In the TV world, writers love to discuss howThe Simpsonspredicted some aspects of today’s culture such as Disney buying Fox. In the gaming space, Hideo Kojima, the creator ofMetal Gear, is also on point with a lot of his games.
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In particular,Metal Gearhas had a lot of instances of predicting the figure. That said, last year’s release ofDeath Strandingalso has some creepy vibes to how 2020 is going. It’s hard to imagine Kojima not being able to predict the future at this point. Let’s see every instanceMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Libertygot close to actually predicting the future.
10Attack On New York City
Due to the 9/11 attack in New York City, the ending toMetal Gear Solid 2had to be changed at the last minute. This means that footage and or documents of said ending can be found online like onUnseen64. The original plot had Arsenal Gear plow through downtown NYC, destroying theStatue of Libertyin the process. While it didn’t have towers crumbling down, having an attack in NYC was still eerily too similar for what would become a November 2001 launch.
9Nuclear Inspections
An even crazier change to the story happened early on. The first draft had Solid Snake going to Iran and Iraq to inspect for nuclear weapons. At this time, real world politics hit too close to home for Western relations, so it was dropped.
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This went on to be even more eerie considering the U.S. inspected both countries for possible WMDs between 2002 and 2003. More details can also be found in that same Unseen64 link.
8Twitter Wars
“In this digitized world, trivial information is accumulating every second, preserved in all its triteness.” That was said by the glitched out version of Colonel Campbell to Raiden. At this time, the Internet (in terms of social media) was still in its infancy. Predicting how people would all share “trivial information” was not exactly mind boggling of a concept in 2001, but it also deserves to be on this list. If only Campbell said the word, “Twitter.”
7Fake News
In that same speech, Campbell would go on to talk about how social media could also infect the news and how people would be easily swayed by it. That is to say,Metal Gear Solid 2predicted fake news. UnlikeThe Simpsons, this game did not predict who would become President of the United States, though. This is like a half victory forMetal Gear Solid, but it is still an odd thing to predict in 2001.
6The Secret Government
The Patriots were first introduced in this game. While the idea of a shadow government is not original forMetal Gear Solid, it is an interesting idea to think about in this manner. It’s not so much a secret government so much as it is a commentary on the wealthy ruling the poor and weak society. With the current U.S. climate, it hits home especially hard.
5Russian Tensions
In cinema, it is a time honored cliche that villains are either Nazis, or Russians. That’s how it was in the 80s and 90s at least, so Russia having a hand in the plot of this game isn’t that much of a revelation.
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That said, it can be surprisingly connected to the rumors about the United States working with Russia to win the 2016 election. Candidates can be bought, which is exactly how The Patriots work.
4Drone Warfare
Metal Gear Soliddidn’t exactly invent drones. The drones found in this game are different than those found today, and thankfully they aren’t surveilling society & shooting down citizens just yet. In fact, drones aren’t even patrolling public society in the game and are instead an extra step for security. While the drone future hasn’t exactly happened, it could happen any day now.
3Memes
“Life isn’t just about passing on your genes. We can leave behind much more than just DNA. Through speech, music, literature, and movies…” That was part of Snake’s speech at the end of the game. He’s basically talking about the idea of memes being passed down which only continues deeper as the series went on. Here is a quote from Monsoon inMetal Gear Risingto really hit home what this franchise thinks about memes. “Memes. The DNA of the soul.”
2Raiden Bin Laden
In katakana, Raiden’s name appears like this “ライデン.” In Kanji, it looks like this “雷電” and there is a reason why this is controversial. The katakana could be interpreted as Laden. In katakana, Laden looks like this “ラーディン.” Don’t worry, if that is confusing, just know that Raiden dodged a bullet by going with the kanji writing instead to avoid any Osama Bin Laden controversies. ThisKotakuarticle goes a bit deeper if this Japanese lesson was a bit hard to understand.
1The Tanker Oil Spill
The BP oil spill in 2010 was one of the worst in history. While that involved a pipe bursting underwater and not a tanker spilling over like in this game, the two events could be tied together. In an effort to clean up the water, a plant was built inMetal Gear Solid 2which is where the second part of the game takes place. That plant did not happen in reality, but again, the territory is rather familiar.
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