Grim Fandangowas the first game my wife and I played together. This was way back in 2017, before we were married, and just a few years afterDouble Fine’s remastered version of the classicLucasArtsadventure game launched onPS4. We had a great time, though as we got deeper and deeper into the game, we had to consult online walkthroughs more and more. There’s a puzzle that’s set on a boat where you have to manipulate a giant chain, and I hope I never have to see it again.
Grim Fandango’s Memorable Moments
But getting stuck at certain points only serves to make a game more memorable in the long run. Iwrote recentlyabout howTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2’s Hangar level is seared into my brain because, thanks to the N64 version requiring an Expansion Pak to save your progress, it was the only part of the game I ever played. Similarly, there are tons of point-and-click adventure games I played with my dad as a kid where we got really stuck and couldn’t progress.
I also didn’t finish plenty of GameCube games that were not especially difficult, but which I couldn’t crack due to being a stupid child.
Grim Fandango had plenty of those moments for me and my wife. While playing the game, we would frequently mimic Manny Calavera’s oft-repeated line, “I don’t really wanna do that,” because when Grim Fandango has you stumped, you hear that line every couple seconds. Yet, the moment that has wormed its way into our relationship to this day comes later in the game, when Manny and Glottis have taken over a casino.
As Manny, you’re walking around, exploring the new, sprawling area you’ve just been given dominion over. Glottis is parked at a table, getting hella drunk on wine, and shouting things like, “Open it up on the straightaways kitty!” while watching cat races he has money on. When you approach Glottis, Manny will always say, in a sing-song voice, “Coming home soon?” Rewatching this bit on YouTube, I’ve discovered that Glottis replies, “Shh, I’m visualizing!” But the details of the scene are immaterial because “Coming home soon?” quickly entered our vocabulary and stuck.
A Screenshot Of The Moment In Question
Coming Home Soon?
My wife works very close to our apartment and walks home most days at lunch. So, when 12:15 had rolled around and she wasn’t home yet, I started texting her, “Coming home soon?” which I knew she couldn’t help but read in Manny’s voice. Eventually I got tired of typing the whole phrase out each time. So, my solution was to find a screenshot of the moment in the game, then send that to her each time. That still seemed a little too inefficient, so I created a widget on my iPhone — with that screenshot from the game as its icon — which sends the photo for me when I press it, provided that I have already copied the screenshot to my clipboard.
It still isn’t as seamless as I would like. I would prefer to be able to have the widget do everything, instead of requiring that I copy the image to my clipboard every time. But it’s the fastest way to send “Coming home soon?” that I have discovered so far. It’s a small example of how games (and art in general) becomes a part of our lives in unexpected ways. I didn’t think much of that moment in Grim Fandango when we played it. But seven years later, it’s still something we share.
