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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]

Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside
Wii Cover art featuring Pajama Sam with a flashlight
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)	Rick Rhodes Danny Pelfrey Jeremy Soule
Engine	SCUMM
Platform(s)	Windows, Macintosh, Wii, iOS, Linux, Steam, Nintendo Switch
Release	Released October 18, 1996 (Win, Mac) August 19, 2008 (Wii) December 12, 2012 (iOS) April 3, 2014 (Android)[4] April 17, 2014 (Linux, Steam)[5] February 10, 2022 (Switch)[6]
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

The game was first released on October 18, 1996.[8] The game was reissued on December 7, 1999. On August 19, 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] On December 12, 2012, this game was ported to iOS by Nimbus Games under the title Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide. A Nintendo Switch version was released on February 10, 2022.[6]

Plot

Sam (voiced by Pamela Segall Adlon) can't sleep due to a fear of the dark that fills his room. He is inspired by an issue of his favorite superhero comic, Pajama Man, to take matters into his own hands. Journeying into his closet with his purple Pajama Sam mask (Signature-Edition), All-Metal Pajama Man Lunch Box (Portable Bad Guy Containment Unit) and his Illuminator Mark 5 Jr. Flashlight, Sam tumbles down into the Land of Darkness and is soon stopped by a group of trees acting as customs, where his items are confiscated. After freeing himself, Sam goes on an adventure to reclaim his lost equipment. He befriends a boat named Otto and a mine cart named King, who help Sam throughout his exciting search. After a quest spanning a river, a lava-filled mine, and Darkness's house, Sam goes to confront Darkness. Sam is still afraid at first, but then he finds Darkness is friendly. Darkness tells him that he is just lonely and wants a playmate. After the two of them play together by playing the game "Cheese and Crackers" (a variation of tic-tac-toe), Sam leaves the closet and finds himself back in his own room. No longer afraid of the dark, Sam quickly falls asleep.

Multiple puzzles

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, however 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 20 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".[11] 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,[12] 9/10 from IGN,[14] 92% from Coming Soon Magazine,[16] 9.5 out of 10 from Electric Playground,[17] 8/10 from Unikgamer,[18] 4 out of 5 stars from Allgame[20] and 4 out of 5 stars from Adventure Gamers.[13]

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.[15]

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. The following year, 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

External links

• Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside at MobyGames
• Pajama Sam In: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside at Humongous Entertainment

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