Part 21: Metal Gear 2 Part Two: The Tip of the Iceberg

Metal Gear Part 2: The Tip of the Iceberg


Today on Metal Gear 2, we find Snake sneaking into a building. You can't see Snake in this shot because he's under that striped yellow box near the bottom-left corner.

Building sneaking music:


Soon after entering, Snake gets a call!


A call from a strange woman who has our number while we're running covert ops. I'm sure this is on the up-and-up.


A famous journalist is on our side? Maybe she can get us in to some cool parties or something, at least.



: I think I can be of assistance. My frequency is 140.15. Will you call me? ...Bye.

And now, since Holly asked, I decided to call her right back.



: Also on 4F are sauna, dining room, lockers and beds...Bye.

I don't know why Holly's first thought is to tell Snake where the toilet is, but Snake probably just called her and ripped one right away or something.


There are tanks in this building. There is a manual entry about these tanks.


I just wanted to point this out, because they wrote this entire entry for a tank that doesn't actually do anything in the game (spoilers). There's no tank enemy or anything, they're just decoration.


There are a lot of little ledges and things for Snake to crawl under in Zanzibar Land, which is nice. Guards could see me if they looked in my direction while I'm only halfway under the ledge, by the way.


The game also has surveillance cameras, of course. They show up pretty early in this game. This one can't see me because I'm not on the raised platform it's overlooking, which is a nice touch.


All of that other stuff is just white noise, though. The real draw of Metal Gear 2, the place where the game really stands out, is the elevators. There's a four-step process for using these elevators:


The first step is to punch the call button. This can make a noise that guards will hear if they're in the elevator room.


The second step is to wait for the elevator.


The third step is to get on the elevator and punch the up or down button. As you can see, these buttons are conveniently spaced out across the elevator.


The fourth step is to wait for the elevator to get to your floor! This can be a short or a long wait, depending on which elevator you're using at the time.


Right now, we're headed up to the second floor. You can see from the guard's reaction that we've made a noise. The walkway Snake is standing on makes a noise with every step he takes.

The manual tells me that this is in fact made of "footstep reverberating material", as described here:



The solution to this is to crawl along the walkway. This works because crawling is quieter than walking, every time.



Oh shit yes, we found an ID card!

You know what these do by now.



These handy cardboard boxes hide Snake from view while he finds some more rations. All the types of rations work the same way in general, but each of the three specific varieties has a special secondary use (and they are all stupid).



The last thing to be found on the second floor is a pair of binoculars.


Binoculars work the same as they ever did, and they still suck. In fact, their one use (knowing where guards are one screen over) is taken over by Snake's radar. Fuck the binoculars.


I had to kill a guard before I got on the elevator, and he dropped this. This rounds out our collection of rations. Since there are three types, you can carry fewer of each type.


And now we're finished with the second floor. Let's check out the third.


On the third floor, we find a personnel detector. It shoots out square lasers in a spreading pattern, then retracts them, then fires them up again. These lasers are visible all the time, so the thing really only exists to slow the player down a little.



Past that, standard laser traps. Using the cigarettes, the lasers are visible. The first screen has lasers that switch position occasionally, but the second set are static and make it impossible to get to that door without triggering an alert.



In the room past the lasers is a gas mask. I think CN-1 is tear gas.


The gas mask doesn't give you unlimited air anymore, it just greatly increases your survivability. It also spoils the fact that we get to sling tear gas later.


If you're so inclined, you can test the gas mask in the same room by tripping the lasers. That's the O2 gauge in the bottom middle of the screen.


To get where we're going, we have to sneak through this room. In this picture, you can see the stupid metal hood the guard is wearing.



This hallway has gas and a surveillance camera. Nothing special. If you look at the radar, though, Dr. Marv should be just behind the door...


And there he is! Unfortunately, Dr. Marv doesn't think very highly of Solid Snake.


You FOX HOUNDers are quite out of date!

Ah! It turns out that this isn't the real Dr. Marv! And whoever this really is takes the time to taunt Snake about out-of-date equipment. That's just being a jerk.


And then he suddenly turns into a genie!


Show me how good you FOX HOUNDers really are! Come on, FOX HOUNDer!

Oh, nevermind. He's actually some jerk who works for NASA and really, really wants Snake to fight him. This is Black Color.


BLACK COLOR IS A SPACE NINJA.

This is the boss fight (and surrounding scenes) with Black Color.

Boss music:


The fight against Black Color involves him teleporting around and chucking throwing stars at you while you shoot him in the face. Before we kill him, though, we have a call to make. By the way, between Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2, someone introduced Hideo Kojima to cutscenes, so boss fights aren't the simple in-and-out affair they used to be.



: Showed up about 2 years ago. He favors flying stars and speedy moves. He is not a professional like us. That makes things worse.

How would fighting an amateur be worse than fighting a pro? He's probably going to break his own wrist trying to punch Snake or something.



: I hope you can handle this one, lone ranger. ...Over.

The guy we called is George Kessler, who exists to give us advice and information about bosses. Or, in this case tell us some nonsense and say he hopes that Snake can handle it himself. Kessler's mainly useful for comedy purposes, as opposed to dispensing useful advice.


The Zanzibar Independence War was 2 years ago, in 1997 (it's in the manual). So "a very long time" means less than 2 years. Of course, very few people remember Big Boss from 4 years ago, so take that as you will.


As it turns out, throwing stars aren't a great weapon to use against a trained operative with a gun.


Black Color isn't done yet, though, and he's going to try to talk Snake to death.

: Who are you? ...How do you know my name?
: It's me...Schneider. Kyle Schneider. Remember me?

Yes, Kyle Schneider. I do remember you. You were an architect who became a resistance leader and was captured by Big Boss's men, and then you were in Outer Heaven when its nuclear self-destruct went off - twice - but now, four years later, instead of being dead, you're some kind of space ninja.

Fuck you, Schneider.

: Schneider? ...Resistance leader in Outer Heaven? But then, why didn't they kill you?

Even Snake can't believe this shit. And seriously, why wouldn't Big Boss have Schneider killed after capturing him?


It's not them who tried to kill me. It's your country.

: I don't understand...
: After you beat Metal Gear, NATO conducted an air raid.

So you survived two nuclear explosions and an airstrike? And then you went on to be trained as a space ninja, in only two years?


we were all abandoned. Many died in the flames...
: No, that can't be...
: Children in Outer Heaven were formerly war orphans.

I don't think that being a war orphan is something you can stop being. I think those kids are still war orphans.



: Never... ...Maybe.
: Some day they'll forget you too. However, he...
: He...?
: He rescued us... Gave us new land and new families...

You weren't a war orphan! You were an architect!



: Soon you will learn of his greatness... Snake...I owe you and hold no resentment.

Sorry for tryin' to kill ya, Snake!



: The guard of his cell is a Green Beret. Look for him on the 1st floor. Tail him...and you can reach the cell. Good...bye...Snake.




After that monologue, Black Color dies and explodes, leaving behind the second ID card.

Space ninjas. That's it. I'm done for today.