Media will play fast and loose with history if it offers a good story. Lu Bu wasn’t as much of a powerhouse in real life as he was in Dynasty Warriors. Like a Dragon: Ishin’s Ryōma Sakamoto and Hajime Saitō were actually two different people in Bakumatsu Japan. George Washington wasn’t dissuaded from becoming “King” of the USA by a MacGuffin as in Assassin’s Creed 3. But it’s usually fine, so long as no one takes it seriously.
Most of the time, historical figures appear in the form of some background detail or a cheeky, fourth-wall-breaking Easter egg. Both of these are everywhere in the Metal Gear series. Of course, it wouldn’t be Metal Gear if things didn’t get much weirder or more convoluted from there. These are some of the real people who have appeared in the series.
10 John von Neumann
Born in Budapest in 1903, John von Neumann was among the world’s most famous mathematicians, physicists, and engineers. He came up with the modern version of game theory, made advances in linear programming and stochastic computing for computers, and made major contributions to lattice theory, mathematical logic, quantum mechanics, and nuclear physics. He was involved in the Manhattan Project, where he helped figure out the physics behind the atomic bomb, as well as coining the term “kiloton” to measure its power.
According to EVA's tape in Peace Walker, the Boss fell victim to Soviet misinformation and tried to assassinate von Neumann in 1943. She failed, but felt the Cold War wouldn’t have happened if she had succeeded in ending von Neumann’s life.
9 Lyndon B. Johnson
It’s generally agreed that all the US presidents prior to the 21st century were the same in Metal Gear as they are in real life. JFK and the Bay of Pigs incident are mentioned in Metal Gear Solid 3, and Metal Gear Solid 1 brings up the Watergate scandal via the mysterious “Deepthroat.” The only one who directly appeared in the games was Lyndon B. Johnson.
In MGS3, Johnson organized “Operation Snake Eater” after receiving a call from Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. He had to prove America’s innocence by getting someone to kill the recently defected Boss and save Khrushchev’s skin from a rival Soviet faction. Naked Snake does the job, and Johnson rewards him with a medal and a new title: “Big Boss.” This did mean he'd have to rely on a foreign intelligence agency to save the USA's face in the Metal Gear universe.
8 Nikita Khrushchev & Leonid Brezhnev
Likewise, the Soviet Premiers are assumed to be the same, though only two have left an impact on the games. Khrushchev gets the most attention, appearing in a cutscene telling President Johnson to take responsibility for the Boss’ defection and the nuclear strike on one of their research facilities. Yet, Brezhnev also influences the story.
In history, Brezhnev and his supporters in the KGB and Central Committee leveraged their power against Khrushchev until he was ousted in 1964. MGS3 used this as background detail. The pro-Brezhnev GRU Colonel Volgin poaches Khrushchev’s favored scientist Sokolov and his Shagohod project, over fellow Brezhnevite Aleksandr Granin and his bidepal "Metal Gear" tank idea.
7 John McCone
While series creator Hideo Kojima confirmed that MGS3’s CIA Director was based on McCone, the game doesn’t outright name him as such. He’s just the DCI that Snake refuses to shake hands with, and that Ocelot talks to on the phone at the end. Ocelot also killed him at the end of MGS: Portable Ops, but that game’s canon status is disputed.
John McCone was the Director of Central Intelligence in the early 1960s, serving presidents JFK and Johnson. He replaced Allen Dulles after the Bay of Pigs fiasco and played a key part in the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, he also backed terrorist attacks on civilians in Cuba, coup d’etats in Ecuador and Guyana, and possibly started the Laotian Civil War.
6 Ernesto “Che” Guevara
Snake, now Big Boss, developed an admiration for “El Che” in Peace Walker. He called Guevara “the century’s most complete human being” (quoting Jean-Paul Sartre), and KGB agent Vladmir Zadornov attempted to turn Boss into a Guevara-esque martyr to spark socialist revolutions in Latin America. It’s a contentious point, as Che has a mixed legacy.
Che Guevara helped install Fidel Castro as leader of Cuba, which led to many of its citizens seeking refuge elsewhere or dying while trying. Former political prisoner and diplomat Armando Vallares called him “full of hatred,” while Nelson Mandela said he was “an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom.” Ultimately, his status as a freedom fighter, a violent fanatic, or somehow both depends on the beholder's political leanings.
5 The Sandinistas
The only way Peace Walker could have avoided Che Guevara was by picking a setting other than 1970s than Central America. Guevara an inspiration for Nicaragua's FSLN, or Sandinista National Liberation Front. Just as Che helped remove a US-backed dictator in Cuba’s Fulgencio Batista, the Sandinistas aimed to free Nicaragua from US-backed president Anastasio Somoza Debayle.
Named after 1930s nationalist figure Augusto César Sandino, the Sandinistas are represented in Peace Walker by Amanda Valenciano Libre and her brother Chico. As in history, they were forced out of Niceragua into Costa Rica, where they were backed by the KGB. At the end of the game, Amanda's group fights both them and the CIA to save Snake and reassert their independence.
4 Barack Obama
From 2000 onwards, Metal Gear’s presidents take a detour from history. George “Solidus Snake” Sears was president until the events of MGS1, where he’s replaced with James Johnson in Metal Gear Solid 2. An unnamed president takes over during Metal Gear Solid 4, succeeded in Metal Gear Rising by President Hamilton. By MGS2, it would be revealed that the later presidents were figureheads picked out by the Patriots.
But who did they pick after Johnson? Barack Obama’s “A World Without Nuclear Weapons” speech appears in Metal Gear Solid 5 and on Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection’s timeline as an event. Did he become this mystery president in canon? Probably, but then probably not. Rising also refers to George W. Bush’s shoe-dodging and the War on Terror. Unless Solidus did everything “Dubya” did prior to MGS1, it's likely just another inconsistency.
3 Yumi Kikuchi
Blurring the lines between reality and fiction has been part of the Metal Gear series since the beginning. For example, holding R1 during the cockpit scene in MGS3's "Operation Snake Eater" would show Naked Snake looking at a poster of Japanese model/singer/actress Yumi Kikuchi.
Kikuchi would return in MGS4 as the likeness, mocap, and Japanese voice of B&B boss Raging Raven, as well as one-half of the game’s in-house pop duo “Two-Han Princess.” She also turns up as one the faces for the Mother Base staff in Peace Walker, alongside Snake and Miller’s Japanese VAs Akio Ōtsuka and Tomokazu Sugita, respectively.
2 David Hayter
Hayter's unceremonious ousting in favor of Kiefer Sutherland for MGS5 rubbed both him and fans the wrong way. These cast changes often happen, as Cam Clarke noted he didn’t get invited back as “Liquid Ocelot” for MGS4 despite his Japanese equivalent using Liquid’s voice. However, Hayter did more than voice Snake, like taking a paycut so The Twin Snakes could get everyone from MGS1 back to reprise their roles.
Hayter appeared as himself in one of the pre-game live action shows in MGS4. He’s interviewed in an odd Behind the Actors-style set by Lee Meriwether, EVA’s MGS4 VA and former 1960s Catwoman, where he sports a “Solid Eye” camera like Old Snake. Considering his standing in the series in the West, one would think he'd have been treated more courteously if the cast change had to happen.
1 Hideo Kojima
Speaking of Kojima, he’s happy to appear plenty of games. He can be recruited as a trooper in Peace Walker and rescued in missions in both Ground Zeroes and MGS5. He's not playable, but he’s pretty good at intelligence and R&D for Mother Base. That said, his cameos used to be much more subtle.
In Japanese copies of MGS1, he thanked the player if Mantis spotted save data for Snatcher and Policenauts, which was referenced in MGS4 and Ground Zeroes. He also appeared as one of the “ghosts” in MGS1, and the only ghost in MGS2. He provided mocap for the guy Mei Ling talks to before MGS4’s finale. Finally, he voiced “God” calling Psycho Mantis back to the afterlife after the Screaming Mantis fight.