Hideo Kojima is known for hiding Easter Eggs, little mysteries, and neat surprises in all of his games, and this extends to the Metal Gear franchise as well, of course. Sometimes these Easter Eggs aren't discovered until well after the game has released (as was the case with Hideo Kojima referencing his own firing from Konami in a Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes Easter Egg), but players of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain have already discovered numerous Easter Eggs in the massive game.

The latest Metal Gear Solid 5 Easter Egg to be discovered is one of the more amusing ones. It takes place at Mother Base, and is all about the Mother Base crew celebrating the birthday of "Big Boss", aka Snake.

As players may recall, the opening segment of Metal Gear Solid 5 features a doctor (that still looks suspiciously like a certain real world head transplant doctor, in our opinion) that asks Snake all sorts of questions, including his date of birth. To activate the Snake's Birthday Easter Egg for Metal Gear Solid 5, simply advance the time on the console to the day that was set at his birthday at the beginning of the game.

Once the console clock aligns with Snake's selected birthday, if players return to Mother Base, they will be greeted by a surprise. It seems as though the base is empty, but that's only so Snake can be surprised by his comrades with a song, a birthday cake, and even some fireworks.

A video explanation on how to activate Snake's Birthday Easter Egg comes courtesy of IGN. Be aware that there are some spoilers in the video, for the first 10 missions or so:

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Hideo Kojima has clearly stuffed Metal Gear Solid 5 full of Easter Eggs (and birthday cakes, for that matter), and it's likely that players are just going to keep discovering more in the days since its launch this past Tuesday. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if inputting Snake's birthday at the beginning of the game has functionality in other places, or if it literally was just for this one little surprise from Kojima.

Other Metal Gear Solid 5 Easter Eggs discovered by fans have been just as interesting. One features a cameo from series creator Hideo Kojima, and the other is a reference to the beloved P.T. playable teaser that was originally meant to set up Silent Hills. We're positive that the game has even more Easter Eggs beyond the ones that have been discovered so far, so Metal Gear Solid 5 enthusiasts should keep their eyes peeled.

Will you be tinkering with your console's system clock to see Snake receive a birthday celebration, or are you just going to wait until his birthday comes around naturally? Have you discovered any other cool Metal Gear Solid 5 Easter Eggs? Let us know!

Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is currently available for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Source: IGN