when the player learns their character, Venom Snake, is not the famous Big Boss but instead a doctor who was hypnotized into being a double of the mercenary across the video game. Later in the game, a character tells Raiden to "turn off the console", which confuses both Raiden and the player; this was first interpreted as a fourth wall-breaking joke but the game's climax goes deeper into Raiden's connection with the player. When his superiors force Raiden to kill the game's antagonist, Solidus Snake, the designers tell the player to finish the game. Both the player and Raiden take different paths at the game's end; the player is told not to waste time playing games while Raiden's character is expanded with his decision to move on with his life, rejecting his previous identity by discarding the dog tags the player wore in the beginning. Upon the revelation of Raiden's new design as a cyborg ninja, writers said he distanced himself from his previous appearance that imitated Solid Snake. Raiden's increasingly masculine redesigns following his debut were noted be a leaning to Western heroes in gaming despite Raiden retaining his original characterization by Todd Harper in the book Queerness in Play. IGN also said Raiden becomes a different type of game hero with a new, direct fighting style. being instead compared with the lead characters from Devil May Cry and God of War favorably due to how they fight. Raiden finding conviction with his inner past persona during Revengeance was noted to go with the ideas of enjoying the hack and slash mechanics provided the developers as Raiden has kill enemies while also being able to face properly all of enemies who share values with him during cutscenes. See also List of Metal Gear characters Ninja in popular culture References Further reading Adoptee characters in video games Amputee characters in video games Characters designed by Yoji Shinkawa Fictional criminals in video games Cyborg characters in video games Fictional African-American people Fictional characters missing an eye Fictional characters with disfigurements Fictional characters with dissociative identity disorder Fictional characters with post-traumatic stress disorder Fictional child soldiers Fictional patricides Fictional United States Army Delta Force personnel Fictional First Liberian Civil War veterans Fictional immigrants to the United States Fictional Liberian people Fictional mass murderers Fictional private military members Fictional special forces personnel Fictional super soldiers Fictional gunfighters in video games Fictional swordfighters in