The Halo 3 Game Fuel fandom is dying

YouTube user xKorellx sucked a little history from YouTube two years back. A first-person camera shows them holding a Mountain Dew Game Fuel Can in one hand. Swirls of orange and blue energy surround the Mountain Dew logo, and alongside it, a close-up image of Master Chief sprinting forward like he’s going to bust out of the can and into your pathetic reality. The vivid branding hasn’t faded in 10-plus years since Halo 3 Game Fuel left stores, but the can’s structural integrity is … compromised.

The top of the silver can appears bloated. The can looks like it is about to explode. It is not suitable for display or drinking. The solemn music of the guitar swells. xKorellx breaks the tab with one hand and then pours the yellow-orangeish liquid into the sink.

Photo: Polygon via eBay

You can now get a glass of the liquid for as low as $35-$80 today.

Mountain Dew was the first company to enter the game world, in 2007. Halo 3Its steward was Mountain Dew’s artisans developed a unique Citrus Cherry flavour with added caffeine for the Game Fuel Cross-Promotion. The TV spot for the brands’ collaboration showed enraged, demoralized opponents crumbling before a Dew-powered god gamer.

Buying Mountain Dew Game Fuel didn’t yield any tangible rewards. The brand wouldn’t introduce the “double XP” promotion until its 2011 collab with Modern Warfare 3: Call of Duty. It was a first crossover that resulted in a new, cooler-looking Dew and a better tasting one. This taste is gradually fading from our collective cultural memory.

In 2007, I bought a 12r supply of Game Fuel. I wasn’t particularly excited for Halo 3. I couldn’t even afford an Xbox 360. However, I was determined to get one. Make history. It was effervescent, with Mountain Dew’s trademark non-specific citrus syrupy-ness — and just a hint of artificial cherry. There was also a slightly bitter note — perhaps the result of that extra caffeine.

To honor Halo Infinite, I wanted to purchase one of those surviving cans and review the historically significant Halo Liquid, but my editors wouldn’t let me use company funds on something that could potentially injure me. Let’s listen to brave internet users, who have decided to part ways with their Game Fuel.

“This bottle of Game Fuel is as old as my daughter and as old as my two sons,” says YouTube user Pewpewtrucker as he stands next to his sink. He’s holding his final two-liter of the hydraulic fluid-colored liquid. He says the bottle’s got “micro-holes” and it’s been “slowly seeping,” so it’s time to end it. He takes one last sniff after struggling to open the lid. “Dude, that smells just like it did back in the day.” He takes a brave swig. “That actually still tastes fuckin’ good.”

YouTube user Oklahoma Roserock’s assessment is less glowing. In his video, posted earlier this month, he opens and drinks a collector’s edition aluminum bottle of Game Fuel. “That’s pretty rough, I can’t lie. Dang.” He seems distressed throughout the tasting. “I can tell you I don’t think it ages like wine. It ages like battery acid.”

This is the last. Halo 3Mountain Dew Game Fuel will be leaving this world as a metallic, sticky shadow. There won’t be another Mountain Dew Game Fuel. Halo Infinite Game Fuel promotion. Mountain Dew has instead partnered with Vanguard: The Call of DutyThe Halo Energy Drink has been paired with Rockstar Energy Drink. That means I’ll probably never taste the special Halo soda again, but it’s OK. Rest in peace, Halo 3Mountain Dew Game Fuel. You are done.