Image Credit: Chris Furniss. Click the image for more or to order prints.

“I had a concept that the music for Metroid should be created not as game music. . . . I wanted to create the sound without any distinctions between music and sound effects.”

This quote from a Gamasutra interview with Hip Tanaka (composer of the original Metroid) sums up the beginning of the atypical sound the Metroid series is now known for. While it has definitely evolved as the series progressed through the changes in composers and hardware, the spirit and tone of the original has mostly remained throughout.

Metroid (NES/FDS)

In a time when the industry was overwhelmed with upbeat, catchy melodies, Metroid stood against the grain. While the game is bookended with more driving themes such as Brinstar and the escape sequence, the majority of the soundtrack is made of far less traditional game music. The item room in particular consists of a combination of strange noises and awkwardly sparse high notes.

Kraid’s lair might stick out in our minds as a happy middle ground between catchy and moody, but it’s areas like Norfair, Ridley’s lair, and Tourian where Tanaka’s vision feels fully realized. The abstract structure of these themes make the planet Zebes feel truly alien.

Metroid (NES/FDS)

Having come out on the Famicom Disk System first, the original score of Metroid (which never left Japan) had some subtle differences. There are a handful of themes that utilize the system’s wavetable channel. While purists might argue, the NES version we received in North America still fits the game like a glove and is a perfectly manageable version of the score.

Metroid II: Return of Samus (Game Boy)

With the exception of a few songs, Return of Samus managed to take Metroid music to an even more abstract place. In fact, most of Ryohji Yoshitomi’s score is hard to label as music, consisting purely of sound effects. Occasionally, a Tanaka-like melody will pop in and what’s there is certainly fitting. But aside from the tunnel theme, many would agree it has less staying power than the original game.

Super Metroid (SNES)

Much like the game itself, the soundtrack of Super Metroid could easily be considered the apex of the entire series. Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano put together a phenomenal score that, while more melodically driven than its predecessors, retained an atmospheric, dark tone.

Each theme is memorable, but unintrusive. The music of the underwater area of Maridia is hauntingly beautiful. Areas like Crateria and Norfair even introduced choral elements that despite being synthesized still sound incredibly eerie.

Super Metroid (SNES)

A lot of attention is paid to dynamics. The slight variations in volume, especially when quickly rising and falling, only add to the unsettling nature of the tone. In stark contrast, some of the battle themes discard subtly with a very full, alarming sound that works as a great counter piece to the rest of the soundtrack. In all aspects, Super Metroid is a tough game to top.

Metroid Fusion (GBA)

For the simultaneous release of Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime, the Super Metroid composers were split up leaving Yamamoto to score Prime with assistance from Kouichi Kyuma while Hamano and Akira Fujiwara handled Fusion.

The Fusion soundtrack certainly set the right mood, but was never able to reach the high bar set by Super Metroid. It’s not without its notable qualities, though. The modulating synths and punchy kick drums in themes like the Nightmare battle at least give it a different flavor.

Metroid Prime Trilogy (Gamecube/Wii)

With less hardware limitations, Kenji Yamamoto was able to play with a larger variety of sounds for the Metroid Prime soundtrack. He used more choral elements than Super Metroid as heard in the Hall of the Elders, but occasionally combined it with bits of electronica. Themes such as the Chozo Ruins took a very minimalist approach while battle themes like the Parasite Queen didn’t hold back.

I never quite felt anything as magical as Hamano’s Maridia, but the underwater frigate came close. Phendrana Drifts and the artifact temple further added to the more serene side of the score.

Metroid Prime 3 (Wii)

The second game followed fairly closely in style to the first. Of course, there are a few outliers such as the Dark Samus battle which sneaks in a little guitar here and there over a more traditional beat. But when it comes to personal favorites, Torvus Bog is the star of the show.

For the final game, Yamamoto was once again joined by Hamano, reforming the Super Metroid duo while adding Masaru Tajima to the mix. Despite the extra music staff, Prime 3 didn’t really rise above anything laid down in the first two games. It wasn’t worse either, but considering what they managed to do on the Super Nintendo, I expected a little more. Then again, I can’t deny the more dramatic sound of the title screen music.

Metroid Zero Mission (GBA)

Even before Metroid Prime 3, Yamamato and Hamano combined forces to tackle the Metroid: Zero Mission soundtrack. As a reimagining of the original Metroid, the soundtrack contained a lot of the same songs, yet the style sounded much different. If you were to take the melodies from the first game, add the choral style of the Prime series, and sprinkle a little bit of Super Metroid on top, you would have Zero Mission. This hodgepodge of styles is especially apparent in the Norfair arrangement.

Metroid Prime Hunters (DS)

Metroid Prime Hunters is an interesting case. Scored by Lawrence Schwedler and James Phillipsen, it often has a decidedly un-Metroid feel to it. There are still some ambient tracks that fit the mood, but a lot of it features beats that would feel more at home in popular electronica music. In fact, the Magma and Arctic Spawn battle almost feels like it could be on The Prodigy’s Fat of the Land. It’s not a bad soundtrack, but certainly a very different one.

Metroid: Other M (Wii)

Metroid: Other M (Wii)

I hate to end on a downer, but with Metroid: Other M being the last game I don’t have much of a choice. It was scored by Kuniaki Haishima who to my knowledge had never composed for a videogame before. I have not heard his anime or film scores, but his work on Other M is completely forgettable. Most of it is ambient noise while the rest of it is generic fluff with no real substance. It’s at its best when it steals a theme from another game, and even that it doesn’t do often.

The best song actually comes from the game’s live action trailer, but that’s just cheating.

———————————————

It’s hard to say what the future of Metroid holds, especially with the last game being such a departure from the norm. I’d love to see what Kenji Yamamoto could do with an actual choir (instead of a synthesized one). But I’m not opposed to some new blood either. That is, of course, as long as they do a better job than Haishima.

"What have I become?"

I’m a big fan of Star Fox. The name of this site, “WingDamage”, and our podcast, “Barrel Roll!“, are both references to the series. But when I say I’m a big fan of the franchise, what I really mean to say is that I’m a big fan of about two and a half of its games.

Today, I’d like to take you down memory lane and discuss the high points, what went wrong, and what Nintendo could do to save the series.

Star Fox (SNES, Nintendo EAD & Argonaut Games, 1993)

The original Star Fox on the Super Nintendo was nothing short of revolutionary. It was the first Nintendo game ever to be in 3D. The entire game focuses on piloting an “arwing” from point A to the boss waiting for you at point B. Instead of choosing a difficulty setting, Star Fox features three separate paths to choose from, each with their own unique levels leading to the end of the game.

Though the game is a rail shooter, you can speed up or slow down temporarily. The game also contains a lot of terrain elements such as archways and asteroids that keep the levels interesting, rather than just filling empty space with enemies. Along with screen-clearing bombs, you can also collect upgrades to your standard laser.

What’s even more interesting, however, is the dynamic damage your ship can take. Rather than damage from anywhere behaving the same, too much impact on a single wing can result in “wing damage” (see what I did there?) causing not only your handling to be affected, but your weapons as well.

Though the untextured, low-poly models may look primitive by today’s standards, the gameplay holds up amazingly well. Even today, Star Fox is a blast to play and the combination of different paths and secrets within the levels contribute to its longevity. This is my second favorite Star Fox game.

Star Fox 2 [canceled] (SNES, Nintendo EAD & Argonaut Games, 1995)

Though Star Fox 2 never officially came out, builds of the game at varying stages of completion were leaked on the internet. It’s interesting to see some of the ideas in their infancy that eventually were used in later titles.

The first thing you’ll notice when playing Star Fox 2 is the map screen. Levels are not played in a sequential order. Instead, you must navigate your ship on the map screen to intercept enemy ships. When you come in contact with an enemy, you will be taken to a level on the planet you collided at.

This is where “All Range Mode” was born. On the planet’s surface, you can fly in any direction, free from the rails of the previous game. Instead of working toward a destination, you must take out as many enemies as you can. Certain situations, like flying inside an enemy base, would put you back on rails until you reached the base’s core.

Unfortunately, All Range Mode on the Super Nintendo is nauseating, especially on space levels. The game did feature some interesting ideas, such as letting you choose your character. The best part of all, though, was the ability to transform your arwing into a bipedal walker at the push of a button.

Star Fox 2 had a lot of crazy ideas, some of which worked, some of which didn’t. Overall, it was a very ambitious sequel that never saw the light of day.

Star Fox 64 (N64, Nintendo EAD, 1997)

Star Fox 64 did everything right. Instead of running with the odd structure laid out in Star Fox 2, the N64 iteration took the basic rail shooter gameplay of the first and fine tuned it to perfection.

This was the first entry to feature voice acting (aside from the gibberish speak in the original). This breathed new life into all the characters and, thanks to its clever implementation, gave the game a very cinematic feel without resorting to interrupting the action with unnecessary cutscenes.

Rather than choosing from one of three paths, Star Fox 64 chooses your next level based on certain actions you perform within the current level. This allows you to forge your own path as you progress and forces you to work extra hard to access certain levels. The increased amount of secrets as well as medals awarded for great performance made each level even more rewarding to play through.

Throughout the game, there are a few sections of the All Range Mode that was introduced in Star Fox 2. They are few and far between in comparison to the rail shooting sections and serve to break up the action in just the right amount.

Star Fox 64 balances all its elements perfectly, making it easily the best game in the series. Not only that, Star Fox 64 is my favorite Nintendo 64 game (sorry, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Mario 64).

Star Fox Adventures (GC, Rare, 2002)

And here’s where things go to crap. For whatever reason, Nintendo decided to hand development of the next Star Fox game to Rare. This was a big mistake.

Instead of following up the last fantastic rail shooter with another one, they created “The Poor Man’s Zelda”. The game takes place on a planet inhabited by dinosaurs and lizard men that look like they were lifted straight from the Donkey Kong Country games.

It wouldn’t bother me as much to see such a departure in genre if the game was actually fun to play, but unfortunately this was not the case. I tried to like the game, I really did, but I just couldn’t. In true Rare fashion, the game was a big “collect-a-thon”.

The moment where I couldn’t take it anymore happened when the game wanted me to carry an object up a winding ramp with barrels rolling down it. If you got hit by a barrel, you would drop the object and have to go to the bottom and get a new one. Unfortunately, the camera was terrible and resulted in a lot of blind dodging and wishful thinking.

I have no idea why the follow up to Star Fox 64 is a really mediocre Action/Adventure game instead of another fantastic rail shooter. Perhaps somebody didn’t get the memo on what the Star Fox series actually is.

Star Fox Assault (GC, Namco, 2005)

Thankfully, Namco didn’t follow Rare’s formula and actually made the closest thing to a great Star Fox game we’ve had since Star Fox 64. It’s actually a little painful, because it’s so close to being great, but it’s just not quite there.

The graphics are a treat, the animation always runs silky smooth, and the  visual style feels spot on. The music is also a high point. Each of the songs is performed by The Tokyo New City Orchestra, giving the soundtrack a much more epic feel.

When the game puts you on rails in the arwing, it feels too good to be true. Sadly, it is. Unlike previous entries, these parts are very rare rather than making up a majority of the game. Most of the game takes place in All Range Mode. On top of that, large portions of the game now take place in the Landmaster and on foot.

Another downfall of Assault is that it is completely linear. The very first game made alternate paths and secrets a staple of the franchise. Assault’s removal of that diminished its replay value greatly.

Star Fox Assault is still an enjoyable game, but it’s limited amount of rail-based levels and lack of replay value make it pale in comparison to Star Fox 64. Assault is the “half” in the “two and a half” Star Fox games I love.

Star Fox Command (DS, Q-Games, 2006)

Star Fox Command is essentially what Star Fox 2 evolved into. It uses the same idea of commanding a ship on a map and having All Range Mode encounters when your ship collides with an enemy.

Just as I didn’t find Star Fox 2 very engaging, I didn’t really enjoy my time with Command either. The touch screen controls work adequately enough, but All Range Mode gets old fast. Star Fox Command is not at all what I wanted it to be.

THE FUTURE!!

Nintendo needs to do one of two things to fix this series. The most obvious answer would be for Nintendo to stop outsourcing the games to other developers. These other developers don’t seem to grasp what made the series so great in the first place.

If, for whatever reason, they still feel compelled to hand the franchise over to another developer, I suggest Treasure. Think about it. Treasure already made a Nintendo branded rail shooter on the N64 called “Sin and Punishment“. I often refer to its upcoming Wii sequel as “the closest thing we’ll get to a new Star Fox”.

So what’s it going to be, Nintendo? Will you finally take the series back and develop it in-house or at least give it to a developer with applicable experience? We can only hope.

Welcome to a special bonus installment of our video game podcast, Barrel Roll.

Colin “MrColinP” Panetta, and Jonah “thespambot” Gregory got together to discuss one of their favorite video game series, Space Quest. This is an overview of the entire Space Quest series, and we have broken it up into two parts, for your convenience.

In Part Two, we discuss the remake of Space Quest 1, games four through six, the very short lived Space Quest comic book, the canceled games and the fan games. We also get into some of the legal troubles Sierra ran into because of the games, and where you can pick up a copy and play them these days.

A great big special thanks to everyone that helped us put this show together.

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1990, September
Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter (remake)

Plot: A VGA remake of SQI  with a Sci-Fi B Movie from the 1950’s feel.

Fun facts:
-This game and Space Quest IV were the only games ever to use the “Taste” and “Smell” icons. They were barely used in either game, and usually only for comedic effect.
-Not really blessed by Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe.

1991, March
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers

Other games released that year: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, Super Mario Bros 3, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tecmo Super Bowl, Another World (very artistic video game, first to use polygons), F-Zero, Civilization, Road Rash, Police Quest III: The Kindred (Sierra),  Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work (Sierra), Gobliiins(Sierra)
System requirements: 8088/8086 CPU, 640KB RAM, EGA, MCGA, Tandy/PCjr, or VGA graphics, Adlib, Game Blaster, PC speaker, PS/1 Audio Card, Roland MT-32, Sound Blaster, Tandy DAC (TL/SL), or Tandy/PCjr sound card
Media: 3.5″ Floppy Disk or 5.25″ Floppy Disk or CD
Price: $59.95
Interface: Point and click (briefly describe classic Sierra point and click interface)

Plot: Roger is chased through past and future Space Quest games (such as Space Quest X: The Latex Babes of Estros and Space Quest XII: Vohaul’s Revenge II) by the Sequel Police, who are taking orders from Sludge Vohaul. He eventually meets his own son and is told that he has a great future waiting for him with his wife, Beatrice Wankmeister.

Fun facts:
-Unlike previous Space Quest games’ graphics, which were created solely on computer, SQIV’s backgrounds were hand painted and character sprites were video captures.
-Cost over one million dollars to produce (some King’s Quest game was the first game ever to cross the 1 million barrier)
-The first Space Quest game with full voice! Most of the voices were provided by Sierra staff, except for the narrator who was voiced by Gary Owens, better known as the announcer on the camp classic ‘70’s show Laugh-In and the voice of Powdered Toast Man and the original Space Ghost. Although he only narrated two Space Quest games, he is considered a staple of the series.
-When traveling back to Space Quest I or III, the graphics revert back to the primitive EGA graphics of the time.
-In the CD-ROM version, sniffing and tasting the burger ingredients in Monolith Burger produces a ton of funny, fully voice acted easter eggs.
-This was the last game designed by both of the Two Guys from Andromeda. They say they needed a change, and Mark Crowe moved to work for a subsidiary of Sierra called Dynamix.

1992
Space Quest comic book

A Space Quest comic book is produced by Malibu Comics. The first issue is in color. The second two issues are in black and white and have a different writer. It is very rare, and very bad…. I reread it recently (you can download PDFs of it at SpaceQuest.net) and it’s not THAT bad… at times it’s kind of like Mad Magazine, with lots oflittle stuff going on in the panel.

1993
Space Quest V: The Next Mutation

Other games released that year: Day of the Tentacle, Zombies Ate My Neighbors (LucasArts), Super Street Fighter II, Starfox, Mortal Kombat II, NBA Jam, Myst, Doom, Return to Zork, Kirby’s Adventure, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Jaguar (console), 3DO (console), Police Quest IV: Open Season (Sierra), Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! (Sierra), Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness (Sierra)
System requirements: 286 CPU, 640KB RAM, EGA, MCGA, or VGA graphics, Adlib, Disney Sound Source, Game Blaster, MIDI, Microsoft Sound System, PC speaker, Pro Audio Spectrum, PS/1 Audio Card, Roland MT-32, Sound Blaster, Tandy/PCjr, or Thunderboard sound card
Media: 3.5″ Floppy Disk
Price: $69.99
Interface: Point and click

Plot: A computer glitch makes Roger the captain of a garbage scow, complete with wacky crew. He meets his future wife and competes for her affection with Rhames T Quirk, a William Shatner parody. Quirk goes bad and Roger and Bea end up together.

Fun facts:
-Most of this game is a parody of Star Trek, the original and TNG. Many people are annoyed by this. It introduces the Star Fleet-esqe StarCon, which becomes a staple in the storyline of the Space Quest series.
-Mark Crowe designed this game at the Sierra subsidiary Dynamix, without Scott Murphy. The game is a lot less dark and less mean to the player than previous installments.
-The game was never released on CD-ROM or with speech, due to budget concerns.
-The game was sponsored by Sprint, whose logo appears after communications transmissions.

1995
Space Quest 6: The Spinal Fronteir

Other games released that year: Full Throttle, The Dig, Mortal Kombat 3, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, Chrono Trigger, Command and Conquer, EarthBound, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest, Virtual Boy (console), Playstation (console), Sega Saturn (console), Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within (Sierra), Phantasmagoria (Sierra), Torin’s Passage (Sierra)
System requirements: 386 CPU, 8MB RAM, SuperVGA graphics, Adlib, MIDI, Microsoft Sound System, Pro Audio Spectrum, Roland MT-32, Sound Blaster sound card, 2X CD-ROM
Media: CD
Price: ?
Interface: Point and click

Plot: Due to a set of convoluted charges, Roger is stripped of his command of the garbage scow and made a janitor again. He uncovers a plot by an elderly StarCon widow to take over the body of his friend Stellar Santiago. Roger has himself shrunk and chases the villain throughout Stellar’s body.

Fun facts:
-There was a demo released for the game that was comprised of completely original material. It uses backgrounds and characters from Space Quest 6, but has it’s own exclusive characters and storyline all fully voice acted. The storyline takes place before SQ6 and depicts an encounter between Roger and some Borg parodies, The Bjorn. One of the Bjorn can be seen wandering the halls of Roger’s starship in SQ6 proper.
-Working titles for the game include “Where in Corpsman Santiago is Roger Wilco?” and “Roger Wilco in Innard Space”
-The majority of the game was designed by Josh Mandel. He left shortly before completion, and was replaced by former Two Guys from Andromeda member Scott Murphy. The game was promoted as being solely designed by Scott Murphy, which even he seems baffled by.
-Gary Owens back as narrator!
-Between having a different designer and a different visual style (the sprites are illustrated animation), SQ6 is the most visually distinct of the Space Quest games.

After the end

-Scott Murphy started designing a Space Quest 7 in 1997, but it is cancelled that same year… SQ7 is restarted in 1999, but cancelled again when Sierra fires two thirds of it’s employees in one day, after Sierra is purchased by Vivendi, a major media company… There were rumors that Scott Murphy’s cancelled SQ7 featured online multiplayer play, but it seemed like that decision was forced on him… In 2002 a company called Escape Factory begins work on a Space Quest action-platformer for Sierra, which was mostly just a publisher under Vivendi rule, but it is cancelled in 2003… In 2008 Vivendi Games merged with Activision Blizzard… Activision Blizzard doesn’t seem to have any interest in the Space Quest license, and have put all Sierra licenses up for sale. No buyers yet.

Fan games

Although abandoned Space Quest fan games number too many to count, two full length ones have been released. First was Space Quest: The Lost Chapter in 2001, taking place in between SQ II and III. Then was Space Quest 0: Replicated in 2003, taking place before Space Quest I. Both feature retro style VGA graphics. A fan made Space Quest 7 was started in 2001 but shut down by Sierra in 2006. Some games are still in development, including the impressive looking Space Quest: Incinerations.

Legal trouble

Space Quest parodied a wide array of pop culture institutions, including the Blues Brothers, Star Trek, Alien, and McDonald’s. Companies that have actually threatened, or followed through with, legal action against Sierra over being parodied in Space Quest games include Gene Simmons of KISS, Toys ‘R’ Us, the band ZZ Top.

“How can I, the listener, play this wonderful game?”

Vivendi Universal released “The Space Quest Collection” in 2006. It includes every game except the original EGA release of Space Quest 1 (it has the VGA remake instead) and the SQ6 demo. I’ve played through most of it and I totally love it. They used a program called DOS Box to fix any issues with the games being over ten years old, and it’s really easy to install and use. You can very, very easily snag it for around ten bucks on eBay, an amazing bargain. With Sierra and it’s properties in limbo the way they are, there’s no official channel through which to buy the collection that I could find.

Websites of Interest
SpaceQuest.net – Amazing museum of Space Quest history, no longer updated.
http://www.spacequest.net/misc/rwcomic/ – Here is where the Space Quest comic can be found.
tmd.alienharmony.com/rw – Many Deaths of Roger Wilco- A directory of every Roger death ever, with screenshots and even audio!
sq7.org/wssquid – Akril’s WSSQUID (“Who Says Space Quest Is Dead?”) Space Quest webcomic with over 250 beautifully rendered strips!
colinpee.blogspot.com/search/label/Space Quest – Colin’s Space Quest sketch series

Fan Games:
Space Quest 0: Replicated
Space Quest: The Lost Chapter
Space Quest: IV.5 Roger Wilco and the Voyage Home
Space Quest 2 Remake
Space Quest: Vohaul Strikes Back
Space Quest 2x: Vohaul’s Mines

Sources
-Some info from from Wikipedia,
-But most is copy and pasted from SpaceQuest.net.
-Some is from Colin’s own shaky memory.
-“Other games released that year” dates are from all over. They should mostly be American release dates, but who knows.
-We got a lot of feedback and help from the members of The Janitorial Times forum at SpaceQuest.net. Big thanks to MusicallyInspired, Datadog (who is doing the Space Quest: Incinerations fan game), 4th Guy, Akril (who does the WSSQUID webcomic), Mad_C33 (who was a fountain of knowledge concerning the differences between the different releases of each Space Quest game), olzen, and Vroomfondel (who gave us a quick history lesson about the Vivendi/Activision Blizzard merger). Joystiq.com’s Ludwig K also Twittered to remind us about the SQ6 demo.

Welcome to a special bonus installment of our video game podcast, Barrel Roll.

Colin “MrColinP” Panetta, and Jonah “thespambot” Gregory got together to discuss one of their favorite video game series, Space Quest. This is an overview of the entire Space Quest series, and we have broken it up into two parts, for your convenience.

In Part One, we will be talking about how each of us found this series, and then moving on to focus on games one through three. Full show notes can be found after the break.

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1986, October
Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter

Other games released that year: Labyrinth (LucasArts), Metroid, Super Mario Bros, Arkanoid, Kid Icarus, King’s Quest III: To Err is Human, Power Pad (NES accessory), Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness, Sega Master System (console)
System requirements: 8088/8086 CPU, 256KB RAM, CGA, EGA, Hercules, or Tandy/PCjr Graphics, PC speaker or Tandy/PCjr Sound Card
Media: 3.5″ Floppy Disk or 5.25″ Floppy Disk
Price: $49.99
Interface: Text parser, arrow keys for movement

Plot: Bumbling starship janitor Roger Wilco survives a hostile takeover of his ship… by being asleep in the broom closet at the time of the incident. He escapes and uses a combination of wits and dumb luck to stop the space pirates from destroying his home planet.

Fun facts:
-Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe co-designed the game. Crowe did ALL of the graphics (!) and music, while Murphy headed up the three man programming team. The first few rooms on board the ship were created on their own time as a demo to show their boss to sell him on the concept. Crowe and Murphy created the alter ego The Two Guys from Andromeda as a way to parody Roberta Williams and other video game designers who put their names and pictures on their games. Okay, mostly just Roberta Williams.
-Kicking one of your dead crewmates will cause you to lose a point.
-Setting the game to “Slow Mode” during the skimmer arcade sequence is actually a part of the puzzle. It’s nearly impossible to do on the “Normal” speed.
- Sold 100,000, a “huge hit”, earning the coveted SPA Gold Medal from the Software Publishers Association.

1987, November
Space Quest II: Vohaul’s Revenge

Other games released that year: Maniac Mansion, Legend of Zelda, Bomberman, Mega Man, Street Fighter (arcade), Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (Sierra), Dungeon Master, Amiga 500 (console)
System requirements: 8088/8086 CPU, 256KB RAM, CGA, EGA, Hercules, or Tandy/PCjr Graphics, PC speaker or Tandy/PCjr Sound Card
Media: 3.5″ Floppy Disk or 5.25″ Floppy Disk
Price: $49.99
Interface: Text parser, arrow keys for movement

Plot: Roger is captured by villain Sludge Vohaul. He escapes into an alien jungle, and has to figure out a way to stop Vohaul from flooding his home planet with genetically engineered insurance salesmen.

Fun facts:
-Bringing up the “About” page after you’ve died reads “Space Quest was designed by Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe. We hope you’re not looking for someone to blame just because you died.”
-In the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, raising each letter in the computer character’s name HAL up by one gives you IBM. Doing the same with the abort code for the genetically engineered insurance salesmen in Space Quest II, SHSR, gives you TITS.
-Mark Crowe did ALL of the graphics for this game, just like in Space Quest 1, but this time he was doing Leisure Suit Larry 1 simultaneously!

1989, March
Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon

Other games released that year: Hero’s Quest: So You Want to be a Hero (Sierra, later renamed Quest for Glory), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (LucasArts), Super Mario Land (Game Boy), Super Mario Bros 2, Tetris, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES), DuckTales, Mega Man 2, SimCity, Solitaire and Minesweeper (Windows), Game Boy (console), Sega Genesis (console), Power Glove (NES accessory)
System requirements: 8088/8086 CPU, 512KB RAM, CGA, EGA, Hercules, MCGA, Tandy/PCjr, or VGA graphics, Adlib, Game Blaster, IBM Music Feature Card, PC speaker, PS/1 Audio Card, Roland MT-32, Sound Blaster, Tandy DAC, or Tandy/PCjr sound card
Media: 3.5″ Floppy Disk or 5.25″ Floppy Disk
Price: $59.99
Interface: Text parser, mouse or arrow keys for movement

Plot: Roger wakes up from his cryogenic freeze trapped on a garbage freighter. After his escape he learns of the ScumSoft video game company’s kidnapping of the Two Guys from Andromeda and set out to save them, all while being chased by “Arnoid the Annihilator”.

Fun facts:
-I always hear people talk about the sound on this game, it was apparently very state of the art for it’s time. It was one of the earliest games to support the Sound Blaster card and it was also a very early use of audible dialogue in a video game: Roger says “Where am I?” at the beginning of the game. The score was written by the drummer of Supertramp, who I think I’ve heard is the first famous musician to compose the score to a video game.
-If you by the Big Belcher Combo at Monolith Burger, you will throw up.
-Many people consider this to be the best Space Quest game in the series. Including the Software Publishers of America, who named it “Best Adventure Game of the Year”

Websites of Interest:
SpaceQuest.net – Amazing museum of Space Quest history, no longer updated
tmd.alienharmony.com/rw – Many Deaths of Roger Wilco- A directory of every Roger death ever, with screenshots and even audio!
sq7.org/wssquid – Akril’s WSSQUID (“Who Says Space Quest Is Dead?”) Space Quest webcomic with over 250 beautifully rendered strips!
colinpee.blogspot.com/search/label/Space Quest – Colin’s Space Quest sketch series

Sources
-Some info from from Wikipedia,
-But most is copy and pasted from SpaceQuest.net.
-Some is from Colin’s own shaky memory.
-“Other games released that year” dates are from all over. They should mostly be American release dates, but who knows.
-We got a lot of feedback and help from the members of The Janitorial Times forum at SpaceQuest.net. Big thanks to MusicallyInspired, Datadog (who is doing the Space Quest: Incinerations fan game), 4th Guy, Akril (who does the WSSQUID webcomic), Mad_C33 (who was a fountain of knowledge concerning the differences between the different releases of each Space Quest game), olzen, and Vroomfondel (who gave us a quick history lesson about the Vivendi/Activision Blizzard merger). Joystiq.com’s Ludwig K also Twittered to remind us about the SQ6 demo.