Game:

Day of the Tentacle (1993)

Duration: 2:16:59

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The game, a sequel to Maniac Mansion, is focused on Bernard Bernoulli — the only one of the three playable characters that was featured in the first game — and his friends Laverne and Hoagie, as they help Dr. Fred Edison using a time machine to prevent Purple Tentacle from taking over the world. The game utilizes time travel and the effects of changing history as part of the many puzzles to be solved in the game.

The Purple Tentacle, seen here shortly after his mutation in the opening cinematic, is the main antagonist in Day of the Tentacle.The game, which takes place five years after Maniac Mansion, opens with Purple Tentacle becoming exposed to toxic waste spewing from Dr. Fred Edison's mansion. The toxic waste isn't the by-product of any experiment, it's a device designed specifically to pump toxic sludge out of the building, as it is all the rage with mad scientists lately. Purple's ingestion of it results in him growing a pair of flipper-like arms, vastly increased intelligence, and acquiring a thirst for global domination. Dr. Fred catches Purple Tentacle, as well as the friendly, non-evil Green Tentacle, and keeps them both in his basement before deciding that he will euthanize them. That evening, Green Tentacle sends a plea of help to his old friend Bernard Bernoulli — a stereotypical nerd and character from the first game — who heads off to the mansion to rescue him, accompanied by his friends, Laverne, a slightly psychotic medical student, and Hoagie, a laid-back heavy metal roadie. Bernard frees Green and Purple, only for Purple to inform him of his plans of world domination and resume his conquering of the Earth. Since he can't figure out a way to stop Purple now that he's begun his mad quest, Dr. Edison attempts to send the three friends back in time to 'yesterday' using his time machine, which consists of a central unit made out of an old car and three personal travel units called "Chron-o-Johns", made from portable toilets. By doing so, they can turn off the sludge machine which produced the toxic waste so that Purple never ingests the waste in the first place, hence pre-emptively stopping him from taking over the world. However, because Dr. Edison has used an imitation diamond as the power source, the machine fails, sending Hoagie 200 years in the past, where he learns that the mansion was the setting for the creation of the United States Constitution, and Laverne 200 years in the future to a Tentacle-controlled world where humans are treated as pets and Purple is revered as a hero, while Bernard remains in the present. Dr. Edison tasks Bernard with finding a real diamond to power the time machine to return his friends to the present so that they can try to travel to yesterday once again, while informing Hoagie and Laverne through the Chron-o-John that they must find power sources for their own units in order to bring them back. Fortunately for all involved (especially Hoagie, who has been sent back to before electricity was available), the three can send small objects back and forth in time through the Chron-o-Johns in order to complete these tasks.

Eventually, Bernard uses Dr. Edison's old family fortune to buy a real diamond, both Laverne and Hoagie manage to power their units, and the three are reunited in the present. Dr. Edison attempts to send them back into the past again, this time successfully. Upon arrival, they find that the Purple Tentacle from 200 years in the future has also used the time machine to bring several versions of himself to the same day to prevent them from turning off the sludge machine. Bernard and his friends successfully defeat all the Purple Tentacles, turn off the machine and restore the course of future events to normal order. The game ends with the credits rolling over a Tentacle-shaped American flag, one of the more significant results of their tampering in history.

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