Long-time Halo fans will remember the good old days of wondering when we would finally get to fly the pelican, Halo's flagship UNSC dropship. When Halo: CE was released in 2001, few expected to have to wait a full 9 years until 2010 to be able to do it, when Halo: Reach featured it as an Easter Egg. Well... it turns out we didn't haven't to wait that long after all. In fact, it's been possible since 2004! We just didn't know it.

In December, speedrunning legend MisterMonopoli, the former world record holder for Halo 2 on legendary, discovered how to trick the game into allowing you to fly the pelican on the level Metropolis in both the original Halo 2, and the remastered version on the Master Chief Collection. Here's how to do it:

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Step 1: Load up Metropolis on local co-op, easy difficulty with the Envy skull enabled. This skull replaces your flashlight with cloaking. When the level loads, make sure to not shoot or throw grenades unless explicitly told to. Enter the warthog to your right with player one and wait for the two marines to get on board. Don't honk the horn.

Step 2: Exit the warthog and enter the scorpion. Drive it into the corner of the bridge on your left, like so:

Halo 2 Scorpion Facing a Wall
Halo 2 Scorpion Facing a Wall

Hold forward and aim about 45 degrees right to go up the wall. Turn left and lean the scorpion up against the adjacent wall as high as you can, then relax and the scorpion will slide down the wall a bit and come to a rest:

Halo 2 Scorpion Leaning Angled Against A Wall
Halo 2 Scorpion Leaning Angled Against A Wall

Step 3: Exit the scorpion and melee your second player 3 times in the back to kill him. Be careful not to pick up any of his weapons or grenades when he dies. Move a few feet over to a different spot so that Chief doesn't respawn on those items and kill him again. You're going to want to kill your teammate six times total, ensuring no items are ever picked up.

Step 4: When player two spawns, have him pick up two frags from the corpses. Tread carefully as to not pick up any ammo by accident. Run over to the tank with the player who has three frags, and crouch-walk under the high point of the tank treads, then towards the side of the scorpion farthest from the wall. You should come to see the prompt to enter it, like so:

Crouching Under A Scorpion In Halo 2
Crouching Under A Scorpion In Halo 2

Stay there.

Step 5: With the other player, jump up on the scorpion, then over the edge of the bridge into the water. You won't respawn, as there's no room surrounding your teammate. Pause and restart the mission.

Step 6: Enter the warthog with player one, pick up the marines (no honking) and drive it to the same corner where the scorpion was. Exit and stand up on the edge of the bridge, ready to jump into the water, but don't jump yet. You're now going to want to progress across the bridge with the other player, without getting shot at. If you even hear a shot fired by anyone, revert the checkpoint. Stay to the right of the bridge. When you pass the flipped truck, activate cloaking and run straight to the next flipped truck. Keep an eye on the ghosts and make sure that you are hidden behind cover when you're uncloaked. Activate cloaking when you pass the red truck and run to the next red truck. Hide here:

Halo 2 Crouching Beside A Red Truck On A Bridge
Halo 2 Crouching Beside A Red Truck On A Bridge

Step 7: Wait until your camo is ready, activate it then run forward, to the right of the white truck. Jump up the side of the bridge and hide behind the large strut:

Standing On The Side Of The Bridge On Halo 2
Standing On The Side Of The Bridge On Halo 2

Throw two frags off the cliff. Make your way across the bridge by activating camo and running to the second cable. Crouch by the cable and wait for camo to be ready. Repeat until you are at the sixth cable from the strut you started at. Remember, if you hear anything shoot, revert the checkpoint.

Step 8: Wait until player two's camo is ready, then jump off the bridge with player one. Immediately activate camo with player two and continue down the side of the bridge while mashing jump and melee. Even when your camo runs out, keep running and mashing until you pass the wraith to your left, who shouldn't see you. To be safe, count four cables before you stop meleeing/jumping. At this point, player one should respawn as a marine.

Step 9: Board and melee the wraith with Master Chief, then enter the wraith with the marine. Continue forward into the tunnel. You no longer need to worry about shooting, so kill as you please. Continue  until a warthog emerges from the right of the tunnel. Grab the warthog when the marines exit it.

Step 10: Drive up the ramp, over the giant roadblock:

Halo 2 Warthog Driving Up A Ramp
Halo 2 Warthog Driving Up A Ramp

The game will eject you from the warthog a few times, but just keep re-entering the driver's seat when it does. Drive down the left side of the tunnel around all the debris, then take a right when you reach the far side of the tunnel. Drive up the ramp in front of you and turn left. Drive over the roadblock and go right, through the pipe.

Step 11: Drive through the level until you reach this part:

Halo 2 Wraith Section On Metropolis
Halo 2 Wraith Section On Metropolis

Kill the wraiths, as well as the ghosts that the phantom drops off. Once this is done, stand your marine on the platform in the middle of the area, facing back in the direction where you came from. You should see a pelican coming in shortly:

Halo 2 Metropolis: Pelicans Inbound
Halo 2 Metropolis: Pelicans Inbound

Once it stops directly above you, look straight up at it and hold the reload button to kick the pilot out. Hold the reload button again to enter it and voila! You're piloting a pelican. Use the jump button to ascend straight up and the crouch button to descend straight down. The boost and steering controls are as normal. You can now freely fly around Metropolis!

Source: MisterMonopoli

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