Solid Snake Voice Actor David Hayter Fronts New Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Promo

MGS4 needs to be released from its PS3 shackles

The legend! It makes me feel better to see David hayter on board. Cautiously optimistic for the future of the series.

Also, gotta give Hayter cred for being partially responsible for imho the best comic book adaptation ever made in Watchmen.

Dont mean to sound like a "Hayter" but as good as Kiefer is, he definitely aint no David when it comes to Snake.

just when I thought I was out they pull me back in.

Kept us waiting, huh?

@tameshiyaku "best comic book adaptation ever made in Watchmen" Visually? I guess but the moment The Comedian starts punching through hard concrete in slow mo in the opening it became the very thing the graphic novel was tearing down, critiquing and avoiding. Its like Snyder looked at the pictures but never actually read the words or understood them.

@Kidfunkadelic83 don't forget though in MGSV there's a good reason it's not David doing the voice. Not saying spoilers for those that haven't played it yet

@JJtheTexan why? Twin Snakes was the worse version of MGS1.

I can highly recommend that collection. After all these years, I'm shocked how well even the 1st Metal Gear Solid still holds up. They even included Special Missions and Integral, everything is so nostalgic ported. I have blast playing it again, after that I'll fire up Metal Gear Solid 2.
Would give that collection a 9/10.

The legend himself! Hearing him again in MGS1 really solidified just how excellent of a VO he is. Legitimately one of the all-time greats!

@DennisReynolds the core ideas of corruption through nationalism, utilitarianism and finding meaning in the seemingly meaningless are well intact, despite Snyder's stylized visuals. As said, just my opinion, but I've read the book countless times and watched the movie often enough, rather than take on the opinion of online think pieces from snobbish purists or just clutch onto Moore's (as usual) grumpy and condescending opinions.
The HBO series is also a fantastic contemporary continuation of Moore's foundation.

Hayter also delivered one of the, if not the best X-Men movies with X2... And then there is guyver of course 😂

While people often say that Kojima can do no wrong, the one major misstep in phantom pain definitely was replacing David Hayter just because Kojima wanted a big celebrity in his game. Snake without Hayter just doesn't seem like Snake at all.

@Carlore_Preventis Yeah that is true, thought maybe ground zero was to not make it obvious. Although different voice, and the fact that you have to acquire a Russian translator kind of gives the twist away anyway. After all Sokolov says his russian is great in MGS3.

It would be insane if they revoiced MGS5 with him.

It's nice to see Hayter remain loyal to the series and fanbase despite the MGSV situation

@Ocelot

No, the reasoning for casting Sutherland as 'Venom Snake' had nothing to do with the plot twist you are referring to.

We know this is true because they kept the Japanese voice actor the same for MGSV as all the previous games. Pretty much debunks that theory.

The real reason Hideo Kojima cast Sutherland isn't well understood by really anyone besides I guess Kojima. It was the worst creative decision he ever made. Some say he really just wanted to work with Sutherland, as he has long had a sort of fanboyish relationship with western cinema and TV and wanted to work with a "big name", so to speak.

Whatever his reason, it's well documented Kojima basically stone walled David Hayter prior to MGSV's release. Hayter was never contacted by the studio or Kojima. Never given so much as a thank you, according to Hayter himself. Never notified he wouldn't be voice acting Snake in MGSV. Arguably THE most iconic voice actor in the history of the medium, stonewalled.

Konami is guilty of plenty of bad calls, but firing Kojima was never one of them. Kojima is a narcissistic, arrogant jerk and it's really apparent from his many interviews. Most recent of a dozen examples being him blaming Death Stranding's less than stellar critical reception on the audience just not getting it.

Doesn't change the fact he made some pretty good games though (didn't care for Death Stranding in the slightest, but nobody can deny MGS1 and 3 are gold). He just went a bit off his rocker later on. Think he bought too much into his own "I'm a genius / auteur" narrative the industry was constantly spinning around him.

I mean, I was - literally - laughing at the fact Kojima's name scrolls across the screen like 15 times before each and every main story mission while playing MGSV. It's ridiculous.

If they could get Hayter to redo the voice in V for the second collection, that would be awesome. I won't hold my breath though.

@UnlimitedSevens Eh, the thing about the Konami/Kojima situation was also dirty on Konami's end. Kojima wanted to venture outside the Metal Gear franchise for the longest time but always was tied to the series knowing full well Konami wouldn't treat the series in the most faithful way, which turned out to be true. Plus the death threats. There's only so much creativity you can juice out of a franchise that MGSV seems very fitting to one burnt out and giving the minimum whilst making the best of it. I'm biased on that front since I consider MGSV one of the weaker titles without considering the voice actor change.

Kojima was expected to work on Silent Hills which would've brought a much needed revival to the series after its numerous failure of games in the franchise. With the demo of P.T lauded as the inspiration of RE7 which in a way, is the reason Capcom's faith was restored after their own numerous negative receptions in games at the time. I do agree though that Kojima's ego is significantly boosted from his association with western celebrities. He never really liked David Hayter and I believe he always wanted Sutherland for the english voice actor since the beginning. But the actor wasn't on board at the time. Even with that fact, it's still dirty the way Hayter was essentially ghosted without a proper warning.

As for Death Stranding, Kojima was right about the audience not getting it. The type of game Death Stranding was didn't fit within this generation of gaming. It would've been perfect in the PS2 gen with the types of games coming out then. It came out around the generation of Overwatch and Fortnite players with newer gamers likely knowledge of Kojima is he worked on MGSV and the most recent Metal Gear game to compare it to is Rising. It was already dismissed as a "walking simulator" because of that.

If anything, like Metal Gear, the game shines on the boss fights more so than the exploration and discovery factor. And coincidentally, this game was the perfect thing to play during the COVID lockdown with the unknown Kojima magic of being too accurate on the future of the world like in MGS2. I did ramble on there but overall, Kojima wasn't the only one at fault there.

@InsaneWade

Agreed MGSV was the weakest story-wise of the main entries and didn't care for it in that respect, and having Hayter in the role wouldn't have changed a whole lot considering Big Boss doesn't really have too many speaking lines. I thought this change in particular (how quiet he is compared to previous games) is a valid and pretty clever reference to the plot twist other commenters have mentioned.

I have a weird cognitive dissonance where Hideo Kojima made my favorite game of all time, but I'm not a fan of his newer stuff. He kind of became aimless later on, which became apparent in MGSV. The themes in V (vocal cord parasites, connection between language, identity, and culture) are rich topics, which were so undercooked compared to the previous razor-focused themes of past entries. It was a very rambling, almost college-freshman-research-paper level attempt at the subjects. He didn't seem super motivated to actually explore the themes beyond a superficial level. I think you are right, he didn't want to work on the series anymore but Konami wouldn't let him pursue other stuff, and it showed. In his defense he was trying to move on from the series since MGS2. I can understand wanting to move on.

What I can't understand is his apparent disdain for Hayter. Legitimately nice, down to earth guy. I've heard it said Kojima never liked Hayter's gravelly voice direction he lent to Solid Snake / Big Boss character. All I'm saying is it must have REALLY steamed Kojima that Hayter became more synonymous and iconic to the series than Kojima himself. A guy with an ego like that, it's got to hurt a bit.

I would hazard a guess if Kojima had a more focused vision for MGSV, ran it with a tighter budget, kept Hayter in, re-worked the boss fights, had a better and more distinctive antagonist, and nailed down the themes more, he would still have a place at Konami regardless of what their exact disagreements were.

And regarding Death Stranding, I don't subscribe to the whole this is actually a walking simulator complaint. And like MGSV, I don't think it's a bad game overall - it just isn't great. Main complaint against Death Stranding is the same I had with MGSV, that being it doesn't really explore the themes it tries to very well, or tries to do to many at once. Bites off more than it can chew with its story. Kojima's story telling edge has dulled for me personally, and that was his X Factor back in the day. Compare Death Stranding's story themes with how focused MGS1's messaging on nuclear deterrence and proliferation was. His thematic story telling lost a lot of its coherency and focus over time. His stuff seems pretty shallow now in comparison.

P.T. was amazing and I really regret we couldn't get a chance to see what Kojima could do if given free reign in the horror genre.

Anyways, I guess I just rambled a lot to say I agree with all your points haha. As a lifelong fan of MGS and for all parties involved - I am glad Kojima has moved on. He was making so many missteps with the MGS series by the time he left, I think it was clear it was past due.