Hideo Kojima

In the history of videogames, Hideo Kojima is a representative character because he was the creator of several world-renowned videogame series such as Metal Gear, Snatcher, Policenauts , among others; for consoles like Playstation, Game boy, Nintendo, PSP, Xbox and for PC. In his career as a video game creator, designer and writer, Hideo Kojima has produced more than 60 widely accepted video games, which is why he is recognized in this industry as one of the most talented characters in the world of entertainment.

Biography of Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima was born in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan , on August 24, 1963.

As a child he wanted to be a film director because his family always watched movies every Friday night regularly. Despite his desire to work in the world of cinema, he studied economics at the university level in 1980. In his university career, he wrote many novels and was able to explore the world of video games , where he saw the opportunity to give his written productions a visual environment that he could design.

In 1986, Kojima began working as a designer at the video game production company known as Konami . The first game he worked on as an assistant director was Penguin Adventure. He then worked on the development of Lost World, but it was canceled by the company.

In 1987, he released his first game titled Metal Gear for the MSX2 PC console. This was well received by Japanese, European and Brazilian critics, because it had not yet reached the American market. With this great success, Kojima had the opportunity to develop several MSX video games from the Metal Gear series.

In 1988, he launched Metal Gear worldwide and Snatchet. This latest video game is inspired by the Cold War and has a cyberpunk style.

A new version of Snatcher for PC Engine and later for SEGA CD appeared in 1992.

In 1994, Kojima designed the Policenauts video game and a series of games called Tokimeki Memorial dating sim.

In 1998 he launched the acclaimed Metal Gear Solid , a game that would be the rebirth of the saga.

In 2003, the video game Boktai produced by Kojima for the Game Boy Advance appears to become one of Kojima’s new series.

In 2006, the third part of Metal Gear Solid is present in the video game market and has very good reviews from its audience.

In 2015 Kojima released the fifth video game in the Metal Gear Solid series, left Konami and developed a new video game studio with which he began to work on his new productions for Playstation. A year later Kojima presented his game “Death Stranding” , which he claims will create a new genre of video game on the market where death will be seen from another point of view.

Currently, Hideo Kojima has more than 30 years in the development of video games and his work has been popular worldwide with different recognitions and with the success of sales that his works have had in different international markets.

Style

The style of Hideo Kojima is present for the first time with the sagas of the Metal Gear Solid game that are characterized by having a well-argued history in political and military intrigues in which science fiction and fantasy are mixed . This coupled with well-built characters as if they had come out of an action movie and the game’s three-dimensional graphics gives Hideo Kojima’s video games their particular flair.

According to Kojima, his style is inspired by other video games but especially in action films and science fiction , as well as Japanese anime.

Featured video games by Hideo Kojima

Among the most outstanding video games of Hideo Kojima we can mention the following:

• Metal Gear series : in this series Hideo Kojima produced, directed and in some cases wrote the script for 23 editions of this video game for Playstation, Xbox, PSP, Game boy and PC consoles. These are:
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)
  • Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014)
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013)
  • Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010)
  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)
  • Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel 2 (2007)
  • Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus (2007)
  • Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006)
  • Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (2006)
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (2005)
  • Metal Gear Ac! D² (2005)
  • Metal Gear Ac! D (2004)
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)
  • Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004)
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (2002)
  • The Document of Metal Gear Solid 2 (2002)
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)
  • Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (2000)
  • Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions (1999)
  • Metal Gear Solid: Integral (1999)
  • Metal Gear Solid (1998)
  • Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990)
  • Metal Gear (1987)
• Lunar Knights series: In this video game Kojima worked as a producer . This video game came out for the Nintendo DS console in 2006.
• Boktai series: for this series Hideo Kojima worked as a producer only and generated three editions of this video game for the Game Boy Advance console. These are:
  • Boktai: Sabata’s Counterattack (2005)
  • Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django (2004)
  • Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand (2003)

• Zone of the enders series : For this series Kojima worked as a producer generating 3 products of which only 2 have gone on sale. These video games were designed for the Playstation 2 and Game Boy Advance consoles. These are:
  • Enders Project (No date)
  • Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner (2003)
  • Zone of the Enders (2001)

• Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series: In this video game series Hideo Kojima worked as executive director, producer and drama director. These games were designed for different consoles such as Nintendo, Playstation, PC, iOs and android. The three volumes in this series were:
  • Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 3: Tabidachi no Uta (1999)
  • Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 2: Irodori no Love Song (1998)
  • Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series Vol. 1: Nijiiro no Seishun (1997)

• Snatcher Series: This Snatcher series has spawned four editions of Hideo Kojima’s work as writer, director, and producer. These games came out to the European and American market for Mega CD, SEGA CD, Playstation consoles among others. The three editions of this video game were:
  • Snatcher CD-ROM (1992)
  • SD Snatcher (1990)
  • Snatcher (1988)
  • Snatcher (2011)

Acknowledgments

In his life Hideo Kojima has received many recognitions among which we can mention the following:

• In 2002, Newsweek magazine ranks Hideo Kojima as one of the top ten most outstanding people of this year.
• In 2008, Next-Gen magazine ranked Kojima in seventh place on the list of “Hot 100 Developers 2008”. This year he also received the MTV Game Award for best game creator.
• In 2009, Kojima received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Game Developers Conference and is ranked sixth among the best game creators of all time.
• In 2011, the Academies of Interactive Arts and Sciences in collaboration with Gamelab awarded Kojima Productions.
• In 2014, the National Academy of Video Games Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) recognized Kojima’s work for the works of the Metal Gear Solid series, Volume V.
• In 2015, Famitsu magazine honored Hideo Kojima with the “MVP” award for the video games released this year.
• In 2016, Kojima entered the AIAS Hall of Fame with the DICE award and received The Game Award Insdustry Icon Award for Metal Gear Solid work.
• In 2017, in the Brazil Game show Hideo Kojima receives the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Curiosities

There are some curiosities about the life and work of Hideo Kojima. Here are some curiosities present in Kojima’s video games and in his life.

• The characters in the video game Snatcher are based on the American movies: Blade Runner, Terminator, The Invasion of the Body Thieves ; and the Japanese films Akira and Wicked city . In this game the robots are taken from the Terminator movie and the main character of the game is inspired by Blade Runner .
• Guillermo del Toro has participated in the scripts of the Silents Hills series by Hideo Kojima.
• The design of the characters in the Policenaut game is inspired by the policemen from the movie Lethal Weapon and that is why they look so much like the actors in this film (Mel Gibson and Danny Glover).
• His most recent video game is titled “Death Stranding” and according to Kojima this new game will change the way players see death.
• In his youth Hideo Kojima wrote many short and long stories for magazines that were never published.