Aging with Metal Gear Solid

Gamers my age (23) grew up with the Metal Gear series. It means different things to different people, but no matter what it meant, it marked time for a generation of gamers. This story recounts a life through each iteration of Metal Gear, beginning with Metal Gear Solid:

Metal Gear Solid is a videogame, ostensibly, about infiltration. The protagonist, Solid Snake, must access a nuclear weapons disposal facility and neutralize a nuclear threat. Eventually Snake is captured and tortured and my childlike eyes are tortured too. My hero is dying.

My childish digits are incapable of the rapid tapping required to refill Snake’s health meter. It’s difficult even for my father, and I can see there’s an option to submit but my father is ignoring it. Maybe his temperament meant he refused to be bested by mechanics, maybe he wanted Snake to survive, maybe he knew I wanted Snake to survive. It didn’t matter. All I really know is Snake survived, the game went on.