And I did. Seconds into watching Strong Bad flippantly respond to fan emails and verbally castrate his equally zany Strong Badia-based pals, I became a fan not only of the mean-spirited Strong Bad, but of his two brothers, The Cheat, Homestar Runner and all the rest of the gang.

With such a memorable cast of characters, recognizable locations, a plethora of inside jokes, and satirical commentary on many facets of pop culture, the world of Homestar effortlessly lent itself to an adventure game that would allow fans to visit their favorite locales and heckle their favorite characters -- but only if the designers, whoever they might be, stayed true to the spirit of what made Homestar Runner so darn funny.

Fortunately, Telltale Games has done just that with Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner.

No matter your favorite character, Strong Bad email or cartoon, almost everything that fans could ask for in a Homestar game has been faithfully recreated in Strong Bad. The main menu arranges all selectable options on the side and, upon hovering your cursor over a selection, Homestar or Strong Bad will verbalize the button's text, just like the website's main menu. Players will barter at Bubs' concession stand, harass Marzipan, check Strong Bad's email, confound Homestar, listen to Coach Z mangle his pronunciation of words involving the letter 'R', sneak into the King of Town's castle (and watch his kingliness scarf a lot of food), play a video game on Strong Bad's Videlectrix console, receive instructional cameos from the Paper, help Strong Bad construct a Teen Girl Squad comic, watch the Poopsmith shovel his big ol' pile a' whatsit...

In short, almost everything Homestar fans could want to see, almost anywhere they could want to visit, is viewable or accessible in Strong Bad. The animation, though derived from the simple yet colorful Flash aesthetics, are spot on, which better assists the traversable world in coming to life. Colors are more vibrant, animations are smoother, and more cinematography has been applied due to the world scrolling as players pass through areas, rather than jumping from screen to screen a la the web series. Like an animated series properly adapted for the silver screen, everything in Strong Bad is crisper, cleaner, and more vibrant, while thankfully staying true to the source material.

Oddly, the strict adherence to Homestar's universe might be the game's only failing point, though there are certainly two sides to that coin. On the one side, non-Homestar fans can still play the game to completion, but won't recognize the many allusions to memorable moments and dialogue from the web series. On the other side, this series wasn't designed for non-fans. True, that probably won't help Strong Bad reach the popularity of adventure titles such as Telltale's own Sam & Max, but considering there are millions of Homestar Runner fans, the game's user base is already nice and plump.

Furthermore, a video game for both the Wii and PC should serve to attract fans who might have heard about Homestar and his crew but never had the time or inclination to become interested. If you're a non-fan, you can finish the game without too many problems, but a bit of fun research involving the viewing of almost 200 Strong Bad emails will only increase your enjoyment of the game.

Gameplay is standard adventure fare. If you've played a King's Quest, Gabriel Knight, The Dig, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Sam & Max or other adventure title, you'll instantly be familiar with Strong Bad's mechanics. If not, here's a quick overview: walk around, click on people to talk to them, and pick up anything not nailed down because you'll probably need it later. Talk to everyone, try using items on everything, and pay attention to conversations.

Simple, right? Somewhat. As fans know, Homestar Runner's humor is clean enough to appeal to children yet clever enough to attract adults. Similarly, Strong Bad can be played by almost anyone, but the puzzles can become quite tricky. I was pleased when I found myself idly drumming my fingers on my desk, deliberating how I might overcome some obstacle or another in order to progress the story. Strong Bad never becomes overly difficult and can be finished in under a couple of hours due to its episodic nature, but you will need to turn your brain on to solve more than a few segments, which should please adventure fans.

There are a few instances where the heavy fan service can hurt the gameplay. Most puzzles in adventure games build on the story's foundation so that solutions are both logical and contextually grounded. Because these are Homestar characters we're dealing with, logic doesn't always apply. There are two, maybe three instances where the solution to a puzzle doesn't make sense unless you think like Strong Bad. Non-fans might get aggravated, but again, this isn't a game for non-fans; and honestly, puzzle solutions do make enough sense (though sometimes in retrospect) that not many will be hindered for too long a time.

Like most adventure titles, the story is linear. Once you're done, there might not be much reason to give the game another play-through. Of course, Homestar devotees have cherished emails and cartoons they've watch dozens of times, so Strong Bad might have slightly higher replay value than most in the genre.

Fortunately, there are also plenty of side tasks to extend the game's length for those who feel the story ends too quickly. Help Strong Bad hunt down the missing pages from his Snake Boxer 5 video game manual in order to learn a cheat code that can actually be used in-game; collect idea fragments that will better assist you in creating a Teen Girl Squad comic; and earn three different trophies from Coach Z by performing different in-game actions.

Homestar Ruiner is a great first entry in what promises to be a fun series. Interacting with so many memorable aspects of the Homestar universe is thrilling and caused me to spend much more time on the game than was necessary. Even better, anticipation for Episode 2 is heightened due to a small preview at the episode's conclusion, as well as components such as a Trogdor arcade game that is broken, though Strong Sad (who remains in his room for most of the episode) promises that he's "working on it."

Homestar and Strong Bad fans, rejoice: this first episode is a faithful reincarnation of the world you know and love. It's funny, it's pretty, and it's just long enough to present a good story that doesn't need the remaining four episodes to induce immense satisfaction.

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Download Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner demo