Day of the Tentacle is a point-and-click adventure developed and published by LucasArts for MS-DOS and Mac OS on 25 June 1993. It was the first game led by Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer and the eighth LucasArts game built on the SCUMM engine. It is a sequel to Maniac Mansion (1987), and the whole original Maniac Mansion can be played inside it.
The game shipped on floppy disks and CD-ROM at the same time, and only the CD-ROM version is fully voiced. According to Schafer, its budget was about $600,000.
On 22 March 2016 Double Fine Productions released Day of the Tentacle Remastered with redrawn high-resolution art, a new command wheel and developer commentary, while keeping the original graphics and interface as an option. The remaster later reached Linux, iOS and Xbox One.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle | Mac | Jun 25, 1993 | LucasArts | 1 |
| NA | Maniac Mansion: Day of the TentacleFloppy and CD-ROM editions released together. | MS-DOS | Jun 25, 1993 | LucasArts | 1 |
| EU | Maniac Mansion: Day of the TentacleAlso Australia. | MS-DOS | July 1993 | LucasArts | 1 |
| WW | Day of the Tentacle RemasteredSame day on OS X, PlayStation 4 and PS Vita; Steam lists 21 March 2016. | Windows | Mar 22, 2016 | Double Fine Productions | 1 |
| WW | Day of the Tentacle RemasteredAlso iOS. | Linux | Jul 11, 2016 | Double Fine Productions | 1 |
| WW | Day of the Tentacle Remastered | Xbox One | October 2020 | — | 1 |
Also known as: Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle WW2Day of the Tentacle Remastered WW1
Box art by region
NA Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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AudioFloppy (DOS)
The floppy version is voiced only until the end of the first Chron-O-John cutscene and relies on subtitles afterwards; the CD-ROM version is voiced throughout.2
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AudioFloppy (DOS)
Speech in the floppy version is far more compressed (8333 Hz against 22222 Hz on CD), so the game could fit on six diskettes.2
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ContentFloppy (DOS)
The floppy version has a copy-protection check based on the Battery Plans in the manual; the CD version still contains it, fully voiced, but does not use it.2
Translations
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German Official
Double Fine Productions2016Windows · RemasteredReleased · complete
The Remastered edition includes German text and full German audio.3
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Spanish Official
Double Fine Productions2016Windows · RemasteredReleased
Day of the Tentacle Remastered includes Spanish (Spain) text; full audio is listed only for English and German.3
Where to play legally today
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GOG Purchase
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Steam Purchase
Day of the Tentacle Remastered
Windows, macOS, Linux; original graphics switchable
Checked: 2026-10-133store.steampowered.com
How to run it today
Buy Day of the Tentacle Remastered on Steam or GOG; it runs natively on Windows, macOS and Linux, and the original 1993 graphics can be switched on at any time.
Best version
Day of the Tentacle Remastered is the easiest legal version: it keeps the original graphics and interface as an option and still contains the full original Maniac Mansion.1
Reception
The original holds 93/100 on Metacritic but sold only about 80,000 copies by 2009, a moderate commercial success. Computer Gaming World named it Adventure Game of the Year, and Adventure Gamers called it the best adventure game of all time in 2004.1
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.