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Space Quest III

Space Quest III:
The Pirates of Pestulon

Cover art by John Shaw

Developer(s) Sierra On-Line
Publisher(s) Sierra On-Line
Designer(s) Mark Crowe
Scott Murphy
Programmer(s) Scott Murphy
Doug Oldfield
Ken Koch
Chris Smith
Writer(s) Mark Crowe
Scott Murphy
Composer(s) Bob Siebenberg
Series(s) Space Quest
Engine SCI0
Platform(s) DOS, Macintosh, Amiga, Atari ST
Release March 24, 1989
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon is a 1989 graphic adventure game by Sierra On-Line, and the third game in the Space Quest series. Players assume the role of Roger Wilco, a lowly space janitor, who becomes involved in rescuing a pair of computer programmers from a sinister video game company. The game received positive reviews from critics, and contributed further to the series' commercial success for Sierra. A sequel, Space Quest IV, was released in 1991.

Information about the game was referrenced from: Space Quest III

Plot

Space Quest III takes place in a universe which parodies notable science-fiction franchises such as Star Trek and Star Wars. The game continues the story of Roger Wilco, a simple janitor who has saved his homeworld twice from disaster. Following the events of Space Quest II, lowly janitor Roger Wilco is in cryogenic sleep, while his escape pod drifts through space. An automated garbage freighter brings it aboard, where Roger awakens. Forced to find a way out, he discovers a derelict spaceship, the Aluminum Mallard, in the freighter's garbage hold. After repairing the ship, Roger pilots it out of the freighter. Visiting the desert planet of Phleebhut, he find himself confronted by an Arnold Schwarzenegger-like android terminator, who was sent to deal with him for failing to pay for a whistle in the previous game. However, Roger outwits him and obtains his invisibility belt.

At an orbital Monolith Burger station, Roger comes across a hidden message in an arcade game he plays, stating that its programmers (known as Two Guys) were abducted by ScumSoft, a sinister video game company on the Planet Pestulon - owned by Elmo Pug, leader of the "Pirates of Pestulon". Roger learns the programmers need rescuing, as ScumSoft intends to use them to design awful games to flood the galaxy. Deciding to rescue them, he visits a lava moon orbiting the planet Pestulon to neutralize a shield generator. Heading to the planet's surface, Roger uses his invisibility belt to infiltrate the base, and secures a disguise in the form of janitor overalls.

Exploring the company, Roger tracks down the Two Guys, but is trapped by Elmo, who forces him into an arena battle using giant Mecha robots (based on the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots game). Roger overcomes Elmo, defeating him and escapes with the Two Guys. After fighting off several ScumSoft space ships, the trio realize that the warp drive is broken. After tinkering with it, and with no warp course set in, the trio are warped into a parallel dimension via a black hole, ending up before the planet Earth. Roger delivers the two game designers to Sierra On-Line's president, Ken Williams, before departing the planet to return home after being turned down for a janitorial job.

Gameplay

PC versions of the game support mouse movement and a new, heavily improved text parser. Mouse movement was still in a primitive state at the time of the game's release, so Roger is unable to automatically find his way around obstacles in the game world, instead stopping if he encounters a barrier. Computer mice were relatively new at the time, and Sierra's mouse movement would greatly improve in subsequent games.

Astro Chicken

Astro Chicken is an arcade minigame in Space Quest III. Gameplay consists of attempting to land a chicken on a trampoline. The mechanics of the game are similar to those of Lunar Lander, with the exception that the chicken rebounds unharmed if it strikes the trampoline too forcefully. Achieving a high score reveals a hidden distress message left by the Two Guys from Andromeda. The Astro Chicken theme music is a variation on Chicken Reel, a traditional folk song best known for its use in animated cartoons. Sierra released the Astro Chicken minigame as a demo to promote Space Quest III.

References

[1] Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon Walkthrough. Adventuredoor.net.

Game Demos

SQ3_Demo.zip
Download SQ3_Astro_Chicken_Demo.zip
Download

Minimum Run

Main Article: Space Quest III Minimum Score Run

Commands

Debug Options

Information about the debugger was referrenced from: The Cutting Room Floor

SCI0 Debugger

Pressing both [SHIFT] keys and the [-] key along the numeric pad will open up SCI debug mode. Pressing them again or [SHIFT] and [D] will return the player to the game

Q Quit.
B Set Breakpoint.
O Show objects in heap.
Shift + O Show objects with address.
A Inspect ID in accumulator.
C Inspect Current Set of Objects
Press C to see all of the objects within that
set. Press I to inspect the selector.
Press E to edit that selector.
I Inspect Object/Memory - The player can
also press Up/Down to go up/down through
the memory by 16 bytes and Left/Right
to go up/down the memory by 2 bytes.
F Show Free Heap.
S Show sends.
G Change Global Variable.
L Change Local Variable.
T Change Temporary Variable.
Enter Single Step through Script.
Tab Step across Send.
C Show objects in heap.
R Show resources loaded.
Shift + S Shock stack usage.
Shift + / Show an incomplete list of shortcuts.

In-Game Debugger

Using a combination of 'pump / backstage' and 'shark / pass' will set the in-game debug mode on. Any of the following combinations will work:

While in Room 2 (Garbage Freighter - Starting room), if the player enters 'qa', they will be given the option to warp to various points in the game: Space, Phleebut, Ortega, Pestulon and End. While some global variables are set, the player will find they are without inventory.

In Versions 1.018 and 1.052, typing in 'get life' will give Roger the janitor disguise, vaporizer, keycard and Elmo photocopy, allowing the player to bypass the entirety of the office rooms.

Player can use [CTRL + Left Mouse Click] to move Roger to another spot on the map instantly.

TP Teleport to a room
QA Brings up a "QA-O-Matic" textbox with options to teleport to Space, Phleebhut, Ortega, Pestulon, or End (i.e., the endgame). Only works on the starting screen of the game (Room 1).
get life Use only in the ScumSoft corridor (Room 90) to obtain the janitor disguise and all items required to finish the game from there (the vaporizer, keycard, and a copy of Elmo's picture).

Works on 1.018 and 1.052, only
Alt + E Get stats on the player character.
Alt + R Get the current room number.
Alt + H Show free heap.
Alt + Z Quit game.
Alt + Y Give an inventory item to an actor (normally ego).
Alt + V Show visual layer (default).
Alt + P Show priority layer.
Alt + C Show control layer.

Inventory ID#'s:

0 Glowing gem
1 Wire
2 Ladder
3 Reactor
4 Orat on a stick
5 Thermoweave underwear
6 Astro Chicken flight hat
7 Monolith decoder ring
8 Buckazoids
9 Metal pole
10 Thermal detonator
11 Keycard
12 Coveralls
13 Vaporizer
14 Elmo's picture
15 Copy of Elmo's picture
16 Invisibility belt
17 Bag of fast food

Slow Computers

The sierra logo does not slide into place; it merely appears on the screen in pieces. global 124 controls if the game recognizes the computer as slow. 0 = Yes, 2 = No.

Locations (For Glitches)

Main Article: Aluminum Mallard

Main Article: Garbage Freighter

Main Article: Monolith Burger

Main Article: Ortega

Main Article: Pestulon

Main Article: Phleebut


Locations - Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon

Aluminum Mallard · Monolith Burger · Ortega
Garbage Freighter Room 2 · (Aluminum Mallard) · Room 9 · Room 10
Phleebut Room 40
Pestulon Room 81 · Room 85

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Police Quest II Space Quest III Zeliard
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