Even though Kojima’s first games might be an exception, pretty much every single title by Kojima is riddled with names that cannot be ignored. The Metal Gear saga has been around for over thirty years, but just when fans started to think they were getting used to the crazy names, Death Stranding entered the scene. In his newest title, Kojima seems to have taken the challenge to push the naming conventions even further, thus giving us some of the best (or worst?) names in video game history. This is a general classification of most of the names in the two major franchises of Kojima Productions.
RELATED: Kojima Productions Could be Announcing its Next Project Soon
The Names with a Direct Reference
The first category is the one that needs the least explaining. Some of Kojima’s characters have a name that can pretty much tell you everything you need to know about the character, without the need to think much about an underlying meaning. Plenty of Death Stranding characters can easily fit this category, but one of the most obvious ones is Fragile. This character’s body is compromised after running through Timefall, which makes her age dramatically and thus rendered her body frailer. Furthermore, Fragile is the director of Fragile Express, a delivery company that has the motto “handled with love.”
Another character who fits into this category is Death Stranding’s Heartman. This character has to undergo heart surgery and, during the procedure, his wife and daughter go to her house to retrieve some of his stuff when they are hit by a voidout. Ironically enough, the voidout leaves a heart-shaped crater. Deadman is another good example, as he is an artificial human made of body parts from cadavers.
The most obvious reference is made with Die-Hardman from Death Stranding. This character’s name is not only a funny and direct reference to the Die Hard movies, but it’s also a subtle reference to the character’s personality, which is more on the hard side like John McClane, tough but loyal.
RELATED: Official Metal Gear Social Media Account Hints That News May Be Coming
The Metaphorical Names
Some of Kojima’s names seem to be a metaphor for the character’s personality or their role in the game, meaning the name might not tell you immediately something about them, but still serve as a reference. The most famous character fitting this category has to be Metal Gear’s Solid Snake. According to Kojima, he chose this name because of his association of snakes with stealth, which is one of the most important features of this character. Furthermore, he chose the adjective “solid” in contrast with “soft” to further describe the character’s personality.
There are also all the characters from Metal Gear with ominous names like The End, The Sorrow, and The Fear. These names represented the character’s personality during combat. The End felt oblivion and closeness to death, The Sorrow felt sadness over dead soldiers, and The Fear’s combat style was often thought of as scary.
The Occupational Names
Finally, we have Kojima’s names describing their occupation. The most obvious example is The Boss from Metal Gear, who is literally the leader of the Cobra Unit. Another example from Metal Gear is Dr. Clark, who is a doctor and advisor for Naked Snake. Dr. Clark wanted to create a group of doctors who could parachute to the site when needed, which is why she ended up choosing the codename Para-Medic.
Last but not least, there is Sam Porter Bridges from Death Stranding. Sam actually fits both the first and the previous category. Sam can be interpreted as a reference to Uncle Sam, and Bridges is both a reference to the company Sam works for, and the company’s main goal: to create bridges. However, Sam is also in this category because he works as a porter for Bridges, meaning his name is literally his occupation.
Death Stranding is available now on PC and PS4.
MORE: An Xbox-Published Kojima Game Would Be a Huge Turning Point
