Hideo Kojima Calls Metal Gear Solid's Codec One Of His "Greatest Inventions"

thegamer.com:

Hideo Kojima has called Metal Gear Solid's "radio communications system", known in-universe as the Codec, one of his "greatest inventions" while detailing how he came up with the idea.

Metal Gear Solid might not be very active anymore (at least until the rumoured remake gets announced), but it's still without a doubt one of the most influential series in all of gaming. Although most fans would probably think of the iconic exclamation point or cardboard box as some of the series' most iconic elements, it seems that series creator Hideo Kojima would instead point to the Codec as being one of the game's most important features.

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The Codec is introduced in the first Metal Gear game as a radio system that Snake can use to call his allies, either for story moments or for optional dialogue and hints at what to do. It's a system that many games have taken inspiration from in the years since, such as Resident Evil 4, and it seems to be something that Hideo Kojima is quite proud of, as he's recently called it one of his "greatest inventions".

Over on Twitter, Kojima said, "The radio communication system was one of my greatest inventions. Players infiltrate enemy territory alone. In team infiltration, it is difficult to control NPCs. So I thought it would be possible to support the player with only the voice, without drawing (attention) and also to involve a sub-story on the radio side".

Kojima then noted that the Codec was a device that was thought up 36 years ago, when the first Metal Gear game was being developed, based on the standards of military equipment at the time, but that radio communications systems are a very normal thing all these