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Arrival is the first level in Marathon. It is also the first level of Arrival, the first chapter of the game. It takes place just after you have arrived on board the UESC Marathon. The level consists of the immediate area around Hangar 7A, which is where your escape pod landed after your transfer shuttle was destroyed. Being a Security Officer, you are armed with a .45 Magnum.

The first computer terminal you arrive at tells you that the Marathon is being attacked by unknown hostile forces. You receive a message from Leela, one of the Marathon's three shipboard Artificial Intelligences. Leela directs you to a nearby jump pad, which can teleport you to the next level (Bigger Guns Nearby).

The objective of this level is simply to survive and make it to the last terminal. Along the way, you will encounter low-level Pfhor Fighters and S'pht Compilers. The level contains a number of rooms with windows looking out into space, as well as a claustrophobic, maze-like tangle of engineering corridors.

This level contains two Pattern Buffers and a 1x shield recharger.

Walkthrough[]

The goal of this level is to survive and make it to the last terminal. Because of the weak Pfhor on this level, this is a good level to practice the running punch techinque, as well as circling packs of aliens to get them to fight each other.

You start off in the northwest past of the level. Make your way to the northeast room, where you will find the game's first Pattern Buffer; use it to save your game progress. In this room there there is a door that seems to be inaccessible to the player. However, the Switch out in the hallway will open the column that separates the player from the door. The player can also run and jump around the column to the ledge that has the door.

Don't forget to fully explore the maze area: there is some extra Ammunition, an additional Pattern Buffer, and a 1x Shield Recharger. Watch out for the S'pht Compilers though!

To clear the bottom right room of the projectile Pfhor, either wait up at the openings and use your gun to take them out, or jump down and run circle around them to get them to fight each other. The exit terminal of the map can be found in the middle of the map.

There is a secret room in the bottom rightmost room on the map. Make sure you approach the room from the right side (you need to open a door to enter the room). Then, with the door open, take a step or three back to get a running start, then immediately as you get into the room, break into a 180 degree turn to the left and land on the small ledge in the middle of the room. One tap of the action key later will get you a clip of each type of ammo. You can also jump across to the small ledge on the other side of the room, follow it around, and make a small jump back to the right ledge and then on to the secret room.

Terminals[]

Airlock 34-a Terminal Access <Port 19.1.2.128>[]

This first terminal is encountered at the beginning of the level, along with an ambush for unwary players. It contains a broadcast sent to all terminals announcing the attack by the Pfhor on the Marathon. It also contains a second message sent directly to the player from the AI Leela. This message contains maps directing the player to the level's pattern buffer and the teleportation terminal in the hangar bay control room, which is the exit of the level.

Hangar Area-5 Engineering Access 50-h<291.7.577.456>[]

This terminal is found being accessed by a S'pht Compiler and an examination of the contents suggests that it was trying to document aspects of humanity and presumably send them back to the Pfhor ship, but the process was interrupted when the player killed it.

Hangar Area-5 Engineering Access 49-h<294.2.577.456>[]

This terminal is also being accessed by a S'pht Compiler, and circumstances are the same but there is no comprehensible information here, story wise. (Some of the garbled letters and numbers can be converted from hexadecimal into ASCII characters to yield the word "rocket!")

Hangar Area 5 Teleporter Pad Terminal<93.53.211.53>[]

In this terminal, Leela describes the invasion of the Marathon as "uncoordinated", but warns that the attack on the computer systems is anything but. She recommends the player kills any Pfhor he finds, particularly the S'pht Compilers, before teleporting him out.

Trivia[]

  • The music for this level is titled Landing, and it gives off an eerie atmosphere. It is track #7.
  • The named regions on the level map include "Observation Deck #221" and "Hanger 7A (Port)". The latter name is misspelled: it should have been "Hangar 7A (Port)".

Sources[]

Marathon - Level 0: Arrival

Levels
Marathon
Arrival ArrivalBigger Guns NearbyNever Burn Money
Counterattack Defend THIS!Couch FishingThe RoseSmells Like Napalm, Tastes Like Chicken!Cool FusionG4 SunbathingBlaspheme Quarantine
Reprisal Bob-B-QShake Before Using...
Durandal Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!Colony Ship For Sale, CheapHabe QuiddamNeither High nor Low
The Pfhor Pfhor Your Eyes Only...No Artificial ColorsUnpfhorgivenTwo Times Two Equals...Beware of Low-Flying Defense Drones...EupfhoriaPfhoraphobiaAin't Got Time Pfhor This...
Rebellion Welcome to the Revolution...Try againIngue Ferroque
Network levels Mars Needs WomenCarnage Palace Deee-luxe5-D SpaceArenaE Equals MC What!!!!Showered With GrenadesSpiral InsanityWaldo World ArenaWhat Goes Up Must Come DownYou Don't Need To See My ID
Marathon 2: Durandal
Lh'owon Waterloo WaterparkThe Slings & Arrows of Outrageous FortuneCharon Doesn't Make Change
Volunteers What About Bob?Come and Take your MedicineWe're Everywhere
Garrison Ex CathedraNuke And PaveCuriouser and Curiouser...
Citadel Eat It, Vid Boi!The Hard Stuff Rules...Bob's Big DateSix Thousand Feet Under
Durandal If I Had a Rocket Launcher, I'd Make Somebody PaySorry Don't Make It SoFor Carnage, Apply WithinBegging For Mercy Makes Me Angry!
Captured The Big House
Blake This Side Toward EnemyGod Will Sort The Dead...My Own Private ThermopylaeKill Your Television
Simulacrums Where the Twist FlopsBeware of Abandoned Rental TrucksRequiem For a Cyborg
S'pht'Kr Fatum Iustum StultorumFeel the NoiseAll Roads Lead To Sol...
Network levels ThunderdomeShangri-LaNo DisintegrationsOK, HoneybunnyLack Of VisionFlight Of The ToolatorGiant Flaming Pit Of LavaHouse Of Pane16th ParallelOne Hit WonderOK, Who wants SomeEveryone's Mortal But Me5-D space
Marathon Infinity
Prologue Ne Cede Malis
Despair Rise Robot Rise Robot World Arena
Poor Yorick Two for the Price of One
Confound Delivery
Electric Sheep OneWhere are monsters in dreams Aie Mak Sicur
Rage Acme StationPost Naval TraumaWhere Some Rarely GoThing What Kicks...Electric Sheep TwoWhatever You Please Carroll Street Station
Naw Man He's CloseFoe HammerHang BrainElectric Sheep ThreeEat the Path You're Wormfood, Dude
Envy By CommitteeOne thousand thousand slimy thingsA Converted Church in Venice, ItalySon of GrendelStrange AeonsBagged AgainYou Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time!Aye Mak Sicur
Vidmaster Challenge Try AgainIf I Had a Rocket Launcher, I'd Make Somebody PayYou Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time!
Network levels DualityThrudWrath No More?Y.A.F.N.M.Beyond ThunderdomeVulcanHouse of PainKing of PainEx Justicia MortisDead FieldsReturn to WaldoThink and ChunkyRoute 66MorphfineRoute 66 (604 or better)La Cosa NostraDelusions of GrandeurSplineMars Needs WomenWho's Got the Itchiesreverof nohtaram`Fugee CampMeletoninFortress Lh'owon
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