Grim Fandango: Difference between revisions

This 1998 [[Adventure Game]] for the PC from [[Tim Schafer]] is a heady blend of [[Film Noir|noir]], Mexican mythology and Schafer's own warped sensibilities. As with all adventure games by LucasArts, it contained no real action or danger, and no possibility of dying, focusing instead on solving the often tricky puzzles strewn throughout the game, as well as just wandering through the place talking to people. It differed from adventure games of the time in its simple interface; Manny could move in three dimensions in a stationary environment, and interacted with it through three keys -- an Examine key, a Use key and a Get key, which could be used when Manny turned his head to look at something or someone. Sometimes all three keys could be used on the same item to different effect; stand near the giant pit of kitty litter and hit Examine, then Use, then Get, and you will get an increasingly funny series of reactions from Manny. Also, except for one arm-in-a-coffee-grinder moment, the adventure game standard of combining items was absent.

{{tropelist}}

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Manny''': [[Evil Gloating|Is this where you tell me all about your secret plan, Hector?]] How you stole Double N tickets from innocent souls, pretended to sell them but really hoarded them all for yourself in a desperate attempt to get out of the Land of the Dead?}}

{{spoiler|'''Hector''': [[Genre Savvy|No.]] '''[[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him|<BANG>]]'''}} }}

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Meche is a ''lot'' harder and colder after a year working for Domino.

* [[Celestial Bureaucracy]]: The Department of Death.

{{quote|'''Manny:''' What a relief. I was getting concerned that our transportation wasn't ostentatious enough.}}

* [[Cool Shades]]: Domino Hurley wears these when at the island near the giant waterfall.

* [[Cyanide Pill]]: {{spoiler|Sal has one, that sprays Sproutella in a cloud.}}

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: When confronting Big Bad Hector Le Mans, Manny attempts to illustrate his own Genre Savvy. Manny asks if this is the part where Le Mans tells Manny his plans, and he, Manny, proceeds to spell them out in elaborate detail. {{spoiler|Responding with a simple "No", Hector shoots Manny, stating that this is the part where he dies painfully.}}

** Looking at his office door:

{{quote|'''Manny''': Wasn't too long ago the name on that door was "Supply Closet." }}

{{quote|'''Manny''': What a relief. I was getting concerned that our transportation wasn't ostentatious enough. }}

** Looking at a boobytrapped Bonewagon:

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: There are a number of unpleasant things that can happen to a soul in the Underworld, from being turned into a bone dam by demonic beavers to being ground into powder to being "sprouted".

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Olivia Ofrenda.

* [[Film Noir]]: Tim Schafer said that the inspiration of the story was from 1944 film ''Double Indemnity''.

* [[Flower Motifs]]: One of the only ways to make someone [[Deader Than Dead]] is to shoot them with a Sproutella gun that make flowers grow on their bones. Membrillo the undertaker specifies to Manny that flowers are a negative symbol in the Land of the Dead, and Manny tells him that from now on, he'll use balloons as gifts.

'''Manny''': A parade of bones, trapped in a suspended state... Kind of a metaphor for all of us if you really think--

'''Glottis''': '''JUST DEFUSE THE BOMB, MANNY!''' }}

* [[Informed Deformity]]: Celso's wife is ugly according to Manny. She looks like just any other female human soul except with a pair of lines on her face.

* [[Instant Messenger Pigeon]]: They can find anyone based on just a photograph! And the bad guys engineer big talking messenger birds with human skull-heads.

{{quote|'''Manny:''' Any messages for me?

'''Eva:''' One: join, or die!

'''Eva:''' ''Again!'' }}

* [[Karmic Death]]: {{spoiler|Domino Hurley}}, {{spoiler|Nick Virago}}, and {{spoiler|Hector}} (see [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]).

* [[Magic A Is Magic A]]: So, when is a skeleton soul considered "dead"? They are technically all dead, yet they can be "killed" again (the text in the sequences' titles even describes them as "dying"!). This gets a slight [[Lampshade Hanging]]: in the Petrified Forest, Manny and Glottis have to cross a barrier of soul bones, and Glottis says that he feels guilty about rolling on them. Manny replies they won't feel anything because they are dead. Glottis reminds Manny is dead as well, and that is not a reason for him to roll on him. Manny then says that is because they "are friends".

** Manny cannot blow inside a deflated balloon because he doesn't "have the lungs for that", and yet, he is shown several times ''blowing'' smoke when smoking, and the Angelitos blow too on crystals when they are working.

* [[Meaningful Name]]:

** ''Calavera'' means skull, and refers to sugar treats made for the Day of the Dead as well as other associated art.

* [[Road Apples]]: In Rubaca, Manny finds a pool filled with dirty cat litter. ''Giant cat'' litter. Manny says that it is "tempting" to jump in this dirty litter, and he will explode in a long burst of laughter if you try to have him pick up some of it.

* [[Running Gag]]: It's never explained how Manny manages to do so well between chapters:

** At the end of Chapter 2, he's mopping the deck on a ship; at the beginning of Chapter 3 (one year later), he's captain.

*** Given a [[Foreshadowing]], and possibly an explaination, in Chapter 1. When looking at a picture of a ship, Manny mentions how he's so competitive, he wouldn't be able to rest until he was Captain.

* [[Shout-Out]]: In contrast with other Lucas Arts adventure games, Grim Fandango has a remarkably very low amount of shout outs, but there are still some:

** Examine the dark tunnel in Year 4, and Manny will describe it as "[[Monkey Island|a tunnel that leads into a system of catacombs]]".

*** The logo for Corley Motors, as well as Sam and Max, are on a poster in Toto's Tattoo Parlor.

** There is a certain similarity to the poison tooth scene in ''[[Dune]]''.

* [[Shut Up, Kirk]]: In a moment that subverts [[Just Between You and Me]], [[Bond Villain Stupidity]] and [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?]]:

* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: Many characters smoke in the game for the [[Film Noir]] feel. The manual says that the game doesn't promote smoking, though, as the characters are ''already dead.''

* [[Stealth Pun]]: "The deadbolt is set. But with what?" A {{spoiler|skeleton key}}, perhaps?

* [[Super Not-Drowning Skills]]: This is justified for Manny and the other human souls, as they are dead and don't need to breathe, so they can stay underwater forever. Glottis does have lungs though, and he even points this out when he and Manny are stuck underwater. Manny [[Hand Wave|handwaves]] this by saying: "You survived without a heart, you can live without air for a while."

** Subsequent observations of Glottis let us know how he's holding up: "Still not blue", "A little blue around the eyes"... Eventually, Glottis emerges of his own accord... because his skin was getting ''pruney''.

* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: The trailer shows part of the death scenes of {{spoiler|Don and Lola}}.

* [[Try Everything]]: There's one puzzle in Year Two which maddeningly requires you figure out what to do with a slip of paper reading "Rusty Anchor". The only solution is to show it to everyone in the city to figure out what it means - and [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|this being a Tim Schafer game]], ''everyone'' has a unique answer, up to and including a catchy little piano ballad (see below). Of course, when you finally find the right person to ask, he begins his answer with [[Lampshade Hanging|"You mean, besides the song, and the poem, and the bar, and the statue by that name?"]]

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: Lupe kind of just vanishes into the ether after {{spoiler|Manny gets the police to raid his casino.}}

* [[What You Are in the Dark]]: When Manny approaches the Tunnel to the Ninth Underworld, he wrestles with temptation. He could actually walk through the Tunnel - forget everything and just leave this world and [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]]. After all, he ''did'' make the four year trek as any Lost Soul must. However, he passes up freedom because he has to be a [[Big Damn Heroes|Big Damn Hero]] and save everyone.

* [[Who Would Be Stupid Enough...?]]: Manny gives to Membrillo the undertaker a metal detector so he can find out the identity of the corpses better. Membrillo says that he could find initials of the person on a belt buckle. Manny laughs, asking who the heck would keep his initials on his belt buckle... until Membrillo points the detector to Manny's own belt buckle, which obviously has ''his'' initials on it.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Adventure Game]]

[[Category:Fantasy Video Games]]

[[Category:Android Games]]

[[Category:IOS Games]]