If you’re a fan of Solid Snake, or perhaps more specifically, of Solid Snake’s rear end, then your heartfelt thanks should be directed towards one particular Metal Gear Solid lead, according to an interview with two industry veterans.
In a 2003 interview originally featured in Hyper PlayStation 2 magazine and now available on Shmuplations, Metal Gear Solid art director Yoji Shinkawa and veteran Square Enix designer Tetsuya Nomura spoke about their design processes. Shinkawa in particular discussed how having spent his career largely working on action games led to a particular focus on his characters’ behinds.
“I’ve done more action games than any other in my time,” begins Shinkawa, while asking Nomura what’s different about designing characters for an RPG versus an action title. “So I spend a lot of time fussing over the details of the characters’ backsides, since that’s the side the player sees the most in-game. Especially the butts,” he laughs.
In response, Nomura, who was working on Kingdom Hearts at the time, replies that it’s important that character designs work while in motion, something that isn’t as much of a concern in an RPG. “There’s no real design limits for RPGs, but in action games you have to make sure it looks good in motion. In RPGs the characters perform a wider variety of movements and actions, so more than movement per se, I focus on making their designs fit into the world and atmosphere of the game.”
Beyond Snake’s rear end, Shinkawa has been responsible for some of the best-looking games of the past few decades, working as an art director on all of the Metal Gear Solid series, Death Stranding, and currently, Death Stranding 2, in which we’ll all be hoping for some more stellar work from the master himself.
Be sure to check out our hands-on preview of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater to see what we’ve made of it so far.