Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space/Episode 202: Moai Better Blues

Episode 202 image

Sam & Max Episode 202: Moai Better Blues picks up after Ice Station Santa, with Sam and Max arriving home after a month's long drive. In their neighborhood a triangular vortex is chasing their friend Sybil down the street, and when they stop the portal and head through it themselves, they begin a new adventure to save Easter Island from certain destruction by volcano.

Save Sybil

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Right off the bat, you'll likely notice the large red triangle chasing Sybil all over the neighborhood. Your first task is to save Sybil and find out what wackiness is taking place this time.

Stop the triangular menace

Bosco knows a bit about how to communicate with interdimensional portals. His information on certain shape and color combinations is especially pertinent. It's the red octagons that will stop the triangular portal. See if you can find one in Stinky's. Get the stop sign from the back wall in Stinky's, and use it on the triangle.

Just when you think you can notch your belt for another case solved, Lincoln gets sucked into the portal and Sybil jumps in after them. In order to save them, you'll jump through the portal after them and be transported to Easter Island.

Welcome to the island

The triangle portal takes you to a tropical island.

You'll find that Lincoln and Sybil are doing all right, and have turned the trip into an impromptu vacation. Not all is well on Easter Island, however, as the Moai heads inform you of the impending disaster foretold by prophecy. The nearby volcano will erupt and rain down fiery death on the island if you don't stop it. Your only clue is to find the secret underground cave and explore it for a way to stop the volcano god.

In this area you'll find the Fountain of Youth at the right end and the secret cave entrance on the left where the path forks off to Tiny Tiki. In between are the Moai heads and your friends' picnic. You can return to your street via the portal triangle. As you try to enter the Ancient Hidden Underground Cave, you'll be stopped by Baby Jimmy Hoffa, who is protecting the entrance with a gun. He won't let you in, so take the path to the left and check out the last part of the island, Tiny Tiki.

Down at Tiny Tiki you'll find more babies—many people assumed to be lost forever are really on Easter Island and have been drinking from the Fountain of Youth. Here you'll see a Wipeout! mechanical surfboard riding game, a tiki bar with an assortment of drinks and Baby Glenn Miller surrounded by percussion instruments. After you're done exploring, you'll want to start working on getting into the secret cave. Don't forget to pick up anything that's not nailed down on the island before you start.

Inventory items

The tiki glass on the tiki bar. The mallet by Baby Glenn Miller's coconuts.

Accessing the Fountain of Youth

You should have a receptacle by now, but you'll soon find that the Fountain of Youth is guarded by three vicious piranha. You'll have to do something to take out the fish, and it will involve help from a variety of the characters you've met on the island and off.

Baby Glenn Miller's song

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A good place to start is by helping Baby Glenn Miller finish his song. The two elements he still needs are a train whistle sound and a good melody.

The train whistle

A train uses a steam whistle, so try and produce some steam. The tea kettle above the fire might do the trick. Use the tiki cup on one of the tiki bar beverages, then fill the kettle with it. The fire will need some fuel to burn a little higher. Use the "Paci-Fire" beverage on the fire to increase the heat.

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With half the requirements for a good song, you'll need to get a good melody. No one on the island seems very helpful, so try going back to your neighborhood to find someone interested in music.

The melody

Your friends at the garage are working on a new music-based game. Complete the first level of their driving game to receive the upgraded horn. Take it right off your car and show it to Baby Glenn Miller.

With both elements, Baby Glenn Miller can record his song. For your troubles, he'll give you a conch shell recording which you can listen to at any time.

Get past Baby Jimmy Hoffa

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When you talk to the baby guarding the secret cave entrance, you'll find that he's a bit surly. He doesn't respond well to threats or mockery, so a peace offering might be a better tact.

Serving Baby Jimmy

If he's thirsty, he might like a refreshing beverage from the tiki bar. He'll only accept drinks from someone in the waitresses' union, so you'll need to pass his test. Take waitress' tray back to Tiny Tiki and use it on the Wipeout! machine to show your skills. Watch the bottle on the tray; it will slide off if you lean too far to one side. Talk to Baby Jimmy Hoffa and tell him you beat the bucking surfboard.

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Now that you're in the proper union, you just have to find something to give him that will get him out of your way. If you tried all the tiki bar beverages, you'd know that he likes them all, so you'll have to find something more potent. If he drinks any more from the Fountain of Youth, he'll probably regress right out of existence, so that's the way to go. Unfortunately, you still have to deal with the angry piranha. This will take some complicated maneuvering, so you'll need to become familiar with the Moai heads and the gongs that are littered around the right side of the island.

Get rid of the piranha

Note that the middle head controls wind and the left head can produce a lightning cloud when he's angry. Now that you have the conch shell, take it around and see if anyone likes it. The middle stone head will produce a wind-blowing whistle when she hears the song. Note that the whistle blows over the left head, right where he produces his lightning clouds. Note the portals to the left of the left head and to the right of the Fountain of Youth. If you time it correctly, you may be able to send the piranha a shock. Bang the gray gong to the left of the buried head, and the gold gong to the right of the fountain. Show the conch to the middle head so she whistles, then shoot the buried head to make a cloud.

With the piranha out of the way, you're free to fill your cup with the Fountain of Youth's waters and give them to Baby Jimmy Hoffa. You can now proceed unimpeded into the secret cave.

Ancient Hidden Underground Cave

It's pretty easy to find.

Upon entering the cave, you'll be confronted by a group of ocean chimps that are upset at your trespass on the holy land. Their spiritual leader, who you recognize as the spectral ghost of Mr. Spatula your water tank fish, commands your execution. To get out of it, Sam claims that Mr. Spatula is lying and that Max is the true leader. The ocean chimps are willing to give you until sundown to prove the ancient prophecies true by performing three miracles.

Before you get started, you might want to scour the cave for any collectable items.

Inventory items

The red-oozing snail to the right of the machine pod by the gray gong. Lou, your long lost bowling ball, on the rocks by a broken surfboard. The travel guide, in the plane wreckage at the far end of the cave.

The first prophecy

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Sticking down from the roof of the cave are three pairs of large stone feet, presumably belonging to the Moai heads above. When you go to be anointed by the feet, Max will be placed under the middle set and the ocean chimps will wait for a sign from the feet. Make sure the feet give the sign so they know to accept Max as anointed.

Anointed by the feet

The middle feet you need to make move belong to the middle Moai head above. That stone head likes to rock out to the conch song, but you need to play it from the cave. Note the gray portal stand next to her ear. Make portals at the gong between the middle and right heads and the gold gong in the cave. Talk to the ocean chimps to start the anointing, then stick the conch into the gold portal.

When the feet start moving to anoint Max, you're one step closer to gaining control.

The second prophecy

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You are expected to convert water into a delicious, edible bounty to fulfill the second prophecy. Near the ocean chimps you'll see a ceremonial urn where the conversion is supposed to take place. You'll need to find something to fill the urn and the monkeys' empty stomachs.

Feed your people

If you talk to the ocean monkeys some more, they'll tell you it's supposed to be Banang. Even though he doesn't sell goods anymore, Bosco is stockpiling Banang for his emergency shelter. You'll have to get him out of the store before you can grab a bottle. Look around the secret cave for something that might scare him. You should try calling him on the radio at the far side of the cave. When you find his channel (7175 kHz), tell him you are observing his earth. You're free to grab a Banang from his untended store and use it at the urn.

Two out of three down, you're one miracle away from making Max the leader.

The third prophecy

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The last prophecy says that the leader's face will appear in the very rocks of the cave. There's already a graven image of Mr. Spatula, but luckily for you there's also an almost complete Max visage right next to it. If you complete it, you should be able to convince the ocean monkeys.

Max's true face

All that's missing is an ear—look around the cave to see anything you can use. Note the stalactite hanging down next to the last pair of feet. A good kick from those stone feet might be enough to dislodge the hanging rock. The third pair of feet belong to the sourpuss Moai head on the right, who can move the earth. He moves the earth with laughter, but he's nearly impossible to amuse. Consult the travel guide for a clue on what may lighten him up. If you've asked Stinky about her specials, you'll know that she offers a basalt stone sandwich to children. When you use the Fountain of Youth on Sam and Max, the effects don't last long enough. You'll need to portal directly the restaurant. Note the system that's being used: gray gongs control gray portals, gold gongs control gold portals… There's a gong inside Stinky's, but it's not red like the portal that takes you back and forth from the island. Use the red-oozing snail on it, and summon the portal with your gun. Bring a drink from the fountain with you and get the basalt sandwich, then give it to the third stone head. Go down to the cave and use the fallen stalactite on the Maxish clam.

With all the prophecies completed, the ocean monkeys will see Mr. Spatula for the fraud he is. However, he still thinks he won and tells you that it was him who sent the triangle portal to lure Sam and Max to the island and their deaths. When you finally reach the top of the machine to turn off the lava flow, you're a little bit too late and can only press the emergency button instead. You'll need to go up to the surface to see what happened. Before you go, pick up any new items that might be around.

Inventory items

The High Priest's medallion by the machine pod's door. The sock crown, above Mr. Spatula's water tank.

Save the island

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When you get up above, you'll see that the emergency button summoned a newer, bigger triangular portal, which moves back and forth between the island and the volcano, alternating between sucking things up and spitting them out. One of the first things it sucks up is your portal back home, so you're stuck on the island. The volcano is smoking in the distance and by the curve of its summit you can see it will shoot lava straight across the ocean to Easter Island. You'll have to figure out how to use the emergency protocol to save the island.

Neutralize the volcano

Note that the new pink portal will suck up just about anything. The triangle portal moves right in front of the volcano's expulsion path. If you could stop the portal in front of the volcano, it might be able to suck up the lava. Think back to the beginning of the game and how you stopped the first portal. Did you find anything shaped like an octagon? Do you have anything to make it red? Use the High Priest's medallion on the red slime in the cave to get your red octagon. You'll need to get the medallion out to the portal, near the volcano. Activate the gray portal you can reach by the third Moai head, and shoot the gold one out at the volcano. Use the medallion on the gray portal to throw it into the pink portal.

You've saved everyone and given the Moai heads another thousand years or so to peacefully keep watch over the island. Since your portal home is gone, you'll have to swim. After the credits roll, a mysterious light shines down on the Moai heads and plucks them up right out of the ground. What could this possibly mean? Find out in the next episode, Night of the Raving Dead.