Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside

Last updated
Pajama Sam:
No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside
Pajama Sam No Need To Hide When It's Dark Outside Cover.jpg
Developer(s) Humongous Entertainment [a]
Publisher(s) Humongous Entertainment [b]
Producer(s) Ron Gilbert [2]
Designer(s)
  • Ron Gilbert
  • Richard Moe
  • Rhonda Conley
Artist(s) Todd Lubsen [3]
Writer(s) Dave Grossman
Composer(s)
Series Pajama Sam
Engine SCUMM
Platform(s) Windows, Macintosh, Wii, iOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
Release
October 18, 1996
  • Windows, Macintosh
    October 18, 1996
    Wii
    August 29, 2008
    iOS
    December 12, 2012
    Android
    April 3, 2014 [4]
    Linux
    April 17, 2014 [5]
    Switch
    February 10, 2022 [6]
    PlayStation 4
    November 3, 2022
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 adventure game developed and published by Humongous Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh. The first game of the Pajama Sam franchise, it sold nearly three million units and won 50 awards. [7]

Contents

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 for Wii by Majesco Entertainment, renamed as Pajama Sam: Don't Fear The Dark [9] and 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 in February 2022, [6] followed by the PlayStation 4 version on the PlayStation Store in November. [11]

Plot

A young boy named Sam prepares to go to sleep with his bedroom light off for the first time but quickly becomes frightened by the darkness. Inspired by the bravery of his superhero idol, Pajama Man, Sam assumes the role of Pajama Sam by donning a red cape, purple mask, and gathering equipment to confront the darkness, which he believes to be an actual living being. While searching for Darkness in his closet, Sam falls down a portal which takes him 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 sentient trees trap him with a rope snare and confiscate his superhero gear and mask, hiding each of them in three locations. 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 items, Sam enters Darkness' bedroom and nervously confronts him only to realize that Darkness is actually very nice but lonely because he has no friends 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 goes to bed, having overcome his fear of Darkness.

Gameplay

Like Humongous Entertainment's other games, Pajama Sam uses a point-and-click format. The game's main goal is to find the eponymous Sam's mask, flashlight, and lunchbox, which are all scattered around the Land of Darkness. Alternative paths for Sam's lost items are unlocked once the player beats the game at least once. [12] The player does not have control on which scenarios can be encountered in a playthrough, a feature that becomes available in subsequent sequels. An optional side-quest involves looking for ten pairs of socks belonging to Sam's family, which are hidden throughout various locations. The game also contains a few minigames, some that are optional (such as Nuggets, a Snake -esque mine cart arcade game) and some that are mandatory (such as The Brain Tickler, a quiz game show that allows Sam to enter Darkness' basement upon completion). [12]

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". [13] This is alluded to in the game in an animated cutaway where Sam reads a journal in Darkness' library regarding a possible lawsuit by an Atlanta executive and concerns about lower game sales due to seasonality. [14] 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 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 . [15]

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. 1 2 Humongous Entertainment (October 1, 1996). "Five Fun New Humongous Entertainment Games to Ship in October". Humongous.com. Woodinville, Washington. Retrieved August 15, 2025– via Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ J2xp (January 9, 2014). Pumpkinhead Boy, a Brief Tragedy (Origin of Pajama Sam) . Retrieved August 16, 2025– via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. 1 2 "Pajama Sam In: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside Information, Screenshots & Media". Adventure Gamers . Retrieved June 5, 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.

Notes

  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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