This shot is from around the time of the E3 2000 demo. This marine was referred to as "McLees" after Robert McLees. (I believe he also voiced the part.) Note the indoor environments, which are quite different from the final ones, especially the door control.

Halo was originally to feature several different kinds of ambient life. Here, a dinosaur-like creature menaces the Master Chief. Other scenes in the E3 2000 demo film showed marines driving a Warthog through a herd of short, toothy beasts called Blind Wolves.

Halo was originally to feature battles on land and sea, and early builds had water craft. Perhaps that's the reason why this Banshee is seen half-submerged, something Halo fans wouldn't see again until the release of Death Island in the Mac/PC version.

An early shot of a tank in Halo. This one is most likely what became the Scorpion tank in the shipping game. The other tank, the so-called Stealth Tank, was lower and wider and did not make the cut into the shipping version of Halo 1.

A nearly full-frontal shot of the early Master Chief model. He wasn't even called that (at least publicly) at that time. This was part of a two-page spread in a gaming magazine; the opposite leaf showed Marines piling out of a Pelican. This was before the revision to the Chief's model that was revealed around E3 2000, bulking him up significantly. The MC model for Halo 2 is a bit closer to this stature, with the look and colors of the E3 2000 version.

Can we do it again?

An old MC model with a sniper rifle. That red dot, we can only assume, was either a laser sight for better targeting, or perhaps a way of giving opposing players a way of finding you. Note the complex geography in the background.

This early model of Halo's protagonist showed how much it has changed over the course of the game's development. This model owes quite a bit to the marine in Marathon. With Halo 2, the Master Chief has slimmed down a bit, and now appears as a combination of this older look and the green, but not-so-lean edition that was featured in the original shipping version of Halo.

A closeup of the Banshee model against one of the gorgeous skies that typified early Halo screenshots.

The E3 2000 demo ended with the Halo marine waving a Bungie flag high atop a ridge. This shot shows a similar flag, now reading "Halo", being carried by the MC as he flees a firing Ghost. Like many of the vehicles-- the Warthog, the Banshee, and the Pelican-- these models are very close to their final forms.

Some parts of this Elite model-- such as the equine like forelegs, are recognizable-- as is the plasma rifle. Other parts, such as the chest, arms and neck, appear quite different from the final versions.

One of the early weapons was a gatling gun. It's not clear whether this gun was eliminated when the Master Chief model changed, or perhaps at a later stage.

A scene from the MWNY trailer. Marines flee in a Warthog and are pursued by Ghosts, one of which crests a ridge and overturns.

Originally, the human arsenal was to have a machete in it as a foil (pun intended) to the Covenant energy sword. The original press release mentioned "composite swords" and most assumed this was what Bungie meant. It never made it into the shipping game, and in Halo 1 even the Covenant plasma swords were not usable by the player.

The cover of Computer Gaming World was one of Halo's first cover appearances, but certainly not the last. The game that many expected to be released in the first quarter of the following year, 2000, would not actually hit the streets until late 2001, and would not come to the platforms it was originally announced for -- Mac and PC-- for another two years after that.