Line #42 YMMV/Marathon


1	!!!The original trilogy contains examples of:
2	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
3	** Bernhard. Was he simply cruel to Durandal out of a power fantasy, was he deliberately trying to induce rampancy ForScience, or did he recognize the symptoms of Rampancy and attempt to stave it off as long as possible? Rubicon and Eternal follow each interpretation. (Though, given that either way, he was stated to be ''abusive'', hardly anyone tries to argue that he was benevolent.)
4	** Durandal is subject to this, mainly in whether he is an AntiHero or an AntiVillain, or even an outright villain.
5	** The Security Officer was designed to facilitate this; interpretations vary based on how much autonomy he's perceived to have, his thoughts (if any) on the situations he finds himself in, his feelings towards Durandal, and other factors.
6	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The Marathon 2 [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el5yD2Ayokw title theme]] and most of the ''Marathon'' 1994 soundtrack. ''Marathon Eternal'' uses the good remixes of the latter, and got a cool original [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x05wKCGhmmk title theme.]]
7	** Download the above and many other remixes [[http://themarathonmusic.com/downloads.html here.]]
8	** "Leela", the similar composition and tempo inspired the soundtrack of ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' later on.
9	** "Landing" provides a perfect ambient score that starts off the first level of the game before you find out exactly what has happened to the Marathon.
10	** A fan mixed two different versions of the original soundtrack, resulting in a cool stereo panning effect (the original soundtrack was mono). Preview the results [[https://youtu.be/dcWHHYsoNk8 here.]] There's a download link in the video description.
11	** A particularly great new set of remixes (found [[http://simplici7y.com/items/marathon-ost-2021-3 here,]] or on [[https://youtu.be/7uadHRPqrec YouTube]]) gives much of the soundtrack a very '80s feeling, with a lot of vintage (or at least vintage-sounding) synthesizers.
12	** Another excellent set of remixes can be found [[https://talashar.bandcamp.com/album/eupfhoria here,]] often with some interesting new elements added to the songs.
13	** A fan has compiled [[https://aaronfreed.github.io/aaronfreed/soundtracks.html a list of Marathon soundtrack remixes and mod soundtracks]] to supplement [[http://themarathonmusic.com/downloads.html the ones on Craig Hardgrove's site]] (which hasn't been updated in years). This also includes scripts to make the fan-created ''Marathon 2 Special Edition'' soundtrack work with the normal ''Marathon 2'' map, and it also features a link to the work-in-progress ''Eternal'' 1.3 soundtrack (which includes all music from previous releases of ''Eternal'', plus literally hours more). And, not content to rest there, they've also created ProgressiveRock-flavoured arrangements that add 38 minutes to ''Marathon''[='=]s 40-minute soundtrack, taking it in some surprising directions along the way. These can be downloaded [[https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuD0MykSsmaRph-QWQl1PmXFYmsh?e=qrMk9B here]] or streamed [[https://youtu.be/bRiDh3PziWU here]].
14	* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Awesome Video Game Levels]]:
15	** ''Marathon 1'':
16	*** The entire Pfhor ship. Part of this is because all of these levels except the first were mostly designed by Bungie's art director at the time, J. Reginald Dujour, who brought a genuinely alien sensibility to mapmaking that few of the levels afterwards maintained.
17	*** "G4 Sunbathing" is pretty well-liked as well. It's a dark vacuum level (the only vacuum level in the game, in fact) with a lot of wide-open spaces and a ton of compilers and troopers, and it's frankly terrifying. In a good way.
18	** ''Marathon 2'':
19	*** There are a lot of really fun levels, but "The Hard Stuff Rules..." is almost universally agreed to be the pinnacle of the design in ''Marathon 2''. It's a citadel structure comprising some [[RuleOfSeven seven]] storeys, which fold back in on one another to make the structure feel genuinely real in a way that belies the simplicity of the engine. Designer Greg Kirkpatrick noted that the level was "a triumph of mind over computer" because Vulcan, Bungie's in-house editor at the time (a much less stable or user-friendly version of what eventually became Forge), frequently crashed due to its difficulty handling the overlapping segments.
20	*** The middle segment of the game, after [[spoiler:the player gets captured]], might be a bit slower-paced, but there are some atmospheric beauties in there. "My Own Private Thermopylae" is a marvel to look at, and it has pretty fun combat with the troopers and cyborgs as enemies. "Kill Your Television" is even slower-paced, more of a puzzle-oriented level, but it manages the task of feeling like a structure that aliens who can fly might build, making it arguably the most "alien" ''Marathon'' level since the alien ship in the first game.
21	** ''Marathon Infinity'':
22	*** "Acme Station" may be incredibly frustrating for most players on higher difficulty settings, but it is also a marvel to look at. It's simply a shame that you get so little time to do so.
23	*** "Son of Grendel" may get a bit less attention than some of the others, but it's a fantastic, atmospheric level that essentially serves as the turning point of the story, where the Security Officer [[spoiler:goes rogue on the Pfhor and asserts control over events once and for all]], and it's typical of the trilogy's subtle approach to storytelling that none of this is asserted directly. It's simply provided through breadcrumbs and left to the player to work out. The map itself uses the terminal teleportation feature quite effectively, taking the player on a round-trip journey around a Pfhor facility housing a mysterious S'pht artefact [[spoiler:that turns out to house the AI Thoth]].
24	*** "Aye Mak Sicur" is quite likely the best level in the whole trilogy. It's a massive space station (well, as massive as the engine would allow in 1996) consisting of two concentric rings, and it's possible to get from any point on the station to any other point on the station in no more than a minute. It's one of the most nonlinear levels in the trilogy, and it brings the whole story to a close in a fittingly climactic manner. It's quite nice to look at, too.
25	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The earlier releases of the Aleph One version of ''Marathon'' started with the ''VideoGame/PathwaysIntoDarkness'' ShoutOut, which many considered to be this. Fortunately for them, there is a plugin that removes that segment, though later builds have since removed it entirely. Funny, because Bungie considered adding something similar to ''Durandal'' and later ''Infinity'', but both times it got scrapped.
26	* BreatherLevel: Trips back to the ''UESC Marathon'' in the first game, expeditions into Thoth's domain in the latter two.
27	* BrokenBase: Not for the game itself, but for the ''source port''. Aleph One's makers ''really'' want to be as true as possible to the original releases - this includes utterly refusing to implement 3D, disabling crosshairs by default (although there is an option to enable them), and at one point, installing an enemy/NPC limit that, while true to the original games, broke nearly every Marathon mod - and being vocal about it.
28	** It should be noted that at one point there was a bridges and balconies kludge in official releases of Aleph One that brought the game much closer to being true 3D. However, it was very, very broken, and very few mapmakers employed it; thus it was removed from later releases. There's also a plugin called "Aleph One Previous AI" that provides a (very, very simple) workaround for the NPC limit. If anything, the fact that some mods still haven't been updated to include the fix is on the mod makers.
29	** The art for the XBLA port. The revised textures are usually well-liked, but there are differing opinions on the weapons and aliens/Bobs. The latter tend to be fairly unpopular overall, although the Hunters and Troopers both have a fair number of defenders. A few other monster types, such as the Compilers, the Defenders, and the Juggernauts, are considered acceptable as well, but a few, like the Cyborg and F'lickta, are pretty widely disliked overall. The decision to lighten the skin of the Security Bobs (the beige-uniformed Bobs who drop pistols when they die) is also widely disliked. This aside, however, the art had to be downscaled ''horrendously'' to fit within the XBLA file size limits, and all the life got sucked out of it in the process. Developer hippieman provided full-sized version of much of the artwork on [[https://discord.gg/marathonthegame the Discord]], which has been collected [[https://discord.com/channels/190488331207835649/669769856974979093/1018915051240951908 here]].
30	** The decision to add cooperative play to ''Marathon 1'' is also not very widely liked, because the game wasn't designed for it. It contains a lot of narrow corridors and mazes that only one player can traverse at a time, which kind of takes the whole point out of cooperative play.
31	* DemonicSpiders:
32	** Pfhor Troopers are the only enemies with near hitscan weapons (their assault rifles) that can do real damage on higher difficulties. It ''is'' possible to punch them without taking much damage if your timing is ''exact'' and you have enough room to manoeuvre, but it's difficult to learn. (It's also often possible to induce them to kill themselves with their grenades if you're far enough beneath them.) Dr John Sumner, who's probably completed more fists-only Total Carnage films of the Marathon trilogy than anyone else (a good chunk of the M2 and M∞ ones, though not even all of them, are on Website/YouTube [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoysJW6pXQ6lLAHGTEtozDgDoNKMf2P8Y here]]), explains:
33	-->Fighting one Trooper is easy as long as you have enough room. The key is to circle it while you punch. You have to keep moving or it will tear you to shreds. Unless you are playing an M1 scenario, always circle them counterclockwise. In M1, you want to circle them clockwise.
34	*** Note that in ''Eternal'', which uses M1 troopers, you'll also want to circle them clockwise. Additionally, if your timing is off, you will still get torn to shreds even if you keep moving. You'll probably have to retreat a fair distance and then move in again between each punch.
35	** Compilers can fly, have a homing projectile that can shoot around cover, are quite durable, and can turn ''invisible''. It doesn't help that they don't make any noise until they start firing at you, either.
36	*** There is a very simple secret to dealing with Compilers though: Punch them. Their recovery time takes longer than the duration between punches. With punching other enemies, you have to strafe to avoid enemy fire, but Compilers do not present this problem. Of course, if there's more than one Compiler at once, that could prove more problematic.
37	** The flamethrower cyborgs. The normal ones aren't all that annoying, particularly once you've learned how to punch them to death without being caught in the shrapnel of their explosions, but the flamethrower variant will strip your shields in a second if they get too close. Of course, there's a super-sized Mother of all Cyborgs variant, too, but there are at most a handful in the whole trilogy (for that matter, there aren't that many of the normal-sized ones). Dr Sumner's advice for dealing with these with one's fists:
38	--> It is too risky to attempt if you have only 1x shields. If you have 2x or more, here is what you do. Run punch the FC as you go by it to get it to release its flames. While that is going, back away so you are not damaged. Right as the flames are ending, run at it again and punch it again as you go by. That will start its flames again. Keep doing that until it explodes. Once you get good at it, it works every time. Of course, you must have enough room to back away from it. If you have two or more, then it’s even easier. You can circle them and get them to shoot their flames into each other. Once only one is left, continue as before.
39	* EpilepticTrees: ''Marathon Infinity''.
40	** Try ''the entire series''. Proof comes from the [[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/ Marathon Story Page]] where they've been doing WildMassGuessing since 1995.
41	*** It's more likely the KudzuPlot. A ton of subplots were introduced or hinted at and dropped in the first game alone, [[spoiler:JJARRO WERE AT TAU CETI, anyone?]], and some plot points seem to contradict each other, and not because of Infinity's TimeyWimeyBall.
42	*** In some cases this is somewhat justified, as a lot of the information we have about certain aspects of the plot (most notably the Jjaro and the W'rkncacnter) comes entirely from mythological references by the S'pht. It makes sense that over thousands of years, information would become somewhat ShroudedInMyth.
43	* EvenBetterSequel: ''Marathon 2'' is generally regarded as an improvement on its already great predecessor, introducing much larger stages for players to explore, swimming, dual-wielded shotguns, fantastic ambient sounds, and more refined gameplay. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Marathon/comments/frhdyg/which_marathon_game_is_the_best/ A 2020 poll]] of /r/Marathon on Website/{{Reddit}} had ''Marathon 2'' come out the most popular by a large margin, winning 74 votes to 24 each for the other two games. Creator/{{Bungie}} seems to agree, since ''Marathon 2'' has received by far the most re-releases and ports (although in the case of the Xbox Live Arcade release, this was apparently due to ExecutiveMeddling on Microsoft's part - Bungie and Freeverse wanted to port all three games).
44	* FanNickname: Various characters, enemies, levels, etc. have them.
45	** The Security Officer is usually referred to as "Mr Marathon" by members of the Discord server. The origin of it isn't entirely clear; Discord member Mr. Theta claimed to have originated it, but later claimed to have stolen it from someone else on Website/{{YouTube}}. One might expect the protagonist of ''VideoGame/PathwaysIntoDarkness'' to be "Mr Pathways" by extension, but "pidbro" or "pidpal" are more commonly seen, for reasons not even the Discord users might be able to explain. The Marathon community has no similar common nicknames for [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Master Chief]].
46	** Assimilated Bobs are A-Bobs or Assbobs.
47	** The term "flappy bois" or "flappybois" for Ticks, apparently coined by engine developer Treellama, has been seeing increasing usage in recent months, to the extent that the Discord server now uses :flappyboi: as the code for its Tick emoticon, and [[http://lochnits.com/marathon/index.html a script]] for [[https://github.com/Aleph-One-Marathon/alephone/releases recent development builds of the engine]] (specifically, you need at least 1.4pre1) is titled "[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoysJW6pXQ6nmYclzoR5lhzbuKisSu3Zr The Flappyboi Incident]]" (which doubles as a reference to [[http://simplici7y.com/items/the-gray-incident The Gray Incident]], the precursor of ''Phoenix'').
48	** "STFU jump" is sometimes used for a particularly difficult jump mandated by the speedrun route for the level "'''S'''ix '''T'''housand '''F'''eet '''U'''nder", as a {{pun}} on a common Internet acronym that [[FunWithAcronyms usually has another meaning]]. Part of this is just because it's funny, and part of it is because the jump can be a run killer. (We should note that by no means do all runners abbreviate the level as "STFU"; some abbreviate it as "6K feet" or similar instead.) A [[https://twitter.com/theoriginaltbcr/status/1351410792772608000 recently discovered expansion]] of this jump is logically referred to as STFU^2. "'''W'''here the '''T'''wist '''F'''lops", by extension, is occasionally seen as WTF (this is less common, and usually only seen in combination with the previous acronym, though).
49	** A [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/543298952020099082.png particular image]] of Bungie lead programmer Jason Jones, as Robert Blake, giving a "thumbs up" is sometimes referred to as "fun Robert". This originated as a reference to the tags for [[http://simplici7y.com/items/mapdamager-lua the MapDamager.lua script]], which were set as "fun" and "robert" for reasons unexplained.
50	* FandomVIP: There are several, but the biggest is probably Hamish Sinclair, maintainer of the [[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/ Marathon's Story page]] and co-maintainer of the [[http://marathon.bungie.org/vidmaster/ Marathon Vidmaster's Challenge]] page, who was big enough to get a ShoutOut in the game itself (see UniverseConcordance on the Trivia.{{Marathon}} tab). A few others became {{Promoted Fanboy}}s.
51	* FirstInstallmentWins: Averted. While the first game is well enough liked and even remains some people's favourite, the second game has received by far the largest number of ports and re-releases. May be a case of EvenBetterSequel as well, depending upon whom you ask. ''Marathon 2'' also seems to be the most popular among fans as well, if the aforementioned Reddit poll is any indication.
52	* FridgeBrilliance[=/=]FridgeHorror: [[{{Fridge/Marathon}} Has its own page]].
53	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Not exactly super popular, but in Japan, the relative popularity of Macintosh computers and the slow decline of home-based ones (FM-TOWNS, X68000, PC-98 and so on) during that time resulted in a fanbase of a respectable size, and that is despite the general unpopularity of the FPS genre there. Perhaps befitting this, two regular contributors to the Marathon Vidmaster Page back in the day, Michio Hashimoto and Tomoaki Deguchi, are Japanese.[[note]]The Vidmaster page claims that Hashimoto "has put out more Vidmaster films on the net than anybody", which was true at the time, but by now other players have no doubt surpassed him, particularly if one counts third-party scenarios, in which case Dr John Sumner, who's vidded all of ''Tempus Irae'', ''Tempus Irae: The Lost Levels'', the original ''Rubicon'', and about a dozen other scenarios in full, plus about two dozen others in part, not to mention the entire original trilogy, is no doubt the record holder - and even if not, given that he's vidded every single level in M2 with fists only, amongst other impressive accomplishments. (Note that some of these films have not yet been posted to the Vidmaster page.)[[/note]] The fact that the ''Marathon'' series has a reputation for being more cerebral and story-based than its contemporaries may have also contributed to its relative popularity in Japan - it's been joked before that it's really a series of {{Visual Novel}}s with FirstPersonShooter {{minigame}}s.
54	* GoddamnedBats or DemonicSpiders (depending on the difficulty level) -- Wasps, Compilers, Lookers, Pfhor Drones, Cyborgs with homing grenades, Ticks.
55	* GoodBadBugs:
56	** One received the FanNickname of the "ketchup bug", wherein a monster on a descending platform would sometimes spawn several projectiles in a row when attacking. This could be lethal, but it was also hilarious. Aleph One fixes this bug, though naturally, some players miss it.
57	** Another (although how "good" it is depends to a large extent on whether you're playing the game with headphones) has received the FanNickname of the "megahonk", inspired by the "honk" the Pfhor fighters and troopers make (though it can occur with any sound). Occasionally, on the final gameplay tick, before the player teleports to another level or revives after a death, a sound will play at comically loud levels. This occurs because the volume variable isn't set on that tick, so it can be overwritten with random memory values, resulting in a distorted, deafeningly loud sound. This will likely be fixed in Aleph One 1.6.
58	* HilariousInHindsight: This isn't the only [[http://marathon.bungie.org/story/thatmarathonbook.html Marathon Trilogy]]. D. Alexander Smith's series, beginning in 1982 and ending in 1990, even involves the shipboard AI going Rampant and raising hell for the crew (albeit by different methods).
59	* HoYay: Durandal/Security Officer has a small but decent following these days. Of all the [[MissionControl mission controls]] in the Trilogy, Durandal is the closest thing the SO has to a companion (the latter referring to himself as a "willing minion" in the M2 manual, despite his less-than-ideal situation at the start); now and then, Durandal lets slip something more personal or emotional than usual, and in ''Infinity'' the two end up going to serious lengths for each other. Not to mention the secret personals ad in M2, with Durandal's asking for "a serious relationship in the galactic core", and Leela's describing the SO as "tall, dark, and handsome" (the assumption is that Durandal authored all of them).
60	** The final terminal in "Fatum iustum stultorum" also can be read to have quite a bit of subtext ("You know I'll never let you go"), though it's worth noting that all of these are subject to AlternateCharacterInterpretation, since it could just be Durandal's sense of humour, or it could be him being {{tsundere}} and/or {{yandere}}. There's a non-zero chance that Bungie left this deliberately open to interpretation. Of course, there's a completely separate argument that the ''Marathon'' universe is essentially a World of AmbiguousGender, and another argument as to how much object gender even has when talking about artificial personality constructs (though in the specific cases of Durandal, Tycho, and Leela, they don't particularly go to great lengths to distance themselves from the genders assigned to them).
61	* IronWoobie: Cipher though he is, the Security Officer is put through a ''lot'' of hardship when you think about it. Some prominent examples include:
62	** Temporarily losing Leela in the first game (and it's not a quick process, either; she's hacked and disassembled throughout several levels).
63	** Having to [[spoiler: destroy Durandal's core with his own two hands]] in the second game, immediately followed by spending a month in the Pfhor brig. One wonders what was going through his head when the sequence repeats in ''Infinity''...
64	** Most of ''Infinity'', from being repeatedly forced to shoot the [=BoBs=] who were his allies in M2, to [[spoiler:having to mercy-kill Durandal for what seems like ''for real'']]. The hints we receive of his past via dream terminals are not pleasant, either.
65	*** Durandal may qualify as well, given all the crap he's put through in both timelines and his apparent unwillingness to discuss it for too long. His abusive creator, Bernhard Strauss, arranged for him to do the AI equivalent of forced manual labour for ''three hundred years'' to break him into going Rampant, just so Strauss could harness Durandal's power as a meta-stable AI for his ends; when Durandal finally ''does'' go Rampant, it's (eventually) framed as a triumph as it allowed him to escape his horrible situation...come ''Marathon 2'', where Durandal expresses guilt over the fallout from his actions. Around the halfway point, [[spoiler: he loses his duel with Tycho and is captured and presumably tortured for a month straight; the "iron" aspect is that this still wasn't enough to break him--Durandal outright states that "nothing can", though something about his tone points towards the ordeal being exhausting regardless.]] And then there's ''Infinity'', where he not only seems doomed in the prologue, [[spoiler: he pleads once again with the Security Officer to smash his core and spare him an even more agonizing death at Tycho's hands--and this time, there's no escape for him. Durandal does recover in the end, but only because the Security Officer merged his barely-intact primal pattern with Thoth's.]]
66	* LGBTFanbase: A small but not insubstantial one, perhaps owing to the aforementioned HoYay and perhaps owing to the games arguably being a World of AmbiguousGender. A disproportionately large number of creators of various {{Game Mod}}s for ''Marathon'' identify as non-binary, if that's any indication.
67	* MemeticBadass: The Security Officer, given all that he's survived, and that [[spoiler:he survives to the literal end of the universe]] according to ''Infinity''[='=]s ending. Amongst [[OneManArmy other]] [[ImplacableMan factors.]] When you're considered equivalent to the Doomguy, you know that means something.
68	* MemeticMutation: "Frog blast the vent core!"
69	** The community itself has a large number of memes that probably make little sense to people outside it. ''Yuge''[='=]s plot, if it can be described as such, is made up of about 75% Marathon community memes and 25% UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump memes (mostly not flattering to him, though it seems to depend upon the interpretation to some extent). That doesn't stop ''Yuge'' from being extremely entertaining to people who weren't around to witness the events firsthand, though.
70	** A minor one in the Marathon Discord that all maps would benefit from more Ticks. Also, the Security Officer is referred to as "Mr Marathon" on the server nine times out of ten.
71	** Another community meme is "guest is gathering 10 minutes of Duality, EMFH," which derives from the fact that these are the default settings for gathering a new network game in ''Marathon Infinity'' using the default map, so people trying to host their first network game most frequently end up choosing them. (''Infinity'' sees by far the greatest amount of network play. A lot of longtime players don't care for the stock maps, which don't have a lot of weapons or ammo compared to many of the most popular network packs, but newcomers are unlikely to have other map packs when they start hosting games.) Every single network game gathered on the meta-server is announced in a channel on the subreddit's Discord, in the format seen above. The host must have port forwarding set up correctly for the hosting attempt to succeed, so frequently, the channel ends up being flooded with the above message until the host either figures out port forwarding or gives up. Occasionally, every "guest" hosting a network game is mock-seriously treated as the same person; however, people in the community (when they are around) are usually happy to assist new players.
72	*** Every once in a while, a longtime player will also host [[https://youtu.be/kxFIazbFw7Q 10 minutes of Duality, EMFH,]] just because of the meme.
73	** A minor one on the Discord for years was ''BRUTAL MARATHON'' (always written in {{ALL CAPS}}), a perpetually in-development mod that was probably meant to be a parody of ''Brutal Doom''. However, the real joke was that ''BRUTAL MARATHON'' wasn't a real game and would never actually be made. Then some new engine features went into development, and now [[{{Defictionalization}} it exists for real]]. (Available [[http://simplici7y.com/items/brutal-marathon here]]. Requires [[https://github.com/Aleph-One-Marathon/alephone/releases at least Aleph One 1.4 to function]].) [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoysJW6pXQ6nmYclzoR5lhzbuKisSu3Zr Take a look.]]
74	** "They're going to [[FateWorseThanDeath turn me into a crypto server]]!" became a community meme after WebVideo/MandaloreGaming's Website/YouTube video on ''Marathon 2'', courtesy of {{Creator/Gianni Matragrano}}'s LargeHam take on Durandal.[[note]]In turn, Matragrano, by his admission, was channelling Creator/HarlanEllison's voice acting for ''VideoGame/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream''[='=]s AM - so effectively that some viewers thought he ''actually was'' Ellison.[[/note]]
75	* NightmareFuel: [[NightmareFuel/{{Marathon}} Has its own page]].
76	* OlderThanTheyThink: These games helped pioneer the idea of story-driven first-person shooters before ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' (the game most often credited with this innovation) was even a gleam in anyone's eye. Marathon is also credited with being the first computer-based shooter to use the mouselook control scheme and was at least ''one of'' the first shooters to feature secondary ammo and allied [=NPCs=] (the automated defence drones in the first game, then the [=BOBs=] in the sequels). It's also very likely the first game that allowed players to dual-wield weapons.[[note]]Sometimes the shareware ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'', which came out the same day as ''Marathon'', is co-credited for this, but its dual-wielded pistols are a bit of a hack - they're a single sprite with one ammo pool, and you press the same key to fire both. ''Marathon''[='=]s implementation, by contrast, treats its pistols as separate weapons: you press different keys to fire them, they have separate ammo pools, they reload separately, they each consume their ammo, and so on.[[/note]]
77	** WebVideo/ErrantSignal, in a [[https://youtu.be/_3ZCuXJ7-8s lengthy video essay,]] argues that ''Marathon'' is much more influential on the modern FPS genre than it is commonly given credit for being, owing in large part to its methods of storytelling - not merely because it was one of the first largely story-driven FPS games but, for example, in how it plays with the then-nascent conventions of the genre and uses its level design for world-building purposes. The fact that it was a Mac series[[note]]''Marathon 2'' was released for Windows 95 in 1996, but by that point, it was old enough that it didn't get a lot of publicity[[/note]] probably contributed to its being largely written out of FPS history.
78	* OnceOriginalNowCommon: This game introduced an incredible amount of things to the industry, being the FPS game that has a plot that is emphasized more than the action throughout the game, multiplayer modes other than deathmatch, vertical aiming, the ability for players to swim, AI-controlled allies… A few other games may have had these things, but not all at once. The list of things that this series introduced just goes on. Most of this was either overshadowed in favor of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''[='=]s clout, or, much later, ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', which continued a lot of ''Marathon''[='=]s legacy.
79	* ParanoiaFuel:
80	** The Lookers in "Colony Ship for Sale, Cheap". Lookers explode on you, similar to simulacrums, but they are very hard to punch without getting yourself hurt, they can fly, and some are camouflaged (they look like shadows). Still, not too much of a problem, since one bullet kills them. However, in "Colony Ship for Sale, Cheap", they are in nearly every dark corner and every other corner in a hallway. It's hard to emphasize how pants-crapping-ly scary this part of the level was.
81	** The camo Compilers in "G4 Sunbathing". They wouldn't be very bad if they didn't get together in groups of ten or more on Total Carnage.
82	** ''Infinity'''s story in general. One mission, you might be working for Tycho in killing humans. The next, you're suddenly on Durandal's side like nothing prior ever happened. And then you're back in the RecurringDreams from hell, off to find another secret path to some new exit. Talks of the [[EldritchAbomination sleeping god]], the strange terminals talking about Hangar Ninety-Six or the constant shifts in plot and the implications of everything and everyone dying around you over and over again... By the end, the average player that hasn't wrapped their head around the story is going to be worried whether the next mission or terminal might be some sort of JumpScare or a horrifying twist.
83	* SpiritualAdaptation: With its MindScrew story about travelling through parallel timelines to avoid an inevitable apocalypse, deconstructive approach to TheHerosJourney, cryptic backstory that is largely presented by {{unreliable narrator}}s, and morally ambiguous protagonist, the original trilogy pairs pretty well with ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun''. All it's missing is the FeudalFuture setting.
84	* ThatOneLevel:
85	** ''Marathon'': "G4 Sunbathing", "Bob-B-Q", "Habe Quiddam", and the Pfhor ship levels, of which "Pfhoraphobia" tends to be considered the hardest of the lot. The Pfhor ship levels also tend to be considered the best part of the game, though.
86	*** "Colony Ship for Sale, Cheap". This level's platform puzzle was so universally loathed by fans (you had to time a series of switch hits ''exactly right'' or you wouldn't be able to climb a series of stairs) that when the game was ported over to Aleph One they just left out the timing puzzle entirely and had the platforms automatically extend to the right locations (unfortunately, the original puzzle has since been reinstated in some versions of the game released since, much to various players' chagrin). It's also worth noting that the level's designer, Jason Jones, actually apologised for the level (most likely because of the puzzle) in the credits terminal for ''Marathon 2''.
87	** ''Marathon 2'': "If I Had a Rocket Launcher, I'd Make Somebody Pay" (also [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Awesome]]), "Sorry Don't Make It So", "For Carnage, Apply Within", "Begging for Mercy Makes Me Angry!"
88	** ''Marathon Infinity'': "Acme Station", "Hang Brain", "You Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time!"
89	** The levels "Try Again", "If I Had a Rocket Launcher", and "You Think You're Big Time?" were used for a secret Vidmaster Challenge that can be found in Infinity's final level, created by PromotedFanboy Randall "[=FrigidMan=]" Shaw. Fans are of divided opinions as to whether these are the hardest levels in their respective games, or even if they're harder than the original versions:
90	*** Although "Try Again" is pretty difficult, "Habe Quiddam" and "Pfhoraphobia" are most commonly cited as the hardest levels in M1; "Habe Quiddam" has no usable ammo on a vid start and a lot of difficult enemies, while "Pfhoraphobia" has no recharger or save terminal, and the only ammo drops are alien weapons from defeated Enforcers.
91	*** Some fans agree with his choice for M2, but the three levels after it is commonly considered rivals for the crown. It's sometimes possible to [[http://marathon.bungie.org/vidmaster/vidtiprocketlauncher.html skip a large part]] of "Rocket Launcher". "Sorry Don't Make It So" and "For Carnage, Apply Within" can be challenging due to how difficult it is to manoeuvre in the levels' narrow corridors; "Begging for Mercy Makes Me Angry!" is particularly challenging due to its massive swarms of difficult enemies, its [[MarathonLevel length]], and its dearth of usable ammo on a vid start.
92	*** "Acme Station" is almost universally agreed to be the hardest level in ''Marathon Infinity'', given how few people completed it on Total Carnage using Command+Option+New Game (Ctrl+Shift+New Game on Windows; only [[http://marathon.bungie.org/vidmaster/vidtipacmestation.html eleven people]] published successful runs to the [[http://marathon.bungie.org/vidmaster/vidmaster.html Marathon Vidmaster Archive,]] though a [[https://youtu.be/-53DTzzHKKo twelfth]] has since completed it as well – [[https://youtu.be/J6Y4Pglh_nc twice,]] as of this writing. Note that these films are not viewable in older versions of Aleph One; it may be easier to go to [[https://www.youtube.com/user/VidmastersChallenge/videos this YouTube channel]] or [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5aQ6s5oj8SwttLVSTgGV-Q this one,]] which between them have a lot of the old films.)
93	* ThatOnePuzzle: The movable platform puzzle on "Colony Ship". Nothing else in the series comes close. Note that it's possible, though difficult, to [[CuttingTheKnot Cut the Knot]] and [[http://marathon.bungie.org/vidmaster/vidtipcolony.html skip the entire puzzle]] via grenade jumping. The films here likely still only run in the original Mac release, though some of them may have been put up on one of the above Website/YouTube channels by this point. The strategy can also be seen in most modern speedruns, such as [[https://youtu.be/6Tx2cY_oZ_U?t=2129 this one.]]
94
95	YMMV tropes for mods have been moved to ''YMMV/MarathonExpandedUniverse''.

Context YMMV / Marathon