Sam And Max Hit The Road - Limited Run physical release

[Lagomorph01]

Wow! What a great job you've done, Laserschwert! And it's really cool seeing an illustrated write up of this! You guys really went the extra mile!

Steve Purcell, like you, must be a really passionate guy to spend so much time on a re-release of a thirty plus year old game!

Still, it's kind of weird seeing modern "blank eyed" Max on a Hit the Road box, while Sam looks very true to the Sam of that era. (The shorter nose and smaller lower jaw. Less triangular head.) But all and all it's amazing!

 

I never thought I'd see the day that fresh Hit the Road art would grace a box! Fantastic work!

[Jake]

Steve ended up doing a bunch of work on this release in addition to his and Laserschwert's collab on the back of the box map. Here's a look at a few pieces of it, using photos he posted to the Sam & Max Funhouse Facebook page as visual aids:

 

He did the cover to the Conroy Bumpus Live from Bumpusville "EP" (really just a mini CD that could fit in the case file envelope). I wonder how long it's been since Steve last drew Conroy Bumpus?! The CD contains the same redbook audio tracks that were found on the original CD-ROM edition of the game in the 90s, with the track order changed slightly so "King of the Creatures" is first.

 

The box includes a real version of the fake "official Hit The Road totally unrelated board game,", which actually started its life as a double page spread in the On The Road comic (which is also included in this edition as a miniature reprint of the original book!). We thought it would be cool to do the board game as an actual board game, instead of an art print or postcard or something, but that meant it would need pieces! After kicking around a few ideas, Steve proposed doing a collection of fake vintage bottle caps, representative of the heroes of the game. It was perfect for the "crap found between the cracks of the car seat on a long road trip" vibe we wanted for the collectors edition, and Limited Run was into the idea and found someone who could print them up for us. It also meant Steve ended up doing portraits of Trixie and Bruno!

 

The game board is dice based, so we did a die stolen from the Savage Jungle Inn, lettering and palm tree logos on the 1 side, and the "savage jungle" logo from the sign outside printed between the pips on the 2 side. (not pictured)

 

Also in the case file evelope is a piece of the World's Largest Ball of Twine! The idea here was this is a cheesy little chotchkie you could pick up on a spindle rack by the cash register in the spinning restuaurant, or in the museum. It seemed like the sort of cheesy tourist trap souvenir you'd be able to get there. Limited Run agreed to cut a zillion little pieces of twine so we were good to go. Steve did the retro illustration of the Ball and restaurant.

 

There's a bunch of other crazy stuff buried the deeper you dig, like these scribbly storyboards of an early idea for the game's opening:

 

 

I don't want to spoil all the contents, though, as I know there are people out there who ordered it and still haven't received it.

 

[Lagomorph01]

Great stuff, Jake! Thanks for posting these.

Looking at these pictures, I'm actually pretty sorry I didn't pre-order this one when I had the chance. This looks so much more fun and inspired than the Grim Fandango one I got. Still, I got the original box right here on the shelves, it's actually one of my favourite Video Game covers, it's just so much fun!

Other than that, it's great to see Steve pick up his old art style again, the one with the thick black outlines that he used for his comics. He must've really been quite nostalgic while making these.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I'm so skeptical of these deluxe edition re-releases... but seeing all this stuff close up makes me think this one actually looks worth it. Shame I missed the pre-order window!

 

@Laserschwert

Now please go ahead and upres the rest of the game with Steve. Thanks!