Across three decades, 10 canonical titles and countless cinematic easter eggs, Metal Gear creator and celebrated Game Designer Hideo Kojima is a master of craft when it comes to layering intricate and complex narratives with fun moments of fan service.
So, when the opportunity presented itself for Kojima to be included in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the auteur simply couldn’t resist. Granted, it’s a very, very minor shoutout, though we imagine that’s exactly the kind of nod Kojima-san would have wanted.
Word comes by way of StarWars.com, publishing a list of the starry voice cast that brought some of the aliens to life in J.J. Abrams’ box office-shaking juggernaut. As such, while Daniel Craig’s Stormtropper and Simon Pegg’s cameo gained a lot of traction prior to The Force Awakens hitting theaters, it’s now time to shed light on the more minor characters that helped flesh out Abrams’ universe. That cast in question included the likes of Sam Witwer, David Collins, Dee Bradley Baker, James Arnold Taylor, and Matthew Wood.
In terms of Kojima, his own shoutout came during the attack on Jakku village when, upon seeing BB-8 make a beeline for the nearest sand dune to hide, a red-eyed alien shouts ‘Kojima!’
Like we said, it’s a fleeting nod to a gaming great, the kind that you’ll likely only catch on a repeat viewing. Nevertheless, it’s a neat moment of fan service for fans of both Star Wars and Kojima’s genre-defining Metal Gear series.
