Dec 20, 1996
Added Couch Fishing to the Vidmaster Tips & Tricks section.

Dec 18, 1996
Henrik Lethagen <frood@geocities.com> sends us some more Infinity levels. His package Frood_Vids_Infinity.sit.hqx now contains the first six levels of Infinity and level 32.

Dec 17, 1996
Eli Brown <twiggy@oneighty.com> sends us a second film of the level Rise Robot, Rise. This time showing how to get the Assault Rifle. Show all secrets that's what we say. The film replaces his previous film in the package Twiggy_Vids_Infinity.sit.hqx.

Dec 14, 1996
Many thanks to Eli Brown <twiggy@oneighty.com> (aka Twiggy) for sending us films of the first 6 levels of Marathon Infinity. You'll find them here.

Don't forget folks. When doing a vidmaster film try to show all secrets, clean all areas out, etc. Just Vid It - With Style!

Dec 12, 1996
Many thanks to Henrik Lethagen <frood@geocities.com> for send us three films of the Infinity levels Rise Robot, Rise, Confound Delivery, and If I Had a Rocket Launcher, I'd Make Somebody Pay. You'll find them here.

Some notes about Vidmaster films. Try and show all secrets where possible. This can be very helpful for others. Also in the Infinity levels when working for Tycho, really piss him off and kill the friendly Pfhor as well. He hates that. ;-)

Dec 2, 1996
Jimmy Mitchell <jmitch@erskine.edu> (aka Placid Pladipus) sends us some more films of the Infinity Vidmaster levels. You can get them here.

Interesting to note that at the beginning of Marathon Infinity it takes four run punches to kill a purple Pfhor fighter on Total Carnage. The reason for this is that the fighter's vitality rating has been raised from 80 (Marathon 2 setting) to 115. By Son of Grendel the rating drops back to 80.

On the Infinity Vidmaster levels the purple fighter's vitality is only set to 80.

Nov 25, 1996
The Master returns. Michio Hashimoto (Miha) does the three special Infinity Vidmaster levels 31 to 33. Each level is completed separately however. All secrets shown, all areas cleaned out. Most of level 31 Try again is completed with fists only. Very nice. You can get them here.

Jimmy Mitchell sends us another version (better) of the Infinity level Try again. It has been added to his package Placid Pladipus-Vids.

Nov 22, 1996
Many thanks to Jimmy Mitchell <jmitch@erskine.edu> (aka Placid Pladipus) for sending us his film of the Infinity levels 31 through to 33. Placid Pladipus-Vids. Athough Jimmy dies Big Time near the end of level 33 there is a nice use of all the weapons in this film including fists. Level 32 is also cleaned out completely. Slaugther the defenseless. Endure.

Don't forget folks if you are going to vid these 3 special Infinity Vidmaster levels don't forget to show THAT secret area. The mark of a true Vidmaster! :-)

Nov 18, 1996
Many thanks to Michio Hashimoto (Miha) for sending us some early unseen Marathon films of himself and Tomoaki Deguchi (DEGU). Some of these films date back to the early half of 1995 and should be viewed in this context. We've added them to the Marathon Vidmasters' page so as to form a complete record of Miha's and Degu's Marathon legacy. You can get them here.

Nov 16, 1996
Mihir Patel (aka Natedogg) completes the special Infinity Vidmaster Challenge. Levels 31 through to 33. This is the first film of these levels completed in the manner in which they were intended. Non-stop, Total Carnage all the way. And if you think it's easy just try it. One slip and it's Try again... Vid Boi! You'll find the film at Natedogg's home page http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~mk-patel/thon.html. We'll have his film here soon along with many others. Watch this space!

What happened to Jesse Shrieve? Did he die Big Time? ;-)

Nov 15, 1996
Added Defend THIS! to the Vidmaster Tips & Tricks section.

Nov 11, 1996
Scott Jaeger <pepino@indy.net> points out that using the Caps Lock as a 'run' key was listed as a "Vidmaster Tip" in Tuncer Deniz's Marathon: The Official Strategy Guide, yet it is now forbidden in Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity.

Yep, Bungie never officially endorsed the use of the Caps Lock key as a 'run' key when Marathon was released. With the release of the Marathon 2: Durandal Preview at Macworld Boston Aug '95 Bungie made it very clear how they felt about this 'dorky' behavior. ;-)

Added an additional tip for Eupfhoria. See the Vidmaster Tips & Tricks section.

Nov 9, 1996
Some Vidmaster trivia.

On Total Carnage how many hits can you take from a Purple Fighter before you die?

1. I don't know I never play on Total Carnage.
2. Die?! What's that?
3. Six... on the Seventh you die!

On Total Carnage how many punches does it take to kill Purple Fighters?

1. I don't know I never play on Total Carnage.
2. Purple Fighters?!  Hell!... they run the other way when they see me.
3. Three (run punches).

Yes folks Seven and Three, those magic numbers again. See the Marathon's Story page doesn't have all the facts.

Nov 7, 1996
Rob Hester's friend NateDogg also has a film of You Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time!. You can get it here.

Thanks to Shadi Muklashy <amuklash@lalc.k12.ca.us> for sending us yet another film of You Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time!. You can get here.

We would just like to point out two things about the three special Vidmaster levels in Marathon Infinity. First, unlike all other solo levels these were meant to be Vidmastered in a straight sequence, level 31 through to 33. Secondly, in all the films we've seen so far nobody has punched the switches. It's a Vidmaster Rule... "I pledge to punch all switches..." and you know how Bungie are sticklers for rules. ;-)

Oct 30, 1996
Added a new option to the Vidmaster Options.

Oct 29, 1996
Many thanks to Michio Hashimoto <miha@hi-ho.ne.jp> for sending us a set of Marathon 2 Total Carnage films by Tomoaki Deguchi (aka DEGU). DEGU does levels 12-17 and level 27. These are some of the hardest of the Marathon 2 levels. To quote Miha: "he makes almost impossible missions possible." We think you'll agree. You can get DEGU's film package here.

Check out Rob Hester's Marathon Infinity film of level 33 You Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time! called ROB'S PHAT BLAST. It's on Total Carnage. It's big, it's bad, and it's a blast.

Oct 27, 1996
Hat's off to Jim Mitchell for completing the Marathon Vidmaster Challenge. Since Jan '95 the Marathon Vidmaster Challenge remained unbeaten. But on Oct 24th 1996 8.44pm Jim Mitchell <young gun> completed the last of the 27 Marathon solo levels Vidmaster style. Jim will be the first to admit that not all his films look great but says he will redo them... soon.

We apologize to Michio Hashimoto and Tomoaki Deguchi for spelling their names wrong. Nice to know that they are still around and vidding levels. :-)

Oct 25, 1996
Many thanks to Claude Errera <errera@ese.ogi.edu> for drawing our attention to a program called "Marathon Film Renamer" which can be used to determine the difficulty level of a solo film from the information contained within the film itself. Marathon Film Renamer (20KB) can be obtained from Dr. noa's Marathon Utilities page. It's a drag and drop utility. Drop a film onto it and a small file called Film.log will be generated containing information such as:

Arrival             - SOLO
  <-- 1 [94/11/ 9  2:11:56 ]

        Map: Bungie
      Level: Arrival [16]
 Difficulty: Normal

As Claude remarked "Takes the guessing out of level determination."

Oct 24, 1996
Claude Errera <errera@ese.ogi.edu> writes to say that Fusion/Pfhyde is the aka for Zach Norwood (aka Fusion, aka Pfhyde). Claude goes onto say that Zach's credits include

"...a bunch of vidmaster films, a bunch of nice maps (Acid Jazz is probably the best-known), and most of the concept behind the Testing Grounds."

mmmhhh... "a bunch of vidmaster films"... well we look forward to seeing these.

Oct 22, 1996
Added Shake Before Using... to the Vidmaster Tips & Tricks section.

Oct 16, 1996
The time has come to prove yourself. To make your mark on the Marathon world. To leave behind a legacy for those who follow in your footsteps. Grab those blood stained boots - Marathon Infinity is here and there are 33 solo levels to Vid. Three are specially designed for you. And if You Think You're Big Time? You're Gonna Die Big Time!. Poenas dare - Vid Boi!

Oct 15, 1996
Many thanks to Jimmy Mitchell <jmitch@mail.erskine.edu> (no we didn't make the name up... honest) who points out that Fusion is the a.k.a. for Zach Norwood. It's not clear however if this Fusion is the same as Fusion/Pfhyde.

Oct 12, 1996
Made some changes to the page. Added some secret stuff, a few pics of Jim in his underpants fighting Pfhor. Relax... they're Calvin Klein... remember it's all about Style. ;-)

Right we'll come clean (no pun intended) we've received films from far and wide but most are run of the mill... hack'em and stack'em... films. So we sent them back. Yes it's true... we've become critics... but it's for the best. When you download a film from this site we want you to go... WOW.

Oct 10, 1996
Added another Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap film. Seems you get two for the price of one. ;-)

People have asked how do you get off the Spazeroid page? Very simple. Redo all the films the Vid way.

Oct 9, 1996
Many thanks to those of you who pointed out that there were some Total Carnage films at ftp.amug.org/approved_incoming/. We've added these thanks.

Sadly we must report our first Spazeroid. We thank the person (who wishes to remain nameless) for providing the URL. Keep Space Clean... we say.

Oct 8, 1996
Initial reaction to the page has been mixed. A number of people have objected to the Vidmaster Rules. Please note the rules are not ours but Bungie's. Hence they are official. While you may not agree with them, indeed we even state that a few seem silly, they nevertheless exist.

The Vidmaster Rules developed over time. When Marathon was first released the only rule was to use command-option begin game and complete the level with whatever weapons were at your disposal. Some people went as far as completing levels with their fist only. But this has always been an option. When Marathon 2 came out a whole bunch of new rules were laid down. These were enshrined in the Vidmaster Oath dialog box that pops up when you use the command-option begin game.

"I pledge to punch all switches, to never shoot where I could use grenades, to admit the existence of no level except Total Carnage, to never use the Caps Lock as my 'run' key, and to never, ever, leave a single Bob alive."

We feel that these rules only apply to Marathon 2 levels and even then some people may wish to use their discretion concerning some of them.

Added one of a number of submissions to the page. Eylon Caspi <eylon@eecs.berkeley.edu> takes on his favorite Marathon level Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap. Fists only except when dealing with Lookers. Is he mad? You be the judge.

If you send in a film please remember to include a Read Me with it. If you have a Vidmaster tip or trick please film it as well. Tips and tricks should relate to vidmastering a level. For example, how to deal with a tricky spot or a novel way in getting through a level.

Oct 7, 1996
The Marathon Vidmasters' Page went live today - the seventh day of the tenth month.

The whole reason for the Vidmasters' page is to renew and strengthen interest in the solo levels. Not everybody has the opportunity to play net Marathon but everybody can play solo. Vidmastering a level tests your solo skills to the limit. If you find playing on Total Carnage easy then try some of the options, such as fists only, no recharging, etc.

One day perhaps Vidmaster films will become an art form.

The Vid Archives.

What's New 2002

What's New 2001

What's New 2000

What's New 1999

What's New 1998

What's New Oct-Dec 1997

What's New July-Sept 1997

What's New Apr-June 1997

What's New Jan-Mar 1997

What's New Oct-Dec 1996

Just Vid It - With Style! | Marathon Vidmaster Challenge | Vidmaster Rules | Vidmasters?... They're Everywhere! | The Hard Stuff Rules... | Vidmaster Tips & Tricks | Who's A Spazeroid? | FAQ | What's New | Credits