Video Game / Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

"If you want to experience the greatest Indy film that was never actually a film, Fate of Atlantis is where it's at."

— Michael Plasket/Sotenga

Two 1992 video games by LucasArts, based on the popular Indiana Jones movie series.

The first (and the most well known) is an Adventure Game with painted cinematic screen-by-screen backgrounds, while the second was subtitled "the action game" (it was more like an Action-Adventure, viewed from an faux 3d isometric perspective, and based solely on a few select moments from the point and click adventure version). The action game is mostly forgotten today. This article, for the most part, discusses the adventure game, the second Indiana Jones adventure using LucasArts's SCUMM engine,^note Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion — Maniac Mansion being the game for which it was originally designed released three years after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Set in the months prior to World War II, the storyline sees Indy team up with an old flame, Sophia Hapgood, an expert on the mythical city of Atlantis, and in particular its god Nur-ab-sal. This being an Indiana Jones story, it of course turns out that Atlantis was real, and our hero finds himself in a race against time to get there before the Third Reich can harness its power to Take Over the World.

This game was the first time that an Indiana Jones graphical video game had featured an entirely original storyline, rather than one based on the storyline of a film. Given the reluctance of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to confirm a proper Indy sequel following The Last Crusade, many fans came to refer to this game by the informal title Indiana Jones 4. For years afterwards, lazy journalists used this as conclusive proof that the next movie sequel would feature Atlantis, a rumour which continues to pop up, even after the eventual release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The game's storyline was also adapted into a four issue comic book series by Dan Barry. A sequel to the game was planned under the title Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix, but was eventually cancelled because LucasArts feared it would be censored in Germany, and the Indiana Jones game series would not continue until 1999's Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. Iron Phoenix, however, did see a comic book adaptation after its cancellation.

The Nintendo Wii version of Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings also features the complete full version of The Fate of Atlantis as an unlockable bonus game.

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Tropes featured in this game include:

• Accidental Pervert: Or is it? When Indy and Sophia enter completely dark rooms the "Look" command is replaced with "Touch". Indy can "touch" Sophia, to which she'll respond with a smart remark (e.g. "Hands off, Jones!", "Is that a ship rib in your pocket, Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?")^note yes, you actually do have a ship rib in your pocket or even an audible slap to Indy's face.
• Action Prologue: The game starts with Indy looking for an artifact in the university's large collection, with absolutely no other information being given. The plot is set up later.
• Actor Allusion: Well, to the original portrayer, anyway: in Indy's office is a collection of letters to Indy's school from Henry Jones Sr. that all begin the same way — "Regarding Henry", a Ford film from the '90s.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the game, Nur-ab-Sal tries to possess Sophia to try to become a God through the Machine, not caring for his host. In the comic however, he only appeared to explain about Atlantis and what lead to it's downfall.
• Advanced Ancient Acropolis: Atlantis had access to strange technologies that remain of great interest in the 20th century.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: Indiana Jones struggles to find an ancient treasure (Atlantis, in this case) before evil rivals backed by the German military can use them for their own ends, and clashes with various ruthless enemies along the way.

• All There in the Manual: The comic adaptation explains a lot, like the connection between the Atlanteans' Schizo Tech and the reason for the God Machine. It was aliens. They had horns, gave the Atlanteans some technology and Orichalcum, and when they left, the Atlanteans, misguided souls that they were, tried to bring them back by turning normal people into "gods." Unfortunately, it didn't work and they became mutants.

• And Man Grew Proud: It turns out that the men of ancient Atlantis sought to mutate themselves into godhood with the God Machine. However, they really turned themselves into subhumans instead.
• Applied Phlebotinum: The Nazis, The Atlanteans. The good guys are afraid they want orichalcum for nefarious purposes, since a single bead contains enormous power. It turns out They want to use it to turn on the god machine.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: This can happen to Indy or Sophia in the Bad Ending, and Ubermann in the Good Ending. For about ten to twenty seconds, anyway, before their energy being body becomes unstable and disintegrates.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The controls for the Nazi submarine are labeled "Ausgeschnitzel", "Flugeldufel" and "Krauskefarben". These are not genuine German words, and probably weren't intended to be.
• Asshole Victim: Dr. Heimdall, Dr. Sternhart, and Kerner and Ubermann at the end.
• Atlantis: In this story, it was not a continent, but a smaller Mediterranean civilization with spectacularly advanced and somewhat "alien" technology.
• Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Everyone Indy meets, to ensure plot progression of course. Most people will not only step around actually helping Indy, but some people think it's more important to ask Indy questions about the Lost Dialogue.
• Bedsheet Ghost: Indy can try to scare Trottier during Sophia's seance in the Team path with a bed sheet and shutting off the lights. However he'll need a scary mask to complete the ensemble, or else Trottier will query on why Indy is wearing a bed sheet.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: It's about Atlantis. Guess who built the Mayan pyramids, the Labyrinth of King Minos, etc?
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Between Indy and Sophia. Indy doesn't like that Sophia stole artifacts from a dig site, and Sophia doesn't like Indy's dismissal of her beliefs in Atlantis, and they spend the entire time fighting. But they're obviously attracted to each other, and Indy says to himself that he might have once considered it, before she stole anything.
• Beneath the Earth: The ruins of Atlantis are located in vast caverns.
• Big Bad: Dr. Hans Ubermann, Nazi scientist and the main driver behind the Third Reich gaining the power of Atlantis.

• Bittersweet Ending:
  • The bad ending: the Nazis are defeated and Atlantis is destroyed, but at the cost of Sophia's life.
  • Even in the good ending, Indy has made another earth-shattering discovery, only to have it again snatched away, this time by the entire Atlantis being destroyed in volcanic eruptions and for good measure even the volcano collapses and sinks beneath the sea.
• Body Horror: The innermost sections of Atlantis are littered with the twisted skeletons of people mutated by the Atlanteans' failed experiments with their God Machine. When Klaus Kerner decides to try the machine himself, he ends up transforming first into a giant, then into a stunted minotaur.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: One interpretation of the ending is that the newly ascended Eldritch Abomination discovers the nature of the universe, and doesn't take it well.
• Broken Pedestal: Nur-Ab-Sal is not as nice as Sophia believes at first. In a room full of horribly mutated skeletons, he tries to take over Sophia's body; Indy manages to save her by disposing of his Soul Jar in a conveniently-placed pool of lava.

• Call-Back: When using the macrotaur to dig into the inner ring, you have to play around with two levers the same way you did way at the beginning to activate Sophia's stage prop.
• Character Name and the Noun Phrase: [Indiana Jones] and the [Fate of Atlantis].
• Chekhov's Gun: Pretty much every single object you can pick up. ESPECIALLY the ship rib.

• Comic-Book Adaptation: Also something of a Compressed Adaptation, leaving out entire paths of gameplay, streamlining events, and of course, making the story play out like a comic rather than a game.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Indy and Sophia have to cross a lava flow at one point, using stepping stones that were previously buried in the lava flow- and will be again if you waste too much time getting across.
• Copy Protection: When you start the game, there will be a screen with three concentric rings with a sun, moon and volcano on. You have to refer to the part of the manual indicated and click on them to align them exactly.

• Crate Expectations: Early on, Indy goes behind a theater which has several crates stacked behind it for an unexplained reason. Indy uses them to hide from someone.
• Credits Gag: Special appearance by NUR-AB-SAL.
• Crystal Spires and Togas: As described by Sophia Hapgood in her channellings with Nur-ab-Sal, Atlantis was a utopia of this kind, with an enlightened philosophy and alien but advanced technologies. This is probably an idealized portrait, given what became of it, at least as far as the wisdom of its rulers is concerned.
• Death by Adaptation: Virtually every character bar Indy and Sophia bites the dust in the comic adaptation.
• Death by Racism: Mr. Smith is a deep-believer in pure Aryan qualities, and despises the Jewish and homosexuals, as Nazis are supposed to. It’s this belief that makes him want to be the first to ascend as a proper Nazi, which causes him to be horribly disfigured, and fall into the lava.
• Deathly Dies Irae: "Dies Irae" is heard in a couple places deep in Atlantis, first in an Atlantean tomb containing hideously deformed skeletons, and later when activating to the God Machine, hinting that it's actually a machine of death.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: When speaking with Sternhart in Tikal, he refers to the Mayans as "Savages", and suggests that because the temple he is investigating is so advanced, it couldn't possibly be made by the Mayan people. This would ruffle a few feathers even when the game was made, but when you take into account it takes place in 1939, it makes sense that someone would hold these views.
• Developer's Foresight: You can actually use an arrowhead to remove a screw. It works, but Indy says it really is not a good idea to use because it hurts his fingers.
• Domed Hometown: Atlantis is an Underwater Base which happens to be an Advanced Ancient Acropolis which sank into the ocean 5,000 years ago. It's thoroughly Ragnarok-proofed despite sitting on a volcano.
• Driven to Suicide: Happens to Kerner after he gets turned into a Minotaur-like creature by the God Machine via jumping into the lava.

• Dungeon Crawler: The Labyrinth at Knossos.
• Durable Death Trap: Many of the death traps in Atlantis seem to be just as functional thousands of years later.
• Eldritch Abomination:
  • Anyone who successfully uses the God Machine.
  • The halls Atlantis are full of glowing statues of Eldritch Abominations.
• Empty Room Psych: Many of the rooms in Knossos, the Greater Colony, and Atlantis are empty and serve no purpose.
• Eternal Engine: The God Machine. It sits in the Third Circle of Atlantis, atop an underwater volcano.
• Fatal MacGuffin: It's discovered that Atlantis not only exists but contains a machine that will allegedly turn humans into living gods. The machine doesn't work, and Atlantis is littered with the horribly mutated remains of people who learned this the hard way. Klaus Kerner, The Dragon, throws himself into a pool of lava after the machine turns him into a stunted Minotaur-like creature, and the Big Bad Hans Ubermann turns into some sort of energy being but promptly dissipates into nothingness.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: At this point in his career Indy should be more open to the possibility that Atlantis exists, but absolutely refuses to believe in its existence right up until he's standing in its doorway.
• Foot Popping: Twice. Probably a throwback to the Hays Code-era adventure serials that inspired it.
  • At one point, Sophia gets captured and put in an Atlantean dungeon cell. When Indy finally rescues her, she starts chewing him out for leaving her to rot in the cell, until he gives her a Forceful Kiss. She resists at first, before deciding she likes it and doing a Foot Pop.
  • In one of the Multiple Endings, Sophia does this while she and Indy kiss on the submarine after having watched the volcano sink into the sea.
• Forced Transformation: The Atlantean God Machine is very bad at making gods and very good at making monsters. Even a "successful" god only lasts less than half a minute before dissipating into nothingness. The comics reveal the God Machine is really just a random mutation machine created by the misguided Atlanteans due to their incomplete understanding, and the real "gods" were just Ancient Astronauts (in space suits!) using Sufficiently Advanced Technology.
• Foreshadowing: Indy messes with Sophia Hapgood's presentation and causes the Atlantean horned "god"^note A pretty unconvincing stage prop to slide in on a rope and pulley before whirling around the stage and catching fire, burning to a cinder. At the game's climax, this is exactly what happens to Dr. Ubermann when the Atlantean God Machine transforms him into a horned energy being.
• Forgotten Superweapon: The God Machine. Justified, as it never worked at all. Indy realizes this just as they reach the machine and tricks the villains into using it on themselves to beat them.
• Ghostapo: Dr. Hans Ubermann and Klaus Kerner, who is in fact a Gestapo and member of the Thule society. Initially, they are trying to find Atlantis for its source of orichalcum, a mystic substance capable of unleashing energy equal to a uranium bomb—with just a single bead of the substance. However, after discovering Atlantean technology the orichalcum can power, they begin growing more interested in the robots and machinery discovered in Atlantis itself—especially the Colossus.
• Godhood Seeker: The goal of Klaus Kerner and Dr. Hans Ubermann, using the Atlantean God Machine. It doesn't work out very well for either of them.

• Grand Theft Me: Nur-Ab-Sal takes over Sophia's body in Atlantis.

• Hands Looking Wrong: In the finale, Indy, Sophia, or Dr Ubermann can be put through the Colossus at the heart of Atlantis, transforming the character into an unearthly Horned Humanoid made of glowing green energy. The character's first response to this is to look down at their hands in fascination, and then laugh triumphantly. Unfortunately, the transformation can't be sustained, resulting in the new god losing cohesion after just a few seconds of using its powers and tearing itself to pieces, taking Atlantis with it.
• Have a Nice Death: Game Over screens will usually be accompanied by a text explaining Dr. Jones' death and/or what happened after. An example: "Indy's failure to subdue a sixty-year-old U-boat captain allowed the Nazis to conquer the world."
• Herr Doktor: Doktor Hans Uberman is a Nazi scientist speaking with an exaggerated German accent.
• Historical In-Joke: Indy wonders why the Minoan civilization had this obsession with bull-headed figures (like the tale of the Minotaur living in a labyrinth underneath Knossos); it's implied that the Minoans tried to imitate the style of Atlantis and it's very likely that they got their hands on a few of the Atlantean horned mutants product of their failed experiments (maybe the King Minos' Minotaur was one).
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Nazis' plans are ultimately foiled by the very thing they were seeking. This is an Indiana Jones story; what did you expect?
• Imported Alien Phlebotinum: Atlantean artifacts all around the globe. Orichalcum averts this oddly enough, since it does actually originate from Earth, but is exceptionally rare and requires some advanced technology to mine and process.

• It May Help You on Your Quest: Everything you pick up is either unexpectedly useful or a fits this trope. There's even the Maltese Falcon.
• It's a Wonderful Failure: Game Over screens will usually be accompanied by a text explaining Dr. Jones' death and/or what happened after. An example: "Indy's failure to subdue a sixty-year-old U-boat captain allowed the Nazis to conquer the world."
• It Will Never Catch On: In the comic book adaptation, Indy says that he considers continental drift a nutty idea (although still more plausible than the existence of Atlantis)— an opinion a lot of 1930s scientists would have shared. Of course, later in the story, he ends up in... well, look at the title.
• Just a Stupid Accent: None of the German characters in the game actually speak German, just English with a German accent. This could be seen as a Translation Convention in many scenes, but it does raise some Fridge Logic when Indy has to disguise himself and sneak onto a German U-boat and none of the crew seem to question him speaking English to them.
• Karmic Transformation: Happens to both Kerner and Ubermann in the Colossus. Kerner gets transformed into a dwarfish minotaur and Ubermann into a being of pure energy that dissolves shortly after.
• Knife-Throwing Act: Sofia gets literally pushed into one of these by Indy on the Algiers bazaar. Indy himself ended up doing one of these in one of the comics.
• Last Lousy Point: The game's "Indy Quotient" score keeps track of points found in each of the three paths players can take, so you have to play all three routes (multiple times each) to get a perfect score. And some of the points involve fighting the biggest, toughest guys in the game instead of getting around them through puzzle-solving.
• Lethal Lava Land: The inner circle of Atlantis is a volcanic crater with fountains of lava pouring from the walls into the bottom of the crater and a massive god-producing machine in the very center. Missteps can be deadly.

• Look Behind You: In the prologue, after Kerner pulls a gun, Indy taunts Kerner that he'd better have a getaway car, prompting the Nazi to look out the window and wonder why his accomplice is late — which gives Indy an opening to tackle him. After some struggle, Kerner manages to get away anyway, but not without losing his coat, leaving Indy the first vital clues to the adventure.

• Luck-Based Mission: The seance Sophia can host to get Trottier to part with his stone disc in the Team Path. You'll need to remember what Trottier said to you when you first meet him as he'll ask what he said. But there's the part where he'll put up a certain number of fingers behind his back and ask you how many he's holding up, forcing Sophia to guess. This leaves you with a 20% chance of success, provided you answered the prior questions correctly. This can be bypassed if Indy gets the scary Mask in Algiers and uses a disguise to scare Trottier.

• MacGuffin Delivery Service: Several times. In the prologue Indy finds the first bead of oricalchum only to have it stolen at gunpoint, then Indy goes around the world to collect the keys needed to open Atlantis only for the Nazis to show again and steal them at gunpoint. At the end Ubermann even comments that he knew Indy would activate the god machine for them.
• The Maze: The opening labyrinthine library sequence turns out to be the attic of Indy's college library.
• Misplaced a Decimal Point: Plato's ten-fold error shows up as a plot point, both in regards to the distances Plato gave, as well as the number of Orichalcum beads required to make the Atlantean God Machine work properly. Though the comic adaptation revealed it didn't matter in the end, the thing wasn't meant to be used on humans because it was alien technology after all.
• Mistaken for Disease: Late in the game, Indy begins encountering hideously-deformed bones scattered throughout the corridors of Atlantis, and briefly wonders if this the result of some kind of ancient disease - up until he notices that some of the skulls sport half-grown horns. They're actually failed experiments from the Colossus, victims of the Atlanteans' botched efforts to become gods. Klaus Kerner ends up becoming one such mutant in the finale.

• Multiple Endings: Depending on whether or not you rescue Sophia and convince Ubermann to test the machine on himself.
• Mundane Utility: Indy finds a mysterious artifact capable of generating a sizeable burst of electricity: almost immediately afterwards, he uses it as a substitute for a car battery.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Bjorn Heimdall is a very obvious Captain Ersatz of Thor Heyerdahl. The accent he speaks in is extremely nasal and highly accented, he comes up with his own theories and continues to believe them after he's disputed, and he's generally in disagreement with other archeologists.
• No OSHA Compliance: Some of the archaeological digs Indy is forced to explore are hideously dangerous. Atlantis itself is also quite dangerous, though this particular instance is justified.
• NPC Amnesia: Adventure games normally avert both the password variant and this trope in general by making you fist-fight any guards you fail to bluff your way past. However, in this game, there's a sequence where you can only learn a password by first admitting you don't know it (this will give a hint about where to find it).
• Offscreen Inertia: Played with. When you meet the Norwegian archaeologist, he constantly digs in the same spot (as is common of adventure games of this era). When you leave and come back, he has frozen to death, apparently never having left the cave.
• One-Hit-Point Wonder: The 60-year-old U-boat captain, if you decide to fight him, has a ridiculously short power bar as well as a health bar that's shorter than Indiana Jones' power bar. One hit will win the fight, and to lose the fight you basically need to stand around doing nothing while the captain punches away at Indy. The 'Game Over' screen for losing is funny, though.
• One True Sequence: Averted. If the Nazis know anything, it's that they should let Indiana Jones do all the dirty work. Depending on the path you take, sometimes the Nazis get to the scene before Indy. A prominent example is the Fists Path version of the Labyrinth.
• One-Winged Angel: At the end, Indy convinces the evil Colonel Kerner to try the God Machine in lieu of using him as a guinea pig. As it activates, he becomes taller and taller, his eyes glow, and he can feel the power of godhood surging through him when — he suddenly crumples into a misshapen little imp. Horrified by his appearance, he kills himself by jumping into the lava. Par for the course in an Indy climax. A minute later, the evil scientist Dr. Ubermann undergoes the exact same fate when Indy convinces him to step into the God Machine too. Ubermann does succeed in transforming into an energy being, but the raw power is too much for him and he quickly dissipates into nothingness, taking Atlantis with him. (In the comic book, they were both just horribly mutated instead.)

• Neglectful Precursors: The Atlanteans left behind extremely dangerous technology — such as the orichalcum, which is fissile without expensive refining, thus threatening to provide the Nazis with an almost ready-made nuclear bomb. And of course, there is the God Machine...
• Orichalcum: It's radioactive Bamboo Technology. One of the few works that not just uses it, but uses it as Phlebotinum.
• Orwellian Retcon: There are at least three versions of the game for Windows; Floppy, CD, and Talkie. This has lead to a few script rewrites between each version, notably with Kerner after his raid on Sophia's office.
  Kerner (Floppy): Herr Bauer? Good news! Cable Dr. Ubermann in Berlin... ...inform him that I have the "samples" we spoke of.
  Kerner (CD): Fritz... Fantastic news! I think we've found the treasure we seek.
  Kerner (Talkie): Dr. Ubermann... Fantastic news! We've found the treasure we seek.
• Overly Long Gag: In the opening credits. Indy arrives in the attic of his university via his trademark Crash in Through the Ceiling on a rope, and begins searching for an important artifact. Then, the floor gives way and he crashes through to the room below and continues his search. Then he falls through that floor and lands in his own office. He searches a bookcase which topples down on him sending him through that floor too. Finally he examines an idol of a cat which proves to be not quite an inert statue after all, and sends him reeling back, crashing down a flight of stairs to the basement...
• Painting the Medium: In a manner of speaking. One puzzle involves Indy turning on a generator in a darkened underground dig site. If the player waits, Indy's eyes will adjust and you'll be able to see what you are doing.
• Phlebotinum Muncher: Nur-Ab-Sal's power grows the more Orichalcum you feed him via Sophia's necklace.
• Phlebotinum Overload: Indy must use Reverse Psychology (in one of the endings) to convince Those Wacky Nazis to absorb too much (or too little) energy when powering up the God Machine.
• Phony Psychic: Indy implies Sophia to be this, thanks to her stage props. There's also the seance she hosts, where she is forced to guess how many fingers Trottier is holding behind his back.
• Pet the Dog: Kerner, unusually enough. An early scene shows the two noticing a small machine powered by Orichalcum going crazy. Kerner's mind defaults to using it to power vehicles.
• Pixel Hunt: Has some very infuriating examples, like the dark rooms and finding the 1-pixel-width screws on the back of a collapsed bookcase.

• Posthuman Nudism: The finale takes place in the Colossus, an ancient machine reputed to be able to transform humans into gods. With the Nazis determined to make use of it, someone has to test the device; depending on Indy's choices, it can be himself, Sophia Hapgood, or Dr Hans Ubermann. Whoever enters the machine is instantly transformed into a tall, glowing, naked Horned Humanoid with no genitalia. Unfortunately, after a brief demonstration of its powers, the new god appears to lose stability and tear itself to pieces - taking Atlantis with it.

• Ragnarök Proofing: Atlantis, despite being built out of stone and bronze, is nearly as functional today as it was the day it sank. While Indy can attempt to convince Dr. Ubermann that the god machine can't possibly still function after all this time, he'll be brushed off, with Ubermann just reminding him that everything else in the ruins has worked just fine. Ironically, unlike everything else, the god machine really doesn't work — not because it's in disrepair, though, but because it never worked in the first place.
• Ransacked Room: Sophia's office has been searched, with items thrown everywhere. However, they missed her necklace, which was the only thing of value she kept in there, besides the Orichalcum bead. To be fair, they only look like small copper balls that glitter like fire, and contain enough energy to rearrange your DNA.
• Reveling in the New Form: The game ends with one of three possible characters ending up being used to test the god-making properties of the Colossus: Indy, Sophia, or Dr Ubermann. Regardless of who ends up in the machine, the subject is successfully transformed into a giant glowing energy being with glowing red eyes and prominent horns; the newly-made god immediately admires its new form and cackles maniacally before going on an extended display of its new powers... but unfortunately, the energy being can't maintain cohesion and disintegrates, resulting in a chain reaction that ultimately destroys Atlantis.
• Reverse Psychology: To avoid death in the God Machine, you have to convince Ubermann to use the machine on himself instead by threatening him with godly wrath if he tests it on you first.

• Save Scumming: The only post-Monkey Island LucasArts adventure game where this is necessary. You generally don't have to worry about it on the "Teamwork" and "Wits" paths unless you're thinking of doing something really stupid, but it's practically a requirement for getting through the "Fists" path.
• Scenic-Tour Level: The opening sequence has Indy appear to be breaking into a secret stash of artifacts... only for it to be gradually revealed that he's in Barnett College and only swung through the window because the door was blocked. He then falls through multiple floors slapstick-style.

• Self-Disposing Villain: The Nazis' scheme ends up being their own undoing in many ways.
  • If Indy gets shot by Kerner while trying to call his bluff, Kerner successfully manages to find Atlantis... and somehow drowns afterwards. In another ending where Indy dies, Kerner blows himself up while experimenting with orichalcum.
  • If Ubermann uses the machine on either Sophia or Indy, he ends up getting knocked into the lava by the newly-formed god he just created, and the German forces with him are buried in Atlantis after it collapses.
  • Even if Indy hadn't intervened, Kerner and Ubermann would likely still have been deformed and died from testing the Colossus on themselves.
• Shout-Out:
  • Indy's trademark fear of snakes is referenced a few times.
  • The orichalcum machine is modeled after the iconic machine Metropolis
  • When told by Indy she looks like Vivien Leigh, Sophia responds "Frankly, Indy, I don't give a damn." (A slight anachronism, as the game is set in 1939 and though the cast was known, that version of the line wouldn't be heard until its release in 1940.)
  • The Maltese Falcon gets a nod in the line "It's the stuff that dreams are made of."
  • The "oddly familiar-looking" boulder found on the Fists Path.
  • Indy meets a man named Paul Abdul.
  • In the "Fists" path, Indy has to fight some muscle-bound enemies named Hans, Frans, and Arnold.
  • Indy can read a collage bulletin board message "Edward Teller: phone home."
  • Looking around Indy's office references a few artifacts from his adventures in the movies, and he also mentions a glowing purple meteor he has there, seemingly a reference to the one in pioneering LucasArts game Maniac Mansion.

• Shown Their Work: The developers clearly went on researching everything about the myth of Atlantis, designing the architectural style of Atlantis as if the Real Life Minoan was inspired by it. The manual cites all the books and sources the developers consulted.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: After freeing Sophia Hapsgood from her dungeon prison they get into an argument, she hits him, he hits back, she goes to hit him again but Indy yanks her into a deep kiss.
• Smug Snake: Kerner and Ubermann, who are convinced that the very same machine that horribly mutated scores of Atlanteans will work on them because of their superior Aryan qualities. They find out the hard way that they are wrong.
• Something We Forgot: Indy will say that his victory rings hollow if you let his female sidekick die. It should be noted that freeing her is very difficult, since she's located in an easy-to-miss part of the map, stuck in a cell that requires a very obtuse puzzle to get her out of, and will be Mind Controlled by an evil artifact that you must destroy to free her.
• Soul Jar: Sophia Hapgood channels the spirit of the last Atlantean King through her necklace. It's a reliquary for Nur-ab-sal, and Indy has to take it from her by powering it up with orichalcum, whereupon it morphs into a demonic face.
• Stalking Mission: Has a number of these, but probably the funniest is in Algeria. You must follow a man through a crowded bazaar, zoomed out so far that everyone is represented by a single pixel. While it is technically possible to follow him by eye, the intended way to follow him is to get a fez and trick him into wearing it, which causes him to appear in the zoomed out shots as a bright red pixel.
• Story Branching: Early on the player must choose one of three paths. The outcome of your fortune told by Sophia depends on how you entered the theater in New York. If you talked your way in, Sophia will recommend the Team path. If you fought your way in, Sophia will recommend the Fists path. If you snuck in through the fire escape, Sophia will recommend the Wits path. You can choose any of them. The "Team" path has Sophia Hapgood join Indy as backup, the "Wits" path has a plethora of complex puzzles, and the "Fists" path has lots of action sequences and fist-fighting. Each path has a different plot, including different cutscenes and locations to visit. Some needed items in a given path become useless in another one. Story and gameplay converge again in Atlantis, with some room for Multiple Endings as mentioned above.
• Stupidity Is the Only Option: There's nothing to indicate that there's anything at all special about the stone heads at the entrance to the labyrinth. They are simply heavy objects that weigh down the shelf holding the gate open. Yet, despite being surrounded by any untold number of big heavy rocks that seem like they could do the job just fine, in order to progress you have to remove all three stone heads from the entrance, trapping yourself inside in the process, just to move them to another similar gate further inside. Indy's lucky he was able to find all the stuff he needed inside the labyrinth, like the orichalcum detector, the gold box, and the big long stick, or else he'd have been trapped inside and ended up like Sternhart.
• Teamwork Puzzle Game: The team path, where Indy requires the assistance of Sophia in many puzzles. A lot of bickering is to be expected.
• Terminal Transformation: In the finale, Indy and the Nazis stumble upon the Colossus at the heart of Atlantis, and Dr Ubermann decides to test its fabled capacity to transform human beings into gods. Regardless of whether it's tested on Indy, Sophia, or Ubermann himself, the candidate is turned into a glowing energy being that indulges in a bit of Reveling in the New Form... only to suddenly lose cohesion, claw at the screen in a blind panic, and disintegrate.
• Three Approach System: The three paths in this game represent three gameplay styles. The Fists path is more combat-oriented, the Wits path has more difficult puzzles, and the Team path is based on diplomacy and working together with Sophia.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Omar on the Wits path. On every other path, he's friendly and helpful, but on this one, he's one hostile SOB.
• Took a Shortcut: Played for Laughs early on - Indiana Jones has a jungle separating him from a Maya temple early on. Sophia waits behind while Indy goes and solves a puzzle wherein he gets a snake to attack a capybara and climbs a tree to scale a cliff. Sure enough, Sophia is on the other side of the cliff, and if the player asks "how did YOU get here?" Sophia says she took a bridge while you were bushwhacking.

• Those Wacky Nazis: Indy's usual opponents, once again looking into the supernatural to try to take over the world. In this cast they're trying to find Atlantis and their supposed "God Making Machine".
• Transformation Exhilaration: Used and subverted in the finale; upon reaching the Colossus at the centre of the lost city, Klaus Kerner is eager to use it to become a god as the Atlanteans supposedly did. Once he activates the machine, Kerner is bathed in unearthly energies and begins to change, laughing triumphantly as he grows to an enormous height... and then everything goes wrong: his left eye begins to swell, he sprouts fur, antlers sprout from his head, and he shrinks down into a tormented dwarf that immediately dives into the nearest lava pit.
• Underground Level: The Greater Colony is the fabled Labyrinth of Knossos: a spooky cave complete with minotaur statue and the remains of explorers who couldn't find their way out...including one that's all too familiar.
• Underwater Base: Atlantis itself naturally. It's the original underwater city after all.
• Unexpected Gameplay Change: The game changes from Point-n-Click adventure to an Action-Based Mission when Indy has to steer a balloon or a submarine around. He also must prove his Car Fu skills during a car chase in Monte Carlo. And, of course, there are fist fights.
• Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay:
  • It's possible for Indy to need to remove screws from a bookshelf. If Indy uses an arrowhead, it will work for one screw, but Indy will point out how much it hurts and that this is not a good idea.
  • Crossed a bit with Anti-Frustration Features, but if the player hangs around dark rooms long enough, eventually they become a bit brighter as Indy's eyes adjust to the dark.
• Unintentionally Unwinnable: You can replenish your stock of orichalcum beads should you run out, the issue is that one of the items required to activate the bead machine gets used up in a later puzzle and if you reach the hulking machine screen without any beads, there's no way to go back and get any more which locks the game and requires you to go back to a previous save.
• Unobtanium: The adventure begins when the Nazis steal a bead of orichalcum from Indy; it's portrayed as an incredibly powerful energy source (and a set of Interchangeable Antimatter Keys for many of the game's puzzles), and most of the game is a race for the motherlode at Atlantis itself.
• Vapor Ware: The adventure game ends on a screen promising a sequel which ultimately never ended up seeing the light of day. The sequel, named Iron Phoenix, was eventually adapted into a comic book, and a different game, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, was eventually released instead.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Unlike the eerie, abandoned sewer-like rest of Atlantis, the inner circle is a Lethal Lava Land with lava pouring out of fountains in the walls and a massive tower in the center that houses a god-creating machine.
• Walk into Mordor: While Atlantis is inaccessible for justified reasons, to get to the Third Circle of Atlantis you have to use an orichalcum-powered Bronze Age tunnel-boring machine, which promptly falls into the lava.
• "Will Return" Caption: The end credits finish up with a note to the players to watch for Indy's next adventure, "perhaps as a much younger man". While LucasArts did not make another Indy point-and-click game, let alone one featuring Young Indy, the next Indy game with an original story was actually the Sega Genesis game Instruments of Chaos starring Young Indiana Jones.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: An implied side effect of the Atlantean God Machine; Even Indy becomes a cackling, malevolent being if he ends up going into the machine. Regardless of who ultimately ends up being transformed, they don't survive long enough to be certain.

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