Me and my mate have discussed this on several occasions, and it always ends the same way:
Liquid snake is hands down the single hardest man ever imagined. lets go through how many times he dies
His helicopter explodes. usual result: extreme immolation
He falls- spine first- off a giant mech onto a concrete floor.usual result: Extreme death.
He gets shot to shit by a turret mounted machine gun, then gets crushed by his jeep. Usual result: Extreme death.
Then he dies of foxdie: everyone else exposed dies very much. awesome.
but no! in the single least plausable return to life in videogame history he actually comes back as a mind controling arm transplant.
that, my friends, is hardcore. you can keep your silly ladyboy sephiroth
(oh, and bigup to Ridley. Clearly the greatest advarsary in modern gaming. long may his various incarnations return over and over.)