METAL GEAR SOLID : the exorcism of a video game demon that had haunted me for over 14 years

Many moons ago (1998) when the Playstation One was in its infancy, Metal Gear Solid was released by Konami, legendary game makers of the 16 bit era (Contra, Super Contra ) and produced by Hideo Kojima who at the time was best known for the cult police investigation game Policenaunts, MGS was heralded as the first truly next gen action adventure game, everyone that I knew with a PSOne couldn't wait to get their hands on this opus of a game.

On its release date I remember picking the game at the now defunct "Pinguin Village" on Elizabeth Street in New York's Chinatown, rushing back to my apartment and being blown away by it's Hollywood style score and cinematic intro. I played the game with a joyful frenzy, savoring every successful sneak and takedown until the fateful day when I encountered the Villainous Psycho Mantis. 

For those of you who haven't played the game, Psycho Mantis was a video game boss in his own class, he would read your mind (memory card) mock your taste in video games, appear "change" your TV's video input, use telekinesis to throw shit at you, turn your friend against you and then turn invisible all in mid battle.
 


(here's a taste of old leather chaps on action)




Up until that point, I had foolishly breezed through several levels of the game saving over my previous saves, missing several key items that would be paramount for my battle with this fiend (thermal googles, ammo, rations) so when the battle came I was hopelessly outmatched and ill equipped to beat this digital devil.

Hopelessly I battle Psycho Mantis for what seemed like a eternity, hours became days, days became weeks and pride being what it was, I refused help from magazines or the or the preYouTube 56.6k Internet, until finally surrendered to Psycho Mantis.....he won and I traded in a game that up until that point I loved for something a little less threatening because of an "unbeatable" Villain.

For the longest anytime Metal Gear Solid would come up as the topic of conversation with friends I would cringe as I made excuses as to why I never finished the game.

Flash forward to a the now, someone gives me Metal Gear collection HD for the Playstation 3 and it was like shell shock, I couldn't bring myself to open the game weirdly enough due to the simple fact that I let the first game beat me....no strike that, I let Psycho Mantis beat me.

So I plunked down $9.99, downloaded that MGS on the PSN, set it to normal and off I went.

I don't know if it was maturity, patience, experience or a combination of all Three but I managed to beat this "monster" of a game this time on normal in less than 15 hours of playtime and even though they are no "Trophies" for PSOne classics, as corny as it sounds as a gamer the personal achievement meant more to me that any platinum Trophy in any other game.

And today I opened Metal Gear HD collection, on to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty.

-PSN ID: Grandaiza out.