Last month, I got way too invested in a Mountain Dew. I searched multiple websites trying to get it delivered to my apartment, annoyed store clerks with questions about unstocked Dew they might have sitting "in the back," recruited friends to scout out Walmart locations, and became an expert on the official online Dew tracker. Why do it all for a 12-pack of soda that usually makes me recoil in its extreme sweetness?
I didn't do it for any old Mountain Dew variety—I did it for Halo Mountain Dew Game Fuel, and I'd do it again.
If you'll allow me to paint a picture, dear reader: It's 2007, I'm an 11-year-old with an Xbox 360, and the most important videogame of my brief life, Halo 3, was imminent. My brother was over the moon. It's all anyone at my school wanted to talk about—I remember crowding around an older kid's original iPhone to watch Halo 3 trailers. My dad pre-ordered the Master Chief green Xbox 360 with visor orange disc drive despite already having several Xboxes in the house. Just months before Call of Duty 4 would take over shooters, Bungie had our full attention.
As did Mountain Dew. Halo 3 Game Fuel was a brilliant piece of marketing. When I think back on those strong, positive bursts of hype in the months before Halo 3, the blood orange fizz of Game Fuel ranks just as high as those cool 'Believe' trailers. My mom tried to limit our access to soda at home, but she made an exception for our Game Fuel mania.
It might be hard to picture what made this particular collaboration special when drink brands plaster videogame logos on their cans all the time these days, but in 2007 it wasn't so common for the world at large to roll out the red carpet for a big game release. The total makeover of the Mountain Dew can, Master Chief's prominent placement on the key art, and the creation of a whole new flavor (Citrus Cherry) specifically for Halo made the whole occasion uncommonly important and essential to fans.
