History VideoGame / SamAndMaxTheDevilsPlayhouse

->"''[[EpisodicGame Over the next five chapters]], you will witness things that [[MindScrew baffle you]], [[NightmareFuel horrify you]], even [[NauseaFuel disgust you]]''. But you must not look away! ''Pay close attention to everything you see and hear! Because when our story reaches its bowel tingling climax, only'' you, ''my friends, will possess the ability to save the entire universe''.

* ShapeShiftingSquick: In ''The Tomb of Sammun-Mak'' Maximus is transformed into a cow and [[spoiler: Sameth ''milks'' him]].

* HeartbrokenBadass: [[FanNickname Noir Sam]] is basically a parody of this: He's imitating resident badass Flint Paper, but he also has the option to go into random "Noir" Speeches, which is basically Angst.

* ItIsPronouncedTropay: Skun-ka'pe's preferred pronunciation of his name, which everyone [[DevilInPlainSight blind to his villainy]] uses. No one seems to notice Sam and Max's pronunciation of "Skunkape" except for Sal, which strikes him as witty.
** Papierwaite pronounces his own name as 'Pa-pi-er-weight', but it's pronounced by everyone else as 'Paperweight'.

* RealityEnsues:
** Because of the giant crack in the street caused from the last season's events, the entire local block had to be shut down for repairs, including Sam & Max's office, forcing them to perform their duties from the comfort of their [=DeSoto=].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Sammun-Mak was capable to return to power thanks to be in Max's Body]]. Now, who put him there in first place? Exactly.

''Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse'' is the third season of Creator/TelltaleGames' ''Franchise/SamAndMax'' adventure game series, starting on April 2, 2010, and concluding on August 30, 2010. In here, the Freelance Police embroiled in a plot to collect "Toys of Power" that grant those with the ability to wield them (including Max, conveniently enough) awesome psychic powers. Said plot involves [[KillerSpaceMonkey evil gorillas from space]], [[EldritchAbomination eldritch horrors]] and mole-men.

* GeniusBonus: Right before she [[spoiler: attempts to assassinate Sammun-Mak,]] Nefertiti cries "Sic semper tyrannis, junior!" "Sic semper tyrannis" is Latin, and can be translated to "Thus always to tyrants." It's a phrase typically attributed to Marcus Junius Brutus, the most prominent figure in the assassination of Julius Caesar.

* GenkiGirl: Right before she [[spoiler: attempts to assassinate Sammun-Mak,]] Nefertiti cries "Sic semper tyrannis, junior!" "Sic semper tyrannis" is Latin, and can be translated to "Thus always to tyrants." It's a phrase typically attributed to Marcus Junius Brutus, the most prominent figure in the assassination of Julius Caesar.

* CerebusRetcon: [[RunningGag The place Max stores things being "none of your damn business"]] becomes an actual ''gameplay mechanic'': he now has his own an inventory for the Toys of Power, and unlike Sam's items they can't be confiscated by normal means unless Max is holding one because no one knows where to look.

* HowWeGotHere: Subverted in "The Penal Zone", when [[spoiler:Max uses the future-vision goggles to realize how he and Sam are going to defeat Skun'ka-pe. Skun'ka-pe discovers the goggles and uses them to see their plan and promptly throw a spanner in the works.]]

* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:Sal.]]

-->'''The Narrator''': Sam, Sam. They say idle hands are the devil's playthings, but there is something far, ''far'', worse. An idle mind is ''the devil's playhouse''. A stage for the most vapid, horrible, and destructive stories to be made real... Didn't think I could work in the title, did you?

* JailBait:
-->'''Girl Stinky:''' [[spoiler: [[PowerIsSexy That Sammun-Mak]]]]... rowr.\\
'''Max:''' Isn't he, like, ten?

* EmotionEaster: The Spores from "The City That Dares Not Sleep" feed off of the psychic energy produced by nightmares. It tastes like Pepsi (among other things).

*** Sam, Max, Skunk'ape, Skinky and Grandpa Skinky are trapped in a restaurant, surrounded by [[spoiler: Zombie Maxes]] and someone suggests playing the jukebox. [[Film/ShaunOfTheDead What does that remind us of?]]

*** When Sam looks at a BigRedButton on a control panel in the cloning facility and wondrs what it's for:
---->'''Max''': ''[[Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger (in a certain teutonic accent)]]'' [[Film/TotalRecall1990 "You have what you vant! Now give zem zer air!"]]

** In 305, you encounter another one of Skun-ka'pe's minions, named Gra-pea'pe. If you remove all the PunctuationShaker elements, (the same method Sam uses to turn the name Skun-ka'pe into "Skunkape" or "Skunk Ape"), you get "Grapeape", or "[[WesternAnimation/TheGreatGrapeApe Grape Ape]]". Similarly, another one of his minions' is named [[WesternAnimation/MagillaGorilla M'gila]].

--> '''Paperwaite:''' Unfortunately, when the elder gods were banished to the Dark Dimension, Junior's Toy Box was lost during the move. And in the millenia since, ''[[SeriousBusiness he just will not STOP whining about it!]]''

* BiggerBad: Junior of Season 3. He is even more powerful than Yog-Soggoth, the Devil's Toybox, and those with the Gift and is the reason the Devil's Toybox is in Sam and Max's dimension in the first place. However, due to his botched summoning, he never has a chance to make it to BigBad proper and only has indirect influence on the plot through [[spoiler: Charlie Ho-Tep, who seeks to bring him to the plane of Earth, and Giant Max who thanks to ingesting an essence of Junior is part Dark Dimension creature.]]

* EldritchAbomination: Yog Soggoth, [[spoiler:his grand-child, Junior, and ''Max'', when his Psychic Powers finally awaken.]]

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* LoveTriangle There's also a really bizarre one implied between Sam, Max and Momma Bosco. Momma Bosco fell for Max and accused Sam of being jealous, but she lost interest as soon as Max showed any; and now Max is lusting after her, even though she doesn't seem to care anymore, and actually seems to be interested in ''Sam.'' Hopefully nothing comes of this, and it really ''is'' just implied. ''[[spoiler: VideoGame/PokerNight2]]'' [[spoiler: hints that this may have come to fruition, as Sam states when asked that he's "Off the market"]].

** Because of the giant crack in the street caused from the last season's events, the entire local block had to be shut down for repairs, including Sam & Max's office, forcing them to perform their duties from the comfort of their DeSoto.

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by the saying this is the result of the new Mayor of New York's "This is a City, not a Day Care Center" campaign, and importing New Jersey's surplus supplies of grime.

* HaveANiceDeath: Unusually for a (pre-[[VideoGame/JurassicParkTheGame Jurrasic Park]]) Telltale game, "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak" features [[TheManyDeathsOfYou numerous ways to die]] (indeed, the [=PS3=] version has a trophy if you see them all). However, the game is being told as a cinematic flashback to Sam and Max's ancestors, who aren't supposed to die [[spoiler: until the very end of the game]]. Thus, every time you perish, you're sent back to just before you screwed up and got killed, so you can try again without any hassle.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Of the five episodes, only "The Tomb of Sammun-Mak" actually winded up with a T-rating, meaning that everything outside of that episode got an E10+ rating, which they clearly push to the limit:
** In "The Penal Zone", various characters have fun with the term "Penal zone". Eventually Max lampshades it:
---> '''Skun-ka'pe''': ...Not only did I defeat Sam and Max, but I took care of the Penal Zone in one stroke!\\
'''Max''': Unfortunate word choice.
** There's a trophy in the [=PS3=] version of "The Penal Zone" called "Don't ask your Parents".
** In ''They Stole Max's Brain'', Sam [[spoiler: [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath stabs a ten year old in the face with a corkscrew and rips out their brain.]]]]
** "The City That Dares Not Sleep": Based on the 80's adult film ''Totally Into Max''"
** "This must be where Max keeps his junk." "No, that's a couple of stories down."

-->'''Skun'ka'pe:''' [[Film/FlashGordon1980 Gordon's alive?!]]
*** [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes "I can't wait to get my stinkin' paws on that damn, dirty ape!"]]