(See Metal Gear Solid)

Former KGB psychic with powerful telekinetic and telepathic abilities. He was once asked to read a serial killer's mind, but he went a little bit too far into that mind...

He has a black suit, and wears a gas mask all the time - probably better so, because his face isn't that pretty.

He's now a member the Fox-Hound, but he has goals that are quite different from Liquid Snake's plans.

NOTE: SPOILERS AHEAD

His powers are actually so fearsome that they even go over the boundary between the game and reality. In Playstation version of Metal Gear Solid, and in GameCube Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, he's able to see what you have saved to memory card. He also makes the rumble feature on the controller vibrate. (See Coolest fourth wall breaches in computer and video games for a more detailed discussion of this insanity!)

Regrettably, the only joke Konami has left to the PC version was related on how you can beat Psycho Mantis. Mantis can read your controller, of course, as said above - but he can only read the first controller port! So, to prevent him from reading your mind, you need to plug your controller pad to second port (or, in PC version, you must play with keyboard instead of using a pad). In GameCube, switching to any other port will work.

Also notable for what is quite possibly the coolest fourth-wall breach in video-game history.

I'll just put it this way: do not meet him unless you have the Dual Shock (or some other force-feedback pad) plugged in. Trust me on this. The cut scene uses the force-feedback motor in a way that I very much doubt has been done in any game before or since.

You might also want to have a few other Konami games saved on your memcard, as well...

See also: controller massage

Psycho Mantis, a Metal Gear Solid boss, is creeppy to an exponential degree. He's a skinny, leather clad man with a gas mask over his face. Mantis is a petty little men that would never be able to take any pain, but it is your job to deal him what he deserves. He has an erie voice, insect-like body, and can really psych you out. The first time I played him I had been up for about 36 hours and it was 3:00 in the morning. To say the least, it was kinda spooky. Mantis is a tough boss to beat unless you know a few tricks. I didn't know them at first, so it isn't THAT hard to do without them.

Psych Mantis is telepathic, this gives him incredible reaction time. You punch, he blocks. You shoot, he dodges. He is also telekinetic. This ability allows him to throw various objects around the room and into your face. To go with the whole psychic theme, when you press triangle (for first person view) you see from Mantis' view and it's all green and odd. That's gotta be hard for Snake to see while looking from his view. This hurts a tad, so you have to be quick on your feet. But this can be avoided. To bypass his psychic abilities, when the screen goes blank and displays "HIDEO" (mocking "VIDEO" and making a reference to Hideo Kojima) plug your controller into the second port. This will reduce his reaction time, and you can hear him whine about his inability to read your mind. Psycho Mantis goes invisible ever now and then, but you can pick up his heat. So, slap on your inferred goggles to see him. I would recommend beating the crap out of him, but the SOCOM pistol works nicely too. He floats around, so you can't get a hold of him and snap his little neck. After you knock him around enough, he's take control of Meryl and she'll come after you with a gun. It is best not to shoot her or kill her by any means. This would cause a game over, and that is not your goal. Your goal is to kill Mantis, not Meryl. So when she shoots at you, bust out some stun grenades. She'll faint and you can go back to beating up the little twerp. It's rather fun. I would recommend playing Mantis with his ability to "read your mind" once. I find it more fun than just going out for target practice on a floating creep. So, don't kill Meryl, kill Mantis. Don't look around like an idiot, use goggles. Good luck!

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