Normally, sports games aren’t the first thing to spring to mind when asked about important characters and rich personalities in video games, but that is the first thing my mind settled on for this edition of Monthly Musings. This particular character comes from the SSX franchise and SSX Tricky in particular. He is Psymon Stark, and during my preteen years, I wanted to be everything he represented: self-expression, thrill-seeking, courage.

Psymon Stark is a character covered in tattoos and piercings, and with a crazy haircut that looks like it was style by electricity. I never wanted to take after Psymon’s physical attributes. Piercings and tattoos aren’t really my thing. But that he is covered in them indicates a high threshold for pain, and so I thought Psymon was just pure badassery. At the character selection screen, he would sometimes say “It's been a long time since they let me come out to play...” and you knew you were about to experience something awesome.

Simon was not only tough though; he was fucking nuts. I mean truly out of his mind. His name is spelled that way for a reason. According to his backstory, Psymon was electrocuted after jumping his bike into some power lines. As a kid, I thought that was just really awesome. I’m an interesting specimen because I seem to fluctuate between the mind of an adult and a young child with erratic frequency, so Psymon had a connection with me. He was like a child in an adult’s body, and that held appeal.

Psymon just had a hell of a lot of personality. He had the coolest Uber Trick by far: the guillotine. He takes the board and spins it around his neck like a lawnmower blade. He also has a trick called the torpedo, in which he lays horizontally and rotates like a boat engine blade. It’s all just so freakin’ cool. While he’s pulling off some sick stunts, Psymon has some of the best voicework and one-liners around.

Upon crashing:
“No broken bones... that's a shame!”
“Who cares? I’m a nihilist!”

Catching big air:
“No stranger to danger!”
“French toast and syrup!”


Be patient. It gets amazing about halfway through.

There is little rhyme or reason to how Psymon talks or acts… and I loved that about him. He exudes a sort of bouncy, childish energy that I completely embraced. I saw a part of me in him. I wanted to be able to scream non sequiturs at the top of my lungs, take gigantic leaps of faith, and shake off the bone-shattering landing as if it was nothing.

I respected Psymon because he lived by his own rules and nobody else’s. He was fearless and he had no reservations about being off-the-walls, batshit crazy. Psymon was a guy who lived on the edge, but still wasn’t afraid to admit that his worst injury was getting lemon juice in his paper cut.

Now that is a person I want to be.

Minus the tattoos and piercings, of course.



Couldn't resist posting the greatest intro ever. Psymon at the 0:30 mark.