Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey is a 1996 computer game, a tie-in to the PBS series Wishbone, specifically the episode "Homer Sweet Homer."
The game's premise is this: Wishbone is in a "virtual library", helping the owners try out their new device — the Epigraphic Interactive Pictographic Combobulator, or EPIC-3000. By inserting a book, the user can explore the world of the story. Unfortunately, after Wishbone chooses The Odyssey, something goes wrong and Wishbone gets sucked into the book in place of Odysseus (and animated). With the player's help (and that of the Virtual Librarian, a computer-generated dog based on Wishbone himself), he must make his way through the story in order to escape.
This game contains examples of the following:
- Absurdly Long Stairway: The stairs from Aeolus's tower. Wishbone ends up having to go up what's apparently five flights to reach the top of the tower.
- Adapted Out: Several characters from the original myth simply do not appear, including:
- The Cicones of Ismara, near Thrace, are left out. Instead, Wishbone merely finds the wineskin he got there on the shore near Troy.
- The island of the Lotus-Eaters and its inhabitants, who gave his men a fruit that made them lose their memories.
- The island of the cannibalistic Laestrygonian giants, who devoured all the Greeks save those on Odysseus's personal ship.
- Hermes, who appeared to Odysseus on Aeaea to warn him about Circe in the original myth. Athena, who's been helping Wishbone throughout the game, takes his place here.
- Odysseus's mother, who'd died while he was away, and whom he met in the Underworld. Agamemnon instead takes her role in informing Wishbone of the suitors harassing Penelope.
- The sirens, whose song would have led the ship to crash had the men not stuffed their ears with wax.
- The Phaeacians, whose island Odysseus washed ashore on while heading home from Ogygia.
- Argos, Odysseus's elderly dog, who recognized him and died moments later.
- The swineherd Eumaeus, who assisted Odysseus and Telemachus in dealing with the suitors.
- The housekeeper Eurycleia, who discovered Odysseus's identity after he returned to Ithaca.
- Ancient Grome: Downplayed — in the Greek myths, both the underworld and the god who rules it are named Hades, while the Romans referred to the god as Pluto. In a game that otherwise uses the Greek names, the god is also referred to as Pluto in the Memory Match Mini-Game on Thrinacia and introduces himself as by that name if Wishbone dies and meets him.
- Argument of Contradictions: Wishbone and Poseidon get into one when Poseidon says Wishbone's journey will never end; Wishbone retorts with "Yes it will!", Poseidon says "No it won't", Wishbone replies "Will too!" and Poseidon yells back "Will not", before saying he has "no time for these petty mortal arguments" and leaving.
- Artificial Limbs: Wishbone ends up assembling a set of artificial wings so he can fly across a gap on Thrinacia and get some fruit for his crew to eat. They fall apart when he crashes back on his original side though.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Poseidon lets out a loud "SILENCE!" when Wishbone tries to say he can explain himself for how he handled Polyphemus.
- Bowdlerise:
- Instead of actually blinding Polyphemus by stabbing his eye out, Odysseus merely puts a blanket over his head, covering his eye (though Polyphemus still screams in pain).
- In the climax, Odysseus proving his identity is enough to make the suitors run away immediately, and he doesn't have to fight them at all.
- Canon Foreigner: The duck, which Wishbone remarks on ("Somehow, I don't remember reading anything about a duck in The Odyssey.").
- Cassandra Truth:
- After speaking with Athena for the first time, Wishbone has the option to tell Eurylochus about meeting Athena herself. Eurylochus doesn't believe him until Athena herself calls him out and orders him to help Wishbone take the chest to her temple.
- Wishbone tells Calypso the story of how he got stuck in the Combobulator, albeit in terms that she'd understand. She naturally doesn't realize that the "little dog" he's talking about, who's "trapped in a magic story box", is himself.
- When Wishbone tells Telemachus he's Odysseus, Telemachus refuses to believe him (justified in that a number of impostors have shown up in the intervening years) until he passes a test of finding and retrieving Odysseus's bow.
- Character Name and the Noun Phrase: The title of the game, ''Wishbone and the Amazing Odyssey".
- Chekhov's Gun: A number of items picked up in the game get used on a later island, such as Circe's tapestry and a lyre given to Odysseus by Tiresias in the Underworld, both of which become key to solving a puzzle on Thrinacia.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- The duck, which accompanies the crew from Troy, turns out to be critical to obtaining an item for one of the last puzzles in the game.
- Wishbone takes a sheep from Polyphemus's island; it comes into play in the Underworld for summoning Tiresias.
- Chess with Death:
- Dying causes Wishbone to play an unnamed board game with Pluto (Hades). The first to the potion of Asclepius that restores life wins. Opting out of playing is an automatic game over.
- Non-Death example — Wishbone plays checkers with Circe to free his men after she turns them into pigs.
- Wishbone later plays a game called "The Trojan War" against the deceased Agamemnon, his old companion from the actual Trojan War, in Hades. Winning gets him a coin that he uses in Elpenor's funeral rites.
- Compressed Adaptation: Downplayed — the game tells the story of The Odyssey nearly from beginning to end. Parts left out include Telemachus's journey (though it is referenced as having happened off-screen), the attack on Thrace (where Odysseus originally obtained the wineskin he uses against Polyphemus in the game and myth), the island of the Lotus-Eaters, the Laestrygonians (who captured and ate most of the Greeks), a number of encounters in the Underworld, the island of the Phaeacians, and the attack by the relatives of the suitors after Odysseus defeats them.
- Computer Voice: Invoked — the Virtual Librarian is an electronic version of Wishbone and has a computer-generated voice, sounding just like Wishbone's but with a faint electronic hum to it.
- Cuteness Proximity: Even animals aren't immune to this trope — if a sheep is clicked on, Wishbone will say "Aww, look at the cute sheep!"
- Delicious Distraction: While on Aeaea, Wishbone snags a turkey leg and gives it to Circe's wolf to distract him, letting Wishbone go in and claim the moly herb from Circe's garden.
- Due to the Dead: After learning from Tiresias that his crewman Elpenor had died on Aeaea as their ship was leaving, Wishbone has to acquire a coin from Agamemnon and then use it when carrying out Elpenor's funeral rites after returning to Aeaea.
- Engagement Challenge: In the final phase of the game, Penelope challenges the suitors to shoot an arrow through a setup of axes and shields, bouncing it off the axes correctly and missing the shields until it hits the target at the end, with the winner becoming her new husband. Wishbone, naturally, passes in order to beat the game and escape from the Combobulator.
- Evil Laugh: Polyphemus lets out a few after he's telling his sheep to "Say goodbye to the nice sailors. They won't be here when you get back!"
- Eye Scream: Downplayed. Wishbone covers Polyphemus's head with a blanket, but he still screams and otherwise acts as if he's been permanently blinded.
- Food as Bribe: When the crew arrives at Aeaea, Wishbone tries to get the crew to go ashore. They aren't interested until he says there's probably something to eat on the island besides seafood.
- Forced Transformation: Per the original myth, some of Wishbone's men get turned into pigs by Circe. Even if Wishbone chooses to go ahead on his own instead of sending his men out though, everyone still acts like Circe did this, including Circe herself.
- Foreshadowing: When Wishbone reads the shield he finds on the Cyclopes' island, it says "Wisdom is a light in the dark". Later, when he adds it to Athena's statue, it shines a light on the helmet that Wishbone needs to get into Polyphemus's cave.
- Funny Background Event: While Wishbone is reading the shield of Athena when he finds it on the Cyclopes' island, Polyphemus can be seen entering his cave and accidentally running over his toe with the stone he uses as a door.
- Gargle Blaster: The red wine in the wineskin that Wishbone picked up at Troy is very potent, enough to cause Polyphemus (a giant cyclops) to slur his words and then pass out.
- Genre Savvy: Wishbone, being as well-read as he is, knows there's always a catch when he's offered a way home.
- Graceful Loser: When Agamemnon loses his game of "The Trojan War", he just laughs and congratulates Wishbone on winning, calling him as worthy an opponent as he was a friend before giving him a coin as his prize for victory.
- Haunted Castle: Wishbone runs into what appears to be one in Hades. While he doesn't actually go in or see any ghosts around it, he comments on its general spookiness.
- Implausible Deniability: While on the ship near the island of the Cyclopes, Wishbone asks Eurylochus to come ashore with him, but Eurylochus makes the excuse that he lost both his sandals in the Trojan War... the sandals that Wishbone points out are on his feet. Eurylochus promptly claims it's a miracle and thanks Wishbone for finding them.
- It Tastes Like Feet: Speculative variant — when Wishbone realizes he's become an animated character stuck in The Odyssey, one of his earliest complaints is that now he'll have to eat animated food, which he says will "probably all taste like crayons".
- Laughing at Your Own Jokes: On Thrinacia, Wishbone tells a lame joke to the sacred cattle of Helios ("What's the matter? Not in the moooood to talk?") and laughs at it. The cows just ignore him.
- The Load: Eurylochus. He does as little as possible to help out unless directly ordered by Wishbone (which he has to do both at Troy and on Ogygia, and potentially on Aeaea depending on the player's choice) or goaded by Athena (as happens when Wishbone needs Eurylochus to help him take the chest of loot from Troy over to Athena's temple). He occasionally provides information, but only if directly asked, and on one occasion, cuts off Wishbone before Wishbone can finish a sentence (if Wishbone and Eurylochus board the ship outside Troy before picking up one of the items on the beach, Wishbone can start to say "Say Eurylochus, I was wondering if-" only for Eurylochus to cut him off and say he was wondering the same thing, resulting in Wishbone pointing out that he didn't even finish telling Eurylochus what he was wondering, and then giving up on trying to finish what he was saying). It gets to the point where Wishbone actually finds him annoying enough that if he dies and has to face Pluto, he asks if Pluto would be willing to keep Eurylochus (to which Pluto says no, "I don't intend to take him until I absolutely have to.", indicating that he finds Eurylochus as annoying as Wishbone does). To be fair, this isn't far off from his portrayal in the original legend.
- Magic Map: Downplayed — Athena claims her map is magical, but game-wise it's just a way of selecting a destination to sail on to.
- Memory Match Mini-Game: The third door of Aeolus's tower on Thrinacia is one, matching a god with their symbol. It requires the tapestry from Circe's island to be hung on the door to activate.
- No-Sell: Invoked — Wishbone uses the herb moly, at Athena's advice, to render himself immune to Circe's transformative magic.
- The Nothing After Death: Agamemnon thinks of the Elysium fields as this — he was sent there because he was a hero, but there's nothing to actually do. He ended up entertaining himself by inventing a game based on the Trojan War, and Wishbone has to face him in a round.
- Odd Friendship: Despite viewing Eurylochus as annoying and unhelpful, Wishbone says he's actually going to miss the guy after the latter heads for home.
- Portal Book: When Wishbone inserts his copy of The Odyssey into the Epigraphic Interactive Pictographic Combobulator, it ends up shaping the virtual world he gets sucked into.
- Pungeon Master: Wishbone, per usual. For example, while assembling Athena's statue in her temple, he comments that "You should be able to walk up there on your own" (of the piece with her feet) and "You're the brains of this operation" (for the head).
- A Rare Sentence: During his second visit to Aeaea, Wishbone says to Circe, "Hellooo! I'm back from the underworld! How many people ever get to say that?"
- Rube Goldberg Device: The gadget Odysseus set up to keep his bow away from intruders is very complicated. Working out how to deactivate it serves as the penultimate puzzle of the game.
- Sarcasm Mode:
- Eurylochus is very sarcastic when he thanks Wishbone for sending him and some others to go check out Aeaea.
- He does it again when they're shipwrecked on Ogygia, telling Wishbone "Great job, Captain."
- "Simon Says" Mini-Game: After getting the first door open for Aeolus's tower on Thrinacia, Wishbone has to add the lyre he got from Tiresias to the second door and then listen to it play a set of strings, repeating them three times before that door will open.
- Something Only They Would Say: Or "something only they could do", in this case. Once back on Ithaca, Wishbone approaches Telemachus, who refuses to believe this stranger is his father until Wishbone can do something only Odysseus could — solve a puzzle to retrieve Odysseus's bow from where he stored it before leaving for Troy.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Almost everyone, if the game is played right. Subverted by Elpenor, who died in a fall on Aeaea, and is the only character guaranteed to die in both the original myth and the game.
- Staircase Tumble: After releasing the winds from the tower of Aeolus on Thrinacia, Wishbone starts to head back down, only to end up falling head-over-heels all the way down. Fortunately, he comes out unharmed.
- Take a Third Option: Wishbone tries when Circe informs him of Scylla and Charybdis, who lie between her island and the isle of Ogygia, home of Calypso (who could help him with getting into Aeolus's tower) asking for a third, totally safe path to Calypso's island. Unfortunately, there isn't one.
- Tempting Fate:
- Wishbone has the chance to do this, when he's given an option to "Give him a piece of my mind" when Polyphemus insults him after he and his crew have escaped, but also the option to "Play it safe, and leave". The latter, naturally, will allow the crew to escape unharmed (save for getting yelled at by Poseidon).
- Played straight after they leave — Wishbone comments that it's a beautiful day, only for a storm to come up just before Poseidon reveals himself.
- The suitors initially think it's impossible for anyone to hit the target in Penelope's Engagement Challenge. When Wishbone (still in disguise as a beggar) offers to take a crack at it, the suitors think it'll be funny to watch him lose and sit back to watch, only to end up running away in fear when Wishbone passes the test and they find out he's the real Odysseus (or at least is playing his role).
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: As in the original myth, Penelope is besieged by suitors who refuse to leave until she chooses one of them as a husband. They finally flee when Wishbone shows up and passes the Engagement Challenge that Penelope sets up.
- Trapped in TV Land: Book land, rather, via a virtual reality computer system, but the principle is the same — Wishbone gets sucked into The Odyssey and has to play his way through the story in order to escape.
- Underside Ride: As in the original myth, Wishbone and his men tie themselves to the undersides of Polyphemus's sheep to escape his cave.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Eurylochus and the other men. Eurylochus isn't happy when they get shipwrecked on Ogygia (despite the fact that they're still alive to complain), and after Wishbone goes through all the effort of getting fruit for them on Thrinacia (and crash-landing in the process), his men aren't thrilled and only eat it after he says they can find something else in a week or two. Later, after they're all back home, Eurylochus only begrudgingly thanks Wishbone for getting them there. His other men are far more grateful.
- The Voice:
- A few other cyclopes exist on the same island as Polyphemus, but are only heard as voices after Polyphemus screams.
- The suitors' voices are heard in cutscenes on Ithaca, but they're never actually seen outside of shadows.
