The Homestar Runner universe is weird. It’s full of pop-culture humor, but it’s mostly references from the seventies, eighties, and early nineties. The characters are portrayed as adults, but they all act like little kids. And, perhaps weirdest of all, four of the main characters don’t talk, and either communicate through silence, squeaks, screaming, or gibberish.

All of this strangeness makes for humor that is funny to a lot of people, but the humor really isn’t really universal. It works in short flash cartoons, since the humor is quick flying, and even to a fan like me some of the humor in the shorts don’t really resonate with my funny bone.

The funniest short flash cartoons on the site, and not surprisingly, overwhelmingly the most popular, are the cartoons where viewer e-mails are answered. These contain the most universally-appealing humor out of everything on the site, although a lot of the e-mails can be weirder than anything else on the site as well.

So, it’s no surprise that for Telltale Games’ episodic game series based on the Homestar Runner universe, they decided to focus on the character that answers those e-mails, a Mexican luchidore named Strong Bad.

Much like the first season of Sam & Max, Strong Bad’s Cool Game For Attractive People finds it’s footing as it goes on. The first game, Homestar Ruiner, is entirely fan service for existing Homestarrunner.com fans. The game throws you entirely into the action without a real introduction to the characters. Strong Bad begins by answering his e-mail on his Lappy 486 laptop computer, which is a standard e-mail addressing Strong Bad’s distaste for quazi-athlete Homestar Runner. The player is then left to go to the track to confront Homestar, without being told who exactly Homestar is.

Upon entering the track, a newcomer to the Homestar Runner universe will learn that Homestar is entering a race, and that the race is being overseen by a coach wearing a green tracksuit with a Z on his chest. To be honest, this is really all the introduction these characters need, since their personalities never were too fleshed out over the years beyond “terrific athlete” and bad coach respectively.

But, the in-jokes come fast, and make up the majority of the humor of the game. There are multiple references to past shorts, and especially past Strong Bad e-mails, along with an appearance by the “hidden guy” Homsar. I was well acquainted with the characters, since I’ve been watching Homestar Runner for years, but I could definitely see where new comers would feel lost.

Unfortunately, although the individual episodes get better as the season goes on, the problem with non-introduction of the characters to newcomers is never really addressed. The rest of the season continues as business as usual, and more existing characters from the Homestar Runner universe are later brought in, similarly without any real introduction for newcomers.

So, in order to enjoy these games, I’d strongly recommend going to homestarrunner.com and watching as much as you can before playing. This way, you can tell if the humor fits your taste, and if it does, you can get the most out of these games.

If you do like it, you’ll find these 5 games a lot of fun. Homestar Ruiner is the least fleshed out of the five, with a plot line that is simply a two hour Strong Bad e-mail, except without exploring Strong Bad’s imagination, which is where humor comes from in the funniest Strong Bad e-mails.

Strong Badia the Free is my third favorite episode of the season, as it has an interesting plotline, and actual character development. The characters at Homestarrunner.com are never really fleshed out, but here Telltale gives one particular character some real depth, and with full support of the homestarrunner.com creators, The Brothers Chaps. The ending also sports a genre-blending experience that must be experienced to be appreciated.

Baddest of the Bands is a step back from the second episode, similar to how the second episode of Sam & Max Season One seemed to be a step back from the previous one. However, also like S&M Episode 3, it was quite enjoyable nonetheless. The storyline isn’t as fleshed out, as it just involves Strong Bad starting and trying to win a battle of the bands competition. The humor is great in this episode, though, and the puzzles are the most entertaining up to this point in the season.

Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective provides the most fan-service out of all the episodes of the season. It also provides the most unique game I think I’ve ever played. Strong Bad’s “movie series” Dangeresque are buddy cop spoofs. The third “movie” Dangeresque 3, has been promised since 2004 and was said to be made in 3D. Telltale now provides that third “movie”, and it is in 3D as promised. The game moves along as scenes from the movie, complete with the bad props, bad acting, and sloppy cuts that the series is known for. The best part though is extended play. When the games are over in every episode of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, players can continue past the ending and talk to the characters after the game with new lines of dialog and find secrets they missed. Since Dangeresque 3 is supposed to be a movie, the extended play here is presented like special features on a DVD. Here you can find “cast interviews”, “deleted scenes”, and “outtakes”.

8-bit is Enough finishes the series with a spoof of computer and video games from the 1980’s. The Brothers Chaps, creators of Homestar Runner, created a fake company named Videlectrix, which they used to create Homestar Runner related flash games for free on homestarrunner.com. These games spoofed classic arcade, Atari 2600, NES, and Sega Genesis games from the past. These games make an appearance here as the video game world merges with “the real world”, or at least the world which Strong Bad and his acquaintances inhabit. This episode is a spoof-fest, and video game fans will have fun finding all of the references to classic video games. I enjoyed Sam & Max Season One’s video game spoof episode, and I found 8-bit is Enough to be even more enjoyable.

Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People is not for everyone. The humor is odd, and is not at all universal. It is also a must to be familiar with the short cartoons on homestarrunner.com before playing. If you do like the humor, you’ll definitely like these games though. They are really faithful to the source material, and even add knew concepts that still feel like they fit into the established universe.