Welcome back to another entry in our on-going retrospective featuring some of the most iconic moments in gaming. Last time around we scrutinized the pant-cacking moment we came face-to-face with our first shambling corpse in the original Resident Evil. Yep, it might be 15 years old, but if you can ignore all the square hair and hammy voice acting, Resi’s still got the fear factor.
Join us as we continue our retrospective on unforgettable gaming moments, this time turning our attention to Solid Snake’s battle with Psycho Mantis in the original Metal Gear Solid.
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Picking a standout moment from the Metal Gear Solid franchise is a monumental task in itself; after all, Hideo Kojima’s celebrated stealth-em-up has enough memorable moments to publish its own mini-series. But, after much deliberation, I ultimately plumped for that classic, fourth wall-breaking jaw-dropper that is the boss fight with Psycho Mantis. Here, gruff hero Snake faces off against who would become one of his most challenging adversaries to date — after all, how do you possibly take down a chap who can read your every move? Throw a punch, and Mantis will effortlessly dodge out of the way. Try and put a bullet through his brain and he’ll have moved before you can even pull the trigger. Furthermore, aside from lobbing pieces of furniture at Snake, Mantis will even use your own allies against you, as seen when he attempts to have Meryl unload her Desert Eagle into Dave’s chisel-jawed features.
So, he’s a tough bugger with some fancy tricks up his sleeves, but that’s not what makes the fight so memorable. Nope, Mantis goes one step further by ‘reading your thoughts,’ examining Snake’s past endeavours such as his whether or not he used stealth to circumvent enemy patrols or prefers snapping their necks. Likewise, he’ll also praise you if you have proved highly adept at evading traps, or mock you for your failures. If that wasn’t creepy enough, he’ll also cause your DualShock pad to vibrate using what he says is ‘the power of my mind.’ If this was the equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to the fourth wall, then the GameCube remake used a wrecking ball, with Mantis taking a peak at your memory card to deduce your taste in gaming. Apparently, I liked adventure games at the time — how about you?
The battle itself is full of eccentricities, requiring you to figure out the method for removing Mantis’s hold over your mind. You have to think outside the box here too, as I found out the hard way after lollygagging around for what seemed like hours trying to shoot the bugger using a variety of tactics, from lobbing Chaff and Stun Grenades at my enemy to pestering the Colonel every five seconds. The blackout was a shock to the system too, and I applaud anyone who twigged the solution first time – I had to cheat and ask a mate, a fact I’m none too proud of either. But nope, the key lies in switching the control pad to port 2, thus severing the link between Mantis and Snake. Using this tactic, our gravel-voiced hero can finish Mantis off with relative ease, avoiding his attacks where necessary. It’s a clever design choice, and Kojima’s idiosyncrasies would go on to flourish in latter entries in the series, culminating in an amusing throwback to this very fight in MGS4: Guns of the Patriots, where Snake ponders as to why using the same tactic only results in him being unable to move.
Indeed, the Mantis fight also serves as a testament to Kojima’s ability to produce eyeball-popping moments in gaming that don’t require the application of flashy visuals or Hollywood set-pieces. It’s not about Snake taking on a gargantuan, walking battle tank (although that was pretty sweet) or squaring up to a hulking muscle-bound brute with a mini-gun – it’s just two blokes fighting in a stuffy old room, where a little flexing of the old grey matter is required to get you out in one piece. Utter brilliance.
Stay tuned to PSU.com for more Classic Gaming Moments in the near future.