YMMV / The Space Bar

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Seedrot. The game plays her Jaded Washout and Bizarre Alien Biology characteristics for laughs, but from her perspective, she could be seen as quite a tragic figure. She grew and dropped a fruit (essentially her species' version of having a child) to get away from her domineering mother and free the plants of Earth, yet almost immediately found her dreams dashed and gave up. Years later, she's drifting from job to job and feels bad about leaving her fruit behind, so she vows to have another one she can take better care of. And then Alias tricks her into dropping her new fruit, steals it, and eats it, seemingly not caring if that fruit could somehow be sentient, all while Seedrot remains ignorant. If you put it that way, Alias suddenly seems a LOT less sympathetic...
  • The Akro Mati are framed as the bad guys, but they don't appear in the game other than as a de facto border patrol and we only have Cilia's word to go by.
  • Both the Akro Mati's and the Kur'Pupu's appearance is unkown and they are both depicted as bad, with the Akro Mati being a bit more secretive about it. With Cilia mentioning that the Kur'Pupu are "tight" with the Akro Mati, could it be that the Akro Mati aren't an actual separate alien race and instead just a cover up-identity for the Kur'Pupu?
  • The Amalgamated Vacuum Security Force as a whole are positioned as good guys, but don't forget they are essentially security guards elevated to the status of cops on a corporation-owned planet. They have rules they abide by but apparently it's totally ok if they view your memories without your knowledge or consent. In addition, both the derelict streets of Armpit City shown in the intro and the fact they seem to care little for criminals as long as they don't mess with the company (as Ni'Dopal does repeatedly) imply they have little concern for providing protection for anything but Amalgamated Vacuum.
  • For characters that are clearly intended as comic relief, Fleebix and Thud's relationship (and that between their respective species) raises a lot of questions. How consensual/mutually beneficial is this setup, really? We are told the Neblitzi and Salivrasters have evolved to work together as brain and brawn, with the latter getting to pick members of the former race as their lifemates. Even Fleebix, who constantly berates Thud, thinks the interaction between the two races is a success. But seeing as the Salivrasters are the ones doing all the manual labor (even if it's out of necessity), it's debatable how equal they really are to the Neblitzi. In-game, Fleebix and Thud are played as an Odd Couple who are bonded for life despite Fleebix's constant complaining.
  • Was Dirtkicker an Innocent Bystander, Asshole Victim, or neither? Was the entire incident on Savin III really Chiphandler's fault?
• Annoying Video Game Helper: If you don't find her funny, Zelda may qualify, especially when it comes to disk-swapping.
• Breather Level: Thud's flashback. It's the shortest in the game, consisting of one room and easy-to-follow instructions.
• Designated Hero: The way Alias tricks Seedrot into dropping a (possibly sentient) fruit so he can eat it. Granted, it's a matter of life and death, but it's still a rather heartless thing to do given how the Vedj reproduce and how much Seedrot wants to be a good mother. In general, he has no issue manipulating everyone he talks to so he can enter their memories without their knowledge or consent for his own gain.
• Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: The game still stands out for its unique premise, immensely detailed world, and large cast of memorable playable characters. However, the in-game time limit and complicated puzzles were considered harsh even in favorable reviews of the time, not to mention the immense amount of Red Herrings and bugs.
• Retroactive Recognition: Yes, that's THE John DiMaggio voicing Ni'Dopal (among other characters) and THE Alan Rickman voicing My and Ty.
• That One Puzzle: Buying Armpit III. The Space Bar as a whole has several examples that could qualify, but this one is probably the most uniquely frustrating single puzzle to figure out, especially since it takes up almost the entirety of Deven-7's flashback and requires lots of timed, strategic moves. Even if you follow a walkthrough, it's still easy to get confused in what is basically a Microsoft Excel adventure.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Several of the POV characters' individual stories could be the basis for their own games:

  • Bettaker/Dirtkicker, exiled for an incident that may or may not be his fault, seems prime for a Redemption Quest or Roaring Rampage of Revenge, but we don't get to see either.
  • Cilia is a dramatically compelling Action Girl from an occupied planet, but we never find out the fate of her people, even after Alias gives her the name of her contact. She also makes a comment about how the Akro Mati and K'urPupu are "tight" (somewhat strange given the K'urPupu are otherwise described as being mortally isolationist), suggesting that her story might be connected to Alias' case, but it never comes into play aside from her helping you find some evidence to catch the Big Bad.
  • Click's dream of taking over the cerebomb operation is left open-ended.
  • Fleebix and Thud's new life and misadventures could easily be the basis for their own spin-off.
  • At the end of his flashback, it's implied that Soldier is awaiting for orders to lead the Zzazzl migration to Armpit VI after the egg hatches. What this might mean for the planet's current residents and MegaCorp is never explored.

• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: An intriguing mystery, an environment full of unique locations, a large, colorful cast of characters...almost none of which you'll get the chance to explore on your own since the game holds you to a strict time limit. To make matters worse, the game's rampant bugs, lack of modern compatibility, and obscurity make it truly difficult to find and get running. It's fair to say that a project with so much ambition and time put into it deserved better.
• Ugly Cute: Several characters in the bar, especially Fleebix and Thud.
• Underused Game Mechanic: A lot is made about the voice and residue printer, but they aren't actually necessary for completing the game. Indeed, both devices stop working outright at a set time in the game and the residue printer is highly situational. In addition, the "arrest" option is entirely useless as Alias is unable to arrest anyone in the bar even Ni'Dopal, who gets arrested off screen.
  • The entire mystery-solving aspect of the game could be considered this. The early portion leads you to believe that you will be trying to determine who in the bar is the fugitive by doing detective stuff: testing evidence, interrogating characters, crossing off suspects, and making the arrest. In fact, your forensic equipment isn't important, almost none of the flashback sequences are directly tied to the case, and you don't actually arrest the Big Bad in-game: you just need to survive his traps and expose him to trigger the final cutscene.