Genetic destiny is a hell of a drug. It drives the entire plot of Hideo Kojima’s 1998 masterpiece, Metal Gear Solid, but it also creates one of the most misunderstood relationships in digital history. When you look at Liquid Snake and Solid Snake, you aren’t just looking at a hero and a villain. You're looking at two sides of a coin that was rigged before it was even flipped.
Hideo Kojima didn't just want a boss fight. He wanted a philosophical debate with explosives.
The Les Enfants Terribles Project: A Legacy of Failure
Shadow Moses wasn't the beginning. To understand why Liquid Snake hated Solid Snake so much, you have to go back to 1972. The "Les Enfants Terribles" project was a secret government endeavor to clone Big Boss, the "Greatest Soldier of the 20th Century." They used the analog cloning method—basically, they took Big Boss’s DNA, stuck it in a donor egg, and implanted it into a surrogate mother, EVA.
But they didn't just want one clone. They wanted the best possible soldier.
So, they manipulated the process. One twin was engineered to express all the dominant "soldier genes," while the other was stuck with the recessive ones. At least, that’s what Liquid was told his entire life. He believed he was the "trash," the leftover junk DNA discarded while Solid Snake got the royal treatment. This inferiority complex is what fuels every scream Liquid lets out atop Metal Gear REX.
He was wrong, though.
The big twist at the end of the credits—revealed in a phone call by Revolver Ocelot—is that Liquid was actually the genetically superior one. He had the dominant genes. Solid Snake was the "inferior" clone who survived on sheer willpower and luck.
Liquid Snake vs Solid Snake: A Contrast in Personality
Liquid is loud. He’s theatrical. He wears a trench coat in the middle of an Alaskan blizzard with his chest completely exposed. He wants to be seen. He wants the world to acknowledge that he exists and that he’s better than the man he was cloned from. He spent his youth in the British SAS and later as an operative in the Middle East, always chasing the shadow of Big Boss.
Solid Snake is the opposite.
He’s a man of few words, mostly repeating the last word of a sentence as a question. "Metal Gear?" "Liquid?" He’s a soldier who just wants to retire and mush dogs in Alaska. He doesn't care about his heritage. In fact, he hates it. To Solid, genes are just a blueprint, not a destiny. This is the fundamental clash between Liquid Snake and Solid Snake. One is obsessed with the past; the other is trying to survive the present.
👉 See also: Stranger Things: The Game and Why We’re Still Obsessed With 16-Bit Hawkins
Think about their fighting styles. Liquid uses a Hind D helicopter and a giant bipedal tank. He uses grand gestures. Solid uses a cardboard box and a SOCOM pistol.
The FoxDie Variable
You can't talk about these two without mentioning FoxDie. This was the programmable virus injected into Solid Snake by Naomi Hunter. It was designed to kill specific people based on their DNA signatures—the members of FOXHOUND.
It killed Liquid. It didn't kill Solid.
Why? Because biology is messy. Even with the same genetic base, the two men had different lifestyles, different environments, and different mental states. This is the "Epigenetics" argument that Metal Gear Solid 4 eventually leans into. You are more than your ATCG sequences.
Why the Rivalry Resonates Decades Later
Most games give you a villain who wants to blow up the world because they're "evil." Liquid Snake is different. He wants to blow up the world because he’s having an identity crisis. He feels cheated by life. Honestly, haven’t we all felt like the "recessive" twin at some point? Like the world gave the good stuff to someone else and left us with the scraps?
Liquid is the personification of resentment.
Solid Snake represents the refusal to be defined. He tells Liquid at the end of the game that it doesn't matter who was the "original" or who was the "copy." He just wants to live. This wasn't just a win for the protagonist; it was a win for the idea of free will.
The Ocelot Problem and the Ghost of Liquid
After Liquid dies of a heart attack (FoxDie) on the hood of a crashed jeep, the story gets weird. Really weird.
Revolver Ocelot, the master manipulator of the series, has his right arm severed by a cyborg ninja (Gray Fox). He decides the best course of action is to graft Liquid’s arm onto his own body. In Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, it seems like Liquid’s "will" or "spirit" is taking over Ocelot’s body whenever Solid Snake is nearby.
It sounds like ghost possession. Most fans hated it at the time.
🔗 Read more: Fallout 4 Is It Good: The Honest Truth About Bethesda’s Most Divisive Masterpiece
But Metal Gear Solid 4 clarifies that it was mostly nanomachines, psychotherapy, and "hypnotic suggestion." Ocelot wanted to become Liquid to fool the AI controlling the world (The Patriots). So, even in death, the image of Liquid Snake and Solid Snake remained the central pillar of the franchise. The conflict didn't end in 1998; it echoed until 2014, when Old Snake and Liquid Ocelot finally punched each other out on top of a submarine.
Essential Lessons from the Snake Saga
If you’re looking to understand the narrative depth of this rivalry, you have to look past the "nanomachines" memes. There are real-world takeaways from how these characters were written.
- Nature vs. Nurture is a Lie: The game proves that both matter, but neither is absolute. Your genes provide the deck of cards, but you play the hand.
- The Danger of Legacy: Liquid was obsessed with Big Boss’s dream of "Outer Heaven." Because he couldn't create his own identity, he became a caricature of his father.
- Skill Trumps Talent: Solid Snake was the "inferior" clone, yet he won every single encounter. Persistence and adaptability beat raw "dominant" traits every time.
How to Experience the Story Today
If you want to see the Liquid Snake and Solid Snake dynamic for yourself, you have a few options. The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is the easiest way to play the original 1998 game on modern hardware like the PS5, Xbox Series X, or PC.
Be warned: the controls are "tanky" by modern standards. You can't move the camera with the right stick. It’s an exercise in patience, but the voice acting—specifically Cam Clarke as Liquid and David Hayter as Solid—is still top-tier. Clarke’s delivery of the "BROTHER!" line is iconic for a reason.
If you prefer something prettier, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes on the GameCube remade the first game with MGS2 graphics and mechanics. Some people find the new cutscenes a bit too "The Matrix" (Snake literally jumps off a missile), but it makes the rivalry feel more cinematic.
✨ Don't miss: Resident Evil 3 Nemesis Walkthrough: Why You’re Probably Doing it Wrong
Moving Forward With the Legacy
Don't just watch the cutscenes on YouTube. To truly feel the tension between these two, you have to play the game and feel the frustration of trying to hit a man in a trench coat who refuses to stay down.
- Analyze the "Genes" speech: Listen to Liquid's final monologue before the REX fight. It's a masterclass in villain motivation that actually makes sense.
- Look for the Parallels: Notice how many times Solid and Liquid mirror each other's movements in the final fight. They are reflections, even if one refuses to admit it.
- Explore the Spin-offs: While not always canon, the Acid or Ghost Babel games offer different takes on the "Snake" archetype that help you appreciate the core duo even more.
The story of the Twin Snakes is a reminder that we aren't defined by where we come from, but by the choices we make when our back is against the wall. Solid Snake chose to be a hero. Liquid chose to be a victim of his own DNA. In the end, the "inferior" clone lived to see the sunrise, while the "superior" one died in the snow, still shouting about his genes.