Line #34 VideoGame/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SamAndMaxHitTheRoad_5047.jpg]]
2
3	->'''Bigfoot Chief:''' These two have shown themselves worthy of our gratitude and our trust.\
4	'''Max:''' These are a naive people.
5
6	''Franchise/SamAndMax'' 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''.
7
8	A long-awaited sequel to ''Sam & Max Hit the Road'' was announced by [=LucasArts=] in 2002, but in March of 2004 the project was [[{{Vaporware}} unceremoniously canceled]]. Fans were incensed, as were several members of the [=LucasArts=] team, who left to found their own game company: Creator/TelltaleGames. In 2005, Telltale announced they would be working with Steve Purcell to produce an episodic Sam & Max adventure game, and in late 2006, the first episode of ''Sam & Max: Season One'' was released.
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10	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 MediaNotes/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.) DummiedOut content from the game [[https://tcrf.net/Sam_%26_Max_Hit_the_Road can be found on]] The Cutting Room Floor wiki.
11	----
12	!!Contains examples of:
13	* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The tram and the helicopter at the World's Largest Ball of Twine move very smoothly compared to everything else.
14	* AGodAmI: Conroy Bumpus mentions in his song that he likes collecting exotic animals because it makes him feel "like some Chaldean god."
15	* ARareSentence: two instances of "I can't believe I lived long enough to hear you say that":
16	** by Max when Sam asks about [[spoiler:"the biggest thing in vegetable celebrities right now"]].
17	** by Sam when Max asks about [[spoiler:"the pressing bigfoot issues of the day"]].
18	* AlienFairFolk: A UFO-riding moleman at Frog Rock (in fact, it is implied that all molemen are extraterrestrials).
19	* AndIMustScream: Both Bruno and the Mystery Vortex bigfoot were fully aware of their surroundings while trapped in blocks of ice.
20	* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Lampshaded and PlayedForLaughs:
21	-->'''Max:''' Hey, maybe Shuv-Oohl's at the Mystery Vortex! Let's go there before I'm distracted by something!
22	* BaldOfEvil: Conroy Bumpus wears a wig.
23	* BetterThanABareBulb: Our heroes never miss an opportunity to mock the fact they're in a video game with a ludicrous premise.
24	* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: The plot revolves around a runaway Bigfoot, and there is even a Bigfoot convention! (As a side note, the terms "sasquatch" and "yeti" are used interchangeably with Bigfoot in the game).
25	* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The Mystery Vortex.
26	* BizarreAndImprobableGolfGame: The Gator Golf Emporium is a variation on this trope. The attraction used to be a normal mini-golf course, but it got flooded, and the waters are now infested with [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile fully-grown alligators.]] Sam ends up having to play a golfing minigame (using fish) to save Max from a dunk tank on the other side of the course. The action is somewhat more grounded than most examples, however, with the flooded course being treated more like a driving range than a true golf course.
27	* BlahBlahBlah: If you talk to the chief's wife, eventually you'll only hear "yadda yadda yadda", "bow bow bow" or "oogly oogly oogly".
28	* BlandNameProduct:
29	** 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.
30	** Conroy Bumpus's mansion has a "[[Creator/{{Microsoft}} Macrohard]] Maintenance Droid[[{{Tradesnark}} ™]]" running around frantically dusting the statues.
31	* BrickJoke:
32	** In Shuv-Oohl's room, if you look the newspaper clippings, one of the headlines is [[spoiler:Severed Head Explodes, Destroys Bus!]]
33	** In the carnival Tunnel Of Love, one of the exhibits is a scene from B-Movie actress Evelyn Morrison's movie Revenge Of the Gill Guy, Sam being a fan of hers. Later when you get to the Savage Tiki Inn, who turns out to be the owner? Why, Evelyn Morrison.
34	** 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".]]
35	* TheBrute: Lee Harvey, Conroy's goon.
36	* BulletHoleSpelling: On the second screen of the game, the hallway outside of the office, someone (most likely Flint Paper) will shoot through Flint's door. The resulting holes make a smiley face.
37	* CallingYourBathroomBreaks: While at Snuckey's, Max will complain to Sam that he has to use the bathroom, prompting Sam to ask the cashier for a key:
38	-->'''Sam:''' My little buddy has to use the facilities.\
39	'''Max:''' Facilities be damned, [[EuphemismBuster I need a BATHROOM!]]
40	* CentrifugalFarce: The Cone of Tragedy at the Kushman Bros. Carnival spins around at insane speeds, as befitting its name. If you ride it, you will lose all your stuff (thankfully, the lost and found collects it all in record time).
41	* 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 hits on the disguised duo.
42	* CollectorOfTheStrange: Conroy Bumpus has a whole room full of animals, including exotic ones, normal ones, and fantastical ones like jackalopes.
43	* ColorCodedSpeech: The game uses colored text to help signify who is talking. For Sam, it's blue. For Max, it's white.
44	* CommonplaceRare: You need to get a corkscrew to get the cork out of a plugged wine bottle. In order to do this, instead of simply getting a corkscrew from a store or anywhere you’d expect, 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.]]
45	* ComplainingAboutThingsYouHaventPaidFor: Provides the current page quote, to boot.
46	-->'''Sam:''' This rock doesn't look like a frog at all!\
47	'''Max:''' My innocence has been shattered by this blatant tourist trap. I want my money back!\
48	'''Sam:''' We didn't pay anything.\
49	'''Max:''' Well, ''somebody'' better give me some money!
50	* CreepyCircusMusic: Some of the carnival music has elements of this trope. [[https://youtu.be/yMjwdddpkzg Carnival of the Odd]] highlights how the carnival is a bit of a CrappyCarnival while still remaining somewhat pleasant, and [[https://youtu.be/t5n-oKOQOkE Hall of Oddities]] sets the mood for the carnival's FreakShow.
51	* CrossOver: Images of Sam and Max appear in most classic Creator/LucasArts adventures, including the VideoGame/MonkeyIsland series.
52	* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Max voices his theory that enormous magnets are involved in the supernatural phenomena at the Mystery Vortex, and Sam calls him "an ignorant dolt". Then the two find a secret passage that leads into the caves beneath the Vortex, and find... a series of enormous magnets.
53	-->'''Max:''' I ''told'' you this place was controlled by giant magnets buried under the Earth's crust!\
54	'''Sam:''' Lucky guess.
55	* CuttingBackToReality: A visit to Bumpusville gives Sam an opportunity to use a virtual reality headset in order to access the security systems. Finding himself in a fairy-tale kingdom with a sword in a stone nearby, Sam naturally tries to pull it out - and then we cut back to reality to find that the "sword" is Max, who is being yanked into the air by his ankles while his head is pressed flat against the ground with Sam's feet. Later, Sam uses the sword to slay a dragon within the simulation, which another cut reveals to involve Max being swung energetically through the air. To his credit, Max doesn't seem to mind.
56	* 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.]]
57	* 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 Sam saying "Wait for it…" followed by it randomly falling from the sky.
58	* DialogueTree: Somewhat unique in that in addition to asking about specific topics unlocked with progress, Sam can use one of three omnipresent commands, ? for questioning, ! for statements and a rubber ducky as a designated NonSequitur button.
59	* DIYDentistry: {{Parodied\|Trope}}; one puzzle involves obtaining a dinosaur tooth needed as a PlotCoupon out of a talking dinosaur display by tying a long string to the tooth, the other end to the [=DeSoto's=] door all the way out in the parking lot, and slamming it shut. The string is conveniently ''exactly'' long enough that this yanks it out.
60	* DodgyToupee: Conroy Bumpus' ridiculous coif isn't real, it's a wig soaked in hair growth tonic. Max riffs on him for it, but this just gets him stuck on an island in the middle of a gator-infested pond.
61	* DrivesLikeCrazy: Max, [[TakeOurWordForIt apparently]]...
62	-->'''Max''': Mind if I drive?
63	-->'''Sam''': Not if you don't mind me clawing at the dash and shrieking like a cheerleader.
64	* DumbMuscle: Lee Harvey, Conroy’s assistant, is barely capable of standing upright without his boss reminding him.
65	* EdibleTreasure: in the endgame, the prize the chief awards Max is actually [[spoiler:a foil-covered chocolate medallion]].
66	* EdutainmentShow: Parodied when Sam first comes across a portrait of naturalist John Muir. Max is unaware of who Muir is, causing the taxidermized animal heads to first mock Max, and then launch into a brief musical number about who Muir was.
67	* ElvisImpersonator: Despite being a country/western artist (from England, to boot), Conroy Bumpus has clearly taken a few cues from the King of Rock n' Roll. He's even turned his mansion into a gaudy museum celebrating his own career, a la Graceland.
68	-->'''Lee Harvey:''' ''(via PA system)'' Your attention, please. Conroy Bumpus has left the building.
69	* EnterSolutionHere: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed.]] The final puzzle is spelled out for you in picture form, but finding out which specific items are required for it is something of a MoonLogicPuzzle.
70	* EuphemismBuster: When you have Sam ask for the keys to the bathroom at Snuckey's.
71	-->'''Sam:''' My little buddy has to use the facilities.\
72	'''Max:''' Facilities be damned, I need a bathroom!
73	* EvilBrit: Conroy Bumpus. He's from Liverpool, England, despite being a country music superstar and currently residing in Nashville.
74	* ExcusePlot: The whole bigfoot hunt is really just an excuse for Sam & Max to wreak havoc at various tourist traps throughout the USA.
75	* EyeScream: Invoked and PlayedForLaughs. If you talk to Max and choose the duck option, you might get:
76	-->'''Sam:''' I think I've got something in my eye.\
77	'''Max:''' Try digging it out with a fork. That always works for me.
78	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Before the duo even make it to the fairgrounds and meet Conroy Bumpus, a Muzak version of "King of the Creatures" can sometimes be heard playing inside the Snuckey's locations.
79	* TheFreakshow: The Kushman Brothers run one, from whence their Bigfoot and Giraffe-necked Girl have disappeared. Ironic, as the Kushmans are themselves freaks, being conjoined twins attached by the spine. And that's not clothes they are wearing. Their skin naturally grows colored fuzz that looks remarkably like clothing. Even weirder, they somehow appear to be different ages and have different accents.
80	** Conroy Bumpus forces Bruno and Trixie to take part in one of these as part of his collection of stuffed animals.
81	* 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.
82	* FurryConfusion: There are non-anthropomorphic, non-speaking and seemingly non-sapient rats, cats, pigeons, and... alligators.
83	* FurryReminder: After tricking Lee Harvey to go investigate a false alarm:
84	-->'''Sam:''' How [[BehavioralConditioning Pavlovian.]]\
85	'''Max:''' And you should know.
86	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Max will wander around and mess with the background, most notably at the Savage Tiki Inn when he'll start pulling at the feathers of the Toucan on the reception desk and in the Tunnel of Love where he tries to steal the axe from the executioner wax figure in the Henry VIII segment.
87	* 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.]]
88	* GreenGators: The gators at the [[https://youtu.be/9Cf7O45dZ_E?t=519 Gator Golfing]] are bright green.
89	* GrievousHarmWithABody: On more than one occasion, Sam uses Max as a weapon or tool. Just threatening to use him is often good enough to scare people into confessing something. Max can actually be seen and selected in Sam's inventory box like a regular object.
90	-->'''Sam:''' [''when prompted to 'Use' another person''] I don't indiscriminately use people. Except Max.
91	* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal:
92	** Effectively averted. Sam wears a full suit (minus shoes) while Max and the Bigfoots wear nothing. One exception is Conroy Bumpus putting a vest on Bruno for his performances, which Bruno immediately shreds just by ''flexing his muscles'' after Sam frees him.
93	** Sam actually adresses Max's nudity when the latter [[HypocriticalHumor expresses shock at the conjoined twins not wearing clothes]]; he answers that it's okay for him to be nude [[BunniesForCuteness because he is cute and marketable]].
94	* HappyCircusMusic: "[[https://youtu.be/yMjwdddpkzg Carnival of the Odd]]" is a quirky, bouncy theme on calliope and brass. While the Kushman Brothers' Carnival, where the song plays, is a bit of a CrappyCarnival, it is always played either for laughs or as a genuinely fun place.
95	* HarmlessElectrocution: To get into the backroom of the Tunnel of Love, Sam dunks Max in the water and shoves him into the ride's circuit breaker, shorting out the electricity. Max, despite a case of AshFace, is no worse for wear afterwards.
96	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Parodied by the MadScientist's victim in the opening. She decided she wanted to be JustFriends because after their date she found him to be too nice and boring. ''A mad scientist who now has her bound up in his laboratory for rejecting him.'' Either she's still trying to let him down easy, or she's just that clueless.
97	* 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.]]
98	* HypocriticalHumor: When observing all of Conroy's hunting trophies:
99	-->'''Max''': I think this Bumpus goon is overcompensating for his lack of stature, Sam. And besides, I've got a lot more trophies than he does.
100	* IfIHadANickel: After Max ([[ItMakesSenseInContext disguised as a bigfoot]]) hits on the bigfoot chief's wife, she waves off the awkward moment by telling him "If I had a tree for every time a teenage bigfoot's made a drunken pass at me, we surely wouldn't be in the mess we're in today, y'know?"
101	* ImprovisedPlatform: At the golf club, you have to align alligators in the lake to reach your target.
102	* InformingTheFourthWall: Sam provides all sorts of commentary to the audience.
103	* 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.
104	* InterspeciesRomance: Between Bruno, a male sasquatch, and Trixie, a human woman with a giraffe-neck.
105	* IThinkYouBrokeHim: The eventual result if you keep insisting that Sam pick up an object that's stuck, resulting in him breaking into tears and Max berating you through the FourthWall for breaking his spirit.
106	-->'''Max:''' Now you've done it! You've broken Sam's spirit with your stupid attempts to pick up that silly object! In fact, if I didn't find his pitiful sobbing so amusing, I'd come out there and rip your limbs off! Just ignore them, Sam, maybe they'll go away.
107	* ItKindOfLooksLikeAFace:
108	** The Celebrity Vegetable Museum is home to dozens upon dozens of vegetables in the shape of famous people both real and fictional. The owner has a surplus of eggplants that look like Conroy Bumpus, and will actually sculpt a vegetable in the likeness of any celebrity you have a picture of, both facts that come in handy to solve later puzzles.
109	** Subverted with Frog Rock, which [[NonIndicativeName only barely looks like a frog, and that's if you turn your head and squint]]. Max is so disappointed he demands a refund, despite not having paid admission.
110	* JeopardyThinkingMusic: Plays while Sam is reading the information about the cleaning droid in Conroy Bumpus’ mansion.
111	* {{Jerkass}}: Conroy Bumpus. He's little more than a selfish egomaniac who throws a fit when he doesn't get his way, and has his bodyguard Lee Harvey rough up anyone who doesn't worship him.
112	* JustFriends: The opening sequence has our heroes saving a MadScientist's date from being zapped because she'd rather just be friends.
113	* LiveItem: Max, to the point of actually having a space in Sam's inventory bag.
114	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Parodied with the Bigfoots. The Chief even admits during the ending that he bought his headdress at Snuckey's.
115	* MenagerieOfMisery: Conroy Bumpus, an EgomaniacHunter, has a large collection of [[TaxidermyIsCreepy mounted animal heads]], which he specifically calls a "menagerie," in his mansion. However, they are somehow alive and can talk. Disturbingly, Bumpus' VillainSong features them lamenting "[[AndIMustScream none of us can leave, though we all wanna]]." [[spoiler: Not so surprisingly, Bumpus has successfully added Bruno the Bigfoot and Trixie the Giraffe-Necked Girl to his menagerie - full-bodied, thankfully.]]
116	* MiniGame: Several mini-games throughout the game, only a few actually contributing to progressing the game.
117	** Wak-A-Rat is a whack-a-mole style game where Sam has to hit as many live rats as possibly before time runs out. Winning this game earns you a flashlight sans lightbulb.
118	** Highway Surfing, an into-the-screen racing game where you have to make Max jump over highway signs.
119	** Car Bomb, a Battleship-style game available to purchase at one of the Snuckey's locations.
120	* MoleMen: Doug, and his uncle Shuv-Oohl.
121	* MouseHole: There's a mouse hole in Sam & Max's office where they happen to stash their spending money.
122	* MythologyGag:
123	** The freaks in the freakshow tent at the carnival appeared on a circus marquee in the first comic.
124	** Several landmarks in the game were directly lifted from the comics, including the carnival's Cone of Tragedy attraction and Frog Rock.
125	* NapoleonComplex: Conroy Bumpus. His mansion in Bumpusville is filled with paintings and statues of himself as tall and muscular.
126	* NeverSayThatAgain: When Sam complements Flint Paper's "business acumen", Max asks him not to say the word "acumen" again.
127	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Several characters are voiced with impressions of famous actors:
128	** The Sasquatch Elder talks like Creator/JimmyStewart.
129	** The mad scientist at the beginning sounds a lot like Creator/HansConried (the voice of characters like [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Captain Hook]] and [[WesternAnimation/DudleyDoRight Snidely Whiplash]].)
130	** Lampshaded by Sam when they run into a fisherman who talks like Creator/WoodyAllen.
131	---> '''Sam:''' I've seen all your movies! I especially like the older, funny ones.\
132	'''Fisherman:''' What are you talking about?\
133	'''Sam:''' Sorry, I had you confused with somebody else.
134	** Conroy Bumpus is a combination of two singers: his stage presence is pure Music/EltonJohn while his mansion is clearly based off the one owned by Music/ElvisPresley.
135	* NoFourthWall: Sam and Max are very well aware that they're inside an adventure game.
136	* NoodleIncident: If prompted, the duo will refuse to go upstairs in their office building, citing some unspecified incident.
137	-->'''Sam''': We don't go upstairs.\
138	'''Max''': Not since the accident.
139	* OnlyInItForTheMoney: Max makes it clear several times that he has no moral conflict with the mission and just wants to get paid.
140	* PlayerInventory: Many puzzles involve collecting items, combining them and using them elsewhere.
141	* PointAndClickMap: the player travels between locations by clicking on a map of North America, new locations popping up as the game progresses.
142	* PunnyName: Doug the Mole-Man and his uncle, Shuv-Oohl.
143	* QuoteToQuoteCombat: Examining the Garden of Eden tableau in the Tunnel of Love prompts a tongue-in-cheek example.
144	-->'''Sam:''' "Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven." - Milton\
145	'''Max:''' "Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens." - David Byrne
146	* RealityIsOutToLunch: The Mystery Vortex. Even by the [[WorldOfWeirdness standards of this universe]], this place is damn weird.
147	* SignedUpForTheDental: after obtaining a certain key, Sam claims to have become the Key Master, but Max only cares if the job comes with a dental plan.
148	* ShoutOut:
149	** [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic The world's largest ball of twine is in Minnesota]].
150	** One of the models seen on the golf course resembles the [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland giant monkey head.]]
151	** "[[Film/SunsetBoulevard I'm ready for my closeup,]] [[Creator/RogerCorman Mr. Corman.]]"
152	** Conroy's maintenance droid was manufactured by the Macrohard company, which is a play on Microsoft.
153	** When Sam first operates that same droid, it projects a hologram of [[Characters/StarWarsLeiaOrgana Princess Leia]], which Max points-out as being "gratuitous".
154	** Speaking of [[Franchise/StarWars droids]], there's a very familiar-looking astromech silhouette in the post-game shooting gallery.
155	** In that same shooting gallery there are also dolls of [[Characters/MonkeyIsland Guybrush Threepwood]] and a [[Characters/DayOfTheTentacle tentacle]].
156	** When talking with B Movie star Evelyn Morrison:
157	-->'''Sam''': I've seen all your movies!\
158	'''Max''': My favorite was "Robot Terror From Beyond The Galaxy."\
159	'''Sam''': Is that the one where the alien says, "[[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951 Klamdo Barreta Nimno]]?"\
160	'''Max''': No, that's "Vampiress in Prison."\
161	'''Sam''': Oh yeah.
162	** The counter clerks at all of the Snuckey's locations bear [[ReusedCharacterDesign a striking resemblance]] to [[VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle Bernard Bernoulli.]]
163	* StylisticSuck: The virtual reality world Sam briefly visits in Bumpusville renders everything in very stiff, blocky, technicolored polygonal graphics (or at least two-dimensional approximations thereof).
164	-->'''Sam:''' This is virtual reality? I may be sick.
165	* SymbolSwearing: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] during a conversation with the [[SirSwearsALot foul-mouthed psychic]] at the World's Biggest Ball of Twine:
166	-->'''Sam:''' Percent sign, ampersand, dollar sign.\
167	'''Max:''' And colon, semicolon, too!\
168	'''Spoon bender:''' What are you [[SoundEffectBleep <bleep>]]ing doing?\
169	'''Sam:''' Swearing in longhand, asterisk-mouth.
170	* TakeThat: Sam, while talking to a character who looks and acts like Creator/WoodyAllen.
171	--> I like your movies. Especially the early, funny ones.
172	** One of the exhibits in the freakshow tent is a severed head. Upon examination:
173	-->'''Sam:''' So ''this'' is what happens to [[UsefulNotes/RossPerot unsuccessful third-party presidential candidates.]]
174	** One of the targets in the end credits shooting gallery is very clearly supposed to be VideoGame/{{Bubsy}}.
175	* TakenFromADream: During the visit to Bumpusville, Sam must use a virtual reality machine in order to access the mansion's security systems, resulting in a fairy-tale adventure to slay a dragon. Once Sam's finished slaying the dragon ([[CuttingBackToReality and abusing Max in reality]]), he retrieves a key from the heart of the dragon... and back in the real world, Sam finds the same key in his hand. [[spoiler: It's used to free Bruno and Trixie from the Bumpusville floor show.]]
176	* 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 they start talking and singing, and how they mention [[AndIMustScream they want to leave but can't]].
177	* TestYourStrengthGame: The carnival has one. Sam declines to play it, but you can get Max to do it. He wins by simply hopping on top of the base.
178	* ThirdPersonPerson: Evelyn Morrison really likes speaking about Evelyn Morrison in the third person.
179	* TotemPoleTrench: Sam and Max's bigfoot disguise consists of Max standing on Sam's shoulders while the two are wearing a fur-covered stilt-walker's costume.
180	* TrashyTouristTrap: The game is filled with a bunch of them as Sam & Max travel across America to solve the mystery.
181	** The World's Largest Ball of Yarn in Minnesota serves as an early stop in the trip. It even has a rotating restaurant built over the top of it.
182	** The Celebrity Vegetable Museum is famous for its farm growing vegetables that look like various celebrities.
183	** Mount Rushmoore itself has been repurposed for tourists to bungee jump over the tar pits below.
184	** Frog Rock [[NonIndicativeName only barely resembles what could be a frog from the right angle]]. Max admits that even though he didn't pay anything to see it, he wants his money back.
185	** The Mystery Vortex attracts tourists because RealityIsOutToLunch inside and the laws of physics are all warped around.
186	* UndisclosedFunds: Sam & Max's money stash is never quantified, but it can be used to buy everything throughout the game without ever diminishing in the inventory. By Max's estimation, the starting value was enough to "bribe slippery government officials".
187	* VillainSong: Conroy Bumpus' "[[https://youtu.be/8wHZ9Ks6Nqg King of the Creatures]]", an upbeat country song about how he hunts and collects exotic animals because he likes causing them pain. It's also implied that this is one of the songs he's famous for InUniverse, as you can hear an instrumental muzak version at Snuckey's.
188	-->''That's... why... I'm...''\
189	''Happy to be king of the creatures''\
190	''I'm proud to be the lord of the odd!''\
191	''I love collecting things with grotesque features''\
192	''It makes me feel like some Chaldean god!''
193	* WasntThatFun: After the "Cone of Tragedy" ride has given Sam cardiac arrest and caused them to drop all their stuff, Max has this to say:
194	--> '''Max''': Ooh, I feel tragically empty.\
195	'''Sam''': Me too. It's as though an integral part of my essence has been ripped from my being.\
196	'''Max''': Let's do it again!\
197	'''Sam''': Maybe later, chum.
198	* 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}}.
199	* 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.]]
200	* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Evelyn Morrison, the owner of the Savage Tiki Inn, used to be a big B-monster movie actress, Sam being a fan of hers. She's adapted rather well to the motel business all things considered, but she's still under the impression that she's a star.
201	* WhoShotJFK: One of the displays at the Celebrity Vegetable Museum is apparently a diorama of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
202	-->'''Max:''' See that carrot leaning out of the book depository?\
203	'''Sam:''' Never mind that, look at those string beans behind the fence on the grassy knoll!
204	* WhyAmITicking:
205	--> '''Max''': Sam, either termites are burrowing through my skull or one of us is ticking.
206	--> '''Sam''': Ooops. Oh yeah. ''(Pulls out head/bomb of the robot mad scientist they just dispatched in the intro).'' Max, where should I put this so that it doesn't hurt anyone we know or care about?
207	--> '''[[HeroicComedicSociopath Max]]''': Out the window, Sam! There's nothing but strangers out there.
208	* WorldOfSnark: Everyone is a DeadpanSnarker to some degree in this game, but none as much as Sam and Max themselves.
209	* TheUnseen: Flint Paper makes an offscreen appearance by throwing an unpleasant client through the door to his office and shooting a smiley face into the wall. You only hear his voice, he doesn't appear in person.
210	** Also, the manager of the Lost And Found at the carnival, who Max calls the ugliest creature he had ever seen, [[SelfDeprecation except for the attendants of that one video game designers convention]]
211	* YaoiFangirl: Implied with the bungee jumping instructor, who flirts obviously with Sam, but then lets him and Max use the apparatus for free because she has '[[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom a soft spot for dog-and-rabbit couples]]'. Sam is predictably disturbed.

Context VideoGame / SamAndMaxHitTheRoad