Halo Skulls

A number of secrets and glitches have been discovered in the video game Halo 2.

Secrets
Several small skulls are hidden in every campaign level, and some levels contain more than one. Their effects can do anything from making the player invisible to removing his HUD. One of them, called "I Would Have Been Your Daddy," is a maddening skull that, unlike the others, seems to have no reliable mechanism for triggering its appearance. After finding it and picking it up, some players enter a battle against more than twenty Elites using only a plasma pistol, with victory leading to new NPC comments. However, other users have acquired the skull with no apparent effect at all.

The current known skulls are Un-named (text does not appear when collecting this skull, but it has a name—see below), Thunderstorm, Blind, I Would Have Been Your Daddy, Catch, Grunt Birthday Party, Famine, Envy, Assassins, Mythic, Sputnik, Angry, Ghost, Iron, and Black Eye. These skulls are only available in Legendary mode except for the Blind skull, found on any difficulty in the level Outskirts, and the Assassins skull (with no effect), found on any difficulty behind the underwater elevator gondola tower on Delta Halo. One skull shows no text when collected, but examination of Halo 2 files shows this skull to be known internally as Whuppopotamus (fitting the acronym) and also Cowbell. The Scarab's destructive main cannon is available as a handheld weapon. It is located in a hard-to-reach area in a level where the Scarab is present. To obtain this powerful weapon, the player must first arrive at the end of a long bridge in the level Metropolis. After defeating all the enemies except one Banshee, the player must lure the Banshee into a tunnel and board it as it reaches the other side. After commandeering the Banshee, the player must fly to a certain grouping of buildings. The Scarab gun resides in the middle of a bridge connecting them. Although the Scarab gun uses the Plasma Rifle model, it shoots a very large green plasma beam, identical to the one shot by the Scarab. This trick is most easily performed in Co-op mode, with a second player providing backup and assistance.

In the Multiplayer map Zanzibar, there is a panel in the base that the player can activate. If it is activated, an error message is displayed that says "WAC A total FU exception has occurred at your location. All systems functionality will be terminated. *Press any key to power cycle the system. If system does not restart, scream at the top of your lungs and pound on keypad. *If you need to talk to a programmer, press any other key. Press any key to continue."

Glitches
The player can leave the ordinary map boundaries by performing a "sword cancel," in which the player presses the "R" and then the "X" button on his/her gamepad, while having his/her rocket launcher out and his/her sword equipped, while facing another player. The player will charge at but not slash the other player, allowing the sword user to fly over the other person and get over a boundary. Players could also use the "sword fly trick" to get past the boundaries in older versions, although this glitch has been removed from the game by an update from the game publisher, Bungie. The sword fly trick works by having one player already in the position the other player wishes to reach. While jumping, the player wanting to reach the position must have a rocket launcher with no ammunition and a sword. While targeting the jumping man, from the bottom of the cross-hair, the player must switch between the rocket and sword to obtain access to the new area. Two players can still use the "sword cancel" to gain access to new areas, or a technique called 'butterflying,' in which one player locks on with the sword by pressing "r" then quickly hitting "x." Another way to do it is by pressing the "B" and "X" buttons simultaneously with the index and middle fingers, jumping upon the other player's head and jumping again. The glitch can be done more quickly by adding "a" into the button combo. The player doing the cancelling is propelled up to the first, who jumps again. This method of play can be used to attain incredible heights, as long as the first person maintains his position on top of the other's head. Invisible walls on most levels stop the players from traveling 'out of the map,' but it can still lead to unfair play in objective games on maps such as Relic.

Super jumps can only be performed if video settings are NTSC or PAL 60 (found on the xbox dashboard under video settings, NTSC users do not have the option of PAL 60)

Players have also discovered "super jumps," or bounces. Super jumps can be found on every map and are executed by crouching under something, releasing crouch so that the player is 'stuck' in crouched mode under the object, and jumping on one of the lines that make up the map's geometry, at which time the player will be propelled very high. The most appreciated theory as to why this works is that a player actually begins to fall out of the map, and the physics engine forces the player back up, hence the effect of being thrown up into the air. Players have discovered many of these jumps and there are possibly many more, especially in the newer maps.

One of these "super jumps" can be found in the map Zanzibar. This can be achieved by first going inside the base. In the area where the battle rifle is found, there are two windows with glass. The player breaks these windows by either throwing a grenade or hitting them until no glass is left. There then appears to be a glass shard in the wall at the window nearest right. By walking left to the edge of the window and crouching, the player should be able to get stuck into the wall. By jumping onto or near the line on the floor directly under the wall, the player can be propelled to the top of the base. According to several non-US players, the super bounce can only be used on Australian and American systems, and it is much easier to perform on American systems. There is another superbounce that allows the player to get on top of the wheel in the middle of the map. The player first crouches and walks into the corner of the wheel nearest the blue base, then turns around and jumps on the handrail near the ramp where 'Camp Froman' (where the defender's sniper rifle respawns) is located. When done correctly, the player is propelled into the air, allowing him/her to get onto the top of the wheel.

Another super bounce can be found on the map Coagulation. To perform this super bounce you must first travel to either red or blue base, and go up the ramp located in the back of the base. To your left you should be able to see a small hole. You must jump, then crouch while in the air to get into this hole (if you have trouble finding this, click here). Once you have managed to get in the hole, you must continue to hold the crouch button and press forward on the analog stick. After a few seconds, release the crouch button, and after a few more seconds press the "A" button to jump out of the hole. Just before landing on the ground you must release the analog stick. If you did this correctly when you hit the ground, you will spring into the sky.

Another great example of a super bounce can be found in burial mounds. To use it you must have one person stand in a corner of two rocks near the larrge metal structure and one person in a warthog driving it along a vague path towards the corner of the two rocks. The person in the warthog has to get up to full speed and ram the person in the corner head on.When the whart hog hits them it looks like the other person is vibrating.Keep driving fowards and they will suddenly launch up into the air. If the person being launched up into the air guides himself carefully you will encounter "upper burial mounds" which is a high up platform in which you can snipe from.

A glitch involving grenades can be observed when you throw a plasma grenade into the air while riding an elevator. Instead of exploding, the grenade will keep bouncing until the elevator stops. Another notable glitch involves the rocket launcher, an Overshield, and a battle shield. This is done on the new map "Relic". First of all, move one of the two tall blast shields found near the crashed transport vehicle, to beside the main structure. This is most easily done with a warthog. It is easiest if the shield faces away from the structure, and is about 20 feet away. Stand on the T-brace that supports the shield against the ground and shoot the top of the shield with the rocket launcher. This will kill you if you do not have an overshield. Theoretically, a teammate could shoot the shield if Friendly Fire was off. If done correctly, you will be launched very high into the air, and you can land on top of the structure if your aim is good (Note: You must be connection host to do this glitch). It is recommended that you bring a sniper rifle or the Oddball up with you, as you are essentially invincible. (this can also be performed using an upturned banshee)

These glitches have become a major problem in Halo 2 multiplayer mode over Xbox Live. For example, players can use the aformentioned "super jump" on the level Zanzibar to jump to the top of the level out of reach of most players. Since the release of the downloadable maps, Halo 2 hackers have begun to mod the maps on the hard drives of their Xboxes to receive advantages, such as weapons that do more damage, flying ground vehicles, etc. (Hackers are users who edit the game with formerly illegally modified consoles -- modifying Xbox consoles is now legal in the United States.) This has become such a widespread problem in the "Matchmaking" system that Bungie was forced to resolve the problem by releasing auto-updates which ban hackers from the system and terminate their accounts. Bungie has banned thousands of players and is working to clean up the rest, earning in the process the moniker 'Banhammer.' Several sites offer a list of cheaters and hackers.

Although there used to be several ways to mod, Xbox Live and Bungie have collaborated to rectify the programming mistakes and prevent the game from being modded as much. They are also reinforcing much stricter punishments for cheaters, such as instant bans and longer suspensions. It is also known that if you log onto xbox live with softmods turned off but your maps are modded, you have about 6 hours before Bungie bans you with the trusty hammer.