OOTL here probably before my time mind explaining?
In the first Metal Gear Solid there was a character named Psycho Mantis who had a lot of psychic/mind reading gimmicks. One such way of doing so was to input read everything from your controller and blocking all of your attacks. Another way was reading your memory card and talking about the games you play, name dropping them specifically and talking about genres. All of that is really clever on its own but to get around his input reading you had to plug the controller into the second player slot as he wasn’t able to read that “mind”.
He also commented on that, just nicely done overall.
That is really cool
In addition to what the other user said, at one point he makes it so only Player 2 can control your character, so you either needed to run to the console to switch your controller port or pick up a second controller if you had one on standby.
He also tries to make you think your console shut off. Old tvs commonly used blue/green/black screens that said the name of the selected input port at the top, like VIDEO 2. This fight had a part where a blue screen came up that said HIDEO 2 at the top, a nod to the creator Hideo Kojima. Many players thought their consoles turned off and tried to reboot them… effectively erasing unsaved data. It only lasted a few seconds though, so most people realized before it was too late.
He also mind controls your companion, but that’s a bit more common to see.
SO YOU LIKE TO PLAY CASTLEVANIA?!
I remember playing MGS4 on the PS3 when it came out, and I was so pumped when Psycho Mantis made an appearance.
I had just got the console, so I didn’t have any save data for him to find. The controllers that came with it didn’t have dualshock either, so he couldn’t make my controller move.
In the end, Mantis really just seemed like a confused old man, which honestly fit pretty well into that game. There were a lot of themes about old soldiers aging out, I mean Snake’s body is literally betraying him. But Psycho Mantis’ domain was the mind, so it does seem fitting that he had a senior’s moment with me.
The meme makes it seem like it was a dumb gimmick for 9 year olds. I still think it’s one of the coolest things ever. I wish i would’ve appreciated more at the time, but i was busy mashing buttons instead of reading dialogues.
A few years later… Eternal Darkness:
That was extremely confusing to watch without context. What’s happening?
The game made you think there was something wrong with your game or TV by showing fake effects. Some of them aren’t really relatable anymore due to their age, but the top comment shows you all the timestamps and what the effect was.
Shit was crazy.
The game actively messed with you. About 1/2 through it would pause and throw up a “Thank you for playing the demo! Look for the full game coming soon!” That sort of thing.
There’s also a moment in Inscryption (on PC at least), that comes to mind. Quite a few years later, though.
It got me. It was really cool what the outcome was tho.
