Marathon
1994 · First-Person Shooter · Macintosh
Overview
Marathon (1994) is Bungie's Macintosh first-person shooter set aboard a colony ship under alien attack, guided by three shipboard AIs. It was one of the earliest shooters with mouse-driven free look.
Deep Dive
In 2794 the colony ship UESC Marathon, bound for Tau Ceti, is attacked by aliens, and the player, a security officer, fights back under the guidance of the ship's AIs Leela, Durandal and Tycho, until Durandal goes "rampant" and turns against the crew. The player can aim up and down with the mouse, recharge stations stand in for power-up pickups, and pattern buffers serve as save points. Up to eight players can fight over a local network.
Developer Story
Jason Jones programmed the game and designed it with Greg Kirkpatrick, Reginald Dujour and Alex Seropian. Bungie published it for the Macintosh on 21 December 1994, and it had sold more than 150,000 copies by October 1995. Marathon 2: Durandal followed in 1995 and Marathon Infinity in 1996.
Did You Know?
- MacUser named it the best action game of 1995, ahead of Doom II.
- Time included it in its 2012 list of the 100 best video games.
- Bungie released the source code of Marathon 2 in 1999, which became the Aleph One engine.
Sources & further reading
- Marathon (1994 video game) — Wikipedia
