Marathon 1 (1994)
Marathon 1 MIDI files
Direct Exports from QuickTime
Original MIDI files. Note that all files are 60 bpm 4/4, owing to how QuickTime stored MIDI data in .mov files (which is what Marathon’s soundtrack actually used).
Quantized Marathon 1 MIDIs
Quantized files with the correct tempi and time signatures.
(Still forthcoming: Non-quantized files with the correct tempi and time signatures.)
Marathon 1 Remixes
Craig Hardgrove’s site has a massive number of these. Except as noted, the following aren’t on his site, and unless otherwise noted, they all contain at least one remix of every track in Marathon 1’s OST:
QuickTime 2.0/2.5 stereo
Headphones strongly recommended. QuickTime 2.0 in the left channel, QuickTime 2.5 in the right. Technically, these could be counted as my second remixes of the OST (I released them on 2021-02-03), but I’ve listed them first because they’re so similar in sound to the OST that they barely qualify as remixes. I expected these to be a curiosity that would only garner mild interest, but they’ve become my YouTube channel’s fourth-most watched video with over 30,000 views and 500 likes.
Aaron Freed’s QuickTime 2.5 remixes (1997)
“This is genius. How had I not stumbled upon this sooner?” –@Loch_Ness_Lachster (YT)
My first remixes. Extremely faithful to the original sound, adding only stereo, reverb, new instruments, and a few other flourishes.
- YouTube
- FLAC
- Ogg Vorbis
- See also my complete discography
Tobacco (2001-07-24)
Upmastered FLAC. Contains the following eight tracks:
- Chomber
- Fat Man
- Flowers in Heaven
- Landing
- Leela
- Rushing
- Splash (Marathon)
- Swirls
Wonderful remakes that add some tasteful – and tasty – new instrumental parts.
Chibi-usa (2002-03-11)
Upmastered FLAC. Tasteful reorchestrations with a higher-quality synthesizer.
Cannibal Whore Feast (2003-08-12)
Upmastered FLAC. Contains the following eight tracks:
- Aliens Again
- Flippant
- Freedom
- Guardians
- New Pacific
- New Pacific (reprise)
- Rapture
- What About Bob?
Like Chibi-usa’s, these are tasteful reorchestrations with a higher-quality synthesizer. And you can combine these with Tobacco’s for another complete set of remixes.
Eternal X (2008-02-23 to present)
“Criminally under-exposed soundtrack. Marty and Alex would and should be proud.” –@Stuby451 (YT)
“Going through Eternal now, it’s the end of my Marathon journey after playing the games and other scenarios. So glad I've left this one for last, it’s perfection.” –@thecosmicentity5597 (YT)
“Going into Eternal: It can’t be that good…
Finishing Eternal: It’s…perfect.” –@strife1707 (YT)
First released 2008-02-23⁽¹⁾ and has grown and expanded with each 1.x release.
Eternal X 1.2 OST (2018-12-21⁽²⁾)
by Dr Craig Hardgrove, Tommy T-Bone, Nicholas Singer, & Eike Steffen
featuring compositions by Alexander Seropian, Marty O’Donnell, & Michael Salvatori
Upmastered FLAC. Craig’s site has the Ogg Vorbis files (but if you have Eternal X 1.2 or 1.2.1, you already have most of these anyway) and a link to the YouTube video. These may remain the most famous and acclaimed remakes of the OST; if not, they’re probably neck-and-neck with CKT’s.
Eternal X 1.3 (WIP, may be released sometime in 2026)
by Aaron Freed, Dr Craig Hardgrove, wowbobwow, Talashar, CKT1138, Solar-Tron, Dan Storm, Matrix_XV, Tommy T-Bone, Nicholas Singer, Trey J. Anderson, & Eike Steffen
featuring compositions by Alexander Seropian, Marty O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori, & Chris Christodoulou
Over eight hours of music by thirteen contributors, mostly inspired by Marathon’s music. There’s overlap with several composers’ work below, but many tracks have been revised, remixed, or remastered for Eternal 1.3, and as they frequently segue seamlessly into one another, you probably won’t have heard most of them in these exact configurations before. The OST has been updated and expanded substantially even in recent months, and several of its mixes are unique to Eternal 1.3.
There are two releases of this soundtrack. Read carefully to determine which you want:
- Original Soundtrack (OST): FLAC/upmastered FLAC (depending on track). Meant for listening outside the game; the quietest sections are left at their original volume levels, and tracks that loop in-game will loop past the loop point and then fade out. The level music for “We Met Once in the Garden” (which changes over the course of the level dynamically based on in-game events) is combined into a single track. Filenames contain track numbers and spaces.
- In-game soundtrack: FLAC/upmastered FLAC (depending on track). For use in-game with 1.3 preview 6 (and the forthcoming preview 7). Tracks that loop in-game will cut off suddenly if played in an audio player, and I made the quietest sections of a few tracks louder so they’ll be audible over the game sound effects. The level music for “We Met Once in the Garden” is split into three tracks. Tracks are grouped into folders, and the filenames are less useful.
Eternal 1.3’s soundtrack incorporates tracks that appear in several other collections here, including Craig Hardgrove’s Somewhere in the Heavens, Talashar’s Eupfhoria, CKT1138 and Matrix_XV’s remixes, my 1997 remixes, and See You Starside (and its related albums); however, they are generally modified from their original forms in various ways.
Craig Hardgrove – Marathon: Somewhere in the Heavens (2011-07-18)
The bulk of Eternal’s soundtrack prior to 1.3, and still a major component of it in 1.3.
GarageBand source files & original exports (released 2024-01-15)
AIFF, M4A, MP3, & .band via Craig’s website. (The link to the source files on his downloads page actually just links to the original MP3 releases; he posted the correct link on his news page.)
2024-01-23 remaster
FLAC/upmastered FLAC: Remasters of higher-quality sources of seventeen tracks on Eternal X 1.2’s OST. Eleven tracks (listed alphabetically, with track numbers preceding them) have lossless AIFF sources:
- “Chomber”
- “Flippant”
- “Flowers in Heaven”
- “Guardians”
- “Landing”
- “Leela”
- “New Pacific (reprise)”
- “Rapture”
- “Rushing”
- “Swirls”
- “Swirls (piano)”
I’ve upmastered the other six, which were lossy M4A:
- “Aliens Again”
- “Fat Man”
- “Freedom”
- “New Pacific”
- “Splash (Marathon)”
- “What About Bob?”
In addition, I’ve declipped most tracks to mitigate clipping distortion. These are likely the highest-quality versions of these tracks I’ll be able to make until I’m able to re-export the original project files in GarageBand 1.1.0 and 3.0.5 sans clipping; however, a few project files have missing loops, and if we can’t locate them, I may be unable to remaster them all perfectly.
Will Christian (2016-10-17)
Some interesting, inventive takes. I wouldn’t have thought to rearrange ‘Leela’ as a metal track, but… somehow, it works.
Talashar – Eupfhoria (2018-11-18)
“One of, if not the best Marathon 1 music remakes out there.” –borpo_the_wizard (BC)
Atmospheric reorchestrations that add new layers of harmony and melody, resulting in some fantastic twists on old classics.
- Bandcamp (stream, FLAC, other formats)
- YouTube
- Steam Workshop
CKT1138 (2021-03-12)
“This is great. It still preserves the original aesthetics while just updating it.” –@navarroguard7911 (YT)
“Superb. It’s like Seropian made the soundtrack today.” -@R0bertRodriguez (YT)
“Wow, this is brilliant. I’d imagine this is what it would sound like if the OG game got a 10-year anniversary remake. Awesome job.” –@ciaranmeehan5481 (YT)
Faithful reorchestrations using vintage ’80s and early ’90s synthesizers, with a sound worthy of Vangelis’ Blade Runner OST on several tracks. To be honest, these are so well done that they’ve killed the entire concept of “faithful Marathon soundtrack remakes” stone-cold dead for me (which CKT later acknowledged as his exact intention – in general, that is, not for me specifically); I can’t imagine anyone ever topping them. My recent versions (see below) have had exactly the opposite aim from “faithful remake”.
Matrix_XV (2022-08-28)
Lush, generally faithful remakes with modern synthesizers; the points of departure, like the Black Sabbath-inspired take on ‘Landing’, are superb.
Aaron Freed – See You Starside: The Marathon Soundtrack Reimagined (2023-02-04)
“Great stuff, at times almost completely unrecognizable (in a good way), and quite ambitious! Great listen for those wanting a fresh take on the motifs and melodies of this old obscure game soundtrack.” –CKT1138 (YT)
“This album does a great job of replicating that weird and wonderful nature of Marathon that I felt when first playing it all those years ago. Fantastic work, this one is going in my favorites.” –@JSteves216 (YT)
“Very different from the original, but that is refreshing after all this time, especially since it remains firmly rooted to that original in a very satisfying way…. Thank you for this labor of love.” –@a_Puddle210 (YT)
My latest complete Marathon arrangement album, made from 2022-12 to 2021-01 in GarageBand. I began this project already planning to take creative liberties with the OST’s sound, and the more familiar I became with GarageBand’s surprisingly robust feature set, the more I took; I heavily expanded many tracks almost to a “complete rewrite” extent (See You Starside adds some thirty-eight minutes to the OST’s running time; nine tracks more than doubled in length). Samples of Roland drum machines and Mellotrons are ubiquitous. This album’s primary stylistic influences are ’70s progressive rock, ’80s pop, ’90s Japanese game soundtracks, and ’90s
- Steam Workshop
- FLAC (suitable for external music players) & Ogg Vorbis (suitable for in-game use)
- YouTube (if you watch this, please use an adblocker such as uBlock Origin, as I neither want advertisements on this video nor receive any money from them)
- Webpage
- My first drafts (from 2022-12-05), ’70s/’80s-style remixes inspired by Marathon’s ‘used future’ aesthetic
- Interim revisions
- My complete discography
That’s hardly all, though – See You Starside spawned several spin-offs:
Aaron Freed – Violins Again: An Orchestral Marathon Soundtrack (2023-02-04)
FLAC. The above mixes’ ‘orchestral’ counterpart (though, as I can’t afford to hire an actual orchestra, it’s really every bit as synthetic). Most of the melodies are identical, but the instrumentation favours violins, harps, and pianos over guitars or synthesizers (though this is not a universal rule). Occasionally, the orchestra is more eastern (you’ll hear a koto on several tracks and a sitar on at least one), or may involve electric violins, viole, celli, or basses; unfortunately, we were unable to confirm the involvement of any electric light orchestrae. I don’t really like this title, but I never thought of a better one.
Aaron Freed – …And Beyond: The Marathon Future Symphonic Mixes (2023-02-04)
FLAC. The result of combining See You Starside with Violins Again. Honestly, I don’t really like this title either, but again, I never thought of anything better. The subtitle is at least justifiable in that, by the time Marathon takes place, genres like rock, jazz, and even hip-hop and metal may well be termed Classical music the way we colloquially call Baroque, Romantic, and even Modernist music ‘Classical’, even though the Classical period was properly only from ca. 1750 to ca. 1820.
Aaron Freed – See You Starside 2.0 (WIP)
WIP revisions of the above sets using Logic Pro and EastWest ComposerCloud+ instruments. I composed and arranged the above sets entirely in GarageBand and, with only four exceptions, used GarageBand or MainStage instruments – I wanted to show that it needn’t cost a fortune to make music that sounds good. (Violins Again and …And Beyond’s ‘Aliens Again’ and ‘Chomber’ use ComposerCloud+ instruments. MainStage is an entirely reasonable $50, and GarageBand comes free with every Mac.) I’m now revising them with professional-grade software and instrumentation, but note that several tracks currently have significant instrument balance issues; I’ll fix these in subsequent revisions.
PixelMations (2024-08-01)
Max Repka – Marathon RePfhorged (2024-10-02)
Your Name Here?
Several others (e.g., wowbobwow, Storm, dontask4470, Zesorath, & Myrzir) have begun but, as of the last time I’d checked (which was admittedly a long time ago), hadn’t yet finished what I sincerely hope will be complete sets of remixes of the entire OST. Search their names on the Discord and add ‘has: sound’ to find them.
Marathon 2 & Infinity Fan OSTs
Marathon 2 Fan OSTs
Marathon 2 Special Edition OST
by Mark Sumner (Zipper Cat), Mike Gorczynski (The Punisher), Cannibal Whore Feast (Iain McLaughlin), Julian Zielke (Mercenary), & MuShoo
The first complete Marathon 2 fan soundtrack. I think it was probably released between 2005 to 2007, but I don’t have any idea of the exact date. This was originally the soundtrack for the Marathon 2 Special Edition. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Marathon 2 Special Edition is. You have to see it for yourself.
- Upmastered FLAC plugin; save it in your Marathon 2 directory’s “Plugins” subdirectory to use it in-game (requires Aleph One 1.7 or later).
- I originally posted this remastered version on Discord.
Talashar – Feel the Noise (2024-09-16)
The second complete Marathon 2 fan soundtrack, released on 2024-09-16.
- An Ogg Vorbis version suitable for in-game use is available on Simplici7y.
- It’s also available on Steam Workshop.
- A FLAC version is available on Bandcamp.
Solar-Tron – The Solar Soundtrack for M2 (2024-12-21)
The third complete Marathon 2 fan soundtrack, released on 2024-12-21; version 1.1 (released 2025-01-01) included some bug fixes and a few new music segments, and version 1.2 (released 2025-01-07) included some EQ tweaks and additional bug fixes. It incorporates several novel dynamic music elements that had not been incorporated to this extent in any project available at the time of its release.
Unfortunately, I suspect that using it probably disables Steam achievements for the rest of any save it was used in, since its dynamic music features incorporate Lua scripting, and to my knowledge, use of any Lua script categorically disables Steam achievements for the remainder of any save where the script was used, regardless of whether it had any effect on gameplay or conferred any advantages whatsoever to players. (Solar-Tron began this project long before Steam achievements existed.)
- A plugin suitable for in-game use is available on Simplici7y
- A FLAC version is available on Bandcamp
- You can also stream it on YouTube
Aaron Freed – Τὼ μᾰρᾰ́θω (2025 - WIP)
In April 2025, I realized that since June 2024, I’d written more than enough songs to have unique background music for every level in Marathon 2’s solo campaign. Thus, I present the prototype for the fourth (at minimum) Marathon 2 fan soundtrack. It isn’t finished yet – I need to remix a few tracks and adapt some dynamic scripts I planned these tracks to use when I wrote them, but it’s already a fully functional plugin with twenty-eight unique tracks (one per level of the solo game) that collectively run for over four hours and ten minutes (an average of nine minutes of music per level).
Τὼ μᾰρᾰ́θω (romanized: Tṑ mărắthō) is an Attic Greek pun on Two Marathons (the documentation explains more fully). I make no promises to make a Marathon Infinity soundtrack soon, or necessarily ever, but if I do, I’ll call it Τᾰ̀ μᾰ́ρᾰθᾰ (Tằ mắrăthă, a similar pun on At Least Three Marathons).
These songs originally appeared on Compositions 2023-2024, Mūsica ex tempore malōrum, and Κᾰτηγορῐκή ᾰ̓πολογῐ́ᾱ. (Also of note: Selected Works, 2023-2024 collected my favorite works from its eponymous years.)
- Until I finish this, it will just be available from my Dropbox, but I’ll upload it to Simplici7y and possibly Steam Workshop when it’s done.
Marathon Infinity Fan OSTs
Talashar – Strange Aeons (2024-04-10)
Talashar released Strange Aeons, the first complete Marathon Infinity fan soundtrack, on 2024-04-10.
- An Ogg Vorbis version suitable for in-game use is available on Simplici7y.
- It’s also available on Steam Workshop.
- A FLAC version is available on Bandcamp; one track is from Eupfhoria, found above.
Mod OSTs
In rough chronological order (I don’t know Trojan’s exact release date, and there are conflicting sources on Excalibur 1.0’s). Eternal is with the Marathon 1 remixes, as that’s most of what it contains.
Trojan (1997-06)
by Tom Worth, John Carlo Maffei, Jason Aguiar, Steve Campbell, and Hamish Sanderson
“I don't know who Tom Worth is, but he should be up there with Lee Jackson and Bobby Prince for awesome 90s FPS soundtracks” –@killbot_factory (YT)
I never got into Trojan, except for its OST. (Ironic, as I worked on the Standalone Edition. I think I just came to it too late – Marathon 1’s 255-polygon cap on level size very likely prevented Marathon 1 mods from ever clicking with me.) Tom Worth in particular has an uncanny knack for composing tracks that, by all rights, should be maddeningly repetitive, but his command of melody and rhythm is so sublime that it’s all but impossible not to surrender to the groove.
These are technically remastered, but they sound almost the same as the originals apart from having slightly more dynamic range (and the originals were already very dynamic).
Excalibur: Morgana’s Revenge
Excalibur: Morgana’s Revenge 1.0 OST (1997-06⁽³⁾)
I never got into EMR either, but this soundtrack goes unreasonably hard – it’s full of catchy, clever, memorable melodies that interweave beautifully with each other. The 3.0 soundtrack is probably even better, though it doesn’t give me the same nostalgia kick.
FLAC. Mostly composed by James Bisset, except:
- “Jurassic Carmina” is an arrangement of Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” (Carmina Burana, 1937-06-08)
- “The Raptor Sleeps” is an arrangement of Solomon Linda & the Evening Birds’ 1939 single “Mbube” (from the Zulu imbube, meaning lion), best known to the Western world from the Weavers’ 1961 cover of it as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (which is the primary basis of the arrangement).
Excalibur: Morgana’s Revenge 3.0 OST (2007-05-29)
by James Bisset, Bill Catambay, Bob Chamot, Dane Smith, Solra Bizna, Mark Sumner, et al.
Upmastered FLAC (mostly; three tracks are still MP3s because upmastering them wouldn’t have restored any dynamic range or high-frequency audio data). These are entirely different arrangements and, often, songs. I also don’t know many of their correct titles or composers, but neither did EMR3’s creators.
Marathon Phoenix (2010-06-15⁽⁴⁾)
by CryoS & Kevin MacLeod
“This is incredible, every track is a masterpiece in its own right 👍” –@coreofsuns (YT)
Yes, that Kevin MacLeod. And his work is every bit as good as you’d expect – and CryoS’ is just as good. Some dude on YouTube wrote that CryoS and MacLeod:
provided some superb, extremely diverse work. “Animosity” is worthy of Vangelis’ Blade Runner OST; “Chronological” should be the final movement of a seven-part Genesis epic; “Babylon” is absolutely gorgeous and would’ve fit beautifully on Yasunori Mitsuda’s Chrono Cross OST; “Misuse” could be a chart-topping club banger from an alternate timeline; and so on.
Couldn’t have put it better myself. :-)
- YouTube
- upmastered FLAC (a few of these tracks may be older versions)
- MP3 & remastered sounds (Phoenix 1.4.x includes all of this but the remastered title theme & sounds)
dungeons presents hellpak (2022–)
dungeons presents hellpak: Vol. 1 – Not Recommended by Doctors (2022-09-19⁽⁵⁾)
by tbcr, Matrix_XV, CKT1138, & NEFX
As the person that mastered this soundtrack, I’m admittedly biased, but nonetheless, it is a truth universally acknowledged that hellpak’s OST slaps.
- YouTube (note: this is part of the hellpak gameplay)
- upmastered FLAC
dungeons presents hellpak: Vol. 2 – An Exercise in Questionable Taste (WIP, to be released 2025)
by Matrix_XV, tbcr, CKT1138, Aaron Freed, & NEFX
FLAC. (Note: As this currently contains over seven hours of music and some 130 tracks, only around 30% of what’s in here will make it into the final release.)
Apotheosis X (2022-10-31)
by hypersleep
Tempus Irae Redux (WIP soundtrack, 2025-01-03; finished game released 2025-03-16)
by Aaron Freed, Alexander Nakarada, Rafael Krux, Kevin MacLeod, Chris Christodoulou, Nine Inch Nails, Bryan Teoh, Brian Boyko, CKT1138, Sean Magee, Rich Wilcox, & Fungus Amongus
FLAC or upmastered FLAC. This is almost three months out of date and contains numerous discrepancies with the final game’s soundtrack. I make no promises on when or if I will bring it up to date; I had nothing to do with subsequent changes, and updating it would take me a lot of work that I currently don’t really have time for. (Readers may be interested in my commentary on Compositions 2023-2024 and Mūsica ex tempore malōrum, which between them contain dozens of tracks I wrote with Tempus Irae Redux in mind.)