Pajama Sam:
No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside
Cover art
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment[lower-alpha 2]
Producer(s)Ron Gilbert[2]
Designer(s)
  • Ron Gilbert
  • Richard Moe
  • Rhonda Conley
Artist(s)Todd Lubsen[3]
Writer(s)Dave Grossman
Composer(s)
EngineSCUMM
Platform(s)Windows, Macintosh, Wii, iOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
ReleaseReleased
  • October 18, 1996 (Win, Mac)
  • August 19, 2008 (Wii)
  • December 12, 2012 (iOS)
  • April 3, 2014 (Android)[4]
  • April 17, 2014 (Linux)[5]
  • February 10, 2022 (Switch)[6]
  • November 3, 2022 (PlayStation 4)
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside (also known as Pajama Sam 1) is a 1996 children's adventure game originally released for PC and Mac. The first game of the Pajama Sam franchise, it sold nearly 3 million units and won 50 awards.[7]

The game was first released on October 18, 1996.[8] The game was reissued on December 7, 1999. In August 2008, the game was re-released as a Wii game by Majesco Entertainment renamed as Pajama Sam: Don't Fear The Dark,[9] which was only available for a limited time due to legal problems concerning the port's development.[10] This game was ported to iOS by Nimbus Games under the title Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide in December 2012. A Nintendo Switch version was released on February 10, 2022,[6] followed by the PlayStation 4 version on the PlayStation Store in November.[11]

Plot

The game begins with Sam (voiced by Pamela Segall Adlon) reading a comic book about his favorite superhero, Pajama Man, in bed, when his mom comes into the room to remind him that tonight is the night that he starts going to sleep with the lights off. Sam quickly becomes frightened by the darkness, so he takes inspiration from Pajama Man's bravery and assumes the role of Pajama Sam as he dons his red cape and purple mask and gathers equipment to confront Darkness. While searching for Darkness in his closet, Sam falls down a hole, which acts as a portal to the Land of Darkness, a world where the sky is always dark.

Not long after Sam enters the Land of Darkness, a group of trees trap him with a rope snare and confiscate his superhero gear and mask. After Sam frees himself, a friendly female tree, to whom the rope belongs, lets Sam borrow it and encourages him to look for his missing items. While exploring the different parts of the Land of Darkness, Sam meets a boat named Otto and a mine cart named King, who both aid him throughout his mission. After retrieving all his belongings, Sam prepares to confront Darkness.

Putting on his mask and getting his stuff ready, Sam enters Darkness' bedroom. After finding the key to Darkness' closet, Sam confronts him, still being afraid. Sam soon realizes that Darkness is not bad at all and is just lonely because he has no one to play games with him. Feeling sorry for Darkness, Sam befriends him, and they play "Cheese and Crackers" (a variation of tic-tac-toe) together. Afterwards, Sam returns home and agrees to play with Darkness again tomorrow. Back in his room, Sam goes to bed and falls asleep almost instantly after saying "good night" to Darkness as the game ends.

Gameplay

The game is notable for its multiple game scenarios; when the player starts a new game, each of the three items that need to be collected are in one of either two locations (for example, sometimes the lunch box is next to a wishing well, and sometimes it is at the bottom of a river). In addition to this, the player needs to carry out different actions in order to retrieve these items (for example, to get the lunch box, the player must search the area for a magnet in order to pick up the box from the bottom of the river, but if the lunch box is placed next to the well, the player doesn't need the magnet and instead needs a set of boat oars to swim up a current). There are also two different locations for the mask (which is either being worn by a carrot or is hidden beneath a dancing couch in Darkness's house), as well as the flashlight (which is either in a hidden area of the mine or inside a shack near the river).

The player does not have control on which scenarios can be encountered in a playthrough, a feature that becomes available in subsequent sequels. There are also 10 pairs of socks that can be found throughout the Land of Darkness.

Also, one of the questions for the Brain Tickler minigame is about the Land of Darkness. It will either ask what color the flowers are in Darkness' garden or what the number on the Mines' water meter is.

Development

Pajama Sam was displayed at the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June. A writer for Computer Games Strategy Plus noted that the character of Sam was "conceived as a pumpkin, [but ...] underwent design changes and now sports a realistic green head as he sets out with his PJ's, blankie, lunchbox and flashlight".[12] The original pumpkin-head character design was later referenced in the third installment, Pajama Sam 3: You Are What You Eat from Your Head to Your Feet, where Sam must wear a hollowed-out jack-o-lantern over his head to gain access to a restricted area.

Reception

The original release of Pajama Sam received general acclaim, getting scores of 90% from GameRankings,[13] 9/10 from IGN,[15] 92% from Coming Soon Magazine,[17] 9.5 out of 10 from Electric Playground,[18] 8/10 from Unikgamer,[19] 4 out of 5 stars from Allgame[21] and 4 out of 5 stars from Adventure Gamers.[14]

The 2008 Wii port, titled Pajama Sam: Don't Fear the Dark was praised for the ease of play with the Wii Remote, but the save-game framework was criticized for looking ugly and for autosaving at inopportune times, including overwriting save files after the player had passed a point of no return.[16]

Legacy

Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside spawned three sequels. The first, Pajama Sam 2: Thunder and Lightning Aren't so Frightening, was released in 1998. In 2000, Pajama Sam 3: You Are What You Eat from Your Head to Your Feet was released, and was the final game with Pamela Segall Adlon voicing Pajama Sam. After Humongous Entertainment was purchased by Atari, Pajama Sam: Life Is Rough When You Lose Your Stuff! was released in 2003. The success of the game also resulted in a number of children's books being released between 1999 and 2001.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Mistic Software Inc". Mistic Software Inc. 2013. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Edwards, Benj (Aug 19, 2015). "The 17 best educational games of the 70s, 80s and 90s—Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside (1996)". Macworld. Archived from the original on April 24, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ Lubsen, Todd. "Todd Lubsen" (PDF). p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide - Android Apps on Google Play". Google Play. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Pajama Sam In: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside on Steam". Steam. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Humongous [@HumongousEnt] (February 3, 2022). "Get your adventure on with four of the best games you've ever played, arriving for #NintendoSwitch on February 10th" (Tweet). Retrieved March 16, 2022 – via Twitter.
  7. ↑ "Majesco Entertainment - Pajama Sam: Don't Fear The Dark". Majesco Entertainment. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside Walkthrough - IGN FAQs". IGN. 2004. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Majesco Entertainment and Interactive Game Group Ship Three Award-Winning Adventure Games for Wii". IGN. August 26, 2008. Archived from the original on August 30, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  10. ↑ Cobbett, Richard (December 22, 2017). "How ScummVM is keeping adventure games alive, one old game at a time". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Playstation4". HE. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  12. ↑ Staff (June 1, 1996). "E3 Adventure & Role Playing Games". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on June 14, 1997. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  13. 1 2 "Pajama Sam In: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside for PC - GameRankings". GameRankings. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Pajama Sam In: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside Information, Screenshots & Media". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Pajama Sam In: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside Review". IGN. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  16. 1 2 Walker, Torrey (September 19, 2008). "Pajama Sam Don't Fear the Dark Review for Wii from 1UP.com". n4g.com. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  17. 1 2 "Coming Soon Magazine - Issue 19". Coming Soon Magazine, Inc. Retrieved June 1, 2015. If you were wondering about a game to buy for your kids, don't look further, you have a winner with Pajama Sam.
  18. 1 2 Bonnie James (January 17, 1997). "Pajama Sam In: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside - Electric Playground". Greedy Productions. Archived from the original on August 4, 1997. Retrieved June 17, 2015. Once again Humongous has put forth a wacky and engaging adventure that will keep kids (big and little) entertained.
  19. 1 2 "Pajama Sam series on Unikgamer". Unikgamer. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
  20. ↑ Mary E. Behr (February 4, 1997). "PC Magazine Volume 16". PC Magazine. No. 3. p. 373. Retrieved September 12, 2016. This game definitely stands up as one of the finest children's software titles we've seen.
  21. ↑ Brad Cook. "Pajama Sam In: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside - Review - allgame". Allgame. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  1. ↑ Ported to Wii by Mistic Software (Wii)[1] and IOS by Nimbus Games.
  2. ↑ The Wii version was published by Majesco Entertainment in the United States and Atari Europe in Europe.
    The IOS release was published by Atari.
    The IOS re-release and Android version were published by Tommo.
    The Steam release was co-published by Tommo and Night Dive Studios.
    The Nintendo Switch version was published by UFO Interactive Games.
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