Zak McKracken and The Alien Mindbenders - Injokes and References

Injokes and References

• In Maniac Mansion, a red herring chainsaw can be found, but it has no fuel; in Zak McKracken, chainsaw fuel can be found, but not a chainsaw. When one of the characters is ordered to pick it up, the character replies "I don't need it, it's for a different game."

• The Green Tentacle's Demo Tape from the Enhanced PC Maniac Mansion plays a variation of the Zak McKracken Theme.

• There is a poster advertising Maniac Mansion in Lou's Loans merchandise store in San Francisco. Similarly, in the FM Towns version, a poster for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure can be seen in the back room of the phone company.

• There is also a wanted poster for the Purple Meteor from Maniac Mansion inside the Friendly Hostel on Mars and in the Kathmandu, Nepal Police office.

• Razor and the Scummettes, Razor's band from Maniac Mansion, are the band playing the song "Inda Glop Oda Krell" on the Digital Audio Tape (until it is recorded over).

• Additionally, Weird Ed, from Maniac Mansion, will leave a message on the Answering Machine eventually, complete with references to Sandy and an Edsel.

• The three girls in the game are named after the programmers' wives or girlfriends. For example, Annie Larris was David Fox's wife's maiden name and the character's appearance was inspired by her looks. Similarly, Leslie Edwards (Leslie Bennett in game) was Matthew Alan Kane's girlfriend, who also worked as a major playtester during the game's production.

• Each time Leslie's helmet is taken off, her hair is a different colour. This is an in-joke referring to the real Leslie Edwards, who changed her hair color practically every week.

• One of the random 'strange markings' glyph solutions, completed with the yellow crayon, is David Fox's initials.

• The 'words of power' (Gnik Sisi Vle) that mend the crystal in Stonehenge read 'Elvis is king' backwards.

• Zak's phone bill at the start of the game is $1138, in reference to George Lucas's THX 1138. $1138 is also the balance of Melissa's cashcard (until the player spends it on tokens for the Tram).

• When Zak or Annie read the telephone in the Telephone Company's office, it gives a phone number, if you call that number, the representative goes to the phone and asks if it is Edna calling again (a reference to where you called Edna in Maniac Mansion).

• The 1955 science fiction film This Island Earth is referenced during the game with big headed aliens who are disguised as humans, interstellar communications through video screens, and an airplane pulled into a flying saucer.