playthrough where everything is new and fresh; Solid Snake is just a retired vet and Big Boss is nothing more than a familiar𝔉 legend.

At first glance, it almost seems like Metal Gear Solid is at its best when experienced for the first time, but that is far from the case. In and around the games exist a rich history of cut content, easter eggs (like a doll of Mario and Yoshi appearing in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes), 💝and secrets that only serve to enhance the Metal Gear experience.

It’s only natural that a thirty year franchise would have countless details hidden in the background, but Metal Gear Solid takes it to another 💦level altogether. Rivaling some of the most complicated literary pieces, each entry in the series does everything it can to reward players who wish to revisit the games.

W🦄hat makes it all the better, however, is the rich development history that lingers in t🅷he background. As subtle as some of the finer points of the narrative are, their subtlety pales in comparison to the tragic and absurd details Kojima hides in the background.

20 𓂃 Big Boss Believes In Santa Claus 🔥

What Peace Walker lacks in in-game cutscenes, it more than makes up for in pre-mission codec calls. Directly following the cutscene heavy Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima’s follow up sought to lighten the lo🅷ad on high stakes story and instead emphasize the wackier elements of the series.

Naked Snake, now codenamed Big Boss, can kidnap enemy soldiers via balloon transportation, hold them up R&D designed bananas, and even hunt down iconic monsters from Monster Hunter. Perhaps the strangest development in Peace Walker, however, is the sudden reveal that Big Boss believes in Sꦉanta Claus.🐻

After Huey laughs off Big Boss’ comment about NORAD tracking Santa🍌, Big Boss continues to insist that old Saint Nick is indeed real: “He’s real, I tell ya. He used to bring me presents…”

It’s a small call that lasts less than a minute, but it’s a nice, humanizing moment that reminds players that even the legendary Big Boss𒐪 has a soft spot.

19 ꦺ Chico Was Supposed To Return in The Phantom Pa🧜in

Introduced in Peace Walker and promptly killed off in Ground Zeroes, Chico never seemed to get the development that was destined for him. His relationship with Paz lended itself to a natural tension and served as the driving force of Ground Zeroes but, aside from one short radio call in The Phantom Pain, Chico’s presence was all but erased from Metal Gear Solid V.

That is unless you take a look at The Art of Metal Gear Solid V. The art book dedicates a page to what Chico might have looked like had he survived Ground Zeroes and hints at his potential role.

Sporting a long red coat with a peace symbol on the back and a series of melee weapons, it seems like Chico was slate to come back and fill in the Cyborg Ninja archetype that was left unfilled after Metal Gear Solid 4. Whether he was meant to be a friend or foe, Chico’s exclusion feels like another missed opportunity on The Phantom Pain’s part.

18 🐼 Fans Figured Out The Twist In The Phantom Pain Months Before The Game’s Release 🍰

The Phantom Pain’s twist might feel like it comes out of left field given its admittedly non-existent buildup, but fans we꧙re able to piece together Venom Snake’s true identity by paying close attention to Kojima’s music choices for trailers and picking up on Venom’s new eccentricities.

With any other developer, Snake’s new ponytail and vape would have been seen as a new direction for the character, but with Kojima every little detail has meaning and his fans know that. Big Boss is an avid cigar smoker, a habit he carries from Snake Eater all the way to his final scene in Guns of the Patriots, and while his choice of smoke may not have been🍸 enough to tip off most players, Kojima’s ꦚmusical cues certainly were.

One of The Phantom Pain’s first trailers is set to Garbage’s “Not Your Kind of People,” a song about identities being slightly off. An elaborate image detailing the theory circulated for a while, but lacked a final nail to sell it. It’s hard to imagine many of the theory’s naysayers kept their doubts after MGSV opened with David Bowဣie’s “▨The Man Who Sold the World.”

17 David Hayter Was Almost Replaced in Metal Gear Solid 3. 🅺

David Hayter being replaced by Kiefer Sutherland in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes stirred quite the controversy within the fanbase to the point that fans theorized that this was simply an elaborate hoax on Kojima’s part. The fire was only fueled with the release of The Phantom Pain, wh💫en it was revealed that Ki﷽efer was indeed meant to be a permanent fixture.

Hayter’s seemingly last minute replacement came as a surprise to many, but the reality is Kojima had planned on replacing him as early as Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Ever the big fan of Escape From New York, Kojima had filled the series with countless references to the movies, going so far to base Solid Snake’s alias in Metal Gear Solid 2 after Kurt Russell's character, Snake Plissken. Kojima intended on having Russel voice Big Boss and even had a Konami producer appr🌼oach the actor with the offer, but Russell allegedly declined and Hayter was brought back on as the lead actor.

16 🌳 Metal Gear Solid 4 Originally Had a Grooming Minigame

Old Snake’s grandpa mustache stands out as one of Metal Gear Solid 4’s more iconic images, going so far to feature rather prominently on the North American box art, but originally Snake was going to be 🌠able to acquire a raz𓆉or and style his facial hair to his liking.

In an interview with EGM, Kojima mentioned that he’d wanted to incorporate growing facial hair in Metal Gear Solid 2, but the PlayStation 2’s hardware wasn’t up to Kojima’s standard to warraဣnt inclusion.

The PlayStation 3 was deemed technologically sound for the mechanic and Kojima even previewed four of Old Snake’s potential facial hair styles, one of them being a full beard that made him look ver𒁃y much like an older Big Boss. Old Snake’s hair, in theory, would grow in real time throughout the game, prompting usage of the shaver. For whatever reason, though, grooming did not made it into the final product and Kojima never commen🤪ted on its absence.

15 Metal 💖Gear Solid 2 Almost Didn't Happen

Kojima’s original idea for Metal Gear Solid’s sequel had Snake traveling to the Middle East to take out another Metal Gear. It’s a suspiciously simple sequel, especially considering the Metal Gear Solid 2 we did get, but Kojima only scrapped th❀e concept due to rising tensions in the Middle East.

More importantly, however, Kojima’s next draft for the sequel 𝓀featured literally none of the events of Big Shell actually occurring. Presumably, most of the general plot would have remained the same, but Raiden’s entire mission during the Plant chapter would have been a completely fabricated simulation where even Rose would have been revealed to be an AI.

MGS2’s narrative is already relatively confusing, forcing the player to question the reality of the story, but Kojima’s first draft would have completely𒀰 thrown out that ambiguity in favor of a twist so grand it mi💙ght have underwhelmed the rest of the series had it been carried out.

14 The Metal Gear Mk. II Was Pܫlanned As Early As Metal Gear Solid

The Metal Gear Mk. II was one of the bigger gameplay additions in Metal Gear Solid 4, allowing more in-depth area scouting as Snake could find a safe hiding spot and send the Mk. II out to scan enemy locations. While Metal Gear Solid 4, as a whole, fails to offer many opportunities to us𝔍e the miniature Metal Gear, it might have seen more immediate use had Kojima figured out how to impl♏ement it with the PlayStation’s hardware.

Sporting a better balance of gameplay and story in general, Snake was going to be able to deploy the Mk. II throughout Shadow Moses and the Mk. II was even shown in his inventory during E3 1997. The Mk. II presumably would have remained first person, not dissimilar to Snake’s first person view in the game and serve the same purpose it went on to serve in MGS4. Given Metal Gear Solid’s top down design it’s likely ♒the Mk. II would have served a better purpose ♍in Shadow Moses, though at the expense of making the game just a bit easier.

13 The F﷽ear Was One of Raiden's Concept Designs.☂

Raiden has always had a controversial design. He’s effeminate, whiny, naive, and just about the complete antithesis of Solid Snake. His blond hair is as iconic to the character as Snake’s bandana is to Solid himself. In many ways, Raiden’s design is genius as it serves as just another aspect to make Metal Gear Solid 2 as uncomfortable for the player as possible.

Raiden’s design wasn’t always so brilliant though. In fact, Sons of Liberty concept art shows Snake Eater’s The Fear as one of Raiden’s preliminary designs. Yes, easily The Cobra’s most manic and perturbed member was potentially going to be the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2.

Granted, his personality would have most likely been more in ꦫline with Raiden as we know it, but that doesn’t change that The Fear’s design doesn’t quite suit the narrative the same way Raiden’s does. President Johnson grabbing Raiden’s crotch would take on a very different mood with The Fear involved.

12 Big Boss 🌠Was Using Child Soldiers As Early As Peace Walker 🦄

Trailers for The Phantom Pain played up the inclusion of child soldiers to the point that when Venom Snake outright refused to use them, many fans felt their expectations had been betrayed. Metal Gear Solid V was meant to be the game where Big Boss finally turned into the vindictive monster he was in the original Metal Gear duology, but many fans failed to realize he already made that shift in Peace Walker.

Through Paz and Chico, Big Boss was using child soldiers right from Peace Walker’s outset. Both characters are active parts of Militaire Sans Frontieres and while Paz is later revealed to actually be in h𒆙er twenties, Chico is very much still a child.

Too many players fixated on The Phantom Pain to reveal Big Boss’ bad side, but Kojima had masterfully hidden it under everyone’s noses for years. It mඣight not be as blatant as most fans wꦰanted, but it’s subtlety that makes Metal Gear.

11 🐟 Metal Gear Solid 3 Was Envisioned As A PlayStation 3 Title

Whenever people list the best PlayStation 2 games of all time, you’re certain to see Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater topping the list. It’s a staple of the console, going so far as to push the limits of the hardware, but Snake Eater was never actually meant to be a PS𓄧2 title in🎀 the first place.

Konami wanted Snake Eater to frontline the PlayStation 3 as an early title and Kojima Productions fully intended on working with the PlayStation 3’s hardware, but constant delays kept the PS3 on the backburner🎀 for years to come. Not wanting to waste anymore time, the team was forced to carry out production on the PlayStation 2.

All things considered, it’s probably for the best given how notoriously difficult the PS3 was to work with when it first came out even causing Gabe Newell to call it a “waste of everybody’s time.” Ho🌠w times change.