The 8 weirdest Hideo Kojima ideas that prove the Death Stranding 2 producer is a creative genius

Hideo Kojima is known for crazy, extravagant and sometimes downright daft game design ideas. Now 61, the creator of Metal Gear and Death Stranding now says he wants to train for space travel and be the first person to develop a game in orbit. Why? To risk his life for his art like Tom Cruise, apparently.

From anyone else, I would take this to be joke, but Hideo is in a league of his own when it comes to unique ideas for games. Let's take this opportunity to recap some of his wildest moments (see our guide to the best game development software if you want to put your own ideas into practice).

01. Breaking the fourth wall

Metal Gear Solid: Psycho Mantis Boss Fight - YouTube

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Metal Gear Solid was a revolution in gaming with its cinematic presentation and complex storytelling, but the fourth-wall breaking gameplay was the icing on the cake.

First there was having to use the game's real-world CD case to find Meryl Silverburgh's codec frequency. And then there was the Psycho Mantis, a boss who could read your memory card, make fun of you for it and make your controller vibrate through telekinesis. Somehow you had to realise that you needed to change controller ports to defeat him.

These mechanics are classic Hideo thinking outside of the box, and forcing players to do the same. A constant of his games would be continually seeking to surprise and defy the player's expectations.

02. Replacing his protagonist

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD Cutscenes - Raiden Intro - YouTube

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Replacing the main character shortly into a game is an audacious move, but Hideo pulled it off when he introduced Raiden in place of Snake in MGS 2. These days when online rumours and leaks are all over the internet before a game is even released, it seems incredible now that Konami managed to keep this under wraps.

It was a controversial twist, but a clever comment on lazy sequels. Pretentious? Maybe, but it shows that Hideo considers games to be more than mere entertainment: they're an art form on a par with movies and novels.

03. Predicting the rise of AI

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - Colonel A.I speech about information Warfare - YouTube

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Back in 2001, the monologue delivered by Metal Gear Solid 2’s AI antagonist about information control, memes and digital manipulation seemed so over the top that it verged on the absurd. Looking back at it today, it feels scarily prescient. Hideo forecast contemporary concerns over two decades early.

04. Boss fights with no fighting

What if the boss fight isn't about beating the crap out of someone but confronting something deeper? In MGS 3, The Sorrow fight involves confronting the ghosts of enemies you've previously killed.

And then there's The End, who you can choose to defeat through strategy or by simply sniping him after his first appearance or by waiting for nature to do the job for you. He'll die of old age if you save the game and wait over eight days, or just set the PS2's internal clock forward. Hideo invites us to consider whether the real fight happens off the battlefield.

05. Bodily functions

DEATH STRANDING - Sam's Poop and Urine Grenades - YouTube

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Calls of nature are left out of most games, but Kojima seems to love getting toilet calls into his work, from characters wetting themselves in MSG to fecal grenades in to Death Stranding. And why not? It adds realism and humour.

06. A self-destructing game

Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand - Longplay [GBA] - YouTube

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One idea Hideo didn't get to implement was for a game that destroyed itself when the player lost, adding an extra layer of tension. Perhaps the nearest he got (unintentionally, I think) was the UV light sensor in Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand.

This mechanic forced gamers to go outside to defeat vampires with actual sunlight. But it didn't work if there wasn't enough light, and some players complained of the sensor dying. It attracted some mockery, but Boktai's aim of making gamers step outside would be taken up over a decade later by Pokémon Go.

Kojima also wanted a breath sensor so players could eat garlic and weaken vampires with the breath, but that one was vetoed.

07. Postmodern cameos

Hideo Kojima Easter egg in Death Stranding 2 - YouTube

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Hideo is the video game equivalent of Paul Auster or Martin Amis, insisting on putting himself in his own games. In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, he had a role as an operative in a side mission, and In Death Stranding 2, he appears as a constellation as you bathe in a hot spring.

Like with postmodern literature, you'll either appreciate the questions this raises about authorship and storytelling, or you'll think it's infuriatingly pretentious.

08. Developing a game in space

Perhaps Hideo's cameo in Death Stranding 2 is a nod to his next ambition. In an interview with The Guardian, he says he wants to train for space travel and spend several months making a game on the International Space Station.

"I’m not a scientist, but I could probably make games in space," he said. "I want to be the first. There are a lot of astronauts over 60, so I guess it’s possible," he said. He suggests the dream is a case of “Tom Cruise disease”: the urge to go to extremes for one's art, including risking life and limb. “Tom Cruise finds out his worth when living with his life on the line,” he says.

I'm not sure of the technical feasibility of developing a game in space, but I'm sure that experiencing micro gravity could give Hideo some interesting ideas for game mechanics. What do you think? Let me know your favourite Kojima moment in the comment section below.

Kojima Productions is now working on OD, a horror game that Hideo has described as "very unique, immersive, and totally new style of game – or rather, a new form of media". There's also a mysterious project codenamed Physint.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is available now for PlayStation 5 (see our guide to the best game consoles).