External Links
- Salvaged Copy
The source files and a precompiled ZMachine storyfile of this adventure were recovered from a salvaged "Infocom hard drive", and made publicly available on GitHub in an effort to preserve them.
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Leather Goddesses of Phobos
by Steve Meretzky
About the Story
And now... the next exciting episode of humanoids in space!
How did you, a regular at Joe's Bar in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, end up on a Martian moon? Can you prevent the hideous space creature from abducting the naked heiress? Why does scratch 'n' sniff no. 2 smell so familiar? How many uses can you find for a rubber hose? Is it easy to remove a brass bikini? Is it hard to outsmart a robotoid sumo wrestler? Can you stop the Leather Goddesses' fiendish plan to turn all Earthlings into sex slaves?
Learn the answers to these burning questions in Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Infocom's racy spoof of 1930s pulp fiction. But first, a word from our sponsor:
Why put up with only one playing mode, when you can have three? That's right, three! So whether your tastes run to Tame, Suggestive, or Lewd, Leather Goddesses of Phobos can satisfy you!
Difficulty: Standard
Ratings and Reviews
| Average Rating:   Number of Reviews Written by IFDB Members: 1 |
Played in tame mode; a silly puzzlefest with great writing , June 25, 2017So, my experience in playing Phobos is atypical; I played in tame mode, and I just used a walkthrough, because I wasn't very interested in the game.
But the writing turned out to be quite good. The mishaps of my companion and the finale were some of the best things I've read in a while. This game ends up reading a lot like the meretzky-adams game Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Also similar to that game is the transportation syste, where you travel between disconnected worlds.
Even in tame mode, some dirty stuff sneaks through, but it is on the level of the movie Space Balls (e.g. a suggestive spaceship, a man or woman getting almost undressed against their will, etc.)
Using the walkthrough, the game seemed pretty hard. The copy protection in this game is achieved by having a horrible maze with horrible monsters, where you have to use two of the feeling to get through.
The game has the infamous t-removing machine, inspiration of future games such as Earl Grey and Counterfeit Monkey.
Overall, I'm not sure if I'll play it again. But I think meretzky does some of his best writing here (perhaps he was enthusiastic about the subject matter).
6 Off-Site Reviews
Adventure Classic Gaming
"Predictably, the game's overarching plot informs much of its atmosphere and writing style. Every element about this game, from its cover art to its subject matter, evokes the flavor of Hollywood's B movies, including (sometimes deliberately) low production values and racy content. As in most adventure games of that era, most of the settings and puzzles in Leather Goddesses of Phobos do not relate directly to the main plot but are rather a relatively random series of situations and locations involving side quests and the like. [...]
[...] Leather Goddesses of Phobos stands almost in a league of its own as a defining interactive fiction infused with sexual content intended for a mature audience. It is also an example of how naughty or crude humor can still be done both tastefully and with originality. As a defining adventure game of its era, Leather Goddesses of Phobos is worth playing by any gamer who is interested in understanding more clearly from where modern adventure games derive their inspiration." (Adam Luoranen)
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Mr. Bill's Adventureland
"Full of suggestive sexual innuendos (Mae West style) and outrageous humor (try everything: the answers you receive are hysterical), this bawdy but harmless game is a delight to play and sure to bring a smile to your face. But nevertheless it is basically a traditional (and very good!) adventure game, with all of the elements that made Infocom legendary in the business ..." (Mr. Bill & Lela)
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PC Gamer
"I’ll be honest, I don’t like this game much. I’ve played a lot of text adventures, but this one I found a confused mess both back in the day, and replaying it just now." (Richard Cobbett)
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SPAG
"The game wonderfully recreates the feel of 30's pulp fiction, from the swordfight on the hull of the Space Battleship (without spacesuits, naturally), to the Sultan and other colourful characters you meet on Mars, to the delightfully contrived situation at the South Pole, to the marvelous running gag concerning the lucky escapes of your faithful companion. The final scene where you try to assemble your machine while under attack by all of the Leather Goddesses minions is one of the greatest moments in interactive fiction, and one that would be utterly impossible to reproduce with graphics." (Graeme Cree)
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SynTax
"It's impossible to give more than a brief idea of how good Leather Goddesses of Phobos is. It's very enjoyable, funny and extremely addictive. What more can you want from an adventure?" (Sue)
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SynTax
"The game includes many locations, each with a rich description in any mode. Visiting the penguin orphanage was great, as was steaming up and down the river visiting the various docks. Puzzles are included at regular intervals, meaning that everything must be examined and hidden objects are commonplace. This is where the game really shines, the puzzles become a topic for conversation and a few old film tricks are dug up and used." (Nigel Nock)
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Tags
Game Details
Current Version: Unknown
License: Commercial
Development System: ZIL
| IFIDs: | ZCODE-160-860521-C16B |
| ZCODE-59-861114 | |
| ZCODE-59-860730 | |
| ZCODE-50-860711 | |
| ZCODE-118-860325 | |
| ZCODE-4-880405 |
Spoofed by Not Found, by Unknown
Referenced in Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle, by David Dyte, Steve Bernard, Dan Shiovitz, Iain Merrick, Liza Daly, John Cater, Ola Sverre Bauge, J. Robinson Wheeler, Jon Blask, Dan Schmidt, Stephen Granade, Rob Noyes, and Emily Short
Inspired the game Counterfeit Monkey, by Emily Short
Leather Goddesses of Phobos on IFDB
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The following polls include votes for Leather Goddesses of Phobos:Comfort Food IF by Molly
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