So, I don't know, like, a year ago? I snapped up MCC for cheap and three days later (probably an exaggeration) it finished installing and updating. Aside from the normal complaints about features, quality, and broken things, it's all been fairly good. Less than ideal, but good.

Except for Halo 2. Which, in a way, is hilarious seeing as Halo 2 was, like, THE BIG FREAKING DEAL with MCC. You know, aside from four games on one disc. When I'm not laughing about how hilarious it is that the BIG DEAL is more busted than busted, I'm swearing up a storm to every deity that will listen.

The situation is thusly.
- If I want to play Halo 2, no big deal. It works super good.
- If I want to play Halo 2 MP, no big deal. It works super good. (Probably because it's Halo 4)
- If I want to play Halo 2 co-op, everything takes the expressway to broke town.

I believe, in the year that I've had MCC, I've logged exactly half a Halo 2 mission in co-op. I may have hallucinated this event. You can imagine this is infuriating. This for me, however, extends far beyond the BIG DEAL being broken. I've logged GOBS of hours across every Halo (save 2 and 4) in co-op with my fiance. For a not insignificant part of our relationship, Halo was our jam. We have, of course, played every game in the series co-op, but that was all way back when, in the dark ages, when people actually had to play games sitting next to each other all civilized like. And you didn't even get an entire screen to yourself.

To put it simply: It's been the better part of 10 years since I last played Halo 2 co-op with her. With anyone, actually.

MCC was a chance to put an end to that. To rediscover a game that literally stole months of my life from late 2004 to 2006 and lived in my Xbox. AND I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE XBOX LIVE. (I was a little campaign obsessed.)

So here's what happens.
- One of us, it doesn't matter who, hosts a Halo 2 co-op session. Any mission, any difficulty, any skulls, the settings literally don't matter one iota.
- We get a pretty picture with a loading bar.
- This bar fills 99% of the way up fairly quickly.
- It's at this point that MCC suddenly decides to rapidly decelerate so it can cut across four lanes of traffic and make the exit to Broke Town. God forbid it ever miss this exit.
- At 99%, the bar just hangs. It stays this way for about half a minute.
- At the end of that half minute, we're dropped back in our own little lobbies, and we get respective vague, unhelpful, bordering on completely useless, messages about what just happened.
"Session could not be created", "Connection to host failed" blah blah, I'm sure that's not exactly what it says but you get the idea.
- Every. Single. Time.

Things that have been tried:
- She can run co-op with other people just fine. (This is not rage inducing at all)
- I have not tested if I can run co-op with other people. (I'm usually too disgusted at the time to make any attempt, and there usually isn't anyone on. When there is, I usually can't be friggin bothered to make another attempt that's likely to result in a quick failure, more cursing, and a barely withheld urge to snap my disc in half.)
- I have completely deleted MCC from my harddrive and reinstalled it. (It didn't take three days this time, I did it on a nice speedy connection)
- Xboxes have been rebooted (cold and not), network settings have been checked (though why would it matter just for one solitary game?), various magiks (voodoo and otherwise) have been performed

Zip. Zero. Nada. Niet.
Nothing.

So. I ask you. What the literal fuck is going on? How do I fix this? DO I fix this? Am I doomed to forever not be able to play Halo 2 with my fiance over Live? Is split screen even still a thing in MCC? Why is the sky blue? Why is Donald Trump so orange? Are the SAW and Railgun really the only redeeming things in Halo 4 (prolly not, but I think so)?

Help me HBO-Kinoby. You're my only hope.