Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders/Mars


 * Must be done: Find Annie and reveal the Switch command.

You can see Mars anytime you Switch to Melissa or Leslie. You can do this from the moment you have met Annie. Have in mind that the oxygen in the helmets is finite. Whenever a girl complains that the helmet's readings are low, return to the van and refill it.

Once you Switch to one of the girls, you will see the opening Mars cutscene where the two complain about the lack of guys.

You can OPEN DOOR of the van and go inside. OPEN GLOVE BOX and PICK UP all objects: CASHCARD (both), FUSE, BOOM BOX (only Melissa can have it) and DIGITAL AUDIO TAPE (out of the tape player).

Feel free to USE DIGITAL AUDIO TAPE IN BOOM BOX, TURN ON BOOM BOX and press PLAY. You will hear a strange song Inda Glop Oda Krell by Razor and the Scummettes from Maniac Mansion.

Once out of the van, READ CASHCARD and GIVE it to its owner. Go left to the monolith, and USE CASHCARD IN SLOT, you buy a token for the tram, which as of now is not working. PICK UP TOKEN. You will need at least two tokens in the game, although you can buy more to be foolproof.

Enter the Friendly Hostel to the right. Repair the door by USE TOKEN IN PANEL, PICK UP BURNT FUSE (it crumbles) and USE FUSE (from your van) IN PANEL. You can now CLOSE the door outside and OPEN HOSTEL DOOR. Note that you can depressurize the hostel if you have both doors open, but that won't affect the game.

Go inside and PICK UP everything: YELLOW TAPE off the locker, COVERS and find a Broom Alien, BROOM ALIEN (only Leslie; Melissa is too afraid to touch him) and LADDER to the right of the beds. Also OPEN LOCKER and inside PICK UP FLASHLIGHT. There is also a box of chainsaw gas, an injoke for the famous chainsaw without gas in Maniac Mansion.

Leave the hostel and have Leslie USE BROOM ALIEN ON SAND outside. You will uncover some solar panels, and the tram will now be operative.

You are done here (for now); walk to the far right to the Face on Mars.

Enter the Face on Mars

 * Must have done: Have Zak watch the sacred dance in Zaire.

Τo open the door, USE LADDER ON DOOR and PUSH BUTTON each according to the sequence the Shaman taught you. If you did everything right, the door will open and PICK UP LADDER. Now you are inside the Great Chamber. Go to the right and find the Mayan-looking statue. READ STRANGE MARKINGS on its base and memorize or note the pattern down: it is a combination that Zak needs when he goes to Mexico.

Now the Great Chamber has three doors. To open them, USE LADDER ON PEDESTAL and PUSH BLUE SPHERE. Note however that the second door has no ball. So with Melissa, USE VINYL TAPE ON DIGITAL AUDIO TAPE, USE DAT IN BOOM BOX, TURN ON BOOM BOX and select RECORD. Now when you use the Sphere, the sound will be recorded. TURN OFF BOOM BOX. By going to the other doors you can TURN ON BOOM BOX and PLAY, and thus open them.

Enter the left door (preferably Leslie) and TURN ON FLASHLIGHT. Explore the maze (here is a map) and find two rooms of importance: the Atmosphere Generator and the Map Room. Enter the purple door, the blue door, and the purple again. You are in front of a device with levers. Melissa can't enter this room as she is afraid of heights. PULL LEVERs and wait for the gauges to reach green. Now the Face has oxygen, so you can TAKE OFF HELMET and reserve air. Exit the room and enter the blue room. Follow the corridor and you will reach a Map Room. Again READ STRANGE MARKINGS and note down the shape.

To return back, exit the room, enter the purple or yellow door, enter the yellow door and follow the corridor to the exit.

Enter the middle door and follow the dark corridor to a room with an Egyptian statue. PICK UP ANKH and exit.

Enter the third and last door, and find a room with a strange machine. USE ANKH IN PANEL. PUSH BUTTON and see an ancient message from the Skrolarian aliens who left for humans their device. PICK UP SMALL KEY. Unfortunately the Large Key is destroyed when you touch it.

Now you can leave the girls in the building until Zak's arrival.

Arrival of Zak

 * Must have: Have Zak have the empty Fishbowl with Duct Tape and Bobby Pin Sign, buy the Wet Suit from SF; have the Oxygen Tank from the Airplane; obtain the Yellow Crystal and learn how to operate it by the Shaman in Zaire; complete your map drawing in the Map Room, and read the Strange Markings in Egypt

When you are ready to transport Zak to Mars, make sure you have the items that make a "space suit". Note that Zak's Oxygen Tank lasts only for 14 minutes. USE YELLOW CRYSTAL ON WALLPAPER MAP and select the Face on Mars.

You will transported in a room with three doors. USE YELLOW CRAYON ON STRANGE MARKINGS and draw the shape that you saw on the Strange Markings in Egypt. The doors open. Choose one and you find yourself in the previous maze. You can TURN ON LIGHTER to help you find your way through the doors. Once outside you can go meet the girls and watch the brief cutscene.

Make sure that everyone is ready to go outside. As Zak, USE DUCT TAPE ON FISHBOWL, PUT ON WET SUIT, PUT ON OXYGEN TANK, PUT ON TAPED FISHBOWL. As the girls, PUT ON HELMET. Lead all characters back to the hostel area. Buy and distribute one token each, although it would be a good idea for the girls to have two each (so that they can return to the Face grounds). Now, it is a good idea to have all of them enter the van, CLOSE DOOR, and USE HELMET (and OXYGEN TANK) ON TUBE to replenish your oxygen reserves.

Lead all the characters near the tram and have each one USE TOKEN IN TRAM. Try to be quick enough so that all three can be there before it leaves.

Martian Pyramid
You arrive at the Pyramid grounds. Leave the tram and notice that the monolith is out of order. This means that if you haven't got all the items from the Face grounds, you won't be able to return there, so you are trapped in a dead end. This is the reason why you should buy a couple of more tokens beforehand.

Approach the Pyramid entrance and USE BROOM ALIEN ON SAND. Now the alien wakes up, scolds you and leaves. A keylock is exposed, but its key was in the Face and was destroyed. As Zak USE BOBBY PIN SIGN IN KEYHOLE and you open the door.

Inside go down the dark corridor, use the WHAT IS command or the FLASHLIGHT to locate the sarcophagus. Have one girl to PUSH SARCOPHAGUS FEET. A secret staircase is revealed. Now have Zak and the other girl enter the staircase and reach a strange room. Switch back to the previous girl and move away from the sarcophagus to have the passage close again, so that the other characters can walk around the room.

Switch to the character having the key from the Face, and USE KEY IN PANEL. A button is revealed. Have Zak approach the White Crystal and have the girl PUSH BUTTON. Be as quick as possible and Switch to Zak and PICK UP WHITE CRYSTAL. If you aren't fast enough you can try again.

Once you have the Crystal, USE YELLOW CRYSTAL ON MAP and teleport back (normally to Egypt).

Return to Earth
(optional) The girls have done their job and you can have Zak and Annie complete the game. However it is possible to make them leave Mars.

Have the other girl again open the secret passage, switch to the other, and go down the stairs. Together, return to the tram, and if you followed the advice to buy a surplus of tokens, use them to return to the Face grounds.

Once there, enter the hostel and retrieve your fuse. Have both girls enter the van and replace the fuse in its position. Close the door and pull the levers.

The van takes off. There is no way to turn back to Mars so make sure that you have complete all the jobs, or you are in a dead end. Unfortunately the van won't reach Earth during the game's time, so there isn't any cutscene with their arrival.