Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse/Episode 301: The Penal Zone

An escaped convict from the Penal Zone, General Skun-ka'pe, is on Earth searching for psychic toys and his plans threaten the planet and even the entire universe. Sam and Max will need to find the psychic toys before General Skun-ka'pe and develop Max's powers to defeat the alien gorilla. Many characters return from previous seasons, such as both Stinkys, the COPS and Harry Moleman.

A vision of the future
The game begins with a mad alien gorilla raining down destruction from his juggernaut ship on the helpless city. Inside the ship, you are trapped in a cage and need to start using Max's psychic powers to free yourself. This section of the game is basically a tutorial, with on-screen instructions, the narrator and the alien brain all explaining how to use the features of the game. For the most part, just do as the game says, but be prepared to use your own brain in a few spots.



With General Skun-ka'pe sucked into the a vortex to the Penal Zone, you've saved the day. However, after a brief interlude with the narrator, you find that it has all been a vision of the future. Shortly after seeing the vision, General Skun-ka'pe arrives on his spaceship, saying he has come in the name of love and peace. Sam and Max know better, and it's up to you to stop Skun-ka'pe and his evil plans.

Save the brain
After finding the Future Vision toy, you decide you need to find a way onto Skun-ka'pe's spaceship to see if you can find anything helpful. It's easier than you think, as you can just walk right in. Inside you'll find that the helpful alien brain from the future appears to be dead. Use your Future Vision on Sam to find out that you need Stinky's demon broth and Momma Bosco's futuristic power core. Before you get started collecting the items needed to bring the brain back from the sleep of one hundred deaths, check out the moleman processing chamber on the upper deck.

The demon broth
Inside Stinky's you'll find that Grandpa Stinky is jealously guarding his demon broth from you. It seems he's still upset with you for stealing his tar cake recipe 30 years ago (in Episode 204), and the demon broth is his the key to millions of dollars to which he feels entitled. Using your Future Vision around the diner should give you some ideas for how to get the broth from him.



With one of the ingredients needed to revive the alien brain, it's time to find that power core.

The power core
From talking with Momma Bosco at Bosco-Tech Labs, you may have learned that her power core was stolen. With Future Vision you can find out that she hired Flint Paper to retrieve the power core for her, and you happen to know that he's currently sitting in Stinky's having some spaghetti. Other things to note in Stinky's are the suspicious way girl Stinky disavows any knowledge of the power core and the mysterious green button she has behind the counter. With your Future Vision, you will also learn that Stinky will leave the restaurant when she gets a call from her secret lover and someone plans to stick a hatchet in Flint's head!



Now that you have everything you need, head back to the spaceship and use the demon broth and power core on the alien brain. Don't forget the jumper cables from the back of the DeSoto you'll need to hook the power core up to the brain.

With the brain reawakened, it senses toys around and General Skun-ka'pe comes back. Luckily the brain is able to pretend to be too weak to scan for toys, and Skun-ka'pe believes it. When he's gone, the alien brain will unlock another toy for you down on the lower deck. This toy grants you the ability to teleport to any phone for which you have the number. You still don't have any of the other toys you saw in the future, which means Skun-ka'pe must be out looking for them in the city. You need to either stop him or get to them first.

Find Skun-ka'pe
To find Skun-ka'pe, you'll need to follow his trail from new location to new location. You'll also need to gather some equipment so you're prepared to face him and send him back where he belongs. Your only option to start with is teleportation, as the DeSoto can only go places you've already been. All the phones but Stinky's cell are also in familiar locations, so call her cell and see where it takes you. You'll find yourself on a random street corner, where you'll see Stinky's cell on the sidewalk. There's nothing else to do here, but now you have Stinky's cell in your inventory. It's time to start working on getting to Skun-ka'pe. But first you'll want to be prepared for when you see him.

Get the remote control
Superball informs you that Skun-ka'pe is a bad guy and that he's broken out of the Penal Zone. If you quiz him a little, you'll find that Momma Bosco has a dimensional destabilizer you can use to send him back. Unfortunately, when you get to Bosco-Tech Labs, you'll find Skun-ka'pe's minions are guarding it and won't let you in. Furthermore, if you try to teleport inside with Max's power, they'll throw you out and keep Max to beat on. You need to get rid of the goons so Momma Bosco can give you the destabilizer and prepare you for when you run into the general again.



Inside, you'll find a torn receipt and Momma Bosco will tell you you can use the remote control on a nearby shelf to create portal to the Penal Zone wherever you go. In order to use it on the general, you'll first need to make sure he's wearing the homing beacon. You don't have it on you, so go look around and see if you can find it. In case you didn't do it already, don't forget to harass the pigeon up on the banner pole so it drops the shiny thing for you.

Get the homing beacon
Grandpa Stinky is back from winning his millions of dollars, and you find out that he gave it all away to General Skun-ka'pe's war fund. In return for his largess, Skun-ka'pe has made Granpa Stinky his second in command and given him a badge to prove it. What Grandpa Stinky doesn't know is that the badge is really the homing beacon for the Penal Zone. Unfortunately, he refuses to give it to you, so you'll need to find a way to strip him of his possession.



Now that you have the homing beacon and a way to open up the portal to the Penal Zone, you just have to find Skun-ka'pe so you can use them.

Tracking down Skun-ka'pe
When you found the power core, you also came across an old scanner. If you've talked with the COPS, you'll know they're looking for a new addition to the team to replace Bluster Blaster, and since the scanner has a name tag, it's a good bet she's the one. The scanner will act as the new Crime-Tron system. The Crime-Tron will analyze two items from your inventory for a possible match that will give you a clue in the form of another location in the city. When you put an item in the Crime-Tron, it will ding if it finds the item in its database and you'll see a small icon in the scanner's window. If the item isn't in the database, it will buzz and you won't be able to put it in the scanner. When you find two items that are in the database, they will be scanned for possible connections. If successful, your map will open up showing you a new location in the city.

Given the items you should have collected so far, the first location you'll open up on the map is for Meesta Pizza. Use the shot glass and Stinky's cell phone in the Crime-Tron to find the match. When you get there, you'll see a quaint pizzeria storefront, with leftovers outside and empty pizza boxes in the side alley. You'll need to find another clue for the Crime-Tron if you want to keep looking for the general.
 * Meesta Pizza



Use the clue you got at Meesta Pizza with the engagement ring from outside Bosco-Tech Labs to unlock the pawn shop on your map. Here's you'll be blocked from entering by another one of Skun-ka'pe's minions, so you'll need to get rid of him before you can check out the pawn shop.
 * Pawn Shop



Put the paddle ball toy and the receipt into the Crime-Tron to unlock the last location: Bob's Toys!s. All you have to do here is use Max's Future Vision on Sam, and then Skun-ka'pe will show up and throw you in prison on his ship.
 * Toy Store

Back to the future
You're back on the spaceship, just like in the beginning of the episode when Max was viewing the future. The only difference is Stinky is also locked up, whereas before she was out sitting on her throne. If you talk with her about herself, tell her Skun-ka'pe's not that bad, and marvel at his spaceship, she'll get herself let out and then you can teleport to her cell phone like before. Unfortunately, since Skun-ka'pe now has the Future Vision toy, he was able to see your plan before you put it into action. He took all the toys you used before to send him back to the Penal Zone, and instead sends you there. In the Penal Zone, you'll find a strange ticking sound belongs to the anti-matter bomb the general strapped to Max's back. After he shakes it off, you can use Max's Teleportation power to escape before the dimension is destroyed.

Having locked onto your signal, Momma Bosco diverts you to her lab, where she and Superball are waiting to give you a new device you can use to send the general to another dimension. The rift generator has the ability to create a whole new dimension wherever you turn it on, and whoever has the homing beacon will be sucked into it. The plan is to turn your office building into the new dimension and send Skun-ka'pe there somehow. Grab the rift generator from the table, then teleport back to Stinky's cell so you can put the homing beacon on Skun-ka'pe.

Place the homing beacon
Back on the spaceship, you'll sneak past Skun-ka'pe while he's congratulating himself and go talk with the alien brain on the upper deck. He'll release your personal belongings to you, and after you're done talking with him you sneak back down to the lower deck to try and place the homing beacon. When you attempt to use the homing beacon on the general, the alien brain will distract him, allowing you to pin it to his back. Now you just need to create the new dimension and he'll be sucked right in.

Use the rift generator
You know you're supposed to turn your office building into the new dimension, but when you get back to your street, Skun-ka'pe starts to chase you around with his ship shooting his disintegration ray at you. Once it locks on to your position, it powers up and shoots a second or two later. During that time you can move away from the impact zone to escape the blast.



Now that you're in the right place to set up the rift generator, you'll need to power it up somehow. Momma Bosco said it would take unimaginable power to use the rift generator, so you'll need to find a huge energy source.



Everything went according to plan, but unfortunately Skun-ka'pe is able to grab onto a piece of re-bar sticking out of the wall and prevent himself from being sucked into the vortex with his super strength. You'll need to find some way to make him let go. Try finding something he wants more than his own self-preservation.



With Skun-ka'pe taken care of, all seems well until the narrator reminds you that this is just the beginning of the story, and many unanswered questions still remain. The episode ends on an ominous note, as Sam and Max find what appears to be their very own bones through the wall by the toybox.