The Halo Community is Rallying Around One Great Meme

It is possible Halo fans have collectively spent billions of hours in-game since the series launched twenty years ago. One recently popular meme pays tribute to that time investment, with players sharing hilarious and amazing videos of what thousands of hours of Halo experience look like.

The trend dates back to at least January, when Youtuber Gxdzpeed uploaded a 4 minute and 45-second video titled “What 50000 HOURS of Halo Looks Like......” The footage shows Gxdzpeed crushing the opposing team in a Halo 3 multiplayer match.

Gxdzpeed darts across the map with unbelievable ease, defeating his blue team opponents almost single-handedly. The skill on display is almost mesmerizing, and none of the other players come close to his mind-blowing 32 kills. The match ends in a ridiculous 50-18 blowout. It’s impressive for sure. But as another meme reminds everyone in the comments, that would probably count as an off day for the Master Chief of Halo lore.

Gxdzpeed was just the first of many gaming YouTubers to upload videos in a similar format. Arrrash TV uploaded similar gameplay videos. “This Is What 10000 Hours of Halo 2 Looks Like” shows off a mere 19 seconds of Halo 2 gameplay. In footage captured from a tool-assisted speedrun, the player clears out the second mission’s final room within five seconds of exiting the elevator. Impressive, but probably not what Cortana expected when she told the Chief to get creative.

Arrrash TV also recently uploaded a video titled “This Is What 5 Seconds of Halo ODST Looks Like.” The video parodies the meme by showing what it looks like to have zero experience in Halo 3 ODST. After successfully killing a Grunt, a lone Brute immediately guns the player down. It’s quite a change from the other videos, but a familiar experience to many playing ODST on Legendary the first time.

Meanwhile, YouTuber Mint Blitz has his own interpretation of 10000 hours of Halo 2. Unlike the player in Arrrash’s video, Mint Blitz relies on good old-fashioned exploits for their speed run. Partway through the seventh mission of Halo 2, Mint Blitz introduces a pair of Hunters that helpfully glitch the Chief into midair. After breaking the physics engine once more, Mint catapults himself across the lake. By doing so, he cuts a lengthy set piece down to under a minute. Mint Blitz himself called it one of the most ridiculous things he ever did in a Halo game.

These four videos are just the tip of the iceberg. Hordes of other Halo fans are uploading a vast array of similar videos showing both shockingly impressive and hilariously unimpressive displays of skill. The growing family tree of Halo memes is also sprouting a few other sub-branches. One video titled “This is what sacrifice in Halo looks like” pays tribute to a nameless NPC for heroically taking one for the team.

Halo fans are clearly having a lot of fun making and sharing these videos. The franchise turns twenty in November, and many Xbox gamers have fond memories from the last two decades. Hopefully, the upcoming Halo Infinite marks the beginning of another twenty years of good times with the legendary Halo franchise.