Beloved science fiction series Halo tasks players with taking on the role of the Master Chief, a super-soldier who fights in the human war against aliens (the Covenant). There are five main installments to the series (depending on which you consider "main") with a sixth, Halo Infinite, coming out soon.

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Halo wouldn't be nearly as iconic without its signature Warthog, the all-terrain combat vehicle that Master Chief drives in-game. It comes equipped with two seats, an attached machine gun, and other features to aid the player in combat. The Warthog went through multiple revisions as Halo was created and continued, so these are all the little tidbits that fans might have missed about the vehicle.

10 Why It's Called A Warthog

Halo 4 Warthog Replica at Microsoft E3 Booth

The Warthog's frame is designed to be lightweight with bullet-proof or bullet-resistant glass. At the front, there's a towing winch system, complete with sturdy hooks. This feature makes the warthog versatile — which is essential for firefights and emergency situations, where the UNSC forces might need anything on the fly — but also gives the vehicle its name: the hooks at the front look just like the tusks of a warthog.

We can't help but wonder: has the Master Chief ever even seen a real warthog?

9 It Was Originally Going To Be A Tank

Halo Tank

When the first Halo game was in development, the team imagined it as a real-time strategy (RTS) game. This would have been very different than the action game fans are used to now; RTS games involve accumulating resources, building bases, and controlling units of troops.

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When the game was an RTS, the Warthog was imagined to be a tank that the Master chief could run beside in between jobs. As the design of the Warthog slowly changed and eventually included a seat for Master Chief to sit in, the Master Chief's character model had to become more detailed too.

8 Halo: Reach Is Said To Have The Worst AI Drivers

Halo Reach
Via: Windows Central
Halo Reach

It sometimes seems like Halo fans can hardly take a breath without complaining about the AI drivers in the franchise. Players who played solo had to choose between being the Warthog's gunner or its driver.

Of course, in an action game, being the gunner is much more appealing — but if the player allowed an ally to drive, one of the nameless troop AIs, it took forever to get to their destination. Halo: Reach, though it was many fans' favorite installment in the series, was notorious for having the worst AIs of any Halo that came before or after it.

7 Its Maximum Speed Is 78 MPH (125 KM/H)

Halo CE Warthog Run
Halo CE Warthog Run

Halo fans have fond memories of getting the Warthog to its maximum speed and breezing past their enemies. Many Halo games include some kind of "Warthog Run" toward their finale (though not Halo 2, sadly), where the player must race against the clock to reach their destination — it's a high you can't buy anywhere.

According to the official documentation of the Warthog, the max speed that it's hitting is 78 mph or 125 km/h.  This is certainly faster than most people are used to going in real-life cars.

6 It Entered Service In 2319

via: Steam

Halo: Combat Evolved, the first installment in the series, takes place in the year 2552 CE. Documentation in Halo tells us that the Warthog entered service in the year 2319 CE, 233 years before the Master Chief was even alive.

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Though the Warthog went through several prototypes and test trials to arrive at the vehicle which fans are familiar with, it was still impressive — even revolutionary — when the first prototype rolled off the shelves.

5 Can Be Used To Filter Water

The Warthog often follows troops and the Master Chief wherever they are. There's seldom a guarantee that anyone will come back alive, or that the conditions on the ground will be favorable.

As an army vehicle, the Warthog was designed to support troops who might be trapped in unforgiving landscapes for long periods of time until they could be rescued. It features a "solar-powered electrolysis and compression system" to this end, which can, among other things, filter water for human consumption.

4 There Are 10 Major Variants

The Civilian Warthog from Halo 2 Anniversary
via halofanforlife.com

The Warthog was so popular in the UNSC that many variants have been made since its conception to be used for different purposes. The M12 is the Warthog that most fans are familiar with; it has two seats and the machine gun loaded in the back.

The M862, the "Arctic Hog," was given specific features to help it traverse ice and snow. The M914 is a recovery vehicle designed to get damaged Warthogs off the field. There's even a civilian version of the Warthog, known as "The Hog."

3 Working Replicas Have Been Made

Halo Warthog Elon Musk

Since it is such an iconic piece of gaming history, it's not a surprise to hear that Warthogs have been reproduced in real life. Some were just set pieces, while others were fully functioning automotive vehicles (minus the military-grade guns).

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Recently, Xbox (more specifically, executive Aaron Greenberg) has baffled fans by asking Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, to build a real Warthog out of his Cybertruck designs. Time will tell if this actually pans out, but it wouldn't be the first time Musk got involved in the gaming community.

2 The Developers Say The Warthog Is The Reason Halo Is What It Is

Via: www.geeky-gadgets.com

People who worked on the original Halo, and especially those who saw it develop from an RTS into an action shooter, praise the Warthog for making Halo the game franchise it is today.

One of the designers, Jaime Griesemer, once noted that "it was so cool to watch a squad of jeeps driving across the terrain [that] we wanted to drive them ourselves." He clearly stated that he believes "the Warthog is the real reason Halo became an action game" and that "Halo is the story of the Warthog and the universe we built to drive it around in."

1 It Appears In Rocket League And Forza Horizon 3 & 4

Halo Warthog in Forza Horizon 4 and Rocket League

Lots of recent games have opted to feature cameos from other games into their world for the players to use; one needs to look no further than Fortnite's ever-expanding roster for proof of this phenomenon.

The Warthog has had this honour more than once: it has appeared in Forza Horizon 3, Rocket League, and most recently, Forza Horizon 4. These games focus solely on driving, so they can appreciate an expertly designed vehicle like the Warthog.

NEXT: Halo: Every UNSC Vehicle, Ranked From Worst To Best