A level set after the death of the Prophet of Regret would have had Master Chief finding an ancient Forerunner tank, exploring underwater and ultimately revealing the Gravemind. The Gravemind would have been front and center in this level, making its presence felt with tentacles drifting out from behind doors. However, the level was cut from the game due to time constraints.
The making of the series Red Vs. Blue was made possible by a bug in Halo: Combat Evolved. This bug, which made characters appear to be looking forward when they aimed and looked down, allowed machinima artists to have characters face each other and talk with their weapons lowered. The bug was fixed in Halo 2, and Bungie added a feature to lower weapons by pressing the directional pad.
Although the game was widely acclaimed, the developers felt they could have done better. In a 2007 interview with Edge magazine, they stated that they had not found time for the usual 'polishing' phase. In the commentary on Halo 3's Legendary Edition, it was revealed that some levels were cut to meet the deadline and that the game would actually have continued up to a final level aboard the Forerunner ship.
Halo 2 received 1.5 million pre-orders before release, thus earning Xbox 'Platinum Hit' status before it was even out.
The game's biggest trailer was shown in cinemas. At the end of the trailer, the normally visible www.xbox.com address briefly changed to 'www.ilovebees.com'. Those who visited the site encountered a mysterious page that appeared to be controlled by a Halo-style artificial intelligence. The site was continually updated, presenting a multilayered story explaining how the Covenant found the location of Earth, which they had not known during the events of Halo 1, in Halo 2.
Halo 2 grossed $125 million on its first day, beating Spider-Man's three-day record.
All the voice actors from the first Halo game returned for Halo 2.
The Arbiter character was originally named 'Dervish', a reference to an Islamic practice and an early 20th-century rebel group. During development, the studio changed the name because it did not want the character and the Covenant to be perceived as an anti-Islamic pastiche.
The game's opening level was initially conceived as a much larger zero-gravity training facility filled with Warthogs and other vehicles. This facility would have served as the setting for Chief carrying the massive bomb left behind by the Covenant. However, the level was scaled down and the carrying of the bomb was relegated to a cutscene.
The game's second level was actually going to take place aboard a Covenant ship that Master Chief boards after Cairo Station. You would have fought your way through the ship and destroyed it from the outside. This level, in which Miranda Keys also helps you, was later cut and replaced with a non-interactive cutscene in which Chief blows up the ship with the bomb.
In the United States and Canada alone, 2.4 million copies were sold in the first 24 hours following the game's release. That works out to about 27 copies per second.
The only enemies encountered while playing as the Arbiter are Heretic Covenant, the Flood and Covenant Loyalists (Brutes, Jackals and Drones). No human enemies are encountered at any point in the game.
Microsoft had estimated that the game's first-day sales would approach $100 million, a surprising figure for a video game. In reality, first-day revenue exceeded even that estimate, reaching $125 million in 24 hours. This means that on its first day, Halo 2 surpassed all Hollywood box-office records, including Spider-Man 2 ($40.5 million), which had the biggest opening gross of the period. A Microsoft representative said, 'The first 24 hours of Halo 2 sales took our breath away.'
The game contains 17,000 lines of combat dialogue.
When the game first came out on PC, modders found files with the .ass extension. When they tried to modify these files, an error message sometimes appeared with a picture of a butt on the right side. Some developers at Bungie found the .ass extension funny and had to put an actual butt in the game files. This caused Microsoft to delay the game and add a 'Partial Nudity' descriptor.
The development team consisted of 70 people.
Michael Wincott, who voiced the Prophet of Truth, and Ron Perlman, who voiced Lord Hood, had appeared together in the film Alien: Resurrection (1997). Bungie had previously acknowledged that many aspects of Halo were inspired by the Alien series.
Miranda Keys was initially planned to betray Chief and hold him responsible for her father's death. In fact, early interviews about the game even mentioned the method of Miranda's betrayal. This scenario did not appear in the final version of the game.
The PC version was the first Halo game to have LIVE achievements; however, the Xbox version was the first Halo game with Xbox Live functionality.
Wilmer Valderrama voiced one of the marines, as briefly seen in the making-of video, but his voice did not appear in the final game.
With the release of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition, Halo 2 remained the only game not released on Xbox 360.
Halo 2 was the first Halo game to allow the player to be an Elite, both in certain campaign missions and in multiplayer mode.
On Wednesday, October 13, 2004, a pirated copy of the game leaked online and quickly spread across peer-to-peer networks and IRC.
The game helped introduce Skulls, a fan favorite that offers fun additions such as IWHBYD, which makes difficulty multipliers and dialogue humorous.
All the Heretics the Arbiter would encounter were actually going to be Hunters, until the developers realized it would be too difficult.
At the start of Metropolis, Sergeant Johnson has a different monologue that changes according to the four difficulty levels.
The only time Miranda Keyes blinks is when she picks up a set of keys.
There was a bug that bothered Joseph Staten: whenever 343 Guilty Spark spoke, his light dimmed instead of brightening.
The Prophet of Regret sings the Halo monk chant in his own native language.
During the fight with Tartarus, he can sometimes be heard saying 'Hammer time!', a reference to rapper MC Hammer's popular catchphrase.
Since its release, Halo 2 has been played on Xbox for roughly 100 million hours.
In the script, Joseph Staten wanted to not limit the game's scope to just Master Chief and humanity, but to deepen the Covenant enemies through the Arbiter's point of view. The core idea behind the Arbiter was to create a character who bears the consequences of Master Chief's victory in the first game.
A total of 21,090 lines of dialogue were recorded.
At the opening of Delta Halo, a Grunt can be seen playing with different toys depending on the difficulty level. On Easy he plays with a stick and dirt, on Normal with plasma grenades, on Heroic with fire, and on Legendary with Master Chief and Grunt dolls in his hands. The objects disappear shortly before the UNSC SOEIVs land on the surface of Delta Halo.
There are two versions of the game: the standard version in a green Xbox DVD case, and the Limited Collector's Edition sold in a metal case with a bonus DVD containing 'Making Of' short films and extra content. The Collector's Edition's manual is also different from the standard one; the standard manual is orange, shows the perspective of human forces and has Master Chief on the front, while the CE manual is purple, shows the Covenant's perspective and has an Elite with an energy sword on the front. The CE also included a small booklet called 'Conversations from the Universe', consisting of one-page stories between major and minor characters that provide additional background on the Halo universe.
In a scene where the Arbiter is branded, several engineers were to be seen holding hot dogs, caramel corn and cotton candy, as if at a baseball game.
High Charity was initially planned to be extremely bright.
The developers enjoyed making moving BSPs for the geometry.
Metropolis's ending cutscene was a bit more ambitious than the developers could achieve. It was the scene that pushed the Xbox engine the hardest.
Joseph Staten could not fix the bug where the Arbiter's helmet exploded.
A special Keyframe animation was used for the cinematics.
The Heretics were actually going to be encountered on a moon next to Installation 04.
The term 'Gravemind' was coined by Bungie employee Jaime Greisemer.
Initially, Master Chief was going to use the teleportation pad on High Charity while driving a Warthog, but the developers later decided he would use it on foot.
There was going to be a scene where Brutes wiped the heads of soldiers, but it was cancelled due to real-life events.
Gravemind was planned to use skulls as his teeth; however, this was cut because it would make the parasite's speech difficult.
The banners worn by the Brutes are inspired by Japanese culture.
Jason Jones's famous quote goes: 'Halo 2 is a lot like Halo 1, only it's Halo 1 on fire, going 130 miles per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas. And the ninjas are on fire.' This quote led to flaming ninja jokes, patches, T-shirts, usernames and memes.
Initially, there were going to be several Warthog variants, including an Arctic model (which appeared in the Halo 3 DLC multiplayer map Avalanche), a transport vehicle and a small ATV (known as the Mongoose in Halo 3). All of these were cut from the final version of the game. However, in Halo: Custom Edition, fans created the Arctic and transport Warthogs as well as the civilian Warthog on the Headlong map. A rocket Warthog was added to Halo PC, and ATV and Warthog variations appeared in Halo 3.
The Hunt the Truth marketing campaign for Halo 5: Guardians reveals that Halo 2's cover art is based on an in-universe photograph taken by Benjamin Giraud during the Battle of Mombasa.
The Flood Juggernaut was a character that was modelled and placed in the game's code but had no AI programmed and was not placed in any level.
To promote Halo 2, Microsoft established the Halo 2 Council, a branch of the famous 'Xbox Playaz Club'. The council had seven members: actors Wilmer Valderrama, Benjamin McKenzie and Aisha Tyler; Jeremy Shockey of the New York Giants; and the bands Hoobastank, Incubus and Linkin Park. Council members received early copies of the game, a portable Xbox carried in a personalized suitcase containing a special Halo 2 Pelican Bag, a 15-inch HDTV, two controllers, an Xbox Live headset and an Ethernet connection. They were also offered VIP tours of Bungie Studios, voice recording sessions for game integration and access to Halo 2 during development. Members promoted the game through Halo-themed events, such as Aisha Tyler's birthday party, where about 100 guests were invited to play the multiplayer preview of Halo 2.
According to Eric Trautmann, an employee of Microsoft's Halo Franchise Development Group, Bungie was initially doubtful that fans would recognize the ODSTs in the Delta Halo level and questioned what purpose they served in the universe. This was the last work Trautmann worked on before leaving franchise development on November 9, 2004.
Halo 2 also made a significant showing at E3 2004. On May 8, Microsoft held a preview event at a private house in Beverly Hills, California, transformed into a replica of Halo's striking futuristic world, complete with camouflaged marines and roaming Cortanas. The event was attended by members of the Halo 2 Council as well as celebrities of the era such as Joe Reitman, Jolene Blalock, Andrew Keegan, Jordana Brewster, Bai Ling, Ben Foster, Kelly Hu, Kyle Boller, Laura Prepon, Brad Bufanda, Lindsay Lohan, Breckin Meyer, Luke Walton, Michelle Rodriguez, Chris Masterson, Danny Masterson, Rick Yune, Good Charlotte, Ryan Phillippe, Gregory Smith, Shannon Elizabeth, Taryn Manning and Tara Reid.
The word 'Rex' written in blood can be seen in Outskirts and The Great Journey.
A Jack O' Lantern drawn in blood can be seen on top of or on the turret of a destroyed Scorpion.
In The Oracle, there is a way for the player to find the holo-drone used by the Heretic Leader before it is activated.
The Scarab Gun was actually used by Joseph Staten to create the cinematic effect of the Scarab beam firing. According to him, it remained in the game because he forgot to remove it. However, designer Tyson Green confirmed that the Scarab Gun was deliberately left in the game as an Easter egg.
A hidden gargoyle can be found on the blue base in the Backwash multiplayer map.
In the Destroyer's Invocation track (the first part of the Mausoleum Suite on Halo 2: Original Soundtrack), a mysterious voice murmurs. When this murmur is played in reverse, the following words are heard: 'I have walked among men and angels for three thousand years. Time has no end... no beginning... no purpose. I wander the earth, seeking forgiveness for my horrible crimes against God and man. I live to see death and destruction, evil... over the light, but the light cannot be extinguished. I live in a prison of my own demise. I am lost... in time.'
On the Coagulation map, there is a light-colored area that resembles a large yellow M. It was rumored to be a tribute to the McDonald's fast food chain.
On the Turf multiplayer map, there are two soda machines referencing the Rooster Teeth logo. One has an image of a rooster with a blue silhouette, and the other has teeth with red and green silhouettes. One is near the tent, and the other is in the warehouse, in the room with the swinging door.
The developers had the opportunity to visit South Carolina and witness the marines' training. The developers received criticism from real military personnel about the first game's sound effects.
The Rooster Teeth team had the chance to test Halo 2 during development. The developers set up 10 Xbox consoles.
Joseph Staten wanted a brawl between the Arbiter and the Brutes.
Developers at Bungie worked on this game from 9 to 5 and 7 days a week.
Drones have independently moving hips that make them look more like insects.
Frank O'Connor expected this game to be Halo 1.5, but was impressed by the effort shown.
Martin O'Donnell and Joseph Staten spent a lot of time hiring the voice cast. They hired people who had played in the first game and had improvisational ability.
Much of Mombasa's appearance was based either on concept art or on photographs of the real city.
High Charity used a pale purple color to distinguish itself from the first game's Covenant levels.
There was a canceled boss fight called Drinol. It was canceled because it was too large.
Halo 2 was planned to be the finale, but the cliffhanger ending resulted in Bungie making Halo 3.
The game's coding was completed on July 2, 2004, and its content on July 30. Sound and cinematics were finished on August 13, and it was sent for certification on September 24. It was delivered to manufacturers on October 5.
The scene in which the Brutes take over the mission from the Elites was actually longer, but the developers realized they were giving away too much plot information through dialogue.
Joseph Staten decided to explore his relationship with Master Chief and other characters more because the Chief was seen as robotic in the first game.
Tartarus was given a massive white Mohawk to set him apart from the other Brutes.
One of the canceled weapons was a flamethrower.
There was a canceled vehicle called the Mongoose. This vehicle would be reused in Halo 3.
Creating the Arbiter was a difficult character because he was not Master Chief and the developers had not explored the Covenant much before.
The developers enabled emblem customization in multiplayer so that players could recognize who was who.
The developers integrated the Xbox Live function with a website for statistics.
Jason Jones complained about the licensed music of Incubus and Breaking Benjamin, which excited Martin O'Donnell.
One of David Cross's IWHBYD lines is where he sings the song 'Kung Fu Fighting'. He would later voice Crane in the Kung Fu Panda series.
The Brutes have a gorilla face and the body of a trunked animal.