Konami
Psycho Mantis will detect all of these games in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1
One of the Metal Gear series’ most iconic moments returns in the MGS: Master Collection Vol.1, but there’s a new catch to how Psycho Mantis reads your mind now.
Psycho Mantis does his thing again in the version of Metal Gear Solid included in the Master Collection Vol. 1 released in 2023. Konami has devised a very original method of adding saved games to our fictitious Memory Card so that the FOXHOUND member with psychic powers can “read our minds.” But as it turns out, it varies depending on the region you’re playing in.
How to make Psycho Mantis read the Memory Card in MGS from Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1?
One of the most legendary moments in the history of video games is the fight against Psycho Mantis and the conversation prior to it in the original Metal Gear Solid. The FOXHOUND member impresses us with his “psychic powers” by reading “our minds.” That is to say: the data saved from the Memory Card. In the original PSX game, this meant that Mantis mentioned some of the games we had played and had saved games for in memory, “demonstrating his powers.”Of course, there was only a selection of titles he could find, with all of them having to be other Konami releases before the launch of MGS.
As current consoles and PCs do not need an external device to save the game’s progress, Konami’s solution for this reading of saved data by Mantis is very peculiar: Before starting a game of MGS in Master Collection Vol. 1 you have the option of editing a fake Memory Card with data from a selection of Konami games for Mantis to mention them once we get to the conversation. To do this, from the Metal Gear Solid start menu we simply choose “edit saved data”.
The list of games available to edit this fake Memory Card is completely dependant on the version of the collection, as it is tied to the region you’re in. For example: the EU version includes the following games
- Broken Helix
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Contra: Legacy of War
- Diver’s Dreams
- Azure Dreams
- Poy Poy
- Project Overkill
- Suikoden
- Vandal Hearts
All of them are games that Konami published at the time on PlayStation and were developed by their studies. Since they are all part of the same distributor, they had no problem regarding the rights to make a mention of them in Metal Gear Solid.
This list is very similar to the North American edition, where you can also find Silent Hill in the list. On the other hand, the Japanese version includes titles like Policenauts, Snatcher, and many other Japanese exclusives that never made their way outside of the territory.
Psycho Mantis does not mention all of the games on the list, but having the saved games on the virtual Memory Card is necessary for Mantis to make certain mentions in particular, as we can see in this quite elaborate video about this curiosity that is already a quarter of a century old:
What games and extras does Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 include?
This is everything that is included in Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1:
- Metal Gear (original MSX2 version) and Metal Gear (NES port).
- Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (MSX2) and Snake’s Revenge
- Metal Gear Solid (including Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions, Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions, and Metal Gear Solid: Integral).
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (the same version included in Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection in 2011, i.e. MGS2: Substance but without some extras such as the skating minigame).
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (the same version included in Metal Gear Solid: HD Collection in 2011, that is, MGS3: Subsistence but without some extras such as online multiplayer or the Snake vs Monkey minigame).
- Screenplay Book of each game.
- Master Book of each game: digital book with detailed information and guides.
- Metal Gear Solid digital soundtrack: selection of songs from several titles in the saga.
- Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel (graphic novel by Kris Oprisko and Ashley Wood chronicling the events of MGS).
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Digital Graphic Novel (graphic novel by Kris Oprisko and Ashley Wood chronicling the events of MGS2).
What platforms is Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 available on and when does it go on sale?
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 goes on sale on October 24, 2023 for PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.