''Mystic Marathon'' is a horizontally scrolling

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an arca ...

released by

Williams Electronics WMS Industries, Inc. was an American electronic gaming and amusement manufacturer in Enterprise, Nevada. It was merged into Scientific Games in 2016. WMS's predecessor was the Williams Manufacturing Company, founded in 1943 by Harry E. Williams ...

in 1984. The game presents a race between horned, shoe-wearing, fantasy creatures called "Benkins" on a course covering small islands and the water between them. It was programmed by Kristina Donofrio (lead) and Ken Graham. Donofrio later worked on '' Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest''. The game was only available as a conversion kit for Williams games with horizontal monitors, the first such kit from the company. Three versions were released: one for '' Defender''; one for ''

Joust Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying to strike the opponent w ...

'', '' Robotron: 2084'', and ''

Stargate ''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...

''; and one for '' Bubbles''. 500 conversion kits were produced in total along with 5 dedicated cabinet prototypes. ''Mystic Marathon'' was released in the year following the

video game crash of 1983 The video game crash of 1983 (known as the Atari shock in Japan) was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985, primarily in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including ma ...

alongside ''Turkey Shoot'' and ''Inferno'', none of which were as successful as earlier games from Williams or ported to contemporary home systems.

Development

''Mystic Marathon'' was developed by

, with Kristina Donofrio as the lead designer and programmer, Ken Graham as the secondary programmer, with input from

Python Anghelo Python Vladimir Anghelo (January 1, 1954 – April 9, 2014) was a graphic artist best known for his work on Video game, video games and pinball machines. Anghelo was born in Transylvania, Romania, and moved to the United States when he was 17. ...

and

Noah Falstein Noah Falstein (born June 1957) is a game designer and producer who has been in the video game industry since 1980, winning "Game of the Year" titles for multiple games such as '' Battlehawks 1942'' and ''Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis''. ...

. Donofrio had previously worked on Williams pinball games as a sound engineer; Graham did additional programming for other Williams games including ''

Sinistar ''Sinistar'' is a 1983 multidirectional shooter arcade game developed and manufactured by Williams Electronics. It was created by Sam Dicker, Jack Haeger, Noah Falstein, RJ Mical, Python Anghelo, and Richard Witt. Players control a spacecraft pi ...

'' and '' Bubbles''. Graham's primary responsibility on ''Mystic Marathon'' was to generate the backgrounds and sprites. It was the first game for Williams 6809 REV.2 hardware. The sound synthesis is reused from Williams System 7 hardware.

Gameplay

The game is a left-to-right footrace between the player-controlled an elf-like creature (a "Benkin") and six other Benkins controlled by the computer. The goal is to finish in the top three to progress to the next race. A radar 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 Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

between the

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s, which is slower than running. Many obstacles slow the creatures down, including

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

-throwing

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

sea monster Sea monsters are beings from folklore believed to dwell in the sea and often imagined to be of immense size. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or tentacled beasts. They can be slimy and scaly and are ofte ...

giant clam The giant clams are the members of the clam genus ''Tridacna'' that are the largest living bivalve mollusks. There are actually several species of "giant clams" in the genus ''Tridacna'', which are often misidentified for ''Tridacna gigas'', th ...

s, and sinkholes. There are also ways to move forward quickly, such as a

hand A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "h ...

that throws a character and

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

s that warp the creature to the exit. In addition to a

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

for movement, there is a jump button.

Emulation

When emulated via

MAME MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve ...

, 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. Most of the screenshots and video of ''Mystic Marathon'' on the web were taken from MAME with incorrect colors.

References

External links

*{{internet archive game, arcade_mysticm. This version also has incorrect colors. 1984 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Action video games Assembly language software Video games developed in the United States Williams video games