If you’ve watched John Carpenter’s Escape from New York and played Metal Gear Solid, you’ll have noticed a number of similarities between the action film and Kojima’s stealth epic. Not the least of which is the protagonist’s name, along with the signature eyepatch that shows up on Big Boss, and the underwater craft he uses to sneak into Shadow Moses.
You’d think John Carpenter or CanalPlus which owns the rights to Escape from New York would sue. As it turns out, while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the legal tussle with Luc Besson over Lockdown, Carpenter revealed that this was the company’s intention for Kojima as well.
“CanalPlus wanted to go after the video game Metal Gear Solid, which is kind of a rip-off of Escape From New York, too. But I told them not to do that. I know the director of those games, and he’s a nice guy, or at least he’s nice to me.”
Too bad Konami wasn’t as nice to Kojima, huh?