Metal Gear Solid at 25: ‘It played a big part in making games grow up’

Game developers, musicians and artists reflect on Hideo Kojima's landmark political stealth-thriller on its 25th anniversary

For me, there are few games that encapsulate the turn of the millennium better than Metal Gear Solid. This month marks the 25th anniversary of its release on PlayStation in Japan, but it hit UK shelves a few months later in 1999, the same year as the first Matrix movie. While my school peers were mimicking Keanu and dodging invisible bullets, whispers reverberated around the playground of a PlayStation game that was somehow even cooler. You played a grizzled spy who snarled at you through the speakers. You took out helicopters, duelled with cyborg ninjas and spent a lot of time hiding under cardboard boxes. It was all exhilaratingly bizarre, and the hype seemed almost impossible to live up to.

Booting up the game 25 years later, and somehow it still conjures awe. From its wonderfully delivered voice acting (a technical marvel on PlayStation 1) to its inimitable character design, it's an endearingly bonkers fiction unlike any other. It influenced a generation of game designers, played a huge part in the invention and establishment of the stealth genre, and made a celebrity out of its idiosyncratic creator Hideo Kojima, who remains one of game design's most recognisable figures.