Hideo Kojima

is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer and writer. He is regarded as an auteur of video games. He developed a strong passion for action/adventure cinema and literature during his childhood and adolescence. In 1986, he was hired by Konami, for which he designed and wrote ''Metal Gear'' (1987) for the MSX2, a game that laid the foundations for stealth games and the ''Metal Gear'' series, his best known and most appreciated works. He is also known for producing the '' Zone of the Enders'' series, as well as writing and designing '' Snatcher'' (1988) and ''Policenauts'' (1994), graphic adventure games regarded for their cinematic presentation.

Kojima founded Kojima Productions within Konami in 2005, and he was appointed vice president of Konami Digital Entertainment in 2011. Kojima Productions split from Konami in 2015, becoming an independent studio. His studio's first game without Konami, '' Death Stranding'', was released in 2019.

Early life

Kojima was born on August 24, 1963 in Setagaya, Tokyo. He was the youngest of three children. His father, Kingo, was a pharmacist who frequently travelled on business, and named Kojima after the most common name among doctors he met. When he was four years old, his family moved to Osaka. Describing that stage of his early life, Kojima said it was an abrupt change of environment, and he spent much of his time thereafter indoors, watching television or making figurines. While the family lived in Osaka, his parents began a tradition of the family watching a film together each night, and he was not allowed to go to bed until the film had finished. They were fond of European cinema, westerns, and horror, and did not limit the type of films he was allowed to see.

Kojima took an interest in filmmaking when a friend brought a Super 8 camera to school. They began filming movies together, charging other children 50 yen to see them. Kojima tricked his parents into funding a trip to an island off the coast of Japan without telling them he wanted to film there. Instead of filming, he spent his time swimming, and on the last day changed the plot to being about zombies. He did not show the film to his parents.

By Kojima's teenage years, the family had moved to Kawanishi, Hyōgo, in the Kansai region of Japan. When he was 13 years old, his father died. Kojima has discussed the impact of his father's death in interviews, and the subsequent financial hardship faced by his family. He enrolled at university to study economics, and it was there that he decided to join the video game industry. He wrote fiction while studying, even including a short story in his thesis.

Career

Early career

At the beginning of his career, Kojima was initially searching for a way into film production. He hoped that, if he were to win awards for his written fiction, he would be approached about directing a film. Although Kojima said that he had no friends interested in cinema to encourage him, his friends were not supportive when he announced he intended to enter game development. He would frequently lie about his occupation in the early days of a career, when a word for game designer did not exist in the Japanese language, and instead told people he worked for a financial firm.

Kojima joined video game publisher Konami's MSX home computer division in 1986. He applied to Konami because it was the only games developer listed on the Japanese stock exchange. He was disappointed with the job initially, hoping to make games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and feeling that the 16 colour palette of the MSX was too restrictive. The first game he worked on was '' Penguin Adventure'', the sequel to '' Antarctic Adventure'', as an assistant director. It significantly expanded upon the gameplay of ''Antarctic Adventure'', adding more action game elements, a greater variety of levels, role-playing elements such as upgrading equipment, and multiple endings. In 2019, ''Polygon'''s Julia Lee wrote that for "a game made over 30 years ago, Penguin Adventure had some in-depth features". After ''Penguin Adventure'', Kojima started to design a game called ', but the game was cancelled when it was found to be too complex to run on the MSX.

''Metal Gear'' and ''Snatcher'' (1987–1990)

Kojima was asked to take over a project, ''Metal Gear'', from a senior associate. Hardware limitations hindered the development of the game's combat, and Kojima altered the gameplay to focus on a prisoner escaping instead of fighting, inspired by '' The Great Escape''. It was released on July 13, 1987, for the MSX2 home computer in Japan, and on September in that year for Europe. The player controls a special forces operative codenamed Solid Snake, who is sent to the fortified state of Outer Heaven to stop a nuclear-equipped walking tank known as "Metal Gear". ''Metal Gear'' is one of the earliest examples of the stealth game genre. A port of ''Metal Gear'' was released for the NES in 1987, with altered graphics, difficulty, and an abridged ending without the titular weapon. Kojima has openly criticized many of the changes made in the port, including poor translation and the abridged ending. In an interview, a programmer on the NES version of the game said his team were asked to complete the port in only three months, and the NES hardware was not capable of implementing the Metal Gear fight.

His next project was the graphic adventure game '' Snatcher'', released for the NEC PC-8801 and MSX2 computer platforms in Japan on November 26, 1988. Kojima wrote and directed the game. Kojima planned for the game, a graphic adventure with visual novel elements, to have six chapters, but was instructed to trim it down to two. The team wanted to create a third chapter, but were already over the allowed development schedule so were forced to end the game on a cliffhanger. The cyberpunk-influenced game has a semi- open world design. Kojima and character designer Tomiharu Kinoshita treated the project like making a film or anime rather than a game. Former Konami artist Satoshi Yoshoioka designed many of ''Snatcher'''s characters, said he was persistently guided by Kojima to make the game as cinematic as possible, which later critics have cited as a staple of his work. Adrian Chen of ''The New York Times'' wrote that one of his innovations was "the way he applied cinematic storytelling to console video games". ''Snatcher'' draws heavily from Ridley Scott's ''Blade Runner'' (1982), and includes enough references that the game strays near copyright infringement. A port for the Sega CD was made without Kojima, but the amount of text and length of the script made localisation expensive and time-consuming, taking three months. ''Snatcher'' was modestly successful in Japan, but the western port was a commercial failure, selling only a few thousand units. It has developed a cult following in the west.

In 1990, Kojima wrote a remake of ''Snatcher,'' '' SD Snatcher,'' a role-playing video game which adapted the storyline of the original ''Snatcher'' but significantly changed the environments, details of the plot, and core gameplay mechanics. The "SD" stands for "super deformed" in Japanese media, another way to reference chibi character designs. The characters are depicted in a " super deformed" art style, in contrast to the original game's realistic style. Like the original computer versions of ''Snatcher'', it was only released in Japan. It abandoned random encounters and introduced a first-person turn-based battle system where the player can aim at specific parts of the enemy's body with guns. Such a battle system has rarely been used since,Kurt Kalata
Snatcher
, Hardcore Gaming 101 but similar ones can later be found in the role-playing games Square's '' Vagrant Story'' (2000), Bethesda Softworks's '' Fallout 3'' (2008), and Nippon Ichi's '' Last Rebellion'' (2010). In 2007, J. C. Fletcher of ''Engadget'' said that Kojima's choice to stylise the character designs "was some postmodern playfulness from Hideo Kojima ..downplaying the dramatic aspects of his game and overlaying obvious video game conventions on top of it", and connected that to a similar playfulness in his later games.

''Metal Gear 2'' and ''Policenauts'' (1990–1994)

The original ''Metal Gear'' was a commercial success for its release on the NES, and Konami decided to create a sequel to the game, ''Snake's Revenge,'' without the involvement of Kojima. When Kojima was riding on the Tokyo transit system, he was told about ''Snake's Revenge'' by a colleague working on the project, who asked him to make a new Snake game of his own. As a result, Kojima began work on his own sequel, '' Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'', and the two were both released in 1990. Kojima's game would not be released overseas in North America and Europe until its inclusion in '' Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence'' (2006). ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'' was a commercial success. The game has received positive reviews from retro-reviewers. IGN notes that ''Metal Gear 2'' introduced stealth mechanics such as making noise to attract guards, crouching and crawling on the ground, disarming mines, and enemies having view cones.

After memory limitation issues prompted him to take a break during the development of ''Snatcher'', Kojima began to explore concepts for ''Policenauts.''やっぱり、サターン版が一番可愛くなった. ''Sega Saturn Magazine'' (in Japanese). Vol. 15. September 13, 1996. pp. 200–201
(TranslationArchived
on February 14, 2019, at the Wayback Machine). Retrieved September 8, 2020. He wanted the game to remain in the adventure genre, feeling it was the best method to express what he wanted with video games. He was also growing frustrated with game development and wanted "a way to take creative control back from the programmers". After the release of '' Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'' (1990), he developed a scripting engine so he could decide when animations and music played instead of the programmers. Development on ''Policenauts,'' originally called ''Beyond'', began in 1990, and lasted four years.

''Policenauts'' was released in Japan on July 29, 1994, for the PC-9821. In Japan, critics praised ''Policenauts'' for its high level of presentation. Both ''Sega Saturn Magazine'' and ''Famitsu'' praised the quality of animation, voice acting, and its engrossing setting. Retrospective reviews have regarded the game generally positively, and sought to contextualise ''Policenauts'' within Kojima's body of work, as heavily stylised and influenced by films.

''Metal Gear Solid'' subseries and mainstream success (1994–2012)

In 1994, Kojima began to plan a 3D sequel to ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'', titled '' Metal Gear Solid'' and originally planned for release on the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. After the 3DO was discontinued, development shifted to the Sony PlayStation. For the transition from 2D to 3D graphics, a new engine had to be developed by Kojima and his team. A gameplay demo was first revealed to the public at the 1996 Tokyo Game Show, and was later shown on day 2 of E3 1997 as a short video. The game was released to critical acclaim. Many outlets noted the game's cinematic qualities and innovative stealth gameplay. Kojima became a celebrity in video game news media, and was surprised when he began to be recognised in public.

In early 2001, Kojima released the first details of the sequel to ''Metal Gear Solid'', '' Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty'', for the PlayStation 2. The game's highly detailed graphics, physics, and expanded gameplay quickly made it one of the most anticipated games at the time. The game was highly successful and critically acclaimed at release, due to its graphics, gameplay, and storyline, which dealt with myriad philosophical themes as specific as memes, censorship, manipulation, patricide, the inherent flaws of democracy and as grandiose as the nature of reality itself. While ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' appealed to gamers with the discussion of these, the bewildering maze of dialogue and plot revelation in the final hours of the game was a disappointment for many gamers, who expected the Hollywood-style resolution of its forerunner.

Before ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' was released, Kojima produced the game and anime franchise '' Zone of the Enders'' in 2001 to moderate success. In 2003, he produced '' Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand'' for the Game Boy Advance, which players take the role of a young vampire hunter who uses a solar weapon which is charged by a photometric sensor on the game cartridge, forcing them to play in sunlight. Another team inside Konami, in a collaboration with Silicon Knights, began work on '' Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes'', a GameCube enhanced remake of the first ''Metal Gear Solid'' with all the gameplay features of ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' and with cutscenes redirected by director Ryuhei Kitamura.

Afterwards, Kojima designed and released '' Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater'' for the PlayStation 2. Unlike the previous games in the series, which took place in the near future and focused on indoor locations, the game is set in a Soviet jungle during the height of the Cold War in 1964, and features wilderness survival, camouflage, and ''James Bond'' styled espionage. The North American version was released on November 17, 2004, with the Japanese counterpart following on December 16. The European version was released on March 4, 2005. Critical response to the game was highly favorable. Kojima has said that his mother played it, "It took her an entire year to complete ''Metal Gear Solid 3''. She would get her friends to help her. When she defeated The End, character the player faces off during the gameshe called me up and said: 'It is finished'."

At that time, Kojima produced ''Boktai''s sequel, '' Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django'' for the Game Boy Advance. Released in summer 2004, it makes more extensive use of the cartridge's sunlight sensor and allows players to combine various new solar weapons. Also released was ''Metal Gear Acid'' for the PlayStation Portable handheld. A turn-based game, it is less action-oriented than the other ''Metal Gear'' games and focuses more on strategy. It was released in Japan on December 16, 2004. Its sequel, ''Metal Gear Acid 2'', was released on March 21, 2006.

Kojima wanted Solid Snake to appear in ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', but Nintendo refused, due to development cycle problems. When '' Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' was in development, series director Masahiro Sakurai contacted Kojima to work and add Snake and content related to the ''Metal Gear'' series, including a stage based on Shadow Moses Island (the main setting of ''Solid''), into the game.

Released in June 2008, Kojima co-directed '' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots'' with Shuyo Murata. Initially, Kojima was not going to direct it, but death threats made the team nervous and he decided to work with them. Kojima received a lifetime achievement award at the MTV Game Awards 2008 in Germany. In his speech, he said in English, "I have to say, even though I received this award, let me state that I will not retire. I will continue to create games as long as I live".

Before E3 2009, Kojima stated interest in working with a Western developer. This later turned out to be a collaboration between him and Spanish developer MercurySteam to work on '' Castlevania: Lords of Shadow''.

Although he announced that ''Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots'' would be the last ''Metal Gear'' game he would be directly involved in, he announced at E3 2009 that he would return to help on two ''Metal Gear'' games: '' Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance'', as a producer and '' Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker'' as writer, director, and producer. When interviewed at Gamescom 2009, Kojima stated that he got more involved with ''Peace Walker'' because "there was a lot of confusion within the team and it didn't proceed as I wanted it to. Therefore I thought that I needed to jump in and do ''Peace Walker''".

Kojima was at E3 2010 to show off his team's latest project, '' Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance''. He was also seen in Nintendo's 3DS interview video, where he stated he was interested in making a ''Metal Gear Solid'' game for the 3DS and wondered what it would be like in 3D. This game ended up being a remake of ''Metal Gear Solid 3'' titled '' Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D''. In late 2011, ''Metal Gear Solid: Rising'' was renamed ''Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance'' with PlatinumGames being involved in developing it alongside Kojima Productions. Nevertheless, Kojima is the game's executive producer and showed interest in working in the game's demo. Kojima was satisfied with the final product and expressed the possibility of a sequel if Platinum were to develop it.

On April 1, 2011, Kojima was promoted to Executive Vice President and Corporate Officer in Konami Digital Entertainment. At E3 2011, he revealed his new innovative gaming technology labeled as "transfarring", a ''portmanteau

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases