History Franchise / Halo

* AngryBlackMan: "Who needs a Johnson beatdown?"

* IconicLogo: People wear T-shirts of a 2 or 3 inside the distinctive O in the title and it's obvious what game they play.
* UsefulNotes/ImportGaming: The first ''Halo'' game suffers from a very strange PAL Xbox conversion. Most badly-optimised PAL conversions are universally 16.666% slower and less smooth than their NTSC counterparts. But the situation with PAL Halo isn't that simple:
** ''Framerates'': PAL Xboxs feature dashboard settings for both PAL 60Hz (allowing games to run as smoothly as their NTSC counterparts - usually 60fps or 30fps) and PAL 50Hz (for use with older [=TVs=] - so games run at 50fps or 25fps). But with Halo, setting the Xbox dashboard to 60Hz doesn't improve the framerate smoothness, just adds an annoying periodic stuttering effect where the game doubles-up frames (most noticable in the smooth camera flyby in levels' opening cutscenes). So Halo is one of the few Xbox games for which PAL 50Hz is preferable to PAL 60Hz (and of course NTSC 60Hz is preferable to both).
** ''Gameplay speed'':
*** The Maw countdown timer runs at the correct speed, whether in PAL 50 or PAL 60 modes.
*** By performing some informal tests (running straight between two specific rocks, throwing grenades directly upwards, and seeing how long it takes to fire a full assault rifle loadout into thin air) it seems that in PAL Halo, you run at the same speed as the PC/NTSC Xbox version, but grenades thrown are noticably slower to land and explode, and bullets are spat out at a slower rate.
** In [[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive5.pl?read=100138 this post on Halo.Bungie.org]], part of a discussion on why PAL and NTSC Xboxes couldn't be linked up into the same LAN game, one of the game's developers ("Matt") describes the use of "tags" to affect various properties of the gameplay speed. However, there's no comment on why they didn't [[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive5.pl?read=101186 optimise the game for PAL60Hz rather than PAL50Hz]] (as most other Xbox games did, and as flagship PAL Dreamcast titles had been doing as far back as 1999). Fortunately, [[http://forums.bungie.org/halo/archive5.pl?read=100571 there's a promise]] that from Halo 2 onwards Bungie would do their PAL conversions properly - and they did!

* RevisitingTheRoots: ''{{VideoGame/Halo 2}}'' and ''{{VideoGame/Halo 3}}'' added all sorts of fronds and foofaraw that evidently no one liked, because the GaidenGame (''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'') and prequel (''VideoGame/HaloReach'') deliberately scaled them back, hewing closer to the original gameplay model presented by ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''. ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' continued with the trend (though it introduced a few unpopular features of its own), and ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' went even further by paring back the changes made in both ''Reach'' and ''4'' (though it also added in some useful movement-based abilities of its own).

*** Vehicles, anyone?
** The effect of the Grunt Birthday Party Skull, which causes confetti to pop out of a Grunt's head upon scoring a headshot, [[CrossesTheLineTwice accompanied by the sound of small children shouting "Hooray!"]]
*** Bungie confirmed it to be a shout out to ''VideoGame/VivaPinata'', even mentioning that the ''Viva Pinata'' team sent them the actual audio file used in the game.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': A [[FanWork fan-created]] military WorkCom filmed in the ''Halo'' engine (a "{{machinima}}"). It has become a lucrative franchise in its own right. Creators Creator/RoosterTeeth have been recruited by [[PromotedFanboy Bungie and 343i themselves]] to promote the newer games and reveal new features, as well as having EasterEgg {{cameo}}s in both ''Halo 3'' and ''Halo 4''. Grifball, the gametype they invented, was even made official, with its own icon, announcer line, and playlist.

** Then there's the Machinima/RedVsBlue [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waL8K2SGR1M "What's the Password" scene]] in ''Halo 3''.

* PhotoMode: The Theater Mode added from ''VideoGame/Halo3'' onwards serves as this. It lets you review a replay of last 25 games with full movement within the recording, which gave birth to many Halo {{Machinima}} like Machinima/RedVsBlue.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The series is made by Bungie, who also created the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' games. ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' references this now and again.
** To elaborate, the original Halo CE could just as well have been called "Marathon 4", due to the abundance of elements (technology, terminology, texture and weapon design, etc) lifted wholesale from the Marathon games and the game itself fitting neatly into the segment titled "This century intentionally left blank" in the official timeline of the Marathon setting. Subsequent installments reduced the connection between the two, the most important change being the clear delineation that the Forerunners are not related to the Jjarro in any way due to conflicting timelines.
** There are also several multiplayer ones. For example, Guardian is a spiritual successor to the Halo 2-era Lockout, Sword Base is a spiritual successor to both Prisoner and Boarding Action, etc.

** ''Literature/HaloTheRubiconProtocol'' (Upcoming): A prequel to ''Halo Infinite'', focusing on the efforts of scattered UNSC forces to mount a resistance against the Banished during the early stages of the conflict on Zeta Halo. Set for release on June 28, 2022.
** ''Literature/HaloOutcasts'' (Upcoming): A novel featuring Thel 'Vadam and Olympia Vale in the aftermath of ''Halo 5: Guardians'', also serving as a distant sequel to ''Halo: Oblivion''.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: ''The Cole Protocol'' calls [=MACs=] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun railguns]]. They're actually [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coilgun coilguns]].

''Halo'' is a SpaceOpera and MilitaryScienceFiction franchise that began life as an UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} exclusive FirstPersonShooter created by Creator/{{Bungie}} Studios and published by Creator/XboxGameStudios. It has since blossomed into multiple sequels, {{Gaiden Game}}s, a substantial ExpandedUniverse, and the [[FlagshipFranchise centerpiece]] of Creator/XboxGameStudios.

''Halo'' is one of the best-known {{Killer App}}s. When the original UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} was announced, there was a lot of skepticism from those who had already experienced the UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars and had no reason to believe the Xbox would go anywhere. Their reasoning wasn't inaccurate: [[FourIsDeath Three Is Death]] in the console market, which (until then) had had trouble supporting even ''two'' consoles; Microsoft's collaboration with Sega from the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast didn't turn out so well (though the Xbox essentially was a Dreamcast 2); and, as released, the Xbox did not (seem to) have anything worth playing. (The fact the original Xbox was an ''American-made console'' didn't help, after the then-recent disaster the UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar was and the struggles of American-made consoles in general following UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.) But once gamers got their grubby little hands on it, ''Halo'' singlehandedly kept Microsoft in the race; CausticCritic ''Magazine/{{Edge}}'' Magazine went so far as to call it "the most important launch game for any console, ever." All of its sequels have set "biggest-opening-day" records. The franchise in October 2012 was [[http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/20536/halo-4-most-expensive-microsoft-title valued]] at a cool $3 billion.

*** The Draugr is a Covenant {{Literature/Bolo}}. No serious. These land battleships are one of the most powerful Covenant ground vehicles. At ''[[Main.UpTo11 168 meters long, 100 meters wide and 58 meters tall with a mass of 71,000 metric tons]]'', these monsters are armed with ''[[MoreDakka five focus cannons]]'' and use ''[[Main.UpTo11 Scarabs as support vehicles]]''. Yes, it is a Base on Wheels that uses ''other'' Base on Wheels as support platforms.

* {{Tykebomb}}: The Spartans were drafted/kidnapped when they were six years old, and due to their training were better fighters than most adults. Then they [[UpToEleven got augmented]].

** ''Reach'' makes them [[UpToEleven even more difficult]] by buffing their health and making them larger...

-->"[[ItsRainingMen Jumping into hell isn't the job]], [[KillEmAll making sure it's crowded when you get there is]]."

** According to his profile, Noble Team member Emile-239 seem to fit this rather well, apparently so brutal that his superiors are reluctant to field him against anything but aliens, for fear of his brutality giving the media real [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene "excess"]] to comment on. In at least one section of the game, we're told "He says he wants to win the war, but he really just wants the enemy to die."

*** The Harvester is the king of all Covenant walkers save for the Kraken. These gigantic mining platforms is a giant walking landship maybe armed with just one ultra-heavy focus cannon, but it is ''219 meters long, 148 meters wide, 133 meters tall and weigh at around 211,660 metric tons.'' To give you some perspective, this is twice the weight of the real world Gerald R. Ford supercarriers.
*** The Kraken is the largest Covenant ground vehicle every known. These are seige engines that are big enough that even ''mountain-sized'' boulders can be thrown like frisbees. They are ''527 meters tall, 177 meters long, 179 meters wide and weigh at a colossal 800,000 metric tons.''

*** The Draugr is a Covenant {{Literature/Bolo}}. No serious. These land battleships are one of the most powerful Covenant ground vehicles. At ''[[Main.UpTo11 168 meters long, 100 meters wide and 58 meters tall with a mass of 71,000 metric tons]]'', these monsters are armed with ''[[Main.UpTo11 five focus cannons]]'' and use ''[[Main.UpTo11 Scarabs are support vehicles]]''. Yes, it is a Base on Wheels that uses ''other'' Base on Wheels as support platforms.

*** The Draugr is a Covenant {{Literature/Bolo}}. No serious. These land battleships are one of the most powerful Covenant ground vehicles. At ''[[Main.UpTo11 168 meters long, 100 meters wide and 58 meters tall with a mass of 71,000 metric tons'''', these monsters are armed with ''[[Main.UpTo11 five focus cannons'''' and use ''[[Main.UpTo11 Scarabs are support vehicles]]''. Yes, it is a Base on Wheels that uses ''other'' Base on Wheels as support platforms.

*** The Draugr is a Covenant {{Literature/Bolo}}. No serious. These land battleships are one of the most powerful Covenant ground vehicles. [[Main.UpTo11 At ''168 meters long, 100 meters wide and 58 meters tall with a mass of 71,000 metric tons'', these monsters are armed with ''five focus cannons'' and use ''Scarabs are support vehicles''.]] Yes, it is a Base on Wheels that uses ''other'' Base on Wheels as support platforms.

** Then there's the SPARTAN-II armor, which supposedly weighs in at a metric ton, or 2200 pounds. A set of armor that weighs as much as a 2011 Chevy Camaro. In order for this to be true, it would need to be either much more bulky or made primarily of lead and gold. Plus, it's never explained how they don't sink into the ground when standing on one foot or destroy every ladder and staircase they ever use.
** It's less glaring in more later material from the expanded universe. Chief actually weighs in at about 1000 pounds in armor, the scaling of the UNSC fleet is justified in comparison to the Covenant's superior tech, and the weapon lore, [=MACs=] and plasma included, have been made reasonably realistic. Concessions to gameplay limitations aside, the technical stuff currently makes a surprising amount of sense lore-wise.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: One of the female Spartans (it was Kelly) is mentioned to have dyed her hair blue in ''The Fall of Reach'', though by the end of the book it's gone back to its natural color.
** Cortana and Serina both have blue hair (and blue everything else).

* ''Series/{{Halo 2022}}'' Television Series (Upcoming): An AlternateContinuity series produced by Creator/{{Showtime}} and Creator/StevenSpielberg's [[Creator/AmblinEntertainment Amblin Television]], set to premiere on Creator/ParamountPlus on March 24, 2022. The first season is nine episodes, with a second season confirmed to be in the works.[[/index]]

* CulturalTranslation: The Japanese version of ''Halo'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6NFOyE7oG0 leans heavier on the samurai aspect of the Sangheili]].

[[folder: Main Series]]

[[folder: Side Stories]]
* ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'' (2009): A [[GaidenGame side-story]] set during ''Halo 2'' about a team of [[BadassNormal Orbital Drop Shock Troopers]] ([=ODSTs=]) fighting in one of Earth's most important cities. Features [[{{Series/Firefly}} Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk]]. Its campaign was re-released in May 2015 as a {{DLC}} for ''The Master Chief Collection''.
* ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' (2010): A prequel to ''Combat Evolved'' revolving around a group of Spartans in the largest battle of the war; [[DoomedByCanon the fall of the UNSC's second-most important planet]], Reach.
[[/folder]]

* ''ARG/HuntTheTruth'' (2015): A ''Halo 5'' marketing campaign starring Creator/KeeganMichaelKey as journalist Benjamin Giraud, who is trying to find out the truth of Master Chief's backstory.

* Various artbooks, visual guides, and encyclopedias that often contain lore information not found elsewhere.

* NamedAfterTheInjury: The Elite Rtas 'Vadum is also known as Half-Jaw after he lost two mandibles fighting the flood.