Hades duology presents a boy band called Snakes 1

A fan‘s Japanese casting for possible Metal Gea Solid remake

The cover of 2015’s Metal Gear Solid Substance 1: Shadow Moses by Hitori Nojima (Pen name of Death Stranding series co-writer Kenji Yano). This novelization of MGS1 written in Japanese that did help me cemented the voices below.

Introduction: creator zero, reviewer one at the Keighley’s

As 2025’s counterpart to NieR Automata I dreaded for swept the year’s Game Awards, my attention was focused on another corner: Hades II versus Death Stranding 2 On the Beach. Or the battle between reviewer Greg Kasavin, the Gamespot reviewer of MGS2 plus 3 and MGS “series creator” Hideo Kojima.

Cannot say I am surprised by the result of Supergiant’s first sequel taking home Best Action while DS2OTB won bugger all. The brand “A Hideo Kojima Game” used to mean rogue gallery with sauce, but that was almost a one-time deal back in the 20th century. Hades II, at the very least, got the outline of such a fascinating rouge gallery. Now if only Supergiant can commit to some dramatic tone, then they might be counted among the best saucer maker of this industry.

Around the same time as that end of the year extravaganza, Giantbomb was going over its renewal. I once saw it as an opportunity to remake my fan casing for Hades games’ Japanese dubbing. With those blogs being less than 5 years old, it would have been shameless. So, this other idea hit: how would this imaginary cast be mapped onto the cast of Metal Gear Solid series? I already did one for MGS3, so might well did the 3 many dubbed the Solid Snake trilogy.

This trilogy started with the forementioned “almost a one-time deal” in 1998, continued in 2001’s Kafkaesque Sons of Liberty and ended in 2008’s pool of wank sold as Guns of Patriots. This series of pulpy science fictional spy stories with way too many wiki pages sliced in being held at such high regard sure is a sign that video game is too young media form to prevent charlatans to reach the top.

1998’s MGS1 might also be the hardest one to remake. The game is basically a classic Pac-man game. Just ask Namco about its failed attempts to pull that brand into the polygonal 3D space. One upper side is MGS1’s exclusion of what Yahtzee Crowshaw called the “cock-up cascade” with Snake gunned easily after being discovered. Nowadays, it at least has to consider cover-based shooting, stealth and preferable a satisfying enough melee dubbed “close quarter combat”, the works.

But I am focusing on the voice cast, or at least trying to. What the Dan Ryckerts of the world do not realize is that Hideo Kojima LOVES to collect anime usual suspects as the collection of his collaborators. Little old me is just imagining a younger assemble more in pitch with the English dub. So, without further delay, allow me to start with Mr. “Constant Hard-on” himself. Ah, yes. Spoiler warning, even though I really do not give a rat’s ass about it. Spoiler Culture mixed with FOMO sure made corpo bold about being blunt.

1 The “Clint Eastwood” voice always belongs in a boy band

Makoto Furukawa as Solid Snake

(Mr. Furukawa would be my choice for Zagreus. I am also crazy enough to think that Mr. Hayter should move out of the way for Darren Korb when it comes to English-speaking Solid Snake.)

Associating gruffness with the iconic “Clint Eastwood like voice” is a false assumption. In his Academy Award winning flick Unforgiven, this too old for cowboy shit man sounded soothing than anyone. Enters Makoto Furukawa, who is usually cast as young, cool guys with a voice pitch much close to Mr. Eastwood than Akio Otsuka’s booming gravitas. Also, much more authentic than the gruff façade Kurt Russel and David Hayter put up for their respective Snake.

Now with the voice casting for player character out of the way, time to talk about how I want this non-existent remake plays. For one, space-slicing, a concept in close quarter combat all about keeping one in cover or concealment while exposing their enemies. A principal works on top-down and over-the-shoulder perspective.  

Interlude 1 Three Kojima collaborators

If Konami Digital Entertainment ever wants to wash away the stigma of “Fuckonami”, casting Hideo Kojima collaborators is inevitable. Actors work for good enough deals after all, so if they perform well for Konami, all might be forgiven.

Personally, I would separate “Hideo Kojima collaborators” generally into 3 age groups. First the mixed one who were already anime usual suspects back in 1990s. Second, those who were just old enough to be gob smacked by MGS1 in 1998 who got cast by Kojima after MGS4 marked the end of an era. Finally, those born after MGS1’s E3 showing put Kojima on the map. For example, both Ella Fanning and her Japanese dubber in Death Stranding 2 were born in 1998.

I would only include people from the first 2 groups, just couldn’t imagine someone born after MGS1’s release here. Kojima got something out of his system casting a young woman born after MGS2’s PS2 release in OD. But I am lacking imagination when it comes to members of Gen Z in my fantasy booking. So, no one younger than MGS1 for me.

2 Replacing the first dead man

Tomokazu Sugita as Cyborg Ninja/Gray Fox

(With Mr. Sugita’s experience in comic book adaption, he fits nicely into Supergiant’s comic book superhero like Heracles in Hades II.)

Metal Gear Solid franchise is no stranger to dead cast member on the Japanese voice over front. The first fatality occurred in May, 2000, around the time MGS2 was first shown during that year’s E3. Kaneto Shiozawa, the voice of Cyborg Ninja, past at the tender age of 46 after a falling injury. Had he not past, he could have voiced a young Ocelot in MGS3, but Takumi Yamasaki, who was recast into several Shiozawa’s roles after the latter’s untimely passing, was typically picked by Kojima and crew.

Here I got my own pick. Mr. Sugita became a Hideo Kojima collaborator in 2010’s Peace Walker as the heavily retconned Master Miller, a waste of the actor’s comedic talent. Seemingly to correct such waste, Sugita dubbed Conan O’Brien in Death Stranding and played Dan Ryckert’s favorite Dollman in the sequel.

 But I am dragging him back into the dramatic pit as Cyborg Ninja who is really Solid Snake’s old comrade Gray Fox. With the character being an obvious ripoff of G.I Joe’s Snake Eye, he needs someone with comic book adaption to voice.

The Cyborg Ninja boss fight is mostly a fist fight, so the remake better have damn good close quarter combat system to make this one satisfying. One way would be at least having 2 separate buttons, one for offense and other for defend, rather than MSGV’s one single win button. But melee, especially combo-based melee, is not Konami’s strong suit, since they never made a good enough fighting game in their arcade days. And Castlevania’s focus on swing angle makes it basically shooter. Guess outsourcing is the only way to go.

3 The smoking gal

Nana Mizuki as Nastasha Romanenko

(Mr. Mizuki should both sing and act as Euridice in Hades.)

To be honest I did not talk to Ms. Romanenko much during my playthrough of MGS1 back in 2014. Part of reason being I read that an MGS fan had the following thought after he rolled credits on MGS4 back in 2008: Nastasha was left out of this game completely! Why wasn’t she mentioned in the finale promised to answer everything? So, with the foreknowledge, I did not bother.

Still a chain-smoking lady talking about guns is a fascinating character. And Ms. Mizuki’s latest Kojima collaboration as the time of writing involved her dubbing a smoking Lea Seydoux in DS2OTB. She did not enter the Japanese voice acting scene when MGS1 was in production, so I say she deserves an extended role as this one. By “extended”, I mean having a digest or even unabridged audio book of the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth narrated by Ms. Mizuki in MGS2 remake and having her back as the arm provider for Snake in MGS4 remake.

And speak of smoking, guess this is as good as anyplace to talk about whether Solid Snake should have cigarette in the remake. Personally, I am not for it given that it’s filthy and not modern habit. In Jack Carr’s Reece novels, the born-in-1975 and enlisted in the late 1990s James never smokes.( Though I didn’t realize that until seeing papa Tom lit one up casually in the published in 2025’s 1968-setting Cry Havoc.) Needless to say I don’t think Solid Snake, who enlisted in the similar time frame as James Reece, should have this vice.

4 Replacing the second dead man

Akio Otsuka as Roy Campbell

(The one and only voice for Lord of the Greek Underworld!)

This is more of continuation from that MGS3 fantasy booking I did last year, where Mr. Otsuka got to do monologue there. It’s more Mr. Otsuka, who voiced all Snakes but Liquid in this franchise, came back to carry the roles played by the late Mr. Aono. That means playing the colonel in MGS1 remake, the robotic imposter in MGS2 remake, yelling “Time Paradox” in MGS3 remake and the senator Campbell in MGS4 remake.

Interlude 2 Two anime reunion for Mr. Furukawa

Just 2 voice actors co-stared with aforementioned Mr. Furukawa in 2 very different anime series.

5 Practically the narrator

Yutaka Aoyama as Revolver Ocelot

(Mr. Aoyama’s comedy enhancing voice-over narration in Kaguya Sama made him perfect for the role of Storyteller named Homer in both Hades games.)

Technically speaking, Koji Totani the voice of good old Ocelot was the second MGS cast member died between installment. But with MGS4’s Liquid Ocelot played Banjo Ginga, the voice of Liquid Snake, the actor was replaced Kojima and crew long before. Still, I cannot bring the extremely young sounding Kensho Ono as the older Ocelot. Enters the smooth sounding Aoyama.

This would be a Kaguya Sama reunion, though Mr. Aoyama would not be the voice-over narrator here. Though given that Kojima and crew made Ocelot into a mastermind of sort, the character might as well be a narrator. Neither player nor Solid Snake would know that as they first encounter the revolver wielding Russian. Maybe Aoyama can lend his voice to the Sorrow in a more worthy MGS3 remake someday as well.

In term of the boss fight against him, that can serve as the tutorial for the more nuanced side of cover-based shooting. Especially the slicing one’s way to a better angle part. And we can all throw away the myth of ricochet being an effective and reliable to shoot. Even the Hideo Kojima yes man’s MGS1 novelization in 2015 did away with that.

6 Replacing someone too old for this shit.

Mamoru Miyano as Hal “Otacon” Emmerich

(Mr. Miyano can sing as hauntingly as Darren Kobb and has more voice acting chop, so why shouldn’t him be the extremely Otacon like Orpheus in Supergiant’s Hades?)

2025’s Lazarus is not the second coming of Cowboy Bebop some Shinichiro Watanabe fans wrongly excepted. But the show did give Chad Stahelski a outing for his more er, out there action chorography, most for Mr. Miyano’s character Axel. Aforementioned Mr. Furukawa was also in the show voicing a bookish black man in glasses, so I guess my fantasy booking here reverses the casting there. Solid Snake is the cool action hero, preferably without 87/11’s acrobatic insanity, and Hal Emmerich is a nerd who pisses himself.

Interlude 3 the future Mrs. and Mr. Gender Bender

Despite being a walking talking dick joke, Solid Snake’s sex life never fits into the games he stars in. Big Boss and Eve at least have a nice slow build-up to a “Yeah, why the fuck not?” in Snake Eater, Solid Snake and Meryl Silverburgh desiring a love scene just feels all sorts of wrong. At least much worse than a manned up Johnny.

7 Masculine woman

Asami Seto as Meryl Silverburgh

(Imagine her as Melinoe in Hades II personally. With Ms. Judy Alice Lee being the renowned voice actress she is, maybe Konami has her on their radar for some role including this one.)

The aforementioned Mr. Furukawa made his breakthrough on the titular character of One-punch Man while Ms. Seto here had recently starred in a high fantasy show that can be dubbed One-punch Woman. Her role Scarlet is one young lass very good at and willing to punch bad guys. So, if the remake wants to make Meryl more into a young Solid Snake type, Furukawa and Seto make a good paring.

One major thing I dislike about Meryl would be the gun casting. Namely, Desert Eagle likely chosen for the lack of polygon and Kojima uncritically including movie tropes. If it’s up to me, she should have a Browning Hi-power, for 3 reasons

First, it would fit Snake’s “That’s an odd choice for a young girl” thought given the model being old rather than D-gale’s uselessly oversize. Second, this is a 9-mil system, something more fitting for an 8 years old girl if she got to start that early. Last but not least, this pistol was associated with real life snake eaters, so it can be explained away as a Campbell family heirloom. Heck, Meryl or Johnny might even manage to shoot a way out for Snake in MGS4’s Act 3 with this.

8 Emasculated-to-a-degree man

Ayumu Murase as Johnny Sasaki

(Mr. Murase’s “They/them” provoking voice makes him perfect for Chaos in both Hades games.)

Mr. Murase’s rather gender-neutral sounding voice had made him typecast into pretty boy in drag. As I read about a cross dressing (Direction being male to female.) character in the manga My Dress-up Darling, I wondered if Mr. Murase would be cast. When the animated adaption started to include this well put together cross dresser in July, 2025, he was voiced by Murase. Anway just thought he would do fine as Johnny, even though this non-player character would not be noticed until MGS4…

Interlude 4 “Babes””

How badly women are treated in things branded “A Hideo Kojima Game” is a topic beyond my ability to write. Still, here are 2 MGS1 treated with kiddy gloves.

9 The dame

Miyumi Sawashiro as Naomi Hunter

(The one and only voice for the queen of the Greek Underworld.)

In short, she sounds quite like Jennifer Hale. Ms. Sawashiro’s seductive voice is also the very embodiment of film noir feme fatale, so she can play Hal Emmerich’s doomed love interest, not here, but in the grand finale.

10 The lass

Rie Takahashi as Mei Ling

(Just the voice of a fully kitted out Athena having some words of wisdom.)

Ms. Takahashi’s radio is your typical sweet voice for anime lass, just like how Hideo Kojima cast Houko Kuwashima three decades ago. Though should the post save game be kept or not is another thing entirely.

Interlude 5 the rouge gallery

Guess this is a fitting place to crowbar in my thoughts on the book pictured at the start. I did not go in with high exception for 2 things, A it was Konami’s blatant cash crab at the hype circle for Phantom Pain. B the author is a Hideo Kojima yes-man who still works at the renewed Kojima Production. But, despite a slow start, I like the book a lot. Raymond Benson’s James Bond wannabe bullshit published in 2008 can take a hike compared to this.

“Slow start” is mainly about a New York resident named Arthur in the aughts. He read the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth and wanted more. Preferably the blow-by-blow happening on Shadow Moses during 2005’s event. In March, 2009, through some “knowing a guy who knows another guy” connection online, Arthur got his hands on an internet creepy pasta titled “metalgear_solid”. The rest is a faithful novelization of the 1998 game.

By “faithful”, I do mean the whole thing is a well-paced and high-octane ride, though the Patriots was crowbarred back in. Shame, Campbell did not have the one-liners on FOXHOUND members. And the author did not include my “Ocelot took Merly as his hostage” endgame theory, instead Merly’s different fates were more up to the different tellings of this creepy pasta. Strangely, Hal Emmerich managed to stay alive in all tellings.

I prefer this over Benson’s text mainly for 2 reasons. A This Solid Snake respects women slightly more since all except Campbell are women on the support team and they are all more (Yes, even Naomi.) trustworthy than the colonel. B The boss fights were mostly written as rather cinematic build-ups to Snake delivering his fatal blow, rather than 2 combatants chewing at each other’s plot armor, something this theoretical remake should take to its core.

11 Oh, brother!

Yoshisugu Matsuoka as Liquid Snake

(Is it wrong to want “Japanese Nolan North” to dub Greg Kasvin as the concept of Sleep itself, now he became a speaking role in Hades II?)

No, I didn’t forget Miller, I just rolled him and his imposter together here. Ah, yes, the Japanese Nolan North who hopefully would dub Greg Kasavin one day. The man seems quite unlucky to me given that his rose to fame when “comic book super hero broadly speaking” was not on the menu. And when this “comic book super hero broadly speaking” was back on the menu for them boys again, Matsuoka never got to play the center of any assemble. No, Soma in Food Wars does not count. I don’t speak that broadly about comic book super hero.

Well, the man did appear in comic book adaptions after “comic book super hero broadly speaking” was back on the menu for them boys as sidekicks, super hero of at least third billing and villains. Suppose this monologuing (Yano including a 5 pages long Liquid monologue did show his color as THE Hideo Kojima yes-man) final boss would be fitting. I do except him to reprise this role in MGS4 though preferably killed off in the first act there.

12 Pulled out

Koichi Yamatera as Psycho Mantis

(Mr. Yamatera’s tortured sound fits nice with Prometheus, a boss in Hades II.)

Despite a lot of missteps regarding other characters’ ethnics and countries of origins, Leftist critics love to point at Psycho Mantis as the secret sauce. No, the mechanic of switching controller port has nothing to with that, just the sympathy shown for this natural born killer narratively.

When I played through MGS1 on Vita, I did not know how to switch controller port, so punching got me through. It was the first one I started on the portable so, no reading memory card for me. I would prefer the remake having player CQC his ass so hard that Merly, his mind control victim beg Snake to stop even after she came to her senses. Otherwise, it’s hard to tell why Mantis saw Snake as something much worse than himself.

13 Fall for the wrong one

M.A.O as Sniper Wolf

(Come at me, Nemesis!)

It’s quite interesting to see that Solid Snake does not have one doomed love interest each of his polygonal outings, but poor Hal Emmerich has. The first one here being a way too obvious enemy combatant. Ms. Ichimichi Mao can operate in a pitch close to this rather cold feeling lady.

Regarding how she ambushes Snake and Meryl into their captures, “oldest trick in the book” just does not sit well with me. For one thing, the game can do away with that red-dot on sniper rifle bullshit. For another, one would think someone with Meryl’s inexperience could see a sniper alley when she laid her eyes on one. Sniper Wolf tricked into cover then let them be grabbed by her comrade would make more sense. Not to mention how Snake might manage to CQC his way out while Meryl could not.

14 Still needs a suit of power armor

Kenji Nomura as Vulcan Raven

(Just fittingly muscular sound voice for one dickhead in Hades II.)

Just big guy sounding guy voicing a big guy. Though one infantry trooper shooting a Vulcan canon, the thing that make Mini-gun looks mini, is another film trope one can do away with. Just give this Shama a tailor made power armor that enable him to shoot the big gun. Despite what the Dan Ryerckts of the world believe, Metal Gear is military science fiction. Power armor is made for this genre!

Interlude 6 Still dreaming of Snake Eater

Kenneth Baker and Jim Houseman are the 2 names I would exclude from the Wiki list. While they started the whole thing MGS1 is about, their brief screen time can barely warrant any mention. The following 2 are as brief if not more so, but they do warrant some mention due to later retcon.

15 Imposter in more than one sense of the word

 Kenjiro Tsuda as Donald Anderson

(Mr. Tsuda is Dionysian when he wants to, so he should voice the sake of that name across both Hades games.)

I am rolling Decay Octopuses into this one as well. Oh well, I envisioned Mr. Tsuda as Sigint, who turns out to be Donald Anderson after MGS4 tried to pulled all threads together. In a well-thought-out remake, the same dude should play a dude pretended to a dude who turns out to be this other dude.

16 At least 2 ways to crowbar this one in

Kikuko Inoue as Dr. Clark

(Here the amber of Vista still burn.)

Dr. Clark, who MGS4 linked to Snake Eater’s Para-medic, does not really appear in 1998’s Metal Gear Solid. Nor did the good doctor appear in Twin Snakes. But I guess the prologue of Benson’s novelization left such a mark in me that I think she should. Maybe, having Psycho Mantis showing Solid Snake the latter’s own birth and Dr, Clark was there. Or maybe having Gray Fox remembering killing her and escape. Either is fine by me.

(To be continued, Mr. President.)