Solid Snake Butt

Twitter/@froslassform

People are freaking out about Super Smash Bros. nerfed Solid Snake butt

Where did it go??

Photo of Brittany Vincent 

Brittany Vincent

Internet Culture

Posted on Jun 15, 2018   Updated on May 21, 2021, 1:27 pm CDT

Nintendo made a number of intriguing announcements at E3 2018, including a brand new Super Smash Bros. game. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is coming this December to Nintendo Switch, and it’s bringing every single fighter who’s ever been in the game together once and for all (well, minus one overlooked character).

Rabid fans eager to play the new game took to social media to sing their praises and immediately discuss the roster, especially the re-introduction of Metal Gear Solid’s protagonist Solid Snake, who’s returning to the series for the first time since Super Smash Bros. Brawl, back on the Wii.

Instead of chatting it up about Snake’s moves or potential fighting applications, however, fans zeroed in on one particular thing: his derrière…or his lack of one, as it seems.

https://twitter.com/EctoCosmonaut/status/1007355005844754432

https://twitter.com/cumbervanna/status/1006715418025787392

Snake’s costume from Hideo Kojima’s classic stealth-action series finds him in a tight bodysuit that helps muffle his movements and offer him freedom of movement. It contours to his muscle-clad form, especially around some rather shapely buns. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the Super Smash Bros. gods have taken away those dangerous curves Snake has come to be known for.

And people just aren’t having it.

https://twitter.com/BeauGilliam/status/1006999424546074624

Of course, physical alterations to familiar fighters from the series shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai stated during Nintendo’s E3 2018 showcase that many of the fighters would now be far more expressive than they used to be during fights, with additional voice lines, sound effects, and attacks that fans haven’t seen before. Sakurai didn’t specifically mention anything about changing up any physiques, but it looks like Snake’s rear end has become a casualty in the process of making a new Super Smash Bros. game from the ground up.

With all this furor about Snake’s butt, it’s kind of funny that little fanfare has been made about the fact that Metroid’s Samus Aran’s chest size has been reduced for her Zero Suit Samus appearance, in a very noticeable way.

Why is this? Well, let’s put it this way. We’ve got plenty of scantily-clad female heroines, so it just doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to make these alterations to Samus. What we don’t get enough of, however, is big ol’ delicious gaming beefcake behinds, as is evidenced by folks’ complaints about Snake’s behind, which many are only half-joking about.

Nintendo and other companies routinely make alterations to costumes and bodies like this when localizing games, especially when it comes to more sexually explicit costumes or simply outfits that reveal more than the companies may deem players being comfortable with. This type of censorship isn’t uncommon at all, though it doesn’t make a lot of sense that Snake’s butt has been given the nerf treatment when you look at it through a logical lens.

After all, it’s easy to see why it’s such an important pillar of the Smash Bros. and Metal Gear Solid community. If you’ve ever spent an extended amount of time playing the stealth action series, you’d know you see a whole lot of Snake’s posterior, especially when he’s crawling around trying to stay hidden from enemies’ sight.

It really does say something about the current climate of gamers that this uproar, as silly as it may be, about a male character is the focus of the changes having been made to the game, and it’s actually quite refreshing. Butts are a part of everyday life, and Snake’s just happens to be one amazing specimen that fans had gotten used to seeing.

Maybe we’re all getting upset over this whole butt thing prematurely. Perfection, as we all know, takes time, and perhaps Super Smash Bros. Ultimate needs more time in the oven before Snake’s perfectly-sculpted keister comes out looking just like we expect that it should.

https://twitter.com/theSirToasty/status/1007403073189416961

https://twitter.com/Yuraite/status/1006998227143577602

Or maybe they had to get rid of other things to bring Metroid’s behemoth enemy Ridley into Smash as a new playable character, as one fan posits.

https://twitter.com/BenandJery/status/1007365709490319360

Whatever the case may be, rest in peace, Snake’s butt. You are already sorely missed.

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*First Published: Jun 15, 2018, 10:10 am CDT

Brittany Vincent

Brittany Vincent has covered gaming, anime, tech, and entertainment for over a decade. When she’s not writing, she’s replaying Um Jammer Lammy or Day of the Tentacle for the hundredth time while pining for a Harvester sequel. Find her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake.

Brittany Vincent