History VideoGame / SamAndMaxFreelancePolice

* StableTimeLoop: Two of those in the Season 2: One [[spoiler:is Jimmy Two-Teeth's boxing glove and wife]] in Episode 201, both caused by Sam and Max through time travel shenanigans, and the second is [[spoiler:Mr.Featherly's egg]] in Episodes 204 and 205. Meanwhile, [[spoiler:Past Sam and Past Max]] explicitly are not part of a stable time loop, which is referenced again in [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxTheDevilsPlayhouse 305]].

* ArtEvolution: The remaster of ''Save the World'' features slight tweaks to Sam & Max's character designs to bring them more in line with more recent depictions of the characters. Notable among these changes are Sam's longer ears and baggier clothes and making Max's bellybutton more distinct. More striking, however, is the updated lighting - [[https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/snm-savetheworld-comparison03.jpg?resize=1024%2C391&strip=all?w=1536&strip=all comparing screenshots of both versions]] is like comparing ''night and day''. It ends up being most noticeable with [[spoiler:the true form of Hugh Bliss, who is now bioluminecent and has particles rising off him to emphasise how he's a colony of bacteria]].

Following the closure of Creator/TelltaleGames, the rights to the episodic series has been acquired by members of the development team, now Skunkape Games. The first season, ''Sam & Max Save The World'', received a remastered release for PC and the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in December 2020, with the other two seasons planned to follow.

* RealityEnsues: In "Abe Lincoln Must Die!", Max will ask to blow up [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Planet Krypton]] due to its utopian CrystalSpiresAndTogas society. Actually do so, and the war systems will reveal that the time of impact for the missile they send to that planet is "26 million years", much to Max's chagrin.

->'''Sam''': ''Random but innocuous comment.''\\
'''Max''': ''Irreverent reply which hints at mental instability!''\\
'''Sam''': ''You crack me up, little buddy!''

** In the Season 1 blooper real, Max/William Kasten accidentally says "subsumed" instead of "consumed." When he catches his mistake, he adds "sub...''subsumed,'' that's a nice word!" Then, in "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls," [[spoiler: Charlie Ho-Tep]] gleefully declares that our pathetic reality is on the verge of being ''subsumed'' by the glories of the Dark Dimension.

* NinjaProp: ''Beyond Time And Space'' reveals in its final episode that the [[SoundEffectBleep bleeping out of swear words]] that's been happening throughout the season (and a few times in ''Save the World'') is happening in-universe in hell's [[TakeThat FCC department]]. It then plays an important role later on - the duo need to figure out the UnfortunateName of one of the game's villains, but they can't hear it because it keeps getting bleeped out - so Sam [[spoiler: replaces hell's list of swear words with a grocery list]]. Doing so also reveals that the game's HollywoodTourettes character was speaking in [[GoshDangItToHeck much milder language]] than the game initially implied, and that their health started to improve after the constant ringing in their ear stopped.

* AlwaysNight: Season 3, the ZombieApocalypse episode and the [[{{Kaiju}} humongous rampaging]] [[EldritchAbomination Cthulhu]] episode. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Sam admires how the city looks at night.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
-->'''Agent Superball''': Statistical analysis stated that Max becoming [[spoiler:a gargantuan hell-beast]] was the second most likely outcome.
-->'''Sam''': What was the most likely outcome?
-->'''Agent Superball''': Imagine a scenario that involves the worst aspects of the [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse Legends of Ragnarok,]] [[Literature/TheBible The Book of Revelation,]] and ''Film/WeekendAtBernies''.
** When Hell turns out not to be what Max expected, he asks where the carnivorous beetle pits, acid baths, and karaoke bars are.

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "The Penal Zone", when Grandpa Stinky complains about Sam doing this.
--->'''Sam:''' Max is all short term memory; I occasionally have to bring him back up to speed.\\
'''Max:''' Aah! GIANT TALKING DOG!
** Also occurs in season one, episode 5:

** Played with in "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak": The stereotypical Corrupt Capitalist businessman, who made a fortune in the ''Toy Business'', is called ''Nicholas St. Kringle'', and he employs (elf) immigrants from the ethnic neighborhood known as ''Little Arctic Circle''. Plus he looks exactly like Santa from "Ice Station Santa".

** In "The Penal Zone", you learn why you should never call make fun of Max's height.
** In Episode 303, we find out just exactly how Sam would be if he lost Max; he turns into an extremely rough-edged CowboyCop, willing to resort the the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique to receive information, even gaining PermaStubble while going without his jacket and hat.

* BrainWithAManualControl: In the third season's episode "The City That Dares Not Sleep", we have Sam and a bunch of experts ([[spoiler:Sybil, Mr. Paperwaite and Yog-Soggoth]]) team up to enter the body of a giant monster ([[spoiler:Max who turned into a giant EldritchAbomination]]) that is destroying the city. They access various parts of his body (which, incidentally, looks like a well-decorated house) and manage to take control of the monster's arms and legs using the devices found in them; with the outside help of Momma Bosco, they can manually make the monster move in the desired direction.

*** And as of episode 305, it's a ''triple'' brick joke, as [[spoiler: it's part of Max's inventory stash]].

* CharacterDevelopment: Sam and Max start out as immature, selfish [[ManChild man children]] who can only be bothered to care about each other, with their careers as freelance police essentially a game they play as an excuse to do what they want. In Season 3, though, they [[CerebusSyndrome mature considerably]] in comparison to the previous games in the franchise. Max in particular goes from being an [[ItsAllAboutMe id-driven]] [[HeroicComedicSociopath maniac]] to showing genuine signs of loyalty and heroism towards his friends.

* CouchGag: Telltale continues the tradition of bogus "based on" jokes in Seasons 2 and 3:

* EmotionEater:
** At the end of "Bright Side of the Moon", [[spoiler:this turns out to be the dark secret behind the Church of Prismatology: Hugh Bliss wants everybody to be happy so that he can feed on their happiness]].
** The Spores from "The City That Dares Not Sleep" feed off of the psychic energy produced by nightmares. It tastes like Pepsi (among other things).
* EnemyMine: Skun-ka'pe and Papierwaite team up to take out Sam in "They Stole Max's Brain!".

* FantasticVoyagePlot: Episode 305.

* {{Futureshadowing}}: Plenty of it in Season 3.

%% * 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.

* GutFeeling: Sam and Max have never openly disliked a character that hasn't later turned out to be truly evil. [[spoiler: This includes Hugh Bliss, The Soda Poppers, Skunkape, and Charlie Ho-Tep, and Girl Stinky.]] Even if a character is [[DesignatedVillain intended to be a villain,]] if Sam and Max seem comfortable or friendly with them, then there's a good chance they'll pull a HeelFaceTurn later on. [[spoiler: Oh, let's see if we can drum up a few examples... Satan, Santa Claus, Abraham Lincoln, Papierwaite -- twice over, as Sameth and Maximus seem fine with him, and Sam and Max don't seem to consider him much worse than wimpy and annoying -- the Mariachis...]] Sam seems to be a bit better judge of character, though, since Max was such a PsychoSupporter of [[spoiler: Hugh Bliss.]]

* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** [[spoiler:Jurgen]] seems to have severe Hoistee's Syndrome in Episode 302. [[spoiler:He's quite freaked out about his recently acquired vampire curse; to wit, his room is stocked with ridiculous measures of garlic, crosses, and wolfsbane. However, when (falsely) informed of where the curse's remedy can be found, he leaves the safety of his room-- providing the perfect opportunity for a vampiric elf to catch him.]] To add insult to injury, [[spoiler:he is then kept out of his room by his own vampire deterrents, leaving him powerless to prevent Sameth and Maximus from searching his steamer trunk. He even laments at the irony.]]
** In the final puzzle of "Night of the Raving Dead", [[spoiler: the only way to kill Jurgen is to possess the monster he created and use the stakes that he keeps in his lab as trophies of the vampire hunters he's killed]].

** Max, always. [[spoiler:Until the end of Season 3, that is.]]
* IWasQuiteALooker: Momma Bosco. [[spoiler:And now she's back to being a looker. That is, if the lack of real hair doesn't bother you.]]

* KirbyDots: Appear when Max uses his psychic powers.
* LayeredReality: In "Reality 2.0," the Internet is represented as just the real world but like TRON, with people's buildings housing their websites and blogs and such. Wearing the VR goggles lets you walk around in both worlds at once!

* LickedByTheDog: Stinky is a lazy, scathing, and probably murderous individual, and yet Sal, her browbeaten, long suffering, but all around nice guy chef, likes her enough [[spoiler:to start a relationship with her]], so she can't be ALL that bad. Except in ''The Devil's Playhouse'' [[spoiler:we learn that Stinky is just using Sal to try and kill Grandpa Stinky, and when Sal becomes indisposed she moves onto Skun-Ka'pe]]. So she really is ''that'' bad.
* LittleStowaway: [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Amelia Earhart]] in the episode "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak".

* LoveTriangle: Curt, Chippy and Carol.
* MaliciousMisnaming:
** A running gag is how Girl Stinky never addresses Sam and Max by their names, but picks a random moniker every time. She remembers their names just fine; it is her way of saying she just doesn't care.

** In Devil's Playhouse, if you play around with Max's Ventriloquist powers with a jukebox, Max sings the first line of "King of the Creatures," Conroy Bumpus' VillainSong in ''Hit The Road''.

* NonSequiturThud: Happens to the Soda Poppers in "Culture Shock". Also, in "The Penal Zone", [[spoiler: as the Alien Brain begins to let himself die, his memories fade and more comedically, his telepathic speech begins to become more incoherent. "Donut button, Sam and Max! Donut button until we meet again in the plaid!"]] This is actually a reference to the fact that one of the voice actors for a previous episode refused to curse, and so for some lines that were bleeped out, the actor was saying "donut button" rather than anything offensive. The Bleeps are in the script, so the voice actors have to improvise what's going to be bleeped out. Some Actors have fun with the Bleeps and create extremely foul streams of words, while others just say something that maybe sound offensive if those are bleeped out. The most memorable is one when the voice actor was saying "Donut" and "Donut Button" instead of actual curse words.

* PsychoSupporter: Max is one for Hugh Bliss in Season 1 while [[spoiler:the rest of the cast becomes supporters of Sammun-Mak after he [[RealityWarper rewrites reality]]]] in the third act of "They Stole Max's Brain!" [[spoiler:Only Max, the Molemen, and the mysterious Dr. Norrington remain to oppose him.]]

* TheSmurfettePrinciple -- Sybil Pandemik in Season 1, new C.O.P.S. recruit Carol in ''The Devil's Playhouse'' (at least, according to the other members).

* StableTimeLoop: Two of those in the Season 2: One [[spoiler:is Jimmy Two-Teeth's boxing glove and wife]] in Episode 201, both caused by Sam and Max through time travel shenanigans, and the second is [[spoiler:Mr.Featherly's egg]] in Episodes 204 and 205. Meanwhile, [[spoiler:Past Sam and Past Max]] explicitly are not part of a stable time loop, which is referenced again in 305.

* SummoningRitual: The "boss fight" in Episode 302 is to [[spoiler:thwart a summoning ritual of Yog-Soggoth]]
** And in 304, [[spoiler:The "boss fight" is to thwart a summoning ritual for Yog-Soggoth's grandson, Junior.]]

* VampiresAreSexGods: Jurgen:
--> '''Jurgen''': You clearly know nothing about the teenage girls! She thinks I'm even more tragically sexy than before!

** Jurgen is in a similar boat, In his first appearance he's a loser but a dangerous loser who manages to beat Sam & Max in a fight and kill them and it took them possessing Jurgen's Monster to beat him. every appearance since has made him even more of a joke.
** In general, this happens to all of the villains when they reappear in later episodes, Going from a threat to annoyance at best

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Every chapter of season 1 involves Sam and Max dealing with a bigger mind-control conspiracy than the previous, starting off with brain-washing some washed-up TV actors, then moving up to gangsters, the Presidency, and even reality itself.

* AssholeVictim: The majority of Sam and Max's victims tend to be this.

* TheBigBadShuffle: T.H.E.M is set up to be the BigBad of Season 2, until its revealed that they're delivering souls to Hell, switching the BigBad role to Satan. Then its revealed that Satan has recently been demoted and that Hell is truly led by [[spoiler: The Soda Poppers]]

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The 2020 remaster of ''Save the World'' has been criticized for altering numerous lines of dialogue, seemingly to be more in line with current social sensibilities, despite the developers having previously promised that the dialogue would be unchanged other than some timing changes to some of the jokes. E.g. jokey references to skinheads, drug dealers, college radicals, catfishing, and sex changes were removed.

** Also in Season 1, some of the items Sam can ask Bosco for include "vegetables shaped like famous naturalists,", and "souvenir snowglobes from the Mystery Vortex," which are two of the four items needed to solve ''Hit the Road's'' final puzzle. Another item that can be asked is "tufts of sasquatch hair" which was needed for another puzzle.

* ARareSentence: From the last section of Season 1
-->'''[[spoiler:Hugh Bliss]]:''' [[spoiler: Hi! We're Hugh Bliss. A spacefaring colony of sentient bacteria!]]
-->'''Sam:''' A sentence I really did not expect to hear today.

* ARareSentence: From the last section of Season 1
-->'''[[spoiler:Hugh Bliss]]:''' [[spoiler: Hi! We're Hugh Bliss. A spacefaring colony of sentient bacteria!]]
-->'''Sam:''' A sentence I really did not expect to hear today.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** At a certain point in "Culture Shock", you interpret Sam's dreams...
---> '''Sybil:''' Hm. A weenie in a rat hole. Nothing symbolic there.
** In Episode 106, Sam flashes his unicorn to everyone
---> '''Sam''': Wanna rub my unicorn?
---> '''Harry Moleman''': No, I'm not that desperate yet.

* AdventureDuo: In the episode "Abe Lincoln Must Die!", a relationship quiz the two take says the person they are most compatible with... [[HeterosexualLifePartners are each other.]] (Of course, the quiz was given by Sybil, and Sam and Max seem to be the only people she knows... and she doesn't exactly try to hide the fact that she's neither using a computer nor making an effort.)

-->'''Max:''' We're just very good friends!
* AfterlifeExpress: In ''What's New, Beelzebub?''
* AlwaysNight: Season 3, the ZombieApocalypse episode and the [[{{Kaiju}} humongous rampaging]] [[EldritchAbomination Cthulhu]] episode. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Sam admires how the city looks at night.

* ArtificialStupidity: Parodied with ''Tic Tac Doom'' in ''Bright Side of the Moon''. It's a Tic-Tac-Toe game by the C.O.P.S, but the AI is so braindead that the challenge of the puzzle is trying to ''lose.''

* ARareSentence: From the last section of Season 1
-->'''[[spoiler:Hugh Bliss]]:''' [[spoiler: Hi! We're Hugh Bliss. A spacefaring colony of sentient bacteria!]]
-->'''Sam:''' A sentence I really did not expect to hear today.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: It's not as frequent as it was in ''Hit the Road'', but it still happens from time to time. One notable example being Max complaining about losing their "All ages" rating after getting Jurgen to drink a bottle of whiskey.

-->'''Sam:''' So, you think they're going for their wallet or did they just pass out from the excitement?
-->'''Max:''' Who says they have to be mutually exclusive?
-->'''Sam:''' They're still just sitting there, Max. Think they want to buy?
-->''(Max stares right at the camera.)''
-->'''Max:''' We're detectives, Sam, not mind-readers!

** Hugh Bliss: Hi! I'm Hugh Bliss! (taken UpToEleven when [[spoiler: the entire world is brainwashed into being like him, to the point where Sybil and Bosco say that every time you talk to them]] )

* ClusterBleepBomb: Timmy Two-Teeth has "[[HollywoodTourettes terminal Tourette's Syndrome]]", which results in most of his dialogue being bleeped out. [[spoiler:But it turns out CensoredForComedy and the ScunthorpeProblem are in effect with the censorship--all of his bleeped dialogue is an inch deep in the kiddy pool section of profanity at worst]].
** Uncensoring him is needed to continue on, [[spoiler: as he reveals Peepers' real name - [[ScunthorpeProblem Dick Peacock]].]]

* CrossOver: Sam's revolver and a combo of Max's Luger and supposed head severed at the upper jaw (used as the obligatory hat of the set) were given as gifts to players of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' who bought ''The Devil's Playhouse'' season the first 2 weeks, or pre-ordered. In exchange, a Blue Engineer Dispenser appears in "Beyond the Alley of the Dolls" and the RED Heavy Weapons Guy is one of the opponents in ''VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory'' (which features Max). Max's buy-in item is his gun and badge (which is really Sam's badge).

* CueCard: You need to do mudslinging in the election, and the easiest way to do it is to switch which cue card he reads from when you ask him questions.

*** ''Culture Shock'' has Bradley Culture, washed out celebrity who uses his rivals The Soda Poppers to spread his brainwashing messages to the city.

*** ''Abe Lincoln Must Die!'' has Agent Chuckles and Abraham Lincoln, [[spoiler:the former having been apart of the Toy Mafia to keep a tab on the brainwashing teddybears, and then awakens Lincoln when Sam and Max destroy the brainwashing president puppet to ensure control of the U.S]].

** Season 2 deals with antagonists all being apart of a conspiracy [[spoiler: involving T.H.E.M., time travel, and hell]].
*** ''Ice Station Santa'' has The Corporate Shambling Presence, a demon that was ship to Santa and attacks the workshop.
*** ''Moai Better Blues'' has [[spoiler:the spirit of Mr. Spatula, Sam and Max's pet goldfish, in a scheme involving an erupting volcano to signal T.H.E.M., destroy Easter Island, and get revenge on Sam and Max]]

*** ''Chariots of the Dogs'' has Pedro, or [[spoiler:T.H.E.M., a group a time and space faring mariachis that preforming soul crushing with hell to pay for their space ship.]]
*** ''What's New, Beelzebub?'' has [[spoiler:[[TheScrappy The Soda Poppers]], who through the PowerOfHate, become demons and take over hell, having masterminded the second season to increase Hell's productivity and out Satan.]]

* ArtEvolution: The remaster of ''Save the World'' features slight tweaks to Sam & Max's character designs to bring them more in line with more recent depictions of the characters. Notable among these changes are Sam's longer ears and baggier clothes and making Max's bellybutton more distinct. More striking, however, is the updated lighting- [[https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/snm-savetheworld-comparison03.jpg?resize=1024%2C391&strip=all?w=1536&strip=all comparing screenshots of both versions]] is like comparing ''night and day''.
** It ends up being most noticeable with [[spoiler:the true form of Hugh Bliss, who is now bioluminecent and has particles rising off him to ephisise how he's a colony of bacteria.]]
* AsYouKnow: Admirably few blatant examples of this in the Telltale games, considering how much continuity piles up. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "The Penal Zone", when Grandpa Stinky complains about Sam doing this.
-->'''Sam:''' Max is all short term memory; I occasionally have to bring him back up to speed.
-->'''Max:''' Aah! GIANT TALKING DOG!

-->'''Max:''' It's a good thing your protective hat and my non-compatible brain render us both impervious to hypnotism!
-->'''Sam:''' [[LampshadeHanging And it's a good thing you've been taking those classes in subtle exposition.]]
* AskAStupidQuestion -- The list of [[RunningGag items Sam asks Bosco for]] includes:
-->Weasels on a stick, two-handed broadswords, [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad vegetables in the shape of famous naturalists]], candy-pink Fatboys, exiled political dissidents, [[WeaponOfMassDestruction weapons of mass destruction]], complimentary fresh garlic, [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland fine leather jackets]], gumballs the size of your head, +2 Plate Armor of Limitless Squeezeability, PEZ dispensers with the head of infamous Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad stray tufts of sasquatch hair]], hats in the shape of a cow udder, [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland rubber chickens with a pulley in the middle]], amulets of protection against greater hypnosis, potatoes in the likeness of Catholic saints, [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad souvenir snowglobes from the Mystery Vortex]], Lobstah Fahts-brand cereal, Tagalog rhyming dictionaries (abridged), wiener cozies, [[VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle Navajo blankets]], dual core processors with 512-megabyte cache, chimpanzee-sized diapers, barbecue plankton chips, keychains with a +8 modifier to Dexterity, [[StealthInsult self-respect]], [[Literature/LordOfTheRings Lembas]], bulletproof edible underwear, lords-a-leaping and/or maids-a-milking, inflatable arms capable of being used as replacements for your real arms, [[TropeName passive-aggressive payback disguised as an innocuous customer inquiry]], Honey Bunches of Pumice brand cereal, [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} stim-packs and radiation chems]], zombie repellent, powdered drink mix, three-day-old rigatoni stuffed with marshmallow peeps in an orange soda reduction with a hint of cilantro, eyeglass repair kits, and chainsaw gasoline.
** Subverted in the final episode of season 1, where they ask for the hard-to-obtain and stupidest things they've needed to solve puzzles throughout the series thus far.... and Bosco has all of them. [[spoiler:Except for Hugh Bliss tied up behind the counter.]]

-->'''Bosco:''' Boy, I am [[spoiler: standing buck naked on a stage thousands of miles below the surface of the Earth!]] Does it LOOK like I have anything?!\\

* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Max is ''elected President of the United States'' in Season 1, and maintains that office throughout the series (so far). "Max Impeachment Weekly" is apparently a bestselling periodical, however.

** Max also isn't too fond of losing his partner, either through one of them dying or through others trying to replace him as Sam's best friend. In Episode 205, a demonic tormenter in Hell learns this the hard way when Max violently murders the demon and tears out his kidneys.

* BrainWithAManualControl: In the third season's episode "The City That Dares Not Sleep", we have Sam and a bunch of experts ([[spoiler:Sybil, Mr. Paperwaite and Yog-Soggoth]]) team up to enter the body of a giant monster ([[spoiler:Max who turned into a giant EldritchAbomination]]) that is destroying the city. They access various parts of his body (which, incidentally, looks like a well-decorated house) and manage to take control of the monsters's arms and legs using the devices found in them; with the outside help of Momma Bosko, they can manually make the monster move in the desired direction.

* CasinoEpisode: "The Mole, The Mob, and the Meatball" in Season 1, where Sam and Max go to Ted E. Bear's Mafia-Free Playland and Casino, a casino-slash-SuckECheeses designed as a rather half-assed front for TheMafia.

----> Specs: You made me mess up!
----> Whizzer: Time out for number one!
----> Peepers: I can see you!

** "And so ends our deadly game of cat and mouse! ... and dog... and rabbit... thingy."
* CharacterDevelopment: Sam and Max start out as immature, selfish [[ManChild man children]] who can only be bothered to care about each other, with their careers as freelance police essentially a game they play as an excuse to do what they want. In Season 3, though, they [[CerebusSyndrome mature considerably]] in comparison to the previous games in the franchise.
** Max in particular. He goes from being an [[ItsAllAboutMe id-driven]] [[HeroicComedicSociopath maniac]] to showing genuine signs of loyalty and heroism towards his friends.

** Never mind that generally things that are even merely said offhand in earlier episodes often come true in later ones, even if it was a complete fabrication of the characters at the time...
*** For example, Bosco claims in the very first episode that EVERYONE is after him, like the mob and the government and aliens... and [[ProperlyParanoid he's right on every single count.]]
** Inverted in the last episode of Season 1, when Sam finally asks Bosco for things that would have solved every previous puzzle. He had all of them all along!
*** In Chariots of the Dogs, you get to go behind Bosco's counter, and apparently they were all [[BehindTheBlack right behind the damn lotto tickets]].

* ChristmasEpisode[=/=]YetAnotherChristmasCarol: Season 2 opener "Ice Station Santa", as well as the {{Machinima}} version of it produced by Telltale, ''Sam & Max Nearly Save Christmas''. Played with in that the Christmas Past they have to save was in fact initially destroyed by that very attempt to save it.

* CueTheFlyingPigs: Sam and Max literally freeze Hell over in the Season 2 finale; the rest stems from there.
** The results include Sam letting Max answer the phone, Max winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and Sybil inviting Max to not only attend her wedding, but officiate it.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Even though a number of characters does die for real over the course of the series, a lot of casualties get better somehow. It helps that Sam and Max [[spoiler:live right above the gates of hell]] and [[spoiler:Momma Bosco has an advanced cloning machine]].
** The list of deaths that didn't count: [[spoiler:Animatronic Abe Lincoln (his head survived), Santa Claus and one of his elves, Grandpa Stinky, the [=DeSoTo=], Bosco, Timmy Two-Teeth, Sam (all brought back from hell), Momma Bosco (lived on as a ghost, later cloned a new body for herself) and Max (replaced by himself from an alternate timeline.) In addition, Brady Culture, Hugh Bliss and Jürgen have found steady employment in hell and seem happy enough.]]

* DevelopersForesight: An easily missed but nifty example in "Chariot of the Dogs." In order to progress, you have to [[spoiler: get a patent for the original Stinky's Tar Pit Molasses Cake so that his granddaughter can't use it [[LethalChef as a super-adhesive]], which T-H-E-M use in their spaceship, and create a mega-corporation from it.]] However, a player with a sharp memory will note that the cake played a [[EarlyBirdCameo small but essential]] role in the previous game by [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext helping them catch Jesse James' reanimated hand, which you needed as part of a set to Jurgen's monster in order to help Sybil fall for him and then subsequently realize she really loves Lincoln's Head, so Sam & Max can steal her]] ArtifactOfDoom [[ItMakesSenseInContext and use it to reclaim their souls.]]]] If the player is wondering about this detail and why the heroes aren't [[spoiler: soulless,]] you can go back to the future and ask Future Max about it: turns out [[spoiler: Stinky still made her mega corporation by selling zombie hand repellent,]] which is presumably how the two were able to solve the case in the new time stream.

* EmotionEater: At the end of "Bright Side of the Moon", [[spoiler:this turns out to be the dark secret behind the Church of Prismatology: Hugh Bliss wants everybody to be happy so that he can feed on their happiness]].

* FantasticVoyagePlot / WombLevel: Episode 305.
* {{Feelies}}: The case files, available on the Telltale website, containing several nice little items from or inspired by each episode.

* AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted: Sam and Max acquire massively inflating amounts of money that they casually drop on Bosco for 'inventions' that experience has already shown will be a lame household item. A billion dollars for a snot rag? Sure, here you go!
** Specifically, you give him money from a driver whose tailgate you busted, prize money from a game show, tokens from Ted E. Bear's Mafia-Free Playland And Casino, a government check from the Presidential Discretionary Budget, the online bank account of "Mr. Biv" through money laundering, and Canadian dollars given to you by Sybil in trade for the US.

* FunWithAcronyms: The '''C'''omputer '''O'''bsolescence '''P'''revention '''S'''ociety who are introduced in "Reality 2.0".

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Mr Featherly, actually (in-universe). Anything endorsed on Midtown Cowboys instantly becomes a top seller in Germany. This proves to be Jurgen's downfall.

--> '''Sybil:''' Hm. A weenie in a rat hole. Nothing symbolic there.

* GigglingVillain: The BigBad of Season 1, [[spoiler: Hugh Bliss.]] There's something both hilarious and disturbing about a person who giggles while saying "I'll just torture him mercilessly until he begs me to shoot him with his own gun!"
** According to Jared Emerson-Johnson and Julian Kwasneski, the recording sessions for this character were down right creepy: David Boyll is a very physical actor, and he ACTS EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME THEY RECORD HIS VOICE.

** Also played for laughs rather than censorship once in the comics-when a grocery store grunt dings their fender, Max tells Sam that he feels the rage building, and Sam counsels letting it out. Max declares, "Hey man! I think you're ''not good!'' I'll ''never'' be your best friend!" Sam opines that Max is a scary bunny.

** Not to mention that in the final puzzle of "Night of the Raving Dead", [[spoiler: the only way to kill Jurgen is to possess the monster he created and use the stakes that he keeps in his lab as trophies of the vampire hunters he's killed]].

* IAmNotSpock: In-universe example with Philo Pennyworth, who Sam and Max refer to by "Mr. Featherly", the character he plays on TV. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in Season 2, where he eventually gives up and legally changes his name to Mr. Featherly just so that he doesn't have to correct them anymore.
** And to make license contracts with Germany easier.

* IKnowYourTrueName: [[spoiler:Girl Stinky/The Cake of the Damned]] and [[spoiler:Peepers/Dick Peacock]] are both defeated in this way in Episode 205.

** In "Chariots of the Dogs", it's one of the mumblings that [[spoiler: senile future Sam says]]. Also, when you meet ''Past Sam'', he wanders around looking at items talking to himself saying things like "I can't shoot Future Me!", "That doesn't need to be made radioactive," and "It's the Time Elevator" as if he was under control of a player.
*** Sam even comments on it, asking Max if he's always acting that weird when they are working a case.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Brady Culture, which causes his downfall.

** You hear it exactly three times in the game - two instrumental versions during the finales of Season 1 and 2, and once during Season 1's credits - but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKjJode--jI&feature=related "World of Max"]] applies specifically to Max.

* LickedByTheDog: Stinky is a lazy, scathing, and probably murderous individual, and yet Sal her browbeaten, long suffering, but all around nice guy chef likes her enough [[spoiler:to start a relationship with her]], so she can't be ALL that bad.
** Except in ''The Devil's Playhouse'' [[spoiler:we learn that Stinky is just using Sal to try and kill Grandpa Stinky, and when Sal becomes indisposed she moves onto Skun-Ka'pe]]. So she really is ''that'' bad.

-->'''Max:''' ''Barnaby'' and ''Jug-Jug?!'' ...you're not even ''trying'' with the names anymore, are you?

* MercyKill: Played with in "Night of the Raving Dead", after [[spoiler: Sam and Max turn into zombies. You run into Flint Paper, who tries to pull this trope off, though Sam and Max aren't exactly grateful (unfortunately, zombies can't talk to the living)]]:
-->'''Flint:''' I hate to do this, but Sam and Max always said they'd rather be dead than one of those... ''[[NotUsingTheZWord things]]''.
-->'''Sam:''' I don't remember saying that. Did you?
-->'''Max:''' No, I'm pretty sure Flint's making that part up.
** Also, in "What's New Beelzebub?" Jurgen's monster begs to be killed and Sam complies.
*** Except since he doesn't have a soul, and was given life in the first place by electricity, Sybil will go "did he die again?" and use a taser to bring him back to life.
* {{Metaphorgotten}}: Sam manages to jumble a couple of common phrases in the first minute of Culture Shock

* MundaneMadeAwesome:
** '''TIC TAC''' '''[[DoomyDoomsOfDoom DOOM!!!!!!]]'''
** The joke is that [[AntiClimax the game is really easy to win]], but [[spoiler: the actual solution is to deliberately lose, which is no easy feat.]]

* NonSequiturThud: Happens to the Soda Poppers in "Culture Shock". Also, in "The Penal Zone", [[spoiler: as the Alien Brain begins to let himself die, his memories fade and more comedically, his telepathic speech begins to become more incoherent. "Donut button, Sam and Max! Donut button until we meet again in the plaid!"]]
** This is actually a reference to the fact that one of the voice actors for a previous episode refused to curse, and so for some lines that were bleeped out, the actor was saying "donut button" rather than anything offensive
*** To elaborate: The * Bleeps* are in the script, so the voice actors have to improvise what's going to be bleeped out. Some Actors have fun with the Bleeps and create extremely foul streams of words, while others just say something that maybe sound offensive if those are bleeped out. The most memorable is one when the voice actor was saying "Donut" and "Donut Button" instead of actual curse words.

--->'''Max:''' Sellout.

* ColorCodedSubtitles: Not only the subtitles match the colors of the characters but their faces are shown on the left side.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The 2020 remaster of ''Save the World'' has been criticized for altering numerous lines of dialogue, seemingly to be more in line with current social sensibilities, despite the developers having previously promised that the dialogue would be unchanged other than some timing changes to some of the jokes. E.g. jokey references to skinheads, drug dealers, college radicals, catfishing, and sex changes (in circumstances involving a cloned body and ghost possession) were removed.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The 2020 remaster of ''Save the World'' has been criticized for altering numerous lines of dialogue, seemingly to be more in line with current social sensibilities, despite the developers having previously promised that the dialogue would be unchanged other than some timing changes to some of the jokes. E.g. jokey references to skinheads, drug dealers, and college radicals were removed.

-->Weasels on a stick, two-handed broadswords, [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad vegetables in the shape of famous naturalists]], candy-pink Fatboys, exiled political dissidents, [[WeaponOfMassDestruction weapons of mass destruction]], complimentary fresh garlic, [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland fine leather jackets]], gumballs the size of your head, +2 Plate Armor of Limitless Squeezeability, PEZ dispensers with the head of infamous Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad stray tufts of sasquatch hair]], hats in the shape of a cow udder, [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland rubber chickens with a pulley in the middle]], amulets of protection against greater hypnosis, potatoes in the likeness of Catholic saints, [[VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad souvenir snowglobes from the Mystery Vortex]], Lobstah Fahts-brand cereal, Tagalog rhyming dictionaries (abridged), wiener cozies, [[VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle Navajo blankets]], dual core processors with 512-megabyte cache, chimpanzee-sized diapers, barbecue plankton chips, keychains with a +8 modifier to Dexterity, [[StealthInsult self-respect]], bulletproof edible underwear, lords-a-leaping and/or maids-a-milking, inflatable arms capable of being used as replacements for your real arms, [[TropeName passive-aggressive payback disguised as an innocuous customer inquiry]], Honey Bunches of Pumice brand cereal, [[VideoGame/{{Fallout}} stim-packs and radiation chems]], zombie repellent, powdered drink mix, three-day-old rigatoni stuffed with marshmallow peeps in an orange soda reduction with a hint of cilantro, eyeglass repair kits, and chainsaw gasoline.
** Subverted in the final episode of season 1, where they ask for the hard-to-obtain and stupidest things they've needed to solve puzzles throughout the series thus far.... and Bosco has all of them.

* AntiFustrationFeatures: In ''Sam & Max Save the World Remastered'' several instances of backtracking are shortened by removing in between areas like the outside of the White House.

Following the closure of Creator/TelltaleGames, the rights to the episodic series has been acquired by members of the development team, now Skunkape Games. The first season, ''Sam & Max Save The World'', has been remastered for PC and the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on December 2, 2020.

Following the closure of Creator/TelltaleGames, the rights to the episodic series has been acquired by members of the development team, now Skunkape Games. The first season, ''Sam & Max Save The World'', is being remastered for PC and the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch for a December 2, 2020 release.