Halo is one of those game franchises that, like the Mario and Zelda before it, really doesn't need an introduction. The first game in the series was released in 2001, as a launch title for the original Xbox. Since then, the series has gone to spawn numerous sequels and spinoffs, including the upcoming Halo: Reach. To celebrate this anticipated event, here are some little known facts about the franchise that redefined online console gaming, and made dual wielding guns feel totally new even though Lara Croft did it years earlier.
The return of the Prophet
In Halo 2, Master Chief squares off against the Prophet of Regret, and more or less punches him in the face to death. What you didn't know was that everyone's favorite bludgeoned Prophet was originally written to appear in the original Halo, where you'd face him in the Silent Cartographer level. He was originally just "An Elite in a silly hat", according to the audio commentary from the Halo 3 Legendary bonus disc.
Master Chief; Fighter, Savior, and Bomb
In Halo 2, Master Chief and Miranda Keyes are both fighting the good fight. In original script Miranda never liked the Spartan, and even held a grudge for the death of her father in the original Halo. With this, there was also a story ark where Miranda manages to arc weld a bomb to master chief, sacrificing him for the greater good. Yeah, glad they didn't go with that.
Mac-ster Chief?
The original Halo game had a long and interesting development cycle behind it. People nowadays know of it as the 1st person shooter that broke the mold on consoles, but did you know that Halo originated as a third-person Mac-exclusive title? Flame-throwers, destroyed Halo rings and incredibly large Jeeps were all part of the original game plan, but were all later changed when Microsoft bought up the rights for the title.
Strategic Dismemberment
Halo 3's development process was detailed in the many ViDocs (Video documentaries) Bungie released to show behind the scenes footage of what goes into a Halo title. In one such ViDoc, an elite can be seen wielding two energy swords, and dismembers and enemy brute. Neither dual swords nor dismemberment made it into the final product, but we can imagine how much more violent the game would have been if it had.
Helmet-Be-Gone
We've all been teased with the mystery of Master Chief's mug on more than one occasion. At the end of the first game, we can see him reach for his helmet and even hear it open up as the camera pulls out, but we don't get to see the goods. So what does he look like? Well, if you enable camera control on the PC version of Halo, you can zoom back into the ship as he takes his helmet off to see… another helmet. The same one, to be exact. Surprise!