Plot Synopsis[ | ]
Roger's escape pod from the end of SQ2 is captured by an automated garbage freighter. He escapes the robot-controlled scow by repairing an old ship, the Aluminum Mallard (a play on the Millennium Falcon). He soon discovers the sinister activities of a game company known as ScumSoft (a parody of Microsoft) run by the "Pirates of Pestulon". Pestulon, a small moon of the planet Ortega, is covered in soft, moss-like vegetation, and dotted with twisted tree-like growths throughout. Elmo Pug, the CEO of ScumSoft, has abducted the Two Guys from Andromeda and is forcing them to design their games. Roger somehow gets inside the supposedly impregnable ScumSoft offices and rescues the two programmers.
Space Quest 3 started the tradition of including mini-games within the game itself. At one point of the story you come across an arcade game called 'Astro Chicken', which played like the classic arcade game Lunar Lander. At another point in the game, Roger Wilco is required to duke it out with the villain, Elmo Pug, in a robot fighting game reminiscent of Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots.
Space Quest 3 featured music composed by Supertramp drummer Bob Siebenberg, and was one of the first games to support the new SoundBlaster sound card. PC versions of the game now supported mouse movement and a new, heavily improved text parser.