Der er ikke mange fans af Metal Gear-serien som ikke straks forbinder den med Hideo Kojima, udviklerlegenden der fra dag et har været manden bag serien. Alligevel har han dog kun skuffelse til overs for NES-konverteringen af det oprindelige spil, hvilken åbenbart var så forfærdelig at den stadig plager ham.
I et nyt interview med Nintendo Power spørges Kojima om konverteringen og svarer:
"The NES version was a pitiful title developed cheaply and simply by a small team in Tokyo. That was during the bubble economy where anything and everything that was released would sell. I came across the game in a bargain bin and tried play it, but the game design is pretty bad. There is some gameplay that includes infiltrating a base that didn't exist in the original. However, even I, the developer of the original game, was unable to infiltrate the base even once. Furthermore, being Metal Gear, it goes without saying that Metal Gear should make an appearance at the end. However, from what I've heard, due to the technically difficulties in displaying the sprite on the screen, they swapped Metal Gear out for a gigantic monitor."
Og hvis man troede at han var kommet sig over den tarvelige konvertering, kan man hurtigt komme i tvivl når man læser han sidste kommentar:
"That title has only soiled my reputation."