When Halo was still in development as an RTS, the Warthog was originally concepted as a tank that Master Chief, then called the "Super-Soldier", would run alongside.

Halo 2 added the ability to pull a power slide in the Warthog, and an anti-armour variant (the M12G1 LAAV) armed with a 25mm gauss cannon.

[5] In the games, UNSC soldiers will climb into the Warthog when prompted to provide support to the main character, such as manning the turret.

[6] In Halo: Reach, the M12R "Rockethog" variant debuted as a usable vehicle, which differs from the base Warthog model in that it features a pair of mounted rocket launchers in the rear in place of the machine gun.

It was based on a Nissan Patrol 4x4 truck platform and was fully functional with a six-cylinder diesel engine, four-wheel drive, custom chassis and matching body armor.

According to Turn 10 chief Dan Greenawalt, "...it's got some technology that's built into Halo that would have been a big investment for us to then build into the game only to support one vehicle."

[20][21][11] Kristen Lee of Jalopnik stated that "the fun of the Warthog [...] is to drive around and mow down enemies with the big gun", but criticized the vehicle's handling, saying that it was "slow, sloppy in turns" and "a handful to manage", and that it had not been changed across the series.