Konami has a bit of a history when it comes to creating characters based on Hollywood icons. From Contra to some of Hideo Kojima’s greats, familiar faces can be found all over Konami games. Take a peek.
Contra
Jimbo and Sully. Mad Dog and Scorpion. Bill and Lance. The two protagonist of the Contra series have gone by many names here in the states (it’s always been Bill and Lance in Japan) but their initial influence has never changed. Someone at Konami must have been a big fan of Predator and Rambo, because these characters are clearly based off Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. And why not? If Arnold and Sly made a movie together during the 80s, the world may have blown up. Since they never did, Contra was the next best thing that could happen.
Snatcher
This little known Sega CD game (in the states anyway) comes from the well known Hideo Kojima. This cult classic cyber punk adventure game stars a man named Gillian Seed, who resembles Harrison Ford‘s character from the movie Blade Runner. I guess if you’re going to make a cyber punk adventure game, why not take from the movie that invented it?
Policenauts
Another Kojima game, but this one never actually made it to the states. I don’t know a heck of a lot about Policenauts other than the fact that it stars a blue haired Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. I guess the game is kind of like the anime version of Lethal Weapon in the future? Or not.
Metal Gear Solid
This is an obvious one. Snake was clearly created after the legendary Snake Plissken played by Kurt Russell in Escape for New York and LA. If the interviews from Kojima saying that Snake was inspired by Plisskin wasn’t enough proof, then maybe the fact that Snake showed up in MGS2 as “Iroquois Plissken” will make you a true believer Dr Jones.
Snake isn’t the only celeb creeping around in the Metal Gear world. Take a look at Big Boss from the MSX game Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake.
Sean Connery FTW.
Updated: A shot I forgot to include is the cover art from the original Metal Gear title. This time, it looks like Kojima was really into Terminator, as that is clearly Michael Biehn.
Bayou Billy
I can’t believe I forgot about Bayou Billy. This ridiculously hard NES game basically stars Paul Hogan’s Crocodile Dundee. Thanks for the heads up tkshredder.
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solidefy
How did Bill & Lance ever seem like good names for commandos?
JW_Number_ONE
It would have been funnier if their names were Bruce and Lance.
Ganklin
“call me snake”
hahaahi love it.
Ganklin
i just thought of another MGS one…the US version of the first metal gear was a blantant michael bein from terminator 1 and aliens.
Phil
I’ll slip that in tonight.
tkshredder
You forgot The Adventures of Bayou Billy. Straight rip off of Crocodile Dundee. Great game though! I liked the use of the Zapper for a change up.
view image here
sl3eper
Solid Snake is a also a copy of Nick Fury from the Marvel universe. Unfortunatly thats 1963…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Nickfury_weeks.jpg
Phil
tkshredder,
Awesome. I knew I was forgetting one… I don’t know how I forgot about Bayou Billy. I’m going to add it soon. Thanks man.
Ganklin
hmm i never thought of solid snake as a nick fury type character. good one.
Aganar
I happen to have the original strategy guide for Metal Gear Solid, which includes some staff interviews. I thought I’d post an excerpt, detailing the “inspiration” for Solid Snake:
- Metal Gear Solid, Official Mission Handbook, pg. 142:
“Tell us more about Solid Snake. How does he differ from previous incarnations?”
Kojima: “Solid Snake is totally different from the old one. I asked Shinkawa to create an older, hardboiled, dandy character, but he said it’s better to have a younger character. So Solid Snake became about 20 to 40. I asked him to make the character nimble and muscular, with the body like a Van Damme.”
“Like Jean Claude Van Damme?”
Kojima: “Yeah, that’s right, that kind of body movement and build, which gives you the impression of weightlessness in his movement. Regarding the face of the character, I wanted something like Christopher Walken. The result came out to be the one you will see in the game. It’s not like a Schwarzenegger at all. He has to perform espionage, so I wanted the character to be like a cat but still have a strong presence.”
“In the game there are Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. What does the ‘Snake’ term refer to?”
Kojima: “Yeah, Snake is inspired by Snake Plisken. You know the movie by John Carpenter, Escape from New York? I like the film. I kind of drew from that character, because he’s in the espionage business. It is Solid Snake rather than Smooth Snake.”
So, there you go. The name of Snake Pliskin, the body of Jean Claude Van Damme, and the face of Christopher Walken. Plus, David Hayter is clearly doing a Charlton Heston impression when he voices for Snake. Snake is just an amalgamation of Hollywood hotshots.
Phil
Aganar,
Cool, I actually have that same guide (when I worked at KB Toys they were throwing a bunch out so I nabbed one for free)and I remember reading that interview. I find it funny how he says the face of Christopher Walken… I don’t see that at all. Haha. Thanks for posting.
SoloScorpio
Another one for you to add to the list- Snatcher’s bounty hunter Rabdom Hajile was modelled on Sting’s bethonged ginger character in Dune.
samor
Here’s another one: the game cover of the MSX game Nemesis 3 (European name, ???????? -EPISODE II- Gofer no Yab? Episode II in Japan) has its cover clearly stole…I mean inspired from Star Trek 3 – the search for Spock.