History VideoGame / GrimFandango

* NPCAmnesia: Subverted if you try to go through the security checkpoint after causing Carla to throw away her metal detector.
-->'''Carla:''' Sir, if you will, please, place all of your belongings on the security desk... ''and then jump out the damn window''!

For the longest time, ''Grim Fandango'' was not given a digital rerelease, meaning that in order for the game to play on Windows 7, [[http://www.pcworld.com/article/239339/how_to_play_grim_fandango_on_your_windows_7_pc.html some creativity was required.]] This was rectified when a remastered edition for UsefulNotes/{{PS4}}, UsefulNotes/PSVita, PC, Mac, and Linux was released on January 27th, 2015. The PC version is available from [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/316790/ Steam]] and [[http://www.gog.com/game/grim_fandango_remastered GOG.]] The remaster was eventually released for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on November 1, 2018 and the UsefulNotes/XboxOne on October 29, 2020.

* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: Manny gives up a fairly comfortable life in Rubacava to save Meche. He later gives up [[spoiler: an opportunity to walk right out of the Eighth Underworld]] for her as well, but by then, [[spoiler:he's saving many, many more people besides her.]]

** Another egregious case begins in year 2, when a missive from Salvador (which you don't have to read) mentions that his homing pigeons have the ability to track down any person from only a picture of their face. In Year 4, this technique is needed to [[spoiler: track down the florist]].

* DeadGuyJunior: Manny names his ''ship'' after Lola. In a darkly-humorous subversion of how these things normally go, [[spoiler: he fails to save the ship, too.]]

* DialogueTree: [[spoiler: Many of the hidden achievements for the Remastered version require the player to ask characters certain things, or lead to funny dialogue options.]]

* EnemyEatsYourLunch: Invoked almost word for word by the BigBad in one scene when berating [[spoiler: Domino for allowing Manny to steal his client Mercedes Colomar, thus beginning the chain of events that will expose the corruption of the Department of Death.]]

* EyeScream: [[spoiler: How you defeat the giant octopus.]]

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Sure, he was a jerk. Sure, he was already dead. But there's no denying that what happens to [[spoiler: Domino]] is a nasty way to go.

** When Manny first meet Glottis, Glottis explains that if a demon doesn't fulfill their purpose (i.e. driving fast cars) for too long, they could become fatally ill. [[spoiler: Sure enough...]]
** In Year 1, Manny can look at a picture of a ship and wonder if he'd be happier working on the sea... before admitting that "I'd never be able to relax until I was the captain". It's the first sign of how ambitious Manny can be.[[spoiler: In two [[TimeSkip time skips]], he easily climbs the business ladder, improves said businesses, and even becomes a Captain like he said.]]
** Lola notes that she has horrible taste in men [[spoiler: which lead to her getting killed]]. She asks Manny to tell Olivia to improve her taste before she gets sprouted. [[spoiler: Sure enough, Olivia's relationship with Hector gets her sprouted by Salvador]].

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* TheGodsMustBeLazy: Whoever the PowersThatBe are, they do not appear concerned at all that Hector can corrupt the system of handing out proper rewards and punishments, and can outright [[spoiler: take over the system later]]. The only rule they hold up is [[spoiler: people who attempt to get into the Ninth Underworld under false pretenses will be punished]], which does not help the saintly souls who were screwed over, especially all the ones [[spoiler: Manny does not save himself]].

* GuideDangIt: For an adventure game, there is surprisingly little. Unlike something by Sierra it is physically impossible to move on without having everything you need to complete the game. However, the betting stub puzzle from Year 2 can frustrate even if you know what you have to do. [[spoiler: (It is very easy to not notice a second ticket counter on the other side of the betting lobby.)]]

* HeroicSacrifice: In the end, [[spoiler: Salvador]].

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Hector's penchant for keeping trophies of his sprouted victims comes back to bite him when the water supply used to maintain them becomes the vehicle for his demise.]]
* HopelessBossFight: Domino Hurley and [[spoiler: Hector [=LeMans=]]] will go on forever until you TakeAThirdOption.

** Domino will mock Manny's inferior scythe fighting techniques. [[spoiler: It's better used on the octopus.]]

** Hector, too. [[spoiler: He's not even really selling people Double N tickets. He's selling counterfeit ones and keeping the real ones for himself.]]

* JustBetweenYouAndMe: [[GenreSavvy This is what Manny anticipates]] when he confronts Hector in his greenhouse. [[spoiler: [[WrongGenreSavvy He]] [[SubvertedTrope was]] [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim wrong]].]]

** [[spoiler: All the people who get Hector's fake tickets ride the No. 9 all the way to the end...and then go straight to Hell.]]

** [[spoiler: Anyone who bought Double-N tickets that were not rightfully theirs, or tried to use the fake ones.]]

* MissingStepsPlan: Hector's ultimate goal is to [[spoiler: collect enough golden tickets to escape the 8th underworld]], even though it's abundantly clear from early on in the game that this is not remotely how the tickets work.

** [[spoiler: Olivia's DecapitationPresentation of Salvador, which is also TheReveal (if you hadn't seen it coming) of her true colors]]. There's a close-up, a dramatic sting, then Salvador says hello to Manny in a calm voice.

* PreAssKickingOneLiner: When Manny approaches Hector's greenhouse in the last act, gun in hand. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, subverted in that there won't be much ass-kicking.]]

** Glottis has but one purpose, a solitary reason, for being summoned: to drive or ride some manner of transportation at high speeds. [[spoiler: He's a speed demon.]]

* ViceCity: Post-TimeSkip Rubacava to some extent. [[spoiler: Also El Marrow/Nuevo Marrow in Year 4.]]

-->[[spoiler: '''Domino:''' I don't believe you Calavera, you're losing a fight so you ''pick'' on one of my ''pets''?!]]

** [[spoiler: Hector invokes this with Don Copal. He also orders Manny killed, but the latter escapes before it can be done.]]

* AndThisIsFor: If you keep shooting your gun at the greenhouse during the final showdown, Manny will start saying this. When he brings up Lola, [[NotMeThisTime Hector responds with "Who's Lola?".]]
** Manny decks Nick Virago, who wonders if it's for the camera girl he sprouted. Manny replies that it was just for Nick being Nick.

* CompanionCube: Velasco and the ''S.S. Lamancha''. Ironically, the latter is a CargoShip.
* ConspicuouslyLightPatch: Like ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' after it, all items that can be picked up are easily discerned from the background.

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: InUniverse at Olivia's club, Manny can spout ''anything to the point of nonsense'', and the crowd will love it provided [[spoiler:they know you're a member of the L.S.A.]]

-->'''Manny''': I'm not sure what that means.\\

** Examining a certain statue of a Mesoamerican god makes Manny comment on its subject as if they were a distant gorporate or government higher-up.

* GripingAboutGremlins: You encounter some gremlins in Year 4. They service the gondolas that lead up the mountain to the gate of the Ninth Underworld, and hold Glottis in high esteem. Coincidentally, they look and sound a lot like [[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe minions]]. They also reveal that Glottis is the exact same species as them, only [[GiantMook much bigger]] for some reason.

* DeaderThanDead: In the Eighth Underworld you can survive being pulled apart and losing limbs (or your head), but it seems to require extreme willpower; more the more parts you lose. There ''are'' ways to die ''again'', however; they mostly involve having one's skeletal "body" completely destroyed, by being smashed, ground up, consumed by flowers (in-game called being "sprouted"), crushed and similar. Nobody knows where you go after ''that'', but you're effectively forever denied entry into the Ninth Underworld.

* DeadGuyJunior: Manny names a whole ''ship'' after Lola. In a darkly-humorous subversion of how these things normally go, [[spoiler: he fails to save the ship, too.]]

* TheDeathOfDeath: Being a grim reaper is just another job one can receive in the afterlife, and it doesn't offer any sort of special protection from being sprouted or otherwise dying a second death.
* DecapitationPresentation: Near the end, [[spoiler:Olivia tosses Salvador's head towards Manuel. Still enough to talk and give a few instructions.]]
* DefensiveFailure: When Meche takes Manny as hostage to make Domino free them, she ends up threatening him with her gun, but he knows he has nothing to fear because she is too good to shoot him. And he is right, despite her protesting.

** In the same year, if you enter [[spoiler:Domino]]'s room with a weapon, he'll take out his gun and calmly order Manny to put the item away - Manny will automatically comply. However, entering the room with the tiny pickaxe provokes a unique reaction.

* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: Hector's entire plan is to literally [[spoiler:scam his way through Heaven's gates.]]

** When Manny [[spoiler:saves himself from being sprouted]] with liquid nitrogen, he breathes, "Gracias, Toto Santos!" Toto Santos is the name of the scrimshaw artist he got it from, and "Gracias, Todos Santos" basically means "Amen". ("Thank you, all saints.")

* AFateWorseThanDeath: Sprouting full stop. In life, flowers are a symbol of beauty but they are a symbol of death in the land of the dead. Special chemical substances, called Sproutella are loaded into special bullets that inject the stuff into someone and the chemicals go to work making flowers grow from within their bones until the plants burst out. Leaving the poor soul a literal garden of agony. In short, this is death for the dead.

** An earlier one in Rubacava, where you have to find a metal detector in a giant pool of kitty litter.

** This exchange is lifted word for word from the Creator/MaeWest film ''My Little Chickadee'':
--> '''Manny:''' You know, you have really bad taste in men!
--> '''Olivia:''' No, I have a taste for ''really bad men.'' There's a difference.

This 1998 AdventureGame for the PC from Creator/TimSchafer is a heady blend of [[FilmNoir noir]], Mexican mythology and Schafer's own warped sensibilities. As with all adventure games by Creator/LucasArts, it contained no real action or danger, and no possibility of dying, focusing instead on solving the often tricky puzzles strewn throughout the game, as well as just wandering through the place talking to people. It differed from adventure games of the time in its simple interface; Manny could move in three dimensions in a stationary environment, and interacted with it through three keys -- an Examine key, a Use key and a Get key, which could be used when Manny turned his head to look at something or someone. Sometimes all three keys could be used on the same item to different effect; stand near the giant pit of kitty litter and hit Examine, then Use, then Get, and you will get an increasingly funny series of reactions from Manny. Also, except for one arm-in-a-coffee-grinder moment, the adventure game standard of combining items was absent.

* AnalogyBackfire: [[spoiler:Domino's]] final moments were spent giving Manny a ReasonYouSuckSpeech, culminating in him telling him "If you'd just adopt the proper attitude... just look what could happen to you!" He was referring to all the success he'd been basking in due to being savvy, but the effect is lost because he says this [[spoiler:just as he's about to be ground to pieces by a pair of crushers he hadn't been paying attention to]].

* InvisibleAnatomy: The skeletons in the Land of the Dead, when wearing clothes, take on regular human shapes, particularly women, who still have breasts despite just being skeletons. This is best shown when Meche has her unintentional "MrsRobinson in Film/TheGraduate" scene after her stockings get burned. With the stockings on? [[ShesGotLegs Shapely women's legs]]. When she slides them off? Nothing but bones.

-->'''Manny:''' Whew. I was scared it might be "EVA."
-->'''Manny:''' ''(calling)'' [[RefugeInAudacity Hey, Dom, what's your password?]]
-->'''Domino:''' ''(offscreen, chuckling)'' Get away from my computer, Manny.

* ShesGotLegs: A memorable scene in Year 3 involves Meche taking off her stockings in full frame. Since she's a skeleton, this is a rare InUniverse-only example of this trope ([[ILoveTheDead unless you're into that kind of thing]]), and mainly serves to show Manny's denial of having feelings towards her weakening.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: At the beginning of Year 3, Manny receives a message from Salvador warning him of a trap in Puerto Zapato, just moments after he's docked his ship there. [[spoiler:Sure enough, those "customs agents" he just admitted were really assassins in disguise, and as he heads downstairs, the first thing he sees is his entire crew sprouted.]]

* EnterSolutionHere: The betting stub puzzle.

** Domino does the same at his end of the world office in Year 3.

--> '''Manny:''' What a relief. I was getting concerned that our transportation wasn't ostentatious enough.

--> '''Glottis:''' ''(angrily)'' That was a rotten trick, Manny!
--> '''Manny:''' It was an accident! My hand slipped.
--> '''Glottis:''' ''(calmly)'' Oh, okay.

-->'''Manny:''' You know, you have really bad taste in men.
-->'''Olivia:''' No, I have a taste for really bad men. There's a difference.

-->'''Manny:''' I'm still not getting any messages.
-->'''The demon:''' I'm giving you one right now, but you can't see my hand.

* FirstPersonSmartass: Manny, obviously, in the classic hardboiled style.

** Manny has no idea why Dom would have glowing coral in his desk -- and it doesn't become explained til late in Year 3.

* GenkiGirl: Lupe.

---> '''Carla''': All that bubbly energy, I just want to strangle her!\\

* GoryDiscretionShot: After filling Hector's greenhouse with sprout gas with Hector inside, Manny attempts to enter it. Defore he can do so, green slime explodes and hits the door.

** There are several things in Rubacava that go by the name of "Rusty Anchor", but only one will help you. You have to go through them by trial and error to find it. But, again, the false answers are just fun to hear.

** The tool that sees the most use in the game, Manny's scythe, is used in an ingenious number of ways - but only once to actually reap a dead soul. It sees more use as a circuit component than as a blade. He uses the scythe the way scythes were designed to be used - to cut plants - just once: [[spoiler:to reveal Sal's body.]]

-->'''Manny:''' Any messages for me?
-->'''Eva:''' No, calls stopped coming for you the day you left. They're ''still'' sending you that lingerie catalog, though.

--> '''Manny''': I'm not sure what that means.\\

---->'''Manny''': Soon to be known as "the Blownwagon".
---->'''Glottis''': Hey! [[DudeNotFunny That's not funny!]]

---->'''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.

--->'''Manny''': (''Looking at Eva'') It's my boss's secretary, Eva.
--->'''Eva''': It's my boss's whipping boy, Manny.

--->'''Manny''': (''Looking at Dockmaster Velasco'') That Dockmaster Velasco is one salty old bag of rope.
--->'''Velasco''': (''laughs'') You should see his wife!

--->'''Manny''': Is it hard to kiss up to the boss with no lips?
--->'''Domino''': Oh I've got plenty of lip. I get it all from ''you.''

** Manny has no idea why Dom would have glowing coral in his desk - and it doesn't become explained til late in Year 3.

** In Year 1, Manny can look at a picture of a ship and wonder if he'd be happier working on the sea... before admitting that "I'd never be able to relax until I was the captain". Its the first sign of how ambitious Manny can be.[[spoiler: In two [[TimeSkip time skips]], he easily climbs the business ladder, improves said businesses, and even becomes a Captain like he said.]]

* GoryDiscretionShot: After filling Hector's greenhouse with sprout gas with Hector inside, Manny attempts to enter it, before he can enter it, green slime explodes and hits the door.

'''Carla (from the other room)''': They're LOCKERS!\\\

* LiteralMetaphor: Glottis's reaction to getting fired. "It's like they reached into my ''chest'', and pulled out my ''heart'', and ''threw it into the woods''!" Uh... was it really neccessary to ''actually demonstrate'' that?

* MoonLogicPuzzle: A few of the puzzles require observing characters or hearing specific bits of dialogue in order to make any sense. One example is the domino boobytrap puzzle, where the clue is Manny saying that Glottis is so nervous he looks like [[VomitDiscretionShot he's going to be sick]]. Just why simply [[PoorCommunicationKills asking him to go bring that barrel from the Blue Casket]] was not an option is anyone's guess.[[note]]To be fair, at that point Glottis is so worried for the Bonewagon that he can't do much except staring at it.[[/note]] Oh, and the "Liquid Nitrogen -- Not to be used on bone" comment gets a whole new meaning in the process.

* {{Beat}}*\\

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: ''Very'' different - they're essentially giant, multi-colored, more-intelligent [[Literature/HarryPotter house elves]]. The only real connection they have to traditional demons is the fact that they exist in the afterlife and usually have animalistic features such as ears, snouts, and sharp teeth.

** Composing poetry on the stage at the Blue Coffin seems to be some sort of puzzle, but there's nothing to be gained by it.
** There are several things in Rubacava that go by the name of "Rusty Anchor", but only one will help you. You have to go through them by trial and error to find it.
* {{Reincarnation}}: According to the Remastered Edition's director commentary, [[spoiler:this is the fate of anyone who is sprouted. However, its still considered a FateWorseThanDeath because the victim is denied final rest and must begin the cycle all over again.]]

* SmokingIsNotCool: ... Meche chain-smoking in Year 3 after working for Domino for over a year is shown as a sign that she's [[BreakTheCutie no longer the same]].

** The entire concept of sprouting. When you're sprouted, you're pushing up daises (or marigolds or tulips.) Lampshaded by Hector, ("For some reason I was expecting tulips"), and Membrillo ("We may have years, we may have hours, in the end, we push up flowers.")

* TogetherInDeath: A variation - in Year 1, Celso Flores, one of Manny's clients, is looking for his wife, who died around the same time as he did. By Year 4, the two are reunited, [[spoiler:though this comes with a dose of Fridge Horror as Manny ends up talking them into buying Hector's fake Double-N tickets]].

* TryEverything: There's one puzzle in Year Two which maddeningly requires you figure out what to do with a slip of paper reading "Rusty Anchor". The only solution is to show it to everyone in the city to figure out what it means - and [[DevelopersForesight this being a Tim Schafer game]], ''everyone'' has a unique answer, up to and including a catchy little piano ballad (see below).

* WeCanRuleTogether: In Year 3, Domino is so convinced that Manny has no other option than to start working for him that he doesn't even bother to give him the lecture. That punch he gave him might as well have been a presumptious "You're hired".

* WickedCultured: Hector [=LeMans=] - always keeps a calm, business-like persona about him, has enough money to live and dress like a king, owns a well-kept greenhouse of flowers, will shoot you point-blank if he decides you're in the way of his plans.

* FlowerMotifs: One of the only ways to make someone DeaderThanDead is to shoot them with a Sproutella gun that causes flowers to break apart and consume their bones. Membrillo the undertaker specifies to Manny that flowers are a negative symbol in the Land of the Dead, and Manny replies that from now on, he'll use balloons as gifts.
** GeniusBonus: To the Aztecs, flowers were a metaphor for blood, as in the vital fluid of the living.

* NiceHat: All the female souls wear hats (considering they don't have hair). Lola has an especially nice hat: a top hat in the shape of a stack of buildings.

* DVDCommentary: The Remastered version contains "commentary nodes" similar to games by Creator/ValveSoftware, where the player can hear Tim Schafer and company discussing the history and inspirations for the game.
* DirtyCop: Police Chief Bogen from Rubacava. He accepts payouts from gambling joints to allow them to stay in business, which Manny pays by rigging the roulette wheel in his favor every time he visits.

* CallForward: Early on, still an apparently unsuccessful employee reaper, if Manny looks at posters with luxury sea cruise transportation offer, he mentions his competitiveness: he wouldn't be able to work on a ship without trying to become captain. As story progresses, he ends up [[spoiler:cleaning floors in a shabby dinery. He's owning the place, overhauled into a classy club]] after the year-long TimeSkip. Compounding the echo, he later has to [[spoiler:weasel his way onto a ship, again mopping the floor as the screen pans into another "time skip" card. With him in charge,]] the thing at the very least looks better.

* BondVillainStupidity: [[TheDragon Domino]] falls under this trope. In Year 3, he knocks Manny out with a single punch, but then does nothing to prevent him from exploring his island, freeing Meche, etc.. He also thinks that having Manny take over his factory is a more practical way of getting him out of the picture than simply sprouting him. Funnily enough, Manny can actually [[StatingTheSimpleSolution call Nick out on this]], and he replies by telling him that ''he's'' the one that's being pragmatic, not Hector. Naturally, this attitude backfires.

-->'''Manny''': "They're locked." \\
'''Carla (from the other room)''': "They're LOCKERS!"\\
\\
'''Manny''': [[CaptainObvious "It's the door to the cage."]]\\
'''Pugsy''': "Duh..."