Video games have a long tradition of creating tough-as-nails protagonists that fight hordes of oncoming enemies. Still, few have been able to elevate themselves to true “badass” status. Sam Fisher and Solid Snake are two characters that have been known for years for their ability to strike fear into enemy NPO’s and let gamers unleash their inner Special Ops soldier. However, there is only room at the top for one badass to rule them all. Myarcadeplanet is putting that power in your hands. It’s time for you to vote who indeed is the bigger badass. The battle of the badasses is on: Sam Fisher vs. Solid Snake.
Vitals:
Name: Samuel Leo Fisher
Height: 5’10
Weight: 170lb
Training: Krav Maga
Agency Affiliations: CIA, Navy Seals, NSA
One cannot talk about military video game bad asses without mentioning the name Sam Fisher. He is a grizzled war veteran who has been kicking ass and taking names since 2002. His missions include Splinter Cell, Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory, Essentials, Double Agent, and the upcoming Conviction. Despite getting on in years, Fisher is extremely athletic. He climbs walls, hangs from ceiling pipes, and can perform the cringe inducing splits maneuver to remain hidden from enemies. Always the master of stealth, Fisher is highly skilled at sliding in the shadows and moving silently. The brutal neck-snap technique is one of Sam’s specialties (maybe he just likes the sound). Fisher is also vicious in hand-to-hand combat utilizing the Israeli Krav Maga fighting system. If that wasn’t wicked enough, Mr. Fisher is equally deadly with his knife. Nothing says “Nice to meet you” like a blade to the jugular. He also uses the knife to interrogate subjects, break locks, and disable small machinery among other survivalist tasks. It is even rumored that his senses have been elevated to almost superhuman strength. In “Convictions” (2008), he will be able to instinctually “sense” things that us mere morals cannot. What’s next…telekinesis?
Fisher is outfitted with several weapons and gear that increase his badassitude significantly. He always carries his trusty pistol, as well as, the SC-20K assault rifle. The SC-20K is equipped with a launcher (presumably for tossing kittens), shotgun attachment, and sniping capabilities. The launcher actually fires sticky shockers, sticky cameras, various grenades, EMP ammunition, airfoil rounds and other such non-lethal devices that you won’t find at the local flea market. Fisher is outfitted in his trademark skin-tight black kevlar body suit (that one is for the ladies). The suit has its own heating and cooling system and photosensitive threads. Three glowing lights are perhaps the biggest contributor that elevates Sam Fisher into the upper echelon of video game badasses. Fisher’s trademark green dots have been a sign to enemies that death was nigh since 2002. The goggles have both thermal and night vision capabilities, as well as, limited zoom features (impossible is nothing in video games!). Although the function of the third dot remains a mystery, some speculate that it’s actually just a cigarette lighter. From silent kills to superhuman skills and insane gadgets, Sam Fisher is definitively one of video games’ biggest badasses, period.
Vitals:
Name: David
AKA: Iroquois Pliskin
AKA: Old Snake
AKA: Solid Snake
Height: Confidential
Weight: Confidential
Training: Special Forces
Agency Affiliations: FOXHOUND, The Pentagon, “Philanthropy”
Solid Snake is without a doubt the stealth genre’s biggest badass. In the official canon, his missions span across five games: Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: The Sons of Liberty, and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Trained as a Special Forces operative, Snake is masterfully proficient at the art of killing silently. But when it’s time to rumble, Snake isn’t worried about making a little noise. His arsenal includes a variety of different weapons, ranging from pistols (M9, Socom) to grenades (chaff, stun, frag) to combat and sniper rifles (FAMAS, M4 Carbine, PSG1) to the really heavy machinery (Nikita and Stinger missile launchers).
Snake also packs a bunch of different gadgets to help him do the job, such as thermal and nightvision goggles for cold or dark areas, mine detectors for sensing explosive traps, and of course, his trusty pack of cigarettes for the few break times he gets in between kicking ass. In Metal Gear Solid 4, new tools will be added to Snake’s repertoire, the most innovative of which are Octocamo, a body suit specially designed by tech guru Otacon that mimics the texture, color, and pattern of whatever surface Snake touches; and Metal Gear Mk. II, a small robot on wheels that Snake can use for reconnaissance, ammunition re-supply, or zapping the occasional wandering guard in the gonads.
Yet fancy equipment alone wouldn’t suffice to keep Snake alive on the battlefield. Snake is not only a tough warrior—he’s also a cunning and strategically minded one. Whether he’s feigning death with ketchup, decoying as a cardboard box, or planting dirty magazines to distract lonely guards, Snake’s antics have gotten him through many a narrow situation. In MGS4, Snake’s tactical mindfulness will be challenged on a whole new level, as he will have to wind and weave through multiple warring factions, choosing whom to help and whom to destroy in the process. But intelligence makes only half the man. Snake’s most formidable weapon—and his defining character trait—is his will to finish the mission, whatever the costs. This quality was passed from the legendary female warrior the Boss through Snake’s clone father Big Boss and on to Snake himself. It enabled him to take down some of gaming’s most infamous foes like the telepathic and telekinetic Psycho Mantis, the gatling gun-wielding Vulcan Raven, the nuclear-armed bipedal tank Metal Gear Rex, and even Big Boss. Any other man would have given up and gone home; his fearlessness in the face of overwhelming obstacles is what makes Solid Snake such a formidable soldier and badass character.
Plus, let’s face it: anyone who can pull off a bandana wrapped around a mullet and still look dangerous has got to be one mean cat.
Alright. Let your voice be heard. Who is our first ever Bigger Badass? Vote Below!
