Part 27: Metal Gear 2 Part Eight: Bird Puzzlin'

Metal Gear 2 Part Eight: Bird Puzzlin'




Last time on Metal Gear 2, Snake caught up to Marv's carrier pigeon and found a cryptic note tied to its leg. Today, we have to figure out what that note means.

Just as a note, this is around the part of the game where Kojima decided he really needed a plot, so the next bit is pretty text heavy.

Since we have to solve the puzzle, let's try calling our support team.



: Ohio is also the name of an American state. ...But Marv was kidnapped on his first trip ever to the USA! Maybe Master Miller can solve this one. ...Over.

Campbell, of course, is no help and just tells us to talk to Miller. He's our CO, so...


Before we carry on here, I want to point this out. There's no lower-case used in the game except here, so I guess everybody is just yelling at each other all the time?

Anyway!

: Ah! It's a number in digital notation. Now you should understand. ...Over.

It's not hard to figure out what to do once you know you're looking for a "number in digital notation", but this still isn't great mission support from a real-world perspective.

Let's see if calling Holly can give us the last piece of the puzzle...



: War orphans from many nations... They're innocent and harmless. ...Bye.

Nope, she's still preoccupied thinking about the children wandering around the place. Bang-up job you're doing there, White. Real top-notch work.


After the call with Miller, you know that the note is numbers. Turn it upside-down and "WIS.OhIO" becomes "0140.51M". I think that the M on the end is supposed to be an m, which would make it a wavelength.


Once you enter the frequency and call it, you get gibberish back. I guess that whoever's on the other end - presumably Dr. Marv - doesn't speak English.

: Moje srdce je nemocne. Pospes, je dost slabe. Ma pritelkyne...
: What's this? I can't understand a word he's saying... Maybe I better ask Petrovich.

Solid Snake is supposed to be able to speak 6 languages, and this would have been a great opportunity to show that off instead of just using it as manual flavour text.

Maybe Petrovich can translate, though, and the game won't make us do something stupid like go all the way back to the Zanzibar Building.


I don't know if Campbell or anyone gives you Petrovich's frequency if you call them at this point, or if you're supposed to run back and get it from tap codes again. I just checked a guide.


You know, I would think that someone in FOXHOUND would know that the target can't communicate with their field agent, and they might have a translator on the support team.

: How about you, Petrovich?
: Only Russian and English...but Natasha can talk to him!
: Natasha? ...The STB woman who escorted you?

I sure hope that they didn't execute her when they captured you! We'd sure be up shit creek if they did!

: She can talk to Marv, he'll accept her. Don't worry, she is a professional agent.

Just another reason for her to be dead!

: She managed to get away by stealing an enemy uniform. She should be under cover somewhere in this complex.

The Zanzibarians captured Marv and Natasha on their way to America. Despite the fact that this happened on a plane and they had no reason at all to take Natasha with them, she ended up in Zanzibar Land where she managed to escape, steal an enemy uniform, and avoid detection?

: Does she have a transceiver too?
: No, they took it when they caught her.

They took her radio but never thought "let's put some handcuffs on her, throw her in one of our special custom-built sewer jails"?

Holy shit, Zanzibar Land.

: No clues then...
: Even though she wears an enemy uniform, she is still a woman... No other female soldier in this fortress. Look for her in women-only locations... Like the ladies lavatories. ...Over.

This is stupid. Not only are there sexed washrooms when all the soldiers are men, but the idea that a professional secret agent would just waltz into one like it ain't no thing is laughably idiotic. Get out of here, Petrovich. You don't understand anything.

Unfortunately, this is also the only chance we have. Solid Snake, who is woefully underequipped for this kind of operation, now has to run back to the Zanzibar Building (remember, that's where Petrovich is and he said "this complex") and hope that the only person in the place who can talk to the HVT he needs to extract is also dumb enough to openly walk into a women's washroom.

Let's get to it.


Down the stairs...



Through Red Blaster's room and down to the first floor...


Around the spiral...



Waiting for all three guards to pass by (twice!)...


Out of the Tower Building...






Across the desert (including squeaky sand and the minefield)...



Then through the jungle maze...


And we're finally back to the Zanzibar building!


Before we go to the toilets, though, Snake makes a quick stop on the third floor.



There, we can find this item, the robot mouse.

I don't think I've ever used a robot mouse in this game, so there you go.



What we're really up here for, though, is this. Our old friend, the R/C missile.

These are the same as last time, but have lost their usefulness against most of the game's bosses. 'Tis a shame.

Also on the third floor:



A dark room with an illuminated light switch!


A hallway with three guards, none of whom are facing the front door!


And a pit trap!

Pit traps in Metal Gear can't kill you if you just keep running while they open, which kind of puts a hamper on them.



There's also these.

Night vision goggles! "Night viewer" is a pleasantly strange name for them, but Nite Site is still the best one out there.


When you use them in the dark, they make everything blue. I think that's why there's two dark rooms on this floor, just so you can get your money's worth.



Carrying on, we head up to the fourth floor. From what Holly told us a million years ago, this is where we'll be able to find the lavatories. Apparently whoever built this place put in a completely superfluous women's washroom, but there's only one place with washrooms in the entire building.

Next time, we creep the ladies' room.

Bonus: Marv, as per Google Translate

Knowing that Marv was speaking Czech, and since I don't speak Czech, I decided to toss it into Google Translate. These are the results:

: My name is Marv. What are you gonna do? Want to have peace. My heart is sick. Hurry, it is quite weak. My friend ...

He's kind of all over the place and didn't actually mention where he was, but it's not just nonsense, so at least there's that!