Bad Mojo

(Shudders) Yeesh.[1]

A.k.a. the roach game.

Bad Mojo was a 1996 FMV game by Pulse Entertainment. In it, you play as a down-on-his-luck entomologist named Roger Samms. He lives in a seedy apartment and gets little to no respect from his landlord Eddie Battito. As the game opens, Roger has embezzled money from a science loan and is preparing to skip town for Mexico City. However, as he is packing, Roger pulls out the locket he got from his deceased mother. The locket suddenly activates and unleashes bad mojo onto Roger, turning his soul into a cockroach. Now Roger must find out what's going on and how to reverse it, guided by a mysterious woman named Oracle within the locket.

The game was known for its very, very creepy visuals as you wander around the bar. Since you're playing as a cockroach, you're virtually helpless against larger enemies and the environment and thus have to find a way around the level that will let you pass safely.

Tropes used in Bad Mojo include:
  • But Thou Must!: A certain puzzle cannot be completed without shutting off the pilot light to a gas stove, inevitably causing the bar to be blown to bits. The ending is decided by who makes it out of the bar alive.
  • Creepy Cockroach: The entire point of the game.
  • Death by Childbirth
  • Everything Trying to Kill You: Well, you are a roach.
  • Full Motion Video
  • Golden Ending: Out of the four endings, only one ends on a happy note with Roger and Eddie escaping the gas explosion in their building, realizing they're related, and running off to Belize. Roger uses the money he stole from the university to buy his dad a beachside cantina and himself a lab for studying rain forest insects. And they lived Happily Ever After.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Eddie is Roger's father and the Oracle whom helps Roger in the quest is actually their wife and mother, respectively.
  • The Many Deaths of You: A lot of ways to get killed in this game.
  • Meaningful Name: Roger Samms/Gregor Samsa, anyone?
  • Multiple Endings: Four of them, but three are Downer Endings: if neither escape the bar before it explodes, they end up haunting the area once it's re-developed. If Roger escapes, but Eddie doesn't, Roger is charged with Eddie's murder and committed to an asylum. If Eddie escapes, but Roger doesn't, Roger ends up a homeless drunk. If both escape, they achieve the Golden Ending.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: At one point in the game, you have to save a baby roach from the stove. Roger does so by blowing out the pilot light, which causes gas to leak through the building and ultimately destroying it in an explosion.
  • Spirit Advisor: The Oracle.
  • Stalked by the Bell: In the final leg of the game.
  • Xanatos Gambit: The Oracle using the roach quest to reunite Roger and Eddie.
  1. ↑ It's still alive, by the way.
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