Hideo Kojima's staff had to gift him extra Lego so he could finish developing the Metal Gear Solid map

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Kojima must've got a lot of Lego for his birthday

Metal Gear Solid
(Image credit: Konami)

When Hideo Kojima ran out of Lego pieces trying to plan out Metal Gear Solid's map, his staff gifted him new pieces on his birthday.

Over the past weekend, Kojima took to his English Twitter account to reveal several new facts about the development of the original Metal Gear Solid. The director writes that he actually went about constructing the entire Shadow Moses island from Lego in 3D, to plan out Metal Gear Solid's entire map for the development team.

However, Kojima eventually ran out of Lego pieces, and was seemingly forced to abandon the idea. That is, however, until his staff working with him at Konami gifted him a sizeable amount of Lego pieces on his birthday one year, ensuring that he could finish reconstructing Shadow Moses in full.

It's interesting to remember this probably would have been taking place around 1995, years before Lego could become the global powerhouse we know it as today. Lego sure doesn't come cheap nowadays, and it'd be fascinating to know how readily available sets and pieces were in Japan back in the mid-'90s.

Whatever the case, it's a relief that Kojima's development staff came together to help the director over the finish line. Who knows how differently Shadow Moses might have turned out, had the director not been able to construct a Lego recreation of the island for others to learn from.

Kojima also recently revealed that obtaining historical footage for Metal Gear Solid was a headache, as he didn't have the connections and know-how that he now possesses in his more seasoned years. 

Check out our Metal Gear Solid 6 wishlist for a complete rundown of things we want to see from a new entry in the series. 

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer
Freelance Writer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.