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Space Quest 4 Spoofs and References > Space Quest 4 is chockfull with cool spoofs and references. I've listed them below.


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Space Quest 4 Spoofs and References
On the destroyed streets of Xenon, if you click the tongue icon on the fortress in the background, the game responds with: "The only way your tongue would reach that far was if you were in a Leisure Suit Larry game!"

One of the questions in the on-game hint book reads: "I can't find the one-armed man anywhere." The answer is given as, "Ask Bob". This is reference to Twin Peaks.

On Estros, Zondra demands Roger: "Into the sub, flyboy". This is a spoof on Star Wars Episode 4. After Princess Leia shoots the vent into the garbage chute she says to Han Solo: "Into the garbage chute, flyboy".

One of the timepod codes will take you to Ortega (see the easter egg section). Obviously, you don't have your thermal underwear so you die. The death message is a direct spoof on an American drug campaign. A man gets some eggs and says: "This is your brain". He then proceeds to fry them. "This is your brain on drugs". He then looks churlishly at the camera: "Any questions?".

The name of the arcade game, "Monaco Princess Stunt Drivin'", is an interesting mixture of the titles "Super Monaco Grand Prix", "Stunt Driver" and Tengen/Domark's "Hard Drivin" series. Also it seems like a tasteless reference to Princess Grace of Monaco (Grace Kelly), who died in a car accident.

The Laptop at Hz So Good is advertised as having a "Chicklet style keyboard, and Dentyne style mouse." Chicklets and Dentyne are both types of gum. Hz So Good is a parody of the Hertz Rental Company and an old song entitled something like It Hurts So Good.

When near RadioShock, try to look at the plants. The narrator will say "This plant is provided courtesy by Shapeir flourists." Obviously, a Quest for Glory II reference.

When you're sitting inside your time pod in the Galaxy Galleria, you can see Yoda from Star Wars playing on one of the computer games. It's a bit obscure, but it's the far lard alright!

When arriving at the Galaxy Galleria, there's a huge crowd in the front of the Software Excess store. When talking to one of the people in the crowd, he'll inform you that "The Two Geeks from Andromeda are in there, signing copies of their latest release." ... Try using the talk icon some additional times for a laugh.

The whole inside artwork of the Super Computer resembles an H.R. Giger album (the art designer of Alien and Species). Remember the alien ship on LV-426 (Alien)? There's also a small reference to the "Frogger" game.

The subtitle for Ms. Astro Chicken, "Flight of the Pullet", may have been a poke at Spectrum Holobyte's "Flight of the Intruder".

The "Ms." in the title "Ms. Astro Chicken" is a spoof on the old console games Pacman and Donkey Kong. It was a trend to re-release a game with kiddie graphics and a title like "Ms. Pacman" or "Donkey Kong Jr".

The title for Space Quest X, "The Latex Babes of Estros", seems to be a poke at the old Infocom text adventure, "Leather Goddesses of Phobos".

The electronics store in the Galaxy Galleria of the disk version of SQ4 was called "Radio Shock", in reference to a large chain of Radio Shacks in the States, which is called "Radio Shack". The CD-Rom version of SQ4 changed this to "Hz So Good". The Two Guys where almost sent to court. Scott Murphy: "The way it worked from the company side is that it is easier and far economically sensible to make an art and writing change than go nearly the level of litigation. It's costly and time consuming. Oh, and did I mention costly? Mark and I hated to have to make any changes submitted from outside the team, but on occasion you could see the logic (Sometimes I really hate logic!)." Another difference is the pillars of Hz. So Good, which are animated. The pillars of Radio Shock are not.

Cd-rom version
Hz. So Good
Disk version
RadioShock

All the games in the software box, except three, are parodies of other games. The exceptions are the SQ4 hint book, King's Quest 48 and the Checkerboard Construction Set from Scumsoft. Here's a list of the parodies:
- "Boom" is a parody on LucArts' "Loom". The author of the original game was called Brian Moriaty, but is renamed Morrie Brianarty in SQ4. The parody box describes the game as having no interface, no conflicts, no puzzles, no other characters and no chance of dying; as does "Loom". :)
- "Sim Sim" from MaxThis is a parody on the Sim-games from Maxis - obviously, Josh Mandel (who wrote the boxes) thinks, Maxis is releasing too many Sim-games.
- "Where in the World is Hymie Lipschitz (And Who Really Cares?)" from BroderBuns, is of course a parody on the Carmen Sandiago games from BroderBund.
- "It Came For Dessert" from Enemaware is a parody on an old Amiga adventure called "It Came from the Desert" from Cinemaware, featuring a horde of really big ants. Another note is that the box mentions "Defender of the Crown Rib Roast", which is a parody on an earlier strategy game by the same company, with the same title - except for the rib roast part.
- Cluck Egger lets you design a chicken and make it fly over real barnyard scenery. This is a parody on a flight simulator, called "Chuck Yeager".

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All original content (c) 2018 Brandon Blume & Troels Pleimert. All Space Quest related material (c) by Sierra Entertainment.