Hideo Kojima Reveals What Scares Him In Real Life

Everyone has that film or television show they watched as child which ended up scarring them for life. For Hideo Kojima, the creative genius behind Metal Gear and Death Stranding, it was apparently a 1972 Italian TV miniseries called The Adventures Of Pinocchio. Looking at some of the clips from the show, who can blame him!

What Show 'Traumatised' Hideo Kojima As A Child? 

In a tweet on September 14, Kojima admitted that he had potentially found the Pinocchio television series, directed by Luigi Comencini, about the wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy which "somewhat traumatized" him as a child.

He did question whether he had found the actual adaptation because it aired on NHK - the Japanese broadcast channel. It aired in 1974, but he thinks he remembers watching it before then. 

Although, it seems Kojima wasn't the only one to haunted by the show as a child: "This movie traumatized me and since then I hate Pinocchio with every fiber of my being." Another commenter on the Twitter post said: "My mother turned off the tv more than once cause my brother was afraid of Pinocchio moving his eyes being just a piece of wood". 

For cinephiles out there wanting to go down the creepy Pinocchio film route, Kojima also said that Matteo Garrone's 2019 film "has a similar tone" to the '70s version. There's even an upcoming adaptation of the classic fairytale directed by the legendary Guillermo del Toro, which is scheduled for release on Netflix in 2021. If this version is anything like Pan's Labyrinth, this could be another freaky Pinocchio film that haunts Kojima. 

Did Pinocchio Influence Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake?

Despite his creepy introduction to Pinocchio through the television series, Kojima has kept no secrets about his passion for the children's story and its influence over his own work. For example, on September 13, Kojima tweeted how Pinocchio being swallowed by the whale was referenced in the storyline for Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. As well as this, Raiden's "puppet of information control cuts the strings and starts walking on his own legs" is clearly a direct reference to the fairy-tale.

Kojima has been a hot topic in the news already this month. The acclaimed game developer has been hyping up his followers on Twitter by counting down the days until the release of the Death Stranding: Director's Cut - scheduled for release on September 24. Along with this, Kojima shared how he is a little hesitant to play the game Deathloop as the game's framing might make him feel sick. 

Although he's admitted his body is starting to 'fail' him, it doesn't look like Hideo is going anywhere soon. PlayStation may have reportedly rejected Kojima's new game idea, but he's still hailed as one of the best in the business. Who knows, maybe Kojima's next passion project could be a Pinocchio-inspired horror video game?