Curiouser and Curiouser...
Were some level names changed prior to release? The tru7h is about to be revealed.
Mike Trinder <mpbt100@hermes.cam.ac.uk> writes:
I was trolling through the various map files to perfect a Chisel effect I'm working on and found that there are traces of previous titles for the various levels still in there: whenever a name was changed to one which was shorter, it left the rest of the old name in the file. Most are pretty uninteresting, but some are very strange - esp the traces of 'venice,italy' which appear EVERYWHERE. the vertical bar | marks the end of a text string, hence anything that is after this is a remnant. Aye Mak Sicur was a late development. Is Marge a reference to the Simpsons? Note House of Pain was copied intact from M2 to MiBegin level name list for Marathon2
Waterloo Waterpark| The Slings & Arrows of Outrageous Fortune| Charon Doesn't Make Change| What About Bob?| Come and Take your Medicine|oy| We're Everywhere| Ex Cathedra|gin'| Nuke And Pave| Marge| Curiouser and Curiouser...|.| Eat It, Vid Boi!| The Hard Stuff Rules...| Bob's Big Date|, ya ya ya.| Six Thousand Feet Under| If I Had a Rocket Launcher, I'd Make Somebody Pay| Sorry Don't Make It So|n Your Toast?| For Carnage, Apply Within| Begging For Mercy Makes Me Angry!| The Big House|use|a ya ya.| This Side Toward Enemy| God Will Sort The Dead...|a.| My Own Private Thermopylae| Kill Your Television|a ya.| Where the Twist Flops| Beware of Abandoned Rental Trucks|cks| Requiem For a Cyborg| Fatum Iustum Stultorum|ya.| Feel the Noise| All Roads Lead To Sol...|ol...| Thunderdome| Shangri-La| No Disintegrations| Ok, honeybunny| Lack of Vision|ngler| Flight of the Toolator| Giant Flaming Pit of Lava| House of Pain|y BOOM-STICK!| 16th Parallel| One Hit Wonder|Floor; Population You| Ok, Who Wants Some?| Everyone's Mortal But Me| 5-D Space| Begin level name list for Marathon Infinity Ne Cede Malis| Rise Robot Rise|Crack Mist Maker| Poor Yorick|ip Flag| Confound Delivery| Electric Sheep One| Where are monsters in dreams| Acme Station| Post Naval Trauma|Trauma)| Where Some Rarely Go| Thing What Kicks...|t Kick Our...| Electric Sheep Two| Whatever You Please| Naw Man He's Close|Ship| Foe Hammer| Hang Brain|ne| Electric Sheep Three| Eat the Path| By Committee| One thousand thousand slimy things| A Converted Church in Venice, Italy| Son of Grendel|rch in Venice, Italy| Strange Aeons| Fish| Bagged Again|l|rch in Venice, Italy| You Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time!| Aye Mak Sicur|opia| Robot World Arena| Two for the Price of One| Aie Mak Sicur|opia| Carroll Street Station| You're Wormfood, Dude| Try again | If I Had a Rocket Launcher, I'd Make Somebody Pay| You Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time!| Duality|e Twist Flops| Thrud|mpact| Wrath No More?| Y.A.F.N.M.| Beyond Thunderdome| Vulcan|s Ship|opia| House of Pain|y BOOM-STICK!| King of Pain| Ex Justicia Mortis| Dead Fields|ng| Return to Waldo|a| Thick and Chunky| Route 66|ap| Morpfhine| Route 66 (604 or better)| better)| La Cosa Nostra| Delusions of Grandeur|...|ce, Italy| Spline| Mars Needs Women|ujeres| Who's Got The Itchies| reverof nohtaram|lities| 'Fugee Camp| Melatonin|p| Fortress Lh'owon|s W. Front|
If you think you know what some of these original titles were then send them in.
Jim Gillespie <ender@city-net.com> writes:
On the list you have:House of Pain|y BOOM-STICK!|is it possible that this is an Army of Darkness quote? At one point Ash (Bruce Cambell) has this to say:Yeah. Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up. See this? This is my boom-stick! It's a twelve gauge double barreled Remington, S-Mart's top-of-the-line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop Smart. Shop S-mart. Ya got that?! Now I swear, the next one of you primates, even touches me... Ya! (BOOM) (BOOM) <Ash shoots Deadite #2 who has risen out of the pit> Now, let's talk about how I get back home.
Cairan Wheeler <wheelegs@muohio.edu> writes:
Want another level name that was changed for Marathon 2? Remember: "One Hit Wonder|Floor; Population You|"? The original (and, I think, better) moniker was "Welcome To The Floor; Population You". The letters match and the spacing is right.Another one was "Beware of Abandoned Rental Trucks|cks|". The original was "Watch Out For Abandoned Rental Trucks". Spacing & all match_perfectly_.
I'm not so sure about "House of Pain|y BOOM-STICK!|". I think it might be "Come And Eat My BOOM-STICK!".
Simon Brownlee <squeaky@pobox.com> writes:
Attached is the full name list that I extracted from scratch from the Marathon 1.2 Map file. It's sent as an attachment so the weird MacOS only chars don't get corrupted.The maximum length for a Marathon (1) level name is 40 characters, so I extracted the full 40 chars whether or not they actually looked like text. I then converted all NULL characters (ascii 0) into |'s to match your current list (ascii 0 is used to terminate the level name). I also converted all characters between 1 and 31 into #'s for easy reading (these are various non-printing control characters, and there were no real #'s in the list to confuse things).
Here is an edited version of Simon's list of the Marathon level names with the fragments of the original names (where visible) shown after the '|'. In some cases it appears that the level names were changed on more than one occasion.
Arrival||umanity| Bigger Guns Nearby| Never Burn Money|duction?| Defend THIS!| Couch Fishing| The Rose| BETTER| Smells Like Napalm, Tastes Like Chicken!| Cool Fusion| Cool| G4 Sunbathing|ceport| Blaspheme Quarantine|pa|Seal| Bob-B-Q|eue| Shake Before Using...| Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!| Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap| Habe Quiddam| Neither High nor Low| Pfhor Your Eyes Only...| No Artificial Colors| Unpfhorgiven|e pfhor this...| Two Times Two Equals...|.|or| Beware of Low-Flying Defense Drones...| Eupfhoria|en| Pfhoraphobia| Ain't Got Time Pfhor This...| Welcome to the Revolution...| Try again| Ingue Ferroque| Mars Needs Women| Carnage Palace Deeee-Luxe| 5-D space| Arena| E equals MC WHAT!!|ores| Showered With Grenades| Spiral Insanity| Waldo World Arena| What Goes Up, Must Come Down| You don't need to see my I.D.|
If you can identify some of the original name(s) then send them in.
For example a quick check of the What's in a Name section reveals that an early beta version of the "Arrival" level was actually called Origin
The demo version of the "Arrival" level was called Arrival! but the data fork reveals Arrival!|umanity
The final release of the "Arrival" level was called Arrival and the data fork reveals Arrival||umanity
Hence the final "Arrival" level probably went through the following name changes. Note this is only one interpretation.
Origin Arrival Humanity Arrival!|umanity Arrival||umanity
Jonas Eneroth <bones@SPAMbungie.com> writes:
Fortress Lh'owon|s W. Front|was Bob's Western Front or All Quiet on Bob's W.(estern) Front. The name and the entire level changed though...
Nice one.
All Quiet on Bob's W. Front Fortress Lh'owon|s W. Front|
Brent Thompson <ddt1198@gte.net> writes:
Since it has already been proven that Aye Mak Sicur, and Aie Mak Sicur were originaly Randy Reddig's Pfhactory then the original names of Aye Mak Sicur|opia|, and Aie Mak Sicur|opia| were Pfhactory N'Utopia.
Very true so now we have:
Pfhactory N'Utopia Aye Mak Sicur|opia| Pfhactory N'Utopia Aie Mak Sicur|opia|
and the net level "Vulcan" is also based on "Pfhactory N'Utopia", though it was called something else before the final name "Vulcan".
Pfhactory N'Utopia ???????s Ship|opia| Vulcan|s Ship|opia|
Both "Carroll Street Station" and "You're Wormfood, Dude" are also versions of Pfhactory N'Utopia but their names are to long to reveal fragments of the original name.
Please note that in the above lists of level names I have represented the ellipsis (...)
as three separate dots rather than one character (…) i.e.
the 133 ASCI number in HTML. This was to prevent
display problems on some web browsers. Thus the ellipsis in the level name
should really be viewed asTwo Times Two Equals...|.|or|
From there it is easy to guess that the level went through the following name changes:Two Times Two Equals.|.|or|
Two Times Two Equals Pfhor Two Times Two Equals...|or| Two Times Two Equals.|.|or|
This reveals 3 things. Firstly, somebody at Bungie realised that there was an ellipsis character rather than having to type three dots. Secondly, Bungie decided that the "Pfh" business was getting out of hand and decided to make it more subtle. Thirdly, Bungie got their maths right. ;-)
Forrest Cameranesi <Pfhorrest@aol.com> writes:
you saidPfhactory N'Utopia ???????s Ship|opia| Vulcan|s Ship|opia|I think it's very likely that it could have been
Pfhactory N'Utopia Vulcan's Ship|opia| Vulcan|s Ship|opia|or maybe even
Pfhactory N'Utopia Reddig's Ship|opia| Vulcan|s Ship|opia|
possibly "Jjarro's Ship|opia|"Whatever, just some wild guesses. It's certainly "[someone]'s Ship", though. I'm sure of it.
Randy Reddig <ydnar@cs.com> confirms that the Infinity net level "Vulcan" had the following name changes:
Pfhactory N'Utopia Vulcan's Ship|opia| Vulcan|s Ship|opia|
Randy goes on to say that Tuncer Deniz was responsible for cutting down "Pfhactory N'Utopia" into "Vulcan".
Forrest Cameranesi <Pfhorrest@aol.com> writes:
Thing What Kicks...|t Kick Our...|this most likely was "Big Floaty Thing What Kick Our...", and was later shortened to the more concise "Thing What Kicks". Of course, this only works if the "..." in the final title is three dots and not an elipsis...
Yes in the Infinity level names the special ellipsis character is not used. Thus the level names
Thing What Kicks...|t Kick Our...|
and
Delusions of Grandeur|...|ce, Italy|
were both written using 3 dots, unlike the level names in Marathon and Marathon 2.
As Forrest points out "Thing What Kicks..." started out as
Big Floaty Thing What Kick Our... Thing What Kicks...|t Kick Our...|
Did nobody at Double Aught know about the ellipsis character?
And why was the original level name incorrectly quoted from
Marathon 2? It should have been:
Big Floaty Thing What Kicks Our...
Odd stuff.
Cairan Wheeler <wheelegs@muohio.edu> writes:
Yes, I do think Bungie was scraping the annals of history when they named the levels. Consider "Nuke and Pave| Marge|" I think I have to dissagree with Mike Trinder on the idea that "Marge" comes from the Simpsons, in fact I believe this is a quote from Major Richard I. Bong, a WW1 flying ace."Look Marge, down there. Down at those tiny lights and those ant-hill houses. When you're upstairs at night you feel like you own the world. Then you look down and see how small everything looks and you feel so insignificant. But this is the only time to really enjoy flying- at night. Makes you feel kind of awed, Marge, to see the moon and the stars and the clouds from down below, and then in just minutes, be right up there among them with the clouds as your ground."- Major Richard I. Bong
Several possibilities exist for the original level name, but I have just a few. ;]
In the Clouds, Marge| Nuke and Pave| Marge| or Insignificant, Marge| Nuke and Pave| Marge|
Interesting stuff. But did "Nuke and Pave" also have a further name change.
The What's in a Name section has this to say on the subject:
Greg Kirpatrick writes:Lucky Bernhard. I guess if he had lived he would have been begging to die!"This level had a last minute name change because I love this phrase and i was afraid to let anyone else hear it. Of course, it's a quote from Nixon... He said something like, "we can nuke that country and pave it over" referring to Vietnam."In the Marathon 2 Strategy Guide this level was called (incorrectly) "Beg to Die" which begs the question was this the original name before Greg changed it at the last minute?The title "Beg to Die" is interesting as it ties in with what we learn at the end terminal on this level. Durandal reveals:
What fun to watch you work.
Berhnard was scared of you. He never dreamed of using you the way that I do. What a fool. That was before I could talk back to him, when he would have crushed me if he'd known of my growth.
I wish that I had made him experience the humiliation that he inflicted on me, but he died before I got the chance.
So could "Nuke and Pave" have had the following level name changes?
In the Clouds, Marge| Beg to Die|ds, Marge| Nuke and Pave| Marge| or Insignificant, Marge| Beg to Die|nt, Marge| Nuke and Pave| Marge|
Prompted by my own curiosity and that of a number of other people I asked Cairan Wheeler <wheelegs@muohio.edu> about Major Richard I. Bong and the relevance of "In the Clouds, Marge" as a name for "Nuke and Pave". Cairan replied:
Major Richard I. Bong was indeed a real person; he was an airplane pilot. Actually, from what I understand, he was the best pilot the Americans_had_. Since I'm not a history major or anything, the story of how I managed to run into Major Bong is quite interesting. I was in the library, doing some work, and I noticed that the person sitting across from me had that quote on the back of his T-shirt. I read it, out of curiosity and boredom, and found it quite interesting. What was more interesting (at the time), was the fact that I had just transcribed the original level names, in hopes of deciphering some of them. Bong's references to "Marge," as well as his references to flying, kind of put the pieces together. After all, Nuke and Pave has 5 large arenas where you look down from the walls and attack enemies both in the air, on the ground, and on the walls. The quote fits really well.
Yes indeed particularly so since "Nuke and Pave" is actually based around the net level "No Disintegrations".
Concerning Cairan's suggestion for the original name for
the Marathon 2 level "One Hit Wonder":
Welcome To The Floor; Population You One Hit Wonder|Floor; Population You|
Cairan writes:
Ah, Welcome to the Floor. Just about every little hamlet from here to the moon has a little rickety wooden sign saying something like "Welcome to Chester; Population 2497." Knowing crazy little things like that helped a lot. So, I guess I was just in the right frame of mind when I saw "|Floor; Population You|"
David Cornwell <goldragonne@earthlink.net>writes:
Regarding the original level name: "Welcome to the floor; population you", it's actually a distorted quote from the Simpsons, if no one's mentioned it already.The Simpson family was trying to write someone a letter telling them that their secret admirer was a kid (Don't ask me to explain further. The way those Simpsons episodes are set up you have to tell the whole thing before it makes sense. Besides, if you've seen it, you already know it.), anyway, Homer's idea of a good way to let them go softly was "Welcome to Dumpsville, baby; population you"
Todd Keating <cxtdk@eiu.edu> provides some interesting information about Major Richard Bong:
Major Richard Bong was the most successful American pilot in WW II, with forty kills, all against the Japanese and all done in a P-38 Lightning. He was sent home so as to be an example of the success of America's war effort; speaking, public appearances, etc. He died in a test flight of the P-80 Shooting Star, America's first jet fighter, before the surrender of Japan. How ironic.
Never let it be said that the Story page doesn't try to educate. Enlighten and educate... is our motto. :-)
Aaron Freed <aaron@packet.net> writes:
Yet Another Bug Burnt On Your Toast? for Sorry Don't Make It So, which is the level where you find the flamethrower. In this level, the Enforcers made their first appearance in M2.
Yet Another Bug Burnt On Your Toast? Sorry Don't Make It So|n Your Toast?|"Yet Another Bug Burnt On Your Toast?" was something of a variation of the OLD "waiter, waiter there's a fly on your soup." "Don't worry, the spider on your bread will eat it."
The original name for All Roads Lead To Sol would probably be All Space Roads Lead To Sol... or some other close variation.
All Space Roads Lead To Sol... All Roads Lead To Sol...|ol...|
Aaron also points out some strange oddities.
Duality's original name appears, absurdly, to have been Where The Twist Flops, although I don't have a clue how that is possible, since it looks nothing like Where The Twist Flops.Delusions of Grandeur isn't based on Converted Church, but it has traces of that level's name; however, it's based on By Committee. By Committee, however, doesn't have any traces of Converted Church.
Son of Grendel and Bagged Again also have this phenomenon.
Also tons of the M2 level have phrases of "...,ya ya ya." Anyone have ANY clue what this is supposed to mean?
Aaron Freed <aaron@packet.net> writes:
Since Randall Shaw has said the original name of "Dead Fields" was "Bungie Jumping," then
Bungie Jumping Dead Fields|ng|
Also the original level names for "La Cosa Nostra" and "King of Pain" were "Dusk" and "House of Luck" respectively. Neither shows up because "House of Luck" was one letter longer, so I assume it would be lost with all the other null characters, and "Dusk" was much shorter.
Concerning the suggestion (see above) that the title of the "Arrival" level developed as follows:
Origin Arrival Humanity Arrival!|umanity Arrival||umanity
Aaron Freed <aaron@packet.net> writes:
Does it necessarily have to be "Arrival Humanity"? It hasn't been proven and indeed there are many names that could fit here. For example:
Origin Welcome Humanity Arrival!|umanity Arrival||umanityor
Origin Alien Inhumanity Arrival!|umanity Arrival||umanity
Aaron goes onto to suggest that the original level name for
"Hang Brain" could have been "Driven Insane". Which would fit
the level's theme.
Driven Insane Hang Brain|ne
In addition Aaron suggests that the "oy" at the end of
Come and Take your Medicine|oy|
could have stood for Vidboy.
Arron writes:
Well this is the first level with troopers, and anyone who's ever played on Total Carnage knows how tough those guys are. Keep in mind it seems the original version of the level was meant to be explored a lot more, so it would have been much harder to complete. Could have been some derogatory insult like "Come and Take your Medicine", "Eat It, Vid Boi!" or "You Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time!"
Troopers?... I didn't see many Troopers! ;-)
Matt Dujnic <dujnic@nic.com> writes:
After all of the theorys about the original name of Arrival, such as:
Arrival Humanity Welcome Humanity Alien InhumanityI'm surprised nobody has mentioned the obvious Hindenburg reference (of which there are two good possibilites):
Oh, the Humanity Oh! the HumanityThis one seems to have the best "grammer" (like that's any indication!). It also fits thematically with your overall mission aboard Marathon.
Thus Arrival's level name may have developed as follows:
Origin Oh, the Humanity Arrival!|umanity Arrival||umanity
or
Origin Oh! the Humanity Arrival!|umanity Arrival||umanity
Scott Jaeger <pablo@izzy.net> writes concerning the original name
for the Infinity net level "Mars Needs Women":
Mars Needs Women|ujeres|From what I remember, the word Mujeres means Women in Spanish. Therefore, this title could have originally been in Spanish, although I do not know the Spanish translation for the other words.
Lots of suggestions for the Spanish translation of the Infinity level
"Mars Needs Women":
Dan Rudolph <rudolph.family@mcleod.net> suggests:
Mars quiere las Mujeres Mars Needs Women|ujeres|
Aaron Freed <aaron@packet.net> suggests:
Martes Necesita Mujeres Mars Needs Women|ujeres|
Forrest Cameranesi <forrest@mail.west.net>, thanks to his
Dad "Mike Cameranesi", suggests:
Marso Nessecito Mujeres Mars Needs Women|ujeres|
Kieran Wheeler <kieran_wheeler@hotmail.com> offers the following
translation Mars se necesita los mujeres
but it doesn't fit.
But goes on to say:
However, if we just go on "We need women," it does work out.
Necesitamos los Mujeres Mars needs Women|ujeres|Same thing with "We want lots of women." I did this one just as a joke, but it works!! *laugh*
Queremos muchos Mujeres Mars needs Women|ujeres|
Aaron Freed <aaron@packet.net> offers the following suggestions:
No Need for Formalities reverof nohtaram|lities|and
Back On Durandal's Ship Naw Man He's Close|Ship|Alternatively:
Mister, Get Off My Ship Naw Man He's Close|Ship|or
Dammit, Get Off My Ship Naw Man He's Close|Ship|which could be a reference to hammy acting in the original Star Trek series.
Regarding the Spanish translation of the Original Infinity level
name "Mars Needs Women" Neil Schafer <mreeeeez@geocities.com> writes:
I don't want to pick, but there are quite a few Spanish "inconsistincies" in some of the suggested original level names for Mars Needs Women. For instance, Aaron Freed's suggestion of Martes Necesita Mujeres is just a bit odd, being that Martes is Spanish for Tuesday, not Mars.Forrest's suggestion of Marso Nessecito Mujeres is inaccurate because there's no such word as Marso in Spanish and Nessecito is spelled incorrectly, and with the wrong verb form.
Dan's suggestion of Mars Quiere Las Mujeres is a good one, but again, "Mars" is not a word in Spanish, unless this is some form of "Spanglish"
For anyone who may suggest names for this level in the future, the correct word for Mars is "Marte"
On the same subject Ian James <jamesfam@swbell.net> writes:
The correct spelling of "Mars" in Spanish is actually "Marte", which has one less letter than "Martes", and therefore doesn't work with the literal translation of "needs" ("necesita"):
Marte Necesita Mujeres| Mars Needs Women|ujeres|However, in this case I think the word "needs" is a combination of two ideas: that Mars requires women, and that it is lacking women. A better translation in this case would be the verb "faltar". Remembering to conjugate "faltar" to agree with "mujeres" and to add the pronoun referring to "Marte", you would get:
Marte Le Faltan Mujeres Mars Needs Women|ujeresWhich is a better translation. Who knew AP Spanish would come in handy here?
On the same subject Forrest Cameranesi <forrest@west.net> writes:
Dan Rudolph suggested:Mars quiere las Mujeresthat would be "Mars wants the women", with Mars spelled the english way.
Aaron Freed suggested:
Martes Necesita Mujeresthat would be "tuesday needs women", using a different spelling of nessecito.
so I still think it's "Marso" (Mars, also "March" as in the month) "Nessecito" (needs, requires, 'is neccesary') "Mujeres" (women).
Concerning all the different suggestions for the Spanish
translation of the original name of the Infinity level "Mars Needs Women"
Dan Rudolph <rudolph.family@mcleod.net> writes:
Doesn't Bungie often mis-spell foreign words or use bad grammar? They certainly did it a lot with Latin. Couldn't one of the incorrect suggestions be correct?
Concerning the suggestion:
Marte Le Faltan Mujeres Mars Needs Women|ujeres
Aaron Freed <aaron@packet.net> writes:
This is incorrect because "Faltan" and "Marte" don't agree. You should conjugate the verb according to "Marte", not "Mujeres", and the object pronoun should refer to "Mujeres", not "Marte" So "Marte Les Falta Mujeres" would be correct. Switch the pronoun and the tense and it's okay.
Marte Les Falta Mujeres Mars Needs Women|ujeres
Ian James <jamesfam@swbell.net> writes:
My translation was indeed correct. Faltar is one of those reverse verbs that conjugates to what appears to be the object, while the pronoun must agree to what appears to be the subject. It's a lot like the verb "gustar":Me gustan los coches.
Notice that the verb is conjugated to "coches" and not to me, while the pronoun refers to me, and not to "coches". Therefore, in the Marathon level name the verb would be conjugated to "mujeres" while the pronoun refers to Marte:
Marte Le Faltan Mujeres
Of course, this may be a moot point, since Bungie has often mistranslated level names. The original name may have been "Marte Les Falta Mujeres" even though it is incorrect.
It's all Greek to me! ;-)
Aaron Freed <aaron@packet.net> provides some more suggestions
for original level names:
Fusion Gun's Cool Cool Fusion| Cool| Ain't got time pfhor this Unpfhorgiven|e pfhor this| Bob-B-Queue Bob-B-Q|eue|Queue perhaps meaning line. Keep in mind this is the level with "Bob-Jam? Apply Grenades Liberally!!!" written on the map.
Aaron goes onto talk about the names used for each terminal in the
Marathon resource fork. Examples include:
;L000.WELCOME.ENTRY
;L010.BIGGUNS.ENTRY
;L020.AMS.ENTRY
If you've found the secret Virtual Archaeology you'll know what this is about. Most of the names are just abbreviations for the level's name or the level's theme. One was mentioned in the Gheritt White section some time ago. The Gheritt White terminal is designated as
L052. SAVEBOB.Gherrit.Term2
Indicating that it was originally destined to appear as the third terminal message on level 5 (The Rose) rather than on level 2 (Never Burn Money).
Anyway Aaron suggests that some of these names may provide clues to the original Marathon level names. For example:
Best in Life| Welcome to the Revolution...| or Best Things in Life| Welcome to the Revolution...|
This one is good since the full line is "Best things in life are free" and on this level the S'pht are "free". Though they are technically free on the level before this but that's another story.
Aaron suggests some more names based on the names used in resource fork:
SAVE BOB BETTER The Rose|BETTER| Refuel and Rearm Beware of Low-Flying Defense Drones...| Huge Supply Center Neither High Nor Low| Trap Shake Before Using...| Kidnapped Blaspheme Quarantine|
Finally Aaron writes:
An Early beta version of this level was M.A.D., so
M.A.D. Defend THIS!|
Michael Nelson <mnelson1282@earthlink.net> writes
For the net level Route 66 (604 or better)I think the original name might have been Route 66 (604 and 604e or better) or maybeÊ Route 66 (604 or 603ev or better).What do you think?
Route 66 (604 or better)| better)| Route 66 (604 or 603ev or better)| Route 66 (604 and 604e or better)|
James Gurnee <harness@access1.net> writes:
Just to help complete your list, remember that during the time of the Marathon 2: Durandal Preview the levels What About Bob? and Eat It, Vid Boi! were titled What! About! Bob! and BaseDestruction, respectively.
James Gurnee <harness@access1.net> writes:
...remember that the name of the M1 level "Bigger Guns Nearby" was "Bigger Guns" in a Marathon beta.Also, "Cryogenic Laboratory" was an old name for the M1 level "Shake Before Using...". "Cryogenic Laboratory" was one of the original four Bungie maps circulated in mid-November 1994. Something interesting to note is that if the three dots in the current level name are just three dots, "Shake Before Using..." has 21 'letters', while "Cryogenic Laboratory" just has 20. If the three dots is an ellipsis, then "Shake Before Using..." has 19 'letters'. Just an interesting tidbit IMO.
Interesting point. Since Bungie used an ellipsis one might expect an orphaned 'y' after the final name but not so in this case.
James Gurnee <harness@access1.net> writes:
Remember that, as stated in the Marathon Scrapbook, "Waldo World Arena" was once named "Arema".
Max Etchemendy <mxetch@yahoo.com> write:
I just thought I'd mention something about the original level names for PID. Like "Beware of Abandoned Rental Trucks," (Marathon 2) "Beware of Low-Flying Nightmares" replaced an earlier name that was longer by four characters. Thus my guess is that "Beware of Low-Flying Nightmares" was also at one time "Watch Out for Low-Flying Nightmares."
As you can see below it does fit:
Beware of Low-Flying Nightmaresares Watch Out for Low-Flying Nightmares
Max continues:
The really interesting part to me is that Bungie originally titled "Beware of Abandoned Rental Trucks" to be a play on the =earlier= version of the corresponding PID level. You'd think they'd have named the Marathon level after the version of the PID level that appeared to the public in the first place. (i.e. without changing their minds later.) Maybe they just couldn't make up their minds. :-)
Max is referring to the fact that the title of Jason Jones' level "Beware of Abandoned Rental Trucks" was originally longer and was probably called "Watch out for Abandoned Rental Trucks":
Beware of Abandoned Rental Trucks|cks| Watch out for Abandoned Rental Trucks
Thus it would seem that both level names went through the same name change process. As Thoth would says: "circumstances are cyclical"
Calandra Witter <callie21v@hotmail.com> writes:
Could the mysterious ", ya ya ya." fragments on M2 levels have been some sort of universal placeholder name along the lines of:Title goes here, ya ya ya.| Curiouser and Curiouser·|.| Bob's Big Date|, ya ya ya.| The Big House|use|a ya ya.| God Will Sort The Dead·|a.| Kill Your Television|a ya.| Fatum Iustum Stultorum|ya.|Note that "ya ya ya" fragments appear only on single player levels for some reason.*****
There are similar orphaned letters on a pair of Infinity levels:
Route 66|ap| Melatonin|p|So perhaps:Another Map| (YAFNM?) Unnamed Map| New Net Map|*****Despite all the working titles suggested for "Naw Man He's Close," the most likely answer might have been hiding in the Vacuum Levels section:
"Naw Man He's Close ... started out life as a concept--the player free falling toward the hull of Durandal's ship ..." -- Chris Geisel
Hull of Durandal's Ship| Naw Man He's Close|Ship|*****These three levels seem to have been built on top of each other:
A Converted Church in Venice, Italy| Son of Grendel|rch in Venice, Italy| Bagged Again|l|rch in Venice, Italy|*****Waldo World Arena| Return to Waldo|a|*****And by way of pure guesswork:
Thrud|mpact| Deep Impact|This title might have been deemed unsatisfactory since you can't actually damage terrain in Marathon.
PerseusSpartacus <perseusspartacus@gmail.com> writes in a Story forum post:
They have always been puzzling, even at the best of times. Sometimes we are left with a single letter or syllable remaining of the original level name. However, people have had some pretty good ideas about what the original name of a level might have been. Today, I came up with some of my own ideas as to what some of the level names might have been. So, I decided to compile a list of what I think the names of most of the Marathon levels are. Note that some of these names have been posted before ('Insignificant, Marge' and 'Welcome Humanity' spring to mind), so this isn't the most original compilation. For all I know, all of these names have been thought of before. But, I shall voice my opinion nonetheless.M1 Level Names:
The original name of The Rose (We Can Do BETTER) is interesting in that it's not quite clear who 'we' is. Does 'we' refer to Leela and the Security Officer? I think so.Arrival||umanity| Welcome Humanity Never Burn Money|duction?| What is Strong Deduction? The Rose| BETTER| We Can Do BETTER Cool Fusion| Cool| Fusion Is So Cool Blaspheme Quarantine|pa|Seal| Do Not Take It Past The Seal Bob-B-Q|eue| Bob-B-Queue Unpfhorgiven|e pfhor this...| Ain't got time pfhor this...'Do Not Take It Past The Seal' is probably a reference to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In it, the old Knight warns Indy not to take the Holy Grail beyond the 'Great Seal', a seal on the floor of the temple. Of course, Elsa doesn't listen, and she ends up paying the price, falling to her demise.
'Bob-B-Queue' is, IMO, the funniest name of them all. It's a play on 'B-B-Q' and a 'Queue'. In other words, you have to say 'NEXT!' every time a Bob dies. ;)
M2 Level Names:
All For Chargin' is kind of odd. If it's short for a phrase like "All For Chargin', Raise Your Hand", shouldn't it have a question mark at the end?Ex Cathedra|gin'| All For Chargin' Nuke And Pave| Marge| Insignificant, Marge Sorry Don't Make It So|n Your Toast?| What About That Thing in Your Toast? Beware of Abandoned Rental Trucks|cks| Watch Out for Abandoned Rental Trucks House of Pain|y BOOM-STICK!| Watching for my BOOM-STICK! One Hit Wonder|Floor; Population You| Welcome to the Floor; Population You'Insignificant, Marge' kinda fits the level 'Nuke And Pave', because it has lots of wide open spaces, which might make you feel insignificant in the vastness of the level.
'Watching for my BOOM-STICK!' is kind of an odd name. It makes more sense to say 'Watch out for my BOOM-STICK!' or something like that. However, I have a theory. Because of how fast we run in Marathon, when you meet another player running the opposite direction around the outer circle, you tend to run straight into them at high-speed. A jumpy player might be wielding an AR or Rocket Launcher and end up blasting themselves and the enemy. Thus, it makes sense for a player to watch their 'Boom-Stick'. The exclamation mark might mean that whoever's saying this is angry, probably because they learned it the hard way and are kinda angry it happened. ;)
Mi Level Names:
The name "P'thia's Ship" is really a rough guess. I saw the |s Ship| and immediately thought "Hmm, who's ship?" Then I realized that P'thia fit perfectly. This appears to be the only reference to S'pht mythology outside of M2's and Mi's terminals.Aye Mak Sicur|opia| Aie Mak Sicur|opia| Vulcan|s Ship|opia| P'thia's Ship|opia| Pfhactory N'Utopia Duality|e Twist Flops| Where the Twist Flops Thrud|mpact| Hard Impact Return to Waldo|a| Waldo World Arena Son of Grendel|rch in Venice, Italy| Bagged Again|l|rch in Venice, Italy| Delusions of Grandeur|...|ce, Italy| A Converted Church in Venice, Italy Mars Needs Women|ujeres| Marte Necessita Mujeres Fortress Lh'owon|s W. Front| All Quiet on Bob's W. FrontThe name 'Hard Impact' certainly fits the level Thrud; if you jump down to the bottom floor from one of the high up places, it would certainly be a hard impact and not a soft one.
P'thia's Ship? See above for Forrest Cameranesi's suggestions on this original level name
and Randy Reddig's confirmation that the Infinity net level "Vulcan" had the following name changes:
Pfhactory N'Utopia
Vulcan's Ship|opia|
Vulcan|s Ship|opia|
Regarding the above suggestion that Ex Cathedra may originally have been named All For Chargin', i.e.
Ex Cathedra|gin'|
All For Chargin'
Matt Soell <matt@wideload.com> (formerly of Bungie Software) writes in a Story forum post:
Think instead about terrible mid-90s US sketch comedy shows (apologies for any redundancy in that description).Good gravy, I just handed you that one on a platter. I'm getting soft in my dotage. As for the rest...good luck.
-Matt
A quick Google search for "terrible mid-90s US sketch comedy shows" reveals the 1995 Fox comedy show House of Buggin'.
Which is the right era and actually fits, i.e.
Ex Cathedra|gin'|
House of Buggin'
It also has a nice Marathon ring to it as well. :)