He later appeared on one of my all-time favorite YouTube channels, Metal Jesus Rocks (seriously, if you're into retro gaming and somehow haven’t discovered his channel yet, go fix that). Emilio admitted that even he wasn’t sure what he’d found. It might’ve been a fake, it might’ve been broken, or maybe it was just some prototype case someone slapped on.
But after a little digging, the truth came out: only three of these orange Halo Xboxes were ever made. Not for sale. Not for fans. Not for a winner of some official Halo Tournament - These were internal one-offs - and Emilio’s was the only one ever made with the Halo branding.
Even crazier? He managed to track down the Microsoft employee who originally built it. It was a one-of-a-kind gift for a friend - and how it ended up in a Seattle garage sale for $50? That part is still a mystery.
A year later, Metal Jesus posted an update: the console had been sold to a private collector for $15,000. Let me repeat that - from $50 to fifteen thousand. That’s not just a win, that’s an urban legend in retro gaming form.
And here’s the kicker: a similar orange prototype (without the Halo logo) once went up for auction through Goodwill and pulled in over $20,000. So yeah - Emilio’s impulse buy might’ve been an even bigger score than we realized.
So, why does this story still hit so hard almost a decade later?
Because it’s a reminder that the gaming world is full of buried treasure. Limited runs, forgotten prototypes, wild one-offs made for internal teams - they’re out there. Sometimes in museums. Sometimes in storage units. And sometimes… just chilling on a folding table in someone’s driveway.
Also, let me say it again for the people in the back: Metal Jesus Rocks is a treasure. His enthusiasm, deep-dive knowledge, and old-school charm make his channel one of the best out there for anyone who ever loved blowing into NES cartridges or waited in line for a midnight console release. He's like the angry video game nerd just… in Jesus form - Chill, not angry and with way less bad language.
So next time you see an old Xbox with a weird color scheme? Maybe don’t walk away. It might just be worth $15,000.
