Maniac Mansion

Your girlfriend was abducted by Dr. Fred, presumably for some evil experiment. Naturally, you grab two of your friends, and set out to rescue Sandy from the doctor's house -- the Maniac Mansion.

With a plot like this, it can only be a Horror B-movie. Or, since we're no longer in the 1960s, a computer game parody on that genre. LucasArts' adventure game pays homage to a bunch of cliches, spotting a secret lab, tentacles left over from previous experiments, a family on a similar wierdness level as The Addams Family, and a hidden mastermind, whose identity is only gradually revealed.

In Maniac Mansion you find a chainsaw. That looked very helpful for some special problems, but you couldn't find the gasoline. A lot of talk was generated whether there really was gasoline to find anywhere in the adventure. It wasn't.

One of the stiking points about this game was its replay value. The player at the beginning forms a team of three kids, each of whom has certain talents, such as the ability to play music well. This combination of talents makes for a slightly different game for every different combination. Each of the kids, too, has a distinct personality, and different theme music.

One author must admit that he played hunt-the-pixel for some hours in the mansion's basement. Rumor had it that there was a miniscule hole in one of the pipes, containing the "hot key", which would unlock a cabinet holding the treasured fuel.

The successor game Zak McCracken had the gasoline, but alas, no chainsaw. For years to come that was an in-joke.

You can also play this game in the sequel Day of the Tentacle, where there is an old computer which runs Maniac Mansion.