It’s safe to say that a lot of people were taken by surprise when Kojima Productions first revealed they were working on a Metal Gear Solid title for the iPod Touch/iPhone. But according to Hideo Kojima himself, that wasn’t always the case.
The original idea to port the IP to Apple’s device had been handled by Konami’s digital and mobile division. Kojima and company were only responsible for checking the content, making sure it fit with the feel of the series and its universe. So what happened?
“Oh, this is really a crap game,” Kojima says of their first reaction to the now scrapped Metal Gear Solid iPod title.
At that point, Kojima Productions took over, starting the game from scratch. This, he says, is one of the reasons it took longer than six months to develop. The other reason? Their idea had originally contained a stealth element, eventually scrapped. Why?
“Japanese people would mostly be playing it on the train, and every time it stopped, they’d get spotted,” he said, half-jokingly.
Would you have rather played a Metal Gear Solid touch stealth title? Do you feel it would have stuck closer to the core of the series’ experience?
