Well, here’s another mystery to cross off the ‘unresolved’ list; 20 years after Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater’s release, Konami has finally confirmed fan suspicions that Russian spy Eva was voiced by the same actor who player Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
The identity of Eva’s voice performer has long puzzled Metal Gear Solid 3 fans, given the person listed in the game’s credit – one Suzetta Miñet – didn’t appear to be a real person at all. And while vocal similarities had led some community members to believe Miñet was actually a pseudonym for Ariel voice actor Jodi Benson (although she was far from the only suspect), it’s never been officially confirmed… until now.
In the newly released third instalment of Konami’s Metal Gear Solid Legacy Series documentary, charting the history of the franchise, Benson finally confirmed her Snake Eater involvement and shared a little more about how Suzetta Miñet came to be. “When we recorded… in 2003,” she explained, “just the various projects that I am affiliated with in my career are sort of family based, children-based, things like that. So it was actually [our director] Kris Zimmerman Salter; she kind of sat down with me and she’s like, maybe we need to change your name.”
“So she asked me, ‘What was your dog’s name growing up?’,” Benson continued, “and I said, ‘Suzette Monet’. So she’s like, ‘You know what, let’s build on that. How about Suzetta? How about instead of Monet, the artist, we’ll do Miñet?’, and I was like, ‘Sounds like a deal!”
However, Benson – whose other roles include Barbie in the Toy Story series and Thumbelina – admits some fans still managed to suss her out, even with the pseudonym. “Seven years ago, at various conventions when we meet and greet with wonderful fans,” she went on, “somebody slipped one of these wonderful games to my table, and I said, ‘Why are you bringing that?’, and he said, ‘Because you’re in it.’ And I said, ‘Do you know? Do you know my deep dark secret?’. And he said, ‘Yes! I do know’, and I said, ‘Shh, keep it quiet!'”
Confirmation of Benson’s role in Snake Eater comes as Konami continues its efforts to revitalise the Metal Gear Solid series following creator Hideo Kojima’s acrimonious departure from the publisher back in 2015. Last year saw the launch of Konami’s less-then-stellar Metal Gear Solid Master Collection: Volume 1, with Volume 2 still to come. First, however, it’ll be releasing its Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, which still doesn’t have a release date despite its 2024 launch window.