Skins (Halo: Combat Evolved)

For other games' customization systems, see armor permutations. For other skins in other games, see Skins. Skins in Halo: Combat Evolved allow players to customize their Spartan player model and the appearance of weapons and vehicles in-game. At the launch of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the armor of Combat Evolved was displayed as a static image in the game's menu. Following in the footsteps of the launch of Halo: Reach for PC, Halo: Combat Evolved had its menu elements updated to fully render Spartan customization options in 3D in Unreal Engine 4. The launch of Season 2: Spark saw the addition of visor, weapon and vehicle skins for Halo: Combat Evolved, with Series 7: Elite adding additional vehicle skins.

Overview
The armor customization of the original 2001 Halo: Combat Evolved release originally only allowed for the player to change their Spartan's color via a player profile. Halo: The Master Chief Collection would turn the color option into one that could be used regardless of a profile. During June 2020, in an update for the game dedicated to the impending PC release of Halo 3 on The Master Chief Collection, 343 Industries revealed their intention to add the ability to change visor colors to Combat Evolved, in an effort to grant players the ability to show off unique options in each game. These new visor options were stated to be added to Season 2 of The Master Chief Collection's season unlock system.

While visor colors can be changed, the change has been stated to not alter the player's Heads-up display color, and can also be toggled off via an option in the game's menu, for those wishing to keep the game as it was. The skins for weapons and vehicles apply to any weapon the player picks up - they retain their skin when dropped, but will switch to a new skin should another player take control of them.

Pistol
Skins for the Magnum pistol.

Assault Rifle
Skins for the Assault Rifle.

Plasma Pistol
Skins for the Plasma Pistol.

Plasma Rifle
Skins for the Plasma Rifle.

Rocket Launcher
Skins for the Rocket Launcher.

Sniper Rifle
Skins for the Sniper Rifle.

Shotgun
Skins for the Shotgun.

Needler
Skins for the Needler.

Flamethrower
Skins for the Flamethrower.

Fuel Rod Gun
Skins for the Fuel Rod Gun

Warthog
Skins for the Warthog.

Rocket Warthog
Skins for the Rocket Warthog.

Scorpion
Skins for the Scorpion tank.

Banshee
Skins for the Banshee.

Ghost
Skins for the Ghost.

Unused skins
Within the game files for Halo: The Master Chief Collections menus exist a number of placeholder icons for unused skins on a number of weapons. These textures are all placeholder pink squares, and thus have no discernable appearance. Their filenames are listed below (Note: the T_ prefix is an Unreal Engine 4 naming convention denoting a texture file);

Removed
For one reason or another certain skins were removed from the game. Below is a list of those skins.

Trivia

 * The "Hot Rod" skin for the Warthog is the second instance in the Halo series in which a Warthog was given a flame-themed paint job, the first of which was the appearance of Fireball Warthog in Halo Wars.
 * The description of the "Woodland" skins is a reference to a Season 3 Episode 9 of Red vs. Blue, in which a Blue Zealot calls the act "a legitimate strategy" after being accused of camping.
 * The description of "Great Journey" skins is a direct quote from Sergeant Major Avery Johnson in the Epilogue of Halo 3: ODST, and refers to the common use of purple in Covenant design.
 * The description of the "Lucky Shot" skins is a direct quote from Cortana's narration in the Halo 3 level Arrival.
 * The description of the "Dear John" skin is a wordplay on the novel Halo: Glasslands. The name "Dear John" is a reference to John Deere, a manufacturer of agricultural machinery recognizable for their distinctive green and yellow paint jobs. The skin is also available for the flamethrower in the Halo 3 portion of Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
 * The original appearance of the "Park Ranger" Warthog skin is a reference to the tour cars in the 1993 film Jurassic Park, and its description is a quote from John Hammond, the owner of the eponymous fictional theme park. Likewise, the original appearance of the "Clever Girl" Rocket Warthog skin is a reference to the jeeps in the same film, its name is a quote from the character Robert Muldoon after being outsmarted by a Velociraptor, and its description is a reference to the scene where Muldoon, Sadler, and Malcolm are chased by the Tyrannosaurus rex.
 * For unknown reasons, in Series 5: Anvil, the skin descriptions and appearances for both the Warthog and Rocket Warthog were changed. The Warthog's "Park Ranger" skin has been changed to a brown and yellow color set, while the "Clever Girl" Rocket Hog skin was renamed to "Field Medic", and given small "H" icons in place of the shield icons.
 * The appearance of the "Rally Hog" Warthog skin is a homage to the distinctive blue and yellow liveries worn by cars run by the Subaru World Rally Team.
 * The description of the "Shark" Rocket Warthog skin is a direct quote from Brody in the 1975 film Jaws.
 * The description of the "The Package" Scorpion skin is a direct quote from Catherine Halsey in the Halo: Reach level The Package.
 * The description of the "Hot Pepper" Flamethrower skin is a reference to the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Scar Tissue".
 * The description of the "Arctic" Scorpion is a reference to "The Road Goes Ever On", a song from the J. R. R. Tolkien's literary universe, better known by The Lord of the Rings novel trilogy.
 * The description of the "Desert" skins is a reference to John-117's appearance in 2013's Halo Xbox One announcement trailer.