Marathon was the first in a trilogy of first-person shooter games from Bungie software for the Mac OS in 1994, based partly on the engine used for Bungie's previous but less-successful game Pathways Into Darkness. It was followed by Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon Infinity.
On the surface, it was no more or less than DooM for the Mac with aliens instead of demons. But anyone who played Marathon for more than a couple of levels quickly became immersed in the game's best-loved feature: the story. Marathon began without introduction on a space station with that name, just as an alien invasion was underway. You gained understanding of your situation through the greenscreen computer terminals scattered throughout the game, where you heard from the various AIs that controlled the Marathon station. The text of those computer terminals is noded below.
Some information for the reader:
-
Many communications came with graphical maps, which are too detailed to reproduce here as ASCII art. It's generally clear from what's being "said" when they occur.
-
Throughout the game, you also encountered a number of "pattern buffers", where you could save your game (the name was borrowed from Star Trek's transporters, where your molecular data was stored between disintegration and reintegration) and "jump pads", where you were teleported from one part of the station to the next.
-
The text on the computer terminals doesn't always come from the AIs. Sometimes you'd encounter an alien facing one, and after dispatching it you'd see the text on the screen it had been accessing -- be it Earth history, or literature, or technical information on the station.
- Arrival
- 0. Arrival
- 1. Bigger Guns Nearby
- 2. Never Burn Money
-
- Counterattack
- 3. Defend THIS!
- 4. Couch Fishing
- 5. The Rose
- 6. Smells Like Napalm, Tastes Like Chicken!
- 7. Cool Fusion
- 8. G4 Sunbathing
- 9. Blaspheme Quarantine
-
- Reprisal
- 10. Bob-B-Q
- 11. Shake Before Using...
-
- Durandal
- 12. Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
- 13. Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap
- 14. Habe Quiddam
- 15. Neither High nor Low
-
- The Pfhor
- 16. Pfhor Your Eyes Only...
- 17. No Artificial Colors
- 18. Unpfhorgiven
- 19. Two Times Two Equals...
- 20. Beware of Low-Flying Defense Drones...
- 21. Eupfhoria
- 22. Pfhoraphobia
- 23. Ain't Got Time Pfhor This...
-
- Rebellion
- 24. Welcome to the Revolution...
- 25. Try Again
- 26. Ingue Ferroque
-
- Final Screen
It's interesting to note that the game title is linked to the number of levels. A marathon race is 26.2 miles long; the game contains 26 levels, plus a "zero" level and a final screen, making a sort-of total of 26.2 levels.