Metal Gear Solid 2's big Raiden twist was a surprise to Solid Snake's voice actor, who only found out while he was recording for the game: "Okay... well, we'll see how people feel about that"

Solid Snake voice actor David Hayter has revealed that he only found out about Metal Gear Solid 2's Raiden twist while in the booth recording for the game.

Metal Gear Solid 2 may be beloved now and correctly cited as one of the best games ever made, but at the time, people were upset. It's not entirely an understatement to say it was the most anticipated game of its time, with all the pre-release (and even the box art) material showing Solid Snake on a new mission. Only for the game to come out, have Snake 'die' after the first two hours, and have the player be Raiden, who wasn't quite as cool, calm, and collected as his predecessor.

And it turns out that it wasn't just the people playing Metal Gear Solid 2 who were taken by surprise from the twist, as Solid Snake voice actor David Hayter told PC Gamer that he didn't know this crucial bit of info going in either. "I was surprised as anybody that Snake wasn't going to be the protagonist," Hayter says, adding, "I found out in the booth while we were recording. And I'm like, 'What the hell?' And they were like, 'No, no, it's gonna be Raiden as the player character.'"

Hayter himself saw the backlash to the decision coming, adding, "I was like: 'Wow. Okay… well, we'll see how people feel about that.' The game came out and was amazing, but there was understandable conversation about that." That isn't to say he's not a fan, as he called Metal Gear Solid 2 "an astounding game."

However, its follow-up was welcome news to Hayter, who said, "Metal Gear Solid 3 really came back home again, my favorite game in the series. It just really dialled down into what Snake is about, what Metal Gear is about." And ultimately, it wasn't too big of a deal; we got one of the best games ever made, albeit with a different protagonist who would go on to become universally beloved in his second starring role, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, while players got to play as a "Snake" again in Metal Gear Solid 3 (and got the best game ever made out of it).

Metal Gear Solid Snake actor says "there's no way" Konami can replicate Hideo Kojima's style, but don't write off another series entry yet: "Will it be the same? No; Could it be amazing? Sure."