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WARNING:
If you have never played The Impossible Quiz before,
I give away a lot of the answers in the following VERY LONG rant. Oh, and this rant is also VERY LONG.
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One of my favourite flash games is The Impossible Quiz, made by some hilarious and very talented British dude who goes under the name Splapp-Me-Do. I first found the game in around 2008 when it was only available to play through NotDoppler and of course, there was no such thing as an app version for your non-existent smartphones.
After I finally got myself a smartphone (albeit a very obsolete Samsung Galaxy S2 that my mam gave me for nowt after she upgraded to an S4), I downloaded the free app and straight away I noticed that there had been significant changes made to the game.
Now I recommend playing The Impossible Quiz to EVERYONE. Anyone who has a half-decent computer that can manage to run an 8MB flash game - but if someone were to ask: "the flash version, or the phone version?" - I'd say the flash version. Here is why:
1) The flash version is the original - everything was made by hand, it has the original music and sound effects and none of the questions had to be changed.
2) The flash version is EASIER. Yes, most of the questions are the same, but for the questions that don't involve simply clicking an answer, using a mouse is a million times easier than sliding your fat sweaty fingers all over a screen that's like 3 inches wide.
3) Some questions are FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE on the phone version. Some questions on the flash version allow you to run your mouse over the screen to find hidden buttons or to read all available answers before you click them. On the phone, you have to press and hold your finger as you slide it around a tiny screen, all of the information being blocked by your hand as your timer ticks down. Seriously. I've never actually completed The Impossible Quiz on the phone version because I have to skip question #92. And (*SPOILERS*), you require all of your skips to complete the final question, question #110.
4) As well as making these quizzes, Splapp-Me-Do has also made some cool flash videos on NewGrounds - my favourites being Badly Drawn Dog and Sonic Breaks His Neck. The original flash version of The Impossible Quiz contains numerous nods to Splapp's earlier works, but the phone version has had a lot of them removed for some reason.
As I've finally figured out how to take screenshots on my phone, I've taken some shots of the phone version and some print screens of the original flash version and I'll show you the numerous differences that I noticed:
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Firstly, I'll start with some basic differences. For a start, the music is different. The original flash version's background music included the Rocky theme and Misirlou by Dick Dale for "The Epic 10" final group of questions. I have no idea what the music in the flash version is called, whether it's original music or not.
The flash version's questions were all written by hand - it gave the game a unique home-made style quality to it. The phone's version's questions are all written in the same font.
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| Flash Version Title Screen |
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| Phone Version Title Screen |
This one is annoying. The whole point of The Impossible Quiz is that it's (almost) impossible. You have 3 lives and you need to answer 110 questions - some with countdown timers and some with insta-kills for incorrect answers. For some reason, the phone version introduced "Moron Marks", which act as checkpoints. Fair enough, when you use them you have to click through screen after screen of yes or no questions to confirm that you're a) a moron, b) of low intelligence, c) a quitter etc. I just think this whole system takes something away from the original concept; and I'm sure all of the other people (including myself) who managed to beat the original flash game without this little cheaty system will agree with me.
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The first question that is different is question #26, "Which of these place names doesn't exist?" - I love this one, namely because all of the real places are in the UK and I've seen several of them whilst out on the motorways. The correct answer is "Arsefacey", no such place exists (in the UK anyway).
I don't get why this question was changed? If it's because of causing possible offence, why not remove "Brown Willy" as well? And remember, in Britain 'arse' is a swearword too. And if it's because of too many little answers to click on a small screen - why not change practically all of the questions from "The Epic 10" too?
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| PC Version Question #26 |
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| Phone Version Question #26 |
The next question is question #34. In the PC version, the hint was: "Elephants don't like mice!" - in order to get the elephants to run into the mouse-hole, you simply moved your mouse cursor off the screen. Very clever. The phone's version is: "Elephants like being touched!" - do they? Yes, I know the question wouldn't have made sense otherwise, with there being no mouse and all, but I just think it's strange...
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| PC Version Question #34 |
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| Phone Version Question #34 |
Next is Question #40. I couldn't get a screenshot of the phone version of this because every time I tried, I failed the question because I took my finger off the screen (apparently).
There are 3 different questions like this in both versions of The Impossible Quiz in which you have to navigate your mouse/finger though a maze of colour. In the flash version, you need to not touch the pink background by pressing right click and moving your cursor over the flash options menu. This is so fucking awesome. In the phone version, the hint is: "If only you had two fingers...", you keep one finger held on the left and tap on the right with another one. It's just not as epic, is it?
Next is question #43. Again, I have no idea why this one was changed, I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions. I do however really like the replacement phone version's question. Probably more than I like the original one. (The PC version's answer is "Tom Cruise", the phone version's answer is "Cataracts".)
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| PC Version Question #43 |
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| Phone Version Question #43 |
Question #46. The PC original has a screenshot from one of Splapp's flash movies I mentioned earlier; Sonic Breaks His Neck, with the answer to the "question" being: "OMGF U KILLED SONIKKU U BASTUD", Splapp himself previously stating this was a comment he got on NewGrounds. The phone version's question is far less interesting. The answer is just: "No".
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| PC Version Question #46 |
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| Phone Version Question #46 |
Question #53. Now this one I DO understand the change. A lot of flash games and movies get away with a lot because people tend not to make money from them, either from advertising revenue or whatever. The phone version of The Impossible Quiz DOES have adverts, so obviously, the game itself can't contain any.
The PC version has a photo of a jar of Marmite (blargh!), while the phone version simply says: "Ma might". Which I think kinda ruins the whole joke. It's not like Splapp never mentions products or people in any of the other questions, so why not just write "Marmite?", it would make more sense. (The answer is: "...But Pa might not", by the way.)
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| PC Version Question #53 |
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| Phone Version Question #53 |
Next is question #59 - again I only have a screenshot of the PC version because you're on a 10-second timer and taking screenshots on the phone takes a few seconds to respond. This is a very minor difference; in the PC version, you are prompted with the text: "Charge ur lazer!", the whole question is an obvious reference to the popular meme of the time. The phone version is the same, it just lacks the text prompt.
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| PC Version Question #59 |
Question #64 again is a case of changing the question due to not being able to advertise. The original question asks: "Which is true?" and 3 of the answers involve comparing the Nintendo DS to the Sony PSP. In the answer key, Splapp stated that the question was a sort of statement against console fanboys. The phone version replaces 'DS' and 'PSP' with the American organisations 'CIA' and 'FBI' - which I think is weird, considering that Splapp is British. Anyway, the correct answer in both versions is "Egg > 28".
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| PC Version Question #64 |
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| Phone Version Question #64 |
In question #71, a green square rapidly moves around the four answer boxes and you have to time your click/press so that you hit the green square. In the PC version, the text says: "Oh Christ...", the phone version says: "Oh drat..." - I assume the change was made to avoid offending overly religious Americans. Here in the UK, the vast majority of us don't give a shit about casual blasphemy.
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| PC Version Question #71 |
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| Phone Version Question #71 |
Question #71 has a weird change - you are faced with a black screen and need to find the light switch - which is on the far left side of the screen. Pressing it will cause the lights to come on, and you're presented with a picture of a lemur. I couldn't get a screenshot of the phone version because it only stays on for like 2 seconds, but the two photos are of different lemurs. This I do know, the phone version is of a ring-tailed lemur who looks very angry. Googling "angry ring tailed lemur" is not bringing up the picture unfortunately.
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| PC Version Question #72 |
Question #80 has a complete change of question, again I don't know why. My only theory is that possibly some Romanians who don't bathe often enough were offended by the 'filthy Romanians' remark. Anyway, that's the correct answer to the PC version, but the phone version has a question that's similar to one from The Impossible Quiz 2. You have to press the "R" - get it, poke R?
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| PC Version Question #80 |
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| Phone Version Question #80 |
Question #83 is another straight change, but questions I really like, I can't decide which one is better... Probably the phone version because the PC version is a very old and overused joke. Who knows why this was changed? Maybe Splapp was overrun with comments from people who can't spell? Regardless, the answers are: "National Dyslexic Association" and "Fish".
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| PC Version Question #83 |
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| Phone Version Question #83 |
Question #86 is a total change again, but I think I know why this one was done. The original PC version is a reference to the Katamari Damacy series, the answer is "The Prince", he wears green clothes and the 'sticky balls' are the Katamaris. Perhaps this is another case of not being able to advertise other games/products. The phone version is another old, terrible joke turned into a question, the answer is "Spain".
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| PC Version Question #86 |
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| Phone Version Question #86 |
Question #88 was totally changed and I have no idea why. The PC version is like an interactive section from Splapp's flash movie 'Sonic Breaks His Neck', you need to click his leg rapidly in order to get Dr. Robotnik to snap it in half, then blood pours out everywhere. The phone version is a normal question, but retains the 10 second bomb countdown. The answer is "backwards stars", of course. (By the way, check out my dangerous timer on the phone version screenshot! Fucking wow. :P)
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| PC Version Question #88 |
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| Phone Version Question #88 |
Question #90 was totally changed too. Again, I can't figure out why - unless it was to respect the late Michael Jackson, who was still alive when the original game was made. Anyway, the answers are "Nonce", and "Jamaica?"
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| PC Version Question #90 |
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| Phone Version Question #90 |
Now for the questions from "The Epic 10", my favourite question is #101, in which you need to use the on-screen keyboard to spell CHIHUAHUA. I fucking love that word. Anyway, the premise is the same, but the picture of the actual chihuahuas have changed. In the flash version, it's a photo of a real one (correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's the chihuahua from the Taco Bell adverts) and the phone version has a little cartoon one which I assume Splapp drew. :D
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| PC Version Question #101 |
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| Phone Version Question #101 |
And the final question that's different is #108. The PC version's hint is "The code is LOST" - the answer being "4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42". (No, I didn't watch Lost, I Googled it. :P) The phone version is a standard question, the answer being: "Don't worry, maybe some heroes will save it."
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| PC Version Question #108 |
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| Phone Version Question #108 |
And to conclude this VERY LONG post, let's look at the two different Game Over screens. The PC version is pretty basic, the phone version features a picture of The Impossible Quiz's cat - whose name is Chris. :D
The phone version then goes on to ask you if you want to use a Moron Mark, or offers to let you buy more lives.
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| PC Version Game Over screen |
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| Phone Version Game Over screen |
