When did the original Marathon game release?

Here's everything about the old Marathon game (Image via Aleph One Developers & Bungie)

The Marathon gameplay reveal was officially showcased on April 12, 2025, and it has received a positive reception from the community. After much hype, over 75,000 fans joined the official Discord server within the first few minutes of the reveal. While many are excited about the upcoming release, some may not realize that Marathon is a reboot of a classic sci-fi shooter.

The original was developed by Bungie and released on December 21, 1994, initially for the Macintosh. This article aims to cover everything about the classic sci-fi shooter.

Marathon (1994): Everything you need to know

The 1994 classic was a sci-fi FPS title set on a colony ship known as the UESC-M. The game was praised for its advanced features, deep lore, and strong NPCs. Players took on the role of a security officer trying to stop an alien invasion and uncover the secrets hidden within the ship's AI systems.

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As mentioned before, the game was first released for Macintosh on December 21, 1994. It later came to Apple Pippin in 1996, and finally to iOS devices on July 7, 2011. On May 11, 2024, Marathon was finally released for Windows and macOS under the name Classic Marathon by the Aleph One Developers. The game sold over 150,000 copies, which was quite impressive for its time. The sequel was released on November 24, 1995, and sold nearly the same number of units.

Aleph One Developers is an open source initiative by Bungie that aims to bring the iconic titles for free on modern platforms. Thus, the 2024 release is completely free to play. If you are interested, you can add the game to your Steam Library by clicking here.

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The new reboot is quite different in style yet retains some elements from the original title. The recent gameplay showcase revealed that it will be a unique take on extraction shooters, featuring four Runners.

That's everything you need to know about the original title. The Closed Alpha Test of the latest game begins on April 23, 2025, with the full release scheduled for September 23, 2025.

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About the author

Harshit Singh is a gaming journalist at Sportskeeda, with Fortnite, Counter-Strike 2, and Marvel Rivals being his areas of specialization. A final-year B.Des (Visual Communication) student at Delhi Technological University, he is always eager to pursue creative endeavors. Harshit aims to deliver news and up-to-date content promptly to players around the globe. To that end, he acquires information from reliable forums and social media pages and religiously tracks the latest coverage of Fortnite — a game he has been playing since 2018. He is often found testing the new meta in-game or spectating competitive tournaments.

Harshit holds a deep love for video games, which stemmed from the hours he spent playing GTA Vice City, NFS Most Wanted 2005, FlatOut 2, and Total Overdose in his school days. Currently, he is veering towards story-driven, single-player games, with Red Dead Redemption 2 being one of his favorites.

Harshit is an ardent fan of esports titles like CS, Rocket League, and Valorant, with Fnatic, EDG, G2, and Astralis being a few of his favorite orgs. Counter-Strike pro Xantares and Benjifishy, an esports athlete who has mastered both Fortnite and Valorant, are inspirational figures for him.

Harshit works as a music producer under the alias Hysaze. He is extremely passionate about EDM and has garnered over 40 million streams across all platforms. He is also a regular contributor to Fandom’s EDM Wiki.

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Edited by Sijo Samuel Paul