Sept 24, 2007

Master Chief cannot be more popular than he is at this very moment. Halo 3 launches this week, marking the first time millions of gamers will get to play the single most anticipated game of 2007. As untold numbers of multiplayer matches bring the internet to its knees, a deafening media blitz screams out to the planet, "Buy Halo 3! It will be the single greatest thing you have ever done in your life!"

So, at this zenith, where Microsoft is pushing the game like an event movie and claiming it'll outperform any film's opening weekend, let's take a look back at what the Chief's unquestioned fame has spawned. Everything from fan-made videos to a soul-crushing amount of merchandise, we're counting down the best out-of-context Halo moments the world has to offer.

7. Dead or Alive 4 - Nicole

You're Microsoft. You have a frillion dollars and are about to launch the Xbox 360. Halo is your biggest cash cow, so it makes sense to get something involving Halo onto the system, right? Well you can't. Just had Halo 2 the year before. You do have a fighting game appearing on your system though, and Master Chief sure is a good brawler...

But nay! You shall not use the precious Master Chief. Instead, developers Tecmo and Bungie shall conspire, and from this meeting emerges Nicole, a female Spartan. A Missus Chief, if you will. Nicole is stranded in our time due to one of those pesky space/time continuum hiccups, and therefore must battle anyone who strays too close to her 26th century technology.

Such a character-swapping gamble worked for Soul Calibur 2, so why not try it again with Halo and Dead or Alive? We don't get to play as Link, but we can still pit Nicole against Ryu Hayabusa for some Halo vs Ninja Gaiden action. Points for the effort, but the name "Nicole" is totally arbitrary. The armor looks the same here as it does in Halo, but no, it's not Master Chief. It's a girl. Promise.