Background information
Gaming with Zoe: my daughter’s first time playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder
by Patrick Vogt
Blast from the past! Remember Day of the Tentacle?
26.6.2023
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
The bizarre setting, oddball humour and absurd puzzles. Thirty years ago, Day of the Tentacle took my heart by storm. It’s a love that’s still strong today.
Technically speaking, it’s a sequel. Day of the Tentacle (DOTT) is the successor to the epic point-and-click game Maniac Mansion. Funnily enough, everyone seems to remember the sequel, while the memory of Maniac Mansion seems to have faded over time – if it ever existed in the first place.
DOTT was developed by Lucas Arts. The game studio made a name for itself with the Monkey Island series and the game adaptation of the Indiana Jones movies. After the developers declared both series over (spoiler: they weren’t), they decided to make a sequel to Maniac Mansion.
«Take on the world!!!»
The tentacles bred by Dr Fred all develop their very own personalities. Green Tentacle is his peaceful, somewhat simple-minded contemporary who enjoys doing sweet nothing.
Purple Tentacle has other plans. Subjugating humankind, for example. After drinking some of the toxic sewage in the garden of Dr Fred’s motel, he grows arms. Now, there’s nothing standing in the way of his plans to take on the world.
«That’s why I’ll have to do it...yesterday!.»
Meanwhile, Laverne’s trapped in a world dominated by tentacles and is forced to constantly disguise or hide. Bernhard’s in charge of coordinating the whole operation and preventing the act of sabotage planned by hostile Dr Fred. Although he doesn’t want a tentacle dictatorship either, he primarily wants to prevent the authorities from finding out about him and his experiments.
The toilet in the time machine (the trip is long, after all...), is the place where the three antiheroes can communicate with each other and «flush» objects at each other. If you use and combine these objects in the right time dimension, you can end Purple’s reign of terror. You use your mouse as a control and work with the list of verbs known from Monkey Island – use, take, push, talk to...
Thinking outside the box
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
Background information
Interesting facts about products, behind-the-scenes looks at manufacturers and deep-dives on interesting people.
Show all
