Cut Halo 3 weapons

This page discusses elements of deleted material and cut content. Some information on the page is sourced from game files and may not be verifiable through external sources. Where possible, such information should be clearly-marked and replaced with a proper external source as soon as one is available.

This article is part of a series on
Halo 3 cut content

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Cut content

Cut enemies and NPCs
Cut dialogue
Cut levels
Cut vehicles
Cut weapons
Cut equipment

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Development

Halo 3 development
Concept art
Design documentation
Storyboards
Title Updates
Halo 3 Beta
Original script

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To check out cut content for other Halo games, see here!

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During the production of Halo 3, several weapons were concepted and implemented - though ultimately cut for various reasons.

UNSC

Missile launcher

During the game's development, it seems that a second rocket launcher was intended for inclusion. Several pieces of concept art for this weapon can be found in The Art of Halo 3, showcasing multiple rocket launcher designs reminiscent of the anti-air rocket launcher cut from Halo: Combat Evolved. One of these concepts is famously known as the "G4H-DuSH", derived from the L33t speak for "gah-dush", an onomatopoeia of the sound a rocket makes when it is launched or detonates.

An image posted by Reddit user "sneakyfellow" showcased a weapon resembling these concepts in the Halo 3 Alpha, though this remained all that was known of the weapon for the longest time. A later leak of the Halo 3 Alpha would showcase some more gameplay of this weapon. Referred to in-game as the Missile Launcher, the weapon was an untextured model. It had a fully-realised HUD and carried one rocket, before needing to reload. The weapon fired a single missile with a fair degree of drop.

There wouldn't be any new information for the weapon, until the 25th of December, 2022, where the November 17, 2006 developer build of Halo 3 (Nicknamed by the community as "Pimps At Sea") would be leaked and released to the public. The weapon in Pimps At Sea functions like the Halo 2 Rocket Launcher, locking onto vehicles when holding the left trigger after having the crosshair detect an enemy player. It functions similarly to the real life FGM-148 Javelin, as it fires a projectile similar to a Soft Launch missile, gaining speed from 1 world unit/second up to 15 wu/s after a moment.

It is likely that this weapon was eventually superseded by the missile pod.

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  Concept art for the "G4H-DuSH".

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  Concept art for the rocket launcher.

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  Concept art for the rocket launcher.

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  Concept art used in the Halo 3 manual depicting John-117 holding a missile launcher.

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  A picture of the rocket launcher in the Halo 3 Alpha.

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  The missile launcher on the ground inside a base on Valhalla.

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  A Spartan holding the missile launcher.

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  A view of the missile launcher in first-person.

Covenant

Excavator

The Excavator is a weapon found in early beta builds of Halo 3, and can be found in the Et Tu, Brute? ViDoc wielded by Brutes. The weapon is an early version of the Mauler found in the final game; the original design and concept for the Mauler was based on the Excavator weapon cut from Halo: Combat Evolved. The weapon can be found in the Halo 3 Beta.

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  A Brute wielding the Excavator in Et Tu, Brute?.

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  The Excavator in the Beta.

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  The Excavator held in first-person - note the transparency effect on the gun.

Spike Pepperbox

The "Spike Pepperbox" is an early design for the Brute Spiker weapon featured in the final game. It fires slower than the final, and has been described as more comparable to a fast-firing pistol or machine gun. The asset was restored to playability in the Digsite asset drop.

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  A Spartan wielding the Spike Pepperbox.

Forerunner

Guardian eye

In early production, the planned Guardian Sentinel in the titular Guardian Forest level was to have a unique weapon of its own. In the planned encounters, players would have been able to hijack the Guardian and rip out the Sentinel's eye, using it as a powerful weapon. Little is known of this weapon's planned function.

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  Near-final concept art for the Guardian Sentinel, with its distinctive red eye prominently-featured.

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  A model of the Guardian featured on Epitaph.