Sam & Max Season One received a remaster this month. The new game brings updated graphics, lighting, and a new soundtrack to Telltale’s classic comedy adventure game. It also brings something that fans certainly did not ask for: censorship.
The adventures of Sam, a 7 foot tall anthropomorphic dog, and Max, a hyper-kinetic rabbit-thing, have always been a little edgy. Or about as edgy as early 90’s PG-13 humour gets. However, developers Skunkape, felt that some of the jokes from the 2006 episodic game were perhaps a little too risque for audiences in 2020.
Initially, they had said the only changes to the game would be “to the camerawork and comedic timing.” When asked if any of the jokes were changed, they contradicted themselves by saying some of the jokes were being made better than you remember them.
“So when you replay the game, you may come away from it feeling like it’s even better/funnier game now than you remember it being (That was my experience playing it,” a representative for the Skunkape team said on a Steam thread about the remaster. A fan then asked whether the dialogue was to remain untouched. “Correct!,” the developer confirmed.
Well, some lines were indeed changed, as reported by Bounding Into Comics.
In one instance, a reference to neo-Nazi skinheads was removed.
Episode 2
Original dialogue:
Oh no, the Skinbodies are like Skinheads, but ten times worse!
New dialogue:
Oh no, the Skinbodies are like those horrible hairless cats, but ten times worse!
Another instance removes a joke about male internet users posing as young girls online.
Episode 5
Original dialogue:
It’s ’cause everyone on the internet has to pick an avatar, like a dwarf or an orc or an hot young fifteen-year- old girl curious about the adult world and willing to experiment.
New Dialogue:
It’s cause everyone on the internet has to pick an avatar, like a dwarf or an orc or a troll… But we’ve got enough trolls.
These are just two examples of changes made. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think these are better/funnier than I remember. This is, a great (duck)man once said, “childproof, flavourless mush.”
Fans were quick to voice their frustrations over having allegedly been misled. (We use ‘allegedly’ here in the strictly legal sense.) However, Skunkape only offered a sort of non-apology for the situation.
“These don’t change the game experience and we feel strongly that it was the right thing to do,” the developer said. They continued, saying there were some jokes they felt “uncomfortable” including in 2020. “Unless you go looking for them, you probably won’t even notice.”
Well, it seems like some people did notice. Skunkape has yet to comment on the controversy, but has said the original 2006 releases are available for those who want to play them in their un-remastered form.
Sam & Max is just the latest piece of older media to be altered to avoid offending a small but extremely vocal subset of the internet. It raises serious questions about the preservation of media.
Telltale was one of the first publishers to switch their distribution model to a primarily digital one. Sam & Max did get physical releases for the PC once each season finished, but it was optional and cost extra.
Today, there’s a growing push within the games industry to move entirely to digital. While it’s certainly a lot more convenient, the big drawback is media preservation. All someone needs to do is change a few lines of code, push a patch out, and alter big chunks of a game. Often without the customer’s, or the artist’s, knowledge or consent. We’ve seen with the removal of licensed soundtracks, or negative features being shoved into something. But as Twitter puritans start pushing their politically correct, sanitized garbage on the industry, it’s only a matter of time before other older titles get scrubbed clean as well. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it, unless you bought a physical copy. This is why it’s so important to preserve those collections so people in the future can appreciate artworks as the artist intended, without the grubby little busy bodies poking their nose in. Don’t let them take away your right to laugh at whatever you want.
