MGS3 PRODUCTION BACKGROUND NOTES

Shagohod
The word "shagohod" is a Russian word the production team looked up which means "bi-pedal" or "walker".

Tselinoyarsk
Tselinoyarsk is a fictional name of a fictional location. The name itself was made up of Russian words the production team looked up: - tselina = virgin soil, undeveloped land - yar = cliff - sk = word end

Raidenovich
As Kojima explained it, the origin of the name "Raidenovich" was the original phrase in Japanese - ライデンのビッチ, which is pronounced "raiden no bitch", which literally translates to "thunderbolt's bitch".

Sources of Inspiration
George Orwell's "1984" (1949).
"Papillon" (1961).
Ian Fleming's James Bond 007. Especially "Dr No" (1963).
"The Great Escape" (1963).
Richard Dawkins' "The Selfish Gene" (1976).

Connery Bond
In Metal Gear 2, the character portrait of Big Boss was modelled after Sean Connery. This was one of the factors behind Kojima imagining a 007 theme for MGS3. Because if the old Big Boss is the old Sean Connery, then the young Big Boss would be the young Sean Connery. And the young Sean Connery is James Bond. Therefore, Naked Snake is James Bond.

Doc Campbell

Sometimes, when the Game Over screen comes up, out of Colonel Campbell's mouth would be "タイムパラドックスだ！ Time paradox!" This is actually a "Back To The Future" movie reference. In the Back To The Future movie series, Doc Emmett Brown often utters the phrase "time paradox". The Japanese language voice over actor of Doc Brown is 青野武 Aono Takeshi, who is also the voice actor of Colonel Roy Campbell. So when Colonel Campbell shouts "Time paradox!", it is as if Doc Brown is shouting the phrase.

Major Tom
The name "Major Tom" was taken from the David Bowie song "Space Oddity".

The Boss
The Boss was inspired by the image of English actress Charlotte Rampling.

The End's Parrot
The End's parrot is the grandmother of Emma's parrot.

Cobra Codenames
The names of the Cobra Unit members are all feelings and emotions born out of war. Namely "pain", "fear", "fury", "sorrow", "joy". And The End was originally planned as "The Doom". But this was changed in the end, partly due to the game "Doom 3".

1964.8.24
The date of the Virtuous Mission is the 1 year old birthday of Kojima Hideo. Kojima had intended on using his actual birthdate (1963.8.24), but because he wanted the Kennedy assassination (1963.11.22) to be a factor in the storyline, he decided to postpone the Virtuous Mission by a year.

Way To Fall
Director Kojima heard the song and really liked it. He made the decision to use this song as the ending theme without telling the production team.

Jungle Theme

Harry Gregson-Williams is the composer of the cinema cutscene music for both MGS2 and MGS3. At the end of the production of MGS2, Williams said to Kojima that he had had enough of making high-tech sounding music about high-tech scientific laboratories or government research facilities and buildings and the like, and he doesn't want to do it anymore. If the next game is set in the jungles, maybe then will he consider returning to compose the music for it. At that time, Kojima had already been long contemplating the possibility of creating a game in a jungle setting using the much improved gaming platform technologies not available in the old Metal Gear days. (Kojima wanting to create an immersive jungle based game started around the time Metal Gear 2 on the MSX2 was finished.) The fun bit here is, to coerce Williams into returning, when first telling Williams about the project, Kojima told him the creation of MGS3 in a jungle setting was because of him. It wasn't until very late into production, when all the music were about completed, did Kojima tell Williams the truth.

Ideas Carried Over From MGS2
The 100 year old soldier idea was carried over from "Oldboy" of MGS2.
The teacher of Big Boss idea was carried over from "Oldboy" of MGS2.
The overall design of The Fear was based on Character Designer Shinkawa Yoji's initial design of Raiden.
The element of smell is an idea cut from MGS2.
The ability to fight when in the water is already designed into the MGS2 battle system, but was not used in the finished game.
The idea of blowing up enemy ammo or food storage buildings affecting the behaviors of enemy soldiers was an idea cut out of MGS2.
During radio calls, Snake is shown moving in actual time in the background, giving off the sense that the time flow is not stopped. This idea was derived from the unaccomplished attempt at a real time codec in MGS2.
MGS2 Production Background Notes.

Who is W.A?
W.A, the credited singer of the Japanese version Snake Eater song as heard on the MAXI Single CD, is 和田アキ子 Wada Akiko.

Guy Savage
The mini-game "Guy Savage" that is Snake's nightmare in the prison cell is a future Konami game still in production, the game designer and director of which is 村田周陽 Murata Shyuuyou, a main member of the MGS3 production team. (Script team, voice recording director, etc.)

Created From Scratch
To make Naked Snake a different character completely from Solid Snake, the CG model of Naked Snake was not remodelled off of MGS2 Solid Snake, but was completely redrawn from scratch. As a result, Naked Snake has considerably more joints and facial motion points than Solid Snake, making him far more flexible and mobile, with more defined facial expressions.

John Carpenter - Director "Escape From New York", "Ghosts of Mars", "Halloween"
MGS3 is one of the greatest action games of all time. This game leaves all the others in the dust!

Guillermo Del Toro - Director "Blade 2", "Hellboy"
All of a sudden, PAIN, FEAR and SORROW are things I look forward to. KONAMI has nailed the mood, the moves, the fights. Awesome!

Alex Proyas - Director "Dark City", "I, Robot"
Hi - I liked it. The absolutely insane action and bizarre alternate history look like a winning combination. It's intense, witty, and I particularly liked some of the villains. This looks like it will take the Metal Gear Series to the next level. Thanks for sharing this with me and please give HIDEO KOJIMA my regards.

John Woo - Director "A Better Tomorrow", "Face/Off", "MI2"
The Metal Gear series has played an important part in the history of the video game industry. The game's successful balance of action and stealth made the Snake character more exciting to play with each new installment released. The classic battles between Liquid Snake and Solid Snake definitely belong on the big screen.

坂口博信 Sakaguchi Hironobu - Creator "Final Fantasy" Series

MGS4 Production Team (as of 2004)
村田周陽 Murata Shyuuyou, Director
今泉健一郎 Imaizumi Kenichirou, Producer

MGS3 Completion Unveiling Party「MGS3 Premium Preview」(11.25.2004)
小島秀夫 Kojima Hideo, 新川洋司 Shinkawa Yoji, 北村龍平 Kitamura Ryuhei, ゴジラ Godzilla, ピポサル Piposaru, サブラガールズ Sabra Girls.

Calorie Mate
大塚製薬「カロリーメイト」 カロリーメイトは、偏食しがちだったり、時間がない、忙しいなどで食べたいのに食べられない現代人の食生活を踏まえ、栄養摂取と空腹解消を考えて生まれたバランス栄養食です。
"Snake likes chocolate flavor Calorie Mate." - Director Kojima.

TRIUMPH/BonnevilleT120
トライアンフ ボンネビルT120 ゲーム中のキャラクター「EVA」が乗るバイクとして登場。 100年以上の歴史を持つ英国の二輪車メーカー「トライアンフ」から1959年に登場したボンネビルT120は低速からの押し出しの強い、360度クランクの美しい直立2気筒エンジンを持つ。 本物を求め、自分流のスタイルを求める多くの人に愛され続けてきたこの美しいスタイルは、今日まで流々と受け継がれ現在では最新技術を取り入れたトラディショナルとして生まれ変わりトライアンフの主力製品となっている。 ちなみにボンネビルというネーミングは、トライアンフが世界最速記録を達成した地「ソルトレイク・ボンネビル・フラッツ（米・ユタ州）」に由来する。