8-Bit is Enough

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Revision as of 12:22, 17 December 2008

The Logo of 8-Bit is Enough

"Uh, anybody know how to kill a dragon?"

8-Bit is Enough is the fifth and final Episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Season One. Written by Chuck Jordan and The Brothers Chaps. Rated E10+ for comic mischief, mild cartoon violence, and mild suggestive themes. It was released December 15, 2008.

Trogdor makes his debut, doing what he does best: burninating the countryside! What's more, other 8-bit games are leaking into the real world, throwing Free Country, USA into chaos! Only High Lord Awesome can take back the night and conquer this scorching menace, once and for all! Only question is: anybody know how to kill a dragon?

A brief trailer for this episode is included in Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective.

Cast: Strong Bad, The Cheat, Strong Sad, Homestar Runner, Bubs, Marzipan, Strong Mad, Coach Z, The Poopsmith, The King of Town, Trogdor, Stinkoman, Videlectrix Guys, Bear Holding a Shark, Gel-Arshie, Boxer Joe, The Algebros, Dancing Bear, Limozeen, Rather Dashing, Old Man, miscellaneous peasants, Browntant, Chorch, Horrible Painting, ULTIMATE TROGDOR!!!

Places: House of the Brothers Strong, The Field, Videlectrix Mainframe, Crates!, Gel-Arshie's Pro Fruitboarder, Peasantry, Planet K, Halfathlon

Preview Transcript

{"in the next episode of STRONG BAD'S COOL GAME FOR ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE" is displayed in the Joystix font. Cut to the back of the telebision, with a short bvit of dramatic music. Pan up to show Strong Bad on the couch, playing Space Circus Catastrophe, with the music also heard.}

STRONG BAD: Ha-ha! Missed me! {Puts down the controller, squints his eyes} Aw, crapsicles.

{ Stinkoman pops up from behind the veiwer's left side of the couch, Strong Bad looks at him}

STINKOMAN: Ha ha ha ha! {Stinkoman points at Strong Bad} One day you'll get your baby turn! {Cut to a close up of Stinkoman} For babies! {The camera zooms in closer and angles in on Stinkoman} Who have a turn!

{Cut back to couch. Strong Bad is still squinting his eyes.}

STRONG BAD: {Tilts his head down} Okay! Man, {Tilts his head up} shut up!

STINKOMAN: {Drops back down and reappears on the other side of the couch, with his shoulders shrugging, Strong Bad looks at him} YOU shut up! You're dumb! {Stinkoman lowers his shoulders. Strong Bad lowers his eyelids.} And your head is wide {Stinkoman makes a distance with his hands.} like the river! {Points at Strong Bad. Strong Bad looks away from him, eyelids still lowered} You have the river head! {While laughing, he appears on the left side of the couch, then the top of the screen, then the bottom right corner of the screen, and last the bottom-left-center corner of the screen.} Ha ha ha ha!

{The 8-Bit Is Enough logo appears on a swirling kamikaze background with a shing sound effect. An orchestra-themed music plays. Strong Bad and Stinkoman collide in the center of the screen, replacing the logo with "STRONG BAD'S COOL GAME FOR ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE" and with "New episode every month!" in yellow in Joystix as in a black strip in the same swirling kamikaze background. The screen goes black. Thunder and brief glimpses reveal Trogdor. Trogdor roars. The Trogdor theme from the Peasant's Quest plays. There is then a cut to Stinkoman and Trogdor on the couch. Trogdor is holding the Fun Machine controller in his beefy arm. Stinkoman is laughing inaudibly, and Trogdor is roaring. There is a pan left, to see Strong Bad.}

STRONG BAD: Uh, anybody know how to kill a dragon?

{Cut to a black screen, fading in the text "www.telltalegames.com" or "Play it on WiiWare" in Joystix. "www.telltalegames.com" appears on the PC version or on the online video, while "Play it on WiiWare" will be shown on the Wii version.}

Inventory

• Cell Phone
• Key
• 8-Bit Key
• Lantern
• Light Musket
• Logic Board
• Med Kit
• Quest Thingy
• Quill
• Scorpion Food
• Snakes
• Taranchula Black Metal Detector
• Tea Bag
• TrogSword(TM)
• Trophy

Party Members

• Algebros
• Boxer Joe
• Gel-Arshie
• The Innkeeper
• Limozeen's Space Machine
• Mista Fixit (The Poopsmith)
• Peasants
• Performing Bear
• Putchnya Shotski (Strong Mad)
• Rather Dashing

Ranks

1. (blank)
2. Creepy Adult Software
3. Games "For Girls"
4. Sub-Text Adventure
5. Point 'N' Sick Adventure (Not exact name)
6. Buisness Casual Game
7. Weird Japanese RPG
8. Flight Simulator 2009
9. 2nd Person Shooter
10. Non-Lame Movie Tie-In
11. Omnisensory VR Netskin
12. SBCG4AP MMORPG!!

Fun Facts

Explanations

• Shovelware is low quality, quickly ported or programed computer programs, usually done to capitalize on a trend or make a quick profit.
• In the intro, Strong Sad says that the arcade game's fan needs to be serviced, and Strong Bad asks where he can find any fan service. Fanservice is content added mainly to please the fans. It is quite appropriate, then, that Trogdor starts to break out of the arcade immediately after Strong Bad's question.

Trivia

• This is the only episode to lack Pom Pom; since Homsar is also missing, this means that this episode has the fewest main characters at 10; all of the others had 11 or 12.
• This and Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective are the only two episodes to happen on the same day.

Remarks

• In the preview for this episode, Strong Bad has a black outline, and his arms look oddly deformed for some reason.
• Even in extended play, you cannot go outside with a costume in this episode.
• When the difficulty slider is set to "high" but the lever hasn't been pulled to make Professor Pineapple shoot fruit in Gel-Arshie's Pro Fruitboarder, there is a steady stream of pineapple slices, but no other changes to the game. However, when both are set, there is an extremely high amount of fruit even discounting the fruit Professor Pineapple shoots.

Goofs

• When used in the fight against the Ultimate Trogdor, Gel-Arshie claims that he can't be burninated because he's inflammable. However, inflammable actually means the same thing as flammable.

Glitches

• The costume items from Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective, excluding the Dangeresque Glasses, are not available in the Snap Shak in the PC version, apparently due to a writing error in Episode 4.

Inside References

• Trogdor has previously appeared in Free Country USA in Trogday 08.
• Stinkoman and Strong Bad previously met in the email alternate universe and Stinkoman also previously appeared in Free Country USA in 3 Times Halloween Funjob.
  • Stinkoman also insulted Strong Bad in alternate universe, saying he has a big nose.
• The introductory narration is similar to the one used in fingers. The announcer of said introduction also appeared in the same email.
  • Homestar also mispronounced "Previously" in DNA Evidence.
• When Strong Bad goes through a video game portal, his last two transformations are Atari Strong Bad and Secret Collect. Strong Bad, respectively.
• When Trogdor is vanquished, Homestar's mentions that he must have been a "load-bearing dragon", which is a Thy Dungeonman reference.
• Strong Bad talking about the Fluffy Puff Jela-Ton he won during the Race to the End of the Race is a reference to Homestar Ruiner.
• Mr. Shmallow can be seen on the Pineapple Gun.
• Upon entering the Peasantry area, Strong Bad will remark on the game's status as "the best-selling video computer TV game of all time", as it was previously referred to as in Peasant's Quest Movie Trailer.
  • Likewise, the music from the trailer plays as background music in Peasantry, and Rather Dashing speaks exactly like how he does in the trailer.
• The Pitfall! Scorpions from In Search of the Yello Dello return in Halfathlon.
• The video games invading Free Country, USA, and messing up reality likely pays homage to virus.
• In addition to the four historical figures, the puzzle wheel in the Videlectrix Mainframe depicts Trogdor, the Jhonka, Thy Dungeonman, and Kid Speedy.
• The Taranchula standee that Strong Bad "fights" in Strong Badia the Free returns, but without the fire and ice heads.
• The loading screen for the first-person segment reads "Get SBLOUNSKCHED!", a reference to candy product.
• In Extended Play, when trying to get ye flask, the text on the bottom reads "seriously, get ye flask".

Real-World References

• The title is a reference to Eight Is Enough, a television comedy-drama from the late 1970s and early '80s.
• Lady Crate Ape is a take off of Donkey Kong.
  • When Marzipan is possessed by the spirit of the game, her expression is similar to Kong's expression on the original video game cabinet. Strong Bad also frequently refers to her as "Marzy-Kong".
  • The way the portions of the scaffolding fall down when she stomps on the roof mimics the way the game begins in most versions, minus the part where the entire thing collapses.
• Strong Bad climbing the vine with the smiling cloud on the Awesomeness screen is modeled after Super Mario Bros. 2
  • Similarly, the bushes with eyes in the intro screen are another reference to the Mario series.
  • When Strong Bad first enters Peasantry, he assumes hitting his head on things will make coins come out, a reference to the theme of making coins come out of blocks by jumping into them in said series.
  • The music and appearance of the ghosts haunting the House of Strong (particularly the ghosts flying out the front when outside) is reminiscent of the ghost houses in Super Mario World.
• Some of the games depicted on the Awesomeness screen are Pong, Tetris, and Asteroids.
• At one point, Gel-Arshie says "Hi! I'm Gel-Arshie!" in exactly the same way Hugh Bliss says his catchphrase "Hi! I'm Hugh Bliss!" in Sam And Max Season One
• "The ladder is a lie" may be a reference to Portal, where the phrase "the cake is a lie" is written all around the testing facility.
• Homestar will, at one point, pop up and say "Hey! Listen!" He does so in the same fashion as Navi in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.
• If Strong Bad shoots at a ghost in The Field and misses, The Cheat pops up to laugh at him. This is similar to Duck Hunt, where the player's hunting dog does the same.
• Strong Sad saying "You shall not pass!" is a reference to Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog in Fellowship of the Ring.
• Also, Strong Sad's line "Abandon all hope, ye who enter" is a reference to what is written above the entrance to the gates of Hell in Dante's epic poem The Divine Comedy.
• The first person section is a reference to Wolfenstein 3D by iD Software; the King of Town's appearance and death speech are references to that game's depiction of Hitler.
  • In addition, the name of the castle where this takes place is "Castle Poopenstein".
• The show that Strong Bad says on TV, "Videlectrix Saturday Mornideo Games", refers to the Saturday Morning cartoon series Saturday Supercade which aired on CBS from 1983 to 1985.
• The words "ALL WORK AND NO FRUIT MAKES GEL-ARSHIE A DULL BOY" that fill up the TV screen after beating the Gel-Arshie game with the kill screen is a reference to the movie The Shining.
• Strong Bad looking through the TrogSword in 20X6 is a reference to Thundercats, in particular Lion-O's transformation sequence. He also makes a reference to He-Man during this sequence.
• Several historical figures appear in the "Spirit of '76" game, including John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and Paul Revere. All figure significantly in the American Revolution.
  • Samuel Adams saying he "probably invented beer" refers to the Samuel Adams brand of beer.
  • When you give him the item, John Hancock says to make sure your family is insured, a reference to the John Hancock Insurance company.
• Interacting with the mirror in the bathroom will make Strong Bad reference the Bloody Mary legend.
• Strong Bad saying "Round 1, Fight!" is a reference to Mortal Kombat.
• The Gel-Arshie portion of the game is likely a reference to Cool Spot, a 1993 product placement game for 7-Up that featured its red mascot on a surf board.
• After using Gel-Arshie on the lava pit in Halfathalon, he says the line "What's in the box?", a reference to the movie Se7en.
• The "Bloodstone" in Trogdor's Lair is a reference to the game Return to Krondor, in which there is a "Nightstone" that casts everything in red light and reveals a hidden place, which holds the secret to destroying your enemy forever.
• Strong Bad's remark about the peasants starting a commune is a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, specifically the scene in which the peasants live in an anarcho-syndicalist commune.

External Links

• Telltale blog entry confirming Trogdor's appearance
• Official episode page
• forum thread re: "8-Bit is Enough"
• Telltale forum thread re: "8-Bit is Enough

Reviews

• WiiWare World review
• IGN review