- This article describes the series of adventure games. For other uses of the name, see Monkey Island (disambiguation).
The Secret of Monkey Island, CD version. The original had textual verb buttons and inventory. Monkey Island is a series of graphical point-and-click adventure games published by LucasArts. The games follows the misadventures of the hapless aspiring pirate Guybrush Threepwood as he struggles to become the most notorious pirate in the Caribbean, while fighting off the evil ghost pirate LeChuck and winning the heart of governor Elaine Marley. The plot usually revolves around the mysterious isle of Monkey Island which is known for hiding a secret...
The series is known for its humour and the inability of the player to become permanently stuck or end the game by making the "wrong" choices, traits shared by other LucasArts adventure games, including Sam and Max Hit the Road and Day of the Tentacle. It often portrays many reggae references, like the soundtrack itself, as well as Elaine Marley's name, obviously a reference to Bob Marley.
The Secret of Monkey Island
The first installment in the series, The Secret of Monkey Island, was the fifth game to use the SCUMM engine. It first follows Guybrush's attempts to prove himself as a pirate, then his attempt to rescue his new-found love, Elaine Marley, from LeChuck's clutches who imprisoned her on Monkey Island.
The game was originally released on floppy disk in 1990 for Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh and IBM PC systems (using EGA graphics); it was also the first adventure game to use character scaling. Later on, it was re-released with VGA graphics, and when the game was later included on a CD-ROM compilation of Monkey Island games, the music was also improved. The project leader was Ron Gilbert, and the game was designed by Gilbert along with Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman. Another notable contributor was Orson Scott Card, who wrote the insults for the insult swordfighting section.
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
The second game, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, was the sixth to use the SCUMM engine. It involves Guybrush's attempt to find the mystical treasure of Big Whoop, and win back Elaine's love, and is often considered to be overall the best of the LucasArts adventure games. Although considered by many to be superior to its predecessor, it was criticised for its ambiguous and surrealistic ending.
The game was released on floppy disks, with VGA graphics, in 1991, and later included on a CD-ROM compilation of Monkey Island games. The project leader and designer was Ron Gilbert.
The Curse of Monkey Island
The third game in the series, The Curse of Monkey Island, was the twelfth and last to use the SCUMM engine, which was extensively upgraded for its last outing. Guybrush manages to turn Elaine into a gold statue with a cursed diamond ring, and the game follows his attempt to retrieve the statue (which is stolen) and turn her back.
Ron Gilbert parted ways with the series before the third instalment, and some fans consider it to be inferior in storyline and design for his loss. Some fans also considered its upgraded SVGA graphics to be awkward and revealing the limits of the SCUMM engine, while others felt they were a considerable improvement on earlier LucasArts adventures. Similarly, some fans found the voiceover - Curse was the first game in the series to feature voices for the characters - did not match their expectations, while others felt it added to the game's atmosphere.
The game was released on CD-ROM in 1997. It was later included on a CD-ROM compilation of Monkey Island games. The project leaders and designers were Jonathan Ackley and Larry Ahern. Dominic Armato played the voice of Guybrush Threepwood.
Winner: Adventure Game of the Year from Computer Gaming World Magazine and PC Gamer Magazine
Winner: Special Achievement in Art Direction: Computer Gaming World Magazine
Escape from Monkey Island
The fourth game, Escape from Monkey Island, begins with Guybrush and Elaine returning from their honeymoon to find that Elaine has been declared officially dead, and her mansion is scheduled to be demolished.
EMI used a slightly improved version of the GrimE engine introduced by Grim Fandango. There is an in-game joke about the replacement of SCUMM by the Lua scripting language, namely when Guybrush returns from a journey and the famous "Scumm-Bar" is replaced by the "Lua-Bar". The iMUSE music system continued to be used, albeit with MP3 compression.
Some fans refused to play EMI because they stated that the new keyboard controlled 3D GrimE Engine would completely destroy the old Monkey Island atmosphere. Also, many fans have observed some inconsistencies between some of the game dialogues, and the earlier history known from the series, like Herman Toothrot's past.
EMI's introductory music is indentical to that of the third game, unlike the earlier sequels which featured newly-composed remixes of the well-known Monkey Island theme.
The game was released on CD-ROM in 2000 and on PlayStation 2 in 2001. Apart from obvious control differences, the PS2 version only varies by a slightly higher polygon count and use of less pre-rendered material. The project leaders and designers were Sean Clark and Michael Stemmie.
Common features
The games in the series share mini-games, puzzles, in-jokes and references. In each game there is a mini-game based on repetition of a sequence in order to become more proficient; insult sword-fighting in the first game, a game in an alleyway in the second, sea battles and rhyming insult sword-fighting in the third, and Monkey Kombat in the fourth. The first and fourth games also both feature a puzzle which involves following another character through several locations, a trick also used in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
Lines like "Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!" became a running joke.
Also, "I'm Guybrush Threepwood, a mighty <profession>", and "Hi, I'm selling these fine leather jackets" (from Indiana Jones).
Note that none of the games reveal what the actual 'Secret of Monkey Island' is. LeChuck himself, when asked in the second and third games, refuses to answer the question, leading Guybrush to elicit a confession from LeChuck that he doesn't know what the secret is. There are several theories, and at least one case can be made from each game in the series.
Much of the music in the series was composed by Michael Land.
Funny puns
As funny adventure games, Monkey Island series is full of spoofs, in-jokes, humorous references, and easter eggs, so many that whole web pages are dedicated to their detections. Some of the most notable ones are:
-The name Guybrush stems from the 'brush' file used on a Mac that was used for the main character, it is a brush file of some guy. His sprites were saved as guy.brush.
-The name Threepwood is believed to come from a AD&D character.
-The bar at the beginning of the first game is called the SCUMM Bar, and contains a character from LOOM (this time with a pirate hat) that, if asked, tells a lot about Loom. Secret also contains a seagull from that same game. LeChuck's Revenge contains the same seagull; both are mentioned in the credits.
-An easter egg allows Guybrush to die in course of the "Three Trials" chapter of the second game. Guybrush claims to be able to hold his breath for ten minutes. At a certain point in the game, he becomes trapped underwater. If the player waits for ten minutes, Guybrush suffocates, and the game is over. It is one if not the only way to die.
-Each game in the series features oblique cameo appearances by Steve Purcell's Sam and Max, who were adapted into the game Sam and Max Hit the Road by LucasArts. The pair appear as voodoo idols in the first game, as costumes in a costume shop on Booty Island in the second, and as toys in LeChuck's demonic funfair in the third.
-One notably frustrating joke in Secret, which many players assumed to be a technical error, is the tree stump in the forest on Melee Island. When looking at the stump, the character proclaims that there's a hole in it that leads to a maze of caverns. If Guybrush tries to climb down into the stump, the game prompts the player for the non-existent "disk #23", "disk #47" and "disk #98", respectively. The endgame credits also have an entry for 'art and animation for disk #23'. Many people didn't get the joke, and LucasArts tech support received quite a large number of calls for help with the missing disk. The joke was removed from the CD version of the game. In Curse of Monkey Island, Guybrush briefly sticks his head into an opening and out of the very same tree stump in its original Secret of Monkey Island graphics. Guybrush also revisits a location from the original game at the end of LeChuck's Revenge.
See also
External links
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