MGS2 Secrets

Alternative Title Screen

Beat the game once to get a new blue screen with Raiden in the background. To change back to the red one with Snake, watch the opening. After the demo finishes, the screen will back to the one with Snake.

Camera

Once you beat the game, save it and when you start a new game you should have it in your inventory.

Easter Eggs

E.E. and Johnny

While helping E.E. with your sniper rifle she will pass behind two big structures. Use your directional microphone on her when she passes behind the first structure to hear her talking what she thinks about Raiden. Do it again when she passes the second structure to hear she being hold-up by some guard. E.E. asks if he is going to shoot her, the guard says that he learned from Shadow Moses that fighting women can give him bad luck. Than the guard begings to have some "stomach problems" and run away, E.E. asks his name and he says: "It's Johnny!"

Happy Birthday

At the first node you log into in the Plant Episode, you're given a chance to input your name, birthday, bloodtype and nationality. If your birthday is the same date as your PS2, you'll be greeted by a Happy Birthday logo with a matching Birthday cake.

If you are holding a soldier's dogtag and you highlight it showing their name, underneath it will show "Happy Birthday!" if the internal clock matches up with that soldier's birthdate.

Staff Dog Tags

At the first node or Special Mission name entry, enter your name as one of the game staff. It will automatically put in their blood type, birthday, sex, and nationality.
Known names
Hideo Kojima
Yoji Shinkawa
So Toyota
Ken Ogasawra

Camera Control

During a cut-scene, you can press R1 or the Right shoulder trigger to zoom in, and use the right analog stick to move the camera around.

Moai Head

As with all Konami games, a Moai statue can be seen somewhere in the game. One statue can be seen in the vents of Strut L with the use of the Nikita missile launcher, however there are many more hidden throughout the game.

Kiss a poster

When hiding in a locker with a poster on the inside, zoom in and Snake or Raiden will lean forward and make a kissing sound.

Codec

Like camera control, you can move the position of the camera during codec calls. Pressing the shoulder buttons or the triggers will also disclose the inner thoughts of the person in control. Left side prompts a negative thought while the right side prompts a positive response.

Ghosts

Taking a picture of the right viewscreen in Hold 2 will have Hideo Kojima show up as a ghost. In Hold 3, Ocelot can be seen from the upper floor near the left foot of Metal Gear RAY. If you upload these pictures, Otacon will be freaked out.

Cardboard Box Sighting

After meeting Stillman for the first time, head out towards the CD Connecting Bridge. When you see an unconscious guard, go into first person view. You'll see Pliskin hiding under a cardboard box heading towards D strut. You can shoot the box to alert Pliskin and make him run away under the box. Call Pliskin on the Codec for a funny conversation. You may have to call Pliskin a number of times before hearing this, as the first conversations he will talk about are the members of Dead Cell.

Snake's Dogtag

After Snake Gives you the High Frequency Blade and Equipment, knock him out and shake him to get his dogtag. You will recieve Meryl's, Liquid's, or Pliskin's tag by changing the difficulty level. However, when you do this in Extreme difficulty, you will recieve Hideo Kojima's Dog Tag!

Kaori Yae

One of the Plant soldiers has a dogtag that identifies himself as Kaori Yae. Kaori Yae is a girl from Tokimeki Memorial 2, Konami's high school dating sim series. Hideo Kojima also had a hand in directing the first three Drama series games before working on MGS.

Dogtag Information

Use the Binoculars or Camera to identify the names of the person on the dog tag. The name will appear above the enemy. This only works if you are holding that soldier's dog tag.

Daze A Guard

When an exclamation point or a question mark appears over a guard's head, shoot it to daze. If you shoot this before it disappears, the guard will become dazed for a while and some white bubbles float around his head, making him totally oblivious for a bit.

Hostages

In the Hostage Room of Shell 1, the types of hostages - excluding Ames - will all be different according to the time on the internal clock.
12:00 PM - All Jennifer

VR Missions

The color of the VR environments changes accordingly with the time on the internal clock.

Sunglasses

When a third playthrough is started on any chapter, Snake and/or Raiden will be wearing stylish sunglasses.

Rare Bug Space

At Shell 2 Core B1, anytime before rescuing Emma.
Crawl on the floor and press the elevator call button.
You will enter a bug space, where you'll be able to walk underwater and still equip all your items and weapons.
If you find the right route, you can even take a picture of the body of Stillman floating in the water.
You will still lose oxygen when underwater. If you have the Blue Wig, equip it and you'll be able to stay underwater as long as you want.
The bug only exists before rescuing Emma. After meeting Emma, the bug will be gone.

Mid-air Walk

At the Tanker Deck-D Crew's Quarters, after walking up the staircase, there is a red fire alarm bell on the top of the adjacent wall. Use a silenced weapon to shoot the alarm bell once, then stay there and don't move away from that location. The soldier patrolling the staircase leading up to the bridge will hear the ding of the bell and walk towards you, mistakenly up the staircase and walk into mid-air. If you try looking at him in first person view, you won't be able to.
If at this time, you quickly move to the area in front of the staircase going up, that soldier will be stuck at the top of the steps, walking in place unable to get back down. If you leave this area in front of the staircase, he will be able to come down.
If you shoot and kill him while he's stuck atop that staircase, his body will float in mid-air when you go back to the area where you first shot the alarm bell. But again, you won't be able to see him in first person view.

Attention of the Marines

In the Tanker Hold 2, stand to the left side of the projectors and press the Triangle button to click on the remote control. Do this seven times and a funny movie sequence will start.
Save the game before you do this trick though, because after the movie it is an automatic game over.

Blow Away Tanker Camera

Unlike Raiden, Snake can't blow away surveillance cameras because he doesn't have the Stinger or the RGB6.
The only place Snake can blow away the surveillance camera is in the Deck D Crew's Quarters.
Stand under the camera and pull out the pin of a grenade, but do not throw the grenade. Hold it up under the surveillance camera and the camera will be blown away, provided Snake also loses some blood.
(The curious bit is that, if you exit the floor and return, the camera will miraculously reappear. Deactivated, but present.)

Raven Toy

Not only can Snake shoot the Raven figure, he can punch it as well.


Weird Squat

In the small room at the top left of the Engine Room, beyond the infrared semtex sensors is a bag of flour. Stand onto the bag of flour then press against the wall. That's not a good pose for Snake.


But I Have Stealth!

In the Tanker Holds, even with the Stealth Camouflage equipped, Snake still can't pass in front of the video projectors undetected.
Maybe it's because Snake's bandana or sunglasses still cast a shadow on the screen?


That's Attention To Detail

Look at the mini-submarine hanging in the Strut A Deep Sea Dock. The front side of it is a semi-spheric glass window that reflects a distorted image. Most people don't even notice that window, needless to mention its reflection. Yet they took the time to make that window the way it is, now that's attention to detail.


Didn't Ride That Elevator Enough?

Do you feel like you didn't get to ride that deep sea dock elevator enough?
After deactivating all the bombs in Shell 1 and retrieving Sensor B, the bomb in the Strut A Deep Sea Dock will be activated. During this countdown period of time, you can ride that deep sea dock elevator as many times as you want.
And depending on where you stand onto the elevator platform, the elevator cutscenes following will change accordingly, as well as the position of your arrival.


How Not to Slip on Bird Poop

When you're walking with a cardboard box equipped, you will not slip on bird poop.


I'm on Fire!

When you catch on fire, such as after the Harrier battle or during the Solidus battle, quickly equip a cardboard box or the BDU, and the fire will go out right away.


Read in the Toilet

Equip a Book, and enter a toilet stall, then call the Colonel for a grown-up conversation.


Interesting Continue Screen

After freezing the bomb on top of the Heliport that Fatman left for Raiden after the Fortune battle, immediately run to the edge of the platform and fall off before the Fatman appearance movie sequence begins.
The continue screen is interesting and worth a look.


Unbreakable Camera

On top of the Shell 1 elevator is an unbreakable camera. Shoot it, then immediately spray it with the coolant, and sparks will fly.


Bug Spray

The coolant spray also works as bug spray. Spray at the bugs flying around lights and watch them fall on the floor.


Parrot Learns to Speak

In the Shell 1 B2 Computer Room, if you equip the D Mic and ask the parrot if it is Ames, after a while the parrot will learn to speak that phrase.
Also, if you keep holding soldiers up in front of the parrot, the parrot will also learn to say "Freeze".


A Small Scene

In Shell 1 Core B1, at the retinal scanner in front of the door to the hostage hold, press the Triangle Button for a short scene of Raiden shrugging.


Hostages in Shell 1 Core B1 Hold

During the Ames search mission, the hostages change depending on the time Raiden meets Ninja after the Fatman battle and the internal clock of the PS2 console.
0:00AM ~ 0:59AM -> all Jennifer
1:00PM ~ 1:59PM -> all old man
10:00PM ~ 10:59PM -> all old lady


Another Use for the Scent Detector

In the Shell 1 Core B1 Hall where all the hostages are held, stand in front of the door at the top left corner of the room and equip the bomb detector that senses smell, and you will see on the radar that the area has a very strong scent.
That room is the toilet, where Johnny Sasaki is currently occupying.


Duct Grates Can't Stop Nikita Missiles

When rescuing the president, there are iron grates in the ducts blocking the way of your Nikita missiles. Hit the grates a few times with Nikita missiles and the grates will break, opening up the duct for future missile access.


Falling Stairs

Right after the Harrier battle, there is a staircase at the top left corner beyond the fire which will fall once you step on it.
Don't step on it.
Jump across to the other side, turn around, and shoot that staircase to watch it fall into the ocean.

Another Small Scene

Right after the Vamp fight before rescuing Emma, you go down the stairs into the water, then resurface after passing the first doorway underwater.
In that air hole vent, if you look toward the North in first person view, through the window you will be able to see Emma sitting on the steps of the locker room, at the same time a short letterbox scene will occur.
If you stare at Emma for a while longer, Colonel and Rose will call you on the codec and share an odd conversation.
After that, if you call Rose to save, she will be rude to you.

While on the subject, when in the locker room, you can shoot that window, but notice those window blinds? You can shoot those blinds and not hit the window glass. Now that's production attention to detail.

Incidentally, after rescuing Emma, if you resurface at that same air hole vent and look at that window, the scenery is changed.


Wide View

When Emma is crossing the oil fence, if you call Snake back on the codec, he will help you shoot the enemy soldiers and cyphers. But he will only shoot where your scope view is looking at.
Switch to the Scope or the Camera, and view the entire area. Now Snake's help will cover the entire area.


Bigger By Comparison

In arsenal gear, after the torture scene, when Raiden is naked, run out of the torture room into the Jejunum. Get seen by enemy soldiers and quickly run back to the torture room, and lean against the torture machine to pretend to be still restrained.
An enemy solder will enter the room and see the naked Raiden and pity himself.