Who better to clean up space than Janitors? Space Quest I, II, III

This is in other places... but I thought I'd mention it here as well. You can play Space Quest right now in your browser over at www.sarien.net There are some bugs and no sound, but you can still play them. Steam is also selling a SQ collection right now and most game stores still have copies of the last re-release of the SQ collection on CD (the newest one doesn't have the original SQ on it though, only the VGA re-make)

Space Quest had a VGA remake that restyled a lot of the game to be more Flash-Gordony. Droids 'B' Us kept its name, but it got a robot giraffe mascot out of spite.

I seem to remember some sort of magnet that would let you trick the slot machine into winning for you. Or is that just in the remake?

Am I misremembering, or is there some sort of copy protection involved with getting enough money to leave?

That was in the remake, yeah.

Space Quest 1 didn't have any sort of copy-protection that I can recall...

I also just found out (by research and then verified) that in vers 2.2 of the game (there are three versions 1.0x, 1.1a, and 2.2) you can cheat the slot machine by typing holy shit, which lets you pick what you want the next "roll" of the machine to be!

I thought I knew everything about this game...

You still haven't shown the meteor death!

There was copy-protection in the VGA version. You had to look up the correct symbols to punch in when you find out what sector you're supposed to go to.

I believe the coordinates we just saw change as well. The pilot describes a landmark, and you need the manual to get the coordinates.

I went looking for it... and couldn't find it! East of the outcrop, south of the out crop, north of it and west!

Maybe it isn't in v. 2.2? (the only one I have now)

I mean, I found it... you've got to wait on screen for it, if you move much the worn gets you, here it is:

Roger finally knows where to go and he has the means to get there! Shaking off, the lingering effects of the alien bromide, Roger makes his way to his new ship:

Roger is approaching the Deltour as we speak:



In his excitement in actually getting this far Roger leaps out of his ship:



whoops, looks like Roger needs some way to provide direction to his life:



Ignoring the door Roger explores the exterior of the ship to the right (or left):



note to future self: Don't go exploring the exterior of the Deltour!

Okay lets give that door a try:



What a rude droid! But I'm still stuck... I wonder what do know... Oh, wait the droid is coming back! I'll just follow him out!

In the next episode Roger crawls ever closer to being a hero!

Roger quickly follows after the weird sounding droid before the door closes behind it and finds himself:



in a spare room? Doesn't seem much to do here, lets go exploring:



Okay, looks like the Sariens aren't receiving guests at the moment, Roger will have to come up with something else... There are two ways to get Roger where he needs to be, both involve that chest we saw in the spare room. We can either hide in it, or use it to get to that vent and live out that action movie standard: crawling through ducts. The points are the same, either way. We'll do the vent one, first Roger stashes the jetpack in the chest, then pushes it up against the wall underneath the vent:



The ventilation system of the ship loops on itself, so it doesn't matter if you go up or down, just turn off at the next right:



The Laundry Room? This is the most boring spaceship ever! What next Roger? Using the 2 working brain cells nature gave him Roger devises his most brilliant plan ever, to hide inside the washing machine, until he thinks of something better to do. Oh, shit here comes someone:



Now that Roger looks, but thankfully doesn't smell, like one of the Sariens he can safely explore the rest of the ship and figure out exactly what it is he's supposed to do!

As a long-time lurker but first-time poster in this Let's Play, I have to say that the working ship you have to buy originally belonging to that asshole alien who would trick you into a back alley holdup at laser point and steal your cash is awesome. Karma's a bitch, ain't it?

I always took a little too much pleasure from that scene as a kid playing this game, and the first time I played it, with my brother and friend, we were all yelling and whopping how that jerk alien had it coming =P

As long as no one asks Roger to take his helmet off, he should be okay. Let's go exploring!

Sadly Roger's despite need for friendship overrides any caution he might have had and he begins striking up conversations with every Sarien he encounters:



Roger isn't talking just to hear his own voice. You can get 2 or 3 points if you have a conversation with a Sarien about King's Quest 2, but the conversations are random so I've got to keep trying, it finally happens though, and then I kiss the alien (for an additional point):



With those tasks out of the way Roger moves to the upper floor of the Deltour where the Star Generator and Guns are to be found:



The elevator on the left takes you up, the one on the right won't be accessible 'til later



Here we are, just to the right is where the star generator is located, and here it is:



Drats there is someone guarding it and there appears to be some sort of shield protecting it as well...

That droid there would kill Roger if he didn't have the uniform on, but since Roger does, it just ignores him. We'll be heading back to the left to get to the upper level and the armory

Roger continues making his way through the Deltour:



Here it is the Armory and hopefully some answers to how Roger will manage to save his Planet and himself:



An ID card? Shit! Does Roger have one of those? a quick search of his new uniform reveals that indeed he does:



He hands it over to the droid who goes into the back to get Butston Freem's weapon, while the droid is in the back Roger quickly picks up one of those grenades on the counter (the game only lets you carry one at a time, and we'll need both to get that perfect score.) The droid returns and hands over a pulseray to Roger.

That's right now the Sariens will tremble in fear!

Sadly as Roger was walking around he dropped the grenade cutting his mission short:



There must be a better way to use this thing:



That seemed to do the trick! Now lets go back for that other grenade. I hand over my ID again and snap up the remaining grenade before the droid comes back to report:



While heading down to more closely inspect our handiwork in the Star Generator room, Roger runs across a sentry droid and, just for kicks shoots at it:



At least, the droid doesn't try to kill me for shooting it.

Here are some of the ways Roger has managed to die on the Deltour so far that I haven't yet shown.

Waiting around in the Laundry Room:



Shooting in the Armory:



Taking a Grenade after being warned:



Showing ID to droid a third time:



Try to sneak out of the Armory with a grenade without getting your pulseray:

We've got three new things since last our inventory was updated.

an ID Card:



a Pulseray:



and a smoke grenade:



Next update is either the ultimate or penultimate post for Space Quest 1

Wow, there's a lot of ways to get on that armory droid's bad side, even though all end with you being disintegrated. You think it might secretly realize that you're some douchey human in an off-color disguise, but not give a crap unless you piss it off?

I think it's more likely that it's the precursor to HK-47 from KotOR, ie. he's a bitter antisocial robot who fails to see why he should have to tolerate meatbags like PANTS? when all they're good for is making a mess on the floor when you shoot them.

I understand the Two Guys From Andromeda drafted then Sierra CEO Ken Williams to help them finish up the Deltaur, back when Sierra was small enough that Ken Williams did development, and he promptly put in plugs for other games Sierra was selling.

Roger is so close to the end of this game and a perfect score, he can smell it (sadly, his constant use of harsh industrial cleansers has made everything smell like lemons)! Sadly, Roger was also born with one leg slightly longer than the other:



Great, our easy task now got a lot harder, this place is crawling with armed Sariens! (Who'd think their own ship would be infested with them?) Roger, now more cautiously, makes his way to the Star Generator, or he would have if he could shoot for shit:



After reloading and practicing shooting at the wall repeatedly Roger tries again, and makes it to the Star Generator safely this time. Rifling through the guards clothes he finds a remote control and uses it to disarm the forcefield around the Star Generator:



Quickly looking over the device Roger locates a keypad at the base and enters in the code he learned from the cartridge: 6858 and activates the self destruct sequence, and too be extra careful reactivates the force field around it (you get no points for doing this, its just something I always do):



Roger makes his way to the left and down the elevator, exiting it he makes sure there are no droids or Sariens to kill before ducking into the previously locked elevator:



How convenient, the elevator took use directly to this escape pod (that entire ship only had one? weird...) Roger, just narrowly avoiding slipping, crawls into the shuttle and punches it, just in time:



As Roger speeds away the Deltour slowly explodes (also not the score in that last screen capture):



In the next post we'll wrap up Space Quest one, and then show some of the alternative ways to do things in the game, but we're getting close to the end of the first game.

We're treated to seeing Roger's shuttle sped at the screen while the Deltour blows up:



Roger has done it! Against all odds! Seriously ,a janitor saving his planet? Back on Xenon Roger is rewarded for his valiant act:



Then the credits role and we're thanked for our hard work:



That's it folks! We've beat Space Quest 1 and as primitive and ridiculous as it seems this game is light years ahead of King's Quest 1 and 2 (I'll even throw 3 in as well, because the first half of that game is one long copy protection scheme, I'm not joking it's terrible)

Besides showing new inventory (one item), there are a few more deaths, and then showing the alternative way to deal with Orat and the spider droid, back on Kerona and then using the trunk to get to the laundry instead of the vents on the Deltour.

I hope those who have been following this have enjoyed it, criticisms and compliments are always welcome! As are ideas on how I should present the second Space Quest.

Were you going to do EGA/VGA comparisons for SQ I?

Also, it took me forever to get through the Sarien ship. So many reloads, trying to shoot them before they shot me.

Space Quest II was my first Sierra game, played on an old amber monochrome monitor, shortly after its release, and I am chompin' at der bit to see you go through that.

Just wrapping up some loose ends... I think I covered everything:

Using the rock to kill the spider droid:



Alternative method of eliminating Orat:



The remote:



Being Killed by a droid on the Deltour:



Falling into the trench by the Escape Pod on the Deltour:



Waiting around on the Deltour after activating the Star Generator:



Killed by Sarien in a shoot-off:



Game ending text if you don't take the cartridge out of the computer on Kerona:



The number of ways I killed Roger Wilco in Space Quest 1? 38

I was thinking of going back to Space Quest 1 VGA after I do 2 and 3, but if people prefer seeing it right afterwards, I could do that? What say the Tyrants?

Nah, later is cool.

The hole-eating-thing in the cliff face on Kerona was new to me!

And I always forget you can use the droid to kill Orat; I always use the rock on the droid and water on Orat.

From the pics I've seen at HG101's article it looks different enough although it's a remake, so I wouldn't mind seeing it sooner.