The many characters of Maniac Mansion Mania, including some new faces.
"The sheets are aligned mathematically exact."
— Bernard
Maniac Mansion Mania
is a series of Fan Sequels created by LucasFan from 2005 onwards. They are based on Maniac Mansion and sometimes Day of the Tentacle. The Point-and-Click Game is created with Adventure Game Studio. The game involves Maniac Mansion characters in a unique style that is spread out episodically, like a TV series. The episodes are thus arranged in seasons, though there are also non-sequitur specials. Most episodes are comedic.
The characters live in Ronville, based on Ron Gilbert's name. Bernard the uber-smart nerd inventor is the protagonist. Additional characters are also featured, usually family or friends. Hoagie and Michael Stoppe make quite a number of appearances.
The public is free to create their own projects, provided it meets required standards.
Unfortunately, most of the episodes are in German only.
Find all English episodes here.
Maniac Mansion Mania features these tropes:
- Alliterative Family: Britney is Bernard's sister.
- Alliterative Title: Maniac Mansion Mania.
- Berserk Button:
- Weird Ed still flips out whenever something horrible happens to his hamster.
- Do not mess with Harry's food. Hoagie learnt this the hard way.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Britney, Bernard's sister. She often gets into spats with her brother.
- The B Grade: The whole point of episode 9. Bernard bemoans the fact he got an A- for his chemistry. It's not his fault though, Green Tentacle caused an accident in the cellar, causing that part of the house to be contaminated with radiation.
- Big Eater: Hoagie's weight and hunger is often Played for Laughs.
- Black Dude Dies First: Averted in the 2005 Halloween special. Michael actually dies after Dave and Klaus do.
- The Bully: Klaus. He even threatened Bernard about doing his homework.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Done often. Characters sometimes look at or talk to the player many times throughout the episode, and sometimes have Medium Awareness.
- Demoted to Extra: LaVerne. Although Day of the Tentacle main character Hoagie makes numerous appearances, LaVerne has been reduced to cameos, such as being a student in a classroom cutscene.
- Fan Sequel: The series takes place after the events of Maniac Mansion and sometimes also after Day of the Tentacle.
- Find Out Next Time: Numerous episodes end with a variation of, "See what happens on the next episode!"
- Gadgeteer Genius: Bernard, who among other inventions created a wheel that never stops spinning and can incredibly be used as a power source.
- Geek: Bernard, inventor of many things, obsessed with scientific precision in all areas. It's gotten to the point where his dad tells him to just have some fun.
- Guide Dang It!: The series is entirely made up of Moon Logic Puzzles and verb UI, so any player unseasoned to this type of adventure game is going to have to refer to a guide multiple times. Thankfully, nearly every episode has a walkthrough, Google Translate sometimes helpful.
- Identical Grandson: Hoagie looks almost identical to his father Harry.
- Instant Home Delivery: Any time something is delivered, it happens instantaneously; so often to the point where characters often comment about how amazingly fast the delivery company is. Sometimes the sales listings even say "instant delivery."
- Lost in Translation: Episodes are all in German, and when translated to other languages, specific jokes completely lose their meaning due to word differences or cultural differences.
- Medium Awareness: Characters sometimes recognize the fact that they're in a game or episodic series, by saying things such as, "Oh yes, that happened last episode" or making a comment about being in a game.
- Moon Logic Puzzle: The series is made up of these, sometimes invoking a Guide Dang It!. Many puzzles are complex or use strange logic enough that you may feel compelled to use every verb on every object.
- Multiple Endings: Some episodes. One example is episode 9, where you are required to send the hamster back to Weird Ed. If you send the hamster to Ed unharmed, he will become Bernard's friend for life. If you blow the hamster up before sending it back, Ed will swear revenge on Bernard.
- Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork: Bernard cheers whenever Mr. Koslowski gives tough homework, and once he claims to wish he could get into a "hot and sweaty" homework session upon inspecting his desk.
- Pixel Hunt: The cause of many difficult puzzles. Areas or objects can be very small to find, and normally indistinguishable from the map.
- Plot Holes: In one episode, after observing some acid Bernard says, "Just a fair warning: Plot Hole ahead." The acid is later used on a window to dissolve the glass so an object can be thrown out - because Bernard didn't want to simply throw the object through the glass.
- Really Gets Around: Britney, Bernard's sister, whose published diary led a senator to be questioned for a "scandal," and who often openly admits she doesn't care what a man is like as long as he can have sex.
- Restrained Revenge: In episode 1, Bernard wants to get revenge on his sister Britney by "messing up her bed." Although, what he actually ends up doing is much more sinister.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Hoagie's father, Harry, only speaks in rhyme.
- Running Gag: Many.
- A hatch opener appears in many episodes after its debut in episode 2, to the point where Bernard once points out he doesn't know how many different ways he's had to open the damn hatch.
- Mark Eteer makes a cameo in countless episodes, where he gives his commercial about mailing something in, even on episodes where you don't mail anything! His business even expands from publishing to sales later.
- Weird Ed's hamster gets lost quite a few times.
- Self-Deprecation:
- Characters sometimes make comments about how something is the result of a lazy programmer or that something looks like a rendition of poor art.
- In episode 83, there's an easter egg where you open and close the cupboard in Hoagie's dining room six times. A cameo character will appear and say that he "wishes he could solve some good riddles" too. Walking around the room, he observes objects and says things like, "That is a table," "I can't use it," and "That is already open." He even reveals that he's carrying a strange random object because he "wants to combine it with something."
- Useless Item: Many objects that can be interacted with in some episodes are unusable in others.
- Video Game Caring Potential: On many episodes, you can return Ed's lost hamster back to him unharmed. (Although on some of those episodes, the other option is to return it exploded instead.)
- Video Game Cruelty Potential:
- In multiple episodes, you can optionally microwave Ed's hamster.
- Averted in a particular episode where you can repeatedly ask Bernard to microwave the hamster. Although he ponders it at first, he refuses each time, until he will only call the player "master of cruelty."
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: In episode 53, if you try to use brute force on any female, Klaus will say he doesn't beat women.
