Scrimmy Bingus and the Crimbus Hole

Scrimmy Bingus and the Crimbus Hole is a horror point-and-click RPG and the 15th installment in the Scrimmy Bingus franchise. It was released on July 15, 1998 for the Nintendo 64, Playstation, and PC.

## Plot Overview

The game opens with Scrimmy, alone, waking up with a bright sun beaming down on his face and sand underneath him. Observing his surroundings, Scrimmy finds himself in the middle of a bleak desert with the only shade on the harsh landscape coming from Braiko trees. Immediately, Scrimmy realizes he is now in the Dalpha dimension. Scrimmy smiles, but then realizes he will have to face the harsh desert climate he wasn't ready for.

The game cuts to Hurgus, along with Bippo, Luckie, and Master Chuk, who awake in the middle of a thick jungle, wrapped up in vines that seem to have prevented their fall. Suspended in mid air, the four Brongi carefully descend the surrounding trees and take in their surroundings, and realize that they too have entered the fabled Dalpha dimension, but without any other allies to help them.

Finally, the game cuts to TimothyPlus, along with Bingo, who awake on the floor of a cold, hard dungeon hallway. They find themselves in the center of a labyrinthine underground stone fortress, which Bingo guesses is the mythical Danchis Dungeon from tales of the Dalpha Dimension. They realize that this is the most likely location that the Bingus is being kept, and that they have a chance to save him.

From here, the game splits paths: players must choose to either follow the Scrimmy Path, the Hurgus Path, or the TimothyPlus Path. Each path has a different storyline but they all converge for the final scenes and battles.

### The Scrimmy Path

The Scrimmy Path follows Scrimmy as he attempts to brave the harsh desert that he finds out is called the Dryphon Desert. Dryphon is made up of a variety of harsh sand dunes, toppled stone ruins, and the occasional oasis with a pool of water, which act as save points in this route. The Scrimmy path is the hardest of the three, but it's the most rewarding; throughout this route, the player can gain access to some of the most powerful artifacts in the entire franchise, including (but not limited to) The Reavus, a Medallion of Blingus, and The Triphugulor.

The Scrimmy Path ends when the player makes it to the end of the Dryphon Desert, at which is a giant pyramid. Inside the pyramid, a cavern descends into an entrance to the final sector of the Danchis Dungeon, where Scrimmy meets up with TimothyPlus, Bingo, Hurgus, Bippo, Luckie, Master Chuk, and Master Gligus.

### The Hurgus Path

The Hurgus Path follows Hurgus and his brongi accomplices as they attempt to navigate through the thick and dangerous Dalpha Jungle. The path is considered the easiest, as it has a mild amount of encounters and pretty generic gameplay as standard for the series. Early on in the path, the party comes up on a jungle temple, inside which is Master Gligus, who has been locked in a rusty cage suspended in the air of the central chamber, guarded by a small force of Bronchitis-Spling. After fighting and rescuing Master Gligus, he offers to join the party, revealing that he had some of his DNA stolen and wants to find out why.

In addition to the party attempting to get through the Dalpha Jungle, it also expands on the character and story of Master Gligus. He aids the party with his mysterious powers and helps them navigate across the jungle. The route ends when Hurgus leads the party into the final temple on the world map, which has a staircase leading into the final sector Danchis Dungeon. There, they convene with Scrimmy, TimothyPlus, and Bingo.

### The TimothyPlus Path

The TimothyPlus Path follows TimothyPlus and Bingo as they delve throughout the Danchis Dungeon, filled with various monsters, traps, and encounters. The storyline follows their split methods in fighting and problem solving, with TimothyPlus favoring his technological inventions and Bingo preferring his magic and spellcasting. The two bicker constantly throughout the route, arguing over which method is best and presenting a variety of points and contentions in either's favor. In the final battle of the route, the enemy, a Vlongulous, forces the two to collaborate and use both magic and technology to defeat the difficult boss monster. They come to an understanding, and become friends. In the next chamber, they enter the final sector of the Danchis Dungeon, and meet up with Scrimmy, Hurgus, Bippo, Luckie, Master Chuk, and Master Gligus.

### The Final Sector

The paths convene in a large square-like structure called the Final Sector, where the Bronchitis-Spling have set up a variety of cloning experiments and prisons holding various creatures, and even humans, and in one of the cages the party finds Lemon Kid, who reveals his DNA was also stolen. Traversing through the various chambers, the party finally comes across the central temple of the Danchis Dungeon, in which the generals of the Bronchitis-Spling have set up the Splingifyer, a cloning device that rivals even TimothyPlus' inventing abilities. Next to it, in a cage, is The Bingus, who warns the party to turn back. The Bronchitis-Spling introduce themselves as master cloners and biomancers, Out of the Splingifyer steps Laughing Kid and Jake Aurahell, clones of Lemon Kid and Master Gligus. The Bronchitis-Spling take the Splingifyer and leave the dimension, stating that they are far from finished with their cloning experiments. They leave Laughing Kid and Jake Aurahell to take on the party, and immediately they prove formidable enemies by immediately knocking out Master Gligus, Lemon Kid, and Bingo and injuring TimothyPlus. In one of the hardest battles in the franchise, the party must defeat the two clones, and after doing so, Jake Aurahell teleports himself and Laughing Kid away in a cloud of mist, as well as activating a failsafe that causes the Danchis Dungeon to begin to collapse. Scrimmy rescues the Bingus, and the party uses one of TimothyPlus new devices combined with Bingo's magic to teleport away.

Arriving back in Newark, New Jersey, The Bingus commends the party on their work and suggests that they find Jake Aurahell, Laughing Kid, the Bronchitis-Spling, and most importantly, the Secret Grandmasters, who the Bingus theorizes was behind the cloning (and his capture) in the first place. Scrimmy, sad that the Bingus didn't want to bond with him again, agrees, and the Bingus leaves.

## So... Which Path is Best?

Fans are divided over which path is ultimately the best of the three. Most hardcore fans have done all three multiple times, and most of them would have different recommendations of which one should be taken.

Some fans prefer the Hurgus path because of its deep lore dive into the nature of Master Gligus; and while the important surface points of his character are explained in the final section of the game when the paths converge, a lot of hardcore fans enjoy the depth this route adds to an otherwise mysterious character. Additionally, the Hurgus path is typically recommended to beginners or new fans of the series, as its by far the easiest and least complicated.

Fans of the TimothyPlus route will advocate for its interesting dichotomy between Magic and Technology, which definitely provides the most thematically deep storyline in the entire franchise. Unlike most games which are simply bonkers or have very basic and quickly written plotline, its apparent that the TimothyPlus storyline (and this game as a whole) had far more time spent developing and refining its story. Thus, most people who favor deep stories or complex thematic and character analysis will usually go for the TimothyPlus route. However, it is the more complicated of the three, as a lot of technicalities go into using Bingo's magic and TimothyPlus' inventions.

Finally, fans of the Scrimmy route typically praise its difficulty and the rewarding achievements gained from the gameplay, but most fans agree that it is probably not the way to go for newcomers to franchise or gaming in general. The Scrimmy Route is generally suggested for people who enjoy cool weapons or unique artifacts, since this route offers the most diverse and fun items in the series.

## Trivia

* This game marks the first appearance of the Bronchitis-Spling, longtime villains of the series. It additionally establishes Jake Aurahell as a character.
* Scrimmy Bingus and the Crimbus Hole is considered by most die-hard fans to be both one of the best games in the series and one of the most important to the lore, and as such it's held in high regard and it's considered to be a valuable collector's item, with the cheapest copy on Ebay selling for 2000 USD and the most expensive copy, a never-opened brand-new PC edition, going for auction starting at 110,000 USD.