8-Bit is Enough

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Revision as of 19:11, 24 December 2008

The Logo of 8-Bit is Enough

"Uhh... 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, Mike Stemmle, Mark Darin and The Brothers Chaps. Rated E10+ for alcohol and tobacco reference, comic mischief, mild cartoon violence, and mild suggestive themes by the ESRB. It was released December 15, 2008.

When Strong Bad's botched-up stunt damages the Trogdor Arcade Machine, 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/Race Track

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
• 8-Bit Lantern
• Light Musket
• Logic Board
• Med Kit
• Quarter
• Quest Thingie
• 8-Bit Quill
• Scorpion Food
• Snakes
• Taranchula Black Metal Detector
• 8-Bit 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 Stories
6. Buisness Casual Game
7. Weird Japanese RPG
8. Flight Stimulator 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.
• "Yatta!" is a Japanese word which means "I did it!", or "All right!" in English.

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.
  • Despite this, there is a calendar change between the episodes.

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.
  • This is likely because you will become Rather Dashing if you visit Peasantry in Extended Play.
• 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.
• 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.
• If you click the main menu button near the peasents running around at the inn they turn around and look at you.

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 as he does in the trailer.
• The Pitfall! Scorpions from In Search of the Yello Dello return in Halfathlon.
• 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".
• When Chorch gets angry, he says he will make Stinkoman wish he was never born. This phrase was mentioned in Chorch's description in the Stinkomanual.
• Clicking on the pennants in Extended Play will show a credits sequence that mentions Cherry Greg, A. Chimendez, "Lem" Sportsinterviews, Douglas, Levert Burtmore, The Deke, and Dennis, along with Strong Sad and The Cheat.
• The "ultimate" form of Strong Bad was mentoned numerous times during the production of SBCG4AP, namely the SBCG4AP Advertisement and the SBCG4AP Dev Blog. Strong Bad complained numerous time about Telltale Games not using the "concept art", explaining Strong Bad's remark of "Whoa! They finally listened to me!"
  • The concept art appears again during and after the credits.
• The final cutscene has an instance of couch mumbling. The game name he mumbles is Rhinofeeder, which he also mumbled in the beginning of Homestar Ruiner.
• Homestar previously ate coins (albeit more deliberately) in do over.
• Homestar mentions his hremails in one of the hints he gives.

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 are put together and 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 complains about taking a The Color Purple personality quiz when answering an email.
• 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.
    • This could also refer to the act of somersalting into trees to get various objects in The Legend of Zelda series, also by Nintendo.
  • 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 mentions that he used his lucky quarter to beat Street Masher, Street Masher 2, and Street Masher 2: Slightly Different Costumes Edition; these games seem to be based on the Street Fighter series, and indeed, Street Fighter II was infamous for having many minor variations before Street Fighter III came out.
• 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.
• 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 Dennis explains that he and his fellow peasants are an anarcho-syndicalist commune.
• When Strong Mad is in Halfathalon, he will exclaim "GLASNOST! SOLZHENITSYN!"
  • When Strong Bad responds, his pronunciation of "Puttin'" likely refers to Russian president, Vladamir Putin.
• When switching to first person perspective, Strong Bad says "Quake and fear". Quake and F.E.A.R. are two popular first person shooters.
• The head-up display (HUD) that Strong Bad gets when he enters Trogdor's Lair appears similar to the HUDs in the first three games of the Doom series.
• When Strong Bad gives the trophy to Strong Mad, he says "ich bin ein donut". This is an obvious variant of Ich bin ein Berliner. Furthermore, it is a play on the urban legend that the German phrase means "I am a jelly donut."
• When entering Peasantry from the Videlectrix Mainframe any time after solving the code wheel, Strong Bad says, "Load p-quest comma eight comma one" referencing LOAD“FILE”,8,1 the command needed to load games and programs into many Commodore computers.
• When summoning Boxer Joe, Strong Bad sometimes says "Round 1, FIGHT!" the same way Shao Kahn does in Mortal Kombat.
• When Strong Bad finally uses the performing bear, he shouts "I choose you." This is a clear reference to Pokémon.

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
• Adventure Classic Gaming review