Critical Success, Commercial Flop

Walk, Don't Run

Some fans were drawn to these corners of the internet by chance but brought works of their own that complimented the setting nicely. Smith, fan of Manny Calavera and creator of the podcast "Tierra de los Muertos," explains. "My experience with the Grim Fandango Network came purely at the height of FandangoMania. ... I'd been working in radio for a year at that point, writing and producing radio plays. I'd come up with a 10-part radio series called 'Tierra de los Muertos' ('Land of the Dead') and it was just entering the final production stages. The Grim Fandango Network was looking for some hosted sites to have." The rest was history.

Boasting an extensive library of frequently updated fiction and art, the DoD boasts a substantial list of media - screen captures, concept art, translations and even downloads - to help ensure that the game can run on even the most modern systems. "Contributors to the site have also proved an amazing help collecting all the Grim Fandango content we can," says Isaac. "You'll have trouble finding anything Grim Fandango related not included somewhere on our site. There aren't many games which still have enthusiasts producing fan content a decade after its release. The game also still has impressive recognition within the gaming community, with many current gamers having played or at least heard of it." Grim Fandango consistently comes up in discussions of cult classics and ranks highly on perennial, yet firmly nostalgic lists of "sleeper games" and "underrated classics."

Even when they can all agree on the widespread love of the game, there is a bit of disagreement between site operators on why the game performed so poorly in the marketplace.

Isaac and Smith speculate the reason for the lack of sales came down to marketing. "Grim Fandango was a difficult game to market," says Isaac, "especially when up against big titles such as Unreal. The official trailer really couldn't capture the unique feel of the game. To be honest, if the trailer was the first I saw of the game I probably wouldn't have been compelled to go out and buy the game."

Eggers takes the theory one step further. "It's not easy to sum the Grim Fandango up in three words; with Full Throttle or Monkey Island for instance, you can just say, 'It's about bikers!' or 'It's about pirates!' The best I could do when pitching Grim to my friends was to say, 'It's, like, a murder mystery, except where everyone starts out dead.' If that got their attention, I could delve into the Mexican folkloric elements and film noir sensibilities until their eyes started to glaze over. I'm not sure I have an answer apart from Grim just being a complex game."