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ROMiniscing: Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle (PC)

Superior Epic [ Legendary ]

Day of the Tentacle

When you talk about graphic adventure games, people have a lot of questions, not least of which is “What’s a graphic adventure game?”  It’s baffling that such a fantastic genre with exemplary titles has disappeared from gaming, and if for no other reason than to encourage a revival, today’s ROMiniscing is about Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle.  This game is easily one of my favorites of all time for reasons too numerous to fit into one post, but I’ll give it a shot anyway.

DotT, like all graphic adventures, is a game about intuition and cleverness.  Its delicious nougat core is puzzle-solving - not the kind where red blocks destroy red blocks - the kind where shoving a hamster into an icebox is critical to saving the world from a crazed purple tentacle.  Yes, it’s that goofy the whole time.  No solution is one-step, and with every step comes another hilarious experience.  You’d expect a low replay value as a result of the linear puzzles, but if you’re anything like me you’ll be replaying for at least a decade, sometimes to recapture the joy of your first playthrough and sometimes to show it off to new players.

More than other genres, graphic adventure games rely on presentation and need to establish a crisp thematic aesthetic on all levels: art, sound, music, and interface.  DotT is no different, stylized with the LucasArts trademark of surreal-slapstick caricature.  Essentially, what you’re playing is an interactive cartoon with every bit of what made Ren & Stimpy or Rocko’s Modern Life great.  Trying to describe this game reminds me of the old writer’s adage “Don’t tell, show.”  Nothing I say can explain it better than seeing it for yourself.  So, I uploaded the introduction of Day of the Tentacle to YouTube.  Enjoy your first taste of a timeless treasure:



In case you couldn’t tell, the characters are properly center stage for this game’s narrative, and LucasArts demonstrates the kind of mileage you can glean from even the most stereotypical of comic foils.  Though the game starts “A scrawny nerd, an obese metalhead, and a macabre-obsessed girl walk into a hotel,” it won’t take long before you’re in love with all three (and the NPCs to boot!).  Maybe it’s because I’m a metalheaded geek who digs weird chicks, but every line of dialogue in DotT makes me smile.  In fact, I’ve been known to dick around in the kennel just to hear Laverne coo some extra “Yoohoo, Mr. Tentacle Guy”s.Even the mechanics have been stepped up for this graphic adventure.  Our three heroes end up strewn across 600 years of time and can only exchange items that fit into a toilet.  How do you get Laverne out of the tree if you can’t even access her?  Where the hell is this vinegar Hoagie needs?  How do you dry off a soggy hamster?  The solutions require you to think beyond the one character and one issue sitting in front you.  Other graphic adventure games have had multiple characters (most notably, Maniac Mansion, DotT’s predecessor), but never before has character management been this chic.Rather than be bored with more of my analytical nonsense and minor spoilers, just go play the damn game and see for yourself.  There are two copies out there: one is fully voice-acted and lacks the asinine “Fix my battery plans!” copy protection.  Find it, download it or eBay it, and enjoy it at once.  Hopefully, if we all start clamoring for it, we can get LucasArts to revive this IP through Steam (like they’ve been doing with others).If mutant tentacles enslave humanity, I’m blaming those of you who didn’t play this masterpiece.

Not working on your computer?
Check out ScummVM

Need the formula for Dr. Fred’s battery?
The answers are in the manual.  Alternatively, the CD “talkie” version doesn’t have this silly copy protection.  You should track that down instead (it has great voice acting as well).

Baffled at how to progress?
Only take a look at this if you’re absolutely stuck because exploration is a major part of the graphic adventure experience.

Can’t get enough Maniac Mansion’ing?
Try having Bernard play Weird Ed Edison’s computer

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This entry was posted by ErdTirdMans on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Adventure, ROMiniscing, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

58 Responses to “ROMiniscing: Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle (PC)”

  1. James Says:
    August 11th, 2009 at 12:14 am

    I recently found this day of the tentacle download and enjoyed that game again. I know the jokes but i stil find them funny. Day of the tentacle is a legend.

  2. Jim Says:
    August 14th, 2009 at 9:49 am

    Maybe I put them upstairs! That’s got to be it, upstairs!!

    This game is a classic. Did you ever play Sam and Max Hit the Road? Another great Lucasarts Point ‘n Click in the same vein as DotT.

  3. ErdTirdMans Says:
    August 22nd, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    Yes, and I enjoyed it, but not nearly as much as Day of the Tentacle. I found the puzzles in Sam & Max to be a lot more arbitrary than in DotT. Whereas DotT was whimsical (left-handed hammers and coffee swapping), Sam & Max was just bizarre at times (the gourd in the shape of a conservationist and severed hand contraptions). I spent far more time in Sam & Max randomly clicking and attempting to combine things than DotT.

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