Head of Kojima Productions,Hideo Kojima, is hard at work preparingDeath Stranding 2, the new IP OD, and mingling with a trove of celebrities in the developer’s usual fashion. Kojima is often seen diving into current and future projects, however, the creator recently looked back on a 21-year-old Game Boy title and unexpectedly compared its mechanics to theMetal Gear Solidfranchise.
As one of the most prolific videogame moguls in the industry, Kojima put fans' minds at rest recently, stating he had no intentions of slowing down as long as he doesn’tlose his passion for creation. He’s looking to connect the medium of movies and games in a way no other developer has done before, sitting on top of an impressive portfolio.
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Hideo Kojima Reflects On Boktai And Its Original Sunlight Concept
Sharing sentiments on X, Kojima acknowledged it had been 21 years since the release of Boktai, and noted that it was “raining hard” on its debut day. The creator accompanied the post with a photo of the original Japanese packaging for the title featuring the vampire hunter, Django.
The Boktai series released three titles on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS: The Sun Is In Your Hand in 2003, Solar Boy Django in 2004, and Sabata’s Counterattack in 2005. Following a group of vampire hunters, Boktai’s unique hardware was a built-in solar sensor required for gameplay, as players would battle undead creatures using sunlight-based weaponry.
Kojima reposted his original homage to Boktai by discussing the game’s sunlight mechanic. Since the game involved defeating enemies using real sunlight, this caused gameplay to change depending on where you lived, where you played, and when you played in the real world, proving the creator was even pushing gameplay boundaries over 20 years ago.
An interesting tidbit was also revealed in comparison to the Metal Gear Solid franchise. Kojima said, “The game was even more difficult to explain internally and also externally than Metal Gear.”
This is referring to Kojima’s pitch to Konami at the time and having to explain Boktai’s sunlight mechanic to higher-ups and eventually gamers, which proved to be more difficult than explaining Metal Gear Solid’s genre-defining stealth mechanics, rendering the player unarmed and having to rely on stealth over combat to survive.
