14 years after its release, game auteur Hideo Kojima reveals what he truly regrets about the PSP title, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Highlights
- Hideo Kojima shares his "one regret" about Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker — a missed opportunity with a famous song in a crucial scene.
- While Kojima didn't specifically name the song, fans seem to think it was Imagine by John Lennon.
- Rumors suggest that Konami's new strategy of remasters and remakes may lead to a re-release of Peace Walker for current-gen consoles.
On the anniversary of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Hideo Kojima has revealed the "one regret" he holds about the original PlayStation Portable game. Interestingly, this concern isn't related to Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's gameplay or story but another key immersive aspect.
Having been released in 2010, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is a title etched in the history of Sony's highly successful PSP handheld. The game is distinguished for featuring a slew of tough boss battles and challenging levels and thus considered as one of the hardest Hideo Kojima games ever. Recently, Kojima shared intriguing trivia about the game's final boss battle and underscored his feelings about it.
Spoiler alert: The following text contains story spoilers for Metal Gear Solid: Peace WalkerIn a recent tweet posted after Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker turned 14 on April 28, director Hideo Kojima revealed his regret at having failed to use a certain song for a cutscene that takes place near the end of the game. In his tweet, Kojima highlighted that the unnamed song would have played during the sequence where the Boss AI-controlled mecha, Peace Walker, drowns itself to prevent a nuclear attack. Unfortunately, the intended music didn't make its way into the Sony PSP stealth hit as publisher Konami couldn't secure the rights. Moreover, the game director stated that the two parties negotiated "until the very end" but couldn't come to an agreement because Peace Walker was a "gun shooting game." He added that reaching out to the artist's family itself also came to no avail.
In his post, Kojima labeled losing out on using the "famous song" as his "one regret" about Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Giving hints about which song it could be, he mentioned that it "fit the 'peace' and '70's' [sic] theme" prevalent throughout the game. In the comments, fans picked up clues from Kojima's tweet and suggested songs that fit his description of the unnamed song. Several users said that the music the game auteur alluded to could be John Lennon's Imagine, which came out in 1971. Keeping in mind that Imagine's lyrics also talk of peace, a theme central to the game, it seems like an informed guess.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Could Be Re-Released in the Near Future
Konami is currently looking to revive its AAA game business after leaving its popular franchises, such as Metal Gear and Silent Hill, mostly dormant over the past several years. In 2023, the Japan-based company launched Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, and it is now focused on rolling out Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a remake of the 2004 original game.
Excitingly, this new strategy of re-releasing Metal Gear games as remasters and remakes suggests that Peace Walker could also get the same treatment. Back in October 2023, rumors said that Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2's content included ports of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, and Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain for the latest consoles. If this turns out to be true, fans can expect to play Peace Walker on a current-gen console for the first time since Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection dropped in 2011.
Franchise Metal Gear Solid Platform(s) PS3 , Xbox 360 , PSP Released June 8, 2010 Developer(s) Kojima Productions Publisher(s) Konami Genre(s) Stealth See at Walmart