EN ROUTE TO THE CARIBBEAN · SINCE 1999
A dog in a suit, a rabbit without restraint and an America of unlikely detours.
A detective dog in a suit and a rabbit with uncontrollable enthusiasm cross a surreal America. The investigation into a missing Bigfoot becomes a journey through unlikely attractions and out-of-control dialogues.
Inside the adventure
Sam & Max Hit the Road
The world and its story
Bruno the bigfoot and Trixie have vanished from a carnival. Sam and Max’s investigation becomes a road trip through oversized attractions, odd souvenirs and people with highly personal definitions of normality. Each detour is part of the reward.
How it plays
Sam’s composed language and Max’s impulsiveness give conversations their rhythm. An icon interface leaves room for scenery. Solving a puzzle often means accepting a roadside attraction’s comic logic, rather than expecting it to behave sensibly.
Ideas and atmosphere
Steve Purcell’s comic characters entered LucasArts’ 1993 adventure, designed with Sean Clark, Michael Stemmle and Collette Michaud. CD voices add another layer of performance. The collection’s MIDI files, manual, demo and saves now have distinct places below.
The world and its characters
Un gioco dalla comicità demenziale, unico e impareggiabile nel suo stile.
Il loro compito sarà quello di rintracciare il bigfoot Bruno e Trixie la donna dal collo di giraffa, fuggiti da un luna park.
Le indagini porteranno Sam e Max da un capo all' altro degli USA, visitando posti fantastici e affrontando le situazioni più strane, sempre con la massima ironia e comicità.
Un gioco divertentissimo dove si incontreranno i personaggi più incredibili interpretando due eroi così particolari come il maturo e flemmatico Sam e il cinico e psicopatico Max.
The detective couple (Sam, a 183 cm tall anthropomorphic dog and Max, a 91.5 cm tall psychotic rabbit) are called to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Bruno the bigfoot and Trixie the girl with the giraffe neck across a surreal America.
The sequel - like the original - was supposed to be a point-and-click adventure set in three-dimensional worlds.
Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson were once again the official voice actors of Sam & Max.
The inexplicable cancellation of the game caused discontent among fans.
Albums:
The pleasure of playing
Unlike previous graphic adventures that use the SCUMM engine, this video game does not have an inventory and a panel with possible actions at the bottom of the screen.
The control system is based on the use of the right mouse button to scroll a list of icons representing possible actions while the inventory is located in a separate screen.
A similar interface was later used in The Dig and all subsequent SCUMM games.
Behind the scenes
© LucasArts 1993
Il top viene raggiunto dalla versione su cd doppiata nei vari dialetti italiani in modo strepitoso!!I protagonisti di questa fantastica avventura sono due poliziotti privati un po' diversi dal normale, sono il cane Sam e il coniglio Max, generati dalla mente creativa di Steve Purcell.
Sam & Max Hit the Road is a graphic adventure developed and produced by LucasArts, initially released in 1993 for MS-DOS and in 1995 for Mac OS on both floppy and CD, the latter containing the audio tracks of the dialogues.
The characters in this video game are taken from the comic Sam & Max: Freelance Police created by Steve Purcell.
Purcell himself together with Sean Clark, Collette Michaud and Michael Stemmle worked on the design of this game which is appreciated for the massive dose of humor it contains.
About a decade after the release of the original graphic adventure, LucasArts sent a press release on August 23, 2002 announcing the sequel to Sam & Max Hit the Road entitled Sam & Max Freelance Police.
Mike Stemmle, co-designer of Sam & Max Hit the Road, was the lead director on this project along with Steve Purcell, who contributed design and concept art.
In 2007 LucasArts published a new version of "Sam & Max - Hit the Road", identical in all respects to the 1995 version, but fully functional, without having to use any emulator, on current systems and computers.
Full story and puzzle details · spoilers
Open only if you want to read plot developments, solutions and endings.
Alla fine dovranno salvare Bruno e Trixie dalle grinfie del cantante rock Bumpus, che li aveva ridotti in schiavitù.
Reality 2.0 and The Bright Side of the Moon finale.
Images and memories
Scenes and images from the historical collection: select them to enlarge.
Technology and editions
Requirements of the original editions
- 486 - 4MB Ram - 256 color VGA/MCGA - adlib, soundblaster. general midi. - 20MB of free Hard disk space
Walkthroughs, saves and materials
PDF walkthroughs
- Italian solution · PDF ↗PDF · 206 KiB
Save games
Manuals, demos and patches
- DemoZIP · 1107 KiB
- Download the manualZIP · 2878 KiB
Technical instructions, patches and saves relate to the editions indicated: check your game version. The PDFs are in Italian and contain spoilers.
The solution in PDF
From the diary of Sam and Max, at the time of Sam & Max Hit the Road.
Italian solution · PDF ↗ · 11 pages · contains spoilers [In Italian]
Taken from the monkeyislandsite.it collection, with clickable index and paginated text for reading.
Also download the original · ZIP file [In Italian]
How and where to play
Original game year: 1993
Steam edition: Windows · macOS. Check language and requirements on the store page.
Steam · View the edition ↗Music and voices
MIDI
Creators and credits
Project management and production:
Sean Clark & Mike Stemmle
Subject, design and texts:
Steve Purcell, Sean Clark, Mike Stemmle, Collette Michaud, from the comic "Sam & Max Freelance Police" by Steve Purcell
Programmers:
Sean Clark, Mike Stemmle, Jonathan Ackley, Livia Mackin
SCUMM Story System:
Ron Gilbert, Aric Wilmunder, Brad Taylor, Sean Clark, Mike Stemmle
Artistic direction:
Peter Chan
Backdrops:
Peter Chan, Steve Purcell, Paul Mica, Lela Dowling
Animators:
Lela Dowling, Steve Purcell, Larry Ahern, Collette Michaud, Jesse Clark
Graphic technicians:
Jesse Clark, Mike Levine
Music and sound:
Michael Land, Peter McConnell, Clint Bajakian
iMUSE system:
Michael Land & Peter McConnell, with Justin Graham for the vers. cd
Lead Tester:
Jo "Captain Tripps" Ashburn
Testers:
Chip Hinnenberg, Brett Tosti, Dan Connors, Wayne "Bo" Cline, Matt Forbush, Dana Fong, Doyle Gilstrap, Chris Snyder
Direction and production of voices:
Tamlynn Barra
Entries:
Bill Farmer (Sam), Nick Jameson (Max)
Italian voices:
Cesare Zollo (Sam), Riccardo Rovatti (Max)
Packaging:
Steve Purcell and Moore & Price (package design), Steve Purcell (package illustrations and manual), Mark Shepard (manual design), Jo "Captain Tripps" Ashburn (manual design and clue book)
Collaborators:
Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Justin Graham (additional programming), Anson Jew (additional graphics), Brett Tosti, Mark Cartwright, Matt Forbush, Doyle Gilstrap, Wayne "Bo" Cline, Chip Hinnenberg, Bill Burns (additional testing)
Sources and further reading
Lucasfilm · Sam & Max / Steam ↗The history of LucasArts →Sam & Max return with Telltale
After Hit the Road: three seasons
2006–2007 · Sam & Max Save the World →2007–2008 · Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space →2010 · Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse →
