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History VideoGame / ZakMcKrackenAndTheAlienMindbenders

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* BritainIsOnlyLondon: See the Stonehenge example above.
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* APigNamedPorkchop: Zak's pet goldfish is named Sushi.
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* AllMythsAreTrue: Or rather, all whacked-out theories about aliens are true.
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* NothingIsScarier: In the maze in Egypt, there's a room that's completely dark but you can hear the snoring of the monster that guards the maze. If you go back in, it wakes up, and your character panics until it cuts away to a message saying they were killed by...whatever that was.
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* PublicDomainSoundtrack: In the DOS release, Zak plays "Pop Goes the Weasel" on his kazoo.

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* PublicDomainSoundtrack: In the DOS release, Zak plays "Pop Goes the Weasel" on his kazoo.kazoo (otherwise it's the first few bars of the ''Indiana Jones'' theme song).
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* TeleportersVisualizationClause: ZigZagged. When Zak learns how to use the Yellow Crystal and draws the map from his dream, he can teleport to the Mars Face even though he hadn't been there yet. Atlantis and the Mars Pyramid also appear on the map, but Zak can't teleport to either location because the pads are broken there.



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** Washed the bread crumbs down the drain? Spent your money and got stuck at a place where you can't win the lottery to gain more money? Accidentally killed someone by removing their helmet on Mars? Then you can't beat the game.

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** Washed the bread crumbs down the drain? Spent your money and got stuck at a place where you can't win the lottery to gain more money? Accidentally killed someone by removing their helmet on Mars? Then you can't beat the game.game.
** If Melissa or Leslie die before Zak gets the white crystal (by lingering too long in an area with no oxygen while not wearing their helmets), the game will be unwinnable. The same happens if Zak or Annie die at any point, as the final action requires both of them. However, you are directly warned of this:
-->"Be careful! If one of us dies, it will be impossible to complete our mission!"
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* SpaceSuitsAreScubaGear: Zak literally builds a space suit of a set of SCUBA gear (and a fishbowl).

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* SpaceSuitsAreScubaGear: Zak literally builds a space suit of a set of SCUBA gear (and a fishbowl). The apparent lack of hand protection is hand-waved by the suit having transparent gloves; due to technical limitations, Zak's hands had to use his skin color.



** If the nests burn away before you draw the ankh and open the alien door to the Blue Crystal, the cave will forever remain in darkness and Zak won't be able to draw the symbol, even by using the lighter.

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** If you forget to put the tree branch in the fire pit (ensuring the fire will burn indefinitely), the nests can burn away away. If this happens before you draw the ankh and open the alien door to the Blue Crystal, the cave will forever remain in darkness and Zak won't be able to draw the symbol, even by using the lighter.
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** Zak can play the Indiana Jones riff in his kazoo. Posters of ''Maniac Mansion'' and ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade, the Adventure Game'' can also be seen.

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** Zak can play the Indiana Jones riff in his kazoo. Posters of ''Maniac Mansion'' and Mansion'', ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade, the Adventure Game'' and ''Videogame/RescueOnFractalus'' can also be seen.
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[[quoteright:256:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ZakMcKracken.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:256:See Ya.]]

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[[quoteright:256:https://static.[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ZakMcKracken.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:256:See
org/pmwiki/pub/images/zak_mckracken_boxart.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:See
Ya.]]
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* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Stonehenge is ''not'' located in London. Nor is there a 13th Avenue in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco (because ThirteenIsUnlucky, the street in between 12th and 14th Avenues is called Funston).

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* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Stonehenge is ''not'' located in London.London[[note]]It's in Wiltshire, which is about 70 miles west-southwest of the extreme outskirts of London, more like 90 if you're coming from the center of the city[[/note]]. Nor is there a 13th Avenue in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco (because ThirteenIsUnlucky, the street in between 12th and 14th Avenues is called Funston).
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* NotTheIntendedUse: The blue crystal will either knock you unconscious or allow you to communicate with animals. It will also alarm the Caponians, who will warp in to capture you. That last part, while bad (but otherwise easy to escape), can help give you a free trip back to San Francisco, saving you the cost of a flight.
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Yarded trope, example saved here.


* ThePennyfarthingEffect: You won't get an item's name when you mouse over it unless you're using the "What Is" verb. This makes it very hard to distinguish that some of the background objects are usable.

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* BilingualBonus: The flight tour to Bermuda Triangle is provided to you by Divine Wind Tours. "Divine wind" translates to Japanese as "kamikaze".

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* BilingualBonus: The flight tour to Bermuda Triangle is provided to you by Divine Wind Tours. "Divine wind" translates to Japanese as "kamikaze". (The official hint book for the game includes a walkthrough narrated by Zak in which he remembers the Japanese translation of "divine wind"... but only after they're already in flight and it's too late to go back.)



* CallItKarma: The Guru will not help you if you killed Sushi or the Squirrel. [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Unless you bribe him.]]
** Or hang around in his chambers doing nothing for a while. After a certain time, he'll announce you've burned off the bad karma and proceed to teach you how to use the Blue Crystal. This only works if you don't pause the game and don't leave the room (it's best not to move Zak from that spot).

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* CallItKarma: The Guru will not help you if you killed Sushi or the Squirrel. [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney Unless you bribe him.]]
**
]] Or hang around in his chambers doing nothing for a while. After a certain time, he'll announce you've burned off the bad karma and proceed to teach you how to use the Blue Crystal. This only works if you don't pause the game and don't leave the room (it's best not to move Zak from that spot).



* CopyProtection: A symbol dialing screen, accessed every time Zak or Annie book a flight arriving outside of the United States. If you fail this, the character is transported to jail, with the Jailor turning towards the camera lecturing you not to pirate the game.
** This was removed for the 1991 FM Towns port of the game.

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* CopyProtection: A symbol dialing screen, accessed every time Zak or Annie book a flight arriving outside of the United States. If you fail this, the character is transported to jail, with the Jailor turning towards the camera lecturing you not to pirate the game. \n** This was removed for the 1991 FM Towns port of the game.



* {{Elvis Has Left The Planet}}: Parodied, the Caponians are led by an Elvis impersonator named "The King".
* FanSequel: At least three sets of fans have set about creating a sequel: 1) ''Zak [=McKracken=]: Between Time and Space'' and 2) ''Zak [=McKracken=] and the Alien Rockstars'', and 3) ''The New Adventures of Zak [=McKracken=]''

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* {{Elvis Has Left The Planet}}: ElvisHasLeftThePlanet: Parodied, the Caponians are led by an Elvis impersonator named "The King".
* FanSequel: At least three sets of fans have set about creating a sequel: 1) ''Zak [=McKracken=]: Between Time and Space'' and Space'', 2) ''Zak [=McKracken=] and the Alien Rockstars'', and 3) ''The New Adventures of Zak [=McKracken=]''



* GuideDangIt: The Lucas adventure with the most illogical and inescrutable puzzles, by far. A lot of actions have little to no in-story indication as to why they should be done in that particular way.
** [[AllThereInTheManual The tabloid included with the game]] has clues to a number of puzzles, such as a story about a man whose broken eyeglasses were miraculously fixed perfectly by a lightning strike hinting you towards how to fuse a broken crystal back together.

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* GuideDangIt: The Lucas adventure with the most illogical and inescrutable puzzles, by far. A lot of actions have little to no in-story indication as to why they should be done in that particular way.
**
way. [[AllThereInTheManual The tabloid included with the game]] has clues to a number of puzzles, such as a story about a man whose broken eyeglasses were miraculously fixed perfectly by a lightning strike hinting you towards how to fuse a broken crystal back together.



*** The game designers do try and make it easier to get money asides from the lottery. You can pawn various things, or you can have one character buy a ticket and give it to the other character, who can cash it in for a refund. And before you learn that the Blue Crystal only works on animals, Zak can use it on anything, wait for the aliens to show up and get a free ride home to San Francisco.

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*** ** The game designers do try and make it easier to get money asides aside from the lottery. You can pawn various things, or you can have one character buy a ticket and give it to the other character, who can cash it in for a refund. And before you learn that the Blue Crystal only works on animals, Zak can use it on anything, wait for the aliens to show up and get a free ride home to San Francisco.



* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue

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* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogueWhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: According to the game, [[spoiler:the Caponians left Earth in search of other stupid life forms, the phone company went bankrupt after the public stopped trusting it and started communicating by telepathy and dream-sharing instead, Melissa and Leslie became film stars, Zak finally won his coveted Pulitzer after writing a book about his experience saving the world (which also netted him a Nobel Peace Prize), and Zak and Annie fell in love]].
----
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* PublicDomainSoundtrack: In the DOS release, Zak plays "Pop Goes the Weasel" on his kazoo.
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* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The monorail on Mars is called the "'''F'''ace '''A'''rea '''R'''apid '''T'''ransport", with the first letters of each word conspicuously capitalized.

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%% * GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The monorail on Mars GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is called on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the "'''F'''ace '''A'''rea '''R'''apid '''T'''ransport", with future, please check the first letters of each word conspicuously capitalized. trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
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* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The monorail on Mars is called the "'''F'''ace '''A'''rea '''R'''apid '''T'''ransport", with the first letters of each word conspicuously capitalized.
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* PunnyName: There is a hair salon named Bob E. Pinz ("bobby pins").
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** The first one is possibly justified as while Stonehenge is certainly not in London, the two major international airports (Heathrow and Gatwick) are known as London Heathrow and London Gatwick. Since Zak and Annie are buying tickets to travel from airport to airport, "London, England" is the most plausible destination. It's likely they just hopped on a train.



*** Except if you add the branch from outside, the fire will burn indefinitely.
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* CompetitiveBalance: Certain characters have certain abilities only they have access to (Zak starts off with an obscene amount of money, allowing him more freedom to travel around, and Annie is a CunningLinguist who can read any language) or certain actions they'll refuse to perform that others will (Annie refuses to vandalize the hair salon display to get the giant bobby pin, while Melissa refuses to handle the dead broom alien as it grosses her out too much.)

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* CompetitiveBalance: Certain characters have certain abilities only they have access to (Zak starts off with an obscene amount of money, allowing him more freedom to travel around, and only he's allowed to use the powers of the alien crystals, while Annie is a CunningLinguist who can read any language) or certain actions they'll refuse to perform that others will (Annie refuses to vandalize the hair salon display to get the giant bobby pin, while Melissa refuses to handle the dead broom alien as it grosses her out too much.)
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* CompetitiveBalance: Zak has an obscene amount of money on his [=CashCard=], allowing him to easily travel around the world, while Annie is a CunningLinguist who can read foreign languages.

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* CompetitiveBalance: Zak has Certain characters have certain abilities only they have access to (Zak starts off with an obscene amount of money on his [=CashCard=], money, allowing him more freedom to easily travel around the world, while around, and Annie is a CunningLinguist who can read foreign languages.any language) or certain actions they'll refuse to perform that others will (Annie refuses to vandalize the hair salon display to get the giant bobby pin, while Melissa refuses to handle the dead broom alien as it grosses her out too much.)
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* CompetitiveBalance: Zak has an obscene amount of money on his [=CashCard=], allowing him to easily travel around the world, while Annie is a CunningLinguist who can read foreign languages.
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* LegCling: Subverted. Despite the Creator/BorisVallejo pastiche on the cover, that woman shows no signs of interest in grabbing a leg.
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*** The game designers do try and make it easier to get money asides from the lottery. You can pawn various things, or you can have one character buy a ticket and give it to the other character, who can cash it in for a refund. And before you learn that the Blue Crystal only works on animals, Zak can use it on anything, wait for the aliens to show up and get a free ride home to San Francisco.
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** Or hang around in his chambers doing nothing for a while. After a certain time, he'll announce you've burned off the bad karma and proceed to teach you how to use the Blue Crystal. This only works if you don't pause the game and don't leave the room (it's best not to move Zak from that spot).


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*** Except if you add the branch from outside, the fire will burn indefinitely.
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** The first one is possibly justified as while Stonehenge is certainly not in London, the two major international airports (Heathrow and Gatwick) are known as London Heathrow and London Gatwick. Since Zak and Annie are buying tickets to travel from airport to airport, "London, England" is the most plausible destination. It's likely they just hopped on a train.
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* ShownTheirWork: At the beginning of the game Zak's boss sends him to Seattle to write a fluff piece about the 50th anniversary of the first UFO sighting. The first widely publicized UFO sighting did indeed happen by Mount Rainier in Washington state in 1947.

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* ShownTheirWork: At the beginning of the game Zak's boss sends him to Seattle to write a fluff piece about the 50th anniversary of the first UFO sighting. The first widely publicized UFO sighting did indeed happen by near Mount Rainier in Washington state in 1947.
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* BilingualBonus: The flight tour to Bermuda Triangle is provided to you by Divine Wind Tours. "Divine wind" translates to Japanese as "kamikaze".
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[[FridgeLogic Yeah, it's that kind of story]]. It is also very inspired by NewAge themes such as Atlantis, Aliens, Crystals, Telepathy, and the Giant Face on UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}, as well as the outrageous tabloid the ''WeeklyWorldNews''.

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[[FridgeLogic Yeah, it's that kind of story]]. It is also very inspired by NewAge themes such as Atlantis, Aliens, Crystals, Telepathy, and the Giant Face on UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}, as well as the outrageous tabloid the ''WeeklyWorldNews''.
''Magazine/WeeklyWorldNews''.
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The game featured many technical improvements on [[Videogame/ManiacMansion its predecessor]], including a storyline that takes Zak all the way around the world, and an interesting system whereby the various characters have adventures independent of each other (two of the playable characters are introduced as space adventurers on Mars, literally a world away from the bits with Zak).

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The game featured many technical improvements on [[Videogame/ManiacMansion [[VideoGame/ManiacMansion its predecessor]], including a storyline that takes Zak all the way around the world, and an interesting system whereby the various characters have adventures independent of each other (two of the playable characters are introduced as space adventurers on Mars, literally a world away from the bits with Zak).



* ChainsawGood: You find a can of gas ("For chainsaw use only!") in a locker on Mars as an in-joke, with the player character refusing to pick it up because "It's for [[ManiacMansion another game]]."

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* ChainsawGood: You find a can of gas ("For chainsaw use only!") in a locker on Mars as an in-joke, with the player character refusing to pick it up because "It's for [[ManiacMansion [[VideoGame/ManiacMansion another game]]."



* OddballInTheSeries: Apart from the humour, this game is pretty much this to the rest of Creator/LucasArts games. It's a lot more unforgiving, since there are only a handful of ways to beat the game, and a lot more ways to die or screw up. It's much ''much'' longer and less straight-forward than its predecessor (''ManiacMansion''). No DialogueTree there too, but while you ''can'' die in Maniac Mansion (Since this was before they brought up their "No die" and "Can't screw up" policies), there are multiple ways to beat that other game. Gameplay wise, definitely. Writing-wise? ''Far from it''.

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* OddballInTheSeries: Apart from the humour, this game is pretty much this to the rest of Creator/LucasArts games. It's a lot more unforgiving, since there are only a handful of ways to beat the game, and a lot more ways to die or screw up. It's much ''much'' longer and less straight-forward than its predecessor (''ManiacMansion''). (''VideoGame/ManiacMansion''). No DialogueTree there too, but while you ''can'' die in Maniac Mansion ''Maniac Mansion'' (Since this was before they brought up their "No die" and "Can't screw up" policies), there are multiple ways to beat that other game. Gameplay wise, definitely. Writing-wise? ''Far from it''.

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