The Halo Gallery
Three games. The covers start apart, and end together.
Japan sold the first Halo with a visor: a tight crop of the Master Chief's helmet over circuitry, where America put the whole soldier on a grassy ring. Three games later the two regions were printing the identical painting. This gallery walks the trilogy in covers, one section per game, with each game's history and the Library's Halo questions behind the doors.
HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED
Bungie · Xbox · 2001 / Japan 2002
America · 2001
The full Chief, centred and aiming at the viewer, Marines and a Warthog on the ring behind him.
Japan · 2002
A completely different painting: the helmet and orange visor cropped tight over a dark circuit board. The title is just HALO.
Japan · Platinum Collection · 2003
The budget edition kept the visor art under its own silver band. The divergence survived the discount.
The History
The History of Halo: Combat Evolved: the Mac strategy game Microsoft bought, and the launch that made the Xbox.
Halo in Japan
How was Halo released in Japan? Third best seller on a console Japan never bought.
The Covers
How do the Japanese and American Halo covers compare? Checked box by box, budget editions included.
The Ring
What inspired Halo's ring? Niven and Banks, per Bungie's own list.
HALO 2
Bungie · Xbox · 2004
America · 2004
The Chief dual wielding against a burning city sky.
Japan · Limited Edition
Japan's documented special object: the brushed silver steelbook under a blue metallic 2.
The Standard Japanese Box · Gap
The standard Japanese Halo 2 box could not be verified from the sources available to the Library, so this gallery shows no painting for it and makes no claim about its art. The steelbook at left is the verified Japanese object.
The History
The History of Halo 2: matchmaking, the Arbiter, the cliffhanger, and the biggest launch in entertainment to that date.
Halo in Japan
Halo 2 in Japan: 45,917 copies, eighth on the platform, prestige over scale.
The Covers
The Halo 2 steelbook and the road to identical Halo 3 art, on the covers page.
HALO 3
Bungie · Xbox 360 · 2007
America · 2007
The Chief in profile against the sunset sky, the Ark portal below.
Japan · 2007
The identical key art in the green Japanese case, CERO D in place of the ESRB block. Shown from the Library's small verified file; a larger scan is a swap-in upgrade.
Japan · Platinum Collection
The same key art again under the New Price reissue banner, still in print in Japan years later.