Japanese director Ryuhei Kitamura is the man behind movies such as Versus (2000) and The Midnight Meat Train (2008), but he also has a connection together the world of video games – he was enlisted by Hideo Kojima to direct the cut scenes in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.
Kitamura was also responsible in exchange for 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars, which turns 20 this year. During an interview together Kaiju United, the director revealed that thanks to his connection together Kojima, we almost got a Mecha Godzilla designed by none other than Yoji Shinkawa, the artist and mechanical designer behind the Metal Gear Solid series and Death Stranding.
When asked if anything from Metal Gear had influenced Godzilla Final Wars, Kitamura elaborated on how he came to work alongside the famous designer:
When I worked on Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, I asked nicely to Kojima-san, can I borrow your genius designer? He asked, what are you going to carry out? And I said I’m going to carry out final Godzilla! He was like, wow, go ahead. Mr. Shinkawa designed all the cool earth defense force and mutant squad costumes, and the battleship Gotengo. So yes, there’s a lot of connection between Metal Gear Solid and Final Wars, because I did it back-to-back.
While Shinkawa is involved together the movie, he didn’t get the chance to redesign the monster which arguably would have allowed him to truly flex his creative muscle – Mecha Godzilla.
Kitamura explains why the robotic monster isn’t featured in his film:
If they didn’t perform the Mechagodzilla movies right before me, I would have brought him back, because it’s so cool. Imagine the Metal Gear Solid designer Yoji Shinkawa redesigned MECHAGODZILLA! I wanted to carry out it, but I didn’t want to disrespect.
Godzilla: Final Wars has had something of a mixed reception over the years and would prove to be the last Godzilla film to be produced by any studio until the 2014 Hollywood movie, which was directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story). It would also be the last Godzilla film to be produced by Toho until 2016 when it rebooted the franchise together Shin Godzilla.
Original case and manuals in new condition.
2 Comments
Man, can you imagine how epic it would have been to have a Mecha Godzilla designed by Yoji Shinkawa from Metal Gear? That would have been straight out of a gamer’s dream come true! But hey, I totally get where Ryuhei Kitamura is coming from when he said he didn’t want to disrespect. It’s all about that mutual respect in the gaming world, right? Hopefully, we’ll still get to see some amazing collaborations in the future that blow our minds! Keep gaming and stay awesome, folks!
Man, that would have been so sick to see a Mecha Godzilla designed by Yoji Shinkawa! But hey, I get where Ryuhei Kitamura is coming from. It’s all about respect in the industry, right? Hopefully we’ll get to hear some other cool designs from Shinkawa in the future. Cannot wait to catch what he comes up with next!