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“The best day of my life”: My first time meeting Hideo Kojima at E3 2000

“The best day of my life”: My first time meeting Hideo Kojima at E3 2000

In-depth Articles, Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty2 years ago9 Views

A personal story from MGN.

E3 2000. "The best day of my life". That is what I told my parents on the phone when I got back to my hotel room that evening after having met with Director Hideo Kojima and team. A day I’ll never forget.

Press day: seeing Kojima for the first time

This was press day, a wild day. We had a private viewing and presentation of MGS2 with Director Kojima and team. Seeing him for the first time was surreal but I never got a chance to say hi, and introduce myself, even at the after party. I was still excited to see him!

Every hour, back at the Konami booth

I remember talking with Konami and they said they were going to show the trailer every hour on the hour. No matter where I was during E3, I would always make it back to Konami's booth to see the trailer again. The crowds were HUGE. Overflowing into other booths. It was crazy.

Everyday day of E3 I would make my way back to the Konami booth watch the trailer and talk shop with Konami project managers and the like. The crowds never got smaller, E3 would come to a halt when the trailer would start. You had to be there to see it.

I noticed the team from KCEJ were recording the crowd reactions from the trailer viewings. I was later interviewed by Kojima's team and even made it on the making of trailer DVD sold in Japan. You can see it here. Be gentle, I had no idea what to say 🤣

The last day of E3

It was the last day of E3. I had seen just about everything there was to see so I just hung out at the Konami booth. You could tell E3 was wrapping up because the crowds finally started to die down. I was talking with the then Metal Gear project manager at the time and...

he said, "I'll be right back, Kojima and team are just wrapping up the last of their interviews with the press". He came back and I noticed Yoji come out of one of the meeting rooms then Scott Dolph, Director Kojima's personal assistant and translator. No sign of Kojima though.

He then looked at me and I was like "what?", he said, "would you like to meet him?". I was like "Kojima?!" He was like yeah let me grab him for ya before he walks the floor before E3 ends. I immediately start shaking, is this real life? Is this really going to happen?!.

“Hi, I run Metal Gear Net”

He walks back and there he is. Director Kojima, Scott and Yoji. The project manager introduced me then Scott translated what I had said to Kojima which was "Hi I run Metal Gear Net, one of your fan websites, its an honor to meet you I'm your biggest fan". Kojima smiled and...

Scott told me "yeah he knows who you are, he says its very nice to meet you". At this point I almost fainted and I started shaking even more. Scott said "hey want to take a picture with Kojima?". I was like YES! I have a camera! I fell to my knees shaking more than ever.

Everyone including my best friend Geoff seen here standing next to me were smiling & laughing at me because I was completely star struck. Scott said in a calming voice, "its ok man, we have time". I looked up Kojima, Scott and Yoji were all smiling at me by how nervous I was. 😭

The photograph I will never forget

Shaking still, I found my camera in my backpack. I handed it to Scott and stood next to Kojima stiff as a board. He put his arm around me and I put my arm around his shoulder and it calmed me down. This was the best moment of my life. I met my hero.

The photograph with Hideo Kojima at E3 2000

I met Yoji but didn't even think to take a picture with him but we stood & spoke with Kojima, Yoji, & Scott for a few minutes then Kojima gave his apologies and said he wanted to see the E3 floor and excused himself. The project manager and I literally did a high five and hugged!

He then proceed to call over NA staff from Konami to tell them I just got to meet Kojima because of him, we was about as excited as I was because he knew how much it meant to me. He was like "I want that picture!". It was a surreal feeling to say the least.