The Warthog Evolution

When most of us hear the word warthog, we don't think of some wild animal, we think about a green military grade vehicle that has aided us in combating the covenant forces for years now. So I got to thinking how did the warthog go from an animal to vehicle? Well hopefully this article will inform you as well as entertain you, I hope you like it.

Warthogs have been around for a long time even before we were born, they are truly amazing creatures. While digging up info for this article I found some interesting facts about real life warthogs that the current generation of warthogs in the Halo series has as well.

Real life Warthog fact #1

Warthogs range in size from 0.91 to 1.5 meters (3–5 feet) in length and 50 to 150 kg (110–330 pounds) in weight.

Halo Warthog fact #1

The current generation of warthog found in the Halo series has gotten much bigger and deadlier.  They can weight upwards of 3 metric tons (3.25 tons) to Approximately 6 tons with The Troop Transport Warthog found in Halo 3.

Real life Warthog fact #2

A Warthog is identifiable by the two pairs of tusks protruding from the mouth, which are used as weapons against predators.

Halo Warthog fact #2

The Halo warthog also has tusks protruding from the front of its chassis, and they still help with attacking their predators,  the current generation of hogs is more identifiable by its many shades of green paint.  Also the current gen hogs rely more on the gun mounted to its tail to attack predators.  No one knows how the gun got there it is probably just an evolutionary mistake that overtime helped the warthog survive in the wild and it eventually became standard on all warthogs.

Real life Warthog fact #3

Warthogs are fast runners and quite capable jumpers. They will often run with their tails in the air

Halo Warthog fact #3

Like the first generation of warthogs, the Halo warthogs are also very fast and are good at making jumps.  Also the current gen hog is very good at getting up steep inclines because of the wheels it has.  Overtime the new warthogs ran around less with their tails in the air, they only have their tails in the air when there are banshees attacking nearby.  The new warthog's tail moves around a lot more then they used to, they sometimes point in the direction of nearby predators.

Real life Warthog fact #4

Warthogs have been observed allowing banded mongooses to groom them to remove ticks.

Halo Warthog fact #4

The relationship with the mongooses and the warthogs has not been very good over these long years.  One day all the mongoose disappeared for no reason leaving the warthog all along, then as early as September 25th 2007 there have been rare sightings of warthog and mongoose together.  The relationship has also changed dramatically over the years.  Sometimes they get along great, but there have been reports of warthog charging into the mongooses and splattering them.  No one knows why they do this but they just do. 

Other times these two can be seen working together, the mongoose will go out ahead of the warthog and scout out nearby predators called Spartans.

That was just some brief facts on the first generation of warthogs compared to the newest generation. Now let's see how the warthog became the Warthog we all know and love.

2nd generation Warthog June 15, 1994: The Lion King (VHS and DVD)

How can one forget the lovable cartoon warthog from Disney’s The Lion King, I know I almost did.

Pumbaa is one of the main side characters in the movie and he and his buddy Timon went on to star in other Lion King movie’s as well as their own TV show.  Also they have been in some videos games like Kingdom Heart II

3rd generation Warthog November 5, 1995: Twisted Metal series (Playstation)

Warthog in Twisted Metal 1


Warthog in Twisted Metal 2

This is actually the first use of a vehicular warthog in a video game, the Halo Warthog we all know and love was not the first.  A man by the name of David Jaffe creator of the highly acclaimed God of War series had the idea to turn the warthog into an all out killing machine.  

Like the Halo Warthog, Warthog from Twisted Metal was piloted by a person as well, but instead of holding three people it only had room for one. He could do it all fire rockets, fire a front mounted machine gun and he didn’t need friends to help him kill.

Generation 3.5 Warthog 1999 and 2000: Halo (MAC) and (PC)

It's no secret that Halo was going to be made on the PC but surprisingly it was being made for the MAC as well, here I just thought it was coming out for PC but not both. Anyway before Microsoft bought the rights to Halo, Bungie was at the Macworld Expo in 1999 and they showed a video of a little game called Halo. Looking back at that video now, I am glad Bungie changed the things they did.

Originally in this video from 1999 it shows that the Warthog started off having a chain gun for the turret. So eventually this hog idea ended up in Halo: Combat Evolved just a way better looking one.

After Microsoft bought the rights to Halo, Bungie decided to make a few adjustments and came up with the Rocket Warthog, which surprisingly always looked like the Gauss Warthog but this turret was a lot bigger and had more armor to protect the gunner.

Eventually both these designs would make their way into Halo games.

4th generation Warthog November 15, 2001: Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox)

Even though Bungie had a few redesigns before this one, they really did nail it on this design.

The 3rd gen Warthog is the most popular and most redesigned model of the Warthog to date.  This is the Warthog most people remember the most, Bungie may have gotten some ideas from the 2nd generation Warthog seeing how they are both Humvee type vehicles.  What Bungie did for the Warthog is truly amazing and their wonderful design can still be seen and used to this day.

5th generation Warthog September 30, 2003: Halo: Combat Evolved (PC)

Even though Bungie didn't actually bring Halo: Combat Evolved to the PC that task went to Gearbox Software

Gearbox did add a new Warthog to the mix; they were the first to bring the Rocket Warthog to an actual Halo game.

6th generation Warthog November 9, 2004: Halo 2 (Xbox)

I remember picking up a magazine way before Halo 2 was going to come out and it said during Halo 2’s development Bungie will be adding more specialized Warthog variants including a 'Snow', 'Jungle' and 'Transport' Warthog. Eventually, the 'Snow' and 'Transport' variants would be features in Halo 3, though the 'Jungle' version was not. Here is an image to jog you memory.

Not many people know this but when Bungie was making Halo 2 they decided to add a little something to the Warthog.  Instead of the Gauss Warthog that we all know and love, Bungie decided to try adding their original design of the Rocket Warthog into Halo 2. Looks like Bungie's Rocket Hog design was finally going to see the light of day, but they later scraped it and replaced the rockets with gauss.

Along with the Gauss Hog Bungie also added a horn to the hog which I personally love and honk the horn whenever I drive it.

Halo 2 Gauss Warthog

Halo 3 Gauss Warthog

Halo: Reach Gauss Warthog

Don't be fooled this picture may make the Reach Gauss Hog look small, but it packs a big and long punch you will see for yourself later in this article.

Besides the gauss hog and the horns there was another hog that we all wanted to drive but couldn’t that warthog would be “The Golden Warthog”

7th generation Warthog September 25, 2007: Halo 3 (Xbox 360)

When Halo 3 came out the warthog didn’t really change much, Bungie just gave them a fresh coat of paint and booted them out the door.  Although they did add one new vehicle class to the warthog family the Troop Transport Warthog which almost made an appearance in Halo 2, finally showed up in Halo 3.  The Troop Transport Hog can only be driven in campaign and players are only allowed up front, they can’t ride in the back.

Also the Snow Hog finally made an appearance only on the multiplayer level Avalanche later via downloadable content.

So really the Warthog hasn’t changed much game play wise since Halo 2 with the addition of the Gauss Hog and the Rocket Hog which later got cut like I mentioned earlier.  The mechanics on them have just been fine tuned and made better with new coats of paint.

8th generation Warthog February 26, 2009: Halo Wars (Xbox 360)

In February 2009 we got to play another new Halo game, and you know there are Warthogs in it.  Basically they look and act like Warthogs but in a RTS setting.  Sadly you can't physically drive them but can tell them where to go and who to kill; also they are very small, because the camera will be zoomed out far. 

It was announced that if you did pre-order Halo Wars from some stores you got a code to download the Flaming Warthog which has a flame decal on it to use in game.

Also the Warthogs in Halo Wars have the ability to floor it.  The flooring ability has not been seen in other Halo games. This allows the player to ramp the Warthog over canyons and other such jumps, achieving speeds and distances not seen in the other games of the series. This makes the Warthog a more versatile and useful attack vehicle.

Another cool thing about the Halo Wars Warthogs is when you got Spartans you could tell them to get inside any vehicle in doing so made that vehicle do more damage and could last longer then your other troops.

9th generation Warthog September 22, 2009: Halo 3 ODST (Xbox 360)

In Sept 2009 we got our hands on another Warthog, sort of. The Halo 3: ODST Warthog is pretty much the exact same hog as the Halo 3 one; it is just a little harder to get around it because the ODST's can't jump as high as Spartans.

10th generation Warthog September 14, 2010: Halo: Reach (Xbox 360)

Now we come full circle literally, on Bungie day 2010 ( 7-7-10) Bungie was a little busy working on Reach so the guys at Red vs. Blue gave us a little video showing off new things in the game including the Rocket Warthog. The Rocket hog had not been seen in a console Halo game yet until now. It was finally time for the newest edition to the Warthog family to shine.

All three Halo: Reach hogs in all their glory together at last, minus the troop transport hog. The transport hog is still in Reach but once again only in the campaign and still you cannot ride in the back seat.

The rocket hog about to kill a Wraith Tank off in the distance.

All I know is this one is sweet. It fires 6 missiles/rockets out in any direction so you better make sure you have a good gunner. The rockets don't lock-on; all you do is aim and FIRE THE MISSILES!!! After you pull the trigger you are free to look around and wherever you look that is where the rockets go.

Bungie also made some small tweaks to the rest of the hogs as well. This generation of hog seems to have the best looking smoke when the hog is about to blow up. The hogs in Reach seem to be very fast and can slide very easily without using the hand break.

Finally with the Reach hogs this is the first time you drive one handed which is pretty cool. Emergency break for the win. One last thing most of us found out in the Halo: Reach beta back in May of 2010. The Chain gun Warthog finally overheats if you shoot it for to long. The Reach Gauss and Rocket hogs don't overheat there is just a small cool down period for the Rocket hog. The Gauss hog can be fired fairly quick like most other Halo games.

The future of the Warthog 2010 and beyond...

So with all the different shapes, sizes, colors and attachments to the warthogs one may ask what does the future hold for the beloved Warthog. What evolutionary changes will the Warthog undergo in the next Halo game only time will tell.

No one knows what the next Halo Warthog will look like yet.

Then of course you have the rarest of the Warthogs that resemble previous generation models that might be available to us in the future.  First we got the Turret-less Hog from Halo 3 which can sometimes be seen in online multiplayer due to lag issues.  I can see why this hog isn’t a full time member of the Warthog family, without a turret on its back it is basically a big mongoose that can splatter people easier then the mongoose.  So it is sort of useless but who knows it might show up again.

Finally we have the real life representation of the Warthog that we can actually drive. That is if we can get our hands on it in the future. 

WETA Workshop in New Zealand built this true to life sized Warthog for the short movie Halo: Arms Race.  Also Bungie got a chance to test out this life sized beast for themselves.

Look how much fun that looks

So there you have it the evolution of the Warthog in a nutshell.

Who knows maybe in the next Halo game we will be able to customize our own Warthogs with as many bells and whistles as we want.

Or maybe there will be an Easter Egg when you honk the horn every one in a million horn honks, it will make the sound of an angry warthog in the wild.

One last thing I found this really cool looking screenshot and I really wanted to put it somewhere in this article but couldn't find a good place for it so I am putting it here.

Now THAT's a long-range gun. That is me shooting the Gauss Hog on top of Forge World shooting into the Canyon. See me on that floating block?

When I first found out the Rocket Warthog was finally going to be in a console Halo game I got really excited. I knew I wanted to update this Warthog Evolution page. I wrote it back in fall 2008. So I figured it was time to add a few things. While I was taking screen shots of the new warthogs for this article I remembered one thing. The image of the Halo 3 Gauss hog I posted at the end of this article the first time. I even had a contest that used the gauss hog in Halo 3 to blow up fusion cores.

All I know is the Gauss Warthog is very accurate weapon. So I started messing around and came up with this.
http://bpvc.ceunited.com/2010/09/16/i-shot-myself-with-the-gauss-cannon/

I hope you all enjoyed this article I enjoyed writing it and adding a few things.

Long live CE United.
-Willy-