Hideo Kojima admits Metal Gear Solid motion capture was “trial and error”, but still revitilised the industry

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is still in development at Konami as a remake that not only uses the original PS2 game’s voice lines, but also it’s motion capture data for animations. Ever since the release of Metal Gear Solid: Integral, the series has made use of motion capture for its animations, even down to Snake Eater’s “funny walk” cycle.

In a recent explanation to fans, Metal Gear Solid director Hideo Kojima explained that the team’s use of motion capture was “trial and error” until the release of Snake Eater. However, the quality of animation work within Kojima’s classic games ended up changing the games industry altogethr.

Kojima looks back at Metal Gear Solid motion capture

Speaking to fans on Twitter in response to a clip of Metal Gear Solid 2’s development, Kojima explained that the team behind the game was learning as they were going. With motion capture technology still in its infancy, and very rarely used for video games, it was a huge learning experience for the game director.

“We experimented with magnetic motion capture in “Metal Gear Solid: Integral”, and in MGS2, we adopted optical motion capture for the first time,” Kojima told fans. “Was the shooting done about 25 years ago? Well, back then, everything was trial and error, but every day felt fresh and exciting.”

Kojima’s push for motion captured animation in the MGS games have given them a timeless look that many other games of the era don’t have. While Snake Eater’s upcoming remake looks fantastic, playing the original game in the now-fixed Master Collection shows just how fantastic the cast’s performances are.

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Motion Capture forever

Hideo Kojima games and motion capture have become inseparable with the game director moving ever closer to a true filmic style. Death Stranding and its upcoming sequel, On the Beach, boast some of the most realistic motion capture yet, and Kojima’s in-development Xbox horror game OD looks even better.

While the success of Kojima’s classic games caused most of the game’s industry to move towards motion capture animation, Kojima games have always used the technology to its fullest. Decades later, Metal Gear Solid still holds up, and Kojima’s games likely always will.

For more Metal Gear content, read about how an MGS 4 producer was “frustrated” by the perfection of Batman: Arkham Asylum or read about how Kojima wants aliens to see his work far into the future.