Grim Fandango How To Get Glottis To Stop Gambling

The following quotes are from Grim Fandango, an adventure game by LucasArts, designed and written by Tim Schafer.

General[edit]

Jan 29, 2015  Grim Fandango - Year 2, metal detector, forklift, VIP pass, betting slips, dog tags, baster From metal detectors to betting slips, our Grim Fandango walkthrough continues with a simple guide to. In order to get Glottis kicked out of the VIP lounge you need to upset the chief of police by denying him his kickback, which is paid out as winnings at Manny’s casino on a rigged wheel. When the game is fair, the chief loses, gets upset and raids the club. A chain reaction causes Glottis to get kicked out of Hector’s race track.

  • Manny: My scythe--I like to keep it next to where my heart used to be.
  • Manny: This <*object*> looks like it's about to fall apart.
  • Glottis: I am an elemental spirit summoned from the Land of the Dead itself, given one purpose, one skill, one desire... to DRIVE!!
  • Manny: I can't go strolling through the halls now...I'm on the lam!
  • Salvador: Viva la Revolución!
  • Copal: MANNY! YOU COULDN'T FIND A SALE AT YACHT CLUB!!!

Year 1[edit]

  • Manny: Sorry for the wait Mr. Flores, I am ready to take you now.
Mr Flores:: Take me? Take me where?
Manny: Now, now. There's no need to be nervous.
Mr Flores: Nervous? No, it's not that. It's just your appearance, it's... well, a little intimidating.
Manny: Intimidating? Me? But I'm your friend. My name is Manny Calavera. I'm your new travel agent.
Mr Flores:: I don't want a new travel agent; I want to go home.
Manny: You can't go home Celso, you're dead! But you're not alone! Everybody here is just as dead as you! That's why we call it the Land of the Dead. Are you ready for your big journey?
Mr Flores: No! ...What journey?
Manny: The four year Journey of the Soul. It's quite a trip. And I'm not gonna lie to you, Celso. It could be very, very dangerous. Unless you were to take that money you were buried with and buy a better quality travel package from us! I mean, wouldn't you rather cross the Land of the Dead in your own personal sports car? Maybe try a luxury ocean cruise? Or, if you led a very good life, you may even qualify for the Number Nine itself.
Mr Flores: The Number Nine?
Manny: That's our top-of-the line express train. It shoots straight to the ninth underworld, the land of eternal rest, in 4 minutes instead of four years. But very few people qualify, so let's take a look at your records. (Types) Hmmm... Well, the bad news is the train appears to be just out of your reach. (Types) But I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve here... Mmm-hmmm... Yah-ha. Yes... That's the ticket; the Excelsior Line!
Manny: (Outside) Yes, she's a beauty. That compass in the handle will sure come in handy, too. Oh you're going to be having a great trip. Wish I was going!
Mr Flores: Why not? You could give me a lift.
Manny: Oh, I can't leave here until I've worked off a little debt to the powers that be.
Mr Flores: Community service huh? Well, I guess there are some folks worse off than me.
Manny: Oh I'll be leaving here soon enough! (Whispers) No thanks to dead-end, no commission, low life cases like yours, menso. (Inside) Where do they get these guys? They don't qualify for anything good, so I can't sell anything good, can't work off my time and I'm stuck. Stuck selling walking sticks to a bunch of burros for eternity. I need better clients. I need a real saint. I need a lead on a rich, dead saint.
  • Copal: All right you boneheads, thank your lucky stars and get to your freakin' cars! We have a mass poisoning on our hands! Too many dead to assign specific cases, so all clients are FIRST COME FIRST SERVE! So, let's see some hustle out there!
Manny: Whatever you say, jefe.
  • Manny: Better take these cards-- it looks like a long day of solitaire for me.
Manny: This deck of cards is a little frayed around the edges. Then again, so am I, and I've got fewer suits.
  • Manny: My boss is always giving me these motivational sales books... 'They Bought the Farm, Now Sell Them the Cows,' stuff like that.
Manny: Read 'em already. Didn't help.
  • Manny: Ah the old files, the old clients, the glory days...
When people died with dignity, and Domino Hurley didn't exist.
  • Manny: {when looking at the door to Manny's office} Wasn't too long ago that the name on the door was, 'Supply Closet.'
  • Manny: {when using Domino's door} Domino's door is locked. Probably scared I'll steal one of his files. Not a bad idea, actually.
  • Manny: {when looking at Copal's door} Ah, the big, golden door to mediocre management.
Eva: A little respect for our fearless leader, please.
Manny: Why? I've worked here longer than he has, you know.
Eva: And you're proud of that?
Manny: Hmmm. Good point.
  • Manny: It's my boss' secretary, Eva.
Eva: It's my boss' whipping boy, Manny.
  • Manny: {to Eva} I forget... am I supposed to be somewhere right now?
Eva: Manny, do I have to explain your job to you again?
Manny: No, but I'd like to hear your description of it, just for kicks.
Eva: Well, the Manuel Calavera that I know picks up people in the Land of the Living...
Manny: Dead people.
Eva: Preferably. And he brings them here and tries valiantly to sell them the best travel package they qualify for. If he sells enough premium packages, our hero will be free to leave the Land of the Dead. Until then, he and I are stuck here...
...having the same conversation...
...over and over again for eternity.
  • Manny: {to Eva} What if we just skipped town tonight? You and me, baby!
Eva: Thanks for the offer, but we'd never make it out of the city alive.
Manny: But...
Eva: In one piece, I mean.
  • Manny: {to Eva} Well, enough about me. What's your job like?
Eva: Like babysitting, except I don't get to watch TV.
  • Manny: Why do some clients qualify for better travel packages?
Eva: They led good lives.
Manny: Que traes! How do you define a 'good' life?
Eva: Better than yours and mine.
  • Manny: {to Eva} Any messages for me?
Eva: Besides the one about the poisoning?
Manny: Yeah.
Eva: I only have one other message for you, Manny... I'm not your secretary! I don't take your messages! So get it through your thick skull, and stop forwarding your phone to me!
Manny: Alright, but that sounded more like FOUR messages to me. In my heart, though, you're still my secretary.
  • Manny: {to Eva} Where is everybody?
Eva: Oh, Manny, did you forget what day it is today?
Manny: Oh, man. Did I come in on a Saturday again?
  • Manny: {to Eva} So... you going to the Christmas party?
Eva: After the spectacle you made of yourself last year? I wouldn't miss it for the world!
  • Manny: {when trying to pick up the hole punch} Could I take your hole punch?
Eva: Ha! I doubt you could take my HALF punch.
  • Manny: Mind if I use your hole punch?
Eva: Knock yourself out.
Manny: {after hitting the hole punch twice} Thanks.
Eva: Gets the aggressions out, doesn't it?
  • Manny: {when looking at the big sign in front of the D.O.D.} I remember the year they built that... Mostly because it cost so much we didn't get bonuses that year.
  • Manny: It looks like a rope...
...but it's really just a bunch of cheap ties tied together.
  • Manny: It's the festival of the Day of the Dead. Really more of a living person's holiday, but we play along.
  • Manny: The Bread of the Dead.
  • Manny: I'll just take a little more bread, to honor the dead.
  • Balloon twister: I can do anything. I can do birds, amphibians, famous poets--Go ahead. Name one.
Manny: A dingo.
Balloon twister: That's my specialty!
Balloon twister: Ta-da.
Manny: {when looking at the balloon dingo} It's just a regular-old balloon dog. I don't see what's so 'dingo' about it.
  • Manny: {to the balloon twister} Could you teach me how to do that?
Balloon twister: Well, um, since your're a beginner why don't you practise the first step?
Manny: Which is?
Balloon twister: Blow!
  • Manny: {to the balloon twister} Practicing what?
Balloon twister: Wringing your neck, what does it look like?
  • Manny: {to the balloon twister} Some festival, eh?
Balloon twister: Yeah, yeah. Pretty busy. my carpal tunnel syndrome is really acting up.
Manny: But you don't have any... tendons...
Balloon twister: Yeah, well you don't have a tongue but that doesn't seem to shut you up, now does it?
  • Manny: Bound only by the paper-thin wrappings of mortality, a soul here lies, struggling to be free. And so it shall, thanks to a bowl of bad gazpacho, and a man named...Calavera.
  • Bruno: {upon meeting Manny for the first time} Nice bath-robe
  • Manny: {to Glottis} Hey, you a driver?
Glottis: Me? Ha! No. No no no. I don't ride 'em. Just wrench 'em.
  • Manny: Glottis... Glottis... Is that a German name?
Glottis: Oh, no. My roots lie not in any Earthly nation's soil. I am an elemental spirit summoned up from the Land of the Dead itself and given one purpose, one skill, one desire: To DRIVE. Or, to change oil or adjust timing belts if no driving jobs are open.
  • Manny: {to Glottis} You're not too big. The cars are just too small.
  • Manny: Those pictures come with the frames?
Domino: That suit come with those holes?
  • Manny: {to Domino} I wanna punch you in the mouth.
Domino: Oh, no. Not the Christmas party all over again.
  • Manny: {to Domino} What happened at the Christmas party?
Domino: Blacked out on the whole thing, huh? Maybe you should switch to lemonade, kid.
  • Manny: {to Domino} I wanna tell you something.
Domino: Good, go on and let it all out. There's no reason for you to be afraid of me.
Manny: You know, this used to be my office.
Domino: Yeah, I know. I found your name on some comic books in the desk.
Manny: I want my office back.
Domino: Don't worry, you'll have years and years to enjoy it after I get promoted out and you're still here.
  • Manny: Can I have one of your clients?
Domino: Sure, Cal. Just as soon as I get one I think you could handle...
Manny: I can handle anything you got. Especially if that's your best right jab. Is it hard to kiss up to the boss so much with no lips?
Domino: Hey, I got all the lip I need. I get it from you.
  • Manny: Why do you get all the good clients?
Domino: You're asking the wrong guy. You should be taking a good long look at the man in the mirror.
Manny: No thanks. I don't enjoy that the same way you do.
  • Manny: Look at all the diplomas!
Domino: You have to have the proper attitude to get diplomas like those, Manny!
Manny: Really? I thought you just had to have the proper postage.
  • Manny: I think Dom would call the company shrink if I left through the window.
  • Tube-switcher guy: Grmmmble, grrr... You and your fancy suits and your nose holes way up in the air... Sticking your empty beer bottles down the message tubes, how fancy is that? Huh? Don't you boys upstairs realize the tube switcher is a sophisticated and delicate piece of machinery?
Manny: Uh...
Tube-switcher guy: You think you're better than me??
Manny: No.
Tube-switcher guy: Good.
  • Manny: What's so special about you?
Tube-switcher guy: I, sir, am an elemental spirit, summoned from the Land of the Dead itself...
Manny: Yeah, yeah, let me guess...you were given one purpose, one skill, one desire: fixing pneumatic tube switchers?
Tube-switcher guy: No, I was created to run the elevators, but they put in those dang motion detectors... ...and put me outta work!
  • Manny: Just curious--How'd you get in there?
Tube-switcher guy: I squeezed down one of these tubes, like a pixie! How d'ya think I got in here? Through the door, just like you!
  • Manny: Hey, I'm still not getting any messages.
Tube-switcher guy: I'm giving you one right now, but you can't see my hand.
  • Manny: As a rule, I never touch anything more sophisticated and delicate than myself.
  • Manny: Buenos dias.
Meche: You're not the nurse...
Manny: No.
Meche: You're not here to give me my medication?
Manny: No, but I am here to ease your pain.
Meche: Guess they couldn't save me, eh?
Manny: No, but there's still a chance you could save me.
  • Manny: Are you SURE you're Mercedes Colomar?
Meche: Yes, would you like to see my birthmark?
Manny: Sure. Where is it?
Meche: It's wherever you guys put my skin!
  • Manny: Did you kill much when you were alive?
Meche: Very little.
Manny: Never killed anybody.
Meche: I have to confess... I never killed anybody.
Manny: Not even a teensy bit of killing?
Meche: MAYBE I JUST WASN'T TRYING HARD ENOUGH.
  • Manny: Anything about your past you haven't told me?
Meche: Quite a bit, considering I've told you nothing.
  • Manny: {when trying to pick up Meche} I don't like to get involved with the customers that way.
  • Manny: Who's out there?
Salvador: I'm you. Or rather, I was you years ago.
Manny: Yeah, well I'm me now, so get lost.
  • Manny: What are they going to do to me?
Salvador: I don't want to alarm you, Agent Calavera... But have you ever seen a man SPROUTED?
Manny: No, I don't go to those parties anymore.
Salvador: Then you don't know......there's nothing more horrible than the bite of the sprouter. Its deadly stinger spreads a green disease through every calcified pore on your body......leaving you veined with roots and flocked with grass......steadily growing thicker and thicker until you crash and bloom out......in a horrifying bouquet of pain and fragrant suffering......screaming until your mouth fills with petals and your nostrils shoot out thorny stems......and the bulbs sprout in your eyes......leaving you nothing but a patch of wildflowers on the ground, swarming with butterflies.
Manny: Are you done?
Salvador: Yes.
  • Salvador: {to Manny} Young man, you are an enemy of the Department of Death! Welcome to the club!
  • Manny: You're keeping me here because you need the eggs?
Salvador: Why are you still here, Calavera? Go get me an air force before it hatches Now, that's all the briefing you need, soldier! Viva la Revolución!
  • Manny: {to Eva} Any messages for me?
Eva: Yes: 'Join or Die!'
Manny: But I'm already--
Eva: Again!
  • Manny: It's my boss' secretary's evil twin!
Eva: Just me, honey.
  • Manny: Have you thought about using messages tied to balloons? I can get you plenty of balloons.
Salvador: PIGEONS, Manuel, bring me their EGGS!
Manny: Pues, okay.
Salvador: Viva la Revolución!
  • Salvador: {to Manny, about Meche} Manuel? Are you... in love with her?
Manny: Love? Love is for the living, Sal. I'm only after her for one reason - she's my ticket out of here.
  • Manny: I don't have a net, or a desire to have a pet pigeon.
  • Manny: I just locked an open door. Strange, yet symbolically compelling.
  • Manny: He doesn't even HIDE his booze in a file cabinet. What kind of salesman is he?
  • Manny: I'm going to try to guess his password...
Nope. It's not 'GOLDEN BOY.'
And it's not 'MR. D' either.
So much for 'DOMMY.'
'ARROGANT FRAUD' doesn't work...
Whew. I was scared it might be 'EVA.'
Well, he likes 'BOXING' too, but that ain't it.
Not 'GREED.'
Not 'VANITY.'
Not 'SLEAZE.'
I give up.
  • Manny: I prefer to eat out of clean dishes that aren't nailed to the roof.
  • Manny: You must come with me, young ones, for I am the Grim Reaper.
Manny: I think I should get out of here with these eggs before those vent-vultures come back.
  • Manny: {after seeing the 'improvements' Glottis made to his car} Glottis! Are you loco? What got into you? That was a company car!
Glottis: Oh yeah! And it's even better company now! Hop in! Yeeeeaha! Woo!
  • Manny: {trying to scare off a flock of pigeons with a balloon shaped like Robert Frost's head} Run you pigeons, it's Robert Frost!
  • Glottis: Uh-oh! Crazy road! Too crazy for the Bone Wagon!
Manny: You know, if I had had a car like this when I was alive, things would have been different.
  • Glottis: Manny, I don't know if I like driving over people.
Manny: They can't feel it. They're dead.
Glottis: You're dead, and I wouldn't wanna drive over you.
Manny: That's because you and I, Glottis... Are friends.
Glottis: Oh, Manny...
  • Manny: {when looking at pile of bones} It's an ugly pile of bones, like me.
  • Manny: These spiders have Glottis' heart in their web!
And a bone, but that's my fault.
  • Manny: Oh, poor spiders. No more demon heart to eat.
  • Glottis:
(Gasp) AH HEART! HEART IS GOOD!
BE GOOD TO HEART!
DON'T TEAR OUT HEART!
HEART IS GOOD!
STRONG BEATING GOOD HEART.
Hey, is that my car?
  • Manny: Wanna go for a ride?
Glottis: I thought you'd never ask!
  • Glottis: Manny, until now we scraped along the ground like rats, but from now on, we soar! Like eagles! Yeah! LIKE EAGLES...ON...POGO STICKS!!!
  • Manny: {while Glottis is showing off the Bone Wagon's new shocks} What a relief. I was getting concerned that our transportation wasn't ostentatious enough.
  • Manny: {when falling into the Sea of Lament} Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Velasco: Ohhh, tourists! You gotta watch your step around here, stranger. Rubacava ain't the quaint little port town she used to be. Wwwweeell-hell-hell. Looks like there's a new vessel in town. Pardon me whilst I go check her out!
  • Glottis: {Glottis and Velasco about the Bone Wagon} Well, actually, it's mostly stock, with a few mods here and there...
Velasco: So would those be glass packs I'm hearing, or turbos?
Glottis: There was this one high-pitched whine it was making--really grating noise, you know?
Glottis: And I searched and searched, but I couldn't find the source of the noise, until we pulled in here.
Velasco: Was it the blowers?
Glottis: No, it was Manny screaming in the back like a cat tied to a cruise missile!
Velasco: Ah-ha ha! That's a good'n.
  • Velasco: You folks gonna stay in Rubacava for a spell?
Manny: We're here looking for a woman named Mercedes Colomar.
Velasco: I'm not too good with names...Did she have any distinguishing marks or a tattoo?
Manny: Not that she showed me.
Velasco: Well, like I said, I'm as good with names as you are with the fog...
Heh heh.
  • Manny: How do you get around here with all the mist?
Velasco: Ah-uh, when you've strolled these docks as long as I have, pilgrim...

You know where you are by smell of the sea, by the sound of the lonely fog horn......by the icy touch of the cold, salty air.

Glottis: Wow... Manny? Could I have an eyepatch?
Manny: Can I just ask--what IS under the eyepatch?...because I KNOW it's not an eye.
Velasco: Oh, well, when I was alive I had an eye patch like this......this one's just for the phantom pain... And that one eye socket used to scream like a banshee when the trade winds blew, so I plugged her.
  • Manny: {to Celso} What are you doing here?
Celso: Well, if you must know, it's about my wife... I got word that she passed away not long after I, and that she, too, was crossing the Land of the Dead on foot. It is said that all lost souls come to Rubacava, so I came here to wait for her.
Manny: You must love her very much, Celso.
Celso: Yes, this is true... Of course, she also has all of my money...
  • Manny: I'll help you find your wife. What did she look like?
Celso: Oh, here. I got this from the DOD, and made copies to hand out. Isn't she something?
Manny: She must have been beautiful with skin.
Celso: Weren't we all?
  • Manny: {when looking at the photo of Celso's wife} It's Celso's wife--Actually I don't think skin would help.
  • Manny: So, know a good place to stay in town?
Celso: What's your price range?
Manny: Somewhere around the high-end of nothing.
Celso: Then maybe, young man, it's time you started thinking about a job.
  • Velasco: Look, I know how you feel son. Once I lost a very special lady myself. I waved to her from the docks as she sailed out of port and I never saw her again.
Manny: What was her name?
Velasco: The 'SS Lamancha' was her name... But don't make me talk about her 'cuz I...I just can't do it.
  • Celso: Oh, Manny. Is there a greater constant in nature than the treachery of women?

Year 2[edit]

  • Manny: Think she'll come in tonight?
Lupe: Manny, you ask me that every night...
...what am I supposed to say?
Manny: You're supposed to say, 'Yes, I think tonight's the night.'
Lupe: Yes, I think tonight's the night...
That you finally go nuts from waiting for the grand entrance of Ms. Mercedes Colomar!
Manny: Let's try that again, shall we? Think she'll come in tonight?
Lupe: YES! I THINK TONIGHT'S DEFINITELY THE NIGHT!
Manny: Thank you. It's my fault she's out in the woods alone, you know.
Lupe: (sigh) If you say so, Manny.
  • Manny: How's the flow tonight?
Lupe: We're dead tonight, Manny. Everybody's back home for the Day of the Dead, I guess...
...except for the casino. The casino's hopping.
Why is it that all the people who don't go home are the same people who just love to gamble?
Manny: Well, I guess when you've got nothing to go home to, you've got nothing to lose.
Lupe: Hey, we should put that over the door!
  • Manny: {looks at Velasco} That Dockmaster Velasco is one salty old bag of rope.
Velasco: We-uh-uh-uh, you should see his wife!
  • Manny: {when looking at the croupier at Manny's casino} An honest roulette croupier is hard to find...
And guys like this are even harder.
  • Manny: {when looking at the gamblers in the casino} Ah, my bread and butter...
Thrill-seeking rich folk with a poor grasp of statistics and probability.
  • Manny: Why aren't you over at the roulette tables?
Charlie: Ah, roulette is for lonely widows and Frenchmen.
Why don't you get some slot machines, Manny?
Everybody--old women, little children--they all love slot machines!
And I have a system, an infallible system, for beating them!
Manny: All my friends are lonely widows and Frenchmen.
Charlie: Except me, Manny. I'm here to keep you sane.
  • Manny: Tell me your system, Charlie.
Charlie: I can't tell you my secrets, uh, just this: You have to become one with the bandit Manny. You...you have to get inside the machine, and... and make it WANT to pay!
Manny: On second thought, stay away from my roulette tables.
Grim Fandango How To Get Glottis To Stop Gambling
  • Manny: I think slot machines attract an undesirable element.
Charlie: Oh, we're all undesirable, Manny...
Manny: Yeah, but your credit's no good to boot.
  • Manny: I had no idea you liked gambling so much, Glottis.
Glottis: Well, the doctors made me promise I wouldn't do it anymore... BUT THEY CAN'T GET IN THE HIGH ROLLER'S LOUNGE, NOW CAN THEY???
  • Manny: {when trying to pick up the moon} Don't have that kind of equipment.
  • Manny: {looks at the moon} It shone, pale as bone / as I stood there alone. / And I thought to myself how the moon...
Manny and Velasco: {together} ...that night, cast its light / on my heart's true delight / and the reef where her body was strewn.
  • Manny: {looks at the locked gate near SS Limbo} It's locked.
Velasco: I know, I locked it!
  • Manny: {when the player attempts to use a pile of dirty dishes} Not to sound like a capitalist oppressor, but I have people who do that for me now.
  • Olivia Ofrenda: [reading a poem] With bony hands I hold my partner/ On soulless feet we cross the floor/ The music stops as if to answer/ An empty knocking at the door/ It seems his skin was sweet as mango/ When last I held him to my breast/ But now we dance this grim fandango/ And will four years before we rest.
  • Manny: [at open mic night] Testing...check one...check two....Alright! WHO'S READY TO ROCK AND ROLL?!
Crowd: *Dead Silence*
Manny: ...Maybe later, okay?
  • Manny: Anyone know where I can find some tools?
Alexi: The only tool in here is you!
  • Carla: {to Manny} Why is it all men are after the same thing - except you?!
  • Manny: Don't you ever worry that your job is getting to you, Membrillo?
Membrillo: Well, foresnic Botany is a trying job, Manny, but have you ever spent much time here with a florist? In life, they became florists because they love flowers, but here, a flower is a symbol of pain, of death within death. Their conflicting feelings build and build, and they become quite mad.
Manny: Thanks for the tip, I guess I'll send Balloon Bouquets from now on.
  • Slisko: You smell like bacon and oppression, man.
  • Glottis: {after getting thrown out of the cat track} Hey, come on! You gotta let me back in! I'M A VIP!
Manny: Does that stand for Very Inebriated Pianist?

Year 3[edit]

  • Manny: {when trying to pick up Glottis} We're underwater--we're not on the moon.
  • Manny: Glottis! Do something!
Glottis: Okay. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
  • Manny: {to Chepito} Amigo!
Chepito: Huh? Who?
Ah, geez, another shipwreck!
You see?
THAT'S why I never travel by boat!
Manny: We've had a little accident. Think you could help us out?
Chepito: Depends on what kind of help you're looking for...
Manny: Could we borrow that light for a second?
Chepito: Sorry! I'm kind of attached to it!
Wah-ha-ha!
Manny: Could we tag along with you?
Chepito: Well, it's a long walk you're talkin' about...
Manny: We don't have any other choice.
Chepito: Oh, all right then, lift those knees, stick close to my light, and try to sing in key!
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!
Hide it under some seaweed, NO!
I'm gonna let it shine...
Hide it under some seaweed, NO!
I'm gonna let it shine...
Hide it under some seaweed, NO!
I'm gonna let it shine...
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Scare away sea monsters, yeah!
Glottis: Scare away sea monsters, yeah!
Chepito: I'm gonna let it shine!
Glottis: I'm gonna let it shine!
Chepito: Scare away sea monsters, yeah! I'm gonna let it shine...
Glottis: Scare away sea monsters, yeah! I'm gonna let it shine!
Chepito: Scare away sea monsters, yeah!
Glottis: Scare away sea monsters, yeah!
Chepito: I'm gonna let it shine!
Glottis: I'm gonna let it shine!
Glottis: Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine... Wee-ah-ha!
Chepito: Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Chepito: I'm not gonna let you touch it, NO! I'm gonna let it shine...
I'm not gonna let you touch it, NO!
I'm gonna let it shine...
Not gonna let you touch it, NO! I'm gonna let it shine...
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
Manny: I thought that looked like our ship!
Chepito: That's just a trick the ocean plays on your mind, kid. Makes everything look the same after a while, like you was going in circles.
Manny: {after returning to where they started} Well, this isn't the kind of progress I was hoping for.
Chepito: Ah, well, the wet march of the soul ain't for everybody!
  • Manny: {to Chepito} Could you send for help?
Chepito: Oh, sure!
I promise to call for help at the next phone booth I walk by.
  • Manny: {to Chepito} Is everything okay with your eyebrows?
Chepito: Them is barnacles, genius!
I don't move fast enough to shake 'em, so they tend to pile up.
I don't mind though--they're the only company I got!
Hee hee, ain't ya boys?
  • Manny: {to Chepito} How long have you been down here?
Chepito: Well, let me put it to you this way--
I wasn't always this color!
  • Manny: Why are you walking instead of taking a ship?
Chepito: Got sick of waiting around Rubacava for a boat!
Figured I'd make better time this way.
Manny: Why didn't I think of that?
  • Manny: How do you know where you're going?
Chepito: See the moon over there?
I just keep it on my right, that way I know I'm headed in a straight line!
Manny: But...
Chepito: Oldest trick in the book!
  • Manny: Hey kiddles, check out my BONE SAW!
  • {Manny opens the cage door}
Manny: {to the Angelitos} Fly! Be free! Go bite Domino!
Pugsy: Leave us alone!
Bibi: If we get out of here, he'll hurt Meche!
Manny: {closes the cage door} Fine then, stay in there.
Bibi: He IS mean.
  • Manny: {to the Angelitos} I'm the one who's going to take Meche out of here.
Bibi: What?!
Pugsy: You can't do that!
Bibi: Who's gonna take care of us? {sob} We'll be all alone!
{the Angelitos start crying}
Manny: Hey, hey. Don't cry, children... Please... stop crying... Why am I so bad at this?
  • Manny: {after closing the vault door} Oh, Raoul... I'm so, so sorry!
  • Domino: I don't believe you Calavera, you're losing a fight so you pick on one of my pets?! Why aren't you more like me Manny? I've been trying to show you how but you don't listen! If you'd just adopt the proper attitude, just look what could happen to you! (is dragged into coral grinder) AAAAAAAAAGHH!!!!

Year 4[edit]

  • Manny: (Examining the booby-trapped Bone Wagon) About to be known as the 'Blown Wagon'.
Glottis: HEY! THAT'S NOT FUNNY!
  • Glottis: LUMBAAAGOOO LEMONAAADE!
  • Hector: Listen to me once and for all, Bowlsley: You are not a florist! You are a manufacturer of weapons!
  • Manny: Listen, Bowlsley, I'm not here to hurt you...
Bowlsley: {to himself} Listen, Bowlsley, I'm here to hurt you...
Manny: It's not Hector, it's Manny Calavera.
Bowlsley: {to himself} It's not Hector, it's Manny Calavera come to sprout ya!
  • {Manny tries to pick up the boxes at Bowlsley's hideout}
Bowlsley: What's that? {pulls out a gun and points it at Manny} What are you doing? Are you crazy? Get back! {crawls under the desk} Put your hands over your head, put your head in your hands, put your head in your lap!
  • Manny: I'm not touching any of these human remains.
Bowlsley: I'm not touched! This human remains... sane!
  • Manny: {upon riding the Neon cat sign, also while being attacked by a skull raven not long before} Ayyyyyyyy chihuhahuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
  • Manny: You have a really bad taste for men.
Olivia: No I have taste for really bad men. There's a difference.
  • Hector: She loves me, she loves me not...
Manny: Well you're half-right.
  • Hector: Oh Manny... so cynical... What happened to you, Manny, that caused you to lose your sense of hope, your love of life?
Manny: I died.
  • Hector: I guess Domino was right - you don't have a shred of optimism
Manny: Well when it comes to shreds, Dom's the expert.
Hector: And by that same logic, Manuel, you're about to become an expert in botany.
  • {Manny shoots at the greenhouse window}
Hector: {approaches the window} Olivia? Who's out there?
Manny: I'm the Grim Reaper, lard-ass! And you're my next customer!
  • Manny: Hmmm... Hector supplies water to keep the flowers alive? Does he see them as a memorial, or as trophies?
  • Meche: Manny, when we get to the other side, will we still be together?
Manny: You know, sweetheart, if there's one thing I've learned, it's this: nobody knows what's gonna happen at the end of the line, so you might as well enjoy the trip.

Quotes about Grim Fandango[edit]

  • Tim [Schafer] leads more by inspiring than by directing. (Grim Fandango music composer Peter McConnell talking about the leadership style during the development of the game)
    • Savery, Richard (February 23, 2015). Peter McConnell talks Grim Fandango Remastered. Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.).
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Grim_Fandango&oldid=2701821'
Grim Fandango, which was released in 1998, is considered by many to be one of the best Lucas Arts adventure games ever made. It tells the story of Manny Calavera, a travel agent working in the land of the dead. The game combines Aztec and film noir imagery to create a game that is wholly unique and still has a rabid fan base. Tim Schafer, the primary writer for the original (and a mastermind behind recently critically appreciated games such as Psychonauts through his company Double Fine Productions [previously]) has released the full 72 page design document that was written in 1996. [direct pdf link]. This is great reading for those who get nostalgic just thinking about the game. Here's the opening scene of the game to help you develop an appreciation, if you haven't done so already: youtube link
posted by SpacemanStix (73 comments total) 62 users marked this as a favorite
It's like this post was built from my browsing history this morning.. uncanny.
posted by splatta at 11:38 AM on November 6, 2008

Awesome. I will now spend the next three weeks playing 'Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders' and 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,' the only two LucasArts games that I have that haven't been damaged by flood or magnetism.
posted by sjuhawk31 at 11:39 AM on November 6, 2008

It's got great music, too.
posted by small_ruminant at 11:39 AM on November 6, 2008

Aah, Grim Fandango! Great to see a document like this, I love seeing design docs and concept art of games, it definitely adds another level of enjoyment. And that last page was just wonderful:
To protect this document, please restrict your fallen tears to this box. Thank you!
posted by bjrn at 11:43 AM on November 6, 2008

Run, you pigeons, it's Robert Frost!
posted by uncleozzy at 11:44 AM on November 6, 2008 [12 favorites]

Glottis is one of the great creations of computer game storytelling.
posted by JHarris at 11:51 AM on November 6, 2008

Grim Fandango was just about the best time I had playing a single player adventure game. I'd loved that style of game since the Adams Adventures in the early 80's. I would love to still have a working copy of it and would love it even more if more games of this sort were made.
I mean, I was actually moved at the end of the game.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:52 AM on November 6, 2008

Is this game still available anywhere? It's a classic, apparently, but I'd like to play it at some point.
posted by Pope Guilty at 11:54 AM on November 6, 2008

Bound only by the paper-thin wrapper of mortality, a soul here lies, struggling to be free. And so it shall, thanks to a bowl of bad gazpacho, and a man named... Calavera.
(I did that from memory)
posted by zsazsa at 11:55 AM on November 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

I mean, I was actually moved at the end of the game.
I remember starting the game thinking it was fairly clever, with some good laughs. And then the story switched over to year 2, and it absolutely hooked me with how emotionally involved I got with the story, and how epic it felt at that moment. I didn't stop playing it until I was done.
posted by SpacemanStix at 11:57 AM on November 6, 2008

Is this game still available anywhere?
Copies fetch a pretty nice price on ebay these days, otherwise it's hard to get your hands on one. I remember picking it up in a sales bin at Best Buy a few years ago for $10, and I would have bought a lot of them if I knew how rare they would get.
posted by SpacemanStix at 12:00 PM on November 6, 2008

In stock at amazon for 35 bones.
posted by Hypnotic Chick at 12:01 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Man, I loved the days before LucasArts did nothing but churn out Star Wars games. Those were the golden days of my gaming youth. Sam & Max, Day of The Tentacle, Monkey Island 1, 2 and even 3. These are all games that hold a cherished place in my gaming memories. I can still quote lines from many of them, even though I haven't played any of them in a while.
Grim Fandango took some getting used to, at first. All the other LucasArts adventures games had used the SCUMM system for interacting with the world. I liked the SCUMM system. I knew it and understood it. Suddenly we had the GrimE system, which seemed to involve a new way of playing. Manny would look at something as you walked past it which suggested that there was something that you could interact with. Then it became a question of 'well what near here can I interact with?' It was enormously frustrating. At first.
After some time though I started to get to grips with the whole thing, and played my way through the game. I enjoyed it very much but it was, imo, far from the best of what LucasArts had ever done with adventure gaming. It was telling that this was the second-to-last adventure game LucasArts ever made... the final being Escape from Monkey Island, itself a mere shadow on past games in that series. Sales apparently dropped off significantly starting with Grim Fandango as well, according to Wikipedia.
Maybe it was a case of many old school LucasArts gamers experiencing the same frustration with GrimE as I first had but not sticking with it (my friend was one of these). Maybe it was just the changing times, as first person shooters and console gaming started to grow in popularity. Maybe LucasArts, who had already started churning out Star Wars games by the dozen, just didn't have their heart in the genre anymore. Or maybe the audience that had grown up with LucasArts adventure games had grown up and gotten jobs and were too busy to play deep, involved story games (or games in general). I dunno. All I know is that Grim Fandango, while not as great as LucasArts games of yore, was not at all a terrible game, so the declining sales must have been due to something far greater than any shortcomings it might have had.
All in all, I liked Grim Fandango very much, but I don't remember it with the same kind of reverance that I do earlier LucasArts games like Tentacle, Sam & Max, the earlier Monkey Island games or Full Throttle. Grim was good, but it was almost like a death echo of LucasArts adventure gaming as a whole; a reminder of what LucasArts used to be, but not as good as its former self.
Thanks for the post and the trip down memory lane, Spaceman!
posted by Effigy2000 at 12:03 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

How would I play the game if I wanted to do so? Can I download it for PC?
posted by Eideteker at 12:05 PM on November 6, 2008

Grim Fandango was the first computer game that made me genuinely tear up. There have been a few since, but that was the first.
It's remarkably inventive, with superb voices. It's set in the Mexican Land of the Dead, which all souls must cross to get to their final resting place. It's an arduous and dangerous journey, traditionally taking five years in Mexican folklore.
But change and technology are everywhere, even after death, and you're playing Manny Calavera, a travel agent. His job is to sell upscale travel arrangements to the newly dead, from pack mules to automobiles. The better a soul was in life, the more comfortable a conveyance it will qualify for. The really virtuous may rate a ticket on the Number Nine Express train, which allows a soul to travel in perfect safety to its final destination in just a few hours.
But Manny hasn't been getting good souls for a long time, so he's not making his quota, and is in real danger of losing his job. This is apparently a Very Bad Thing in those parts, though that's never fully explained. You take control of him as he decides to figure out just what's wrong, and why his competitor is getting sweet soul after sweet soul, while he's left with the dregs. Something's rotten in the land of the dead....
The biggest problem with the game is probably that the controls are so awkward. It's in 3D, and moving your character around is kind of strange and awkward. Later Lucas games in 3D handled this better, but this was the first try, and they didn't do such a hot job with it. And the puzzles are TOUGH, especially in the second chapter (of four). Brutal. Painful. Probably the hardest game with 'fair' puzzles since Infocom's Spellbreaker.
I recommend printing out a walkthrough and consulting it if and when you get stuck. The plot and characters are so good that you don't actually need to solve the puzzles to enjoy the hell out of it. The whole thing is just SO good that it's kinda like watching an interactive movie, though you'll get more enjoyment out of it if you really work on the puzzles. The worst one is the racetrack puzzle picture, so definitely look it up if you get stuck there. (this is in Chapter 2.)
Highly recommended, if you can lay hands on a copy. I'm pretty sure it will run in XP, but it's been a long, long time, and I'm not entirely certain.
posted by Malor at 12:09 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oh JEEBUS I loved this game. I still love this game. The style was totally up my alley, the puzzles were wonderfully hard, and the plot line was so...so...non-cliché. In a good way.
Gawd, I wish there were more of that these days.
And you kids, get off my lawn.
posted by LMGM at 12:13 PM on November 6, 2008

Grim Fandango Glottis Stop Gambling


Damn. Now I have to play it again. (but thanks for reminding me how much I loved it.)
posted by merelyglib at 12:17 PM on November 6, 2008

Sam and Max was my favorite early twisted game. Playing that while having bronchitis made the hours fly by and then came 'Day of the Tentacles'. Being sick was so much fun.
posted by doctorschlock at 12:20 PM on November 6, 2008

I loved this game. Man, do I ever miss the adventure genre. Won't someone bring this back? Graphics are so totally overrated.
posted by fusinski at 12:24 PM on November 6, 2008

i need to find this too. now if there only i could find a proper emulator for oregon trail.
posted by fuzzypantalones at 12:29 PM on November 6, 2008

fusinski: 'Graphics are so totally overrated.'
QFT.
posted by sveskemus at 12:30 PM on November 6, 2008

Up 'till now, Manny, we crawled on the ground like rats. But now, we'll soar like eagles! Like eagles on... POGO STICKS!!!
posted by Pope Gustafson I at 12:33 PM on November 6, 2008

For what it's worth, the ScummVM folks seem to be working on an engine to run Grim Fandango as well.
posted by hattifattener at 12:34 PM on November 6, 2008

I love Tim Schafer. Now we just need to get Activision to release Brütal Legend already!
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:37 PM on November 6, 2008

Run, you pigeons, it's Robert Frost!
Honestly, that is one of the most hee-haw funny moments in video game history.
posted by fusinski at 12:38 PM on November 6, 2008

I was at a restaurant with a roaming balloon artist the other night. Some of the sculptures he made were really amazing; 'monkey climbing a banana tree' was incredible. I should have asked for a Robert Frost. I bet he would have forgotten the pipe, though.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:42 PM on November 6, 2008

Found a copy of this in a discount bin last year. The game runs fine on XP, although you have to avoid the conveyor belt bug - and damn if this wasn't an excellent game. The atmosphere, music, and story are amazing.
I don't know why there isn't more of a market for these later-retro games - I picked up old copies of Grim Fandango, Monkey Islands, The Last Express, and Planescape: Torment, and they're all more fun than most of the current games in my collection.
posted by Paragon at 12:45 PM on November 6, 2008

Grim Fandango was just about the best time I had playing a single player adventure game.
Yep. If they still made games like this, I'd still be a gamer.
posted by davejay at 12:48 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Heard tons about it. Still have to play it.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 12:56 PM on November 6, 2008

Sigh. And I was managing to not have to go through and play it yet again, but this might have just forced me to. Such a painfully awesome game, and incidentally got my best mate to watch Casablanca for the first time, which he also loved.
Oh, addendum to this would be the current news about Activision/Blizzard apparently deciding not only to not publish Brutal Legends, Schafer's new game, but stopping it going to other publishers... ActiBlizz are the new EA.
posted by opsin at 1:11 PM on November 6, 2008

Where's the damn sequel, LucasArts?
Well?
I'm not gonna drink dirty hookah water.
posted by notyou at 1:14 PM on November 6, 2008

Oh man. I loved this game so very much way back when. Thanks for this post, and for reminding me how tough it is to find a game that really worms its way into your life.
posted by shiu mai baby at 1:25 PM on November 6, 2008

I was cleaning out my closets last year and got rid of a whole bunch of old computer game CDs but I held on to Grim Fandango and all my other adventure games. I'm currently replaying Monkey Island 2 on my iPhone thanks to the folks at ScummVM and I would be ecstatic if I could do the same with Grim Fandango.
posted by ooga_booga at 1:26 PM on November 6, 2008

Excellent!
Now do Day Of the Tentacle!
posted by The Whelk at 1:32 PM on November 6, 2008

davejay: 'Grim Fandango was just about the best time I had playing a single player adventure game.
Yep. If they still made games like this, I'd still be a gamer.
'
Me too. I also got so tired of chasing the latest and greatest specs for a gaming rig that I don't even bother anymore. Mostly, I've been replaying ancient games that will run on my laptop (Jedi Knight, Total Annihilation, System Shock II) and don't even have a gaming desktop computer anymore. Grim Fandango was awesome, I remember thinking at the time, 'wow, this is the future of computer gaming.' I guess that I was wrong.
posted by octothorpe at 1:39 PM on November 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

Wow, reading through that pdf, I have very vivid memories of Years One and Two, little recollection of Year Three and remember Year Four as being significantly different from the way its described in the document (I especially loved the deliberate printing 'error' at the end).
Glottis is one of the greatest characters ever created for any medium ever. The sequence where his gambling addiction takes over is one of my fondest gaming memories ever.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:40 PM on November 6, 2008

this is actually one of the only games of his that I haven't played. anyone know how well it runs on modern machines? does it work with the SCUMM emulators?
posted by shmegegge at 1:42 PM on November 6, 2008

This . is for LucasArts' golden years. We had some good times together.
Please rerelease all those great adventure games to run under XP/Vista. Hell, I even dug The Dig. They would fit on a single DVD. DO IT! DO IT NOW!
posted by turgid dahlia at 1:46 PM on November 6, 2008

Man, do I ever miss the adventure genre. Won't someone bring this back? Graphics are so totally overrated.
oh, for everyone out there who wishes they still made games like this, I would very much like to draw your attention to the fact that there are actually new Sam and Max games to play if you're on Gametap, and they're every bit as good as the old ones. I remember watching a chorus line of singing Secret Service agents regaling me with a song about how much they love war and I thought 'Ah. This is what I was missing.'
posted by shmegegge at 1:52 PM on November 6, 2008

Isn't it in the mefi by-laws that a developer that worked on the game should've replied by now?
posted by flaterik at 1:56 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thank you for this post. Everything about this game's presentation was simply amazing. The visuals, the music, the storyline, the dialogue. No game before or since has ever made me feel so attached to the characters, or given me that same mixture of happiness and sadness on its completion. The day after I finished it for the first time I tried playing it again, but couldn't knowing that it would have to end again.
I hope this post makes someone else finally go out and buy an old copy and play it through, just like a recent post did for me and System Shock 2.
(Keep in mind I think there's a patch you need to download to stop the game freezing somewhere year 2)
posted by teem at 1:56 PM on November 6, 2008

God, I hate Jack Black AND heavy metal, but I'll be damned if I won't be playing brutal legend. Grim Fandango is a goddamned masterpiece, and I will support Schaffer to my dying day.
posted by bookwo3107 at 2:00 PM on November 6, 2008

I won't, however, spell his name right. Shafer, obviously.
Incidentally, Grim Fandango's manual had a great gag about people concerned about the amount of smoking in the game. It points out that everyone that smokes in the game is dead.
Also-incidentally, here is a song Glottis sings that is criminally overlooked by many people while playing through the game:
posted by bookwo3107 at 2:03 PM on November 6, 2008

I swear, I'm not normally this spastic. The video
posted by bookwo3107 at 2:23 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

The fan-site is pretty fantastic, and even has the soundtrack for download (from an official CD, not as old in-game files =)
I actually bought this game last year, and installed it on a modern Windows XP machine. My wife and I started playing it, but somehow got distracted. We just need to set aside time to play this (and Sam & Max Season 1 on the Wii, and a few others ...) From the initial stages, Grim played just fine. I'll check it out again tonight to see how it goes. I forgot where we got it, sorry.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:33 PM on November 6, 2008

For all of you asking why they don't make games like this anymore, it's because of you. You didn't buy Psychonauts, you didn't buy Beyond Good And Evil, etc.
Tim Schafer is a god, but I swear Brutal Legend is his 'Oh, so I keep making sweet awesome games anyone can play and you all keep ignoring me. Fine. Here's a game with decapitation and tits. Happy now?'
Great post. I keep crossing my fingers for Grim Fandango on GOG.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:37 PM on November 6, 2008

I haven't really gone that far into Grim Fandango fansites, but I came across The Department of Death's download page, another fan-site which has a fan-made launcher that allows the game to work with all versions of Windows, including Vista and Vista64.
And I've seen a few 'abandonware' sites hosting what appears to be the whole game, though I haven't tested those venues.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:39 PM on November 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

I keep crossing my fingers for Grim Fandango on GOG.
Man, that would be so great.
I can't comprehend why even more companies aren't cashing in on nostalgia, doing a little bit of work to get them up and running on current machines and distributing them through online services.
There's MONEY TO BE MADE HERE! MONEY!!
posted by SpacemanStix at 2:40 PM on November 6, 2008

As shmegegge says, there are new Sam and Max games, Zack and Wiki on the Wii is basically a string of adventure game style puzzles and the DS has Hotel Dusk (and according to WP Trace Memory and a follow up coming to the Wii, but I haven't played that).
But the reason you don't see adventure games coming out of the big studios is that they don't sell.
posted by markr at 2:46 PM on November 6, 2008

Oh also, if you like irreverent point and click adventure, the Strongbad games on Wii are pretty fun.
posted by lumpenprole at 2:58 PM on November 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

Terrific game. This is another one that I yank back out pretty regularly.
posted by spirit72 at 3:07 PM on November 6, 2008

Gotta throw out the Penny Arcade games - On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.
I think I may need to buy Grim Fandango
posted by OrangeDrink at 3:25 PM on November 6, 2008

'That's not on fire.'
(Anyone else attempt to use the fire extinguisher as a desperate last-resort attempt on every frustrating puzzle they encountered?)
posted by argh at 4:22 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

That game always glitched out on me 3/4 of the way through on Windows 98.
Afer a while I stopped trying.
Much like Starship Titanic.
posted by Balisong at 4:24 PM on November 6, 2008

Grim Fandango was the first game that made me cry. Not to spoil the ending for anyone who hasn't played it, but... well... I think this game has a legitimate claim to having one of the best stories, art direction, music, and voice acting of any game ever made. I haven't been into adventure games in quite some time, and I'd still put this in my top 5 favorite games of all time, easy.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 5:02 PM on November 6, 2008

One of my top 5 games of all-time.
posted by Vindaloo at 5:44 PM on November 6, 2008

I loved this game and I just realized that although I remember pretty much everything up until the end of chapter 2, I don't remember the ending of the game! A good reason to take it out and replay it some point, I think. I'll avoid reading the design document until then....
For fans of old-school adventure games: try Telltale's new Sam and Max series. By the 4th episode of the first season it really hit its stride. It's become (dare I say it?) better than the original Sam and Max. Telltale Games is the new Lucasarts.
Anyone remember The Riddle of Master Lu? That was another of my old favorites. Getting the pin out of the bottle and escaping the German nobleman's basement was a great puzzle. I once considered blowing an AskMe question to ask people what they considered the best/most clever/most satisfying adventure game puzzles, but decided it was too surveyish. Anyone have any suggestions? (Obviously, creating the tentacle costume in Day of the Tentacle is in there.)
Of course, let's not forget what really caused the death of adventure games.
posted by painquale at 7:05 PM on November 6, 2008

what really caused the death of adventure games
Oh man, as much as I loved Sins of the Fathers, Gabriel Knight 3 was just awful. It gleefully crossed the line from clever puzzles to inane nonsense. I don't know if it killed adventure games, per se, but it certainly wasn't any fun.
I played through Day of the Tentacle a few weeks ago, and it was a blast. I'm going to have to see if I can track down a copy of the new Sam & Max series for Wii. I really love adventure games.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:55 PM on November 6, 2008

This is another one that I yank back out pretty regularly.
Same here. Mainly when I've been drinking.
(See? That works on multiple levels.)
posted by turgid dahlia at 7:59 PM on November 6, 2008

For those of you who haven't played it but want to know what the fuss is about, I give you Grim Fandango: The Movie. Courtesy of SA goon Vexation, it's pretty much the best Let's Play ever.
posted by graventy at 11:25 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]

The ever lovin' Malor: The plot and characters are so good that you don't actually need to solve the puzzles to enjoy the hell out of it. The whole thing is just SO good that it's kinda like watching an interactive movie, though you'll get more enjoyment out of it if you really work on the puzzles.
In fact I wouldn't describe it as an interactive movie. That comparison has been used so many times it's become meaningless.
Those who've played it know that, without exaggeration, it's every bit as good as the best real movies, which means on the average it's better than what an interactive movie would be. (I wouldn't want to watch Armageddon, whether I could control Bruce Willis or not.)
posted by JHarris at 1:39 AM on November 7, 2008

gravanty: I was watching that movie - thinking 'I know that voice' during Manny's lines, so I looked up the voice actor, only to discover he's mildly famous on TV these days. Perhaps that's what Manny looked like before he was a skeleton.
posted by Sparx at 2:00 AM on November 7, 2008

I used to greet my chatty cat with 'It's a squeaky little kitty!'
I never waved her at any pigeons, though.
posted by Spatch at 6:15 AM on November 7, 2008

Is this game still available anywhere?
We bought a copy at HMV in Reading for £5. Try British games sites, they had plenty of copies.
posted by mippy at 7:29 AM on November 7, 2008

Criminy - there's also a bonus 2CD soundtrack set, for a total of 3 CDs of game music! I haven't seen the bonus set around except for on a music er, 'enthusiasts' site. And I did get the 2CD version of the game last year, for Windows 95. It worked so far in XP, but I'll re-install it with the Grim Fandango Launcher and see how it goes. Especially nice that you can play without the CDs.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:37 AM on November 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

The new Sam & Max games aren't quite up to the level of the original, sadly.
Swearing in longhand, asterisk-breath.
posted by spiderwire at 10:11 AM on November 7, 2008

Never worked for me on my MacBook Pro running Boot Camp. It qualifies as one of the greatest gaming tragedies of my life. It rivals the time I spent money on Pyst.
I already knew Aeris was gonna die. That moment doesn't count.
posted by spamguy at 12:49 PM on November 7, 2008

graventy: I had long thought about making something just like the SA guys have provided in that link. It is awesome.
posted by JHarris at 5:26 PM on November 7, 2008

Grim Fandango is probably my favorite game, ever. Now I want to play it again!
Man, LucasArts used to be awesome.
posted by OolooKitty at 6:22 PM on November 7, 2008

It turns out that in celebration of the election, Telltale Games has made the White-House-themed episode of Sam and Max available for free download.
posted by painquale at 12:48 AM on November 8, 2008

Hasn't that always been free? I know it was free on Steam about six months ago.
posted by dirigibleman at 5:16 AM on November 8, 2008

I had long thought about making something just like the SA guys have provided in that link. It is awesome.
Yeah, most games require a significant amount of explanation or commentary, but Grim really works well as a movie.
posted by graventy at 1:22 PM on November 8, 2008

How hard would it be for Doublefine to buy the rights for this game (back?) from Lucas Arts to make a sequel, or perhaps a remake that controls and runs better on modern systems? I loved the game dearly, but the awkward Resident Evil style controls and unintuitive angling Manny just so to look at/pickup something grew tiresome. A full 3D design would be awesome, but that's probably asking too much.
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:37 PM on November 9, 2008

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