I begin this article with a link to a video featuring a cutscene from the computer game Metal
Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyekGFe04KI I’ve played
it and completed it before. So whether you’re familiar with it or not, I definitely am. But this
is supposed to be an article with the aim of promoting myself as a self-employed translator;
I’m not here to talk about Metal Gear Solid. Now, go to the bit in the video at 5:58, which
includes the subtitle “My name is S…” on the screen.
I have noticed that the first letter of the character Snake’s name is in fact the same as the last
letter of the word “is”. If you know this game, you probably already know what happens
here, as Raiden and Snake meet for the first time at this point, and Snake feels the need to
hide his true identity from Raiden – at 5:58 you see that he nearly tells Raiden that he is
actually Snake before immediately breaking it off and that’s the point in the game where he
first identifies himself as Iroquois Pliskin, and right where the player can see it. So, yes, he
nearly reveals himself to be Snake in this way, which explains the “S…” bit in this subtitle; S
for Snake. Indeed, we can say that easily precisely because of the “S…” bit, but pay attention
and see how the sound of the “S…” bit immediately follows on from the “is”. So the player is
supposed to understand that Snake nearly reveals his true identity to Raiden before deciding
against it; that’s fine. But one might wonder, as I did, whether Raiden, who doesn’t read
subtitles of his speech the way the player does, would have made out the extra “S…” bit after
the “is”? What I’m trying to say is this: could whoever created the subtitles for this game
have made a conscious choice as to whether or not to include the “S…” after the “is” in the
subtitle here? And does it actually belong there? I mean, try to imagine if Raiden definitely
did make out the “S…” and the player was supposed to realise it because that’s what the
creators of the game expect. Could Raiden then have figured, “Could this guy actually be
Snake, what with all I’ve heard about him?” Imagine the gaming experience from that point
on in the mind of the player upon their realisation of that! Because, as you continue to play
the game from that point on, it’s evident enough that Raiden is never supposed to be thinking
that as the game’s story progresses. (Speaking as someone who has completed this game like
I said, Raiden does reference Snake in communication with other characters at a point in the
game earlier than this, where it becomes very clear that he definitely is familiar with Snake.)