Easter Eggs in Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Egg id: 101
After pulling money from the ATM but before purchasing the converter at Radio Shock/Hz so Good, visit the Big & Tall shop and you may see this individual. It is a cameo appearance by programmer Bob Andrews. This cameo is only available in the CD version of the game.
- There's an appearance by an Eveready Engergizer-bunny. Sierra wrote Duracell and asked for permission, since the bunny is owned by Duracell everywhere except in the States, where they lost it to Eveready. Later, they got an angry letter about it. Scott Murphy adds to the story: "Our legal counsel at the time did contact Duracell asking permission to use a likeness of the bunny in our game. I'm sure they thought this as amusing as the rest of us did. I don't think he'll ever forget nor live it down. He eventually contacted someone by phone at Eveready and got a verbal agreement with a token fee in exchange and all looked fine. Hey, free advertising or "product placement", as they call it now. After the disk version had been out for a full year and we had been working away on the CD speech version of SQ4 we did get one of those letters from a different member of the Eveready company. Ken's thought and rationalization for continuing to use it on the CD version was that we had already sold most of the number of units we expected to sell, we had the verbal agreement, it was a legal parody blah blah blah... Anyway, the back of the rabbit has a black and copper looking battery in it, it was ignored and finally went away."
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Egg id: 105
Other references:
- The death message when leaving the time pod on Ortega is a direct spoof on an American drug campaign. A man gets some eggs and says: "This is your brain". He then proceeds to fry them. "This is your brain on drugs". He then looks churlishly at the camera: "Any questions?".
- The title for Space Quest X, "The Latex Babes of Estros", is a poke at the old Infocom text adventure, "Leather Goddesses of Phobos".
- One of the questions in the on-game hint book reads: "I can't find the one-armed man anywhere." The answer is given as, "Ask Bob". This is reference to Twin Peaks.
- Talk to the trash bin in the Arcade. This is a reference to the agents from "Get Smart". According to Scott Murphy, "This cameo was conceived by programmer Jerry Shaw. He was in his Don Adams period at that time."
- As in Space Quest 1, the Blues Brothers are on stage in the bar in Ulence Flats. ZZ Top however no longer appears in it, following their complaint to Sierra On-Line for using their image in the game.
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Egg id: 453
- The electronics store in the Galaxy Galleria of the disk version of SQ4 is called "Radio Shock", in reference to a large chain of Radio Shacks in the States, which is called "Radio Shack". The CD-Rom version of SQ4 changed this to "Hz So Good". The Two Guys where almost sent to court. Scott Murphy: "The way it worked from the company side is that it is easier and far economically sensible to make an art and writing change than go nearly the level of litigation. It's costly and time consuming. Oh, and did I mention costly? Mark and I hated to have to make any changes submitted from outside the team, but on occasion you could see the logic (Sometimes I really hate logic!)."
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Egg id: 452
Star Wars references:
- The crashed skimmer on Xenon looks exactly like Luke Skywalker's speeder in Star Wars IV: A New Hope.
- On Estros, Zondra demands Roger: "Into the sub, flyboy". This is a spoof on Star Wars Episode 4. After Princess Leia shoots the vent into the garbage chute she says to Han Solo: "Into the garbage chute, flyboy".
- The security droids in the Super Computer look exactly like the Probots (Imperial Probe Droids) in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
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Egg id: 455
In the arcade, look at the machine near the right back for a reference to Frogger.
Programmer Bob Andrews added the room known as "the room removed for legal reasons". It was... well... removed for legal reasons, but is still in the resource files of the CD-ROM release. According to Bob, you accessed this room by typing in Sierra's phone number and Scott's extension into the time pod's keyboard. It could be accessed by typing the following 3 codes in the time pod. Make sure to save the game before trying this because, once in the room, you can't leave it any more.
The room itself is taken from King's Quest 6 (the secret passage Alexander accesses to find Cassima). Only the staircase and frontal brickwork have been removed.
From left to right, the items removed for legal reasons are:
- Slug Chow: A parody of the Ralston Purina Company's Dog and Puppy Chow. This was likely considered questionable because Purina owned Everready Battery Company. Sierra had already drawn the legal ire of the company due to the Energizer Bunny Mishap. The death scene by the sewer blob and the sea slug, showing this "slime chow", was replaced in the CD version with an alternate image.
- Hero's Quest was the original title for the Quest For Glory series, but was later changed because of copyright issues involving the "Hero's Quest" board game.
- The two long bearded men are from the music group ZZ-Top. Originally appearing in the Rocket Bar in the VGA version of Space Quest 1, they were removed after a lawsuit against Sierra for using their likenesses without permission.
- The dinosaur on the wall is the character Earl Sinclair from the Disney produced television series, Dinosaurs. He appeared in the VGA remake of the first Quest for Glory game.
- The Radio Shock sign was removed from the Galaxy Galleria in Space Quest 4 and replaced with Hz. So Good in the CD release, due to its similarity to electronics supply story chain, Radio Shack.
- The Droids R Us sign from the original EGA version of Space Quest 1. Later versions of the game had the name changed to Droids B Us due to liability issues of the name's similarities to the toy store chain Toys R Us.
During professor Lloyds holographic explanation in the sewer's maintenance office, he mentions the Vohaul virus came from a disk in a box titled "Leisure Suit Larry". Later in the programming chamber, you can see Leisure Suit Larry 4 (which was never published) on the computer drive.
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Egg id: 97
Enter the displayed code in the time pod and "I Love Lunacy" will appear on the pod display.
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Egg id: 98
When you're in the nest of the pterodactyl on Estros, wait a bit and at one point you'll see King Graham fly by, a reference to him taking being caught by a bird in King's Quest 5.
When arriving at the Galaxy Galleria, there's a huge crowd in the front of the Software Excess store. When talking to one of the people in the crowd, he'll inform you that "The Two Geeks from Andromeda are in there, signing copies of their latest release." Try using the talk icon some additional times for a laugh.
In the Xenon streets, in the screen closest to Vohaul's fortress, click the taste icon on the building for a Larry reference.
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Egg id: 95
In the sewer maintenance office on Xenon, walk to the far bottom left corner and click the buckazoid in the far bottom left corner (so only a quarter of it is visible). A short slideshow of the travels in Europe of programmer Neil Matz will be displayed. This works only in the CD-version of the game.
Several games in the software box are references to other games. The box spoofs were written by Josh Mandel.
- "Boom" is a parody on LucArts' "Loom". The author of the original game was called Brian Moriaty, but is renamed Morrie Brianarty in SQ4. The parody box describes the game as having no interface, no conflicts, no puzzles, no other characters and no chance of dying; as does "Loom".
- "Sim Sim" from MaxThis is a parody on the Sim-games from Maxis.
- "Where in the World is Hymie Lipschitz (And Who Really Cares?)" from BroderBuns, is a parody on the Carmen Sandiego games from BroderBund. The person on the box is Josh Mandel himself with a fake beard, hair and glasses.
- "It Came For Dessert" from Enemaware is a parody on an old Amiga adventure called "It Came from the Desert" from Cinemaware, featuring a horde of really big ants. Another note is that the box mentions "Defender of the Crown Rib Roast", which is a parody on an earlier strategy game by the same company, with the same title - except for the rib roast part. The people on the cover are Cheryl Loyd and George Esparza.
- Cluck Egger lets you design a chicken and make it fly over real barnyard scenery. This is a parody on a flight simulator, called "Chuck Yeager". One of the characters of Space Venture, designed by the Guys from Andromeda in 2012-2013 is also named Cluck Yegger.
- In the floppy version (or CD-version updated with the patch), there is also a plug-in of Sierra Stunt Flyer and "Dacron Danny", a reference to Leisure Suit Larry.
