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10 Ways Metal Gear Can Continue After Kojima Leaves Konami

10 Ways Metal Gear Can Continue After Kojima Leaves Konami

Well, it’s the end of an era. Hideo Kojima is leaving Konami, and Kojima Productions is being disbanded. Meanwhile, Konami is continuing the Metal Gear franchise despite Kojima’s wishes. So where does the franchise go from here? How will Konami continue the franchise without losing that unique brand of Kojima magic and, for that matter, insanity? Well, here’s what we think they can do that would keep us playing the series long past Kojima’s involvement.

Continue the Rising Franchise

Continue the Rising Franchise

Metal Gear Rising was a fantastic game. It was both an interesting action game and a really cool extension of the Metal Gear franchise. Kojima was only slightly related to the project. It was mostly done by Platinum games and Kenji Saito. I wouldn’t mind seeing him take on a Metal Gear Rising 2. Robot Raiden isn’t that bad of a character, after all, and Rising is the latest game in the franchise chronologically, so why not give it another shot?

Remake Metal Gear Solid

Remake Metal Gear Solid

It’s been a while since we played Metal Gear Solid . The game was a product of the PS1’s limitations, and now that we have the technology that made Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain , it would be great to see this game get the remake treatment. Snake could be portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, and we can see Snake act the way that current Konami envisions him. Heck, this time around Psycho Mantis can use the internet to tell what you have been doing, and maybe even scold you for looking at porn.

Remake the Original Metal Gear

Remake the Original Metal Gear

Few people have even played the original Metal Gear for the NES and MSX. Most people consider the Metal Gear series to start with Metal Gear Solid . Even better, Metal Gear takes place immediately after The Phantom Pain chronologically. So this is pretty much the game that Metal Gear fans are expecting next. Just take the Phantom Pain game engine and port in the original Metal Gear story! It will sell like crazy.

Remake Metal Gear 2

Remake Metal Gear 2

Ok, ok, I promise I won’t talk about remaking games that are already out past this. But still, for as few people have played Metal Gear , even fewer have played Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for the MSX2. Heck, it’s barely even considered canon. This game was sort of “replaced” by Metal Gear Solid , which elaborated on Solid Snake’s history and introduced new antagonists. But it would be pretty cool to see the plot as it was originally designed in current-gen graphics.

Continue into the Future

Continue into the Future

Metal Gear Rising took place in the distant future of… 2016. Well, since that bleak cyberpunk future will soon be upon us, Konami can always push the Metal Gear franchise further into the future. It could give us a look at what warfare will look like in 2050, 2100, or further. Considering cyborg ninjas are commonplace in Metal Gear ‘s 2016, 100 years in the future will be mind-blowing. Who would star in this game? Another clone of Snake or something. There are plenty of them running around.

Reboot the Franchise

Reboot the Franchise

When I was thinking of this list, I was thinking of a lot of “what if” scenarios. I particularly like “what if” fan fiction style games that screw around with a franchise’s timeline. Heck, some of our favorite franchises, like The Legend of Zelda , officially partake in this practice. But instead of listing every “what if” idea, I simply looked toward examples like Tomb Raider and figured, “eh, just reboot the franchise.” If Kojima isn’t going to be involved, why not just start over from scratch?

Keep Kojima On as a Contractor

Keep Kojima On as a Contractor

Even though Kojima and Konami had a falling out, Konami knows how valuable Kojima is. That’s why he and his team are being kept on as contractors for now. While his studio is pegged as having been dissolved around December, there’s no particular reason why Konami can’t just keep him on. Granted, this may be against Kojima’s wishes, or Konami’s wishes for that matter, but weirder things have happened. Coming back as a consultant for the franchise that you originally created is a practice that has become increasingly common as franchises are bought and re-bought in our current market.

Continue the Metal Gear Movie Project

Continue the Metal Gear Movie Project

Metal Gear was supposed to be made into a movie, and now that Kiefer Sutherland is involved, I don’t see why the project shouldn’t continue. It was announced in 2006 and was supposed to come out in 2011. However, the project was put on indefinite hold. Kojima said:

“Honestly, I’m a movie fan and that’s very special to me. I honestly would love to make a movie someday, but that said, I think it has to be a certain special game that has to provide that right setting. But I don’t think that game will be Metal Gear Solid . Metal Gear Solid was developed specifically to become a game. …If it were to be made into a movie it would have to be something completely new. I wouldn’t use my current scripts. I think I’d have to get somebody to get a new script and somebody else to direct it as a movie.”

Well, problem solved! Kojima isn’t involved anymore, so let’s get someone else on that script and make that movie!

Make the Franchise Episodic

Make the Franchise Episodic

Episodic games are all the rage these days. Resident Evil Revelations 2 just proved that action games work just fine in episodic format. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes proved that we will pay a hefty price for only short snippets of gameplay. So why not make this your actual format? Give us several episodes of Ground Zeroes style gameplay featuring several different time periods in Metal Gear ’s history. I’d certainly come back every month to see it.

Make Metal Gear Without the Metal Gear Name

Make Metal Gear Without the Metal Gear Name

And now for the stupidest option, but also the option I want to see the most. Kojima can just make the Mighty No. 9 of Metal Gear . It doesn’t have to use the Metal Gear name. It doesn’t have to feature Snake. It just has to be this awesome tactical espionage game that features everything in Metal Gear we love, from smoking cigarettes to Kojima’s truly bizarre storytelling. Konami doesn’t have the monopoly on spies and cyborg ninjas. Now that you are free, Kojima, you can do whatever the heck you want.

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