Mathew

lway under the helipad where Fatman is fought, was now left entirely without purpose. Large and hastily made cuts intended to push the sword to the very end of the game ended up creating massive storyline issues, which led to an incredible amount of confusion about the purpose of the game from fans.

The developers intended to create proper sword gameplay for the sequel to Sons of Liberty, but were never successfully able to. The cancelled “Metal Gear Rising” originally started development in 2001 – not in 2008 – and was originally developed under the working title “Metal Gear Solid 3”. Raiden's transformation into a cyborg in Metal Gear Solid 4 represents another attempt to make the sword-based gameplay for Metal Gear Rising work, Raiden now being able to move in a superhuman fashion like Dante from Devil May Cry. This, however, was not enough to save the game from its eventual cancellation.

Solid Snake's original planned fate was much worse. Metal Gear Solid 2 ends with Solid Snake knowing he will die soon from old age, and labelled a terrorist by the series' new mainstay villains – The Patriots. Here is the original plan for Solid Snake following Sons of Liberty: Snake, who was blamed for the Tanker and Plant incidents, would also be blamed for the Arsenal Gear Manhattan incident that Metal Gear Solid 2 ends on. The Patriots would capture Solid Snake, and use the “terror threat” made apparent by the Manhattan incident to justify transforming America into a sci-fi dystopian nightmare, where the free flow of digital information is sharply suppressed. The plot of the sequel would be Raiden's attempt to rescue Solid Snake from imprisonment. However, Raiden would fail in this task, and The Patriots would successfully execute Solid Snake for his accused crimes. Raiden would swear “revenge” for the death of his fallen mentor and friend: vowing to discover the identities of The Patriots, and to confront and destroy them. 

1998's Metal Gear Solid was a massive, unexpected success for Konami, but it was a game that broke too many conventions for what a popular Japanese video game was “supposed” to look and play like. Important decision makers at Konami were uncomfortable with the idea for sequels to Metal Gear Solid being made without drastically retooling the series in the process.

Therefore, the sequel was made with the primary intention of fundamentally transforming the identity of Metal Gear Solid into one that fit Japanese sensibilities better. A new “Solid Snake” – a younger protagonist – would be introduced, sword-based gameplay was planned to replace guns, and the military themed setting of the series would be transformed into one that was purely science fiction. The name of the plan for this game by its developers – in creating the new “Solid Snake” and the fundamentally new world that he would inhabit – was the “Solid Snake Simulation” plan. Raiden and his world would be established by the end of Metal Gear Solid 2, laying the groundwork for further sequels in this style. Metal Gear Solid 2 was never intended to make the Metal Gear Solid series more “weird”, but instead more normal – more in line with standard Japanese pop culture sensibilities.

However, by the end of the development cycle for Metal Gear Solid 2, a major problem had emerged. The sword-based gameplay that the developers had created for this game was deemed not strong enough yet to be featured for any significant length. A hasty, late decision was made to push Raiden's acquisition of his signature sword from the middle of the game to its very end. Here is the original plan which was altered: in Shell 1 of the Big Shell, Raiden would be featured in gameplay similar to the original Metal Gear Solid. And in Shell 2, Raiden would battle “Tenguu” soldiers now wielding his iconic sword in what would be the new style of gameplay for the series. The area where Raiden was originally supposed to obtain the sword, the hal