For fighter info, seeSnake (SSBB) andSnake (SSBU).

"Snake" redirects here. For other uses, seeSnake (disambiguation).

Solid Snake
Official artwork of Solid Snake fromMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Universe	Metal Gear
Debut	Metal Gear (1987)
Smash Bros. appearances	Brawl Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (2025, cameo)
Console/platform of origin	MSX2
Species	Human (augmented clone created via Les Enfants Terribles)
Gender	Male
Place of origin	United States
Created by	Hideo Kojima
Designed by	Yoji Shinkawa (Metal Gear Solid series)
Englishvoice actor	David Hayter
Japanesevoice actor	Akio Ōtsuka
Article on Wikipedia	Solid Snake

Solid Snake (ソリッド・スネーク,Solid Snake), also known simply asSnake and by his real nameDavid, is the main protagonist of theMetal Gear series, created byKonami. Previously popularized as a character to serve as an antithesis to the cheery and colorful Nintendo-inspired characters that were prevalent in games near the end of the 1980s, Solid Snake became the first playable third-party character in theSuper Smash Bros. series, appearing in theNintendo fighting gamesSuper Smash Bros. Brawl andSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Origin[edit]

According toMetal Gear franchise creatorHideo Kojima, Snake and the franchise as a whole is meant to be an amalgamation of various Hollywood action movie tropes and characters. Examples includeLethal Weapon andEscape from New York, of which Snake is named after the character Snake Plissken played by Kurt Russell. Other inspirations for Snake include Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn) fromThe Terminator, whom Snake's first portrait was based on. Snake's most iconic design first appeared inMetal Gear Solid for Sony PlayStation in 1998, designed by artist Yoji Shinkawa. Shinkawa's Snake design features a dark grey bandanna, a consistent "sneaking suit", and the effective voicework of Akio Ohtsuka for Japanese versions and David Hayter for English versions ofMetal Gear games as Snake's defining aspects. In the series, Solid Snake is a commando soldier and a master of stealth and close-quarters-combat. Using little more than the gadgets he carries and environmental objects, from guns and knives to any randomCardboard box, Snake can infiltrate and take down any threat almost singlehandedly. Though he does frequently receive help from various partners that inform him of upcoming events and obstacles and how to operate unfamiliar items.

Snake's story begins with his biological father, codenamed Naked Snake, who operates for the original FOX unit founded by Major Zero of the CIA at the height of the Cold War inMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. He is heavily influenced by his mission's revelations, where he finds out just how much he is a subject to the mechanisms of his government, so he splits away from the FOX unit and must deal with the revolt of his former FOX comrades inMetal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Afterwards, Major Zero formed the Patriots, a group meant to unify the world by controlling information with Naked Snake, now accepting his title as Big Boss, as the group's figurehead; however, Zero feared Big Boss would leave the Patriots due to ideological differences between them. To insure the Patriots still have their icon in the event Big Boss leaves, Major Zero decides to initiate the Les Enfants Terribles project, which used DNA acquired from Big Boss to produce clones of him. From this project were born twins with one given the recessive genes of Big Boss (Eli, later codenamed Liquid Snake) and the other given the dominant genes (David, later codenamed Solid Snake). A third baby was also later born that was a perfect genetic copy of Big Boss, George Sears, later codenamed Solidus Snake. Big Boss learns of what Major Zero had done and leaves the Patriots. He then travels to Costa Rica and founds his own private military company, Militaires Sans Frontières. A year later, inMetal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Big Boss sneaks into a U.S prison camp in a attempted rescue mission. The rescue mission is successful, but it turns out that it was all a distraction, for a strike team named XOF attacks Mother Base, and Big Boss is sent into a coma for 9 years.

9 years later, inMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, it is revealed that Big Boss has been replaced by a surviving combat medic that underwent surgery and psychological procedures to create a body double that not only looked liked him, but also thought he truly was the real Big Boss. Codenamed Venom Snake, he later finds out that he was a double created to trick the world, and that the real Big Boss is planning to create his own military country, Outer Heaven. InMetal Gear, the Western powers learn that Outer Heaven is developing a weapon of mass destruction known as Metal Gear. FOXHOUND, founded by Big Boss shortly after the events ofSnake Eater, is ordered by the U.S. government to infiltrate Outer Heaven and destroy its Metal Gear. In order to give Venom Snake more time to complete the Metal Gear, Big Boss comissions FOXHOUND's newest and least experienced member, Solid Snake, for the mission, in hopes that he will fail. However, Solid Snake exceeded expectations and was able to not only infiltrate Outer Heaven, but single handledly destroy its Metal Gear, which activates a self destruct sequence of the base. While escaping the base Venom Snake confronts him as Big Boss (still maintaining his role as the real Big Boss's double), and reveals to him the true reason he was sent to Outer Heaven. The two then fight and Solid Snake kills him before narrowly escaping the base before destruction. After having his body double killed and Outer Heaven destroyed, Big Boss flees FOXHOUND and goes into hiding, later establishing Zanzibar Land in Central Asia. Roy Campbell takes Big Boss's place as commanding officer of FOXHOUND, and years later inMetal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Campbell assigns Snake to infiltrate a heavily fortified base in the nation, Zanzibar Land, which is also trying to become a nuclear power with the Metal Gear D model. Snake finds that the leading man behind this plot is Big Boss, and in a final confrontation with Metal Gear D, Snake defeats Big Boss with a makeshift flamethrower, and leaves him to die; however, Big Boss survives the battle, despite the vast majority of his body being severely burned. Both Solid Snake and Roy Campbell go into retirement after this.

InMetal Gear Solid, Snake is called out of retirement from Alaska by Campbell, now working for the U.S. military, to battle FOXHOUND, which has now gone rogue and has seized the nuclear weapons facility atShadow Moses Island, threatening the U.S. with a nuclear strike unless they acquire Big Boss' remains. Snake must infiltrate the island and defeat each rogue FOXHOUND member one-by-one, and he sabotages the Metal Gear REX model at Shadow Moses. Snake finds that the leading man behind this plot is an operative codenamed Liquid Snake, who is Solid Snake's genetic twin, and Solid Snake learns of his clone heritage. Solid survives while Liquid dies, and the mission is complete. Snake is called into service yet again in 2007 to infiltrate a tanker which gets sunk inMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty's prologue sequence. It is during his infiltration of the tanker that he discovers that Liquid Snake "lived on" in Revolver Ocelot's recently transplanted arm (the arm that was transplanted was Liquid's), thus creating the character Liquid Ocelot. He survives and gets involved in the immensely intricate and complex scenarios that occur throughout the rest of the game in 2009. It is during these series of events that a third clone of Big Boss is revealed as Solidus Snake, who is a mixture of dominant and recessive genes, thus being considered a genetic bridge between the dominant Solid Snake and the recessive Liquid Snake. InMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Snake has begun to age rapidly, and is now identified as Old Snake by the game. Advanced cellular degeneration caused by the cloning process used to create him has aged him prematurely. In the game, he wears a sneaking suit outfitted with "Octocamo" technology, which allows him to blend with his environment, as well as a face mask which alters his appearance (allowing the player to use his younger look during gameplay as well and disguise Snake as other characters). This new character design is based upon actor Lee Van Cleef. In the game, Old Snake, on his last mission, must settle the score with Liquid Ocelot as the latter attempts to launch a rebellion against the Patriots' AI systems, which would cause catastrophic consequences for the world. According to Ryan Payton of Konami,Guns of the Patriots will be the final canonical Metal Gear game to feature Solid Snake as the main character. It was also the canonical last game in theMetal Gear franchise, untilMetal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Kojima himself has stated that the series will continue, but does not want the character to be handled by anyone else.

Solid Snake, in his less-aged incarnation, has made many non-canonical game appearances, perhaps even more times than in canonicalMetal Gear games. In addition to several "supplemental" and "enhanced" titles that have accompanied the "main" games (including bonus skateboarding segments for Snake to partake in), Snake has appeared in several alternate realityMetal Gear games, including a Game Boy ColorMetal Gear Solid (officially titledMetal Gear: Ghost Babel in Japan), and in the card-basedMetal Gear Ac!d series for PSP. Solid Snake has also appeared as a playable character in two fighting games involving characters from other franchises. The first is Hudson Soft'sDreamMix TV World Fighters, involving characters from Konami, Hudson Soft (which was not yet a Konami subsidiary at the time) and toy maker Takara Tomy - including characters from their ranks such as Bomberman, and Optimus Prime and Megatron from theTransformers franchise. The second is the Wii fighting game,Super Smash Bros. Brawl, alongside famous Nintendo characters such asMario andPikachu. His inclusion in the game generated an immense outburst across the game industry.Metal Gear Solid is also parodied inApe Escape 3 for the PS2 in the minigameMesal Gear Solid: Snake Escape, where Solid Snake has been captured and the player must control a monkey to rescue him.

InSuper Smash Bros. Melee[edit]

Though Snake does not appear in any capacity inMelee, Hideo Kojima, the creator of theMetal Gear series and a close personal friend ofMasahiro Sakurai, had asked Sakurai if he could include Snake in the game as a playable fighter. However, the addition was not possible because the game's development was too far in for the developers to add another character.

InSuper Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]

As a playable character[edit]

Snake as he appears inBrawl.

Snake makes his debut in theSmash series as a playable character inBrawl, announced via a surprise teaser shown after the first trailer for the game. Snake's appearance in theSmash series was unusual; prior to the announcement, no third-party characters had ever appeared in aSmash game. Kojima asked Sakurai himself to add Snake; as the two were personal friends, Snake was added to the expanding roster of characters. Another reason Kojima asked Sakurai is because his son wanted to see Snake inSmash.^[1] His appearance is based on his design fromMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty but with the head model fromMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Attempting to recreate Snake's tactical method of fighting utilizing cunning and modern warfare in theMetal Gear games themselves, Snake enters the fray as a predominantly defensive strategic character with a high emphasis on set-ups and controlling the fight. Much of Snake's moves utilize firepower of some sort; in fact, all three of Snake's smash attacks use some sort of weapon rather than a hand to hand move, relegating his actual CQC (Close Quarters Combat) moves to his tilt moves and aerials. Further more, two out of three of these smash attacks are indirect in nature. Combined with hisspecial moves of similar nature, such as planting a remote detonatedC4 mine, and the deceptively high power of his hand to hand moves, Snake is perhaps one of the most unique characters in the game with his high emphasis on tactical fighting. Snake is also one of the heavier characters in the game in both speed and durability, although his impressive recovery ability thanks to hisCypher move and his fast tumble roll dash move can make him deceptively quick when the need arises.

Although Snake uses a large amount of explosive firepower, he has no traditional firearms, such as handguns and rifles, despite regularly making use of them in theMetal Gear games themselves. This is presumably due toSuper Smash Bros. Brawl's emphasis on being friendly to almost all age groups, and thus the use of common guns would possibly raise the age rating of the game in some regions. As is, many of Snake's current moves do have a real world counterpart, such as traditionalHand Grenades and the R.P.G. However, these are treated in a bit more of a comical and lighthearted fashion. Snake's character brings a high amount of Easter eggs and homages to his game series with him, from saying "Tasty" when eating food akin toMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, to his down throw, resembling the sleeper/neck breaker hold featured in all theMetal Gear Solid games to date, among other things. His rather unorthodox stealth tactic of hiding within acardboard box also makes an appearance as Snake's taunt. LikeLuigi's "kick" taunt, the cardboard box can deal damage. All of his taunts make Snake wear the cardboard box, but he uses a different way of putting it on for each of his three taunts. Snake can also call one of his affiliates via the Codec, much like in theMetal Gear games, asa secret taunt, only possible on theShadow Moses Island stage. Each character, including Snake himself (if two or more players are using him), has a distinct conversation and the original voice actors for Solid Snake,Colonel Roy Campbell,Hal "Otacon" Emmerich, andMei Ling reprise their roles. There is even one instance ofSlippy Toad appearing within the Codec; namely, while talking aboutFalco.

Because of his unique gameplay and overwhelming tournament dominance, Snake currently ranks 6th on the tier list. This is often disputed due to his very successful results in tournaments as many argue that he is among the best characters in the game. HisSmash appearance has also garnered criticism from casual and professional Smashers, as he has been dubbed one of the most overpowered characters in the game, mainly due to his fast, disjointed and powerful attacks which possess hitboxes that extend much further than the actual animation with his up and forward tilts being the primary examples. Snake is also known as theBrawl equivalent ofFox'sMelee incarnation, as he is known to have one of the highest learning curves due to his highly sophisticated playstyle and the fact that players must be aware of aspects such as knowing the right place to lay his explosives and making sure that he does not harm himself and, in the worst case scenario,self-destruct in the process.

Trophies[edit]

Solid Snake's trophy inBrawl

Solid Snake

A former member of FOXHOUND with an IQ of 180 and mastery of six languages. He's an infiltration specialist whose ability to carry out missions under any conditions has made him a legend. He's saved the world three times from the threat of bipedal, nuclear-armed mechs called Metal Gear. Currently he's working with the anti-Metal Gear group known as Philanthropy.

Metal Gear Solid

:Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Iroquois Pliskin's trophy inBrawl

Iroquois Pliskin

A SEAL member who infiltrates the Big Shell to suppress a terrorist group threatening to destroy it. He joins forces with Raiden, a new recruit in the special-forces unit called FOXHOUND. Disguised in order to secretly infiltrate the Big Shell, Pliskin is actually Solid Snake.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Cardboard Box's trophy inBrawl

Cardboard Box

A common, run-of-the-mill cardboard box that is somehow very effective at preventing detection by enemies. Hide inside it and enemies will walk on by. But put it somewhere too odd and you'll be discovered. You can move while in the box, but if anyone sees the box moving, you're in trouble. Both Liquid and Solid Snake have a deep affection for cardboard.

Metal Gear Solid

:Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

Stickers[edit]

Name	Game	Effect	Fighter(s)
Solid Snake	Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes	Attack +7	Snake
Solid Snake	Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty	Attack +19

Solid Snake (MGS The Twin Snakes)

Solid Snake (MGS2 Sons of Liberty)

InSuper Smash Bros. 4[edit]

When Kojima was asked about the possibility of Snake reappearing inSmash 4 during an interview in March 2014, he replied: "I'm not working on that game, but I don't think it's likely [that Snake will return]. If Mr. Sakurai is watching this, hopefully we see Snake."^[2] Snake (along with the entireMetal Gear universe) was cut inSmash 4, and is the only cut character fromBrawl who does not have atrophy in either version of the game. However, Snake was mentioned during the 50 Fact Extravaganza whenPalutena's Guidance was being compared to theCodec Conversations.

InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

As a playable character[edit]

Snake, as he appears inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Snake returns as an unlockable playable character inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, after a decade-long absence. His moveset has been primarily unchanged, though he benefits most from the universal frame-3 jumpsquat and from the universal changes to the game’s speed and mobility options. David Hayter and Akio Otsuka’s voice clips fromBrawl have been recycled, including those for the accompanying Codec conversations. Hayter initially confirmed his reprisal on Twitter after being asked if his voice clips were repurposed.^[3]

Likely due to his top tier status inBrawl, Snake was nerfed in the transition toUltimate. He did receive some buffs outside of universal changes; his Remote Missile in particular is much faster and more controllable, making it a deadly edgeguarding tool. However, his up tilt's infamously long range was reduced (as well as many other moves having reduced range) and his weight was sharply decreased, which, combined with Cypher's ability to be destroyed and the removal ofmomentum canceling, reduces Snake's endurance considerably. While his new down smash is useful for quickly shaking off opponents, it can no longer be used for camping. Despite these nerfs, however, Snake remains extremely viable in tournaments due to retaining most of his strengths, and is once again considered a top tier by many players, being ranked 3rd out of 82 on the current tier list in the S tier.

Spirit[edit]

References to Naked Snake[edit]

Naked Snake during the Cold War.

Due to the fact that Solid Snake is a clone and son ofNaked Snake, there are definite similarities between them that carry over intoBrawl. Naked Snake was the original "Snake," having been given the codename by Major Zero during the Cold War. During theLes Enfants Terribles project, Naked Snake (known as Big Boss by then because of his legendary exploits during and after Operation Snake Eater) had his genes stolen and three "sons" were eventually created: Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, and Solidus Snake. InBrawl, Snake's appearance can be said to be a hybrid between Solid and Naked Snake, asBrawl's Solid Snake is similar to Naked Snake in several ways:

1. His beard is a full beard, which resembles Naked Snake's beard more than Solid Snake's stubble.
2. Several of hisalternate costumes feature camouflage exclusive toMetal Gear Solid 3.
3. His C4 is sometimes shaped like a butterfly, which is another reference toMetal Gear Solid 3.
4. When eatingfood, Snake will exclaim "Tasty!" This is something Naked Snake would frequently say after eating food inMetal Gear Solid 3.

In spite of the similarities,Smash specifically identifies the playable Snake as being Solid Snake in official materials. His codec support team, consisting ofMetal Gear Solid cast members Otacon, Mei Ling, and Colonel Roy Campbell, also makereferences to various characters and events directly pertaining to Solid Snake's appearances in the series.

Names in other languages[edit]

Language	Name
Japanese	スネーク,Snake
English	Snake
French	Snake
German	Snake
Spanish	Snake
Italian	Snake
Chinese	Snake
Korean	스네이크,Snake
Dutch	Snake
Russian	Снейк

Trivia[edit]

• InSuper Bomberman R, two of Snake's victory quotes are the same ones fromBrawl (albeit rerecorded), specifically, "Colonel, mission accomplished," and "This is Snake, I'm done here."
• Snake was the first fighter in theSuper Smash Bros. series to have a dedicated reveal trailer for themselves.
• TheIce Climbers and Snake are the only characters from single-playable-character universes to have been cut from an installment, namelySmash 4.
  • Snake andYoung Link are the only cut characters overall not to appear as trophies inSmash 4, with Snake being the onlyBrawl veteran with this trait.
  • This also makes Snake the only third-party character to have ever been cut from an installment.
• InBrawl, Snake uses some unique knockback sound effects from his original games. Snake was the firstSmash fighter to do this, thoughRyu,Ken Masters,Cloud Strife,Hero,Terry Bogard, andKazuya Mishima would later also share this trait.
• Snake was the first of three fighters to use an alias and not a form of their real name, the others being Bayonetta and Joker. Coincidentally, all three are third-party characters who have appeared in M-rated games.
  • Also coincidentally, Snake's real first name is the same as his English voice actor's, David Hayter.
• Snake is the only third-party character to have theirFinal Smash changed between games, and also the only one to appear in more than one game in the series to have always been an unlockable character.
• Snake is the first of two fighters in the series to have made their debut on a home computer, namely the MSX2; the other isSteve.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Article on theMetal Gear Wiki.

v • d • e Metal Gear universe
Fighter	Snake (SSBB ·SSBU)
Assist Trophy	Gray Fox
Stage	Shadow Moses Island
Item	Cardboard box
Other	Colonel Roy Campbell ·Mei Ling ·Otacon
Trophies,Stickers andSpirits	Trophies ·Stickers ·Spirits
Music	Brawl ·Ultimate

• Characters
• Metal Gear universe
• Snake
• Third-party characters
• Trophies (SSBB)
• Stickers
• Spirits
• Konami