Editing Halo: The Master Chief Collection

{{Status|RealWorld}}

|image= [[File:MCC Boxart New.jpg|300px]]

<br>[[Wikipedia:United Front Games|United Front Games]]

{{Ref/Site|Id=UFG|URL=http://www.unitedfrontgames.com/ufg-microsoft/|Site=United Front Games|Page=UFG/Microsoft: Halo: The Master Chief Collection|D=9|M=6|Y=2014}}

*[[Xbox Series X/S|Xbox Series X{{!}}S]]

**[[Xbox Series X/S#Xbox Series S|Xbox Series S]]

|modes= [[Campaign]]<br>[[Multiplayer]]<br>[[Campaign#Cooperative|Cooperative]]<br>[[Forge]] <small>(excluding ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary/Classic'' and ''Halo 2 Classic'')</small>{{Ref/Reuse|briefing}}<br>[[Theater]] <small>(''Halo 2: Anniversary'' multiplayer,<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/bulletins/the-halo-bulletin-assault-on-controller-settings '''Halo Waypoint''' - ''The Halo Bulletin: 10/16/14'']</ref> ''Halo 3'', ''Halo 4'' and ''Halo: Reach'')<ref>[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=116092208&postcount=1010 '''NeoGaf''': ''Frank O'Connor on Theater'']</ref></small>

In March of 2019, it was then announced that ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' would be remastered and released on the Xbox One as part of the collection, and that ''The Master Chief Collection'' was set to release on PC via the [[Microsoft Store]] and [[Steam]], with ''Reach'' spearheading the release. ''Halo: Reach'' was released simultaneously on both editions of ''The Master Chief Collection'' on December 3, 2019. ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' followed after, and was launched specifically on PC on March 3, 2020 with ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' following on May 12, 2020,<ref name="H2APC">[https://twitter.com/Halo/status/1257717196114935810?s=19 ''Halo on Twitter'':] ''"Halo 2: Anniversary arrives on PC as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on May 12!"''</ref> ''Halo 3'' launching on July 14, 2020,<ref name="H3PC">[https://twitter.com/Halo/status/1280487228897189889 ''Halo on Twitter'':] ''"Finish the fight. Halo 3 arrives on PC as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on July 14!"''</ref> ''Halo 3: ODST'' arriving on September 22, 2020,<ref name="H3ODSTPC">[https://twitter.com/Halo/status/1305491623963320320 ''Halo on Twitter'':] ''"Halo 3: ODST will officially arrive on PC as a part of the Master Chief Collection, on September 22nd. Suit up, strap in, and prepare to return to New Mombassa."''</ref> and ''Halo 4'' finally rounding out the collection on November 17, 2020.<ref name="H4PC">[https://twitter.com/halo/status/1325800422645276673?s=21 ''Halo on Twitter'':] ''"Halo 4 will officially arrive on PC as a part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, on November 17. Wake up, and venture forth into Requiem."</ref>

 

The four games in the collection are all contained on a single disc, with two additional games (the campaign and firefight modes of ''Halo 3: ODST'' and ''Halo: Reach'') as DLC, and are accessible through a unified interface known as the "Master Menu". The menu allows players to directly play any mission in any of the five games straight from purchase. Alternatively, there are customized [[mission playlist]]s, featuring levels from different games, arranged by [[343 Industries]].<ref name="Waypoint">[https://web.archive.org/web/20140609191047/https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo-the-master-chief-collection '''Halo Waypoint''': ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection'']. Archived from [https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo-the-master-chief-collection the original] on June 09, 2014. Retrieved November 29, 2019.</ref> Examples of these include "Final Four", featuring the four final missions of each main game, "Me and my Hog" for levels featuring the [[M12 Chaingun Warthog|Warthog]], and "Flooded" for missions featuring the [[Flood|eponymous parasite]].<ref name="venturebeat">[http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/10/understanding-halo-the-master-chief-collection-faq-playlists-forge-control-schemes-and-more/ '''Venturebeat''': ''Understanding Halo: The Master Chief Collection (FAQ) — playlists, Forge, control schemes, and more'']</ref> ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' also features separate [[Thel 'Vadam|Arbiter]] and [[John-117|Master Chief]] playlists which allow players to complete the two protagonists' respective levels individually. The music and backgrounds in the Master Menu are sensitive to the game that is being browsed at the time, as well as specific modes of that particular game.<ref name="RTX">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQQbGq8TnR8&list=UU7NCg0venpKJg3kuJojKlbQ&index=3 '''YouTube''': ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection Panel - RTX 2014'']</ref>

In March 2019, it was announced in a Social Stream that 343 Industries was working to bring ''Halo: Reach'' into the ''Master Chief Collection'', and the Collection itself onto PC, with several Flight tests between these two platforms. On November 14, 2019, it was announced during the Inside Xbox 2019 that ''Halo: Reach'' would be released on December 3, 2019, on both Xbox One and PC/Steam for $9.99 USD. Players on PC were able to pre-purchase the entire collection for $39.99 USD, and titles on PC were confirmed to be released incrementally once developers feel that each title is ready for a "'first-class' PC experience." The PC version does not require an Xbox Live Gold subscription, but does require a basic [[Xbox Live]] account for both the Microsoft Store and Steam variants. A PC port had been long-planned for the future, but the success of the [[ElDewrito]] mod for ''[[Halo Online]]'' in 2018 had "lit a spark" for 343 Industries to begin development on the PC port sooner due to the huge community interest in the ''Halo'' PC experience, even after the 2016 cancellation of ''Halo Online''.<ref name="eldewrito future">[https://blog.eldewrito.com/post/183642178153/eldewrito-the-future-of-the-mod-and-our ''Eldewrito'': ElDewrito: The Future of the Mod, And our Involvement with 343 on MCC PC.]</ref>

During E3 2019, Xbox announced that MCC for both console and PC would be available on [[Xbox Game Pass]] Ultimate. The Game Pass version is fully-loaded and will include all titles, including Reach and the ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'' campaign (which was previously paid DLC). The Xbox One Game Pass variant launched with the release of Game Pass Ultimate. On PC, MCC via Game Pass is only offered on the Microsoft Store on Windows 10. ''Halo: Reach'' launched for ''MCC'' on December 3, 2019, on both Xbox and PC platforms, though the [[Forge]] and [[Theater]] modes are presently absent from the PC releases while 343 Industries continues to work on adapting their control and feature-sets to a keyboard and mouse control scheme. As part of the revamp of the Forge mode, nicknamed "[[Thorage]]", additional forge objects from the campaign and other maps will be added to ''[[Forge World]]'' and ''[[Tempest]]'' that were unavailable in the Xbox 360 release of ''Halo: Reach''. The team used a single executable file that links together 11 different engines, the Legacy UUI engine, the original engines for all 6 games, the ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' multiplayer engine, the Saber3D Engine, used in ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' and the ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' campaign, and Unreal Engine 4, used for the UI and armor customization.

[[File:MCC Insider Program.png|thumb|The MCC Insider program logo.]]

Each title was tested by Insider members during flights. Flights for ''Halo: Reach'' took place in August 2019. Flights for ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' took place in February 2020. Flights for ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' took place in April 2020. Flights for ''Halo 3'' took place in June 2020. Flights for ''Halo 3: ODST'' took place in August 2020. Flights for ''Halo 4'' took place in October 2020.

===Xbox Series X/S optimization===

===Co-op campaign===

Both online and split-screen co-op campaign play are supported in all six games. Currently, split-screen is not available on PC, however, cross-play co-op is only possible in a beta stage in ''Halo 3'' and ''Halo 3: ODST'' The campaign co-op breakdown is as follows:{{Ref/Reuse|bulletin61914}}

[[Multiplayer]] is available for all six games—each running from their respective original engines—and is accessible via a unified matchmaking menu system. Players are put into a lobby, then asked to vote for a match from a random selection of over 100 maps from all games (depending on playlist), rather than have the population split into groups for different games.{{Ref/Reuse|Waypoint}} However, there are a number of playlists specific to each game.{{Ref/Reuse|RTX}} The collection uses a single unified multiplayer ranking system shared across the four games.{{Ref/Reuse|venturebeat}} Rank, stats or unlockable items such as armor permutations do not carry over from the previous games.{{Ref/Reuse|bulletin61914}}

With the additions of ''Halo: Reach'' and ''Halo 3: ODST'' into the collection, the amount of multiplayer maps increased into 141 (123 PvP maps and 18 Firefight maps), and the amount of campaign missions into 118 (63 playable missions, 5 cutscene-only missions, and 50 Spartan Ops missions). The later inclusion of [[Waterfall]], [[Edge]], and [[Icebox]]—three ''[[Halo Online]]'' multiplayer maps—into the ''Halo 3'' portion during [[Series 6: Raven]], [[Series 7: Elite]], and [[Series 8: Mythic]] respectively, increased this total to 144.

*[[Waterworks]]

 

 

;'''''Halo 2'' for Windows Vista'''

 

The ''Master Chief Collection'' allows players to select single a three-digit [[Service Tag]] and a [[Emblems|multiplayer emblem]] which are used for all games in the collection. Nearly all emblems found in the constituent games are available for use.

At launch, players could select an armor permutation for each of the six multiplayer modes. The ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' and ''Halo 2'' armor permutations mirrored the original games, however the ''Halo 3'' and ''Halo 4'' was much-simplified; specifically, players could no longer customize individual armor pieces, but instead must choose from complete armor sets. ''Halo 4'' armor and weapons skins were also not found in the collection, nor were the DLC customization elements, specifically the [[RICOCHET-class Mjolnir|Ricochet]], [[PREFECT-class Mjolnir|Prefect]], [[MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor/Mark V|Mark V]], and [[ODST armor#MJOLNIR GEN2.2FODST|ODST]] armor permutations featured in the [[Champions Bundle]]. The Resistor [[Tactical packages|tactical package]], and the Recharge and Survivor [[support upgrades]] were also not originally included.

Players can customize five [[loadout]]s for ''Halo 4'' multiplayer, and unlike the original game, all five loadouts and all loadout options are unlocked by default.

Due to the launch of ''Halo: Reach'' and Series 1: Noble as part of the collection in 2019, the decision was made to allow for full armor customization as in the game's Xbox 360 release, with a new customization system designed to retain the feel of the older systems while blending it with more modern unlock systems, using the power of Unreal Engine 4. This system was later extended to ''Halo 3'' with the launch of [[Series 2: Spark]]. In this system, players can earn {{SeasonPoint|Season Points}} (now called Spartan Points) while playing multiplayer, Firefight and campaign to unlock armor pieces for use. Additionally, the launch of Series 2 saw the addition of [[Skins (Halo: Combat Evolved)|skins]] to ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', with a variety of new texture skins for all useable weapons and vehicles alongside visor color options available for players in the game's multiplayer.  

[[Series 3: Recon]] saw the addition of four new character models for ''Halo 3: ODST''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Firefight mode, and added visor colors and weapons skins for ''Halo 3'', while [[Series 4: Reclaimer]] saw the addition of more weapon skins and new vehicle skins for ''Halo 3'', and added several of the weapons skins originally available in ''Halo 4's'' Xbox 360 version, including two new never-released skins and the skins released in the Champions Bundle (which are now available for use in ''Spartan Ops''); however, skins that originally came with McFarlane Toys, and the four armor permutations featured in the Champions Bundle were not included in the Season. Additionally, new armor pieces for ''Halo: Reach'' were planned to be included in Season 4, but were delayed (the armor effects for the Elites were added on ''Reach'' with this season, however), with 343 Industries expressing desire to include both ''Halo: Reach'' and ''Halo 4'' armor permutations in future seasons. 343 Industries also plans to include full armor customization for the Elites on ''Halo: Reach''.

On December 2020, an update for Season 4 was released, adding three techsuits [[Armor customization (Halo 3)|permutations]] for ''Halo 3'' (GEN1, GEN2, and GEN2 Tinted). [[Series 5: Anvil]] included several Spartan armor pieces for ''Halo: Reach'', including the [[AKIS]] helmet (nicknamed "GRD" by the community), alongside the new [[Mariner]] helmet, the [[Armor accessories/EXO|EXO]] chest piece, and six chest variants with a prosthetic arm. It also included twelve new Spartan armor permutations for ''Halo 3'', based on armors from the cancelled ''[[Halo Online]]''; this update also added new customization options for ''Halo 3'', allowing customize forearms and legs. [[Series 6: Raven]] added new six ''Halo Online'' armor sets and four ODST armor variants based on the models used by [[Fireteam Raven]] in their [[Halo: Fireteam Raven|namesake game]], alongside 15 new animated visors, three new GEN2 techsuits variants, and seven new backpack customization options.

 

 

 

Series 9 followed Series 8, and detoured in many ways. Lacking the traditional free battle pass-style, all content was available through [[The Exchange]] and its weekly rotations. The update featured [[Stance|poses for player models]], and multiple Fractures-based armor sets for ''Halo 2: Anniversary''. It would also see the reintroduction of the previously missing Resistor tactical package, and Recharge and Survivor support upgrades for ''Halo 4''.

The collection contains [[Achievements (Halo: The Master Chief Collection)|its own series]] of [[achievement]]s for each of the five games, with the collective [[Gamerscore]] attainable initially totaling 4000.<ref name="briefing">'''Microsoft E3 2014 Media Briefing'''</ref> An additional 50 achievements worth 500 Gamerscore were added at launch,<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/the-next-50-achievements/ '''Halo Waypoint''': The Next 50 Achievements'']</ref> while 50 more achievements worth 500 Gamerscore were added on January 8, 2015.<ref>[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/50-more-achievements-for-halo-the-master-chief-collection '''Halo Waypoint''' - ''Achievements Update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection'']</ref>

An option in the in-game achievements list allows players to jump directly into a game configured to be optimal for the completion of a given achievement.<ref name="leaderboard reveal">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQDmWlUcTbU '''YouTube''': ''Campaign Leaderboard Reveal - Halo: The Master Chief Collection'']</ref>

The collection features [[Halo: The Master Chief Collection skulls|37 skulls]], most of which are exclusive to certain games. Some of the skulls were initially accessible only through pre-order bonuses but were unlocked universally on December 12, 2014.<ref name="your journey">[https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/bulletins/the-halo-bulletin-your-journey-begins '''Halo Waypoint''': ''The Halo Bulletin: Your Journey Begins'']</ref> One skull, Swarm, is unlocked by watching all episodes of ''[[Halo: Nightfall]]'' on the [[Halo Channel]] and completing all associated challenges.{{Ref/Reuse|your journey}}{{Ref/Reuse|live and let pie}}<ref>[https://dlassets-ssl.xboxlive.com/public/content/f33009f4-14ff-4821-94e3-c3573c868c2e/GameManual/97d0359f-4eb2-45ea-af0d-bd3f90529585/en-US/index.html#article0021 '''Xbox Live''': ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection online manual'']</ref>

''The Master Chief Collection'' also features over 300 unlockable player customization options, including [[emblems]], [[nameplates]] and [[avatars]] for use in game lobbies and player profile pages. There are various ways to unlock these items, although most are earned by completing achievements. Additional unlockable items include 15 terminal videos and a customizable clan tag. For every unlocked achievement, the player receives a high-resolution image from the remastered ''Halo 2'' cinematics, concept art, level images, or a frame from a terminal. These images can be used for one's personal Xbox One background.<ref name="live and let pie">[http://halo.bungie.org/halobulletins/168 '''halo.bungie.org''': ''The Halo Bulletin: Live and Let Pie'']</ref>

With the introduction of Seasons and Challenges on ''MCC'', the amount of unlockable nameplates increased. Some seasons included challenges to unlock limited elements, like the Acrophobia skull.

With the launch of [[Series 6: Raven]], an update for the game gave Xbox players the ability to customize their field-of-view, crosshair position, added support for mouse and keyboard on Xbox, and the ability to add secondary key bindings for keyboard and mouse users.<ref name="mcc april update">[https://support.halowaypoint.com/hc/en-us/articles/360059503311-Halo-The-Master-Chief-Collection-MCC-Patch-Notes-April-2021 '''Halo Support''': ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection (MCC) Patch Notes - April 2021'']</ref>

 

 

Following the release of ''Halo 3'' onto the PC version of ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection'', more story elements have appeared that are exclusive to this port. A number of which are carried over from ''[[Halo Online]]''.

 

''Halo: Reach'' has been updated with new content as part of its inclusion into ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection''. This includes several new story elements.

{{Main|The Hunter and the Hunted}}

=== ''Halo 2: Anniversary'' cinematic launch trailer===

{{Main|Halo 2: Anniversary cinematic launch trailer}}

===Rhythm===

{{Main|Rhythm}}

===Lucky Grunt===

{{Main|Lucky Grunt}}

Like ''Halo 4'', pre-order bonuses for the bundle varied between retailers. Three of the bonuses were revealed to be [[Halo: The Master Chief Collection skulls|skulls]] that modify campaign gameplay, namely [[Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary skulls|those introduced in ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'']].

{{Main|Noble Endeavors|Conflict Evolved|Changing Tides|Allied Forces|Helljumpers (ONI Archive)|Reclaiming Our Place}}

{{Main|Echoes of Heroes|Unseal the Hushed Casket|Machine & Nerve|Finish The Fight|Prepare To Drop (trailer)|Wake Up, John (trailer)|Fireteam Raven, Reporting In|Battle The Heretics|Go Medieval}}

{{Halo: TMCC reviews}}

File:Master_Chief_Collection_-_Mark_VI_helmet.png|A text-less version of the helmet used in the [[The Hunter and the Hunted|''Halo: The Master Chief Collection'' announcement trailer]].

File:MCC_Planet_Background.png|The original main menu background, featuring a planet and an asteroid belt.

File:TMCC - Season 5 splashscreen.jpg|The splashscreen created for Season 5's release on January 2021.

File:MCC-H3 BestBuddies.jpg|''Halo 3'' art used for the splashscreen for Season 7's release on June 2021.

File:MCC-H3 T26ABanshees.jpg|Part of the June 2021 menu background.