History Videogame / SamAndMaxHitTheRoad

''[[Franchise/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice Sam & Max]]'' were quite popular at Creator/LucasArts, and after getting cameos and {{Shout Out}}s in several [=LucasArts=] adventure games, the two got their own game in 1993: ''Sam & Max Hit the Road'', which had the two traveling a pastiche of roadside America tracking down a Bigfoot that had escaped from a carnival sideshow with a giraffe-necked girl. It was done in the SCUMM engine, the same as other [=LucasArts=] classics such as ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland''.

* FreudianExcuse: Conroy claims his parents were killed by a rabid bigfoot, but[[SubvertedTrope immediately backtracks]], admitting he's just a jerk who enjoys tormenting innocent woodland creatures.

* FreudianExcuse: Conroy claims his parents were killed by a rabid bigfoot, but immediately backtracks, admitting he's just a jerk who enjoys tormenting innocent woodland creatures.

* BlandNameProduct: The Freelance Police can stop at one of three locations for Snuckey's, a play on the real-life roadside convenience store chain [[https://www.stuckeys.com/ Stuckey's]], which is also known for their pecan candies.

* DestructiveSavior: Sam and Max ultimately make the world a vastly better place for the bigfoot race [[spoiler: by causing most of western North America to be overgrown with trees, basically destroying civilization in that part of the continent.]]

* GreenAesop: [[SpoofAesop Spoofed]] in the ending, when [[spoiler: the Bigfoot Chief's spell causes massive regrowth of old pine forests, at the expense of much of civilization in the western half of the continental United States.]]

-->'''Sam''': [''when prompted to 'Use' another person''] I don't indiscriminately use people. Except Max.

* HumanPopsicle: Bruno the Bigfoot, before his escape, was held as an exhibit in a block of ice. [[spoiler: Conroy and Lee Harvey suffer this fate in the ending.]]

* InvincibleClassicCar: The DeSoto. The first appearance of Sam and Max features them crashing the car straight through a brick wall with no damage to the vehicle whatsoever.

-->'''Sam:''' Percent sign, ampersand, dollar sign.
-->'''Max:''' And colon, semicolon, too!
-->'''Spoon bender:''' What are you [[SoundEffectBleep <bleep>]]ing doing?
-->'''Sam:''' Swearing in longhand, asterisk-mouth.

* TaxidermyIsCreepy: Conroy Bumpus apparently isn't kind to the world's wildlife. He has all sorts of critter heads around his performing stage. But what makes them ''really'' creepy is when [[spoiler: they start talking and singing, and how they mention [[AndIMustScream they want to leave but can't]].]]

* WhatTheHellHero: In-universe, Sam calls Max out for wanting to return the missing bigfoot back to the carnival. Max still wants to do it anyways. [[spoiler: Fortunately for everyone, Max finds an agreeable substitute. Unfortunately for Conroy Bumpus and Lee Harvey, ''they'' are that substitute.]]

* BulletHoleSpelling: On the second screen of the game, the hallway outside of the office, someone will shoot through Flint's door. The resulting holes make a smiley face.

* ExospeakGag:
-->'''Sam:''' My little buddy needs to use the facilities.\\
'''Max:''' [[CallingYourBathroomBreaks Facilities be damned, I need a bathroom!]]

* NoodleIncident: If prompted, the duo refuse go upstairs in their office building, citing some unspecified incident.

* WeightAndSwitch: In order to complete their bigfoot disguise, Sam and Max swap out [[spoiler:an eggplant shaped like Conroy Bumpus's head with a dummy holding Conroy's spare toupee]]. This being a Lucasarts game, the scene is likely a direct reference to [[RaidersOfTheLostParody the idol scene from]] Film/{{RaidersOfTheLostArk}}.

* WeightAndSwitch: In order to complete their bigfoot disguise, Sam and Max swap out [[spoiler:an eggplant shaped like Conroy Bumpus's head with a dummy holding Conroy's spare toupee]].

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The tram and the helicopter move very smoothly compared to everything else.

The game is available on both [[https://www.gog.com/game/sam_max_hit_the_road GOG.com]] and [[https://store.steampowered.com/app/355170/Sam__Max_Hit_the_Road/ Steam]]. Both releases are DRM-free, pre-packaged and pre-configured to run under [=ScummVM=], and come with digital PDF versions of the manual and hintbook. (You'll need to poke around the game's folder to find them in the Steam version.)

* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The tram and the helicopter move way too smoothly compared to everything else.

** In Bumpusville, the animatronic animal heads make fun of Max and sing a limerick for him after he asks who John Muir is. [[spoiler:After solving the third totem pole, you can tell Bruno about the John Muir-shaped vegetable that the totem pole symbolized. Bruno]] will ask "Who's John Muir?", to which Max responds "Don't ask".

* ClarkKenting: Parodied. To sneak to the Bigfoot convention, you have to whip up a less-than-convincing Bigfoot costume. The guard recognizes you and [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the trope, but will still let you in if you do him a favor. Everyone inside seems to be completely fooled, though, especially one female Bigfoot who constantly keeps hitting on the disguised duo.

* CommonplaceRare: You need to get a corkscrew to get the cork out of a plugged bottle. In order to do this, instead of simply getting a corkscrew from a store or from any acquaintance, you need to go to the trouble of getting an [[spoiler:icepick and asking a telekinetic psychic to twist the stem into a spiral-like corkscrew.]]

* DeusExMachina: PlayedForLaughs. After a MoonLogicPuzzle causes the duo to be carried to the World's Largest Ball of Twine via helicopter, Max wonders how they'll get their car back. Cue it randomly falling from the sky.

* DumbMuscle: Lee Harvey, he's barely capable of standing upright without his boss reminding him.

* ExcusePlot: The whole bigfoot hunt is really just an excuse for Sam & Max to go wreck havoc at various tourist traps throughout the USA.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Before the duo even make it to the fairgrounds and meet Conroy Bumpus, a Muzak version of "King of the Creatures" can be heard playing in one of the Snuckey's locations.

-->'''Sam:''' "Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven." - John Milton\\

* MythologyGag: The freaks in the freakshow tent at the carnival appeared on a circus marquee in the first comic.
** Several landmarks in the game were directly lifted from the comics including the carnival's Cone of Tragedy attraction and Frog Rock.

* ShoutOut: [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic The world's largest ball of twine is in Minnesota]].

* MenagerieOfMisery: Conroy Bumpus, an EgomaniacHunter, has a large collection of mounted animal heads, which he specifically calls a "menagerie," in his mansion. However, they are somehow alive and can talk. Disturbingly, they say at one point that "[[AndIMustScream none of us can leave, though we all wanna]]."

--> '''Sam:''' I've seen all your movies! I especially like the older, funny ones.
--> '''Fisherman:''' What are you talking about?
--> '''Sam:''' Sorry, I had you confused with somebody else.

-->'''Sam''': We don't go upstairs.
-->'''Max''': Not since the accident.

* ExcusePlot: The whole bigfoot hunt is really just an excuse for Sam & Max to go wreck havoc throughout the USA.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Younger fans might be surprised to know that something Evelyn Morrison mentions, props being used during the showing of her movies such as rubber snakes falling down on the audience during the climax, were actually fairly common during the B-Movie Golden Age of the 1950's.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Sam and Max's [[http://i.imgur.com/niRVEkp.png sasquatch costume]] -- or more precisely, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything the positioning of Sam's nose on it]].