Why We're Still Talking About Psycho Mantis After 25 Years

[@HotdogFontaine]

Had to reupload this one because of an issue. Sorry for the inconvenience!

[@TheFatChocobo]

NBD HDF. Kweh!

[@MrPooPooJohn]

@@HotdogFontaine his name has several cool anagrams, my favorite being - _Jedi KooI Ham._ The L is just an upper case i but whatever. Jedi KooI Ham is sweet. But if you want to be technical, _Oh, I’m a Jedi. OK?_ works too.

[@fenrillratz9890]

About the forth wall breaking. Wasn't the whole point kojima explained mgs 1 in mgs 2, that what we play in mgs 1, was the replication of snakes mission from Raidens view? Because raiden made that as vr training? That's also the reason, why mgs 2 had so much similarities to 1? I am confused. I should play mgs again. Back then i played 1, 2 and 3 like 50 times as teen....

[@zarkplaysgames]

I could only watch this because I plugged in my keyboard to the second USB port.

[@HotdogFontaine]

I CAN'T READ YOU

[@lucid8nightmarelucid8night88]

Oh, I plugged the HDMI into my brain.

[@shaunmichael2477]

Why can't I read your mind

[@sidlukkassen9687]

Sadly it doesn't save one from the data mining.

[@ALittleSnowFairySaga]

“Oh, I see you watch a lot of KZbin…. Very good!”

[@Chrisrobba]

This boss was before youtube, or any kind of video that would explain anything, experiencing this boss for the first time was a complete mystery with touch of thrill and scare. It might be one of the most memorable boss fights of all time.

[@HotdogFontaine]

Oh 100%. I remember I didn't have any Konami games saved as a kid but my friend had Castlevania and when he read HIS card and I saw that for the first time I flipped.

[@therabidpancake1]

I remember at 6 years old beating this game with my dad . We almost beat the game. We had like 20 minutes to go . I had to beat the game by myself. I’ll never forget that as long as I live . People keep saying video are so bad but video games have allowed me to bond with people for years.

[@markpirie1986]

What was very much more interesting is that Mantis never managed to sus out the presence of frankie jaeger/Grey fox Cyborg ninja 🥷 through any part of the game 😮

[@Grimmyke7]

As a kid this bossfight was mindblowing. Its true, it does stick with you as one of the all time best boss fights ever devised. Thanks for this nostalgia romp. Subbed!

[@marianm8174]

You mentioned at some point that he somehow switches First person POV to Meryl. It's actually not Meryl, it's Psycho Mantis himself hovering behind Meryl. If you use First Person POV during the fight, you can actually see where Mantis is moving to if you lose track of him.

[@HotdogFontaine]

Oh wow! I knew in the fight you could see through his eyes but I didn't realize it was also him in the hallway! Also, never thought about using it to find his location. That's so wild.

[@marianm8174]

@@HotdogFontaine Yeah it was pretty wacky when I figured it out.

[@markclarke317]

Meryls code on the back of the case was an anti piracy method. It was pretty clever tbf, for it's time.

[@usmcassaultman]

When Baker told me to look at the CD case I thought he meant the case for the Metal Gear test data disc he gives you but I couldn’t figure out how to “look” at it other than scrolling trough the item menu. I ran around that first building for hours, blowing up walls, etc. I was stuck. So finally I called EVERY SINGLE codec number other than the ones I already had and at last I stumbled upon Meryl’s codec frequency.

[@Insanabiliter_In_Linea]

Which is funny because it kind of just screwed over people who bought the game second hand without a case, especially if they didn't have internet at the time.

[@millertime3864]

Use stun grenades, don't punch Meryl.

[@HotdogFontaine]

The gentleman's choice. Of course this is the canonical way I'm sure.

[@treflippa2]

Literally just finished a replay of MGS a few days ago. This video very well spoken, humorous and great points made! Good stuff man. You've gained a new sub!

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@treflippa2 thank you so much for saying so!

[@lillo2711]

At that time I don't know about that trick, so I fight psycho mantis with bare hand , it took about 45 minutes of full fight .

[@HotdogFontaine]

You're not the first person to say this! I find that very interesting

[@shelbyhurd]

It’s criminal that you only have 250 subscribers! I recently had the pleasure of playing MGS with a friend of mine for the first time, and your video enhanced that experience so much. Hoping you’ll get more subs!

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@shelbyhurd thank you SO MUCH. I put a lot into this and that really means a lot. Thanks for watching I'm glad you liked it.

[@tracephage]

From what I could tell from ghosts and the supernatural in MGS is that it seems like a metaphor for PTSD and hallucinations caused by it. I think this is shown especially in The Sorrow and with Raiden hearing (repressed emotions?) voices when he fought some of the soldiers with nanomachines.

[@lmnboi1935]

This is really good man I thought it was a big channel, bc its what I’ve been falling asleep to MG facts narrated by the snake VA

[@HotdogFontaine]

Wow thanks so much for saying so!

[@GlennM53]

I still remember the only reason i beat mantis is because i threw my controller in temper and when i picked up to try again, i accidentally picked up controller 2 and beat him easy. Only realised during the codec call afterwards with cambell. Thats my reason mantis sticks with me 25 years later.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@GlennM53 I didn't even know that would work! Nice!

[@neosquirrel]

Don’t forget there was an alternate method to defeating Mantis- by destroying the bondaged busts around the room he levitates and throws at you, you break his power and can continue defeating him like normal-but all the large busts have to be destroyed first. It was a method for those that didn’t pick up on the clues to switch the controller port. Campbell will call you on the Codec if you’ve been defeated too many times by him to clue you in on this fact as well.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@neosquirrel yep! I really should have found time for that in the vid. I love they put that in for players who couldn't swap ports but if you lost the jewel case you had to manually dial up to Meryl's number lol.

[@OmegaS-117]

Psycho Mantis freaked me out when I was a kid being able to do all that psychic stuff

[@TVC-JE]

MGS1 is so goated. I hadn't played it so watching it live on your streams was a real treat. Psycho Mantis was such a unique and fun boss to watch. I could imagine 1998 me being blown away lol

[@TVC-JE]

Also did Kojima see Marilyn Manson and think "Damn I know how Psycho Mantis is gonna dress" lol

[@HotdogFontaine]

He had to come up in conversation, right?

[@HotdogFontaine]

Glad you enjoyed the stream. It's so much fun to play through this one.

[@Sauvenil]

A good friend of mine beat Psycho Mantis on the first try... without swapping the controller... because he didn't realize that was a thing, but he did realize he was going to have to use his fists for the whole fight. So yeah... there's that.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@Sauvenil that's genuinely impressive.

[@Sauvenil]

@@HotdogFontaine It baffles me to this day. It's not like it's an easy fight with all the stuff flying around already.

[@3DSage]

I will never forget this amazing moment.

[@Abo39FooR]

this 9:00 i still listen to mantis music and have it in my playlist its so fucking good.

[@daedelous7094]

13:00 - "the idea that snake and the player are two seperate protagonists wokring together" This makes the little edit in the twin snakes take a new light slightly. When Mantis tells you to put your controller down, Snake looks to the camera and nods to you as if to confirm it's ok to do this before returning to Mantis.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@daedelous7094 YES! I was going to actually include that but I cut all the Twin Snakes references to focus on just the PS1 version. They also fix the "nostalgic" line in Twin Snakes.

[@djrtg]

You’re right, this was a very memorable boss fight. I played through “The Twin Snakes” on GameCube and it just wasn’t the same. It felt gimmicky. The PS version got it right.

[@AmazingFrenchman]

MGS pulls you into the game by using a technique used that breaks immersion. Genius.

[@ZeroOdyssey]

Meryl by proxy is an extension of the player having two controller ports and there being two protagonists in the story that you directly interact with. You "control" her during that part of the game and it is a subtle way of fore-shadowing the way to defeat Psycho Mantis without directly giving the player that information i.e you will need to think about a secondary input and source.

[@martinlopez2955]

i had just got a ps1 from my cousin as a xmas gift; i was having a pizza party w my friends for my birthday and my friend who had played the game previously w his older brother played MGS and i remember my first experience was WATCHING him breeze through psycho mantis...it blew all our minds lol we all then took turns replaying the same fight...good times

[@HotdogFontaine]

That's a great memory. Metal Gear is such a great game to play in a group setting.

[@scottouimet2865]

I really love your video. I feel the same way little 12yr old me Christmas 1998. Getting it all hooked up and playing mgs demo all morning. Great memories

[@Greenminded1]

Definitely one of the best villains in all gaming.

[@ste887]

"The only way to beat mantis is to switch controller." not quite, with enough determination you can punch him to death as every 7th hit will connect. or if you die once and your controller port 2 doesn't work, you can call Campbell and he will tell you to break the taped up statues on either side of the room, then you can damage him as normal.

[@HotdogFontaine]

I knew about the statues but I did NOT know about the 7th hit. I wonder if that was intentional or just a limitation in how he moves.

[@ste887]

@@HotdogFontaine I cant quite remember if the window to hit him is on his 7th attack or yours. as cant quite remember how the internal counter tracks hits. But I do distinctly remember punching mantis to death as player one to win a bet on a games night. The channel FoxDank has a video demonstrating how to do it, but it does take 20 mins of skilful dodging to do it. though it is a pretty fun challenge.

[@11B_geek_with_gun]

If you have infinite ammo: he can't dodge spray-n-pray. Granted, only works after beating the game.

[@320speed]

Absolute Genius!

[@TacticsTechniquesandProcedures]

Can we just revel at that marble floor reflection a little more, Boss?

[@HotdogFontaine]

On the PS1! Incredible.

[@hariman7727]

"This is the first time I've helped someone else. It feels kind of... good." Play the game again, and think about Liquid's plan... WARNING, SPOILERS BELOW, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EDIT: The fourth wall breaks are a part of the game's charm. They know the medium, but they're still playing their parts because they're real to themselves. Also... Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is an amazing blending of the fourth wall breaks with the story. EDIT2: Hint: Liquid's plan DEPENDED on Solid Snake surviving long enough to reactivate the Metal Gear's launcher using the special key, which nobody on base knew how to do. Psycho Mantis wasn't helping Solid Snake. He was helping LIQUID Snake, but was listening to Solid Snake back up what he'd just chosen to do: Actually help someone for the first time in his life. This is backed up by Meryl remembering the minefield pattern: They WANTED Meryl and Solid to get past there, and it also explains why the guards seem a bit lax, leaving openings and not paying attention to what's happening. They're deliberately letting Snake get through as often as not.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@hariman7727 keep an eye on my next video I have a feeling you'll have some good comments to add on it. 😊

[@muratonuryilmaz5385]

They call those guys terrorist but they were part of special operations fox hound before they rebeled. Also Sbake just not a retired soldire but one of the best sodlires who beat even the great Big Boss and destroyed Metal Gear . Just saying "a retired soldire" doesn't make justice

[@HotdogFontaine]

You're right. Snake is much more than that I was just trying to be quick with the intro haha.

[@muratonuryilmaz5385]

@@HotdogFontaine you could just say "He is a former soldire who killed greatest soldire to live to his day than destroyed a tank capable of nuclear attack" same lenght but has so many weird thing in it so makes people who don't know go "What the fuck is this guy"

[@miguelignacio7964]

Actually I beat him without knowing any tips or the change to the second port controller thing, took a long time though, just taking small hit on his health 😂

[@TheMichaellathrop]

The villain in the chronicles of Vidoke was also set up in a way to play with trope and audience expectation(though without actually breaking the 4th wall)

[@jayflores4692]

We need a remake asap! lol

[@brandonperez8977]

2:54 Manits will use his pov if you do that again when fighting him 3:13 actually you can still fight him while you're still playing in on slot one, he just dodge like 6 or 7 shots and will take the last one, but he'll be fully dodge while he's angry, switching the controller to slot 2 isn't the only way to beat Mantis, Kojima was a step ahead because he's aware that there are a some people has a broken slot and decided to add an alternative way to beat mantis by destroy 2 head statues that are next to the main desk, the plot about it is that in the Codec call from Campbell mentions that Psycho Mantis hated his own face which is another reason why he wears a mask, there's even a broken mirror in the men's restroom which some people believed it was mantis who did it

[@HotdogFontaine]

You're right! I have a whole seperate video where I proved you can beat him without switching ports.

[@robertmcginty4146]

The first time i played MGS was with a non vibrating controller, so Mantis skipped part of his demonstration. I was so shocked when i got back here with a dualshock and there was more! Also, the input change, i juat realized "oh hes f***ing with the Tv" like that was a totally normal conclusion.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@robertmcginty4146 I also didn't have a dual shock the first time I played!

[@Captain_Neckbeard]

Psycho Mantis is favorite video game character of all time.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@Captain_Neckbeard he's definitely one of my top boss fights ever.

[@japreet_kah]

Best boss fight in the WORLD of ANY GAME!

[@HotdogFontaine]

You know I truly don't know what I'd put above it. I think it's my favorite too.

[@TREBLEBOOSTER65]

"Match his freak" he said

[@ssyn6626]

You know normally I don't like 4th wall break which is why I can't stand Deadpool but it works here.

[@kumajin3621]

"Ahh so you like castlevania dont you"

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@kumajin3621 I actually DIDN'T so I never heard this lol.

[@mjc0961]

I still remember my first time playing MGS1. Baker told me to look on the back of the CD case. So I went to the floor of Shadow Moses with all the desks and offices and was looking for a CD case somewhere on a desk or something. When I finally was either told or looked up that it meant the actually game's case, I was really annoyed and put off by it. Eventually I got over it though. Haha.

[@mjc0961]

Also when I fought Mantis I had to keep calling Campbell on the codec until he eventually just said "use controller port 2 you big idiot" Found that off-putting at first too, but eventually got over it.

[@Loreweavver]

The presence of psycho mantis in MGSV is part of the hint of the hidden Truth.

[@Lagbeard]

It's also entirely possible to beat Psycho Mantis without swapping controller ports, even in the PS1 version... You do get infinitely respawning ammo in the room during the fight, and he won't always successfully dodge multiple shots in a row. Although if you beat him like that, Mantis will still talk about using the second port, but it does add some weight to Snake talking about making his own future.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@Lagbeard someone else said you can punch him every X amount of times too. Crazy stuff.

[@Cornodebassetto]

The other way to beat Mantis is to destroy the statues with the masks on in the room.

[@SFlRanger82l49]

I had a Playstation that was chipped. So I could play games from US, Europe and Asia. Also I could play copied games. I know, nothing to be proud of playing copied games! So a friend showed me a list of games, and there was only one game that had two CD´s! I thought that must be a big game, but never heard about it. I paid round about 20 bugs for it. So I got 2 CD cases, each one had a letter in, said MGS CD 1 and MGS CD 2! You probably can imagine how long it took me to get in contact with Meryl, right? Colonel Campbell is on 140.85! Meryl was on 140.15! After long time running around, don´t know what to do, I thought the best idea is to check every possible codec frequency, starting by Campbell and then going up, so 140.86, 140.87, 140.88 and so on. After a long time and a few frequencies with some weird noises, music and Nastasha Romanenko, I finally came to 140.15 Meryl! Lesson learned, never buy copied games! ^^ Greets from Germany/ Like and Sub is done!

[@HotdogFontaine]

That's hilarious! I always imagined someone out there did exactly what you did. Just started from the bottom to get to her frequency.

[@settlesmachiningtools8671]

Man I need to replay this game I was super young I dunno like pre teens or just turned a teenager when I got the game and when I was fighting him he turned the screen black with hideo thingy me thinking it was video then my game came back on I was truly convinced that he was controlling my tv and I shut the game off and never played it again

[@HotdogFontaine]

Oh wow. I actually love that. Definitely pick it back up!

[@Beodude123]

Now it feels a bit cheesy, but back then it was pretty neat.

[@JOEL00111]

Psycho mantis always made me feel like i was fighting an evil marilyn manson lol

[@HotdogFontaine]

Felt the same way. Always made me feel like he was inhuman.

[@JOEL00111]

@HotdogFontaine that's what I meant to say I forgot to edit it lol

[@Auralice]

It's not impossible, just incredibly tedious to defeat Mantis without changing ports. Mantis will dodge 7 attacks and get hit by the 8th, 8 is considered the luckiest number in Japan just like "Lucky number 7" in the west. So good luck fighting him!

[@HotdogFontaine]

I managed to do it in another video! I didn't know that about the number 8 though!

[@naytgross]

Psycho Mantis single handedly ruined sex for me. The way he says "their adavistic need to endlessly pass on their DNA." The way he talks about procreation and how disgusting people are in their heads.

[@arcticdragon3565]

4:24 As a UAF Dropout I found this quite funny

[@HotdogFontaine]

Go Nanooks. Also that is his canon backstory lmao.

[@SaekoMantis]

One of if not my favorite boss fights in all of gaming hint the name

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@SaekoMantis yes!

[@JokeDeity2]

25 years?

[@JokeDeity2]

Wait. Is that right?! OH GOD I'M OLD!

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@JokeDeity2 haha I had the same realization.

[@wesker_wong]

What version of mgs1 is this? It looks so clean.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@wesker_wong running on a Duckstation emulator with a widescreen setting. Upscaled a bit. I agree I think it looks great!

[@tohpingtiang4878]

The nanomachines...

[@panos3320]

Dunno if the video is good. I got out at the 00:03 second mark, when it was visually implied the Donte vs Vergin battle was not only good, but saved the game XD

[@HotdogFontaine]

I liked it!

[@shaunmichael2477]

I remember when msg1 first came out i smashed at least 2 controllers in rage because i didnt know how to get past mantis our first taste of kojima sans sick sense of humour

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@shaunmichael2477 2 controllers???? Mantis got you good!

[@shaunmichael2477]

​​@@HotdogFontaine kojima gets me every time with his bs ive just been playing through msgv again when i got up to the quartine bit paniked and put all 528 staff on quartine before u realised my mistake

[@ocarey2]

On the back of the cd case when you have just received a disk in game had my 9 year old ass stuck for hours! No internet to just find out the answer back then

[@lordmuaddib]

my sony crt had the same UI as the hideo effect, it threw me off so much!

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@lordmuaddib oh man! I knew someone had to. That's extra creepy.

[@lordmuaddib]

@@HotdogFontaine also, i don't remember if it was MGS or something else, but i remember vividly a similar effect with volume going down, and i was screaming at my brother if he was playing with the remote! XD edit: maybe it was Eternal Darkness, but still eheh

[@brandonperkins176]

Challenge and fun

[@Amerwiccan]

What if mg is actually a simulation. 🤯

[@nonickels8975]

Do they still make the fusion? I thought those were discontinued

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@nonickels8975 haha I believe you're right.

[@Core2TOM]

10:29 a clever way to avoid illegal copys that come without the cd case, isn't it? i wonder how this works today with digital store versions 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@Core2TOM there's a 3D model of the case in the Master Collection versions. Truly I didn't know it was piracy protection.

[@Core2TOM]

@@HotdogFontaine oh, thanks :) maybe you remember the cardboard discs from monkey island? this is probably the best known itteration of this protection

[@Altorin]

I wonder how you beat him on the ps4/5 re-release. Can't really put your controller into the second port.

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@Altorin they have you swap it digitally in the master collection menu.

[@mueffe1357]

The first time I played this Boss fight, I did not expect you needed a DS controller. Only bought the ds controller to play Armored Core. Suffice to say, me n my brother were amused. 😂

[@HotdogFontaine]

I didn't have one when I first played this either.

[@seeke200r]

"Tretiy Rebyonok"

[@andrewnelson2801]

Noiceeeeee

[@Amerwiccan]

Nah he was ahead of his time now we have games like that where you only get one life and it resets or hard core modes.

[@denifnaf5874]

0:03 you dare imply that DmC 2013 is bad?

[@HotdogFontaine]

I actually liked it. But yes that was the implication.

[@kellyduggan2326]

i had the game and thought he was cool villan and boss

[@HotdogFontaine]

He is! Definitely one of my all time favorites.

[@luukderuijter1332]

Bruh you mention that hideo sounds like video, but still mispronounce his name

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@luukderuijter1332 yeah I've been understandably roasted for this. I'm learning I've said it wrong my whole life.

[@alleycatjack4562]

Wait! There is a novelization!?

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@alleycatjack4562 it's ok. Snake is characterized a little strangely and does a couple really out of character one-limers. Otherwise it's mostly just reading the script of the game.

[@maxhill9254]

noice

[@GTOnIzuka]

it's Hee-deo not Hai-deo

[@rayzimmermin]

in MGS1 you are not actually playing snake you playing Raiden in VR training for the big shell mission the Psycho Mantis fight is one of the major hints given to the player that what you are experiencing is not really happening don't believe me go back and play MGS1 with it in mind and you will notice a lot more things

[@FreeSephs]

I think that's Ghost babel you are talking about

[@rayzimmermin]

@@FreeSephs its not ghost babel its out right explained in MGS2

[@FreeSephs]

@@rayzimmermin you know about mgs1 special missions right?

[@cookie_of_nine]

@@rayzimmermin Yeah it was kinda meant to be a subtle kick to the player/Raiden, since there is no way to beat MGS1 with both Meryl and Otacon surviving, wheras MGS2 shows that Meryl did survive (due to Snake having the infinite ammo bandana) yet Otacon is obviously alive to provide support during that game (and has the optic camo) meaning that unlike the player (Jack/Raiden) who played MGS1 to "simulate the experience of shadow moses" and had to "chose" who to save, the "Real" Solid Snake got the best / impossible ending since he was able to save both.

[@rayzimmermin]

@@FreeSephs ware im from it was called VR missions but ya i played it way back in the day

[@ismomakinen6811]

God DAMN you for dropping that fact about Psycho Mantis returning in MGS4. It might be an older game, but not everyone has had chance to get around to it (obviously). A totally unnecessary spoiler, since it doesn't really have any bearing on the rest of the video. Would've been a great video otherwise.

[@TVC-JE]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@bsully98]

Hah-dio kojima? Just how?

[@daviribeiromarques7320]

I was going through the comments to see if anyone else commented on this, it's the first time I've ever seen his name pronounced like that

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@bsully98 yeah idk that's how I've said it my whole life. Apologies to Kojima I guess.

[@thequestion2859]

Raymond Benson novels sucked and had no love or respect for the original game in my opinion. I would have made Mantis talk to the reader

[@HotdogFontaine]

That would have been SICK. Man what a good idea. But would you have had Snake say "merry Christmas" after choking a guard out?

[@thequestion2859]

@@HotdogFontaine It goes nowhere near the text of this novel. Truly the worst "Snake" to ever exist. It's like a dark timeline where Metal Gear Solid was just Siphon Filter and it's fate

[@xaviersejour9183]

Cool gimmick but he’s the weakest boss in the game.

[@cookie_of_nine]

That's kinda the tightrope you have to walk with Gimmick fights: If it's too easy, you might accidentally stumble across the gimmick without realizing it, or if you immediately win once using it feels cheap, but if the fight is "normal" or "hard" after dealing with the gimmick the player could easily lose and think that there is more to the gimmick they need to do and flail about trying to figure that out, instead of trying to make sure they don't waste ammo / healing before employing the gimmick and putting in a good performance during the fight. Compare this to the Grey Fox fight, where one might waste their ammo and healing, so that even when they figured out they needed to use hand-to-hand they were at a severe disadvantage, plus the player is so disincentivized to use a gun when the point arrives where they have to use it (at the end) they don't get it, die, and have to do the whole fight over.

[@seanlennart4740]

vydeo

[@enoyna1001]

I have never heard 'Hideo' being pronounced that wrong

[@ZayRoQ-3822]

Metal gear set the bAr. CoolhandvetS wAs heRe.

[@JohnWick-uq1su]

Ahhh! You love azure dreams

[@HotdogFontaine]

@@JohnWick-uq1su not a lot of Azure Dreams talk these days lol

[@JohnWick-uq1su]

@@HotdogFontaine people have no idea what they missed out on. Goddamn if I didn’t spend hundreds of hours on this game. Ugh! It was so good!