Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Would Be Foolish to Remove a Heavily Memed Moment

It’s hard to deny that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has its work cut out for it. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is as iconic as they come, and necessarily left massive shoes to fill for any remake efforts. Now that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has officially taken on the challenge, it should be careful not to cut one of the original game’s most iconic moments.

Any remake of a game as acclaimed as Snake Eater will be initially met with skepticism. Among the prevailing criticisms, many simply ask if a remake could possibly live up to the original, as well as the purpose of trying to do so in the first place. Thankfully, the developers behind Delta have been very transparent about why Snake Eater is being remade. Apparently, the primary motivation is to refresh younger generations about the classic game. If this is the case, Delta can’t skip out on Snake Eater‘s ladder sequence.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater’s Fresh Coat of Paint Could Work Wonders For This Boss

The chance to rework some of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater’s best moments using modern technology could particularly benefit one boss.

Metal Gear Solid Remakes Face an Uphill Battle

Metal Gear Solid has never been known for being very self-serious, despite the heavy subject matter that the series often chooses to tackle. Snake Eater walked this line as well as any other game in the series, and Delta is certainly expected to follow the same standard. In fact, Metal Gear Solid Delta‘s faithfulness to the original has been a guiding principle since development began.

Likewise, there is no denying that Metal Gear Solid Delta has achieved more realistic graphics than Metal Gear Solid 3. However, developers should be careful not to walk this principle of realism too far in the opposite direction. After all, there is the noteworthy risk of compromising some of the “sillier” elements that made the original so special. In fact, one of the game’s silliest moments is also one of its most somber.

Why the Ladder Climb is Important to Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater

Snake Eater takes the classic Metal Gear approach to boss battles, in which players are stacked up against a group of exceptional soldiers one after the other. The End is a 100-year-old sniper, and one of the most intimidating boss battles in Metal Gear Solid 3, assuming players don’t exploit his old age to bypass the whole affair. After defeating The End, players are quickly faced with an even more intimidating obstacle. Ironically, that obstacle isn’t a soldier of any kind, but a very long ladder.

There’s no hyperbole in that statement, as the ladder climb takes more than two full minutes. Most of this climb happens in near-complete silence, with only a subtle breeze to accompany the player. Eventually, the vocals of Snake Eater‘s titular theme song begin to play, and they are never joined by any instrumentation whatsoever.

This may sound funny on its face, and in fairness, the ladder climb is indeed one of the most memed moments in Metal Gear. However, it also carries a great deal of significance in the game’s narrative. Importantly, the confrontation with The End serves as somewhat of a midpoint for the game, and the ladder climb is itself an intermission before the latter half of Snake Eater. Some may feel the length of the climb is a waste of time, but cutting it down would risk cutting the true power of the moment.

With the player being isolated to such a degree, and for such a long time, they are forced to use that time to reflect. This long moment of silence contrasts with the many bombastic scenes in the game, and is inseparable from the game’s themes of powerlessness. Despite the inherent humor of the ladder climb, its importance cannot be understated. If Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater really wants to recapture the heart and soul of the original, it should be careful not to compromise on this balance.

Discover the origin story of iconic military operative Snake and begin to unravel the plot of the legendary METAL GEAR series. METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER brings unprecedented new graphics, immersive stealth action gameplay and sounds to its riveting story as players once again return to the world of METAL GEAR.

Rival nations are secretly developing weapons that could threaten the future of mankind. Deep in the jungle, an elite soldier must combine stealth with survival to infiltrate the enemy and stop a weapon of mass destruction from triggering the largest full-scale war the world has ever seen.

ERA: THE 1960’S
BATTLE OF IDEOLOGIES
Relive history as the Cold War and geo-political landscape change

GAMEPLAY: SURVIVAL
BATTLE OF INSTINCTS
Outsmart enemies with camouflage, close-quarters combat, stalking, interrogating, climbing, hunting and treating injuries

SETTING: THE JUNGLE
BATTLE OF REPTILES
Pit yourself against an environment where traps catch enemies and prey, threats lurk in the shadows and noises alert predators

Systems