passage: Big Boss (Metal Gear) -- Big Boss is one of the central characters in the Metal Gear video game series. He was introduced in the original Metal Gear games for the MSX2 as the commanding officer and subsequent nemesis of Solid Snake. He is later featured as Naked Snake, the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid prequels where he is initially depicted as an American Special Forces Operator and decorated war hero until political manipulations cause him to be disillusioned and start his own private mercenary company. Big Boss's character has been praised by video game publications for his role as a villain as well for his relationship with Solid Snake. As the series' chronology progressed, his exact allegiance and motivations became increasingly complex; his first appearances are depicted as a traitor dreaming of a world of perpetual war, but subsequent appearances have revealed him to be a key figure in an ideological dispute that shaped the latter half of the twentieth century and a man whose conscience was disturbed by the attitude of leaders towards soldiers, prompting his decision to become a soldier of fortune and Venom Snake's mental template.