Marathon (series)

**Marathon** was a series of sci-fi first-person shooters created by Bungie in the 1990s and is considered one of the flagship series of the Macintosh computer during that time. The series shares a common setting, recurrent characters, and an overarching story.

The events of the series begin in 2794 aboard the starship U.E.S.C. Marathon, near a colony on the planet Tau Ceti IV. A security officer must defend the ship against the onslaught of an alien race known as Pfhor. As the series evolves, the ship's AI Durandal begins to play an important role in the plot, interfering in the conflict with its own agenda.

The *Marathon* series introduced several notable features to the FPS genre, including the ability to look and aim up and down, dual-wielding weapons, health-recharging machines mounted to walls (instead of healthkit pickups), and more. The games retain common gameplay elements, such as mission-based stage progression and communication with computers, which is often necessary to acquire information about the plot.

In 2023, a new Marathon game was announced during Sony's annual PlayStation Showcase. Bungie has said that this game takes place in the same world as the original *Marathon trilogy* but is not a remake or direct sequel and will not include a single-player campaign.

## Games

* *Marathon* (1994)
* *Marathon II: Durandal* (1995)
* *Marathon Infinity* (1996)
* *Marathon* (New)

## Releases

* *Marathon* was only available for Macintosh with its initial release on December 21, 1994.
* *Marathon II: Durandal* is the only game in the series to have been officially released for Windows 95 in addition to the Apple Macintosh and was released in 1995.
* Super Marathon - A bundle release of *Marathon* and *Marathon II: Durandal* for Apple's short-lived Pippin platform that was released in 1996.
* *Marathon Infinity* was re-released as part of the *Marathon Trilogy* box set for Macintosh on May 1, 1997.
* The Marathon Trilogy - A box set which includes three Marathon games that was released in 1997.
* Bungie Mac Action Sack - A collection of six Bungie games, three of which were the Marathon trilogy, for the Macintosh released in 1999.
* Bungie released source code and game content from the entire *Marathon Trilogy* in 2005. An open source project, *Aleph One*, was launched to allow the three games to be freely played on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and other platforms. Other features were added, including online play and support for higher-resolution graphics. The engine was also updated to support Bungie's previous work, such as *Pathways into Darkness* and the *Marathon Zero* beta.
* In 2007, *Marathon 2* was re-released in an updated form as *Marathon: Durandal* for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade. It features a new HUD that fills less of the screen, support for online play, and optional high-resolution sprites and textures.
* *Marathon* fan Daniel Blezek released a free version of the original *Marathon* for Apple's iPad on the App Store in July 2011, running off an iOS port of the Aleph One engine.
* Also that year in July, the license for the source code was changed to GNU GPL-3.0-or-later.
* After 12 years of development, the Aleph One team released version 1.0 in December 2011. All three Marathon games can be downloaded for free for the Macintosh, PC and Linux platforms.
* In 2012, the entire Marathon Trilogy was added to the iOS App Store as free downloads.
* In 2023, a new Marathon game was announced during Sony's annual PlayStation Showcase. Bungie has said that this game takes place in the same world as the original *Marathon trilogy* but is not a remake or direct sequel and will not include a single-player campaign.

## External Links

* Aleph One: Marathon Open Source
* MarathonTheGame.com

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 YouTube - PlayStation Showcase 2023 (May 24, 2023)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 IGN - PlayStation Showcase 2023: Everything Announced (May 24, 2023)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 PlayStation - PlayStation Showcase recap: everything announced at today’s show (May 24, 2023)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Bungie.net - Bungie Unveils PlayStation Showcase Surprises (May 24, 2023)
5. ↑ Destructoid.com - Bungie's Marathon Trilogy now available on iOS for free