Space Quest V

Did You Know?

• The game's copy protection requires players to input five-digit target navigation coordinates from a chart in the printed manual.
• A puzzle based on the copy protection system involves discovering an undocumented code through in-game exploration.
• Combined sales of the Space Quest series surpassed 1.2 million units by the end of March 1996.

Plot

The game's universe parodies several science fiction franchises, notably Star Trek, with ships, crew members, and episode references. Roger Wilco, having applied to Starcon Academy after Space Quest IV, seeks to become a captain. At the academy, he antagonizes Raems T. Quirk, a toupee-wearing commander of the SCS Goliath who spoofs Captain James T. Kirk. During an aptitude test Roger cheats, Ambassador Beatrice Wankmeister arrives; she is the woman Roger learns of from his future son and with whom he is destined to have a relationship. She requests an escort to investigate toxic dumping across the galaxy, and Quirk volunteers the Goliath. Roger earns command of the SCS Eureka, a garbage scow resembling an oversized vacuum cleaner. His crew cleans up rubbish, and Roger adopts a facehugger creature as a pet. They intercept a Starcon frequency transmission about a collection from an unknown figure. While collecting orbit rubbish over a jungle planet, the Eureka is attacked by a homicidal gynoid named WD40, sent by the same company that pursued Roger in Space Quest III. Roger outwits the gynoid on the planet, securing it and a cloaking device from its ship.

Development

Space Quest V was the first series entry not designed by the Two Guys from Andromeda, as only Mark Crowe worked on it. It was also the first Space Quest game developed outside Sierra On-Line, handled by sister company Dynamix after Crowe relocated there following Space Quest IV. The game was the only Space Quest title, and the second Sierra game after Leisure Suit Larry 5, to be sponsored by a real company: Sprint. A dialogue includes a character denouncing MCI's Friends & Aliens plan. Space Quest V was offered as a reward for signing up with Sprint. The game was released only on floppy disks, with a talkie version planned but scrapped; Dynamix artist Sean Murphy attributed this to the company's financial troubles and eagerness to release new games rather than gold versions.