To add to the massive dorkiness of a law student’s life, I made it my goal to hunt down, purchase, and defeat Day of the Tentacle this year. This 1993 CD-Rom adventure game can be found on eBay and Amazon.com, among other second-hand retailers. It is for use on any windows-compatible computer. I owned and somehow lost this game this game as a teenager and recently ordered a new copy off of eBay so I could finally beat it. Day of the Tentacle will suck you in and never let you go, so be prepared!

Playing Day of the Tentacle on Windows XP and Other Operating Systems
Day of the Tentacle was originally developed for a DOS based platform. When you purchase the CD online, you may have trouble getting it to play with your operating system. To play this game on Windows, you will need to use an emulator. All LucasArts adventure games can be played using SCUMM, which stands for "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion." This program can be found for free online. Just head to http://www.scummvm.org/ for an easy walk-through and FAQ. Day of the Tentacle can also be played on other operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS X, Dreamcast, PocketPC, PalmOS, AmigaOS, BeOS, OS/2, PSP, PS2, SymbianOS/EPOC and more using SCUMM.

General Plot Information
Mad scientist Dr. Fred Edison has created two tentacles, one purple and one green. The purple tentacle goes a bit crazy after drinking toxic sludge and decides to take over the world. Bernard the nerd, Laverne the airhead, and Hoagie the tough guy band together to stop him. Unfortunately, a mishap with Dr. Fred’s time machine splits the friends apart. Bernard remains in the present, Laverne is sent 200 years in the future, and Hoagie travels 200 years into the past. Each of the three characters must complete tasks in his or her own era in order to achieve the ultimate task of traveling back in time to prevent the toxic sludge.

Basic Game Play
I find Day of the Tentacle to be unique and refreshing in that characters can never be killed. Many save slots are available. This means no starting over, as the game can be saved at any point. The key to Day of the Tentacle is collecting various items from the three eras and figuring out how to use them. Tasks can be completed in a vast variety of different orders.

Most users will find Day of the Tentacle quite simple to get the hang of. The three main characters are manipulated with the computer mouse. A character will walk to wherever the mouse is clicked. Various functions can be selected when dealing with an item, such as “pick up”, “use”, “read”, and “look at”. Sometimes using items together will result in them combining to become a new, altered item. The game play is fairly self-explanatory, and characters will give you hints when they attempt to use or look at objects in the room. If stuck, try asking Bernard, Laverne, or Hoagie to “look at” everything in a room. Sometimes their commentary will give insight as to what to do next. A player should have the characters pick up every item possible, as spaghetti or a vacuum cleaner advertisement flyer may come in handy later. Once items are collected, they are displayed on a scrolling section of the screen to the bottom right of the game play window.

Talking to characters in each era is critical to reaching resolution in the game. A conversation can go several ways, sometimes with different results in the game. When I am not sure what to do next, it helps to go back to each character and have a conversation with all the possible dialogue. One section of the game had me stuck for hours until I tried out different lines with a historical figure in Hoagie’s era.

Past, Present, and Future
The first portion of Day of the Tentacle is played with Bernard only, in the present. Certain tasks in Bernard’s portion must be completed before Hoagie is unlocked, and specific things in Hoagie’s part need to be done before Laverne can be accessed. When a new character is unlocked, the prior ones are still accessible.

Laverne, Hoagie, and Bernard each operate in the same place, the Edison’s mansion, but in their own distinct eras. Each character’s game has a different feel. In the present, Bernard can move all around the Edison home and talk with the various strange relatives. The has a sleazy hotel feel in this segment. As a history dork, I find Hoagie’s game play to be the most interesting. He interacts with various historical figures, including Ben Franklin, George Washington, Betsy Ross, and Thomas Jefferson. Laverne’s era 200 years is also entertaining. The world is run by tentacles and she finds herself attempting to participate in the “human show.” I love the metallic look and feel of the mansion in this era.

Despite being separated, the characters can pass items back and forth with help of the “Chrono-John” time machine. Really, it’s a toilet. A few items may not be placed in the Chrono-John and so must remain in the era in which they were found. If it is alive or would spill out, it probably can’t go in the Chrono-John. Some game play is required before Laverne can even get to the Chrono-John to send or receive items. In addition to passing items through the Chrono-John, characters can affect each other in other ways. Anything done in the past will affect the future. This means Hoagie’s actions will change things for Bernard and Laverne, and Bernard for Laverne. If one character can’t do something that seems necessary it may be possible to change something in the same place but in an earlier era.

Can You Handle It?
This game is crazy addicting. The possibilities to try with items and characters are practically endless. I spent a couple hundred hours on this game when I had it in high school and then sat staring at my computer for pretty much two weeks straight after purchasing it for the second time. Day of the Tentacle requires logic and creative thinking or at the very least a ton of pointing and clicking. It combines interesting puzzles with some funny and clever moments, and I find it to be truly unique among video games. Many of the characters in the later eras descend from those in earlier ones, and I enjoyed trying to figure out who was who. A lot of thought clearly went into this game.

Although I find Day of the Tentacle to be tons of fun, it can be a little bit frustrating. If you just can’t figure out the way a particular item is supposed to interact with the environment you are absolutely stuck. There are certain things that seem like they should be able to interact but don’t, and others that don’t seem like they should be able to, but do. One section toward the end of the game had me so totally stuck that I had to look up an online cheat. After learning the answer, I still think I never would have figured it out on my own. With three separate lines of game play going on, each in a multi-storied house with many characters, getting “un-stuck” can be really tricky. Be prepared to dedicate many hours of your life to beating the game.

What? This is the End?
My only other complaint with Day of the Tentacle regards its disappointing endgame section. While the main game can be too difficult at times, the final portion was far too easy. Only a couple items are available and I finished this portion in less than an hour. This surprised me, considering the difficulty level in the main game.

I didn’t fret long, though, because there is more fun to be had! Embedded within Day of the Tentacle is a complete copy of Maniac Mansion, the game’s less technologically advanced (but still fun) predecessor. This game can be accessed in Bernard’s time via a computer in the Edison mansion. I still haven’t beaten this game, which is more difficult for me than Day of the Tentacle.

Sights and Sounds
Yes, this 1993 game is older, but LucasArts did things right. The graphics are pretty good for a 2-D game and I actually prefer Day of the Tentacle’s look to that of most modern games. It isn’t so dizzying. The colors are bright, figures well-defined, and I wouldn’t be disappointed in the graphics even if I purchased the game today.

I’m also pretty impressed with the sound in Day of the Tentacle. This is pretty important, as most of the valuable information in the game is gleaned from the characters speech. I’ve never had a problem understanding any of the characters, although at times I get frustrated with them saying “I don’t wanna!” or some related phrase when I am trying to figure out how items interact.

Overall…
If I were a parent, I would really dig Day of the Tentacle. No one dies, and the game even has an educational component with its emphasis on history. As a non-parent, I love this game because its fun and extremely well done. Apparently this game remains popular with those who love role-playing and adventure games, making its way onto several top games lists. If you haven’t played Day of the Tentacle, I think you should. Just expect to put your life on hold until you beat it.

Recommended: Yes