Day Of The Tentacle: Epic Times!

We never did go back to the Moon... It's like after the 1970's we said: "been there, done that, seen it all before," and got on with our lives as if nothing remarkable had really happened.

_{About to be cast throught time with the Chron-o-John ^TM (1993)
All images © Double Fine Productions}

Same goes for truly original games and movies. Music to, come to think of it. Maybe it's because I'm getting old, but it seems that pop-culture nowadays lacks the boldness and originality from days long gone. A lot of this feeling can be rationally explained with economics (as always): truly original works represent a risk for big studios and publishers. They rather invest in the proven successes in the form of sequels, reboots and remakes of past hits; this is evident none more so than in the movie-industry as Hollywood keeps churning out remake after reboot after sequel.

Same goes for the gaming industry as I'm about to dig up old memories from my second favorite point-and-click adventure ever: Full Throttle will always be my top favorite as it's not likely that the current era will produce anything more fun or original anytime soon. Day of the Tentacle is often called the best and most original point-and-click adventure of all times, and I fully agree with that assessment.

So, as much as I'm disappointed by the constant barrage of remakes, I'm glad this LucasArts^TM evergreen has been given a rejuvenation treatment by Double Fine Productions. However, to let you get a full taste of how it was for me when starting up the game for the first time in 1993, here's the original opening-credits:

_{Day of the Tentacle - Original Opening Credits (1993)}

Near the end of this article you will find the trailer for the 2016 upgrade, and all further screenshots are taken from the press-kit from that new version.

When I played this game in the mid 1990's, I wasn't aware of the fact that this is actually the sequel to the 1987 [Lucasfilm](https://lucasfilm.com/) game Maniac Mansion. One of the nice memories of Day of the Tentacle is that in it you can play the full version of this legendary prequel! The story is as outlandish as the cartoon-style of the graphics: Bernard and his two best friends get a message from Bernard's old friend, Green Tentacle (yeah, I know... don't ask). It seems that Purple Tentacle has become a super-powered megalomaniac after drinking polluted water and plans to take over the world, and enslave all mankind. Hoagie, a heavy metal roady, and Laverne, a wacko biology student, and Bernard leave immediately for the mansion of dr. Fred Edison who has created the Tentacles and now plans to kill them both...


From there on things only get weirder. Our three protagonists get involved in a time-travel adventure of a sort you'll never encounter again. Hoagie gets stuck 200 years in the past, Laverne is sent 200 years into the future and our everyday nerd Bernard stays in the present with dr. Fred. The humor is of the Saturday cartoon slapstick kind and our hero's solve puzzles through manipulating each others timelines and sending small items through time by "flushing" them in the Chron-o-Johns, the latrine-resembling time machines. One of the more memorable puzzles involved Hoagie manipulating the Founding Fathers of the U.S. so that the constitution was changed in a way so it was mandatory for every American Household to keep a vacuum-cleaner in the basement, so one appears in the future timelines.


Like all LucasArts games I've ever played, Day of the Tentacle is powered by their SCUMM engine that lets you interact with the environment by looking, taking, using, opening and so on: I believe that makes this the longest ever used engine, as it's been used since 1987 in Maniac Mansion up until the remake of Day of the Tentacle released in 2016. The environment is the same in all three timelines: in the present it's a sleazy motel that houses dr. Fred, 200 years ago it was an inn where the Founding Fathers are busy making the Constitution and the flag, and 200 years in the future it houses the headquarters of the evil Purple Tentacle. Although the entire story takes place in this single location, all three eras have a very distinct look about them and you only rarely feel like you're actually in the same building all the time.

_{Day of the Tentacle Remastered Trailer}

LucasArts made some unforgettable and unique gaming experiences in the 1990's and I feel like that golden age of gaming has never really returned. Of course I would say that: those were the best years of my life in general and I am biased towards everything from those years. Also we tend to remember the best things and best times best: it's easy to say back then everything was better because we simply forgot all the bad games and movies from back then. But still... I still believe, even with those considerations, pop-culture has taken a hit for the worse. Now and again I'm surprised by something original, like the lovely films "Arrival" and "The Shape of Water", but those are rare and becoming rarer. At least, that's my perception.

Day of the Tentacle is a joy to behold and play. If you never played it before and have a chance to pick up a copy of the remastered version, I would suggest you give it a try. And even us old geezers can relive some of the joy as Double Fine Productions took great care when redrawing the entire game: the original art and wacky angles have all been preserved as well as the dialogue and music. Not that I'm advertising or being payed to do so, but there's a summer sale on the game that closes on the 5th of July on Steam, so here's a chance to try this legendary game for only €4,49 here.

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