Happy 20th Trogday!

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Revision as of 10:33, 27 January 2023

"Let's-a, take a look!"

For Trogdor's 20th birthday, Strong Bad somehow digs up a 30-year-old promo for an unreleased VGA remake of Peasant's Quest.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Trogdor, Rather Dashing, Videlectrix One, The Blue Knight, The Baby

Places: Computer Room, Peasantry

Date: Friday, January 13, 2023

Page Title: Good Graphics have never been so Electronical!

Running Time: 1:39

Transcript

{Open on the live action computer desk from the series Disk 4 of 12, Strong Bad, only his boxing glove visible, brings in an issue of Electronical Good Graphics Monthly.}

STRONG BAD: So, in honor of Trogdor's 20th birthday, I was digging through some old stuff and found this long-lost back issue of EGGM! It came with a demo CD that teased the never released VGA version of Peasant's Quest!

{Cut to a CD-ROM drive, labeled Compy CD-Rompy. Strong Bad puts the CD in the CD tray and pushes it closed.}

STRONG BAD: Let's-a, take a look!

{CD-Rom noises play as the Videlectrix logo appears with a white silhouetted Rather Dashing walking across the screen.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: Coming soon from Videlectrix,

{The Peasant's Quest logo appears over the map of Peasantry, the text "VGA Edition" dissolves onto the screen.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: It's Peasant's Quest like you've never played it before!

{A remix of the Peasant's Quest theme plays as a VGA style Rather Dashing walks in front of what resembles a Hobbit house before stopping on the far right of the screen.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: Experience the kingdom of Peasantry in glorious 256 color VGA graphics.

{Rather Dashing in the original Peasant's Quest walks to the well, the visuals fade into the VGA graphics, he touches the well and the text box reads "This well has 256 colors."}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: Featuring visuals and sound bites ripped straight from the feature film,

{Rather Dashing walks up to his burnt cottage and sighs, a box appears with the head of Rather Dashing from the movie, whose mouth moves slightly when he speaks}

MOVIE RATHER DASHING: "Where's my cottage?!"

{Cut to the climbing of the cliff to Trogdor's cave, rocks are falling.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: State of the art motionally captured animations,

{cut to Rather Dashing, clicking his heels in joy in front of the Hobbit house from earlier, cut to Rather Dashing wandering aimlessly past the Knight, after that it cuts to Rather Dashing, near the well, squatting and picking something up.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: People actually agreed to this!

{The Knight has a text box over him with a quote from the movie.}

MOVIE KNIGHT: "You don't smell like a peasant!"

{Cut to Rather Dashing, in his burnt cottage, dancing. A text box appears saying "You're very good at this game."}

{Cut to a keyboard with live action hands slapping themselves on it.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: No more typing.

{Cut back to the game, where a cursor mouses over several options including walking, a hand icon, talking and throwing.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: Click mouse icons are the future of computer usery.

{The cursor clicks on the throw icon and Rather Dashing throws the baby into the lake. A text box appears saying "Baby thrown."}

{Rather Dashing jauntily walks past the Knight, who shakes his fist at Rather Dashing as he passes.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: Puzzle your way to the final confrontation.

{Cut back to Rather Dashing climbing the cliff, this time from a slightly different angle, as he is near the top.}

{The inside of Trogdor's Cave is shown, a version of Trogdor resembling the miniature from the Board Game snorts smoke.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: featuring pants-crapping graphics of Trogdor the Burninator.

{Rather Dashing walks towards him and turns around promptly after reaching him. Rocks begin falling from the ceiling. Trogdor roars and Rather Dashing stops, the view is now closer to him and he raises his sword as a fire effect falls from above, frightening him and transitioning to the logo.}

{The logo for Peasant's Quest appears again. The VGA Edition note now has a white asterisk following the word "VGA" and a note reading "Very Graphics Awesome"}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: Peasant's Quest VGA Coming Winter of 1994.

{as he says this, a spiky yellow bubble reading "Coming Winter '94" appears}

{The Videlectrix logo appears and under it is text writing out what Videlectrix One says. A trademark symbol follows the phrase after he finishes speaking.}

VIDELECTRIX ONE: "We will definitely finish making this game!"

{Cut back to Strong Bad's desk, this time animated and showing notebook paper. Strong Bad has drawn Trogdor shaped like a two. As he talks, he draws another Trogdor eating his own tail, meant to resemble a zero.}

STRONG BAD: Well, it's too bad that game never came out, but I have to say, after 20 years Troggy, you still look pretty pants-crapping to me.

{A slamming sound is heard as majesty lines appear around the drawing.}

{After a beat, Strong Bad resumes speaking.}

STRONG BAD: This right here {indicating the Trogdor that resembles a zero}, turned out a lot bit more disturbing than I intended.

Fun Facts

Explanations

• VGA is for short for "Video Graphics Array". Personal computers that have VGA compatibility allow software to use a palette of 16 or 256 colors.

Trivia

• The cover of Electronical Good Graphics Monthly reads:

• The cover price of the magazine is $5.99, and an Electronics Boutique price sticker lists the same cost.
  • The spine of the magazine also reads "Electronical Good Graphics Monthly".

• The Peasant's Quest VGA Demo CD reads:

• The scores during different parts of the game are:
  • The Well: 42
  • Burninated Cottage: 0
  • Climbing the Cliff: 194
  • The "Hobbit House": 1
  • Walking past the Knight: 60
  • The Knight talking to you and shaking his fist and Throwing the Baby at the Lake: 89
  • Dancing in the Burninated Cottage: -8
  • TrogCave: 223

Remarks

• Strong Bad's magazine promises screenshots of "Halfthlon". In 8-Bit Is Enough, it was spelled Halfathlon.
• On the magazine cover and in the dialog box, Rather Dashing's Scalding Lake shirt has dark brown fabric around the collar and sleeves as seen in the Peasant's Quest Movie Trailer. However, throughout the rest of the game, the shirt is simply a solid cream color, like the version currently sold in the Store.
• This is the first Trogday-themed cartoon since Trogday 08, fifteen years earlier.
• On one of the fingers of the person slapping their hands on the keyboard (presumably either of The Brothers Chaps) is a wedding ring.

Inside References

• The video games mentioned on the cover are:
  • StrongBadZone
  • Sundae Drivin'
  • Xeliogravius IV, mentioned in Fan Costumes 2017.
  • Halfthlon (sic)
  • Explodey Sisters from the Skills of an Artist Stand-Up Arcade Game
  • When's an Egg?, a variation of Where's an Egg?
  • Blistergeist from slumber party.
  • Thy Dungeonkid
• The cover mentions various models of the FunMachine.

Real-World References

• Electronical Good Graphics Monthly is a parody of Electronic Gaming Monthly, a popular gaming magazine.
• Trogdor biting down his own tail to make himself resemble a zero is a reference to the ouroboros, an ancient symbol depicting a serpent eating its own tail. This was previously done by The Worm in mini-golf.
• This promo is a parody of popular text-parser graphic adventure games that received point-and-click VGA remakes in the '90s, most notably those from Sierra.

External Links

• watch "Happy 20th Trogday!"
• watch "Happy 20th Trogday!" on YouTube