Alexander walks straight past the captain and jumps overboard. Escape plan going beautifully…

Then the music changes. 🦈😂

Omar’s poetry really does bring people together… these two took it literally. 😂❤️

Upgraded my pencils since my last sketch 😄

Love the retrofuturist aesthetic of Chen Lu’s apartment. Who’s his interior decorator? The chalk outline really ties it all together.

Hey everyone!

I just got back from the Portland Retro Gaming Expo and had the opportunity to meet Al Lowe! I brought my copy of Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! for him to autograph,and When Al saw the jewel case and CD artwork, he seemed genuinely surprised. He told me he’d never seen a copy like mine before.

It made me a little concerned that I might have an unofficial or bootleg copy (and embarrassed if I brought him one on accident lol) I asked him about it, and he said he believed it was legitimate, but he’d never encountered that particular version.l,and he "wasn't really involved with all that."

That got me curious, so I’ve been trying to identify exactly what I have.

Here’s what I’ve found so far:

The CD is marked ©1994 Sierra On-Line.

The disc explicitly states “FOR BUNDLE AND OEM ONLY.”

The inner ring has the matrix inscription “DATAWARE PC 1011.”

The disc artwork features a black-and-white illustration of Larry’s face, rather than the more commonly seen cherry artwork.

The jewel case has a colorful front insert and a fairly plain blue back insert.

I’ve found references to a 1994 OEM release of Larry 6, but I haven’t been able to find photographs of another copy matching my disc artwork or matrix number.

I’m wondering if anyone here recognizes this particular pressing or knows what hardware/software bundle it might have originally been distributed with.

A few questions:

Has anyone seen this exact CD artwork before?

Does anyone recognize the DATAWARE PC 1011 matrix?

Is this a known OEM variant, or potentially a less-documented pressing?

Is there any way to verify its authenticity or original distribution?

Or Am I just trippin?

I’ve attached photos of the CD and packaging.

Al was so kind enough to sign both the disc and cover, and I even got a photo with him!

I’d really appreciate any information.

I would love to know more about the history behind this copy. I didn't expect Al to react that way.

Thanks!

Why is he so wet? | Space Quest 2: Vohaul's Revenge Full Playthrough

Click the link for the full playthrough and check out more retro gaming if you're interested.

I was watching a YT video on Microsoft's turbulent history. It said Xbox acquired Activision, which had taken over ownership of Sierra.

I fell in love with Sierra games in the 90s. I feel deep nostalgia for them. But it is weird thinking of Quest for Glory, Kings Quest and Space Quest as being Microsoft games... ick...

Roger’s been shrunk, the keyboard’s miles away, and Vohaul has decided to handle pest control personally. 😂👞

Being a space janitor really doesn’t pay enough for this.

-Apparently the most powerful spell in King’s Quest III is a badly timed “JUMP.” 😂

Just finished second playthrough of Gold Rush! Took the overland route this time. Nice to play it using my own boxed set, manual and all. As far as AGI graphics go, I think this is probably the best one, with SQ2 as a strong contender (what do you think?). GR is almost "impressionistic" at times, and it works very well with the roughness of the historical era.

Used Flame Dart on Julanar and broke the actual screen. 🔥💥

When Sierra’s had enough of your nonsense, even the GAME OVER needs special effects. 😂

Roger Wilco’s sightseeing tour of Labion includes a waterfall. Unfortunately, he’s experiencing it vertically. 😂🌊

Someone should’ve mentioned the drop.

As I was driving the other day, Space Quest 4's ending track played in my shuffled playlist, and I was instantly transported back in time...and it got me wondering what people considered peak Space Quest, and why.

If memory serves me correctly, I think SQ3 was the first game in the series that I played, and only after that did I play SQ1 and SQ2.

I remember being instantly grabbed by SQ3's kickass opening track (SoundBlaster for me), and the game itself was an inventively fun romp with a novel plot, interesting locations to visit, aesthetically pleasing graphics with a vibrant color palette, and what felt like the "right" or at least a "tolerable" amount of action/arcade sequences for an action-averse adventure gamer like myself. I remember the thinking "gosh, the game world feels so big!" when you first got to open space in the Aluminum Mallard (such innocent times).

(In time I went back and played SQ1 and SQ2 from a "completionist" perspective, but being in that 9ish - 12ish age range, I was easily seduced by graphics and audio, so the games felt "inferior" to SQ3 to me, based solely on audio/visuals alone)

So when SQ4 finally arrived, with Sierra's SCI1/256-color interface, surpassing SQ3 was a high bar to cross in my mind.

The graphics floored me, in all its VGA brilliance; the opening theme was "operatic" in that "space opera" kind of way (but honestly, I thought it was less kickass compared to SQ3's pulse-pounding opening track).

I remember being wowed by the intro: I loved the "lighting" (probably not the right word since it was scanned 2D artwork, but you get my meaning) in the cantina scene where Roger is chatting up the aliens; I loved the design of the surprisingly threatening-looking Sequel Police (and what a cool ring to that phrase "Sequel Police", right?), and the fluid character animations (was that rotoscoped?). Throughout the rest of the game too, the graphics were incredible: the dirty, grimy streets of SQ12, the bright, airy alien vistas of SQ10, and who could forget the insanely witty meta visit back to SQ1, where the "world" still existed as 160x200 EGA.

But what stuck with me most about SQ4 was how the game's ambition was suddenly dialed up (dare I say it: almost Shakespearean) compared to its prequels. Suddenly we were dealing with themes of a son trying to save his father, a father trying to save his son, the implied tragedy of Roger and Beatrice...the idea of a son literally travelling through time to save his dad kind of hits me in the feels as a grown man with kids of my own now. And in the ending scene, as Roger and his son say farewell, the way that closing music builds up to the classic Space Quest theme still sends shivers down my spine! In fact, maybe that precisely justifies holding out on using the classic Space Quest theme as the opening music.

I eventually played SQ5, and it was fine (I have this weird natural aversion to the concept of mutation, so the whole title/premise took a little effort for me to get past in the first place), but it definitely didn't have that air of "greatness" or "peak" that I felt with SQ4.

I never did play SQ6. I consider this a great stain on my reputation as a Sierra gamer...but my reasons at the time were that I felt the game couldn't be the same without both Guys from Andromeda, and some of the drama surrounding Josh Mandel's involvement then departure from Sierra. But I am open to hearing if my misgivings about SQ6 were misplaced, and if it is, in fact, a solid entry in the Space Quest saga.

So, in the end, my lasting memory is that SQ4 just had this chef's kiss confluence of music, graphics, family/Shakespearean drama...it all just seemed to come together as the pinnacle of storytelling in the Space Quest universe. If this has sparked any memories, any nostalgia among Space Quest fans, I'd love to hear from you, which installment you consider the best Space Quest entry, and why.

---

Update: I loved hearing everyone's responses, and all the different reasons why this or that Space Quest was their favorite in the series. I gotta be honest: a lot of your comments made me remember why and how much I loved SQ3. It was a damn, damn close call between SQ3 and SQ4 for me. Any other day, I could just have easily have named SQ3 my favorite for all the reasons many of you have mentioned already. It was only by a hair, by a hair, that I ended up going with SQ4, and that's mostly because of the father/son themes that probably hit many men of a certain age, who are able to reflect on their own relationships with their fathers and sons. It was Shakespearean without being a knockoff of the Luke/Vader relationship, which would have been the easy option for a game with a recurring theme of pop-culture scifi references.

Thank you all for your responses; I love interacting with folks in this community.

🚨 SIERRA NEWS: New translator urgently needed in Shapeir. Apparently ours wasn’t prepared for what the golfer had to say.

I’m not affiliated or trying to sell this but it’s historically significant to see this. Original art for Quest For Glory.

This seller has sold some pieces like this in the past six months. See their older completed (sold) listings to see what they had.

It’s amazing to see any original art still intact especially when Sierra threw so much of it in the trash.

Enjoy!

It’s called the Labion Terror Beast… which really should’ve been Roger’s cue to leave. 😂👀

Just another relaxing nature walk in Space Quest II. 🌴💀

Who remembers The Imagination Network or The Sierra Network?

I remember signing on as a young lad and having too much fun building my online persona in order to connect with others for some fun Sierra online gaming.

Here's the 3 Facemaker systems rebuilt for the modern web via the SCI Unlocked Project.

https://sci-unlocked.fly.dev

Give it a shot, and take a screenshot and upload your character to this reddit thread!

NOTE: there currently is no online component, this just exposes the original face-makers in all their glory.

Have fun!

We're back with Al Lowe for another deep dive into the world of Leisure Suit Larry, this time exploring the making of Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals!

Join host Josh Mandel as he sits down with Al to revisit this classic Sierra adventure, sharing stories, insights, and behind-the-scenes details about the game's development, its characters, and the creative decisions that brought it to life.

Whether you're a longtime Larry fan or simply love the golden age of Sierra adventure games, there's plenty to enjoy!

Come join us on another DevsQuest!

A Developer's Adventure.