Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People

Don’t get upset, you’re perfectly welcome to substitute any of the Telltale series you prefer into this slot. You can even have the Walking Dead games if you want, even if they’re not really point-and-click adventures, but rather choose-your-own-adventures and actually rather overrated. Or put in The Wolf Among Us given that it’s brilliant. I’ve picked Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People because I’m so incredibly fond of both Homestar Runner and Mike Stemmle.

Telltale’s episodic adventures were always hit-and-miss—the atrocious first couple of Sam & Max games before the developer finally found its feet with the fantastic The Devil’s Playhouse) or the openly dreadful Puzzle Agent representing the nadir—but when everything fell into place, they could be a joy. The five Strong Bad games represent this for me perfectly.

Homestar Runner had pretty much wound down by this point, the Brothers Chaps (Matt Chapman and Mike Chapman) having stopped making weekly cartoons on the site, so seeing them writing for this run of daft adventures set in the cartoon series’ world was already a great pleasure. Then, Telltale brought Mike Stemmle on board, one half of the dream-team of adventure writers that brought us Sam & Max: Hit the Road in 1993. And the results are hilarious, with really decent puzzles.

The five games are just what you could want them to be: like being able to fully interact with a Homestar Runner cartoon, replete with all the running jokes including Teen Girl Squad, Trogdor, 20X6, and the arcade minigames of revered ‘80s developers Videlectrix. (I once was lucky enough to interview them!)

If you’re not already a Strong Bad fan, then yes, admittedly, this is somewhat impenetrable. But then, if you’re not already a Strong Bad fan, that’s a personal failing that you would do well to correct as soon as possible