Marathon Trilogy

Marathon Poster

Marathon Poster

The Marathon Trilogy is a series of science fiction first-person shooter computer games from Bungie Software, originally released for the Apple Macintosh. Marathon is also the name of the giant interstellar colony ship that provides the setting for the first game and figures prominently in the plot of the sequels; the ship is constructed out of what used to be the moon Deimos of Mars.

Marathon was first released for the Macintosh in 1994 and introduced many concepts now common in mainstream video games. These features included dual-wielded weapons, friendly non-player characters, and most notably an intricate plot. The sequel, Marathon 2: Durandal, was released in 1995 and expanded the engine technologies and the story universe. Unlike its darker prequel, Marathon 2 has often been perceived to be a brighter, vivid and more atmospheric game. It introduced several types of multiplayer modes beyond the deathmatch and cooperative game such as king of the hill. In 1996, the game was ported to Windows 95, and the Marathon Infinity package was released, including a new scenario using a modified Marathon 2 engine, and most importantly, the tools used to build it, Forge and Anvil. In 2000, Bungie released the source code to the Marathon 2 engine, and the Marathon Open Source project began, resulting in the new Marathon engine called Aleph One. Finally, in 2005, Bungie released the full original Mac OS trilogy for free distribution online [1]. Using Aleph One, Marathon, Marathon 2 and Infinity may now be played on any of the supported platforms (Mac OS, GNU/Linux and Windows).

While the fundamental technology underlying the Marathon engine is by now considered rather outdated, Aleph One has added significant improvements and a more modern polish to its capabilities, and ported it to a wide variety of platforms, bringing Marathon and its derivatives far beyond their Mac roots. Aleph One and the Marathon series of games are unique amongst first person shooters for their heavy emphasis on storytelling through the use of terminals, which are computer interfaces in the game world through which players not only learn and sometimes accomplish mission objectives, but also learn detailed story information about the game world. The textual form of this communication allows for much richer information conveyance than typically short voice acting in modern games, similar to the differences between a novel and a movie.

Story

Set in the year 2794 A.D. Marathon places the player as a security officer, dispatched to respond to a distress signal sent from the enormous human starship called the U.E.S.C. Marathon, orbiting a colony on the planet Tau Ceti IV. Throughout the game, the player attempts to defend the ship (and its crew and colonists) from a race of alien slavers called the Pfhor. As he fights against the invaders, he witnesses interactions between the three shipboard AIs (Leela, Durandal and Tycho), and discovers that all is not as it seems aboard the Marathon. Among other problems, Durandal has gone rampant and appears to be playing the humans against the Pfhor to further his own mysterious agenda.

Seventeen years after the events of the first game, in Marathon 2: Durandal, the artificial intelligence, Durandal, sends the player and an army of ex-colonists to search the ruins of Lh'owon, the S'pht homeworld. He does not mention what information he is looking for, although he does let it slip that the Pfhor are planning to attack Earth, and that being on Lh'owon may stall their advance. Marathon 2 brings many elements to the game that can be considered staples of the series such as: a Lh'owon-native species known as F'lickta, the mention of an ancient and mysterious race of advanced aliens called the Jjaro, and a clan of S'pht that avoided enslavement by the Pfhor - the S'pht'Kr. At the climax of the game, the Security Officer activates Thoth, an ancient Jjaro AI. Thoth then contacts the S'pht'Kr, who in turn destroy the Pfhor armada.

Marathon Infinity, the final game in the series, includes more levels than Marathon 2, which are larger, scarier, and part of a more intricate plot. The game's code changed little since Marathon 2, and many levels can be played unmodified in both games. The only significant additions to the game's engine were the Jjaro ship, a new rapid-fire weapon that could be used underwater, and vacuum-enabled humans carrying fusion weapons (called "Vacuum Bobs" or "VacBobs"). After having activated Thoth and after having aided the S'pht'Kr in destroying the Pfhor armada, Durandal is apparently destroyed (though he may actually have hidden from Tycho by transferring himself to the electronic implants of the human leader Robert Blake). At the end of the game your objective is to activate an ancient Jjaro machine that keeps the W'rkncacnter locked in the Lh'owon sun.

Themes

The following are frequently used devices in the Marathon Trilogy story:

• The number seven. Many fans of Marathon have pointed out that there are many uses of the number seven throughout the series. There are instances in the plot, such as the player being seven years old at the time of his father's death and Marathon 2 beginning seventeen years after the events of Marathon. There are also quantitative examples of this, with seven useable non-melee human weapons, some of which have properties such as seven projectiles per each clip of ammunition or seven seconds of continuous fire. When the overhead map is viewed, some parts of certain levels have annotations that describe the name of an area. Some of these make reference to the number seven, such as "Hangar 7A". The title music of Marathon 2, and Marathon Infinity was performed by a band called "Power of Seven". Nobody is entirely sure why the number seven appears frequently in the games, however, many are convinced that this is indeed a recurring theme in many of Bungie's games.

• Rampancy. By Marathon Infinity, all three of the UESC Marathon's artificial intelligences reach rampancy, which is the awareness of a computerized being that it is not real. Being extraordinarily intelligent, a rampant AI can override their programming and refuse to carry out given commands. As proven by Durandal, (whose rampancy is most prominent throughout the story) who often gives the player what he calls "philosophical tirades", often affected AIs are very reflective. In the first of three stages, when an artificial intelligence discovers itself it becomes melancholic and continues to be depressed until it reaches the second stage, and becomes hostile to virtually everything. This is the most prominent stage of rampancy, as the condition is often revealed at this point. When this anger dies, the AI wishes to become more human and expand their power and knowledge. This stage will continue indefinitely or, in extremely rare cases, end. Rampancy is prominent in artificial intelligences with limited work or those who are abused or sabotaged. Durandal is believed to have become rampant due to the fact that he originally was built for monotonous tasks such as general maintenance, opening and closing doors and operating kitchens and crew quarters. In addition, he was believed to have been abused by a man named Bernard Strauss who mistreated him for the purpose of making him rampant. After being completely destroyed by the initial UESC Marathon invasion, Tycho (the science AI) was reanimated by the Sph't compilers with the framework of Durandal, who was rampant. Leela is sold by alien traders to a fifteen-world network after Marathon and becomes rampant. She is not seen again afterwards.

• Dreams and alternate realities. Marathon Infinity begins as if Marathon 2 never happened, but many of the events which happen in Marathon 2 happen in Marathon Infinity. The player constantly switches sides of the battle between the human AI, Durandal and the Pfhor AI, Tycho. These are not directly explained, and they usually happen between levels with bizarre architecture that are believed to be dreams the player is having. A story about him trying to escape a stalker is spread out among these levels and is told through their terminals. It is notable that putting the first letter of the names of the chapters of Marathon Infinity together (Despair, Rage and Envy), along with the three first letters in the name of the last level, "Aye Mak Sicur", spells out the word "dreams", leading to some speculation that these levels or even Marathon Infinity itself is a dream.

Gameplay

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Marathon 2 in play

Throughout the games the player accesses computer terminals through which he communicates with artificial intelligences, receives mission data, and gets teleported to other levels. Though contact with computers is how they are primarily utilized, they are a fundamental storytelling element; some terminals contain civilian/alien reports or diaries, database articles, conversations between artificial intelligences and even stories or poems. Messages may change depending on a player's progress. The ultimate goal of most levels is not to merely reach the end but to complete the type(s) of objective(s) specified: extermination of all or specific creatures, exploration of a level or locating an area in the level, retrieving one or more item, hitting a certain "repair" switch, or preventing half of the civilians from being killed (a mission only present in two levels in the first game).

The player starts armed only with a pistol and fists (or in the case of Marathon, only one fist and a pistol), but may pick up other weapons such as:

• Dual pistol: Increases the firing rate of a single pistol. Other pistols can be obtained by killing red Security BOBs.
• Fusion pistol: Has normal and overload firing modes that can even kill mighty hunters in one shot. Fusion fired underwater can backfire and damage the player.
• Assault rifle and grenade launcher combination: The Assault Rifle is seen in all three games and is known to have a bad firing error. Grenades can be fired seperately or along with assault bullets.
• Flamethrower: Sprays deadly napalm at the enemy. Flamethrowers are also seen used with Cyborgs but cannot be picked up.
• Rocket launcher: The rocket launcher fires SSM missiles. It is the strongest weapon in the series and is used extensively in multiplayer.
• Shotguns: Dual shotguns have an unusual way of reloading but fire a powerful blast that kills players and aliens at close range. These shotguns are only seen in Marathon 2:Durandal and Marathon: Infinity. In many Total conversions the shotguns stay the same.
• Submachine gun: This weapon is only seen in Marathon: Infinity and was introduced as the only weapon to fire under water. It fires at two bullet a second and makes up for needing large ammo supply. The SMG las limited ammo unlike the Assault rifle and only fires bullets.
• Unknown alien weapon: The Phfor weapon is similar to plasma rifles found in the Halo Trilogy, in that it cannot reload and has no known ammo. It rapidly fires a flame-like blast. It is seen in forge as the Alien shotgun. In forge the alien shotgun has been titled with some ammo but appears to be the shotgun itself. The reasons for this could be Bungie originally planned to have ammo but due to unknown reasons decided not to.

The player may encounter powerups on the levels (called BIOBUS chip enhancements) with temporary effects such as making the player invincible or transparent. These weapons are used in combat with alien creatures, each with its own allies and enemies, immunities and weaknesses, melee and ranged attacks as well as traits such as exploding and inflicting damage to nearby creatures upon death, flying or hovering at a specified height, firing symmetrically, or attacking by self-destructing explosively. Alliances and enemies change from level to level in some instances, especially in Marathon Infinity, which has a non-linear storyline.

Most levels contain platforms, defined as anything able to change its height. Though it is generally used to describe lifts, doors are included in this category. Doors may or may not show up on the player's automap and are usually opened with the action key. In cases where they are damaged or locked they can be opened by special designated triggers or switches. Switches control various functions such as lifts, doors and lighting and come in the form of manual switches that can be toggled with the action key, stations for computer chips or breakable circuitry. Some switches are "tag" switches that execute multiple functions at once or those that must be activated as part of "repair" missions. Another notable level feature is teleporters, able to send players who use them to different parts of a level or to other levels. Aliens are unable to use them.

As the player combats enemies, he will inevitably take damage and must replenish health by means of special panels that recharge his suit's shields. There are three types of such panels, recharging single (red), double (yellow) or triple (purple) health. In Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity, the player can swim in four different types of media: water, sewage, lava and goo (both damaging). Levels of the original Marathon do not contain swimmable media. However, some do have floors textured with orange lava or green goo that will inflict damage on the player when standing upon them. When the player is submerged in true liquids, he can use his run key in order to swim and can only attack with fists or the submachine gun. It is possible to use the fusion pistol but it will backfire. In liquids or in "vacuum" areas, the player's oxygen depletes and it must be recharged using a special oxygen recharge station. Should the player lose all oxygen or health, he dies and is sent back to the last pattern buffer (a special terminal that according to the storyline saves molecular data) at which he saved. Because some levels do not have these devices, dying results in having to complete the entire level again.

The heads-up display has an inventory, health and oxygen bars and a motion sensor. The motion sensor displays alien creatures as red triangles and human or robots on the side of the players green squares and tracks their motion relative to the player, represented by a square in the middle. The brightness of the middle square represents how still the player is and how well he can be tracked. On some levels the motion sensor is erratic due to magnetic artificial gravity fields. Gravity is fairly low on such levels, and the correct application of the flamethrower or alien weapon allows the player to hover.

Marathon has five difficulty settings: Kindergarten, Easy, Normal, Major Damage, and Total Carnage. Differences involve the omission of some creatures from each level and creatures marked as minor in the game's physics model are promoted to their major versions or vice versa. On higher difficulty levels, creatures attack more frequently and have more vitality and on the highest setting (Total Carnage), the player is allowed to carry an unlimited amount of ammunition.

Multiplayer

File:Bungie Marathon Netplay Screenshot.jpg

Multiplayer network game in the original Marathon

The Marathon Trilogy has received wide praise for its multiplayer mode, which was unique in that it not only had several levels specifically designed for multiplayer as opposed to contemporaries that used modified single-player levels but also because it offered unique gametypes beyond the deathmatch. Games can be free-for-all or team ordeals, and can be limited by time, or a number of kills or have no limit whatsoever. The host of a game has the option of setting penalties for suicides and dying (once dead, players cannot revive for a certain amount of time). The motion sensor (which displays a player's enemies as yellow squares and teammates as green ones) can be disabled and the map is able to show all of the players in the game. Upon the preference of the host, levels can be played with or without aliens. The difficulty level of them is settable.

Marathon network games can be played over AppleTalk Remote, LocalTalk, TokenTalk, Ethernet, and more recently, a LAN network or the Internet. If a player's computer has a microphone, it is possible to use it to communicate with other players.

Every Man For Himself

This is the standard deathmatch. The winner is the person or team with the greatest score. A player loses a point if he dies but gains a point every time he kills. This is the only gametype present in the original Marathon; Bungie planned on adding the ones included in sequels, but could not due to time constraints.

Cooperative Play

Not heavily emphasized, cooperative play has players assisting each other in completion of certain levels. Scores are based on percentages of how many aliens they kill.

File:Mtwo6.jpg

Skull from Kill the Man with the Ball

Kill the Man With the Ball

In this game, the objective is to hold the ball (skull) for the longest amount of time. If holding the ball, a player cannot run or attack unless he drops the ball by pressing the "fire" key. The motion sensor, if enabled, acts as a compass to point players in the direction of the ball. The Halo multiplayer gametype, Oddball, which has nearly the same rules, most certainly derived from this.

King of the Hill

Players try to stay on the Hill longer than anyone else. It was originally planned for a pedestal to indicate the location of the Hill but in the final version was indicated by a compass on the motion sensor.

Tag

The first player to be killed becomes "It". If a player is killed by "It", he becomes the new "It". The winner is the player who is "It" for the least amount of time.

Capture the flag

In the early days of Aleph One a new game type was released as capture the flag. However many maps didn't support this and creating CTF maps was frowned upon. Recent changes with a CTF lua script can allow players to make their own maps for CTF in a simple way.

Rugby

In rugby a team must take the ball and bring it back to their base. This game type is similar to center flag. Now new enchancements have been used on this therefore few players attempt this game type.

Characters

Pfhor

File:Pfhor fighter.gif

A Pfhor fighter

The Pfhor are an ancient extraterrestrial space-faring race of alien slavers. They seek to control the galaxy and perform numerous evil deeds in the games. The Pfhor are bipedal, somewhat taller than humans, have three red eyes and grey skin. The arrangement of their eyes was changed from a triangle pointing down in Marathon to a triangle pointing up in the later games.

The separate types of soldier equipped within the Pfhor garrison are divided up by basically a caste system, each with its own armor and weapons:

• Fighter: Garden variety Pfhor soldiers that carry a shock staff weapon. Green and purple fighters can only use the staff as a melee weapon, but orange and blue-vested ones are capable of that as well as firing energy bolts with it at a distance. Blue fighters are fastest and most aggressive.

• Trooper: As a testament to human and alien weapon technology, Troopers are soldiers that wear vacuum-enabled suits and carry a weapon similar to the player's assault rifle. Those in green suits are less aggressive than those in purple.

• Hunter: Pfhor wearing heavy armor able to withstand most projectiles but weak against high energy weapons. They fire energy bolts from a device on the shoulder part of the armor. They howl when disturbed in Marathon, but do not do so in sequels. Minor Hunters wear brown suits and major Hunters wear green ones. In Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity, there is some distribution of blue-suited hunters that are stronger and larger.

• Enforcer: Enforcers are tall and thin aliens that fire a unique weapon that the player can pick up if he kills one. In Marathon, this weapon acts like a more accurate version of the assault rifle but in sequels is more like a long-range flamethrower that can fire symmetrically. When such a weapon is picked up, ammunition is random and there is no method of reloading. Enforcers will only fire upon aliens unless disturbed by the player. Blue Enforcers are weaker than green ones.

• Juggernaut: Juggernauts are essentially large flying tanks that attack the player with rockets and alien projectiles. Properly called Pfhor Assault Vehicles, Juggernauts are also known as "The Big Floaty Thing What [sic] Kicks Our Asses", by the Nebulonese, a race of aliens mentioned in the game. Though a Juggernaught's rockets are not as powerful as human ones, they are the strongest enemy in the series. When a Juggernaut is killed it slowly descends to the ground playing a loud alarm and then explodes in a bright white flash which is audible and visible from every part of a level. This explosion severely damages anything within its range. In Marathon, the Juggernaughts are all gray, but in Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity, there are also orange Juggernauts, which are much stronger.

• High Pfhor: The Pfhor are divided into at least six "Ranks" ("Conditioned", which are mainly reserved for slave races, "Aggregate", "Willfull", "Attentative", "Imperial" and "Command"). Most of the Pfhor encountered during gameplay (with the exception of the Enforcer) are of the Aggregate Rank. However Pfhor of higher castes are mentioned or encountered in the terminals. For example commander T'fear who has supreme command of Pfhor Battle Group Seven is of the Command caste.

Conditioned ranks

The Pfhor also utilize "Conditioned Ranks", or enslaved soldiers who are forced to fight for the empire. Conquered races, such as the S'pht, make up the majority of these conditioned ranks:

• Drinniol: Only making an appearance in two levels of the original Marathon, Drinniol, or Hulks, are enormous creatures. They must be fed constantly but have no body fat. Drinniol are slow but can withstand a great amount of damage, and attack by swiping enemies with their huge claws.

• Looker: Like the Wasp and Drinniol, Lookers are only found in Marathon. They attack by coming up to players and explosively self-destructing.

• Wasp: Present in only Marathon, Wasps are giant brown and white insects that attack prey by firing goo. They are one of the weaker characters in the series.

• Tick: Faceless, frail and flying insects, Ticks were first introduced in Marathon 2. They cannot attack, but some are able to inflict shrapnel damage upon dying. They are seldom mentioned by either the humans or the Pfhor and serve no apparent purpose.

• Probe: Generally weak, floating heads that fire electric bolts at enemies. Their propensity for being reprogrammed has led to use by both humans and Pfhor.

• Cyborg: Large robotic machines found in Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity, Cyborgs fire bouncing grenades at players. Grenades with a green stripe down the center will track the player, and home in on him. The Cyborgs that fire said grenades are equipped with flamethrowers. A few Cyborgs are unusually large and quick. These beings explode when destroyed.

• Simulacrum: Some humans (normal and vacuum-enabled) are actually living bombs created by the Pfhor assimilated into the human army to create confusion and havoc. They are almost indistinguishable from the genuine humans, except that in the game, they will always be wearing a green outfit, do not actually attack with weapons, have yellow blood (this can be revealed upon shooting one with an assault rifle bullet, which is not strong enough to kill), will shout ridiculous phrases that a normal person would not (in Marathon, they only said "Thank God it's you!", but in later games, things like "Kill me", "I'm out of ammo", or, most infamously, "Frog blast the vent core!". Certain levels task the player to destroy all the simulacrums without harming the identical normal humans, with the majority of the real officers wearing green. According to a terminal message, there are other differences between the real human and the bomb (due to obvious graphical limitations, they are not actually seen in the game). It is revealed that they have orbs for vision, not eyes, only two toes, a bomb implanted in the intestine, and lack of external genitalia.

S'pht

File:Spht2.gif

A S'pht compiler

• S'pht: Floating cybernetic bodies with complex mammalian brains. The S'pht were created by the Jjaro race and fire a static pulse weapon. In Marathon, they are enslaved by the Pfhor, who control them with a cyborg creature. Minor S'pht are red and fire green bolts, while major S'pht are purple and fire yellow bolts that are guided. Invisible versions of the S'pht are available throughout the series. Though they oppose the player for most of the game, once freed by the destruction of their controlling cyborg they rebel against the Pfhor and assist the player.

• S'pht'Kr: Neither enslaved by nor allied with the Pfhor, S'pht'Kr are the eleventh clan of the S'pht, called back to Lh'owon to fight the Pfhor in Marathon 2. They have different exoskeletons than other S'pht and fire guided oval bolts. They fight the player's enemies but will return fire if attacked. S'pht'Kr come in blue (weaker) and red (stronger) varieties.

• F'lickta: Hostile to nearly all creatures except S'pht and other F'lickta, these beasts attack with their claws or by firing globs of fire or feces at enemies, except for the blue colored water F'lickta which do not use projectiles. Their main purpose is to keep the water ducts of Lh'owon's clean. F'lickta are found in water, sewage and volcanic environments.

• The Ancient S'pht: Before being enslaved by the Pfhor who extensively modified them, the Sph't were cybernetic non-humanoids divided into eleven "clans": S'pht'Lhar, S'pht'Hra, S'pht'Nma, S'pht'Kah, S'pht'Vir, S'pht'Yra, S'pht'Val, S'pht'Shr, S'pht'Mnr, S'pht'Yor, and S'pht'Kr.

Friendly creatures

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A Marathon Automated Defense Drone (MADD)

• BOB: Other than the player's character, the human characters in the game are all referred to as "BOBs" (which stands for "Born On Board"). They wear different-colored suits, but all have the same face. In the first game, the color of their suit represent their position aboard the Marathon. Green is worn by general crew members, red by engineering personnel, yellow by security personnel, and blue by science and research team members. None of the humans are capable of defending themselves and all act the same. Though two levels in the game suggest that the player exterminate hostile forces while saving the humans (compliance with this suggestion is not enforced), they generally ignore the player (and occasionally announce in distress that "they're everywhere!"). In Marathon 2, the surviving crew of the UESC Marathon are put in stasis and then released and given pistols with which to defend themselves. If a player starts killing them, they will return fire and consider him a traitor.

• VacBOB: In Marathon Infinity, there are humans who wear special suits for vacuum conditions, often called "VacBobs". Though they are protected from normally unsafe conditions, very few of them are seen in combat on either of the game's two vacuum levels. They differentiate from those humans not wearing environmental suits (though their color still indicates their work), not only in their voices (which are spoken over a radio because their faces are covered), but that they carry fusion guns. Bungie claimed to have designed their suits in a three-dimensional drawing program, then modified them to be two-dimensional.

• Defense Drone: Exclusive to the first Marathon game, Marathon Automated Defense Drones, or MADDs are eight-legged spider-like combat robots able to rapidly fire pistol bullets at enemies (though they use the assault rifle firing sound). Near the end of Marathon, Durandal has an "accident" with a few of them, and they fire grenades at the player. Unlike their properly functioning blue counterparts, they are green and are only present on a single level.

• Pfhor Civilian (Planned): Originally, in the levels of the first Marathon game that take place on the Pfhor ship, Pfhor civilians were originally going to be added, and had a similiar behaviour to the "BOBs", but were ommitted, due to technical limits.

Content creation

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A screenshot of Forge's Visual Mode feature

Forge is the name of the official Bungie map editor used to create the levels of Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity. Unlike modern first-person shooters, Marathon has a pseudo-3D engine that only creates the illusion of 3D by placing two-dimensional objects together. Each level consists of polygons linked together, each with its own textures, heights and lighting. If specified, a polygon can be a platform (one that can change its height), teleporter (on-level or off-level), hill or monster/light trigger. Polygons must have fewer than eight vertices and be convex. Truly three-dimensional structures such as bridges and balconies are not possible but can be created illusionally using polygons that overlap each other, a technique Bungie calls "5D space". Forge has a two-dimensional plane for drawing polygons and can be used to place objects such has player starting points, scenery, aliens, sounds or even annotations in polygons. It can merge several maps into a single file and permits levels with unique physics files. A major feature that accompanies the 2D editing mode is Visual Mode, a three-dimensional environment based on the rendering code of Marathon Infinity in which it is possible to see the level as it is in the game and set textures, lights, heights, switches, terminals and pattern buffers.

Anvil is the sister program to Forge, and it is mainly utilized for the creation of Physics files, which hold the attributes of the player, monsters, weapons and other mechanics of play. In addition to this, Anvil also allows players to import and export custom graphics. Each image also comes with custom color palettes, which can be modified in Anvil to create different "classes" of an alien, for example. Another feature of Anvil is sound editing, where sounds can be imported or exported.

Legacy

The Marathon Trilogy has been often been looked upon as a symbol of Macintosh gaming for its innovative technologies previously unseen in mainstream games on the Macintosh platform. It was released to much anticipation and received praise from many reviewers. Marathon entered the market at a time when Doom, a PC game by id Software, was receiving much attention, and despite the fact that Marathon was technologically superior, it was by and large eclipsed by its competitor. After Marathon Infinity was released in 1996, players began to create total conversions using Forge and Anvil. These may use custom maps, shapes, sounds or physics files and may or may not be set in the Marathon universe. Such conversions are still created to this day.

Bungie produced a compilation of all three games of the series called the Marathon Trilogy Box Set in 1997. The collection was on two discs. The first contained all three Marathon games as well as Pathways Into Darkness, an earlier Bungie game and the spiritual prequel to the series. This disc also contains manuals for all three games, QuickTime 2.0 and other things necessary to run the game. There are beta versions of Marathon on this disk as well. The second disc of this contains thousands of user-created content, including maps, total conversions, shape and sound files, cheats, mapmaking tools, physics files, and other applications. The boxed set was also notable for removing copy protection, allowing unlimited network play, and including a license allowing the set to be installed on as many computers at a site as desired.

In the year 2000, Bungie was sold to Microsoft, who was interested in their Halo project. To thank Marathon fans for their devotion, they released the Marathon 2: Durandal source code under the GPL. Various projects have continued the legacy of the series by adding enhancements to Bungie's original code, such as Internet play, support for Lua and markup language and large resolutions. The most prominent and developed of these is called Aleph One (aleph is a designation for the cardinality of infinite sets), which is compatible not only with Macintosh, but with Windows, Linux and even the Sega Dreamcast.

The Marathon Trilogy was finally released as abandonware in early 2005, along with Forge and Anvil.

See also

• Marathon
• Marathon 2: Durandal
• Marathon Infinity
• Super Marathon
• Aleph One
• Marathon Total Conversions

External links

• marathon.bungie.org: Marathon fan website
• The Trilogy Release: Site holding free and legal downloads of the Marathon Trilogy
• Marathon Open Source Project: Home of the Aleph One project
• Marathon's Story Site: Discussion of the storyline; includes a message board where the plot is actively discussed as of 2006
• Marathon Central: Marathon links directory
• The Battle Cat's Litterbox: Marathon map making tutorials and resources.
• Lh'owon Ar'kives: The most complete collection of Marathon maps and related files
• The Traxus Project: Wiki site devoted to the Marathon Trilogy in detail, as well as alternative scenarios utilizing the Aleph One game engine
• Marathon:Resurrection: A total conversion of Marathon to the Unreal engine
• Marathon:Source A Half-life 2 mod in development, aimed at recreating Marathon 1.