StarCraft: Dark Origin | SC1 secret mission adaptation 

The original Starcraft's one and only secret mission is still not terribly well known, even after 20+ years and things like Mass Recall making it easy to actually play. It was unlocked by completing the Brood War zerg mission 9 in under 25 minutes. Not an impossible task, that mission isn't too hard, but still something you had to work for. And that gets you Dark Origin, and why I've adapted it here. Dark Origin is a couple things. It's a secret, as mentioned, and without something like SC2's mission complete achievements, it's entirely possible that someone might have gone this entire time never knowing they'd only completed 26 out of 27 missions in Brood War. Dark Origin is actually very important to the story of Starcraft 2. So much so that it's really surprising that nothing that happens in it gets mentioned until one incredibly brief namedrop of Duran in the prologue of Legacy of the Void. It's the first time we see the hybrid (well, 'see' is a strong word in the SC1 version, but it's the first time we hear about them), and it's the first time we learn of some darker, more ancient force creeping in from the background. Hey Zeratul, you had a great opportunity to tell Raynor about this in Wings of Liberty, why didn't you say anything? Hey Kerrigan, where'd Duran go, you seemed pretty buddy buddy with him, why wasn't he around in Heart of the Swarm? Dark Origin is also a weird puzzle mission. Ingame, it's a no-build mission where you get Zeratul, four Dark Archons, and two Dragoons, that's it. You have to move through the map, mind-controlling key targets of an opposing Terran force to reach various checkpoints. When you get to these, Zeratul talks a little to himself. Dark Origin is also one of the more harshly affected victims of SC1's limited tilesets. It takes place mostly in a snowy canyon, with random metal walls dotted around to represent various outposts or labs, maybe? It's not the most coherent. So, I've changed some stuff, obviously. Please don't hate me for that. Just a 1:1 recreation of the original mission but as a movie would have been weird to watch and probably not too interesting. Playing a sneaky puzzle does not translate super well into an enjoyable watching experience, if I may put forward that bold opinion. So while this recreation follows the general structure of how the original mission plays out, it's a little more focused, I hope. It's still all the original voicelines, plus a few extra for effect, still the same order of discoveries, and still takes about the same amount of time. And of course, as you've come to expect from me, everything here has been created inside the SC2 editor, driven entirely by the game's own trigger system. Thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for the recent surge in support. It's very cool to see this stuff get the attention that it has.

I want to see the whole story of SC redone with your cinematics and pacing... this is just so good

And then Zeratul proceeded for forget about this entire encounter, and acted like Maar was the first Hybrid hes ever encountered.

The concept behind the hybrid is so cool! I love the idea of a fusion between the Protoss and Zerg, created by the Terran of all things! I just wish the Hybrid were more than just big bad monster. I would've liked it if there were more named hybrid like Maar or more missions designed around them. And if not that then at least more development into them, like maybe have weird structures made out of living stone and strange Xel'Naga technology. Perhaps Terran cultists that were twisted into abominations, kinda like the undead from Warcraft 3. Just anything more would have been great because the Hybrid stopped feeling threatening when they came a dime a dozen in every mission. I mean, it feels like the Hybrid got depowered considering the fact their first introduction in WoL the Hybrid was literally indestructible, or how in Hots the Hybrid were powerful enough to drain Kerrigan, Primal Kerrigan at that! And the fact that the Hybrid had to so heavily relay on the Taldarim, Mobius and Amon's Brood, they just felt like Ultralisks or Thors and not actual heroic units or commanders! Such a letdown...

I'm late but this is legit one of the best retellings of this part of the story I've seen so far, even better than SCMR, good job

Very well done once again. I always pictured Zeratul leaving the hybrid he found alive in defeat, knowing the pointlessness of killing this one.

I remember this secret mission, I only got it twice and was never sure how I did it.

When Zeratul says "damn", you know shit's gonna get real. And it did....

9:32 Clandestine Mercenaries Marine: I think I hear the intruder nearby, and he's located inside this lab. Clandestine Mercenaries Marine 2: Moving out!

Awesome job man! I noticed some of the changes you made, and they made a lot of sense. Would love to see something like this for "Jacob's Installation", the "Amerigo", the Escape from Aiur, and/or the Dylarian Shpyard missions... basically, any other SC1 no build mission. Hopefully you find the interest and time to take these projects further. Also, maybe adding this as a "playable" mission into the custom campaigns ingame collection, just labelling as a "no-play ingame cinematic" would make it reachable for even more players. Maybe an idea to consider, if you haven't already.

That was an incredible adaptation, great job!

Dude, this is an awesome piece! Very well paced and your cinematics are on point.

you have done a truly amazing job making this content, I am proud to be a new fan

How about the unsung heroes of the Star Craft novel "Speed of Darkness". Awesome story that happens behind the scenes during the first campaign of SC1.

Love the way you had this play out, top tier cinematic, love it

RU-vid algorithm normally fails to show good chanels, but damn I'm happy I got yours. Love your work man and dedication to the best of sc lore. Keep it up and sub!

Wonderful adaptation! These Starcraft videos (and the complete disregard of SC2 in particular haha) are great \o/

This is just Incredible story telling, I love it.

This is really good. I've watched your other sc videos and they are really good too. I hope your channel grows and you find success. Subscribed.

this is excellent!! and also the history videos are great with your dictation! way to go!!

8:05 It's the Independence Day alien!

Zeratul: Damn! *blinks*

7:05 Someone in the office was playing WoW, and he left his account open; I guess they had a lot of free time while the computer was gathering data. 😂

Bro, man, Dude, that was cool af! GOOD SHIZ

oh my GOD this channel is criminally underrated

Such a Beautiful tribute to the Fandom universe. So sad to only see this entry 😢. Congratulations still and I hope you make more content like this

3:08 Clandestine Mercenaries Marine: Did you see anything? Clandestine Mercenaries Marine 2: Naw, probably just some wind.

this is a great recreation of dark origin

This is top tier stuff. You should make this your life's work

I remember stumbling across this mission on a whim and thinking to myself "wait I've played this game 100s of times. What the hell is this?" It was wild to discover it

Welcome to the Protoss, we have: -High (in Khalai spirit) Templars -Dark Templars -Drug Templars -Doot Templars

Flawless!

I would love for you to animate some of the sc short stories at least partially someday lol

It's a hybrid destroyer!

I have a good idea to bring back StarCraft someone should make a battlefront 2 style starcraft game.

I’m pretty sad that StarCraft doesn’t get much recognition do to Warhammer 40k being more famous I wish someone should make a StarCraft game that is a shooter like you play as a ghost or a battlefront style StarCraft game.

Amazing video as a Dawn of war fan I actual love StarCraft storyline.

Nice

Gotta do the ultra-rare N64 only mission!

Zeratul you shouldn't have killed Raszagal

@Rekkin I have a question have recommend Warhammer 40k like Dawn of war 1 or Warhammer fantasy.

Damn, they were going for hybrids since 1998?

I feel they really dropped the ball on sc2. Especially the lore. Super saiyan god kerrigan, cucked raynor, fake tassadar… Infact, the Tassadar thing really really put me off. I mean, they had such a good chance to explore what it meant to fuse between the dark templar and high templar energies but instead they decided there was nothing unique about him after all. The teaser about him living in the beyond as an astral being was so good… until it wasn’t zzz Thanks for making this though. Absolutely fire!

I have a weird question what do you think who would win in a fight Protoss or the eldar if they got into a fight.

3:43 I don't remember this dialogue. Is this unused audio?

As a Dawn of war fan I like the Protoss better than the Eldari because Protoss were at least likable and not as bad also Protoss look more alien than the eldar tbh.

I get that the "greater being" mentioned by Duran was shown as Amon in SC2. But really, he shouldn't have been a xel'naga, or, the thing Blizz CLAIMED was a xel'naga. I have no problem with eldritch lovecraftian entities being in the SC universe, but not as the xel'naga. The xel'naga were many mysterious things, but...giant floating cthulhu polyps was not one of them. From what I've heard, they seem more akin to...the Engineers/Space Jockeys from the Alien franchise. If Blizz had wanted to implement Amon and the beings they invented for SC2, they could have been completely new beings, first mentioned by Duran in SC Brood War. Beings who were...ancient foes of the xel'naga, and perhaps they attempted to engineer the perfect organisms to one day combat these other beings, but ended up sealing their own demise. And now that the xel'naga's ancient enemies have come to our galaxy, they seek to utilize and combine what the xel'naga intended to use against them to their own sinister ends. I came up with that in like...five minutes. Blizz had NO right minded excuse to totally ignore most of their established lore.