Talk:Marathon (video game)

Article Tone
In addition to the lack of citations, the entire article reads more like someone's nostalgic review or an advertisement of the game rather than a neutral article. Numerous passages throughout ("rich science-fiction plot," "intricate story line," "each level of Marathon is unique and dynamic," etc.) contribute to this problem. Number3son (talk) 11:19, 8 July 2013 (UTC)


 * Nah uh Juvne (talk) 17:04, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

Voice Chat
The Marathon Trilogy page briefly mentions that Marathon had built-in voice chat in multiplayer in 1994-- I think that's much more significant, and deserves a longer mention. Should this article have a section on technical features that Marathon innovated (the mentioned mouselook, voice chat, (relatively) advanced physics modeling, etc)?

If a cite is needed, I have a copy of the Marathon manual in my basement, but I'm not sure if that's acceptable.

Blakeyrat (talk) 14:43, 18 March 2011 (UTC)

Super Marathon
Someone who feels up to it could possibly incorporate the following message into the article. Bombman (talk) 10:02, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

From: alexr@I.HATE.SPAM (Alex Rosenberg) Subject: Re: super marathon Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 22:45:30 -0700 Organization: Hackers Anonymous Message-ID:  References: <35C5097C.12B7BFEE@hotmail.com_NOSPAM>

In article <35C5097C.12B7BFEE@hotmail.com_NOSPAM>, csta026@cs.auckland.ac.nz wrote:

>,Does anybody here know any more abput Super Marathon (apparently for >,Pippin's) than the tiny bits of info that cyberian outpost put on the >,page (see the link on Storys page)? >, >,I would like to buy it if I can find which versions (of the pippin) it >,compatible with and the memory requirments. Any are the levels any >,different?

<,sigh>, What a huge waste of time.

IIRC, Super Marathon runs on the Pippin only as it uses the special Pippin-only APIs for controller input (pre-InputSprocket) and the special PippinStandardFile. There was an extension in the Pippin SDK that provided these features on a regular Power Macintosh, but good luck finding it now. The game restarts the machine when you quit it because a memory leak in the Pippin OS prevented the game from relaunching since it barely fit. It should work on both the original Japanese unit and the later US design.

The game consists of a M1 and M2 with an interface for picking which game to launch. A few M2 levels are different, but I believe that they are the same differences found in M2 for the PC. Both games had changes to the terminal renderer to increase font size; even with convolution hardware, 9 point text is hard to read on a TV. Several features were ripped out to conserve memory. For example, the music in M1 is gone.

If Jason Regier still reads this group, he might have something more to add as he did almost all of the porting work. I will note that even as an official Pippin developer, we got zero technical support from Bandai. The only means we had for answers to our questions was for me to personally call friends of mine at Apple whom I knew were working on Pippin and ask them. The really sad part is that despite repeated requests, we were never supplied one of the Japanese Pippin keyboards, so we didn't specifically support it in the game.

If you can find one, there's existed adapter cable to permit the AppleJack controller to be plugged into a regular ADB jack. I'm reasonably sure that it was only made available to Pippin developers. InputSprocket (and Marathon Infinity 1.5) will use it if you hook it all up.

++
 * Alexander M. Rosenberg           |
 * Nobody cares what I say. Remove the underscore to mail me. |

-Okay, it's been a year later, and I did end up finding the SDK extension he talked about... but it still doesn't run on a Mac. Bombman (talk) 06:37, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Mouselook
It's definitely true, but all sources I find on Google wouldn't be appropriate for Wikipedia. (Forums, blog comments and such). It still needs to be kept as a fact, but unless Bungie officially says that yes, they were the 1st to do it, that cite tag will remain. What a predicament!--Planetary 00:57, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Isn't CyClones the first to use MouseLook?--Meccaneer

On the CyClones page, it says that development was started in February 1994. Marathon 1 was released December 21, 1994. I tried to find CyClones's release date, but a Google search just gets me the other kind. If you can find more information somehow that would be great.--Planetary 21:35, 15 December 2006 (UTC)


 * OK, exactly what does it was also the first game to use "mouselook" the way we do in today's first person shooters mean? Both Doom (released in 1993) and Wolfenstein 3D (1992) used an early form of mouselook, and they both predates Marathon. And if my memory serves, mouselook was available in Blake Stone (released in 1993) as well. IMHO, that line should be removed from this article, since it feels a bit POV:ed - Exactly what does it mean to use mouselook "the way we do in todays FPS"? I say that line leaves a lot open for interpretation. "True" mouselook didn't appear before the release of Quake, the first FPS to use a true 3D world. /M.O (u) (t) 00:54, 18 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I think by "mouselook", it means changing the perspective by using the mouse, including up and down. With Doom, it was only left and right. Perhaps changing it to "one of the first" would be more acceptable?--Planetary 01:19, 18 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I suppose Wolfenstein and Doom technically let you look left and right with the mouse, but before this thread I've only ever heard "mouselook" used to describe a feature letting you look in any direction. --DocumentN 16:53, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Pictures???
How come the articles for Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon Infinity have pictures of the box that the game came in, but not just Marathon? could someone fix this?Xenongamer 22:07, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

I was wondering about that. I suspect it's because one hasn't been found, otherwise I'm sure it would be there. Lh&#39;owon 00:25, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Multiplayer
Only deathmatch is mentioned in this article. I'm pretty sure there were other gametypes, such as "Kill the man with the ball", but I don't know them all. Shouldn't they also be mentioned? -68.144.228.198 00:17, 8 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Those weren't added until Marathon 2. Ace of Sevens 03:17, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

That is correct. Kill the man with the ball, (KTMWTB) King of the Hill (Koth) Capture the Flag (CTF) and a few strange others were added in M2. Rugby was added for aleph one (I believe) and Elimination is a popular USER-MADE script. I'm a Marathon junkie, can you tell? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.161.94.175 (talk) 00:28, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Halo 3 connection
Should this article reference the fact that Halo and Marathon share the same universe? The ending to Halo 3 IS the beginning of Marathon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.64.216.193 (talk) 19:28, 2 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Um, no, it's not. --DocumentN 16:53, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Correction: It was originally intended to be true, but *something* forced Bungie to destroy that possibility. I read that in GameInformer a month or two ago. 71.161.94.175 (talk) 00:39, 12 March 2008 (UTC)Marathon Junkie.
 * Specific issue and page reference or it didn't happen. And even if they did say it, my suspicion is that they were probably just parroting popular fan assumptions. --DocumentN (talk) 05:02, 15 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed, I do not remember anything in Game Informer saying that. And if *something* forced this, it would have been Bungie's own mutually exclusive backstories for these series (see my post below.) - Fearless Son (talk) 18:36, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Guys, please, this argument has been gone over many hundreds of times in Bungie-themed message boards. Trust me, the Halo universe has no direct connection with the Marathon universe. The two timelines are incompatible. According to official Marathon timelines, the Marathon was launched in 2472 and took approximately three centuries to reach its destination of Tau Ceti, the long transit time being due to humanity's inability to travel faster than the speed of light. However, according to the official Halo timeline, the "Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine" humanity uses to travel through slipspace was created in 2291, nearly two centuries before the Marathon was launched. If humanity had that technology, then there would be no need for a sublight, multi-generational spaceship like the Marathon. And if that is not enough, read the text of the Marathon manual, a bit of it mentions details from the main character's childhood that directly conflict with the Master Chief's backstory. - Fearless Son (talk) 18:33, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Alex Seropian stated in an EGM interview that Master Chief and the Marathon cyborg are one and the same. However this was later refuted by Bungie. This might be what Marathon Junkie is talking about. Bombman (talk) 11:53, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

ESRB rating
I remember looking up the Mac Action Sack on the ESRB website in 2000 and seeing it listed with an E rating, but I don't know how to prove that or whether it was later corrected to M. --DocumentN 16:53, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Anvil & Forge
I'm unable to dig up citable, verified system requirements at the moment, but I'm positively certain Anvil and Forge both ran on Mac OS 7-9 platforms. If nothing else, I can prove it with Basilisk II at some point. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tohuw (talk • contribs) 16:49, 3 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Evidently any mention of those two was removed from the page. However, just for reference:  Anvil and Forge were released with M∞ and later with the MTBS, and only interpret the files of M2D and M∞; the original map editor used by Bungie, Vulcan, was never released but was the basis for Forge.  Fan-developed tools for M1 itself were plentiful, and AFAIK to date are the only tools available.  — JamesEG (talk) 23:26, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Bungie Marathon Netplay Screenshot.jpg
Image:Bungie Marathon Netplay Screenshot.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 04:15, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Just pointing out here, Marathon is now open source, so I'm pretty sure that it's "Free." 71.161.94.175 (talk) 00:41, 12 March 2008 (UTC)Marathon Junkie

Fair use rationale for Image:Marathon-Arrival.gif
Image:Marathon-Arrival.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 00:48, 14 February 2008 (UTC) Just pointing out here, Marathon is now open source, so I'm pretty sure that it's "Free." (UTC)Marathon Junkie

Fair use rationale for Image:Marathon 1 Screenshot.jpg
Image:Marathon 1 Screenshot.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 15:06, 8 March 2008 (UTC) Just pointing out here, Marathon is now open source, so I'm pretty sure that it's "Free."(UTC)Marathon Junkie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.161.94.175 (talk)

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Windows/Linux ports
For the record, Marathon has never been officially, legitimately ported to Windows or Linux. Aleph One is a third-party, fan-made engine cobbled together based on some Marathon 2 source code, and is not sanctioned or supported by Bungie or Microsoft.

"Marathon RED" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Marathon RED and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 July 16 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 00:36, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

Source
JimmyBlackwing (talk) 21:38, 24 October 2022 (UTC)
 * http://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/2769/TricksOfTheMacGameProgrammingGurus.iso/Information/Inside%20Mac%20Games/9501%20(Jan%E2%81%84Feb%201995)/IMG%20Jan%E2%81%84Feb%201995/IMG%20Jan_Feb%201995.rsrc/bin.rsrc_styl_133.rtf

"Marathon (video game" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marathon_(video_game&redirect=no Marathon (video game] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 20:49, 21 February 2024 (UTC)