Big Boss (Metal Gear) - Creation and Design

Creation and Design

During his first appearances, Big Boss' visual appearance was inspired by actor Sean Connery. However, for the ports of the game released as part of Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, the original design was replaced by Yoji Shinkawa's design. In the making of Metal Gear Solid 3, Hideo Kojima asked Shinkawa to make Big Boss' younger self Naked Snake similar to Solid Snake but with the differences that unlike Solid Snake, Naked Snake was a rookie and thus acted more naive. Shinkawa stated he had no difficulties in designing Naked Snake as it was basically a revised version of Solid Snake. As a result, Naked Snake is virtually identical to Solid Snake from the previous Metal Gear Solid games in terms of appearance. Since the game's trailers did not state that Naked Snake was the future Big Boss, Kojima stated in an interview prior to its release that he wanted fans to keep to their imagination which was Naked Snake's identity. Although by the ending of Metal Gear Solid 3, Naked Snake was given the title of Big Boss, Kojima stated "he's not really the Big Boss yet." With Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, he wanted to explain how Naked Snake became the Big Boss who appeared in the first Metal Gear game as Solid Snake's enemy.