Hideo Kojima was originally going to name the second Metal Gear Solid, M📖etal Gear Solid 3.
This week marked the 20th anniversary of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and to celebrate, Hideo Kojima has been sharing some development secrets about the game, including how Raiden came to be and that Kojima worked on a f♈ilm about a child soldier that was refused classification.
Although the 20th anniversary has now passed, Kojima isn't done sharing details about Metal Gear Solid 2's history. One such fact is that the sequel was originally going to skip the number two and go straight to being called Metal Gear Solid 3. Why? "You must be wondering. That's what we're aiming for".
, "This is another backstory I mentioned somewhere. When I first ordered the logo design for MGS2, the concept was "MGS III". The person in charge said to me, "Why the '3'? He said, "You're leaving out the '2'. So I answered. I said, "Well, you must be wondering. That's what we're aiming for. That's what I'm aiming for". I can't remember if I was serious or not."
, which says, "Metal Gear Solid 3 - the three roman numerals symbolise the three tallest skyscrapers in Manhattan, the setting of the game. Instead of proceeding on to MGS2, as one might expect, we are making MGS3. The question in peoples' minds, 'Why is it 3 and not 2?' will have a big impact."
Kojima doesn't give any clues as to what the big twist was going to be, but it's possible that it was going to represent the fact that players are playing as Raiden for most of the game, with the Solid Snake section being "Metal Gear Solid 2". It's made even more confusing when Metal Gear Solid 3 is a bloody prequel to the first game, so it's probably for the best that Kojima didn't try and overcomplicate the use of a number.
