Halo: Original Game, or Sequel?

A year ago, when Halo debuted, I was playing some multiplayer Halo at a friend's house and recalled just how strikingly similar Halo was to Marathon: Bungie's previous installment of First Person Shooters. I remember being overwhelmed with a deja vu-esque sense that I was in fact playing a Rose that was going by another name, and made a mental note to eventually look into the matter.

So I did some research, and came up with some fairly strong evidence to prove that it seems to be a very well done transfer of the Marathon legacy to the 3D gaming world. Why bother? Well, because as a fan of Marathon, I saw what an incredibly tight game Bungie had on their hands, and lamented the fact that nobody ever wanted to play a one of those "Mac games." By the responses I got, it seemed like I was asking them to do something immoral. To this day, many die-hard PC-only fanboys still scoff at the idea of Marathon. Can you blame Bungie for creating a sequel but changing the name in the interest of selling more titles?

There were rumors of Marathon "easter eggs" throughout Halo, and I think there's something more to the following similarities than "easter eggs." Games like Duke Nukem which had homages to nearly every FPS that came before it (Doom, Dark Forces, etc) had easter eggs. Halo has what I would call an identity crisis.

::WARNING:: HALO SPOILERS FOLLOW ::WARNING::

Single Player

The Marathon Logo.

It's seen in the game often enough for it to be almost persistent. The first place I noticed it was on the chest of Captain Keyes, the commanding officer of the Pillar of Autumn. This screengrab is from the opening cutscene, so you won't have to go very far in the game to see it for yourself. The Captain wears it here as if it's an emblem. Just as Star Trek officers wear the emblem of Starfleet on their chest, the Captain is seen here with the Marathon logo displayed proudly.

When looking for a website that discussed some of these rumored "easter eggs," I found a screengrab of the Pillar of Autumn, the capital warship you start out on in the beginning of the game (note: I'm not certain what part this screengrab is from, as the Pillar of Autumn isn't seen at this angle in the opening cutscene). While the logo is more hidden here among the geometry of the sihp, it's still displayed somewhat prominently (and largely), and towards the end of the game you can see it's mirrored on the opposite side of the ship as well.

Consider the bridge of the Halo itself. When the Master Chief walks out onto the gangplank for the first time, he's in the immense and expansive sphere shaped command center of Halo. The platform he's walking on extends and eventually intersects with a circular platform where the controls are located. I couldn't find any screengrabs that had a wide enough shot of the Halo control room, but if you look at the opening shot in the cinematic for that section, and imagine what it looks like from above, you can see that the negative space around the catwalk is the Marathon logo.

Lastly, we have Exhibit A. The Halo logo itself. This is a larger version of the Halo logo which I nabbed off of Bungie's site, but it's the exact same as the smaller one depicted on the front of the game box. Look in the background, dead center, just between the A and the L. You can't miss it. I don't know why I didn't see it when I first picked up the box. The Marathon logo dead center in the Halo logo pretty much seals it for me. This title was meant to be Marathon.

The Premise

It should be noted that both Marathon and Halo are nearly identical if one were to describe them to a friend: A First Person Shooter which involves the player using futuristic armor and weapons to defend the fate of the Earth and humanity itself from a hostile, unknown, alien civilization. The player is aided by an Artificial Intelligence onboard his ship, and can even use dropped alien weapons.

The Master Chief's Name is Bob.

When I first saw Halo, we were playing it in Multiplayer mode. What I saw was a bunch of Master Chiefs in Mark V armor running around, and something about the whole experience struck me as very familiar.

In Marathon, there were these characters who would show up from time to time to aid you in your quest. They were usually crew from the human ship you called home, and they were typically equipped with human weaponry. For whatever reason, be it their expendability or the fact that they all looked and sounded the same, they were nicknamed "Bobs." [Which turns out to mean "Born on Board." --b] By the time Marathon Infinity (the third Marathon in the series, and the one which most recently came out before Halo), the Bobs were upgraded to have armor (possibly Mark IV armor?) and a better pistol. Unfortunately I couldn't find a better screengrab on the net than these, but I think you can see how the Chief resembles a Bob all too closely.

Weapons

Marathon's weapons all had a very distinct and recognizable look to them, and some of Halo's bear a striking resemblance. Of those, the pistol has a vaguely similar look and feel about it, and the assault rifle is positively straight out of Marathon. The only thing it's missing is the grenade launcher underneath it. Even the ammo countdown (where each individual bullet is displayed as it is expended) is incredibly similar to Marathon.

But the giveaway is in the rocket laucher. In Marathon, the players and fans of the game nicknamed the rocket launcher the "Spanker." It was a two-shot, two barreled rocket launcher (one above the other). The Halo rocket launcher is a double barrelled two shot rocket launcher, and has the letters "SPNKR" written on the side of it and the ammo cases found laying around the levels. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Chapter Headings

Marathon and Halo both sport witty chapter titles at the beginning of each chapter and sub-chapter. It's a small point, but it's another one to add to the growing pile.

Your Artificial Friend

In both games, you are instructed by the ship's sentient onboard computer. In the case of Marathon it's Durandal, Leela, and Tycho, and in Halo, it's by Cortana. The AI play a pivotal role in all four games; without them your cyborg hero would lack direction. One could even argue that the addition of a second, sinister AI (343 Guilty Spark) harkens back to Marathon Infinity when Tycho (the "evil" AI) tried leading your character astray.

Mutliplayer

Speed

Worth noting is a sort of an unexplainable "zen" similarity between Marathon and Halo multiplayer: the speed at which you run. Considerably slower than any other FPS on the market, both games seem to move at a sim-like slow pace (compared to games like Quake and Unreal).

Body Physics

Marathon was probably the first FPS I had ever seen where they assigned a specific "death animation" to each way of dying. Of particular note was the rocket-launcher (or spanker) death, where the victim would fly through the air in an almost super-man like fashion flailing his arms and limbs, and upon hitting the ground, wall, or other solid surface, would turn into a pile of pink goo and bones.

Sure enough, if you hit a group of people/characters with a grenade or rocket in Halo, the bodies go flying. You won't see this in many other FPSs. Typically the other games tend to "gib" the victims into pieces rather than waste engine processing power projecting a parabolic arc for the body to fly in.

Gametypes

This pretty much put the icing on the Halo = Marathon 4 argument for me. After taking the grand tour of Halo, and seeing all of the familiar hallmarks of a Marathon game, I explored the multiplayer game types.

Marathon really expanded what "multiplayer" meant when it innovated the genre and came up with incredibly new and original game types to expand on the traditional deathmatch. While capture the flag was never an option in the original Marathon series, they came up with two types of deathmatch that are original to the Marathon franchise:

Kill the Man With the Ball. Is it in Halo? Would I be writing about it if it wasn't? Kill the Man With the Ball was this incredibly fun game wherein the object was to capture a skull which was placed in the middle of the arena, and whoever was able to hold the skull the longest won, but with a catch. The player holding the ball could not run (only walk), and could not use any weapons. Finding it in Halo was like seeing an old friend you hadn't heard from in a few years.

King of the Hill. No, it doesn't have anything to do with living in Texas. It's similar to KtMWtB, only now the winning player must stand in a designated zone longer than anyone else in the game. Standing in the zone doesn't nullify your weapons, but it does make you one hell of a target. Again, my heart sang when I found its welcome presence in Halo. The only other multiplayer games to ever even attempt these games was Goldeneye, so seeing Bungie carrying on the Marathon legacy is a sight for sore multiplayer eyes.

Is Halo just a Marathon sequel? Should it have been named Marathon: Halo? Will Bungie ever cop to the fact that Halo is Marathon 4, and not just an "homage?" I guess we'll never know for sure, but I know that there's a lot of Marathon fans out there who can't wait to get their hands on Marathon 5 Halo 2.

Research sources used:

http://www.bungie.com
http://halo.bungie.org
http://marathon.bungie.org
http://www.bungie.org
http://www.marathon.org

Comments

[henry]

just as an aside, weren't bobs called 'bobs' because it was an anacronym for born on board?

i seem to remember reading that in the orginal marathon manual.

i sure hope someone ports if for os x someday.

[Nobody]

Halo and Marathon. Both awesome games made by Bungie. Halo has many things that are remenicent of Marathon, so that people who have played both (like me and many of you) can tell your friends who have not, "Hey, that's from Marathon. It's a great game from back in the day. Way ahead of it's time." They're just Easter Eggs, and Easter Eggs don't make a sequel. Hell, there's the music from Myth on "Assualt on the Control Room." Does that make Halo a sequel to Myth?

[skyknyt]

Well, Halo is definitely not a sequel to Marathon. Its a prequel. A friend of mine even wrote a long essay on why the Master Chief is the same as the mysterious Cyborg protagonist of Marathon, and why it is possible that Cortana is Durandal, after going mad from information overload, or a prototype to Cortana. As well, Cortana and Durandal are both Charlemagne era swords- an important parrallel. As well, the Alien AI Thoth in many ways Parrallels Halo's own evil AI system.

In any cases, chances are that the Jjaro of PID and Marathon fame made Halo, and that Halo 2 will induct us into deeper exploration of the Jjaro connection between Marathon and Halo.

As far as the rocket launcher is concerned, a brief glance at any of the Marathon manuals reveals that EVERY missile launcher is a SPNKR variant. The variant in Halo is most likely the successor to those aboard the Marathon, which launched before the war.

In any case, you should do some deeper research in the Marathon story pages. The story is incredibly vast.

skye
77777

[Bowler]

skyknyt, I think your friend is onto something with the idea that Halo is actually a prequel, and I love the whole sword name = AI bit (I seem to recall that being mentioned at HBO).

I did in fact read the entire Marathon and Infinity story a few years ago over at marathon.org (I had just finished playing the Durandal single player at the time). It took me an entire day to read, but it was well worth it.

[spaceghost]

I think you've definitely proved that Halo and Marathon take place in the same universe that Bungie has created for their games. Does it really matter if it's a sequel, prequel or two separate stories all together?

[bob barker]

i don't know if you realize this, but the reason the gameplay is so slow is because the MC has really good reflexes, they make a huge point of it in the book

[James Peterson]

while I don't dispute that marathon is a brilliantly crafted series and that Halo is nothng short of brilliant this does not alone prove the case that they are sequels. On sonic adventure for the dreamcast plenty of homage was paid to nights but was it a nights sequel - no.

[grid]

Hey skye, I want to read your friend's essay... Is it posted online anywhere?

I love this post. I was (and still am) so pissed at Bungie for selling out to M$ that I have really refrained from going to any of their sites, or even doing any suplimental Halo reading -- even after I bought an x-box and halo on ebay.

It's fun to think about the ways Marathon "lives on" in Halo. The kill-the-guy-with-the-ball game was one of my favorites.

Coincidentally, just last night I was at a halo party... we had 4 x-boxes, and 14 of us spent about 5 hours shooting the hell out of one another. I think I even brought up Marathon at one point, (talking about a spanker-suicide map I'd made for it back in the day). But in 5 hours, we never played king of the hill, or the ball game.

That's really one of the only things that I don't like about halo: that I can't create and/or download new maps for it. That, and using the stupid x-box controller.

[SammyL]

I'm surprised you didn't pick up on a big reference to Marathon early on in the game. In one of the first missions, when you are sent to rescue a squad of cut of marines you find them by a big structure, which you then use as a defensive position against the incoming enemies. Some of the marines freak out at this point, and you can hear some of them say "They're everywhere!" which is one of BOB's favorite phrases.

Also, BOB stands for Born On Board, as in that person was born on board the ship.

[miles jacob]

this page should tell you all you need to know about marathon and halo occuring in the same universe:

http://marathon.bungie.org/story/

of course it also has hundreds if not thousands of pages of a detailed analysis of what in my opinion is the greatesst plot ever to grace a videogame (that of marathon 1,2, )

also, lest people forget, myth was made by bungie more recently than marathon, and there arent any significant myth references in halo. let's just call halo a side story in the marathon universe and leave it at that :)

[asswhooper]

u know what? its good for u that u found all those similaritires.
tell me what didn't bungie make both of the games
and that logo thing was stupid. well the artists at bungie mix up thier art with other things.
thats what looks kool.

masterchiefs real name is john-117 NOT bob

ur site sux with a capital K

one more thing u cant compare the two, HALO rulz, tis all about HALO

[marathonSUX]

i think nothing can compare to halo.HALO RULES!!!! i agree totally with asswhooper.HALO RULES and marathon can suck balls

[007Justin]

The skull, suit, and logo were the only things about Marathon convincing to me. What is the point though, ever FPS is based on something with resources from a previous shooter. Ever producer wants another hit but has to make sure it is just as bad as the first one. It's just like how rare created Perfect Dark or Goldeneye 2.

[007Justin]

The skull, suit, and logo were the only things about Marathon convincing to me. What is the point though, ever FPS is based on something with resources from a previous shooter. Ever producer wants another hit but has to make sure it is just as bad as the first one. It's just like how rare created Perfect Dark or Goldeneye 2.

[Mark225]

bungie made all the marathon games so naturally their technicians are going to want to put the things they are used to handling into the game, maybe they wanted to meet the deadline and had to cut corners. I hear that is infact why they left alot of things like levels, extras, gun and vehicles etc..but hopefully we will see the true completed halo in halo 2. wether it is a sequel of marathon or not i dont care, it is a bloody excellent game providing me with hours of endless fun and the creaters are alright in my books, no matter where they got their ideas from.

[moo]

John-117!? BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAA!..... no it aint

[Jaakal]

actually his name is John-117! Try reading "Fall of Reach"

[Chad Harrison]

What's the point? Who cares? Not me. Halo is a great game no matter how bitter you are against PC gamers.

[MikeE]

i though Halo was the first of its kind......

[moo]

BAH! I say bah! I agree with the blokey. who gives a toss. just enjoy the bloody game. As for John-117, I couldnt care less what it said in fall of reach, as far as I am concerned I'm glad that they only refer to him as Master Cheif cause then anyone could be him.

[Jim]

dude i totaly agree,but i think they made a new game with some of the same concepts.anyway i agree with the huge simalarity

[straylight]

I'd say you have a fairly valid argument, but in the big picture, does it matter?

One minor point. Halo was an Xbox launch title, and so I doubt Microsoft and Bungie could easily call it "Marathon 4" without lots of people (read: idiots) wanting to know whether Marathons 1 through 3 were available on Xbox. And there hasn't been a new Marathon in quite a while, so it's more economical to just call it "Halo".

Finally, why not re-use parts from your old games? Sure, its a cheap shot for people who know, but (and I hate to have to admit this) most people don't know what Marathon is. Is it recycling old concepts and artwork for use in a new game? Hell yes. Is that cheesy to do? Probably. But it's their game, and as long as the game is fun and playable, does it matter? Not really, as long as they progress each time a title comes out, and not just keep recycling the old stuff.

[Duncan]

The way I see it the connections are simply to spark interest and debate like this, because it's fun and interesting. It's kind of like how in the end of one of the predator movies (don't know which one, but this is what I've been told) it shows as a trophy, a head of a xenomorph, indicating its the same time era (this also spawned 3 alien versus predator games starting on the Snes
I might point out a few more connections tho, go to start any halo level, and select the easy setting, recognise it now without the sword in front? And it's not just the marines that say 'they're everywhere', but also the little grunt aliens say it when they panic. Also, on the first level, just outside the bridge is a billboard, one of them as something like 'pentium XIII for sale' and underneath that is 'Colony ship, cheap'
So I personally think these connections were not only made as types of easter eggs, but for the fun of sparking peoples imagination.

[josh]

hey duncan, one of the post also mentions a calico cat named jonesy, that was ripley's cats name, and it was predator 2

[Bunnykun]

"but its called halo b/c it has to do with a halo, the other one was called marathon b/cit had to do with a ship called marathon. =) so no, halo isn't marathon 4 b/c there is no marathon ship anywhere."

By your logic, Halo 2 isn't really the sequel to Halo, because Halo 2 takes place on Earth, not Halo or another Halo installation.