Summary
- Psycho Mantis has a dark and tragic past, killing over 1,000 people as a child and suffering from permanent facial disfigurement.
- Working for the KGB and CIA drove Psycho Mantis to madness, leading him to become a nomad offering his services to high-paying clients.
- In the boss battle against Psycho Mantis, players can defeat him by swapping controller ports or damaging his statues, providing an opportunity to retaliate.
With his raspy voice, his trademark gas mask, and the frightening ability to read a player’s memory (card), Psycho Mantis has proven to be an unforgettable figure in the Metal Gear Solid series. Most of his past is surrounded by mystery, with only glimpses of information being revealed about this mysterious figure across various pieces of Metal Gear Solid media.
Psycho Mantis is a truly creepy character. After all, he makes a strong first impression with players, especially since he breaks the fourth wall and does something truly horrifying by readying their Memory Cards. This impression forever remains embedded into players, and there's a reason there's so much to love or get creeped out, by Psycho Mantis.
10 He Killed Over 1,000 People As A Child
According to the Metal Gear Solid: Official Mission Handbook, Psycho Mantis was born with psychic powers. His mother died in childbirth, and he soon discovered his father harbored disgust and resentment for his own flesh and blood when his thoughts were read.
Fearing that he would be killed by him, he destroyed his home village with a psychic wave that ended up burning it all down to the ground. This act would end up taking the lives of his dad and roughly a thousand people in total. The official Metal Gear Solid comic book shows that this would result in permanent facial disfigurement .
9 Working For The KGB And CIA Drove Him To Madness
Repressing his inner demons, Psycho Mantis unwillingly ended up creating a secondary persona to cope with his inner turmoil. Soon enough, he was recruited by the KGB and used as a test subject for psychic warfare.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, he departed to the United States to work for the CIA. However, delving into the mind of a serial killer drove him to madness, where he would gain those same desires for murder. Afterward, he became a nomad, offering his services to high-paying clients. Soon enough, he found himself side-by-side with none other than Liquid Snake of FOXHOUND.
8 Swapping Controller Ports And Destroying His Statues Both Work Against Him
The boss battle against Psycho Mantis is nothing short of iconic. He can cause a blackout on the TV to make it seem like someone changed the channel, use telekinesis to throw items at Snake and force Meryl to attempt to commit suicide in front of him.
Since he can read Snake’s mind, he can seamlessly dodge incoming attacks. While many know about inserting the controller into the player 2 slots to bypass this, as suggested by his colleagues, damaging Mantis’ statues of himself will expose the hideous faces underneath. This will provide an ample opportunity to retaliate while he’s distracted.
7 Before Dying, He Feels “Nostalgic” About A Specific Memory
It’s never specified in-game why Psycho Mantis feels “nostalgic” (or, in the original lengthy Metal Gear Solid’s English dub, why it felt “pretty nice”) about helping Snake before he passes away. He never specifies what exactly he’s referring to when he says that, and, thus, it’s been left open for debate.
That is until series creator Hideo Kojima weighed in with an explanation. In an interview, he explained that this was him being able to sense his mother’s emotions when she was giving birth. The whole process was going to kill her, so she used what was left of her body’s strength to push Mantis out in order to ensure that he would survive.
6 Kojima’s Favorite Villain
If one were to look at lists or videos detailing who the greatest characters in the series are, Psycho Mantis would more than likely appear on them. His on-screen appearance has left quite an impression on players and critics alike ever since his debut in 1998.
Kojima has gone on record in fan interviews to say that Psycho Mantis is even his personal favorite villain out of his own series! With the disturbing design and unsettling on-screen appearance, not to mention a twisted and memorable backstory, it doesn’t exactly require a mind-reader to figure out why that is the case as well.
5 Predicts Snake’s Future In Metal Gear Solid Novel
Author Raymond Benson wrote the 2008 Metal Gear Solid novel, which aimed to expand on further details while retelling the original events of the first game. One extract in particular is interesting, as it mentions how he sees a vision of an elderly snake placing the barrel of a gun inside his mouth.
This is a reference to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots, where Snake puts his pistol inside his mouth and intends to pull the trigger beside the grave of his father, Big Boss. Naturally, this conversation wasn’t in the original game, but it’s an intriguing addition nonetheless.
4 Console Evolution In Metal Gear Solid 4
Psycho Mantis appears in the fourth game as a ghost in a brief cutscene. Serving as a throwback to the first entry, he tries to read Snake’s memory (i.e. The player’s save data), only to discover there’s no memory card, much to his shock. Attempting to make the PlayStation 3 controller vibrate, he is stunned that it doesn’t have those capabilities before he is dragged back into the afterlife.
There’s actually an alternate version of this cutscene if the player is using a DualShock controller, which was built with a rumble feature. Upon discovering this, he will exclaim gleefully “Vibration is back!” The rest of the cutscene will play as normal.
3 Cut Content Shows How He And Eli Were A Part Of A Boss Battle
There was a fair bit of content cut out of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, to the chagrin of players. The Collector’s Edition came with a Blu-ray disc and featured some of this removed and unfinished content, like the missing Episode 51.
One of them featured Eli, who is infected with a virus and has commandeered the stolen Sahelanthropus. In the cutscene, the “Third Boy” (who is Mantis as a child) protects Eli from attacks by invading XOF soldiers. After a climactic boss battle, the Third Boy prevents Eli from committing suicide, uses his abilities to remove the vocal cord strain, and carries him away to safety as the area is firebombed by Diamond Dogs.
2 His Appearance Changes In Metal Gear Solid 5
Keen-eyed players may notice some slight discrepancies with the Third Boy’s appearance in the fifth game. During specific cutscenes, he will be seen for a short amount of time each, albeit with a slightly different look to him. There’s actually an explainable reason for this.
Mantis is attracted to a person’s desire for revenge, and, depending on who is inadvertently influencing him, his appearance will alter slightly based on that character. For instance, his hands are burning with the Man On Fire, while a piece of fabric can be seen on his shoulder when he is with the vengeful Eli.
1 He Appeared In A Car Advert
This has to be one of the strangest tie-in commercials to date. In 2016, there were adverts featuring some of the cast from Metal Gear Solid talking about a Ford Focus. Psycho Mantis appears in a cutscene from the game dubbed with his original English voice actor, Doug Stone.
In it, he reads Snake’s mind, revealing his desire for the vehicle while listing out its qualities and features, like its 12-speaker system that is “perfect for long codec calls”. The advert ends with the tagline “Psycho Mantis knows you want one”.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1
- Released
- October 24, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Konami
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Action, Stealth
