Mystic Marathon

Mystic Marathon is a horizontally scrolling arcade game released by Williams Electronics in 1984. The game presents a footrace between horned, shoe-wearing, fantasy creatures on a course covering small islands and the water between them.[2] It was programmed by Kristina Donofrio (lead) and Ken Graham.[3] Donofrio later worked on Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest.[4]

Mystic Marathon
Developer(s)Williams Electronics
Publisher(s)Williams Electronics
Programmer(s)Kristina Donofrio
Ken Graham
Platform(s)Arcade
Release
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player
Arcade systemWilliams 6809 REV.2[1]

The game was only available as a conversion kit for Williams games with horizontal monitors, the first kit from the company.[5][6] Three versions were released: one for Defender; one for Joust, Robotron: 2084, and Stargate; and one for Bubbles.[7]

Mystic Marathon was released in the year following the video game crash of 1983 alongside Turkey Shoot and Inferno, none of which were as successful as earlier titles from Williams or ported to contemporary home systems.

Gameplay

The game is a left-to-right footrace between the player-controlled creature and six controlled by the computer. The goal is to finish in the top three to progress to the next race. A map at the top of the screen shows the entire course and position of the contestants.

Each island contains multiple paths, and the creatures have to swim the water between the islands, which is slower than running.[2] Many obstacles slow the creatures down, including apple-throwing trees, lightning, sea monsters, giant clams, and sinkholes. There are also ways to move forward quickly, such as a hand that throws a character and caves that warp the creature to the exit. In addition to a joystick for movement, there is a jump button.

Emulation

When emulated via MAME, the colors are displayed incorrectly. The sky and water are shades of blue in the actual game, but magenta and violet under MAME, and the rocks are pink instead of gray.[3][8] Most of the screenshots and video of Mystic Marathon on the web were taken from MAME with incorrect colors.

References
  1. "WILLIAMS 6809 REV.2 HARDWARE". System 16: The Arcade Museum.
  2. "Mystic Marathon". Tomorrow's Heroes.
  3. "Mystic Marathon". Killer List of Video Games.
  4. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  5. "Mystic Marathon Flyer". The Arcade Flyer Archive. Williams Electronics.
  6. "Williams Announces First Conversions". Cash Box: 40. March 24, 1984.
  7. "Mystic Marathon Manual" (PDF). gamesdbase.com. Williams Electronics.
  8. "Mystic marathon colors wrong". MAMEWorld Forums. September 9, 2015.
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