Metal Gear Solid 2 pays homage to the film Titanic, in both characters and events. The game starts out on a tanker that sinks, followed by a sequence focusing on Jack and Rose.

During the Tanker mission, calling Otacon while staring at a bikini girl poster on the inside of a locker will cause Otacon to reprimand Snake, who will be pulling a face of awe. Hiding inside the locker and pushing Snake forward, Snake will kiss the poster. Leaning against the poster when the door is open and knocking on the wall will either cause a "boing!" sound if knocking on the girl's breasts, or cause the enemies to go into alert if knocking on her crotch.

Kojima named the tanker Solid Snake sneaks onto the USS Discovery after the Discovery One from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

While under cover, Solid Snake assumes the name Iroquois Pliskin. "Iroquois" means "Black Snake" in the Iroquoian language, Huron. And "Pliskin" is a reference to the character Snake Plissken from the film "Escape from New York", which was the main inspiration for the development of Solid Snake. Naked Snake (Big Boss), Solid Snake, and Solidus Snake each wear an eye-patch like Snake Plissken.

Two members of the terrorist group Dead Cell were cut from the game. One of which was Old Boy, a soldier who served in World War II and was a mentor to mercenaries and soldiers, including Big Boss. He was cut very early in development. However, he would have commanded troops in his fight against Raiden, and would have used guns and equipment from the WWII era.

Two members of the terrorist group Dead Cell were cut from the game. One of which was Chinaman who was based off of Jet Li. He was suppose to be fought in the filtration system where Raiden fights Vamp in the final version. He had the ability to walk on water, walls, and ceilings.

He could hold his breath underwater for a very long time and had a dragon tattoo would come to life whenever he touched the water. However, he was cut from the end version and his abilities were given to Vamp. Chinaman is mentioned in the game as one of the Dead Cell members who died before the Big Shell incident.

When Snake is on the Tanker, Otacon tells him that Panzetamin prevents seasickness. After Snake tries it, Otacon explains that he experienced nothing more than a placebo effect and mocks him. As Raiden, if you ask about Panzetamin to Snake, he warns Raiden that it doesn't prevent seasickness.

The game had a scene removed where snake is chased through the sinking tanker by a rush of water. Kojima said that it looked good, but wasn't fun.