Hideo Kojima Wanted to Make a Game That Reacted to the Smell of Your Breath

Hideo Kojima has always been one of the video game industry’s most unique voices. As the creator of Konami‘s Metal Gear franchise, as well as the recent Death Stranding, Kojima has provided gamers with some of the most interesting games ever. In 2003, Kojima produced a somewhat lesser known title by the name of Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand. The Game Boy Advance title had a very interesting hook: a sensor on the game’s cartridge could read the sunlight and use it to charge the main character Django’s solar weapons. However, a newly unearthed interview with Nintendo Dream from 2003 (translated by Shmupulations) reveals that Kojima wanted to take things one step further with a sensor that could also smell the player’s breath!

“Sometime last year, I think, I approached Shigeru Miyamoto at Nintendo and gave a presentation pitch. In the beginning then, it wasn’t just a sunlight sensor – I actually had wanted to include a sensor that measured how your breath smelled too! I *really* wanted to add that! The enemies are vampires, right? So if you ate something garlic-y and breathed on the mic, they’d all die. (laughs)”

Kojima went on to say that the rest of the team, apparently, hated the idea. While it’s certainly an intriguing concept, it’s easy to see why the idea never got off the ground. Sunlight is (theoretically) plentiful for most, but forcing the player to purchase the foods necessary to defeat Boktai‘s enemies would have limited the game’s audience. Perhaps some players might be allergic to garlic. Younger players might have also had a difficult time asking their parents to change up the evening’s dinner plans. Perhaps it’s better this idea was left on the cutting room floor!

The video game industry is filled with concepts that never got off the ground, for one reason or another. In retrospect, it seems kind of amazing that Boktai‘s sunlight sensor ever got past the concept stage! Still, the idea is a true testament to the type of developer Kojima is. The man has given the video game industry some of its most memorable moments, and a major part of that comes from ideas that likely seemed just as silly, at first glance. Perhaps the breath sensor would have been every bit as well-regarded as the fight with Psycho Mantis in Metal Gear Solid!

What do you think of Kojima’s breath sensor concept? Would you have played that game? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!