History YMMV / GrimFandango

* ViewerGenderConfusion: Bibi, one of the two children working for Domino in Year 3, is a girl. Good luck figuring this out on your own, though; her name doesn't lend itself either way, she has no hair or TertiarySexualCharacteristics to speak of, her voice could easily pass as that of a pre-pubescent boy, her personality and clothes aren't much different from her brother, Pugsy's, and there is no dialogue that refers to her as "she". Spanish speakers, on the other hand, would know that Bibi is short for "Bibiana", a popular girl's name.

* MoralEventHorizon: Nick sprouting [[spoiler:Lola]]. Domino trying to murder Glottis. [[spoiler: Olivia]] torturing Sal. Hector... OK, Hector was just always evil.

** In the Year 3, we get to see trapped souls at the edge of the Underworld who are practically held as prisoners, [[spoiler:and the exprience Manny shares with them is what ultimately turns him into BigDamnHero, determined to save not just Meche, but everyone who got their tickets stolen]]. Despite its importance, the major plot in the Year 3 is more concerned about escaping from the island, and the final act quickly pushes the characters to background. It's not bad, but it's a letdown when comparing it to how the Year 2 introduced memorable side characters excellently weaved together with Manny's quest.

* AssPull: While it's relatively minor and has little impact on the actual plot, the revelation that [[spoiler:Hell actually exists]] comes almost completely out of nowhere, since up until that point, we were led to believe that [[spoiler: the worst punishment an immoral person can serve in this universe]] is working away your debt (presumably, the worse you were, the more work you have to do) and then walking four years to get to heaven. Then again, it's never directly identified as [[spoiler:Hell in the "opposite of heaven" sense, and could just be a special part of the Eighth Underworld that's miserable and bars you from heaven for whatever length of time if ThePowersThatBe decide you're beyond redemption]].

* {{Narm}}: Manny looks cool in his reaper robe and all, but the entirety of the climax (where he wears the outfit the entire time) becomes a little silly because you know under that robe he's wearing his stilts underneath it.

* MST3KMantra: Unless you're making a joke, [[LampshadeHanging like the game itself often does]], never ''ever'' ask yourself any questions about ''Grim Fandango'' that can be summed up with "If they're skeletons, then how come X?". It ''will'' be a constant distraction and isn't really important to the overall plot.
-->'''Manny:''' Some festival, eh?\\
'''Balloon Sculptor:''' Yeah, yeah. Pretty busy. My carpal tunnel syndrome is really acting up.\\
'''Manny:''' But you don't have any tendons...\\
'''Balloon Sculptor:''' Yeah, well, you don't have a tongue but that doesn't seem to shut you up, now does it?

* AcclaimedFlop: Grim Fandango was one of the year's most acclaimed titles but sold no more than half a million in its original release. Not helping matters was its release during a crowded holiday period that included ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' and ''VideoGame/HalfLife1''.

* AcclaimedFlop: Grim Fandango was one of the year's most acclaimed titles but sold no more than half a million in its original release. Not helping matters was its release during a crowded holiday period that included VideoGame/MetalGearSolid, VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime and VideoGame/HalfLife.

* AcclaimedFlop: Grim Fandango was one of the year's most acclaimed titles but sold no more than half a million in its original release. Not helping matters was its release during a crowded holiday period that included VideoGame/MetalGearSolid, VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheOcarinaOfTime and VideoGame/HalfLife.

* AcclaimedFlop: Grim Fandango was one of the year's most acclaimed titles but sold no more than half a million in its original release. Not helping matters was its release during a crowded holiday period that included VideoGame/MetalGearSolid1, VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheOcarinaOfTime and VideoGame/HalfLife1.

* ShockingSwerve: While it's relatively minor and has little impact on the actual plot, the revelation that [[spoiler:Hell actually exists]] comes almost completely out of nowhere, since up until that point, we were led to believe that [[spoiler: the worst punishment an immoral person can serve in this universe]] is working away your debt (presumably, the worse you were, the more work you have to do) and then walking four years to get to heaven. Then again, it's never directly identified as [[spoiler:Hell in the "opposite of heaven" sense, and could just be a special part of the Eighth Underworld that's miserable and bars you from heaven for whatever length of time if ThePowersThatBe decide you're beyond redemption]].

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The tree pumping station. Apparently the marrow inside the petrified trees can be extracted... for... some... reason. Looking back on it, even Tim Schafer can't remember how he came up with that one.[[note]]El Marrow is built from the marrow from the trees. Glottis points out this is why the town ''is'' called "El Marrow".[[/note]]

* GeniusBonus: The title itself. Sending somebody "to dance the grim fandango" is to send them to be hung until dead (with the 'dance' being the jerking movements the body makes as its owner expires).

* ScrappyMechanic: The inventory system which has you scroll through your items one at a time with an animation between each that takes a couple of seconds.

** The opening cutscene. "Welcome, Mr. Flores. I'm ready to ''take you now''."

* SignatureScene: The Year Two sequence. Manny dressed in the white ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''-esque tuxedo tends to be the most recognizable image from the game.

** Bruno Martinez has three scenes, and steals the show each time.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Hector LeMans]] is the man behind the corruption in the Department of Death. Hector has infiltrated the [=DoD=] and stolen the Number Nine tickets, the fastest way to get to [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence the Land of Eternal Rest]], from to the souls of the righteous and counterfeits them knowing that anyone who uses one is [[DraggedOffToHell plunged into hell's fiery depths]]. Meanwhile, the righteous souls Hector stole them from are left to wander the Land of the Dead until they're eventually kidnapped while traversing the ocean and sent to the coral mining factory owned by Hector at the Edge of the World to be eternally enslaved so as to prevent Hector's misdeeds from coming to light. The most evil thing Hector has done is the commission of sprouting, a way to [[CessationOfExistence permanently kill those already dead]]; the sprouting involves special plant bullets that are fired into the skeletal body, growing and spreading until the victim is completely overrun and is nothing more than an empty husk filled with flowers. Hector as capitalized on this, murdering hundreds, keeping their bodies as a field of flowers [[AtopAMountainOfCorpses upon which he builds his hideout]], and even has a greenhouse where preserves the corpses of his victims and tends to them as trophies of all who dare cross him. By the game's end he has Salvador's body sprouted and his head removed for questioning and shoots Manny with a slow-acting Sproutella which will keep him alive in agony for hours before eventually killing him. Despite all the pain and misery he's caused in the Land of the Dead, Hector doesn't care, as he merely wants to live like a king before using the stolen tickets to bribe his way into heaven.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The game has a top-notch soundtrack, especially in the remastered version. Every song is so smooth and atmospheric that picking out favourites is almost impossible, so [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-K8R1hDG9E go ahead and knock yourself out with the original]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TNUQXST8Vc&list=PL9NKeEemrlzMAvv9LS2n2UNzUZve9XA12 or the remastered version]].

* HilariousInHindsight: With Creator/LucasArts now being owned by Creator/{{Disney}}, the release of Creator/{{Pixar}}'s ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', a movie about the Day of the Dead, may create some comparisons.
** Especially since ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'''s Héctor is a good guy through and through unlike the one in this game.

** Also, it was pointed that many files from the original games were lost and making them from scratch was hard, especially the pre-rendered backgrounds that they probably lost the original 3D models and couldn't pre-render them again, and changing the game from a 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 would need several changes, since the game used fixed cameras, and it was argued that Grim Fandango was a commercial failure in its original release and they couldn't spend much on the re-relase since it could suffer the same fate.

* MST3KMantra: Unless you're making a joke, [[LampshadeHanging like the game itself often does]], never ''ever'' ask yourself any questions about Grim Fandango that can be summed up with "If they're skeletons, then how come X?". It ''will'' be a constant distraction and isn't really important to the overall plot.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Hector LeMans]] is the man behind the corruption in the Department of Death. Hector has infiltrated the [=DoD=] and stolen the Number Nine tickets, the fastest way to get to [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence the Land of Eternal Rest]], from to the souls of the righteous and counterfeits them knowing that anyone who uses one is [[DraggedOffToHell plunged into hell's fiery depths]]. Meanwhile, the righteous souls Hector stole them from are left to wander the Land of the Dead until they're eventually kidnapped while traversing the ocean and sent to the coral mining factory owned by Hector at the Edge of the World to be eternally enslaved so as to prevent Hector's misdeeds from coming to light. The most evil thing Hector has done is the commission of sprouting, a way to [[CessationOfExistence permanently kill those already dead]]; the sprouting involves special plant bullets that are fired into the skeletal body, growing and spreading until the victim is completely overrun and is nothing more than an empty husk filled with flowers. Hector as capitalized on this, murdering hundreds, keeping their bodies as a field of flowers [[AtopAMountainOfCorpses upon which he builds his hideout upon]], and even has a greenhouse where preserves the corpses of his victims and tends to them as trophies of all who dare cross him. By the game's end he has Salvador's body sprouted and his head removed for questioning and shoots Manny with a slow-acting Sproutella which will keep him alive in agony for hours before eventually killing him. Despite all the pain and misery he's caused in the Land of the Dead, Hector doesn't care, as he merely wants to live like a king before using the stolen tickets to bribe his way into heaven.

* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Hector LeMans]] is the man behind the corruption in the Department of Death. Hector has infiltrated the [=DoD=] and stolen the Number Nine tickets, the fastest way to get to [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence the Land of Eternal Rest]], from to the souls of the righteous and counterfeits them knowing that anyone who uses one is [[DraggedOffToHell plunged into hell's fiery depths]]. Meanwhile, the righteous souls Hector stole them from are left to wander the Land of the Dead until they're eventually kidnapped while traversing the ocean and sent to the coral mining factory owned by Hector at the Edge of the World to be eternally enslaved so as to prevent Hector's misdeeds from coming to life. The most evil thing Hector has done is the commission of sprouting, a way to [[CessationOfExistence permanently kill those already dead]]; the sprouting involves special plant bullets that are fired into the skeletal body, growing and spreading until the victim is completely overrun and is nothing more than an empty husk filled with flowers. Hector as capitalized on this, murdering hundreds, keeping their bodies as a field of flowers [[AtopAMountainOfCorpses upon which he builds his hideout upon]], and even has a greenhouse where preserves the corpses of his victims and tends to them as trophies of all who dare cross him. By the game's end he has Salvador's body sprouted and his head removed for questioning and shoots Manny with a slow-acting Sproutella which will keep him alive in agony for hours before eventually killing him. Despite all the pain and misery he's caused in the Land of the Dead, Hector doesn't care, as he merely wants to live like a king before using the stolen tickets to bribe his way into heaven.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Manny brings Meche to the Land of the Dead and briefly talks with her about her life. He's then suddenly so in love with her that he spends the next three years looking for her, ignoring any other women that interested in him.