'I always get the Shemp...'

Hwd45 · Jul 18, 2013 4:02 PM

So, while doing my best to disassemble Spyro 3 and one of its demos, I found a file called 'SPYRO3.TRD'. I opened it with Notepad++ and got his strange message:

Now is the winter of our discontent...
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
Call me Ishmael...
Stately, plump Buck Mulligan...
Call me Jonah.  My parents did...
Gaily bedight a gallant knight...
Beware the ides of March...
Tyger tyger burning bright...
...
I always get the Shemp...

It's then followed by a large gap before repeating itself once again, multiple times. I have no idea what all this is, but I know that 'Shemp' is supposed to be some sort of Insomniac in-joke (hence the boss 'Dr. Shemp')...

Anyone have any idea what this is about?

36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Jul 18, 2013 4:21 PM

i'm not certain, but i think i heard they just wrote most of this stuff to fill up space on the disc.

you could probably tell, most, if not all of the phrases except the "Shemp" one, are quotes from famous things.

Hwd45 · Jul 18, 2013 4:40 PM

The file was actually 27,000 kilobytes and the document is 19,791,001 lines long (the last piece of text is found on the 19,790,277th line). So yeah... Pretty big... You're probably entirely correct about that statement big_smile

Flapjacks · Jul 23, 2013 7:28 AM

Hwd45 · Jul 23, 2013 2:27 PM

...wouldn't we need Spyro 4 and 5 first? I think what the file is really suggesting isn't Spyro 6...

'Now is the winter of our discontent...' contains 30 letters.
'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...' contains 39 letters.
'Call me Ishmael...' contains 13 letters.
30*39*13=15210
1+5+2+1+0=9
'Stately, plump Buck Mulligan...'... Malachi "Buck" Mulligan is a fictional character in James Joyce's novel Ulysses. Rearrange the letters in 'Ulysses' and you get 'Yule SSS'
There are three 'S's and 'Yule' is to do with Christmas.
9*3=27=3^3 So the number '3' is significant.
'Call me Jonah. My parents did...' rearranged gives 'Steam did ya call me John npr', 'npr' representing the mathematical process of finding permutations or arrangements (this tells us that we are allowed to rearrange the letters)... this also references steam. Therefore, since we have 3^3 from earlier, this means that Half-Life 3, Portal 3 and Team Fortress 3 have been confirmed... for Christmas!
Also, that 'John' guy... 'John' is probably going to be some special character in all three games or something. Who else could it be?!

Joking aside... I don't have much else to say.

ccrogers15 · Jul 23, 2013 2:59 PM

Nah, those are probably funny easter eggs the developers left behind to make the other developers on the team (And hackers), giggle.
It would be cool to poke around and finally figure out how to mod the game.

Hwd45 · Jul 23, 2013 4:16 PM

That's something I've always wanted to do.

...Well, since last year anyway, since it was the 'Year of the dragon'. Adding more levels or perhaps rebuilding the entire game with a higher definition seems like fun.

36IStillLikeSpyro36 · Jul 23, 2013 4:25 PM

Flapjacks · Jul 24, 2013 3:25 AM

Veigar · Aug 13, 2013 3:18 AM

This game is over 12 years old and we're still finding strange stuff in it. I love how everything has not been discovered!

spyrothedragon9323 · Feb 20, 2014 9:18 PM

The "Shemp" has been assumed to be an inside joke at Insomniac, where if one makes a mistake during development or something just doesn't go according to plan, they get the "Shemp".

Looks like they must have adored the joke enough to make a boss out of it. xD

#1 Jul 18, 2013 4:02 PM

'I always get the Shemp...'

#2 Jul 18, 2013 4:21 PM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

#3 Jul 18, 2013 4:40 PM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

#4 Jul 23, 2013 7:28 AM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

#5 Jul 23, 2013 2:27 PM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

#6 Jul 23, 2013 2:59 PM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

#7 Jul 23, 2013 4:16 PM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

#8 Jul 23, 2013 4:25 PM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

#9 Jul 24, 2013 3:25 AM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

#10 Aug 13, 2013 3:18 AM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

#11 Feb 20, 2014 9:18 PM

Re: 'I always get the Shemp...'

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