Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots/Characters

Many of the Japanese voice cast from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty returned to reprise their roles in Guns of the Patriots, with the notable exception of Kōji Totani, the voice of Revolver Ocelot, who died in February 2006. Totani will be replaced by Liquid Snake's Japanese voice actor Banjō Ginga. Houko Kuwashima and Kikuko Inoue reprised the roles of Mei Ling and Rosemary respectively for the game, Inoue will also voice a new character, Sunny, the daughter of Olga Gurlukovich. Japanese film director Shinya Tsukamoto provided the Japanese voice for Vamp, replacing original actor Ryotaro Okiayu. An elderly EVA (who appears under the identity of Big Mama), from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, also appears, and her voice was provided by singer Mari Natsuki.

English voice acting work was recorded in tandem under voice-director Kris Zimmerman. David Hayter returns as Solid Snake, with Quinton Flynn (Raiden), Paul Eiding (Roy Campbell), Christopher Randolph (Otacon), Debi Mae West (Meryl Silverburgh), Jennifer Hale (Naomi Hunter), and Phil LaMarr (Vamp) all reprised their roles from previous titles. The role of EVA was voiced by actress Lee Meriwether. Cam Clarke, who performed the voice of Liquid Snake in the first two Metal Gear Solid games, will not be a part of the Metal Gear Solid 4 cast. The role of Liquid Ocelot was given to Patric Zimmerman, the voice of Revolver Ocelot. Kris Zimmerman, dismissing the suggestion of nepotism, has clarified that Kojima always intended for the character to use Ocelot's voice. Ryan Payton has stated that due to lack of space that there will be no option to switch audio to different languages.

Other new characters include Drebin 893, a self-styled "arms launderer" (notably voiced in Japanese by Keiji Fujiwara, the Japanese voice of Sigint in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater) whose Stryker acts as the in-game store; "Little Gray", a small, shaven, shorts-wearing monkey who appears to follow Drebin; a new FOXHOUND team under the command of Meryl Silverburgh; and the Beauty and the Beast Unit.

Voice actors Lee Meriwether and David Hayter appear in a specially filmed live action scene at the start of the game.

The New FOXHOUND
The four members of FOXHOUND, also known as "Rat Patrol Team 01", are sent to investigate PMC activity. The team includes Meryl Silverburgh; Ed, Meryl's second-in-command; Jonathan, a hulking soldier; and Johnny, also known as "Akiba", the team's electronics expert. Meryl, Ed, and Jonathan use the SOP (Sons Of the Patriots) system to share each other's senses via the nanomachine network inside their bodies. Meryl states that they are investigating PMC activity for the US Army CID. Ed and Jonathan are named after Ed Brown and Jonathan Ingram, the main characters of Hideo Kojima's Policenauts, from which Meryl also originally gained her name.

The Beauty and the Beast Corps
Four new bosses are also debuting in Guns of the Patriots: Crying Wolf, Raging Raven, Screaming Mantis, and Laughing Octopus, all members of The Beauty and the Beast Corps. Their animal names openly reference characters from Metal Gear Solid's FOXHOUND unit, and the emotions relating to the Cobra Unit from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. A close inspection of Screaming Mantis reveals two marionettes of previous MGS bosses: Psycho Mantis and The Sorrow, both of whom were psychics. All four of them are women who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The only way they can cope with the damage done to their minds is to become war machines. Their inner appearance is referred to as "Beauty", while their outer appearance is referred to as "Beast". Four real-life models were chosen for their in-game appearances as their "Beauty" side: Lyndall Jarvis, Scarlett Chorvat, Mieko Rye, and Yumi Kikuchi. The English dubbing for the characters is done by having the female voice actors perform the lines while Fred Tatasciore overdubs on top of the female voices, creating a split-voice effect for the characters.