The Def Guide to Zzap!64

Hello,

my Name is Sascha and I’m part of LucasFan Games, a team who’s making retro adventure games. So far we have produced a remake of Maniac Mansion, called Maniac Mansion Deluxe and an unofficial sequel of Zak McKracken, called The New Adventures of Zak McKracken. Our site can be found at www.lucasfangames.de.

Well, some days ago I found a Zzap-article about “Zak Mckracken 2” on this site:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tolworthy/zak/why.htm

Of course it was an April fool hoax but we would really like to know more about it. Alas, it’s all written in Italian. Does someone has an English version and could send us a scan of it? Our email-address is webmaster@lucasfangames.de. We can’t promises anything but maybe we could use it to produce that game. The pictures look pretty good so we hope they also had some good ideas in that article. It could be pretty funny if that old April fool hoax could become reality.

Hi & welcome,

I love your remakes, especially the Maniac Mansion one which I played.
One of the best games ever, and one of the best remakes ever too!

I'm not sure what you're after, but here's the Zzap!64 UK scans of the review:

oneand two

and the cover

I'll have a (deeper) look later...

Ooh silly me, it was a fantasized sequel.
Duh!
It wasn't in the UK edition of Zzap!, so where that one came from??
I don't know.
As for a translation, you could ask FAB (Fabrizio Gennari) on this forum, he's Italian and always enthusiastic, maybe he can help out.
He has a similar weird sense of humour, just like in those LucasArt titles, so he looks like the right man for that job.

Succes!

_________________
Once again I emerge from beneath a massive pile of paper which makes my desk groan to bring you the world’s most amazing posts.

Hello Mr.Zzapback!

Thank you a lot for that information! I already thought about asking one of our Italian translatiors for help but wanted to be sure that there isn't already an English version of it. Thank you anyway.

First of all, sorry for being late in answering...

Second of all, the Web page you mention says


that's because the real Zzap! did not talk at all about a sequel in April 1989 (and, as far as I remember, did not ever talk about a sequel). Only the Italian edition did.

Third of all, the translation. Well, it's not a full one, just bits'n'pieces.

The red box says "Beware: the tested version is not the final one, and at this time Lucasfilm hasn't announced when and through which channels it will be distributed outside US. Since Zzap! staff got exclusive collaboration from the famous American firm, we will be the first to know those dates: therefore you are kindly invited to phone us for any clarification. Thank you."

The review starts by telling how they got in touch with the game: "one of our most trusted journalists [...] books a plane ticket to Los Angeles". But, although he was going there just for fun, "Ed & BDB" (the editors, I guess) tell him he has to do an interview with Lucasfilm staff. "When we saw him come back into the office, with a hat with Mickey Mouse ears and a "I love Disneyland" T-shirt, we were more surprised than we expected: not for the T-shirt or the ears (here, we are used to much worse things...) , but for the four disks he was holding in his hand, along with a photocopied version of the manual of...Zak McKraken 2!!!"
The review goes on witha detailed description of the presentation and the gameplay, and raves about the game. One of the reviewers says "Zzap! does not have diamond-crusted platinum medals"