- This page is for the 1993 computer game by LucasArts. For Telltale's episodic Sam & Max games, see Sam & Max Season One.
Sam & Max Hit the Road is a graphical adventure game, originally developed and released by LucasArts in 1993 for DOS and Macintosh computers. It is the ninth game to use the SCUMM adventure game engine.
| Sam & Max Hit the Road icon Sam & Max Hit the Road | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | LucasArts |
| Publisher(s) | LucasArts |
| Designer(s) | Sean Clark Michael Stemmle Steve Purcell Collette Michaud |
| Engine | SCUMM v6 |
| Platform(s) | DOS, Mac OS, Windows |
| Release | 1993 (DOS) 1995 (Mac) |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Based on Sam & Max: Freelance Police comic book characters created by Steve Purcell, it follows the detective duo (Sam, a 6 foot anthropomorphic dog, and Max, a 3 foot "hyperkinetic rabbity thing") across a kitsch, tourist trap pastiche of America (featuring such locales as The World's Largest Ball of Twine and the Mystery Spot) in search of an escaped sasquatch.
It introduced a slightly modified SCUMM interface - instead of the inventory and a panel with the control verbs appearing at the bottom of the screen, a right-click of the mouse cycles through a set of icons representing different control verbs, with the inventory as a separate screen. A similar interface was later used in The Dig and all SCUMM games that followed it.
It was released simultaneously on floppy disk and CD-ROM; the CD version had a full voiceover soundtrack.
It was written and designed by Steve Purcell along with Sean Clark, Collette Michaud and Michael Stemmle and commonly applauded for its substantial amount of humor. In the Tunnel of Love scene, looking at the first display will have Sam quote the English poet John Milton: "Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven." Max then quotes David Byrne: "Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens."
Technical issues
Though still available in stores, usually as a budget release, a major problem found by users of modern PCs is that no music can be heard. This problem is easily solved by one of two methods. Firstly an updated executable file can be obtained from the Unofficial Sam & Max Website,[1] which also includes basic anti-aliasing code to improve the visuals of the game.
Alternatively, ScummVM (or DOSBox) can be used to run this and many other LucasArts adventure games on a number of originally unsupported platforms while also having a number of optional filter settings for improved image quality.
Sequel
Nearly a decade after the release of the original adventure game, LucasArts issued a statement to the press on August 23, 2002 announcing a sequel to Sam & Max Hit the Road, titled Sam & Max Freelance Police. The sequel — like the original — was to be a point-and-click adventure game, although this time utilising 3D computer graphics. Mike Stemmle, co-designer of Sam & Max Hit the Road, was the lead director on this project with Steve Purcell contributing story design and concept art. Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson also reprised their roles as the original voices of Sam and Max. The game's unexpected cancellation caused an uproar among fans.
A new episodic series of Sam & Max games was later announced by the newly formed Telltale Games, a company consisting of many ex-LucasArts employees, and the first game was released October 17, 2006.
Cameo appearances in other videogames
- Another game by LucasArts, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, featured collectible items called Challenge Points. Most of the points were in the shape of the Rebel Alliance's logo, although one of them, located on the 6th level just outside Mos Eisley, was shaped like Max's head.
- Star Wars: Dark Forces, by LucasArts, contained a level map with a secret room made to appear like Max's head on the automap.
- Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, by LucasArts, featured a hostile 3D model of Max in a hidden room.
- Full Throttle by LucasArts, featured a Max's head drawn on a wall during a demolition derby.
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure by Lucasfilm Games (now LucasArts), featured a wood totem of Sam & Max at Dr. Jones office.
- In Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis Max can be seen in a shadow play. Play the Team Path, visit the Hotel in Monte Carlo, switch off the light and use the flashlight.
- Day of the Tentacle featured a painting of Max in the inn back in the past.
- Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds featured a level with a clearing of trees shaped like Max's head.
- Torin's Passage, a 1995 adventure game by Sierra On-Line, featured two skunks named Sam and Max.
- Steve Purcell worked as a background artist and animator on the first and second Monkey Island games. Sam & Max make guest appearances in all four Monkey Island games.
- In The Secret of Monkey Island there is an idol near the Giant Monkey Head that looks unmistakably like Sam & Max.
- In Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, the costume shop on Booty Island features a pair of Sam & Max costumes; however, both costumes are too expensive for the protagonist, Guybrush Threepwood, to rent.
- The Curse of Monkey Island, features a shape of Max's head in a lightshow on Plunder Island, at the stage. There is also a sign in the carnival referencing to Trixie the Giraffe-Necked Girl, one of the characters in Sam & Max.
- In Escape from Monkey Island, Sam N. Max is one of the potential aliases for Pegnose Pete.
- The Curse of Monkey Island, also features a portrait of Max in the Barbery Coast, hidden behind Edward Van Helgen.
- In Outlaws, a western first person shooter game by LucasArts, one of the additional missions contains a secret area which hides Max, who wields two pistols and shoots at the player. Killing Max plays an audio insult.
- In Grim Fandango Max's head is outlined in Toto's Tatoo Parlor on the poster near the phone.
External links
