The International House of Mojo

While it's been confirmed by implication nine different times now, Skunkape has officially announced their expected remaster of Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space, aka the second season of Telltale's better-with-each-installment take on Purcell's property after LucasArts fatefully said, "Nah, give us Thrillville."

Knowing you, you're probably still coming off the high of thwarting Hugh Bliss's hypnosis conspiracy in painstakingly re-lit HD, but Skunkape doesn't see your recovery time as their problem. They're ready to start hyping you up for the next mission in Sam and Max's oeuvre, which you may recall involves improbable excursions to the North Pole, Easter Island, a zombie rave in Stuttgart, the malleable fourth dimension, and the middle management bowels of Hell itself. Behold what these once poly-starved destinations look like in all their newly uprezzed fury by checking out the trailer:

Don't forget to start saving up for some absurd physical editions from Limited Run Games that history has sculpted us to anticipate are sure to follow this launch, and of course you'll want to get loudly and pre-emptively outraged about whatever CENSORSHIP! is sure to be committed by those known vandals of art over at Skunkape -- the better to impress your friends on the Steam forums.

Whatever you've gotta do to prepare your body and soul, be quick about it: launch is December 8th.

Source: Skunkape

Speaking of October traditions, an old Telltale classic just got dug up by the custodians at Skunkape. Submit some Halloween themed Sam & Max fan art for a chance to win Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space Remastered, a game which will exist by implication. Just follow the link below for all the details.

Source: Skunkape

While participating in an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit with forty-five other developers (among the tidbits: Wadjet Eye confirmed talking with Brian Moriarty about a Loom sequel years ago, but no legal headway could be made with Lucasfilm), Skunkape loosed a screenshot from Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space: Remastered:

I might also point out something we failed to report last month: a sweepstakes to win a specialized, Psychonauts 2-themed Xbox console. But we can at least get a look at it:

I guess we could have been quicker on the draw, but you don’t need that thing cluttering your house anyway.

Source: Reddit

Looks like Jared Emerson-Johnson and his recruits have returned to the studio to beef up the soundtrack for Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space with live instruments and/or new tracks, akin to what was done for the remaster of Sam & Max Save the World. And that’s awesome.

Source: Twitter

Sam & Max Save the World is back on the Xbox, this time for the One/Series-Whatever incarnations. It’ll run you a cent under $20. That’s about all I got – I’m sure the version is good, though! Let’s just cap it off with a trailer.

You are probably aware of the fact that audio titans Julian Kwasneski and Jared Emerson-Johnson operate professionally as Bay Area Sound, the decorated studio founded by Kwasneski and Clint Bajakian back in the day. You might even be aware of the Pulitzer-repelling interview we did with them over ten years ago, in which we asked well-researched questions like “What was it like working at Skywalker Ranch?” even though the Ranch wasn’t a thing since the Lucasfilm Games days.

Lately, we got to thinking about the “ten years” part with a bit of embarrassment, and anyway BA Sound is involved with both Skunkape and HappyGiant on these Sam & Max projects we find ourselves surrounded by, so Mojo felt the time was right to confront them, put them on the defensive, and demand to know why it never happened between us after that first date went so well. Also, we talk Sam & Max sound/music. Enjoy!

Just your friendly Mojo PSA that pre-orders for the various physical editions of Sam & Max Save the World on offer from Limited Run Games close tomorrow, Sunday, May 30th at midnight. A quick reminder of the various products you can redirect your child’s tuition budget toward if you act now:

• Sam & Max Save the World (Switch): $34.99
• Sam & Max Save the World (Switch) Collector’s Edition: $74.99
• Sam & Max Save the World (PC) Collector’s Edition: $64.99
• Sam & Max Switch Slipcover: $4.99
• And here’s one I’m just noticing: a Limited Run Games logo T-shirt designed after the Sam & Max logo. That’s the kind of shamelessness we can respect.

As that slipcover implies, you’ll certainly be dealing with similar financial crises when Skunkape delivers their remasters of the remaining two seasons in due time.

In other Limited Run news, it seems that Monkey Island collector’s box has quietly been pushed from a Q2 to a Q4 ship date. Hey, getting Guybrush’s hair right is fastidious work.

Source: Limited Run Games

If you’re a Switch owner and for whatever reason have not purchased the scourge of the Proud Boys, Sam & Max Save the World, you can now download a demo of it: North American store or European store. And after you’ve decided you love it, you can get it for 20% off from the Nintendo eShop – sale runs through May 31st.

As an extra bonus, the social justice warriors over at Skunkape have also posted a screenshot from the second season. I mean, what?!

Or at least that’s what Limited Run Games proposes with their Save the World bundle. Case in point:

There’s a lot to (literally) unpack here. Those comic-book-style covers in postcard format? There. The iconic “Highway Surfin’” illustration as a mini print? Check. I mean, just look at the goddamn tweet thread and leave me alone.

The Switch bundle will run you a cool $74.99; the PC version $64.99. Pre-orders start April 30th.

Update! Skunkape has posted as history of the casefile. Definitely run and read it!

Dan Connors and Jake Rodkin of Skunkape were the featured guests on the latest episode of the Retronauts podcast, in which they tell war stories both about making the original Sam & Max Save the World as well as the excellent remaster. There are a lot of good anecdotes here, including how Steve Purcell vetoed a lactating Max and an intended Salmon Mack origin story in Season 2.

It’s really an excellent conversation, and not just because of the multiple Mojo shoutouts. Though that does make it a contractual obligation.

Source: Retronauts

Though no timetable has been offered, the innuendo from Skunkape has been strong that they will be following up their remaster of Sam & Max Save the World with similar treatments of the other two Telltale seasons.

Well, the implicit became explicit a few days ago when Skunkape shared this glimpse from episode 201 just in time for Christmas:

The North Pole is sure looking good in HD. Can the same be said of Stinky's Diner, Easter Island, the Stuttgart castle, the mariachis' spaceship and Hell itself? Hopefully 2021 holds the answer.

Source: Twitter

An update to Sam & Max Save the World: Remastered has just been published to address some minor bugs, and the good folks at Skunkape have, in light of growing interest, used the release of this patch as an opportunity to write up a blow-by-blow of dang near all observable differences between the remaster and the 2006-2007 original. In doing so they've laid to rest a few misconceptions, but mostly just further expose how much thought went into their fastidious upgrade of Sam & Max's post-LucasArts debut.

Be among the cool kids and read the lowdown while you wait for your update to download. There's also a brief new promo that shows off several pullquotes from the game's more laudatory reviews thus far. Mojo's rave was excluded, but you've gotta grade them on a curve on that one: After the heat Skunkape attracted from up to four pre-adolescents over "censorship" concerns, one can only imagine what kind of hell quoting a known CMI denigrator like Remi would have raised. Look, if he weren't so handsome, we wouldn't put up with him either.

Source: Steam

It just doesn’t stop.

You’ve read our review and likely already purchased the game, so what’s next? It’s time to purchase the soundtrack, courtesy (of course) of Jared Emerson-Johnson! The 82(!) track album is available for $10, or as part of a 15%-off bundle with the game. Get it/them from: GOG (where it’s listed for $5.49), Steam, or Bandcamp. And yes, the new tracks and FLACs are included.

Remember, remember the 2nd of December as the day Mojo posted a timely review. For the Switch, even, because we’re down with what the kids use.

Run and read our official Sam & Max Save the World Remastered review right now should you against all odds be on the fence about getting it. Read. It’s good for you.

If you bought Sam and Max Save the World (season one) from the Telltale Games store back in the day, you are now eligible for either a Steam or GOG key to transfer your game. Just go to the appropriate link on the Skunkape website. Cool thing: "It’s okay if the email doesn’t work anymore; this step is only for verification."

You'll want to acquire it ASAP, as having the key in your library makes you eligible for a 50% discount for the remastered version through December 31, 2020.

Instructions: scroll down to the section titled Telltale Store Customers, enter your email, and choose the store you'd like, which it asks about after verifying. Once you have the original game in your library, go to the Sam and Max Save the World: Remastered page (GOG, Steam) and get the discount while it's valid. I've just tried it.

Mojo will give you a heads-up (timeliness guaranteed*) if news of the same comes out regarding the other two seasons. In the meantime, get to updatin'.

Sam and Max Save the World: Remastered releases for PC and Nintendo Switch December 2nd. (It's not the official title, but let's pretend it is for the sake of clarity.)

*Timeliness not guaranteed.

Source: Skunkape

It’s a joyous time for Sam & Max fans, as the Telltale remaster and This Time It’s Virtual means the characters have two concurrent projects on the way. See, 2020 was worth a damn after all.

In the midst of all this, something called “The Escapist Games Showcase – Fall Edition” is going on this week. What matters to you is that both Sam & Max projects got some promotional time during “Day 1” (yesterday) of the streamed expo, which amounted to some new gameplay footage from This Time It’s Virtual (click here to watch), and more noteworthily a live chat conducted with Dan Connors (representing the remaster) and Mike Levine and Mike Stemmle (representing the virtual reality game) -- all together. You can watch the archived Q&A here.

Points of interest include a playthrough of the first several minutes of remastered Culture Shock (which makes for an excellent showcase of just how much of a jump the presentation has taken, and offers a first listen at Bosco’s new voice, Ogie Banks*), Jake being referred to "the king of Sam & Max content", and Connors/Stemmle intriguingly/depressingly going on a brief tangent about some of the great minigames in Freelance Police that we’ll never get to enjoy. But you'll enjoy the Q&A, guaranteed.

*Also known as camper Chops Sweetwind from Psychonauts!

Source: The Escapist

The good news keeps rolling in. With Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space Sam and Max Save the World (aka Season One) getting that shiny remaster, you may be wondering how to get your hands on it or on the old game.

According to Skunkape, the rag-tag team of ex-Telltale people spitting on the old game and shining it, anyone with copies of the original game on GOG or Steam is eligible for a 50% discount for the remaster—just login to GOG or Steam to see the discount, which expires December 31st. So get on it.

Better, those of us who bought the game from the Telltale website and jealously guarding their HDs for fear of losing their old copies will be given a key for either Steam or GOG to keep the old game. That's still being set-up, but you can keep an eye on Skunkape's Twitter for news on that front (or Mojo a week later).

Source: Skunkape

We can only assume Skunkape accidentally sent this interview to Vice instead of us, but either way… After we exclusively/allegedly broke the news of Sam & Max Save the World: Remastered, this is a good follow-up read. An excerpt:

Go read the whole thing.

Well, here’s something we’ll be able to dine out on for a while.

Sometime after Telltale folded, some choice Telltale veterans – original CEO Dan Connors, engineering maestro Randy Tudor, technical director Jon Sgro, and affirmative action Mojo alumnus Jake Rodkin – thought to themselves, “Hey, what if we made those Sam & Max games we built at Telltale not only available again, but gussied up with retrofitted engine improvements like some tarted-up whore?”

That question obviously rhetorical, the quartet joined forces with Steve Purcell, scooped up the game assets at a flea market and founded “Skunkape Games” (which certain eagle-eyed busybodies already noticed had been quietly restamped as the publisher of the Sam & Max seasons on digital outlets earlier this year), and under this new moniker are primed to do just that.

And soon. Sam & Max Save the World: Remastered is due to drop December 2nd, with the other two seasons to follow.

To be honest with you, the results look jaw-dropping. These games have always been gems, but the above makes me unspeakably giddy to experience them all over again in widescreen with their new coat of paint and without voice compression targeting 60MB file downloads. There are loads of other little enhancements promised as well, but it’s probably best to discover them for ourselves.

For media and more information (including how to pre-order), check out the official Skunkape web presence or maybe even Sam & Max.net. That’s right, anonymous sources tell us that the beloved hub is coming back from the dead, and putting on new airs: What was once The Unofficial Sam & Max Website is to be imminently reborn as very much an official resource. Gandalf the White’s transformation looks like a damn haircut by comparison.

So you’re telling me we’ve got this, a new Sam & Max VR game, new Sam & Max figurines, the return of the forums, a Monkey Island anthology box set, revelatory violations of the Monkey Island source code, and Psychonauts 2 in its final stretch of production all the while? You bet your hiney you are. Mojo has renaissanced yet again.