Day of the Tentacle

Day of the Tentacle, also known as Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle, is a 1993 graphic adventure game developed and published by LucasArts. It is the sequel to the 1987 game Maniac Mansion. The game's storyline follows Bernard Bernoulli and his friends Hoagie and Laverne as they try to stop the evil Purple Tentacle - a sentient, disembodied tentacle - from taking over the world. The player takes control of the three and solves puzzles as he/she explores different eras of history via time travel. Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer developed the game together for the first time in this capacity. The two took only a few elements from Maniac Mansion and did away with the character selection aspect to simplify development. Their inspirations included Chuck Jones cartoons and the history of the United States. Day of the Tentacle is the eighth LucasArts title developed with the SCUMM engine, and the company's first title with voice acting. The game was released simultaneously on disc and CD-ROM, and was successful both with critics and commercially. Critics especially praised the cartoon style and comedic elements. Day of the Tentacle continues to appear regularly in lists of "top" games more than two decades after its release, and some aspects are mentioned in popular culture.