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Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

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Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes cover art
Developer(s)Silicon Knights
Konami
Publisher(s)Konami
EngineMetal Gear Solid 2
Platform(s)Nintendo GameCube
ReleaseNorth America March 9 2004 (NA)
Japan March 11 2004 (JP)
Europe March 26 2004 (EU)
Genre(s)Stealth-based game
Mode(s)Single player

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes is a stealth-based game that was developed by Silicon Knights and Konami for the GameCube and released in March 2004. It is an enhanced remake of the 1998 PlayStation best-seller Metal Gear Solid.

Vast updates were made to the graphics and gameplay in order to include new features introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty on the PlayStation 2. Also, the voice acting was re-recorded, with most of the original voice cast from Metal Gear Solid returning.

Plot summary

The game's plot is identical to the original 1998 version of Metal Gear Solid. See Metal Gear Solid: plot summary for more info.

Division of work

The Twin Snakes is interesting as a collaboration between Nintendo's then second-party developer Silicon Knights, Konami, and film director Ryuhei Kitamura.

In 2002, Nintendo invited Konami to create a Metal Gear game for the GameCube. Series creator Hideo Kojima agreed, but decided that it should be a remake instead of an all-new game, and it was also decided that a new developer should work on it. Kojima claimed there was no point in having the staff repeat their earlier work, while his team at Konami Computer Entertainment Japan had little experience working with the GameCube, and was already busy developing Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.

Nintendo ultimately found an available team with suitable experience; Silicon Knights' lead designer was casually offered the "commission" by Shigeru Miyamoto during a lunch meeting.

Silicon Knights

Silicon Knights handled the bulk of gameplay development and technical work. They created the character and stage models, and their in-house music staff also created some of the in-game music.

Interestingly the "Sanity Effects" in Silicon Knights' previous title, Eternal Darkness, frequently break the fourth wall, a stylistic quirk shared by the Metal Gear series.

Ryuhei Kitamura

Japanese film director Ryuhei Kitamura was responsible for directing the new cut scenes for the game. The action sequences are far more dynamic than those in the original and utilize bullet-time photography and choreographed gunplay extensively.

Konami

Konami developed all of the game's cut scenes under Kitamura's direction. Kojima oversaw the game as a whole.

Music

The game's composition duties were split: some of the in-game music was handled by Steve Henifin and Silicon Knights' and music staff, while the rest of the music (in-game, menus and cut scenes) was handled by Konami's music staff, including Metal Gear Solid 2 co-composer Norihiko Hibino.

As with previous games in the series, the cut-scene music has a more orchestral/choral basis than the in-game music, which is more electronic with an emphasis on strong beats during action sequences. As the game is a remake, many of the themes recall the music in the original game. Hibino composed a military-themed take on the "Metal Gear Solid Main Theme" for the game's trailer; "Mantis' Hymn" was transformed into a driving battle theme. The main theme itself was largely excised from the game, and replaced by a slightly modified version of Sniper Wolf's theme. However, a soundtrack album was not released.

Weapons

Along with all of the weapons from the original Metal Gear Solid, four weapons from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty are available: the M9 Pistol, the PSG1-T, the Book and the Magazine.

  • M9 Pistol - M9 pistol converted to fire tranquilizer.
  • PSG-1 (PSG1-T) - Sniper rifle converted to fire tranquilizers.
  • Magazine - Empty weapon clip, it can be thrown to distract enemies. Snake automatically gains one when he manually reloads a weapon.
  • Book - mildly pornographic magazine, it can be placed to distract enemies.

Release information

File:TTS Premium Package.jpg
Premium Package box and contents.

Originally planned for release in November 2003, The Twin Snakes was pushed back four months.

As with previous Metal Gear Solid titles, a Premium Package of The Twin Snakes was released in Japan in addition to the stand-alone version. The box includes the game itself; a platinum-colored GameCube adorned with the FOXHOUND logo; a 44-page book titled Memorandum containing production notes, sketches and photos; and a GameCube disc called the "Special Disc" containing an emulated version of the Famicom version of the original Metal Gear and a Twin Snakes trailer.

In contrast to previous Metal Gear Solid releases, there were virtually no differences between the actual contents of the game themselves outside the packaging. No Japanese voiceovers were recorded for Twin Snakes. Instead the Japanese version uses English voice acting, much like Metal Gear Solid: Integral and Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance did in their Japanese releases. Presumably this is why no updated version of Twin Snakes was produced.

Critical & fan reaction

The Twin Snakes received mostly positive reviews from critics [1], though the scores it was given were slightly lower than those given to original Metal Gear titles such as Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty [2] and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater [3]. Metal Gear fans generally agreed it was a quality title, but not one without flaws.

Most of the criticism stemmed from the fact that the structure of the original game was not designed for features from Metal Gear Solid 2 that were included,[citation needed] such as the ability to fire weapons in first person mode (making what some already called an easy game even easier), hang from ledges, and hide bodies in lockers. For instance, by using first person view during the battle with boss Revolver Ocelot, he can be defeated with four shots to his head in moments. In the original game it took significantly longer to beat him.

Also, some were disappointed with the direction of the new cut-scenes, despite the fact that Ryuhei Kitamura was hand-picked by Hideo Kojima to direct the cinematics. One particularly controversial cutscene involves Snake and Meryl standing for ten seconds just watching what is obviously a sniper's laser sight dancing over Meryl's body. However, proponents argue that the style of the new cut-scenes are more similar to the over-the-top nature of the rest of the franchise.

Metal Gear Solid purists however make a counter-argument against the characterization of Solid Snake. In this particular remake, Snake is portrayed in a more acrobatic and over-the-top manner as opposed to the down-to-earth hero portrayed in the other Metal Gear titles.

Another criticism is that the Codec support team's voice acting is weaker. Those who had foreign accents in the original (Naomi Hunter, Mei Ling, Nastasha Romanenko, Vulcan Raven) now sport more American accents, though they are still voiced by the same actors/actresses as before. However, while some of these changes were disliked by some fans, most of them were intentional. For example, Mei Ling now has a less distinguished accent, but since she was born and raised in America, the change makes sense.

Voice actors

The highly acclaimed voice cast from the PlayStation version returns in this update. The voice cast used pseudonyms during the recording session for the original PS version (due to union regulations), except for David Hayter and Doug Stone. In The Twin Snakes, the cast used their real names. One exception is that the Cyborg Ninja is now voiced by a different actor. At the time of the game's release, it was widely speculated that George Byrd (Greg Eagles), original voice actor for the Ninja, had passed away, when in fact it was Kaneto Shiozawa, the Ninja's Japanese voice actor. Greg Eagles did reprise his role as the DARPA Chief in the remake.

Unlike previous MGS titles, no Japanese voiceovers were recorded for The Twin Snakes. Instead, the Japanese release used the same English voice acting as the North American and European versions.

Cast

Legend: voice actor (name used in PS1 Version) — Character

Trivia

  • Even though the game uses the original Metal Gear Solid as its basis, Meryl's sneaking suit from Integral is featured as an unlockable outfit in the game along with Snake's tuxedo and the Ninja's red exoskeleton.
  • According to an audio interview with Gamefaqs user Chris Ho, Paul Eiding stated that David Hayter gave up half of his own paycheck in order to bring the original cast for this particular remake.
  • 3D models and textures used in Metal Gear Solid 2 and Substance were used in The Twin Snakes. The High Frequency Blade, several parts of the torture room, screen icons (items such as rations, etc) and various character models (Meryl, etc). [citation needed]

Cameos

  • A GameCube can be seen in Otacon's Office along with a Mario and Yoshi Figurine. Shooting the Yoshi Figurine will make Yoshi speak and shooting the Mario Figurine will make the 1-Up Sound and recover Snake's life bar a bit.
  • The game contains references to Silicon Knight's previous game, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. First, Alex Roivas and Ellia the Dancer, the two female protagonists from the game can be seen on the magazines featured in The Twin Snakes. Then, there is a poster of the game in one of the rooms in the Armory. Finally, during the encounter with Psycho Mantis, he comments on the game and its developer upon scanning the memory card and finding a file for Eternal Darkness; then, during the fight with Mantis, some of ED's insanity effects are part of the repertoire of attacks used by Psycho Mantis.
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