Halo was at one point a candidate for a kid-friendly adaptation undertaken by N-Space with a Mega Bloks license, according to this video by Andrew Borman of PtoPOnline.

Borman, thanks to an "anonymous contributor," unearthed a prototype of the Halo Mega Bloks game for Xbox 360, codenamed "Haggar." He dates it to September or November 2013, around the time when N-Space would have been wrapping it up. The studio went belly-up in early 2016, and before that was mainly known for its ports of big-AAA titles to the Nintendo DS or Wii.

“Haggar” had a polished campaign level to show off and promised multiplayer co-op and siege modes, Borman says.

For those wondering why Lego, which has a hugely successful video games line adapting IPs from all corners of video gaming, didn’t get a crack at this, Borman points out a basic fact: Halo uses realistic guns, and Lego's licensors are pretty keen on their characters not using any. The weapons menu of “Haggar” shows many familiar names in the player’s armory.

Apparently Microsoft still was interested enough in a cartoonish version of Halo to let Mega Bloks and N-Space have a rip. But the project died out with the advent of the Xbox One and Microsoft's shift of attention to that console.

Who knows what this idea would have become. Not every seed finds purchase. The video still is a peek at the fickle priorities of major brands, and studios and creators caught in between.

Update: Bonnie Ross, the head of 343 Industries, the makers of Halo, posted a statement on Monday acknowledging the “Haggar” build that made it into the wild.