M270 Mongoose

This article is about the Mongoose that was cut from Halo 2. For other vehicles named "Mongoose", see Mongoose (fiction).

The M270 Mongoose is a light vehicle that was in use with the United Nations Space Command for several decades, serving as its main utility quadbike during its service. It was ultimately replaced in this role by its successor, the M274 Mongoose.

Civilian versions of the M270 were also available, for both recreational uses and for motorsport. Of particular note, the R270 Mongoose was homologated for use in several colonial rally series, where it earned widespread success.

Production notes
The M270 Mongoose was originally intended to feature in Halo 2, but was ultimately cut, alongside many other cut vehicles. The vehicle reached a near-complete state, but was ultimately still unfinished when it was cut, lacking things such as LOD models. During development, the Mongoose was difficult to integrate into gameplay, with Bungie designers experimenting with front-mounted guns and no weapons. Ultimately, though, the vehicle was cut as it interfered too much with the Warthog and Ghost, which already had clear-cut gameplay roles.

Notably, the Mongoose was eventually implemented in the next game, Halo 3, in the form of the M274 Mongoose, and became a mainstay of the franchise ever since, appearing in most games afterward. The idea of arming the Mongoose with weapons was later also revisited in Halo 2: Anniversary, with the Gungoose. This, too, became a mainstay of the franchise, having been featured in Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite too.

Eventually, the Digsite team recovered the assets for the M270 Mongoose, and restored it to a working state, as part of the Digsite Delta project. This involved doing a lot of finishing work, including crafting LOD models for the vehicle, which hadn't been created during its original development. The original work-in-progress tags for the vehicle were included in a 2022 to the Halo 2 Editing Kit for Halo: The Master Chief Collection, with Digsite's completed version to follow later. As part of a Digsite tie-in Canon Fodder, the cut vehicle was also given grounding in the Halo universe, as a precursor to the M274 Mongoose.

List of appearances

 * Halo 2
 * Halo 2 Editing Kit