Original Version Copyright (c) 1996 by Christopher James Pepin
Revised Version(s) Copyright (c) 1997 by Christopher James Pepin
12/25/97
The most recent version of this FAQ should be available on
my web page. Visit The Forgotten Archives and download the newest
version. [http://www.grfn.org/~cpepin1/index.html]
This FAQ is also available by FTP, courtesy of GamePro
magazine's Andy Eddy. Just FTP to ftp.netcom.com and cd
/pub/vi/vidgames/faqs. Don't forget to read the INDEX.README file.
Since I've always been a great fan of this game, I felt it
needed a FAQ of it's own. This is for the Nintendo Entertainment
System (NES) version of the game. The computer versions are a bit
different, but if all you need is a hint then this FAQ might be
able to help. I will try to include as much as possible about this
game in this FAQ, but if you see something incorrect, misleading,
or just plain missing then let me know. Additions and/or suggestions
are always welcome. If you've found a neat trick for this game that
I don't have listed, let me know.
There are numerous ways to solve different puzzles in this game.
Each of the kids can do something that the other kids can't do. Dave
has no special abilities though. Jeff's special ability is his knack
at being able to fix phones. Because Bernard can also fix phones, I
recommend taking Bernard over Jeff. Also, Jeff has absolutely no
ability that will allow the gang to get past the Purple Tentacle.
The only kid (other than Dave) who has this handicap. Bernard, on the
other hand, does have a way to get past the Purple Tentacle due to his
ability to call the Meteor Police. Syd and Razor are essentially the
same person since they both have EXACTLY the same abilities. They can
both play the piano and nuke the hamster in the microwave. Wendy can
write quite well and can rewrite a horrible autobiography. Michael is
the only person who can develop film. My personal recommendation
is to take Bernard and Wendy. But, no matter which group you take,
have fun!
WARNING!! TRESPASSERS WILL BE HORRIBLY MUTILATED.
and so it begins.....
1.0 List of useful items in the game and what they do.
2.0 Worthless items
3.0 Map of House
4.0 General Questions
5.0 How to kill off kids
6.0 Other stuff
7.0 How to get thrown into the dungeon
8.0 Different ways to get past the Purple Tentacle
9.0 How to get the different endings for the game
10.0 The Untold Story
11.0 Interesting Tidbits
12.0 Afterword
13.0 Credits
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0 LIST OF USEFUL ITEMS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
DRIVEWAY AND FRONT PORCH:
sign = Displays a helpful warning
address sign = If you plan on sending anything through
the mail, you need a return address.
mailbox = A good place to put a letter or small
package. Don't forget the flag.
bushes = Hides the grating.
grating = A way to get under the house.
It's rusted shut though.
door mat = Hides the key to the front door.
doorbell = The Mailman rings it whenever he
delivers something.
front door = Use the key under the door mat.
key = Unlocks the front door.
package = Weird Ed has been expecting this.
roll of film = Ed's plans! They need to be developed
before you can give them to Ed.
UNDER HOUSE:
puddle = Use the sponge on it.
water valve = Controls the water level in the pool.
floor grating = The developing fluid leaked through
this.
FRONT HALL:
right gargoyle head= Try giving it a little push.
LIVING ROOM:
old radio = Open it up.
radio tube = Use this to fix the short-wave radio.
cabinet door = Open it up.
cassette player = Play tapes on it.
glass chandelier = Hides the old rusty key.
old rusty key = Unlocks the door to the dungeon.
LIBRARY:
lamp = Illuminates the situation.
phone = Try giving someone a ring
loose panel = A blank cassette tape is hidden here.
cassette tape = Try recording something on it.
KITCHEN:
microwave oven = Try boiling some water.
faucet = Almost always a good source of water.
refrigerator = That can of Pepsi looks good.
can of Pepsi = That plant in the den looks thirsty.
flashlight = The attic is awfully dark.
DINING ROOM:
nothing useful
PANTRY:
grate = The developing fluid drips through it
and ends up under the house.
bottle of developer= You need this fluid to develop Weird
Ed's secret commando plans.
glass jar = Good to hold water in.
fruit drinks = Give this to Green Tentacle after you
give him the waxed fruit and he'll let
you pass.
SWIMMING POOL:
radioactive water = This might make something mutate.
ladder = Use this to climb down into the pool
pool chair = The radio is sitting on it
red button = Press at your own risk!
glowing key = Unlocks the padlocks on the outer
door of the secret lab.
radio = Isn't this thing powered by batteries?
gate = This leads to the garage.
GARAGE:
garage door = Get some muscles.
cement slab = This covers the one-way door leading
from the Meteor's room out to the garage.
water faucet handle= Fixes the water faucet on the shower.
Weird Edsel = We have LIFTOFF!
trunk of car = The tools are in here. This might also
be a good place to put something.
tools = Use these to fix things.
rocket engine = Powers the Edsel.
SECOND FLOOR LANDING:
wall lamp = Lights the room.
steel security door= Just a door.
PAINTING ROOM:
Waxed Fruit = Give this to the Green tentacle so
he'll let you pass.
paint remover = Removes paint.
MUSIC/T.V. ROOM:
piano = Let Syd or Razor take a try at playing.
TV = Check out the commercial.
Victrola = It plays records.
cassette recorder = Allows you to record stuff on cassette
tapes.
broken record = See section 6.0 part C.
SECOND FLOOR HALLWAY:
keypad = Use it to blow up the house. (Only if
you really, really want to, of course.)
FRED'S OFFICE:
desk lamp = Turn it on.
desk = Look in the drawer.
drawer = Contains the Meteor's manuscript.
manuscript = This needs to be rewritten.
ARCADE ROOM:
Meteor Mess Game = Dr. Fred stores the combination to
his lab as the high score.
other games = Give them a try.
coin box = This is where your quarter ends up
when you play a game.
DARKROOM:
red light = It really brightens the place up.
developer tray = Put the developing fluid in here.
enlarger = Used to help develop the roll of film.
THIRD FLOOR HALLWAY:
nothing useful
EDNA'S ROOM:
telephone = Call Edna and she'll pick up this phone.
small key = Unlocks the coin boxes on the arcade
games.
ladder = Leads up to Attic 1.
ATTIC 1:
painting = Hides the wall safe.
wall safe = Contains the envelope.
scrawled number = You need to magnify this with something
REALLY big.
light = Light up your life.
envelope = Use this to send stuff through the mail.
You have to steam it open or else you'll
never be able to close it again. The
quarter is also inside it.
quarter = Arcade games and a vending machine pop
into my mind.
DR. FRED'S ROOM:
wanted poster = Has the number for the Meteor Police
written on it.
dime = Now, if only you had some more.
radio = Use this to call the Meteor Police.
tube socket = Have Bernard place the radio tube here
to fix the short-wave radio.
ladder = Leads to Green Tentacle's room.
GREEN TENTACLE'S ROOM:
left speaker = Just part of the stereo.
right speaker = Just part of the stereo.
mondo stereo = You can play cassette tapes on it.
record = You might want to make a recording of
this on a cassette tape.
yellow key = Unlocks the trunk of the Edsel and/or
to start it up.
WEIRD ED'S ROOM:
hamster = The card key is hiding behind it.
piggy bank = Contains several dimes.
dimes = Use these on the telescope.
card key = Unlocks the door to the Meteor's room.
DEAD COUSIN TED'S ROOM:
Hunk-O-Matic machine = Use this twice to build big muscles.
BATHROOM:
pull chain = Flushes toilet.
sponge = Use this to soak up the developer
fluid under the house.
sink = You can also use this to fill the
glass jar.
water faucet = Ted will get a real kick if you turn
it on.
DEN:
typewriter = Use this to type stuff.
paint blotch = Hides the door to attic 2.
pot for plant = You need to use this plant to get
into the observatory.
hatch = The entrance to the observatory.
ATTIC 2:
light = Enlighten yourself.
wires = You need to fix the bare spot.
OBSERVATORY:
powerful telescope = Use this to read the scrawled number
on the wall next to the safe in attic 1.
control panel = Controls the big telescope.
coin slot = Put dimes in here.
right button = Use this to move the telescope one
turn to the right.
left button = Use this to move the telescope one
turn to the left.
BASEMENT:
light switch = Brighten your outlook.
fuse box = Contains the circuit breakers.
circuit breakers = Cuts off the power.
silver key = Unlocks the door in the pantry.
DUNGEON:
loose brick = Opens the door to the basement.
bottom padlock = Use the glowing key on it.
top padlock = Use the glowing key on it.
outer door = Don't just stand there! Get it open!
inner door = Leads to the outer lab.
badge = Use this to get past Purple Tentacle.
OUTER LAB:
nothing useful
INNER LAB:
Pepsi machine = Anyone for a Pepsi?
Pepsi = AHHHHHH! Refreshing.
ZOM-B-MATIC = QUICK, find a way to turn it off.
locker = Contains radiation suit.
radiation suit = Put this on before entering the
Meteor's room.
card slot = Use the card key with this.
METEOR'S ROOM:
switch = Use this to turn off the ZOM-B-MATIC.
Meteor = You'll have to find a way to dispose
of him QUICKLY.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
3.0 MAP OF HOUSE
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I know this isn't the greatest map in the world, but what do you
expect for free? :-)
A = Driveway
B = Front Porch
C = Under House
D = Front Hall
E = Living Room
F = Library
G = Kitchen
H = Dining Room
@ = Pantry
J = Swimming Pool
K = In Swimming Pool
L = Garage
M = Second Floor Landing
N = Painting Room
O = Music\T.V. Room
P = Second Floor Hallway
Q = Fred's Office
R = Arcade Room
S = Third Floor Landing
T = Darkroom
U = Third Floor Hallway
V = Dr. Fred's Room
W = Green Tentacle's Room
X = Nurse Edna's Room
Y = Attic 1
Z = Weird Ed's Room
AA = Dead Cousin Ted's Room
BB = Bathroom
CC = Den
DD = Observatory
EE = Attic 2
FF = Basement
GG = Dungeon
HH = Outer Lab
@@ = Inner Lab
JJ = Meteor's Room
W Y BB
| | |
V X Z AA DD
| | | | |
U-------U-------U-------U-------CC-----EE
|
Q R S-----T
| | |
P-------P-------P
|
@-------H-------G N-------M-----O
| | |
J D-------D-------D-------E-------F
| | |
K-------J C-------B-------A FF
| |
L-------JJ------@@------HH------GG
---------------------------------------------------------------------
4.0 GENERAL QUESTIONS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
A. HOW DO I OPEN THE GRATING IN THE FRONT YARD?
It seems that Dr. Fred doesn't go under the house very
much and the grating has rusted shut. There are two different ways
to get it open. The first requires one of the kids to go upstairs
to Ted's room and use his Hunk-O-Matic machine twice. Only then
will he (or she) be strong enough to rip open the grating like the
Incredible Hulk would. The second way is very simple. Use the
tools on the grate and you'll have it open in no time.
B. CAN I STICK THE HAMSTER IN THE MICROWAVE AND BLOW HIM UP?
Yes. Only Syd or Razor are able to Nuke the Hamster.
The only exception to this is the PAL version of the game was
modified to prevent the hamster from being nuked. All known U.S.
versions of the game allow you to blow up the hamster so don't
let anyone tell you otherwise. [NOTE: DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT STICK
ANYTHING LIVING INTO A REAL MICROWAVE! A MICROWAVE IS NOT A TOY!]
C. WHAT IS SITTING BEHIND MARK ETEER WHEN YOU WATCH T.V.?
Just for a moment when the commercial starts and
finishes, Mark Eteer won't be on the screen and you will get a
brief glimpse of something on the wall behind him. This is just
a record of Elvis (or an impersonator).
D. DOES THE STAIRCASE THAT'S OUT OF ORDER LEAD ANYWHERE
AND CAN IT BE FIXED?
No it does not lead anywhere and it can't be fixed.
E. HOW DO I FIND THE SECRET COMBINATION TO THE LABORATORY?
First, you need to get the tools. Then go up to
attic 2. Have one of your kids turn off the power and have the
kid in the attic use the tools to fix the broken wiring. Wait
a bit and Dr. Fred will play the Meteor Mess game in the game
room. If you have a quarter, you can play the game and the high
score is the combination to the lab. If you don't have a quarter,
see "HOW DO I OPEN THE SAFE?" Another way is to not fix the wiring
in the attic and the combination will be 0000. If you did fix
the wiring and don't feel like bothering to play Meteor Mess,
try one of these combinations 7572, 5858, 3301, or 8640.
F. HOW DO I OPEN THE SAFE?
You need the combination. :-) Seriously, to get the
combination you need to use the telescope in the observatory to
magnify the minuscule writing on the wall next to the safe. To
operate the telescope, you'll need some dimes. One dime you can
pick up off the floor in Dr. Fred's room. But, that's not enough
so you'll just have to break open Weird Ed's piggy bank. Once
you've got the loot, put two dimes into the slot on the wall of
the observatory and rotate the telescope twice to the right. Then
use the telescope and you will see the combination. Once again,
if you're lazy try one of these combinations 3621,1230, 4186, 1029,
or 0120.
G. WHERE IS THE GAS FOR THE CHAINSAW?
There isn't any gas for the chainsaw in Maniac Mansion.
You can find a container of gas in ZAK MCKRACKEN AND THE ALIEN
MINDBENDERS. This is another LucasArts game only available on
computers. It can be found in the alien Hostel on Mars.
H. WHERE CAN I FIND NURSE EDNA'S PHONE NUMBER?
Her phone number is written on the wall of the
bathroom, but Ted is in the way. Perhaps a cold shower will wake
him up.
I. WHAT IS NURSE EDNA'S PHONE NUMBER?
See question H or try 1547, 3444, 5235, 2275, or 7537.
J. WHAT ARE THE TOMBSTONES IN THE FRONT YARD FOR?
Each time you kill a kid (without blowing up the house)
the Edisons bury them in the yard and a tombstone appears. Just
don't let three tombstones appear there or else the game will end.
K. ISN'T THERE A WAY TO MAKE KIDS INVISIBLE?
Yes there is. Nuke the hamster in the microwave and
then have one of them give it back to Weird Ed. (Make sure you
give all of his or her items to another kid before you do this.)
Weird Ed will be so mad that he will kill him (or her) and bury them
in the front yard. The kid may be dead but they can still be used.
L. WHERE ARE THE PLANS WEIRD ED WANTS ME TO FIND?
After you give Weird Ed his package (don't forget to
take the stamps off first), the plans will appear next to the
bushes in front of the house. Have Michael develop the film
in the darkroom and then you can give the plans to Ed.
M. HOW DO I TURN ON THE SHOWER?
You need to fix the handle. You can find one sitting
in the garage on the shelf.
N. HOW CAN I GET THINGS OUT OF WEIRD ED'S ROOM WITHOUT BEING
THROWN INTO THE DUNGEON?
You need to find a way to lure Ed out of his room.
One way is to have one kid hide in Ted's room and have another
kid ring the doorbell. Ed will wander downstairs thinking his
package has arrived and you can then race over to Ed's room and
grab what you need. Of course, once you give Ed his package this
won't work. Another way is to have one kid walk into Ed's room
and while Ed is hauling him off to the dungeon another kid can
sneak in and get stuff.
O. WHAT DO I DO WITH THE TELESCOPE?
See question F "HOW DO I OPEN THE SAFE?".
P. HOW DO I TURN OFF THE POWER?
Use the circuit breakers down in the basement. Be
careful, if you leave the power off to long, the nuclear reactor
will overheat and blow up.
Q. HOW DO I OPEN THE DOOR TO THE RIGHT OF THE STAIRS IN
THE FRONT HALL?
You need to have one of the kids push the gargoyle
head on the right side and the door will open up. While one kid
stands there and holds the gargoyle head, a different one can pop
through the door and check out the basement.
R. HOW DO I DEVELOP THE PLANS?
Have Michael take the film and the developing fluid
up to the darkroom. Put the developing fluid in the tray. Then use
the film on the tray.
S. HOW DO I GET UP TO THE OBSERVATORY?
You need to climb up the plant in the den. But,
first you need to get it to grow real tall. Water the plant with
some radioactive pool water and then give it some Pepsi.
T. HOW DO I GET TO ATTIC 2?
See that blotch of paint on the wall in the den. Use
the paint remover on it to reveal a door.
U. HOW DO I GET THE GREEN TENTACLE TO LET ME PASS?
First feed him the waxed fruit. Then give him the
fruit drinks to wash it down. Bernard is too afraid of the Green
Tentacle at first so you'll need to use a different kid to feed him.
Instead of giving him the waxed fruit, you could give him every other
piece of food you can find to fill him up.
V. HOW DO I FIX THE PHONE?
Have Jeff or Bernard fix the phone using the tools.
W. HOW DO I FIX THE SHORT-WAVE RADIO?
Have Bernard take the radio tube out of the radio
in the living room and put it into the tube socket next to the
short-wave radio.
X. HOW DO I CALL THE METEOR POLICE?
After the short-wave radio is fixed, have Bernard look
at the poster in Dr. Fred's room and you'll find the number for the
Meteor Police. Use the short-wave radio and dial their number. The
number could be 9111, 1977, 3412, 0525, or 1138.
Y. HOW DO I DRAIN THE POOL?
Have one of your kids stand next to the pool. Then have
one of the other kids go under the house and open the water valve.
This will drain the water out of the pool. Don't forget to close the
valve after you are finished because if the reactor overheats the
house will blow up.
Z. HOW DO I OPEN THE GARAGE DOOR?
Have one of the kids go upstairs to Ted's room and use
the weight lifting machine twice. Then you will be strong enough to
rip open that heavy garage door.
AA. WHAT DO I DO WITH THE FLASHLIGHT?
The flashlight doesn't have any batteries. The
old batteries sitting in the refrigerator are very weak and
go out very quickly. You can get some fresh batteries out of the
radio sitting in the pool chair. You use the flashlight to
see what you're doing while fixing the wiring in the attic.
BB. HOW DO I FIX THE BROKEN WIRING?
First, have one kid switch off the circuit breakers in
the basement. Then have another kid in attic 2 use the flashlight
(with the strong batteries in it) so he can see. Then use the tools
on the exposed wires.
CC. HOW DO I GET THE KEY HANGING IN THE CHANDELIER IN THE
LIVING ROOM?
You need to get the record from the Green Tentacle's
room and play it on the record player in the music room. Put a
cassette tape in the cassette player and hit record. Then take the
tape downstairs to the living room and play it on the cassette player
in the cabinet. The high pitched noise will shatter the chandelier
allowing you to retrieve the key.
DD. HOW DO I PLAY THE VIDEO GAMES?
The wiring that connects to this room is broken (see
question BB). Once the wiring is fixed, you will need a quarter.
The quarter can be found in the envelope. (See the next question
about how to get the quarter out of the envelope.) If you have
the key from Nurse Edna's room, you can open the coinbox to retrieve
the quarter after you've played a game. Then you can use it to play
another game.
EE. HOW DO I OPEN THE ENVELOPE?
The envelope needs to be steamed open if you want to use
it to send something in the mail. Take the envelope and place it
in the microwave. Then fill the glass jar with tap water (NOT POOL
WATER!) and place it into the microwave. Turn it on and the envelope
will steam open.
FF. HOW DO I SEND SOMETHING IN THE MAIL?
First, steam open the envelope. (See preceding question.)
Then watch some television. Go upstairs and address the envelope with
the typewriter. Then pull the package and some stamps will come off.
Place the item you want sent inside the envelope and stick on the
stamps. Place the envelope in the mailbox, close the door, and raise
the flag. Don't stand next to the mailbox or the mailman won't come.
GG. WHAT DO I DO WITH THE MANUSCRIPT?
Have Wendy take it upstairs to the typewriter and
give it a good re-write. Then send it in to Mark Eteer. A
contract for the Meteor will arrive in the mail.
HH. HOW DO I GET OUT OF THE DUNGEON?
If there are two kids stuck in the dungeon, have one kid
stand next to the door on the right. Switch to the other kid and
have him push the loose brick. Quickly switch back to the other kid
and run out the door before it slams shut. The key that unlocks this
door is hanging in the chandelier in the living room. (See question CC.)
II. HOW DO I GET THE GREEN TENTACLE TO HELP ME?
The Green Tentacle wants to be a star. Have Syd or
Razor make a recording of them playing the piano. Bring the cassette
upstairs and play the tape on the Tentacle's Mondo Stereo. He'll be
so impressed he will give you his own demo tape. Send it to Mark
Eteer and he'll send a recording contract for the Green Tentacle.
Give the contract to Green Tentacle and he'll help you out by chasing
Purple Tentacle out of the Outer Lab.
JJ. HOW DO I GET WEIRD ED TO HELP ME?
You need to find his package for him. The mailman
will leave it sitting next to the mailbox and then ring the doorbell
to let you know it arrived. Have one of the kids run out and snag it
before Ed comes down to get it. Pull the package and some stamps
will come off. Then give the package to Ed. He will ask you to
find his plans. His plans will now be sitting next to the bushes
in front of the house. The roll of film needs to be developed.
(See question R.) After it is developed, give the plans to Ed and
he will scare off Purple Tentacle when you enter the outer lab.
KK. I NEED A KEY. WHERE ARE THEY?
The key to the front door is hidden under the doormat.
The key to the dungeon is hanging in the chandelier in the living
room. (See question CC.) The key to the pantry door is hanging
in the basement. The card key for the Meteor's room is hiding behind
the hamster. The key to the Edsel is up in Green Tentacle's room.
The key to the coinboxes on the arcade games is in Nurse Edna's room.
The key to the padlocks on the lab door is at the bottom of the
swimming pool.
LL. WHERE DO I FIND THE METEOR POLICE BADGE?
After you call the Meteor Police and they haul away the
evil Meteor, they will leave behind a badge in the dungeon. Just
pick it up and it's yours.
MM. HOW DO I GET PAST NURSE EDNA?
You could have her capture one of the kids and while she
is hauling him down to the dungeon, you can slip in and get to the
attic before she gets back. If you call her on the phone, she will
be so distracted she won't notice if someone sneaks into her room.
(See questions H and I.) You'll have to have Jeff or Bernard fix
the phone in the library with the tools before you can use it.
NN. I'VE MADE IT TO THE INNER LAB. WHAT DO I DO?
It depends. You have to open the door to the Meteor's
room by placing the card key in the card slot. Then put on the
radiation suit and enter the Meteor's room. Pull the switch. See
section 9.0.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
5.0 HOW TO KILL OFF KIDS
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Try one of these ten different ways to bump them off.
Also, when you kill one of them, anything they were carrying
when they died is lost forever.
A. Have kid 1 drain the pool, then have kid 2 (and kid 3
if you want) climb down into it and have kid 1 turn the water back
on.
B. Walk into the meteor's room without a radiation suit
on (while the Meteor is there, of course.)
C. Nuke Ed's hamster in the microwave and then give it
back to him.
D. Fill the glass jar with water from the pool and then
stick it into the microwave. Turn on the microwave and when it's
done, open the door. ARRGGHHHH! Radioactive Steam!
E. Use the keypad next to the security door and the
house will go sky-high.
F. Drain the pool and don't refill it. The house will
go sky-high.
G. Turn off the power and don't turn it back on again.
The house will go sky-high.
H. Push the red button in the pool. The house will go
sky-high.
I. When you enter the secret lab, let Dr. Fred's
self-destruct mechanism reach zero. The house will go sky-high.
J. Have Syd or Razor make a demo tape by playing the
piano. Then send the tape to Mark Eteer. He'll send back a
contract. If you show this contract to the green tentacle
he'll be so jealous that he will kill you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
6.0 OTHER STUFF
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Don't call the Meteor Police too many times or else
they will get mad and refuse to come anymore. So, make sure you
have both lab doors unlocked and open when they arrive.
B. What Nurse Edna says when she hauls someone to the
dungeon and locks them up.
OH! An unwelcome visitor! I got you!
a. You'll be safe here until the police come, dearie.
b. I have half a good mind to talk to my husband!
c. Just you wait until I talk to your mother!
C. Here are some things you can send to Mark Eteer. Something
different will happen depending on what you send.
a. A blank tape.
b. A tape with the tentacle record recorded on it.
c. A tape with the broken record recorded on it.
d. The Meteor's manuscript before it is rewritten.
e. The Meteor's manuscript after it is rewritten.
f. The Green Tentacle's tape.
g. A recording of Syd or Razor playing the piano.
D. Weird Ed gets hungry and wanders down to the kitchen
for a snack early in the game. If you swipe the cheese out of
the fridge, poor Ed and his hamster will have to go hungry.
E. In the beginning of the game, Nurse Edna is hanging
around in the kitchen. If you go in there and she sees you,
she'll chase and grab you. But if you make it out of the
kitchen, she won't follow you. It is very tricky to make it
out of the kitchen before she catches you but it can be done.
Give it a try.
F. You can develop the roll of film without the red
light on. It's kind of funny because all you see is Michael's
head floating in the air like a ghost.
G. Here's a little trick to get past Nurse Edna with only
one kid. Go into her room and IMMEDIATELY switch to another kid.
After about 20 seconds, switch back to Edna's room and she
will be frozen. Then you can wander around her room without
getting caught. If you do this to Nurse Edna while she is
in the kitchen, she will vanish.
H. If you enter Nurse Edna's room and she starts towards
you and you quickly duck out the door to avoid her, then look out.
She will come right out into the hallway after you.
I. There is a bug in the game where you can grab items out
of the microwave when it is still on. This bug will allow you to
grab the hamster out of the microwave and then after the microwave
is done, some hamster bits will strangely appear in the microwave.
Thus you can have the hamster and the exploded hamster at the
same time.
J. In order to become Ed's friend you have to give him his
package. But if you had swiped his hamster earlier while he was
out of his room, you can give it to him and he will be nice to you
and not throw you in the dungeon.
K. Try giving different tapes to the Green Tentacle and see
what happens.
a. A blank tape.
b. A tape with the tentacle record recorded on it.
c. A tape with the broken record recorded on it
d. A recording of Syd or Razor playing the piano.
e. The Green Tentacle's tape.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
7.0 HOW TO GET THROWN INTO THE DUNGEON
---------------------------------------------------------------------
A. In the beginning of the game, Nurse Edna is hanging
around the kitchen for a little while. Just wander in there and
let her nab you.
B. After Nurse Edna is done in the kitchen, Weird Ed
gets hungry and decides to get himself and his hamster something
to eat. Let him catch you and into the dungeon you go.
C. Go outside, push the doorbell and then go back into
the house. When Ed comes downstairs looking for his package and
finds you instead, you'll get a one-way ticket to you-know-where.
D. Flip the circuit breakers in the basement and the
Purple Tentacle will come to investigate.
E. Wander into Weird Ed's room when you are not his friend.
F. If you are his friend, then touch his piggy bank.
G. If you are his friend, try grabbing his hamster.
H. Wander into Edna's room when she is there.
I. Have one kid stand in the basement and have another
kid open the valve under the house. The purple tentacle will
investigate the circuit breakers and arrest whoever is there.
Don't forget to close the water valve after the one kid is
thrown into the dungeon.
J. Go into the outer lab and let the Purple Tentacle
haul you back into the dungeon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
8.0 DIFFERENT WAYS TO GET PAST THE PURPLE TENTACLE
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A. If you had given Weird Ed his secret plans, he will
chase off the Purple Tentacle so you can get into the lab.
B. Show the Meteor's manuscript contract to the Purple
Tentacle and he'll let you in.
C. After the Meteor Police arrive, they will drop a badge
in the dungeon. Just show it to the Purple Tentacle and he
will let you pass.
D. If you had given the recording contract to the Green
Tentacle, he will chase off the Purple Tentacle for you.
E. Have a kid pull the circuit breakers in the basement
and then when the Purple Tentacle comes to investigate show him
the Meteor's manuscript contract.
F. Have a kid pull the circuit breakers in the basement
and then when the Purple Tentacle comes to investigate, show
him the Meteor Police Badge.
G. Have one kid wait in the basement while another kid
opens the valve under the house. When the Purple Tentacle comes
to investigate, have the kid in the basement show him the manuscript contract.
H. Have one kid wait in the basement while another kid
opens the valve under the house. When the Purple Tentacle comes
to investigate, have the kid in the basement show him the badge.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
9.0 HOW TO GET THE DIFFERENT ENDINGS FOR THE GAME
-------------------------------------------------------------------
#1. Turn off the switch in the Meteor's Room, grab the
Meteor, go out the door to the right and you'll be in the garage.
Open up the trunk with the yellow key and throw the Meteor inside.
Close the trunk and start up the car.
#2. Kill off Dave first, then do the same thing as ending #1.
#3. Have the Meteor Police grab the Meteor and then go in
and flip the switch.
#4. Have Wendy retype the Meteor's manuscript and send it
to Mark Eteer. After you flip the switch, give the Meteor the
contract that arrived in the mail.
#5. Do the same as #4 except call the Meteor Police right
before you go into the lab.
#6. Kill off Wendy THEN give the contract to the Meteor.
#7. Okay, this one's a bit tricky. Remove whatever you
need from the garage and then have one of the kids start up the
Edsel. Then when you go down to the lab, flip the switch, grab
the Meteor, and go out the door. Since the garage has been blown
up the gate is now open. Race into the house and up the stairs
to the den. Then feed the Meteor to the plant. Remember to
hurry because the self-destruct mechanism is ticking down.
#8. Kill off all three kids (without blowing up the mansion).
#9. Blow up the Mansion.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
10.0 THE UNTOLD STORY
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[NOTE: The following is an article written by Douglas Crockford.
He worked on the NES version of Maniac Mansion while at LucasArts
and has graciously allowed me to reprint the article in my FAQ.]
Now You're Really Playing with Power:
The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion for the Nintendo Entertainment
System
The Untold Story
Douglas Crockford
I was the on-the-edge new-media/technology guy at the LucasArts
Entertainment Company, a spin-off of George Lucas's Lucasfilm Ltd.
in Marin County, California. Most of my work was (if I may say so
myself) "out there", but sometimes I would take on more mundane
projects to help out.
One such project was the Nintendo version of Maniac Mansion. This
was going to be LucasArt's first Nintendo cartridge. It was an
important project, but the management at Games was overloaded
and the project was slipping between the cracks. I volunteered
to manage its completion.
The original version of Maniac Mansion was designed by Ron Gilbert
and Gary Winnick. It is a graphic story game, in which you
manipulate three teenagers in order to save Sandy the Cheerleader
from Dr. Fred, whose mind is being controlled by an evil purple
meteor from Outer Space. I didn't contribute much to the original
version beyond the package slogan: His ambition was to rule the world...one teenager at a time!
It is usually necessary to make a game run on several different
systems in order to have access to a large enough audience to make
it profitable. The process of moving a game to another system is
called conversion. It is sort of like shooting a movie twice to
get a Beta version and a VHS version.
In the course of converting to Nintendo, we had to redesign all of
the art in order to conform to Nintendo's screen geometry. We also
made some changes to adapt the game to a younger audience.
The bad words we removed, meaning that "The meteor is going to be
pissed" was changed to "The meteor is going to be mad." Howie Rubin
of Jaleco (the company that was going to publish the game under
license) advised us the that the baddest bad word is Kill. The
central activity in most Nintendo games is killing things. The
image and the act are good, but the word is bad, even if the word
does not suggest the image or the act.
The mansion contains a number of arcade video games. One was called
KILL THRILL. The name had to be changed. Doug Glen, our Director of
Marketing, suggested that we change it to MUFF DIVER, which I thought
was a pretty good idea. Unfortunately, I later became aware of the
NES Game Standards Policy, which stated in part:
Nintendo will not approve NES cartridges...with sexually suggestive
or explicit content.
Yikes, MUFF DIVER had to be changed again. In order to minimize the
impact on the artwork, I needed to substitute MUFF with another four
letter word that was less suggestive that could make sense with
DIVER. We settled on the word TUNA.
The standards go on to prohibit depictions of excessive and
gratuitous violence, which would seem to ban any game in which
your character met people, killed them, took their money, and then
bought more weapons. But in fact most Nintendo games are still
faithful to that theme, so we were unclear as to how to interpret Nintendo's policy. In the Super Mario Bros games, which are
considered clean and wholesome, kids routinely kill creatures, and
the only motivation is that they are there.
Clearly, interpreting the standard requires skills beyond mine. There
was stuff still in the mansion that I thought was suspect, but I
couldn't tell if it was out of bounds. I put it all in a Things in
Maniac Mansion list. I gave the list to our friends at Jaleco, and
they told me not to worry about it.
The way cartridges got made at that time was you submitted a finished
game to Nintendo with a letter of credit. If they accepted the game,
they would tell you how many units they would manufacture for you,
when, and at what price. We submitted Maniac, hopeful that our labors
were completed.
A month later we got a report from Nintendo of America's censors:
NOA has discovered the following problems with this program version:
1) There are several places in the screen text that could be felt to
be offensive to NES players. Please ammend [sic] the following:
"For a good time EDNA 3444"
This message is written on the wall in the shower in Dead Cousin Ted's
bathroom. Obviously, you can't have a good time in a Nintendo
cartridge. We couldn't erase the message completely because phoning
Nurse Edna is an important event in the game. We changed it to simply
"Call Edna 3444".
"getting your brains [sic] sucked out."
This is from Dr. Fred's first scene with Sandy. Dr. Fred actually says
"getting your pretty brains sucked out." They didn't state what their
objection was. Were they afraid that NES players would be offended by
threats against an innocent woman, or by the mention of a vital body
part (brain, in this case) or by the horror of brain damage? No, it
turned out that the problem was that the language was too graphic. I
was told that changing sucked out to removed made it ok. In the same
spirit, we voluntarily removed the Disco Sucks poster from the Green
Tentacle's bedroom. We also modified a medical poster in Dr. Fred's
office. The caption on a detail of the head had read "Chewy Caramel
Center." It now reads "Pretty Brains."
"Well, Mommy, I'm worried about him. Well, Mommy, I'm worried! He
hasn't eaten in 5 years. YEAH, SO!!! and he's been bringing those
bodies, and he carries those bodies to the basement at night." [sic]
This was from Weird Ed's dialogue with his mother, Nurse Edna, in
which Ed tries to get his mother to recognize the terrible things that
have happened to his father over the past 20 years. What was
Nintendo's problem with the dialogue? Was it the brutal exposition of
parental neglect in the disintegration of an American family? More
likely, we thought they had a problem with the dead bodies in the
basement, which was essential to establishing the Frankenstein movie
parody flavor of the program.
In fact, Nintendo's interpretation of the speech was that Dr. Fred was
a cannibal, that he was eating the bodies. That was never our
intention, so we changed Ed's speech to "He hasn't slept in 5 years,"
which helps to explain why Dr. Fred is never seen in his bedroom.
But even if we had intended that Dr. Fred was a cannibal, what's the
harm? He would have been one under the influence of the evil purple
meteor. The game recognizes that it is bad, and your mission is to
rescue him from this unhappy state. Who would be offended?
We expected to get nailed on Nurse Edna's character. Most of her
speeches were sexually suggestive. When she locks kids in her dungeon,
she will now say one of the following:
"You'll be safe here until the police come."
"Just wait until I talk to your mother."
"I have half a good mind to talk to my husband."
I wanted her to comment on the Nintendo scene, by saying
"You deserve to die, but I believe it is wrong to take any life."
but that might be viewed as a religious belief, and so be held to be
an anathema to racial, religious or ethnic groups. It is ok to seek
out creatures and destroy them with fireballs, but it is not
necessarily permissible to say that it is wrong.
Nurse Edna's obscene phone call definitely had to go. I considered
replacing it with "No, I don't have Prince Albert in a can, why do you
ask?" but that still gives kids an example of abusive and illegal
telephone behavior.
So instead, we have Edna confuse the caller with Dead Cousin Ted. Edna
never knew of or never accepted Ted's death. When the phone rings,
Edna assumes that it is Ted and starts talking. Her number is
unlisted. Only Ted had it. A natural mistake. This also partially
explains why Edna's number is written on the wall in Ted's bathroom.
2) Also, there are several places where nudity needs to be removed:
the posters in the gym, and the statue in the hall.
There were two posters in Dead Cousin Ted's room: A swimsuit calendar,
and a mummy poster. The mummy is in a playmate pose, completely
wrapped in bandages, no skin visible. We ended up removing both.
The statue was a classical reclining nude. I told one of the Nintendo
minions that it was a Michelangelo (the sculptor, not the turtle).
There was a glimmer of hope that we could keep it if it was really
art, so I sent Gary to find a book of Michelangelo's work, in the hope
that he had made a statue that was similar. In fact he had, a work
called Dawn, for the Medici Chapel.
Nintendo's minions said we could keep the statue if we did something
about the crotch. But if they could see pubic hair where there is
none, what would they see if we tried to hide it?
We removed the statue.
3) There is also a reference at the end of the game to an "NES Scumm
System" that we're not sure we understand. Please advise as to the
meaning of this reference.
In the credits, which are shown after the conclusion of the game,
there are two occurrences of the word Scumm, which stands for Script
Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion. Scumm is the story game
development system which was used to produce Maniac. They understood,
and asked "What is NES SCUMM?" That is the version of Scumm that we
did for the Nintendo. "Yeah, but it says NES SCUMM. What will people
think?"
I don't know what people will think. And we will never know what
people will think. I took it out.
They didn't object to the nasty stuff that happens to the hamster. Ron
suggested that it was just violence.
People from Nintendo say with pride that even though they are growing,
the number of letters they receive from special interest groups is
declining. They insist that their standards are not intended to make
their products bland, but that is the inevitable result.
Part of the formal product submission includes a complete listing of
all of the game text. They scan that for occurrences of the bad words,
but they are also looking for religious artifacts.
Nintendo is a jealous god.
_________________________________________________________________
Things in Maniac Mansion
Hamster:
Sid or Razor can be ordered (by you) to put the hamster in the
microwave oven and blow it up.
If a kid then gives the hamster remains to Weird Ed, then he slowly
realizes what it is. In the next scene, the kid is replaced by a
tombstone in the front yard.
Dr. Fred comes to Weird Ed, saying that the evil meteor needs a
hamster and an electric cattle prod.
Nurse Edna:
When she locks a boy in the dungeon, she says "I should have tied you
to my bed, cutie."
When she locks a girl in the dungeon, she's says "You're lucky you
aren't a boy."
When someone calls her from the phone in the library, she says "Is
this a prank phone call? There's no heavy breathing. Let me show you
how to do it."
Purple Tentacle:
When he locks a kid in the dungeon, he says "I hope you rot."
Meteor Police:
He calls the Purple Tentacle Sucker Face.
He calls the meteor Crater Head.
Meltdown:
If the reactor blows up, everyone within a five mile radius dies.
(This is a cautionary story about home nuclear power.)
When they were originally working on Maniac Mansion for
home computers such as the Amiga, IBM Compatibles, Commodore 64,
etc. they tried to get permission from Coke to use their trademark
but Coke wouldn't let them so they changed it.
"When we got permission from Pepsi, there was an idea
of a cross-promotion, but it didn't happen.
We did add a feature for a Pepsi-sponsored contest, but
it was never used. The house number is random. You send it
in, maybe you'd win something."
-- Douglas Crockford
CP: What was the point of the Pepsi machine in Dr. Fred's Lab anyway?
I know you can get a can of Pepsi out of it with the quarter,
but was there any actual use for it?
DC: In an early version of the original game, the can had a long
serial number. You were supposed to think you could type that
number into the machine and save the world. But it was a trick.
If you tried it, it wouldn't work. Boom. I thought it was a nasty
puzzle and suggested that it be removed.
[NOTE: This next part is NOT referring to the non-hamster version.
Nor does it refer to the prototype version. (See Section 12.0)]
DC: There were two NES versions. One was developed in Japan. The
other I wrote about.
CP: Which version was produced in Japan?
DC: A Japanese version. Never sold in the US. Very different.
I've had a chance to play the Japanese version of Maniac
Mansion and I must say it is quite strange. Released by Jaleco
for the Famicom market in 1988, the game was apparantly programmed
in Japan and bears little resemblance to the great game we know
and love. The graphics are very plain looking and the characters
have a more Japanese look to them. The basic game is the same,
but the graphics are totally different and the control isn't
as good as the U.S./European version of the game.
The U.S. version came out in 1990 and was actually
programmed by LucasArts, who created the original version of Maniac
Mansion. Many of the same programmers actually helped in it's
creation. It's no wonder the U.S. version turned out so great
and the Japanese version turned out so poorly. Of course, I must
admit the extra two years allowed for more advances in programming
techniques to be discovered that would allow for a better game.
Still, the Japanese version is a bit of an oddity and I wouldn't
reccomend parting with very much of your hard-earned cash for this
version of the game.
I suppose I should mention that a rom image of the Famicom
version of Maniac Mansion has been floating around the internet
for a couple of months. PLEASE, DO NOT SEND ME A COPY OF IT!
I DON'T NEED IT! PLEASE DON'T ASK ME WHERE YOU CAN GET IT EITHER!
"The funny thing about the censorship: Most of the stuff
they cut was showcased in their own magazine."
-- Douglas Crockford
The above quote is in reference to the fact that when
Nintendo Power got around to doing a small strategy section/review
of the game, they took pictures of the uncensored version for
the magazine. Thus you can see the statue of Nurse Edna, the extra
stuff on the walls of Dead Cousin Ted's room, etc.
The NES version of Maniac Mansion was based on the scripts
used for the C64 version of the game.
Hopefully with this FAQ you were able to find the
information you needed about Maniac Mansion. The multiple
endings, quirks, and bugs in this game give it considerable
replay value.
As mentioned in the Doug's article, after this game had been submitted to Nintendo for evaluation, it was returned to the
programmers and they were told to delete, remove, and/or change
certain things. They had to change some of the dialogue. A nude
statue on the second floor had to be removed. The word SCUMM had
to be removed from the credits. SCUMM stands for Script Creation
Utility for Maniac Mansion. This is the programming language used
by LucasArts to create the game. There was a pennant hanging on the
wall in Ed's room that said "SCUMM U. RAH!" that was supposed to
be removed, but all the programmers did was make it exactly the same
color as the background. If you click on the wall next to the door
in Ed's room you will find the pennant. It was only after they
changed these things that Nintendo allowed the game to be released.
The evaluators at Nintendo happened to miss the fact that you
could blow up the hamster in the microwave. After the game had been
released and sold, this was discovered and Nintendo forced them to
once again change the game to remove this. Nintendo has since
dropped their censorship policies in favor of a ratings system.
There was an article in an old issue of GamePro that
mentions the hamster being removed from the game. It implied that
an edited version of the game was released in the U.S. This is not
true at all. According to Douglas Crockford, the programmers
actually changed the code, but another run of cartridges were never
produced. So, there was only one version of Maniac Mansion released commercially in North America.
The PAL version of the game is another story entirely. I
received the following email from a gamer living in the UK.
"I was reading v2.0 of your NES Maniac Mansion FAQ. Reading
about the exploding hamster led me to try this out on my UK
version of the game (NES-JM-UKV). [So you can infer that MM
was definitely released in the UK, and I would have thought
Europe as well.]
THIS VERSION HAS HAD THE EXPLODING HAMSTER REMOVED! So the
altered version was released, but maybe only in the UK
and/or Europe. This makes sense, since games were usually
released in Europe some time after their release in the USA.
I don't know whether all or just some of the cartridges sold
in the UK/Europe were the modified version.
When various characters attempt to "USE HAMSTER IN MICROWAVE"
or "USE MICROWAVE WITH HAMSTER", the following replies are
given:
Wendy, Dave and Bernard: "How sick!"
Razor and Syd: "No way, man, these things are just loaded
with cholesterol!""
-- Mark Knibbs
Also, if anyone has a prototype or review copy of
this game I would really like to hear from you. Thanks.
GOD - Without whom none of this would have ever been possible.
Douglas Crockford - Who let me use his article, for putting up
with my numerous questions, as well as helping
to create my favorite NES game.
[http://www.communities.com/people/crock/]
Ron Gilbert
and Gary Winnick - Who originally created Maniac Mansion.
Mark Knibbs - Who gave me information on the UK edition
of Maniac Mansion and who also helped me find
the Famicom version of the game.
[markk@netcomuk.co.uk]
Everyone Else who
worked on the original
MM as well as those who
helped convert it to the NES - Thank you! You did a marvelous job.
