Project HAYABUSA

The Hayabusa Armor is a variation of United Nations Space Command body armor for Spartan Supersoldiers.

Introduction

The Hayabusa is a powered battle armor system similar to the standard Mark VI MJOLNIR except stemming from Project HAYABUSA as opposed to Project MJOLNIR. It was developed by RKD, an Earth-based "think tank" in the year 2536, 16 years before the Mark V entered production. It was presented to the UNSC Ordnance Committee as an answer to the self-contained powered armor problem. Advanced materials are used in the production of the Hayabusa armor reducing the weight of the current generation armor by nearly a third (at that time). It is an armor permutation in Halo 3, and like all permutations, it has no effect on gameplay. The armor is commonly used on Halo 3 due to the fact many people have obtained all 13 skulls needed to gain the whole set. The Katana, however, can only be unlocked by getting all 49 Achievements on Halo 3. It also has been referred as the Ninja armor, Power Ranger armor or Haya armor though technically it is ninja armor since it is from Ninja Gaiden.

Characteristics

Helmet Characteristics

The helmet features an 7 angular spikes, or spokes, one to each side and the face plate is fused into a single piece and contour. The top rear guard of the helmet is pointed, revealing the protruding spike. The bottom rear, around the neck forms a sort of neck guard, like that of a samurai helmet. It has been noted for its uncanny resemblance to the Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden. The 7 spikes are always silver.

Shoulder Characteristics

Its shoulders are replaced by three metal plates arranged in an overlapping fashion similar to the armor of a Japanese Samurai.

Chest Characteristics

The Chest armor features a thick, round, "collar" piece protecting the neck; as well as an angular strip of armor that appears to be "strapped" down over the chest, featuring a small delta in the center.

Katana

As mentioned, the Katana is aesthetic and is only unlocked after all Achievements (1000/1000 G) have been earned, as the Katana has all of the requirements for the Hayabusa armor to unlock it.

How To Unlock

Head: Obtain all of the Halo 3 Skulls.

Shoulders: Obtain 9 Halo 3 Skulls.

Body: Obtain 5 Halo 3 Skulls.

Katana: The Katana is a sheathed sword on the players' back. It is unlocked by gaining 1000/1000 Gamerscore in Halo 3. The Katana CANNOT be used in any manner in the game. It is merely there for appearance.

Gallery

Samurai Spartan.jpg

The first sighting of the armor in use.
3231-Full.jpg

A Flaming Hayabusa Helmet, triggered by the employee-only Bungie chestplate.
Me with katana.jpg

Hayabusa with Katana. Available upon unlocking all achievements.
Hybusa.JPG

Red Hayabusa armor.
Habusa.JPG

A SPARTAN in Hayabusa armor.
HayabusaES.JPG

A SPARTAN in Hayabusa armor before an Energy Sword

Trivia

The Hayabusa armor bears a resemblance to feudal era samurai.
The armor is named after Ryu Hayabusa, protagonist of the Ninja Gaiden series and DOA Combatant. The helmet is almost an exact copy of the "ninja of the future" costume in Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox. Bungie may have put Hayabusa armor as a way of thanks to Team Ninja for putting Nicole-458 into Dead or Alive 4. Team Ninja, the developers of the Ninja Gaiden series and Dead or Alive series are also mentioned in the credits for Halo 3.
"Hayabusa" is Japanese for Peregrine Falcon.
Hayabusa was in point of fact an actual unmanned space exploration mission designed by the Japanese Space Program to retrieve a simplistic piece of space debris and return it to Earth intact for study.
Bungie had originally intended for only the most hardcore and devoted fans to have first access to the Hayabusa helmet. This was to be accomplished by making players search for quite some time throughout the levels of Campaign mode for all the hidden skulls. In particular, the IWHBYD skull was supposed to be next to impossible to find. However the skull was discovered fairly quickly, and its location and how to retrieve it were soon posted on the internet, enabling scores of casual fans to unlock the Hayabusa helmet with minimal effort, much to the chagrin of Bungie's original design. This is speculated to be the reason as to the limited rarity of the Recon armor. Bungie use this instead of Hayabusa as a reward to devoted fans / fan creations.
Apparently the designers of the HAYABUSA armor were able to develop energy shields equal to the strength of MJOLNIR Mark VI armor shields.
There are rumors that a player can be damaged "through" the Katana, due to it extending from the player's back. The rumors were proven to be incorrect.
The helmet spikes and faceplate are unaffected by color. They are always silver.
Often, people who wear this armor are subject to backlash. They are called "noobs" or other vulgar words. The reason is because they most likely got the location of the IWHBYD skull from the Internet, thus not really "earning" the armor or due to the sheer usage of there armor, though some Mark IV and C.Q.B. parts are more used than any of the Hayabusa parts.
Complying with the above statement, the Hayabusa armor is an evenhanded love or hate connection and liaison for players. This has created serious contentions amidst the Xbox Live community.
There are 7 helmet spikes, another Bungie reference to the number seven.
When "Flaming Helmets" were discovered by fans. It was thought that only the Hayabusa helmet would be on fire. But soon was proven false.

Sources

Template:MJOLNIR Variations