Konami kept Raiden's starring role in "Metal Gear Solid 2" secret until the game's North American release; the company replaced Raiden with Snake in teaser trailers and other preview materials. Although Raiden appeared in several preview trailers in his scuba gear, his presence was not emphasized. The surprise to fans that Raiden was not Snake was admitted by Kojima to have been inspired by the plot twist of "" where the titular character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger was not a villain in that movie. Raiden's appearance in the game was announced to the Japanese press on the day of the game's release in North America. Due to negative response to Raiden's role in the game, Kojima said in retrospective that the team failed to properly show the character.