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Original Snake Voice David Hayter Has No Love For Hideo Kojima (Kotaku)

It's stuff like that which then makes me thing that maaaybe, just maybe, the reason hayter so often sounds forced in MGS is because he was directed to sound like that. Dude legit sounds perfectly natural there.

Went and looked up some other examples acc to wikipedia page, and yeah, when i do manage to find something on YT, dude seems to be perfectly able to carry a very distinct voice for each and every character he does. Might spot some trace of Snake here and there, but overall? Different. Certainly doesn't suffer from Nathan Drake Syndrome as much as North.

(his winter soldier is a weird snake remix, tho, no denying that. justifiable)

are you seriously suggesting that david hayter has more range than nolan north? after posting two youtube videos where he sounds like a slight variation of solid snake? WAT
 
are you seriously suggesting that david hayter has more range than nolan north? after posting two youtube videos where he sounds like a slight variation of solid snake? WAT

Nolan north syndrome as in "director casts dude because he wants him to sound exactly like a previous character he made"
 

Dremark

Banned
Highlighting/quoting some parts

"For example, VA of Kamille Bidan, the protagonist of anime Zeta Gundam, had to participate in audition for the VA of Kamille again in the movie version of Zeta Gundam. No matter how much time the VA spent his time with his character, the creators have a right to change that VA if they think he doesn't depict their intended vision of the character very well."

Interesting that he'd bring up Zeta Gundam: A New Translation. They actually replaced the VA for Murasame Four in the Zeta Gundam movies in a similar way to the way Hayter was replaced here. Saeko Shimazu who had played the character in all prior appearances was replaced without notification even though almost all of the other VAs who were still alive reprised thier roles.

This was a controversial decision and was not accepted well by the fans, there was a large backlash and a particularly nasty rumor spead in regards to it. To the best of my memory it was that the new VA Yukana had a sexual relationship with the casting director and that the casting director had replaced the VA behind the series creator's back claiming that Shimazu was unavailable. I have no idea if there was any validity to any of that.

The really interesting thing about that is that Four is not a major character in the movie version and is killed off very quickly in it, much earlier than in the original TV series where she plays a larger role. It has been quite a while since I watched it but I'd be surprised if there's more than 10 minutes between the point where she's introduced and killed.

Anyway to put things in perspective, Metal Gear fans took David Hayter being replaced a lot better than Gundam fans took Saeko Shimamu's replacement and even if a creator has the right to replace someone it's probably not going to be taken well if that person's performance was well received, especially when it's done this way.
 

Dremark

Banned
Just as Charles Martinet is "only a voice actor".

Did Peter Cullen, Lou Albano or Toru Furuya complain about being replaced?

Seriously though, maybe it's because he wasn't the first person I got used to voicing the character, but to me Martinet is " just a VA" for Mario. It's not that I think he's bad, he does a lot of voices and he's obviously very talented, but if he retired and they replaced him it wouldn't bother me much as I don't feel that strong of a connection between the role and his VA work.
 

Ishida

Banned
Did Peter Cullen, Lou Albano or Toru Furuya complain about being replaced?

Seriously though, maybe it's because he wasn't the first person I got used to voicing the character, but to me Martinet is " just a VA" for Mario. It's not that I think he's bad, he does a lot of voices and he's obviously very talented, but if he retired and they replaced him it wouldn't bother me much as I don't feel that strong of a connection between the role and his VA work.

Well too bad. The majority of the Metal Gear fans outside of Japan link Snake to David Hayter, though.
 
I don't particularly have strong feelings for or against Keifer Sutherland's performance, but I have generally not felt great about Hayter's performance as Snake outside of the voice becoming iconic.

David Hayter was the voice of Lupin the 3rd in Castle of Cagliostro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxbum3is6G0
I'm glad you posted this, Hayter as Lupin is my favourite English dub of Lupin and shows that he can actually perform well.

Thinking now, I wonder if the issues I had with his MGSs voice work was simply due to the direction he was given.
 
I'd believe it. Kojima wants to get into films but can't.
Hayter has made a fair few films and can. Of course there's gonna be some professional jealousy.

Hayter's storytelling compared to Kojima's is what Hollywood wants and instead Kojima has teamed up with Guillermo del Toro for a project.

Kojima still hasn't got his movie.

But that's not what he said he's jealous about.

I don't think he liked the fact that I got a lot of attention for the role when he was meant to be the rockstar for the whole thing, but that's just conjecture.

That doesn't make any sense. If Kojima was so desperate to be the sole "rockstar", then why in the world would he ever want big name actors portraying Snake? Because that's a surefire way to take attention away from him. Snake is also voiced by one of the most well known voice actors in Japan.
 

Rymuth

Member
But that's not what he said he's jealous about.



That doesn't make any sense. If Kojima was so desperate to be the sole "rockstar", then why in the world would he ever want big name actors portraying Snake? Because that's a surefire way to take attention away from him. Snake is also voiced by one of the most well known voice actors in Japan.
I said it before. Any big Hollywood star is going to voice this with disdain and buzz off, leaving the fans to pester Kojima about the significance of things like why the Helicopter was named Pequod.

How did I know in advance that MGS2 was going to focus a lot about Otacons and Snakes bond? Because David Hayter did an interview for a magazine I used to read ( either EGM or EGM2) where he reveals that. He is definitely the face of the franchise in the west, interacting with fans and describing the themes to them.

A big Hollywood star is not going to spend one more minute than he has to in the game's spotlight...leaving Kojima as the sole messiah-like figure people turn to for answers.
 
Venom may have been quieter in MGS V but thank fuck we did not get to hear Hayter's over done voice again. I can't stand it since MGS 4.
 
I have no love for David Hayter's performances either.

I would say I liked the snake character inspite of the hammy voice acting.

I guess it grows on you after a while as you numb to how hammy it is. But still, it mostly a remnant of a more primitive era in games.
 
I said it before. Any big Hollywood star is going to voice this with disdain and buzz off, leaving the fans to pester Kojima about the significance of things like why the Helicopter was named Pequod.

How did I know that MGS2 was going to focus a lot about Otacons and Snakes bond? Because David Hayter did an interview for a magazine I used to read ( either EGM or EGM2) where he reveals that. He is definitely the face of the franchise in the west, interacting with fans and describing the themes to them.

A big Hollywood star is not going to spend one more minute than he has to in the game's spotlight...leaving Kojima as the sole messiah-like figure people turn to for answers.

That reminds me of the award show where Keifer picked up an award for Metal Gear since Kojima couldn't show up. IIRC Keifer was glad to accept it and thought the fan feedback was amazing and all that but it didn't seem like he wanted to interact any further other than working on the game and accepting the award. This is no mark against him since he obviously doesn't have to get knee deep into MGS if he doesn't want to.

But like you said, when you look at Hayter he was(is) directly linked with Metal Gear Solid and is synonymous with Solid Snake and interacts with the fans. There are plenty of voice actors that participated in all the MGS games but Hayter is the one that is mentioned the most out of them all.

Considering that, it naturally makes sense that if Kojima wanted to replace Hayter early on that that kind of popularity would not sit well when ruminating on that decision.

In the end I still associate David Hayter with Snake. Keifer only voiced Snake for one game while Hayter built him up in my mind from the beginning. One thing I'm curious about though is that if Snake does show up in a future game somehow I wonder if Konami will hire Keifer again or David Hayter.
 
I have no love for David Hayter's performances either.

I would say I liked the snake character inspite of the hammy voice acting.

I guess it grows on you after a while as you numb to how hammy it is. But still, it mostly a remnant of a more primitive era in games.

Whats wrong with hammy or cheesy or over the top? People seem to associate a negative stigma with these words but boy do I love me some movies that are full of those things I've just mentioned. I love Rocky iv. Its absolutely silly nonsense but its fun to watch. Same with lots of Schwarzenegger films. Metal gear solid was the same. It was overly silly and full of crazy nonsense. Sure it was fun listening to all the crazy theories but stuff like a cyborg ninja or a guy who shoots bees isn't exactly the most grounded in reality ideas either. And the VA's like Hayter played their parts and made that nonsense more entertaining to watch.
 
I said it before. Any big Hollywood star is going to voice this with disdain and buzz off, leaving the fans to pester Kojima about the significance of things like why the Helicopter was named Pequod.

How did I know in advance that MGS2 was going to focus a lot about Otacons and Snakes bond? Because David Hayter did an interview for a magazine I used to read ( either EGM or EGM2) where he reveals that. He is definitely the face of the franchise in the west, interacting with fans and describing the themes to them.

A big Hollywood star is not going to spend one more minute than he has to in the game's spotlight...leaving Kojima as the sole messiah-like figure people turn to for answers.

Kiefer got a lot of attention in the gaming community for voicing Snake, so that certainly took away attention from Kojima. Just as there was a lot of attention paid to Norman Reedus when he was revealed to be the star of Silent Hills. Big Hollywood talent will always garner a lot of attention in an industry that doesn't traditionally have that talent. So it wouldn't make sense for Kojima to go out and pick those people if he craves attention all to himself. If anything he'd want to go out and get some unknown actor.

Let's also not forget that Kojima was working close with del Toro on Silent Hills. And del Toro is a gamer who would've absolutely be heavily involved in promotions. Why would Kojima want someone like that on the project if he wants all the attention for himself?
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Did Peter Cullen, Lou Albano or Toru Furuya complain about being replaced?

Seriously though, maybe it's because he wasn't the first person I got used to voicing the character, but to me Martinet is " just a VA" for Mario. It's not that I think he's bad, he does a lot of voices and he's obviously very talented, but if he retired and they replaced him it wouldn't bother me much as I don't feel that strong of a connection between the role and his VA work.
I would say Charles Martinet is absolutely the character of Mario.

When he moves on, anyone who replaces him is going to be doing a Charles Martinet impersonation. It's just like how all Bugs Bunny V.O. are doing Mel Blanc impersonations. They certainly wouldn't go in a new direction.
 

Dremark

Banned
I would say Charles Martinet is absolutely the character of Mario.

When he moves on, anyone who replaces him is going to be doing a Charles Martinet impersonation. It's just like how all Bugs Bunny V.O. are doing Mel Blanc impersonations. They certainly wouldn't go in a new direction.

This is probably true, and I'm not denying his prominence or trying to take anything away from him, but to me he's not inseparable from the character.

This is probably a combination of him not being the first one I've seen voice him and the fact that Mario doesn't exactly talk a lot.

Again, not disrespecting him, but that's just how I feel.
 

aaaaaa

Member
I assume Konami put a strike against Hayter when he was promoting his Metal Gear movie script. "Who better to write Snake than Snake?"
 

i-Jest

Member
David+hater+Solid+Snake+comic.jpeg

This made me laugh waaaay to much. The comedy and tragedy is real.
 

Rymuth

Member
Anyway to put things in perspective, Metal Gear fans took David Hayter being replaced a lot better than Gundam fans took Saeko Shimamu's replacement and even if a creator has the right to replace someone it's probably not going to be taken well if that person's performance was well received, especially when it's done this way.

A better example would be replacing the legendary Shuichi Ikeda as the voice of Char Aznable. Just imagine what would happen? Bamco animation studio would've been EATEN ALIVE

If Kojima's artistic direction is soo important, then why not replace Akio Otsuka?

That reminds me of the award show where Keifer picked up an award for Metal Gear since Kojima couldn't show up. IIRC Keifer was glad to accept it and thought the fan feedback was amazing and all that but it didn't seem like he wanted to interact any further other than working on the game and accepting the award. This is no mark against him since he obviously doesn't have to get knee deep into MGS if he doesn't want to.

But like you said, when you look at Hayter he was(is) directly linked with Metal Gear Solid and is synonymous with Solid Snake and interacts with the fans. There are plenty of voice actors that participated in all the MGS games but Hayter is the one that is mentioned the most out of them all.

Considering that, it naturally makes sense that if Kojima wanted to replace Hayter early on that that kind of popularity would not sit well when ruminating on that decision.

In the end I still associate David Hayter with Snake. Keifer only voiced Snake for one game while Hayter built him up in my mind from the beginning. One thing I'm curious about though is that if Snake does show up in a future game somehow I wonder if Konami will hire Keifer again or David Hayter.

If David had been on MGSV, then I guarantee you this is what would've happened:

The Best Timeline (wherein David voices Snake in MGSV)


1 month after the game's release


Kotaku's Exclusive interview with Snake VA David Hayter wherein he talks about that twist

KOTAKU: So, fans didn't react well to this twist.

DAVID: I understand their anger and I sympathize completely but you gotta understand Kojima's mindset, he---

3 months after release


GameInformer Interview w/ David Hayter


GI: Thanks for being here, David, I've got a couple of questions for you

6 months after release

IGN: Exclusive 90 minutes podcast with David Hayter, he answers all your questions and let us know which Konami Director may be a secret fishman.

David: Glad to be here *claps hand* Let's do this~

IGN: So, first off...what the eff was that twist?


The Worst Timeline (the one we have now)


MGSFAN

@24Power I didn't like that Venom Snake Twist. :((

24Power
@MGSFAN Who?

MGSFAN
@24Power You know, Venom Snake? The character you voiced in a videogame?

24Power
@MGSFan Oh..now it's coming to me. I think I did some voicework for some pervy wierdo. Don't remember much of it.

HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN
@MGSFan @24Power Some 'pervy wierdo'?? He likes me! HE LIKES ME!

24Power
@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN Who the fuck are you?
 

Dremark

Banned
A better example would be replacing the legendary Shuichi Ikeda as the voice of Char Aznable. Just imagine what would happen? Bamco animation studio would've been EATEN ALIVE

If Kojima's artistic direction is soo important, then why not replace Akio Otsuka?

Well that was an actual example rather than a hypothetical one. I'm honestly surprised they had Tobita re-audition for Kamille, although I guess I can sort if guess why. Kamille has a pretty youthful voice so I guess they might have questioned if he could still do it.

With how badly they responded to Shimazu getting shunned I can only imagine how badly the fallout would be if they replaced Ikeda or Furuya. I'm kind of surprised I didn't read about people being upset about Suzuoki being replaced posthumously. I'll even admit I wasn't exactly thrilled about that, but there wasn't a lot they really could have done considering the circumstances.

As far as Hayter/Otsuka goes, I don't mean this with any sort of disrespect but Hayter doesn't have the same type of range Otsuka does and I don't think this isn't known, they had John Cygan voice Solidus instead of Hayter and in Japan Hayter voiced both roles.

I'll be completely honest if they had given Boss someone else as a VA I wouldn't have had an issue with it. In the English versions every clone of Boss had a different voice so honestly having him voiced by Hayter didn't make as much sense and he had no history of voicing him at that point. However since he voiced Boss I would have preferred he finished the role out one way or another
having Hayter do Ground Zeroes, having Sutherland do Venom and having Hayter at the end as Boss
would have kept the continuity and let Sutherland have the starring role.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
This is probably true, and I'm not denying his prominence or trying to take anything away from him, but to me he's not inseparable from the character.

This is probably a combination of him not being the first one I've seen voice him and the fact that Mario doesn't exactly talk a lot.

Again, not disrespecting him, but that's just how I feel.

I was a Mario fan before Martinet too. But could you imagine Mario going back to being a gruff blue collar dude, as he was in all the old cartoons and movies? ;) Martinet has certainly made his stamp on the character's personality.

Now... it's the VO for Sonic for whom I wouldn't care one bit if they recast him and went in a new direction.....
 

Dremark

Banned
I was a Mario fan before Martinet too. But could you imagine Mario going back to being a gruff blue collar dude, as he was in all the old cartoons and movies? ;) Martinet has certainly made his stamp on the character's personality.

Now... it's the VO for Sonic for whom I wouldn't care one bit if they recast him and went in a new direction.....

Yeah when you put it that way, yeah it would be really odd if they strayed drastically from what Martinet established at this point.

I'll put it this way, if Mario got a new VA next game it really wouldn't stand out all that much to me, even if the voice wasn't all that similar, but if he had a totally different take on the character it would clash pretty badly and feel out of place.

Kind of like Sutherland did when I played Ground Zeroes.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Yeah when you put it that way, yeah it would be really odd if they strayed drastically from what Martinet established at this point.

I'll put it this way, if Mario got a new VA next game it really wouldn't stand out all that much to me, even if the voice wasn't all that similar, but if he had a totally different take on the character it would clash pretty badly and feel out of place.

Kind of like Sutherland did when I played Around Zeroes.

Sutherland was definitely a different take on the character. Certainly wasn't doing one single thing inspired by Hayter.

Hayter-Snake had this intense interest in the subject matter at hand. For all the talk about him being "gruff and monotone", he had this rising and falling tone on all of his lines, suggesting engagement.

Sutherland-Snake was your typical dispassionate military agent. Detached. Here to do a job. Truly monotone.
 

Dremark

Banned
Sutherland was definitely a different take on the character. Certainly wasn't doing one single thing inspired by Hayter.

Hayter-Snake had this intense interest in the subject matter at hand. For all the talk about him being "gruff and monotone", he had this rising and falling tone on all of his lines, suggesting engagement.

Sutherland-Snake was your typical dispassionate military agent. Detached. Here to do a job. Truly monotone.

Yeah, like him or not it was a totally different take on the character and it felt massively out of place because of what I was used to. For TPP I got the Japanese version and played with Otsuka as Snake.

Yeah it's not what I was used to but everything else was different too so there wasn't this sort of sore thumb sticking out like there was with Sutherland.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Yeah, like him or not it was a totally different take on the character and it felt massively out of place because of what I was used to. For TPP I got the Japanese version and played with Otsuka as Snake.

Yeah it's not what I was used to but everything else was different too so there wasn't this sort of sore thumb sticking out like there was with Sutherland.

The experience of playing the Japanese version must be different.

I felt the lack of Hayter helped prepare me for the fact that nothing was the same, and that I should really expect no MGS staples.
 

Ratrat

Member
Otsuka's voice is more instantly recognizable than Sutherland's so the opening has a completely different effect when you first hear Ishmael talk. The whole thing was a very unpleasant mindfuck.
 

Dremark

Banned
The experience of playing the Japanese version must be different.

I felt the lack of Hayter helped prepare me for the fact that nothing was the same, and that I should really expect no MGS staples.

Yeah, the Japanese vocals gave the game a different feel, everyone had a different voice than I was used to, but not in a negative way.

Overall I really enjoyed the game as a whole. I honestly feel that it's one of the best games I've played in my entire life. It definitely did somethings differently than earlier titles did, but I felt that it was a really outstanding game and greatly enjoyed my time with it.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Yeah, the Japanese vocals gave the game a different feel, everyone had a different voice than I was used to, but not in a negative way.

Overall I really enjoyed the game as a whole. I honestly feel that it's one of the best games I've played in my entire life. It definitely did somethings differently than earlier titles did, but I felt that it was a really outstanding game and greatly enjoyed my time with it.

I'm happy you say that. Me too. I think if you are prepared that it is nothing like the old MGS format, it's a fantastic title.

I know a lot of people who were disappointed with it, pretty much because it doesn't check the MGS series boxes that it never promised it would check.

Otsuka's voice is more instantly recognizable than Sutherland's so the opening has a completely different effect when you first hear Ishmael talk. The whole thing was a very unpleasant mindfuck.

Well.... I knew in a split second that Ishmael was Sutherland, and thus Snake, and thus there was some fuckery going on.
 
after MGSV, i do feel like Kojima is up his own ass a little. he's had a lot of help building a successful franchise over the years and he's pushed them away.
 
MGS made Hayter's Snake is my favorite Snake for all time. Maybe his performance slid, the scripts suck, and he was directly poorly. Frankly, it doesn't matter to me as nostalgia for the first MGS is what keeps Hayter Snake.

I watched Escape for New York again recently and all I could think was "that's not Snake."
 

MadGear

Member
I'm actually surprised to read that some of you did not like Hayter's voice for Snake as well, I always expected to be somewhat alone on this.

I'm a huge fan of the series and Hayter is obviously a talented man, but despite this the forced rough voice he created for Snake has always been one of my biggest gripes with the series. His voice never felt genuine at all but rather distracting instead, because it was always so obvious to me that the voice actor was forcing out every single word in this very fake voice. I personally wish they had been successful at replacing him earlier, sorry Hayter.
 

Henkka

Banned
I think Hayter sounded just fine in MGS1, 2, 3 and even 4. He gets a lot of flak for his performance in 4, but there was at least story justification for it. He was supposed to sound like he could die at any minute.

But I don't know what the fuck went wrong with PW. He's supposed to be playing Big Boss in his prime, but for some reason they made him even more cartoonishly garbled than Old Snake. It's really bad, but I don't think it was Hayter's fault.

It may be true though that his voice wouldn't have fit the tone of V.
 

Rembrandt

Banned
Or he could just move on instead of being immature about the whole thing. Ever since this started he's been immature about this. On twitter and he keeps harping on it. Sure the situation could have been handled better but at the end of the day they went a different direction. Something they should have done with MGS3.

he voiced the main character of a series for almost a decade and then gets replaced in the final game. he can be upset.
 
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