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So a month ago now, I went down a fun rabbit hole while looking for a very specific save file. As you may know, my next essay is about Astro Bot and the Fourth Wall. I need some primo examples of games that break the fourth wall for the opening-ish segments. My brain immediately goes to the legendary Psycho Mantis boss battle in Metal Gear Solid.

I want to use footage of Psycho Mantis reading my PS1 memory card, but the problem is I don't have a save slot before the Psycho Mantis fight. And given it is half-ish way through the game, I don't really want to dedicate the time to get back to it. To the Internet!

My go-to spot is GameFAQs for old save files, but I didn't see any dedicated to fighting the man with powerful psychic abilities. Searching the web at large didn't really help either until I searched for a save editor. I didn't find one, but that search terminology brought me to metlagearspeedrunners.com.

I found an entire resources page built around helping people practice speedrunning the game; including

"Console Integral Save Files (All Bosses and Any%): A .rar file containing 16 memory cards for MGS Integral with save files located in key areas both for Any% and All Bosses% for ALL difficulties. Created by Tromboncino."

This was exactly what I needed...but what is "Integral"?

Turns out that Metal Gear Solid had an expanded edition of the game in Japan, just like Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Integral was packed with the changes from the NTSC version, English VO, and all of Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions. It was basically a patch and DLC for the game in 1999.

Now a new problem emerged...I don't have a Japanese PlayStation. But I do have a MiSTer. I loaded up the game and the save onto my little console that could using Transmit, which is my favorite file transfer app on the Mac. I was able to load the memory card no problem. The only catch I came across was that I'll need to remember to copy over my Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to that card before I play so Psycho Mantis, you know, does The Thing™.

I'm toying around with the idea of capturing the game off-screen on my CRT for the proper effect of the HIDEO moment. I have this idea of practically switching scenes of the CRT and pushing in on the frame, but I'll have to test it out first.

I'm excited to have found a solution. There are so many moments in the entire Metal Gear Solid franchise that break the fourth wall, but this is the one I wanted the most (Octacon talking about Blu-Ray discs is a close second). Thank you speedrunning community and your thoroughness. I owe you one.

Until next time...