23 years later and Halo: CE speedrunning is about to change forever with newly-discovered glitches that add playable Flood and a flyable Pelican

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You can now climb the walls as a little alien parasite in Halo: Combat Evolved

halo
(Image credit: Bungie)

Halo: Combat Evolved came out over two decades ago, but speedrunning events for the classic shooter are about to change forever thanks to newly-discovered glitches that let you play as the Flood (Halo's version of a zombie-parasite-headcrab thing.)

Former Microsoft software engineer and Halo speedrunner who goes by Mr Monopoli has recently discovered a series of glitches that open up brand new routes in Combat Evolved. Some of this stuff, like flying the Pelican, was previously possible with mods, but Mr Monopoli has become the first person in the world to discover how to unlock these tricks without modding the game. 

"Using new glitches, I've discovered a way to possess a flood infection form in Halo 1 without mods," the speedrunner tweeted earlier this week, alongside a video of the little face-hugger bobbing about. "You can fully control it and even climb 90+ degree walls and even ceilings!" That added verticality is what I imagine will make certain levels beatable within minutes, as long as it doesn't take too long to actually trigger the Flood glitch.

Mr Monopoli also recently discovered how to play as Elites in Halo: Combat Evolved's campaign without glitches, a year after discovering a very similar glitch in Halo 2. "Here it is being performed on the OG Xbox!"

"We're just getting started with all the cool new stuff this is going to unlock," he also tweeted this week. "I became the first person to fly a pelican on Halo 1 without mods today." The video below then shows Master Chief kind of hovering in an aircraft vehicle called the Pelican, which doesn't seem perfect usable since original developers Bungie probably never intended for it to be flyable.

Mr Monopoli performed all these glitches on an OG Xbox, sadly for anyone hoping to replicate them in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Though, in response to one comment, he says that he's "working on a more complicated method that should work on MCC" without crashing the collection.

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Kaan Serin
Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.