Congratulations, I can't tell you how much joy Monkey Island gave me, you must be a very proud man.

Congratulations. monkey island is the best point&click adventure ever. Please monkey island 5

Awesome Ron!

Now give us 5! :P

If only it was my decision to make.

Just curious, but if you were actualy given the opportunity to do it, would you go back at a 15 years old game (13 years old if you count to mi2, I dissmiss the others) ?
Wouldn't that be a little of a 'stuck in the past' syndrome ? Wouldn't you prefer to make something new ?

An anniversary worth celebrating. Truly one of the greatest games made.

And so, 15 years ago, Ron created the question that would haunt generations of adventure game players... But what the heck is the secret of Monkey Island ? :)

(not that I do care particularly myself, just wanted that it was also the anniversary of this never-answered question :P)

I'm 19yo and I've 'discovered' Monkey Island at the age of eight. For some reason every year I find myself playing MI/MI2 once again, even now in 2005. Maybe because MI is a hard-to-die-piece-of-undead-game. Maybe because the present games industry is boring. Maybe both.
Thank you for creating Monkey Island, Ron.

Yea something similar happened with me, I think I was 5 or 6 years old when I played it in my Aunt's computer (286), it was the CD version that came out close to 1991. Now I'm 19 years old, and I'm studding Computer Science, and all because of your game.

Ron your game changed my life.

You should be proud of your creation, it's a master piece.

Happy Birthday Guybrush!

Ron, can you post a scan of disk 144?

I was pretty sure you had those disks.  That puzzle sure had me "stumped" ;)

You should have saved that one for next April Fools

"Hey look what I just found!"

OMG... what have I been doing for the past fifteen years?

That's really cool. :) Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2 are still among my most favourite computer games of all times (and with scummvm, I'm still able to play them, too). :)

Monkey Island is the greatest game ever!!! Thanks Ron, I don't know if I have said this before.. But YOU are cool!!

At last, a proper chance to say "thanks for Monkey Island" without being off-topic! :)

So, Ron (yeah, and the rest whose blog this isn't, particularly Michael Land for the music): THANK YOU for the unbelieveably wonderful piece of my life that is the Monkey Island series.

Random thoughts: I've given up explaining my emotional involvement in a computer game to people - Pong, MI and DeathSpank-types all being considered "computer games" doesn't help... Anyway, some games are true works of art, and 15 years later, we definitely need more of that magic in games. You can only go back and replay the classics so many times.

I willl pay 8 gazillion dollars for disk 144. c'mon Ron, it's not doing you any good.

For 8 gazillion dollars, I will not only make you a disk 144, but I'll fill it with all the stuff that was under that stump.

I'll forward you bank wire transfer instructions.

Wil you be using those money to buy the rights for MI from Lucasarts? and make us MI5 (or 3)

:)

For 8 Gazillion bucks he could almost buy LucasArts itself!

Almost.

That isn't too interesting with all the non-interesting games coming from that direction nowadays

Almost?

It'd be like buying the Death Star...

what a coincedence! i played it for the whatsoever time in my life last week.

also i will beat my future kids if they won't be falling off their chairs laughing when i will hand it to them with a smirk.

Ahhhh, yes. I love hearing these names, for me it's a synonym of quality gaming. Something you don't hear very often. Somebody hire these folks! they're responible for the greats! (If you don't, history will come back to hunt ya'll.)

And ohhhh remember the line: "Look behind you, a three-headed monkey"

(that was 15 years ago, already?)

My own personal cheers for Mr Gilbert & the gang

The screenshot with the actual three-headed monkey is the background on my laptop. ;)  My brother used to yell that for years when trying to distract me.

Congratulations! And thanks, I get nostalgic about that game now, Imagine that!

I hope you have played already the latest Tim Shafer's game?
Isn't it GREAT?! :)

Who's this Steve Percell? ;)

"My name is Guybrush Threepwood, and I want to be a pirate!"

Possibly the finest opening line in any game ever.

I recently replayed the series with my girlfriend, and on the whole they aged well.  MI1 visually looks, well, 15 years old.  But it's still funny and fun.  In my mind it defines the elements of the modern adventure game.  It achieved a perfect balance.  When I first played MI2 it didn't do much for me.  In particular, I didn't like the ending.  On replay, it was better than I remembered..  MI3 aged quite well.  I think the team did a good job of capturing the essence of MI1 and 2.  MI4, well, hmmm.  When I first played MI4 it seemed like a fine, fun game.  Perhaps at the time it had been so long since MI3 that I was desperate and blinded to its flaws.  Playing MI4 within a few months of the previous 3, it's a far, far worse game, a shadow of the previous 3.

I agree with you completely.

But really, the only redeemable feature of MI4 was Guybrush's "sexy" voice. That always had me in stitches.

I actually far preferred 4 to 3.  3 dropped the ball on the story, replaced the old, characteristic art style with a boring Disney-esque cartoon style, had a far less clever sense of humor, and featured none of the original team (making it essentially a lame 'fan game').  What a disappointment.

After that, MI4, as poor as it was, at least had some writers from the Sam & Max days, and its spirit and humor skewed alot closer to the originals, even if the story and monkey combat sequences were totally idiotic.

I remember when CMI first came out.  I was worried about LucasArts giving Guybrush a voice and a cartoony style, but I figured I'd get used to it.  I think it's a credit to the game that I not only got used to the style, but learned to accept and love it.  The only quibbles I really had were the way Wally was brought back, and it was perhaps a bit unfair to the MI4 team to marry Elaine and Guybrush.  And, yes, some of the humour was a bit childish.
With the humour, though, I'd say the childish bits were only the tip of the humour iceberg.  It was everywhere, from Guybrush's facial expressions to the Plunder Island Naturalist Society.  There were a few running gags, and a lot of in-jokes.  A lot of the humour was clever, and most of it was funny.
With MI3, as in MI4, the most was made of the new graphics style the team ventured into.  The graphics and characters are all beautifully drawn, and you can hardly tell that it had to be reduced down to 256 colours.  We probably have Larry Ahern, who was on the MI2 team, to thank for this.
The sound was perfect, it brought in just the right atmosphere.  And as you played the game, and talked to all the "NPCs", you could see that a lot of care and work had gone into each one.

All in all, I found the game fun, and a joy to play.  It may have been different from the first two, but it was a good game, and that's what's most important.

(That said, Ron, I still have hopes that one day you'll make Monkey Island 3A, or at least make sure Monkey Island 5 includes a divorce)

Well, I really liked Monkey Island 3, in fact my favorite games are the 1 and 3, but I should say that monkey island 4 should have not existed.
I never heard the voices of guy brush in English because I have the CMI in Spanish & EMI too, but i could say that the guys of ERBE (the company that use to do the translation of Lucas Arts to Spanish a long time ago, now that is the work of EA) made an amazing work.

!5, eh? My how you've grown. Why I remeber you when you were a newborn, giving me hours of pleasure in my friend's Amiga. Now look at you? You'll be driving a car soon and thinking about college.

// wistful sigh //

15 years old and still one of the best games made.

I was introduced to "Secret" for the first time the other day and I'm enjoying playing MI2 at the moment. Two of the funniest, best thought-out games.

Thanks very much.

hy ron.i thank you for greatest game Monkey island the game is so awfully great that i want to cry... it inspired me to try to make my own game because todays games are ugly 3d and got no weed so i got an idea lets make game similar to monkey island on weed & rubber chickens and so on... pictures:  http://island-of-plots.wz.cz/English/download.html
main page http://island-of-plots.wz.cz
well its not just about weed and im not on weed but it looks funny :)
hey ron got any tips for game? sorry for my stupid english
YOu must do a seqel in 2d graphics plz plz i beg you
it has been a long time we monkey-playes have nothing to play
so can you do something about it?


live long & prosper
voodoo

Psssst, it's "Purcell" ;)

Oh, and: Happy birthday Guybrush!!!

Congratulations Ron for creating a license that's so successful that LucasArts still wants so much money for that you can't pay it. I think this would be a good moment for LucasArts to give you the license as a birthday present with a nice pink ribbon with a large bow in it and a greeting card with a hand drawn Guybrush on it.

word! :)

or even better, they should finance it :D

I think it's really significant that so many of us still play through Monkey Islands 1 & 2. When we know the games inside out the central game mechanic, the puzzle solving, is gone, but there is still something there that compells us to play again. I think that's the sign of a great game and it's all too rare.

Good grief. Monkey Island is just younger than me. I grew up with it, I used to play it with my brother on the amiga, and it was brilliant. I sort of inherited the games, and I still play them every once in a while. The music, the characters, the art, they all came together perfectly.
Ron, I would like to tank you for making i my mind the best adventure game I have ever played, the opening of the Secret was so atmospheric I will never forget it. It started off a saga.
15 years ago eh?
For some reason, it makes me sad.
There won't be another like Monkey Island, that's for sure.

THANK YOU!!!!  For me it´s the best game, I love it.

Jesus. My son was already negative 3 when the game came out.

I'm officially old.

We love and revere you for giving us a friend. I'm gonna drink a Grog in celebration, then spend the next five weeks in bed hungover :)

GROG! GROG! GROG!
     GROG! GROG! GROG!
          GROG! GROG! GROG!

Is Guybrush just a little child in his brilliant dreamworld?

wow... 15 years... and Monkey Island is still alive, that´s great!
Thanks Ron, and of course the whole team that made MI1 and MI2.

Alvaro, from Chile.

Happy Birthday Monkey Island!  I've played it every year or two since I originally used the Dial-a-Pirate wheel to play.  Thank you, Ron, for all you've done to make games this wonderful.

Ron, my best wishes to you and your old lucas arts fellows...
keep on pushing !

I grew up with Guybrush Threepwood.
To him I owe a lot of good memories.
To you and all the team I can only say:
Best.Game.Ever!

italics How appropriate. You fight like a cow. italics

haha, Thank you for a fantastic game. :-)

Next you need to make us a humorous sci-fi adventure extravaganza... with pirates, and ninjas... and a shrubbery!

Thanks Ron, I just discovered all the glory of monkey island about six months ago
and I love it.
So how much is the monkey island rights?

Seriously Ron, thank you. You don't know me, but thank you for grog's contents, rubber chickens with pulleys in the middle, a used ship salesman turned used coffin salesman, thank you for spitting contests and dance move treasure maps, voodoo ladies and monkies, monkey heads, navigator heads, ghosts, zombies, disk 22, a certain traveling circus, and making grave robbing fun(ny).

I didn't make grave robbing fun, it's always been fun.

You're right. Grave robbing is such a thrill in just your boxers.

How did you get Ron's boxers?

Thanks everyone!

How I'd love to have a beer or two with some of the names on that list!  Speaking of which, I wonder if we'll ever have a Ron visit here in Australia?

What kind of beer?

Fosters, of course!

- Ender
   Co-Lead Dev, ScummVM

Why Not jst Have a pind of grog :P

Coopers is the beer of choice in Adelaide (at least among us younguns), although VB (Victorian Bitter) is probably the most popular throughout the country.

Most young Australians have never even seen a Fosters... its not a popular beer at all!

Coopers do some damn nice brews though: Pale Ale, Draught and (my favourite) Sparkling Ale.  Hard to beat a jug of Sparkling outside a Rundle St pub at 1 oclock on a 40 degree (celsius) night...

To be honest, I wanted to answer Cascade. Thats a REAL australian beer. But since I've been living in Perth, I haven't seen a bottle once.

Which sucks, because I grew up on that stuff when I lived in Tassie :)

- Ender
   Co-Lead Dev, ScummVM

Root beer !

I'd love to come to Australia!  It's high on my list of places to visit.

You know, New Zealand is a lovely place aswell.

Especially Christchurch.

Have a meetup there! I'll come.

<<four notes from the Indiana Jones theme>>

I recently got a high end, portable, carefully designed for the best 3d-full textures-AI-blabla games......just to play this two masterpieces. And we are 15 years far away from it´s release? Do bureaucrats or money-crats need anything else to wake up?

Thanks to THE MONKEY. :)

We all loved MI..... very much... c'mon Ron give us a new game, something we can all treasure again and celebrate in another 15 years time

Patiences grasshopper.

You have patents on grasshoppers? Ahh, I see it now... The Mystery of Grasshopper Island.

The Secret Of Grasshopper Island 2: Locust's Revenge

Then some company will come out and buy out the Ron/the development team and Grasshopper Island 3 will be made by a bunch of incompetent nincompoops.

I'm with every one else when I say thanks.  Awesome game...

The best adventure game ever made. Thanks.

The best adventure game I have ever played in my live. (and one of the first)
This game changed the world of gaming for young guy like me in 1990 when I was just eight years old.

I had no knowledge of the english language but still I managed to play the game, and as I played the game, I started to learn my first words of english through the words in the game and what happened on the screen.

Thank you Ron and the whole incredibly talented crew who were responsible for this gaming legend to be born. It's a wonder that such a team ever existed in one place at the same time, so much talent. :)

Wow, it's pretty incredible to think I was only 6 when I first played this game. Thanks for all the memories Ron. I still have to go back and play 1 and 2 once a year or so. And just to put my 2 cents in, I preferred CMI over EMI without a doubt. I loved the artwork, and the game was just so much fun to play. Maybe it's just because of that awful control scheme that was used in EMI. I really miss the old point and click adventure games of my youth. Anyways, cheers Gilbert, this Warsteiner is for you, and I wish you much success in the future.

Monkey Island is what got me into gaming in the first place.  Happy birthday MI!

Also Congrats from me for this awesome game. It has been my first game ever and i played it for 3 days and 2 nigths without getting real sleep at the age of 8 till the end =)

Maybe without this game i wouldnt be a gamer and a programmer these days ;)

Happy Birthday MI and thanks to the whole Crew!

First of all, let me thank you for making Monkey Island. Trully a masterpiece that will remain as that for ages.
Second, I must say...C'mon! make something new...If you had the creativity to make MI, you sure can make something different...
stop complaining about a licence you don't have and create a new one.
make a game about cavemans, elfs or farmers...
just put the same creativity you put for MI and maybe you will raise the money you need to buy MI IP back!

ron is doing something new, but you have to keep in mind a few things:

first of all, it may be hard to meet the high expectations if there are things like Monkey Island in your portfolio

second: monkey island was not made by ron alone. much of the praisefor the dialogues has to go out to tim schafer for example as far as i know, which you can see if you play grim fandango oder psychonauts. so, as much as i respect ron, it would be hard for him alone, to create a new saga like monkey island, without talented and creative news people helping him. and i think it's hard to find a team like the guys who were mentioned by ron above.

third:  gaming industry today is not the one from 1990

but as said before: ron is doing something new. and hell, aren't we all hoping that it will make us all laugh again and talk about it in 15 years, like we remember guybrush today? ;)

Ron (or at least LucasArts) put together a talented team before, no reason why he can't do it again!  If anything, the talent pool should have increased in 15 years!  Hopefully Ron would sign on some of those talented and creative artists wanting to try something different that he's mentioned before.

Happy birthday, Guybrush.
Ron, just a quick thank you from the bottom of my heart. Peole like you make the games industry great less awful.
I'm sure that this legacy must sometimes feel like something of an albatross, but it's one heck of an achievement to have made this many people this happy.
Thanks for posting this and giving me an on-topic opportunity to get all soppy.

12 years old and totally addicted - my first memories of Monkey Island.

I too am one of those gamers that plays through the whole series of Monkey Island games at least once a year...

Happy birthday Guybrush, you fight like a cow!

Happy birthday Monkey Island!

First of all - thanks for great hours, probably days (counting how many times I played it through), and thanks for a fantastic franchise with pirates.

Now to business. :)
I know your site is licensed using by-nc-nd; That Monkey Island disk would be an awesome addition to Wikipedia. However, it should be less restrictively licensed, usually GNU Free Doc License or CC by-sa. I say "should", because the English Wikipedia also accepts fair use images while many others don't. So, to use it to the fullest extent on all Wikipedias, you would have to drop nc and nd for the image.

Please think about it. :-)

Simply a huge thanks for MI. I played it when 11, now I am 26 years old and  I think it was the main reason because I decided to work in software industry.  We're all waiting praying for your next work.  Make us happy soon!

Now I just need to print these disk images, put them into my disk drive, and I will have my own illegal copy of Monkey Island

MUHUHAHAHA !!!!

(Or maybe I will have to shrink these images in Photoshop because I just have a 3"1/2 drive)

To read the MI data from a printout of a floppy disc you will need an optical drive.

I might also cut the edges and use my CDROM drive - It's optical, innit ?

Mazal Tov !!

I say, this calls for a convention. Like us trekkies and our 40th anniversary.

Oded Sharon.

Congratulations to you Ron!!

Monkey Island 1 and 2 are two of the greatest and funniest games I´ve ever played. Still now I love to go back to monkey island now and then to put dogs in coats, drink lot´s of grog and pronounce myself as the greatest pirate ever.

Thank you guys for some really great times.

"Oh look behind you, a three-headed monkey!!"


Tom

Ron you're really cool!
i'm from Turkey and do ya know, you're really a popular guy in Turkey too! And Monkey island series are the most popular games ever here!

a woodchuck should chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood, as long as a woodchuck would chuck wood. ;)

Hurray! Happy anniversary, Guythreep Brushwood (it's GUYBRUSH! ;)
This means it's also the 15th anniversary for the noble art of Insult Swordfighting! Let's make it an Olympic event for all to appreciate!

Cheers, Ron Gilbert!

Thank you for one of my sweeter childhood memories
and one of the best games ever published.

Marco

-----------------------                                                                                                                                                             "Look! A three-headed monkey!"
        - Guybrush Threapwood

What a wonderful time... congratulations... those were the days i grew up to become a man ^^
I currently play it on my DS... just great...

I just remembered I was thirteen years old when I was playing Monkey 1. Now I'm 28! AAAAAARRRRRRGH!!!!! I had almost managed to forget it. You're evil, Ron.
Domenico

I just wanted to thank all of the guys who created Monkey Island, not only Ron Gilbert :P

btw is Micheal Land still @ LucasArts?

Happy Birthday Monkey Island.

I miss you :(

Why would anyone want a 5 when you can go on a whole new franchise?

"The Midget of Donkey Island"

The unbelievable story of Larry Wilco, a flooring inspector who sells his boat for a mule and hacks his way through an utterly evil Empire that declared war on point 'n' clicks a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Thank you very much for this fantastic game!!!! I hope Monkey Island 5 will come...

Happy Birthday Ron ! =)

I'm LOVIN IT!!!!! Grats ;)

heck, can't say anything that wasn't said before. monkey island is the game that made me a gamer. it's kinda strange to recognize, that i know the biographies of nearly the half of it's creators. :D

so shame on you ron & co.! I could be rescueing the world now (or at least cats from big trees), but instead i'm a dumb nerd, readingy a grumpy weblog, and nearly crying because there ain't never gonna be a game like a 15 year pseudo pirate-adventure again!

Congratulations!!!
I learned some of my first english with Monkey Island! It´s one of the best games ever!

Congratulations, Ron. You have no idea how happy you made me in my early teenage years, how much of my time I used to dedicate to all the Monkey Island stuff, not only on thinking about the puzzles, but also by fantasizing about swordfights and stuff. To me, Monkey Island was as important as the Indiana Jones movies.

I will always want to be a pirate.

"The Secret of Monkey Island" was my fist adventure-game. Even today it's my favourite game. I mean, other games like "Runaway - A road adventure" or "The Westerner" (maybe you know the games) are also good, but the best adventure-games are the "Monkey Island" games. I play them even today.
Happy birthday, LeChuck, Stan, Herman and (of course) Guybrush and all the other Monkey Island characters.
And congratulations to Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, Steve Purcell and all the other people made Monkey Island.

(my English isn't that good, but I hope you all understand what I mean ;) )

MI was probably the first game I really sat down and played, thank you for that.

now, i'm just curious - is there any way to go about purchasing the game anymore?  or all the old SCUMM games while we're at it?  I'd love to play them all again, and i'd prefer to do it legally....

Fifteen years... I can barely believe it.

Thank you very much Ron.

I guess I'm unqiue in the fact that I played the games a few years ago (when trying to catch up on the few adventure games I missed growing up).  I still don't understand the ending to MI2.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed both of them.

Thanks for the best adventure game I ever illegally copied in the early nineties. I still use the insults to strike down little old ladies on the street.

Happy anniversary!

Happy birthday Ron & Guybrush! :) Little bit of cliché (but true) words:  thanks for my first adventure, thanks for a game that learnt me first English words, thanks for my most favourite game, thanks for a game that contributed to choosing game development as my occupation... and best luck for the future!

PS:Just being curious - have you actually ever tried to buy the rights to MI back from the Wookie factory?

And one more thing - I apologize for illegal copying the first two MI's in the early 90's. I am not sure if they were sold in Slovakia that time but I bought them at least retrospectively from Wookies... but I still feel guilty - I guess no $ went to the original Monkey team :(

They were not available here but i got them in Vienna that time. But it for sure was the best game i ever played! Vlado from Slovakia.

Ron, Thanks a lot for Monkey Island, just for that you deserv to go to heaven (if there is one), no matter how many bad things you do to the world from now on.
I wish I was rich so I could buy the Monkey Island rights from LucasArts and give them back to it's real creator.

Your skull gets to be on the top of the stack for remembering this Ron.

Probably the most enjoyable project I ever worked on in the games industry with the most talented (and entertaining) group of artists and programmers I ever saw.  I still have one of my sketchbooks from the project.

Thanks for the memories Ron!

Hi Ron, my name's Hagay, I'm from Israel. MI1 and 2 were my first adventure games, played at a friend's house when we were 10 years old... (I'm 22 now.) I was too young (and didn't know enough english)  to understand some of the humor, but over the years I've played the series so many times I can now pretty much quote the first two games by heart.

Last year I was at the Game on show, and when I saw the original art for MI I just smiled like a maniac and had to take a picture of myself with it...

Thanks for all the memories.

Congrats! I always loved the game and it brings very nice memories back to me. Thanks for giving me a great time. I hope and pray there will be a new episode of the game.

Wow. I'm speechless... now THIS is an aniversary worth celebrating. One of the best games ever, no doubt about it. Cheers!

Ron Gilbert, THANK YOU from Spain... 15 years ago I was playing Monkey Island in my Amiga 500, and today I'm still doing that, but in a P910...

Ehh... yes, the BBQ, it could be funny to have an spanish friend there, don't you think so? If you do send me an email, 'amigo mio'...

Thank you for one of the best games I ever played!

If only EA had the rights to Monkey Island, we'd be eagerly awaiting the 15th part of the series. "Monkey Island 2005 with improved graphics, a whole new soundtrack and the official '05 insult swordfighting license."

Ron, gracias por crear un hito en la historia de los videojuegos!!
Quiero que sepas que compre mi primer mouse para poder jugarlo!!!-
Saludos desde Argentina.
Alfredo.

PD: Sigo esperando otra obra de arte tuya!!!.

I must admit though, MI2 was better

Years ago, I dressed up as Stan for Halloween.  Even made up the business cards.

Thanks for the memories, Grumpy. Hows Monkey Island 3, then?

Hi Ron, thank you very much for creating this great game. It was one of my best times playing it and ... I will be patient ... waiting for things to come ... hopefully soon ;-)

Thank you so much...  I was about 10 years old the first time I played MI 1&2... they were my very first games and I still can remember how my brother tought me how to use SCUMM...  I still play them today, and still laugh as hard as I did when I was 10.  
Well.. actually, I have to thank you and your crew once again because MI is the reason why I'm gonna be married soon. The first time that I met my fiance was in an usual chatroom some years ago, and as he saw my username "Elaine_Marley" he couldn't resist saying "I can hold my breath for ten minutes!" to me... :)
we are so deep in love today... however, I will let you now when we got married ;)
And if I should ever give birth to a daughter we will call her "Elaine". :)

So thanks again Ron,

Suki  

(I'm sorry if my english is full of mistakes, but I'm from Germany...)

I Want to say This is the coolest game ive ever played. I played it when i was 4 and im still talking about it now. This is the game that got me learning C++ programming so i could make games just like u.

Actually, I'd have to second that.

Thanks for the inspiration =)

third.
Also, aaaaaahhhhhh for Suki's message above.

Fourth...

Without MI I probably never would have realized how exciting it is to create games.

Monkey Island also taught me english.

Monkey island1 and 2 are both amazing. I play them all the time and never get bored. i think that M1 should be made into a movie it would be cool. I start to make a game and in the end i end up playing your's instead of creating my own. Its just an awsome game thanx ron

"i think that M1 should be made into a movie it would be cool."

Hey. I'm in the process of writing a scrip for a MI1 movie. I have been working on it for almost two years now, but I got side-tracked about 6 months ago and haven't continued. When I first played MI3 I realized how well it would translate into a movie. I then went beck and played MI1&2 and realized that if I made a movie of MI1 and incoporated some ideas from 2&3 it would be an even better movie. This was a number of years ago.

I then got the inspiration to start writing a script for it when I first saw Paco's Comic on WMI. I workedd on it quite steadily for a while, but I eventually found that I didn't like where the script was going. It was too much like the game/comic and that wouldn't make a good movie. I sent the script-in-progress to WMI and they posted about it. I got a few emails telling me how good it was, but none telling me the things that should be changed. I've been pushing myself to start it back up again, but I haven't gotten around to it.

I actually sent it to you, Ron, a couple of times. But I got NO RESPONSE. Ron, respond please. Just read it. Its not so long. the rest of you can read it at  http://free.hostdepartment.com/s/smallfrozenhamster/SOMI.pdf. I don't think that is the most up to date version o fthe script, but it's fairly close. I think I cut some stuff out of that one.

What I want to do is really incorporate ideas from MI2&3 into it. If annyody can help me out with that I would appreciate it very much. I would love to somehow get BLood and/or Skull Island into it. They are actually my two favourite locations of any MI game (no offense Ron.)

Well see ya.

Isn't Pirates of the Carribean essentially a MI movie? I mean, it has it all... ghost pirates and such...

Yeah it even has scenes in the same as monkey island like the part where they are trying to escape the prison. with the key in the dogs mouth and the pirates trying to bribe him with a bone.

Hey, I remember running into either you or one of the other MI creators on the End Of The Line MUD (run on the stanford.edu's machines...) back around the time MI2 came out. Was that you? If it was, it was nice chatting with ya. ^_^ Thanks for making a brilliantly enjoyable and funny series of games.

Last week I've played Monkey Island, again... It's still my favourite game and I enjoyed it really, really much. But I'm still trying to find out, what the secret of Monkey Island is... Well, I've startet Monkey Island 2...

15 years already. wow. This game really did live up to the name of the genre. Something about it captured imagination. I remember feeling like it was a window into a real living, breathing world. Undoubtedly one of the best games ever made. I would pay more than the price of a regular new game for a new MI made by that team. Even if it was the same 256 graphics scheme with the SCUMM system. It shows you dont need flashy graphics and new technology to capture imagination. Good job, guys. thanks

Thanks Ron. Monkey Island 1 and 2 are the Monty Python of computer games.

¡ Feliz Cumpleaños Guybrush !

Hey I still have those exact disks..... and the box.
Monkey Island 1 was the game that got me interested in computers in the first place when I was 8. It took me forever to finish....
Anyway THANKS RON for a great game

I've been a MI fan since the original release. I introduced my wife to it a couple years ago and she loved the whole series. We're replaying them right now (started as a celebration of Talk Like a Pirate Day). I'm looking at the original box and floppies next to me on the floor as I type this. We're currently on Part II of Curse of Monkey Island, and loving every minute.

It's El Pollo Diablo!!

Yay, finally being able to say thank you without being off-topic!

Cheers for Monkey Island Ron!

SiN

How nice!

Too hours playing that game. Too memories. All that stories beneath Monkey Island (Stan, Big Whoop, Voodoo Lady, Herman... not THAT MAN WITH TROUSERS IN MI4, the Scumm Bar, the Grog receipt...).
I told jokes from Monkey to my friends. And I was the only one of the group who played the game. I felt special. My older cousin played MI2, for example, and he missed a lot of the jokes. He didn't understand'em... And me... My only wish was to grow up to became a pirate.
And then that "Lynch ending"... Yeah, MI1 was the first, the BIG GAME; THE CLASSIC. BUT... MI2 had that fabulous ending. I was growing to became a pirate, but I was wrong. THE SECRET, THE BIG WHOOP, is not being a pirate; it's just your way trying to be one. It's your voyage, your trip thourgh the seas, finding the ending of the adventure. There's a song in my country that says something like: "When you're ready to travel to Itaca, you must pray to Gods, ask'em for adventures and danger moments, you must pray to gods, asking emotions and a very long and hard voyage."
But when you discover that, you are too old to be young. And, yeah, that's the secret. That's the Big Whoop, too. That's the prize to the adventure... Growing WITH the adventure, never reaching the end. Admit it; MI2 was better 'cause it had the secret. And we are still playing those games.
You must keep the adventure alive, never reaching the end, 'cause, after that, we still are young boys and girls trying to find our brothers and sisters.

Long life to MI1 and MI2! (And for the ones that make MI3 and MI4, WHAT YOU DID TO THE REAL GUYBRUSH?! Where have that macho beard gone? You killed Guybrush! You, ** pirates!)

And greetings from Catalonia! Happy Birthday, Monkey Island! I was 9 years when I first played Monkey... I ended the game with 11. Now that game itself is 15 going on 16... The world keeps going... Bring us to the horizon.

Thanks Ron, for the most greater adventure that I have ever played. Greetings from Spain!

Man,what more should I say........overwhelming but not surprising
I dont think,there's much to add,except that I always felt this special bond between Guybrush and me and know i learn,that we dont only look similar (according to others),but almost were born an almost the same day.....Ok,for me it was 10 years earlier ;)

enough of me..... Thank you so much,Ron!Life wouldn't be the same without you and your Masterpieces.

Hey Ron, any chances you can show us some stuff that was left out from the final versions of MI 1 & 2? Or even strange beta screenshots and things like that, you know, rare stuff :D

Happpy Birthday Guybrush!

I was only 4 when my bro and I played MI1... it taught me to read! :D

Hoooray! Happy birthday Monkey Island! That game is one thing I grew up with, and I'll ever be a fan. Hope there will be more adventures, but please not in that disturbing 3D graphics... :D Monkey Island changed my life when I was young, since I first played it I have become obsessed with pirates :) Maybe you go and have a look at my website!!

Thanks for all Ron, your fan, Florian

and... ahoy! :D

Happy birthday and congratulations!

Yay, Monkey Island is 15 years old! Congratu-diddly-ations.

Hi! thanks you so much for games. The very bests was monky island 3 the curse. The other ones were okay but that one was you best by far. Thanks so much to you!

haha

Well, Monkey Island 3 DID have the best graphics ;)

Only the original 16 color EGA graphics are officially recognized as "good" or "best".

My personal favorite was Secret of Monkey Island, and my favorite character was Lemonhead.  "And it says, "made by Lemonhead," just like mine."

Ron, I have to ask you about the ending to MI2, did you intend for the whole Monkey Island games to be just a daydream? When the story picks up again in MI3, it seems to have been an "evil spell".

That's the second biggest diskette I've ever seen.

The best times of my life were spent moving that lovable little bunch of pixels around the screen and wishing I was a pirate...I really need to get out more...and possibly employ some newer jokes.

"Que apropiado, tu peleas como una vaca."

It must have been 9 years ago when I ran into the pirated spanish copy of this wonderful game. I remember the 3 floppy disks... and where was disk 144?! You bastards! I want my uh... money back.

Very very thanks for all, Monkey Island!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for hours of fun. And for getting addicted to videogames.

Hooray! I love Monkey Island so much. There's even an homage stump joke in "Psychonauts". Thanks for making me love games. Hi Bucky!

Hey man! I cut my career teeth on this game. Thank you for making such a great game. I met some interesting folks in the test pit. I was 17 and you guys let me be the Lead Tester on the VGA version...kick ass! I wrote about it on the Star Wars blog. Kudos! What sweet memories.....
Grievous has got nothing on LeChuck....
http://blogs.starwars.com/matthewood/2

Happy Birthday MONKEY ISLAND !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Ron. Thanks for making the two greatest games I ever played. And for showing me what a metronome is used for! I can't believe it's been 15 years since SMI.

Wow, congrats. I remember getting the Lucasarts classic collection (loom, MI, maniac mansion, zak, indiana jones) and just being absolutely floored by Monkey Island. MI1 (and its sequel) will always be an example of brilliant adventure game design, and thank you for making the sort of game that I was always looking for.

15 years have passed. I have grown up but Guybrush is the child remaining inside me. Bring him to life again.

Happy Birthday Guybrush&co!

i play MI 1 when I was 10 and I just learned English cause of this game :)
(better then in school)

please MI 5 !!!

greetz from Germany

I first played The Secret of Monkey Island about 8 years ago. It was Easter time when my cousin and me were sitting in front of my old computer; enjoying the magic of Melée Island despite all the chocolate eggs. It was the beggining of a love that still lasts!

Congratulations from a Brazilian fan!

I wanted to thank Ron for those great two Monkey Games, i first played Monkey 2 on an old 80286 Computer and still love it.

If only u would still have influence on how Lucas developes further MI Games, anyway i wanna see a part 5. :)

Thanks for a great time that still lasts from Austria.

I just love this game since i´ve got an Computer. One of the first games i played on my 286 sx 25 in 1994. Gybrush Treepwood, the smartest and funniest charakter since adventures has been digitized... Come back for more please...

greetz from germany

acidfreak  

LETS DRINK GROG GROG GROG GROG!!!!! :D

Un pollo de goma con una polea en medio? Y eso pa qué servirá?

Yep, the game worked in spanish too. I remember back 14 years ago playing this game, and it still brings a smile to me. Thank you for the great memories. Saludos, salud, y viva por us!

Whenever I speak of my favorite games of all time (vocally or online) I always put Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge in the top 3. Years later, that same sense of spirit, panache and fun persists in all it's 256 color glory. A few years ago, I sought out a Roland MT-32 and Michael Land's music still sounds as rich and enjoyable as it did in 1992. The moody, somber LA logo music instantly brings me right back to fond memories Scabb and Mêlée islands...

When I was but a wee lad, my gaming world consisted of the Nintendo Entertainment System and the occasional arcade game. One fateful day, I was introduced to a magnificent title on the NES that went by the name of Maniac Mansion. Finally! Here was a game that didn't consist of just jumping over gaps on scrolling 2D backgrounds. There were actors doing things independently of the player - you didn't even need to be on the same screen as them! I didn't have to worry about dying, (well, for the most part) I could just concentrate on enjoying the story, the puzzles, and the amazingly detailed and interactive environment. I recall vividly drawing out detailed maps of the mansion in my 8th grade notebook. I was solidly hooked...and I wanted more. Sadly, there just weren't that many games of its kind on console systems.

A few years later I received my first computer and soon discovered (by chance in gaming magazine) that Maniac Mansion was originally a PC game. (!) Fortunately, LucasArts' address was listed in the periodical and I wrote them a hand-written letter beseeching them to inform me how I might purchase Maniac Mansion for the PC and how I might find other games like it. A few weeks later, one of the earliest copies of The Adventurer arrived by mail and a whole new magnificent world was opened unto me.

Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island were truly seminal games of my childhood and young adulthood, and in truth, were watersheds for my desire to pursue gaming as a career. I look back fondly upon these games and the sequels they inspired and continue to relish and enjoy them today.

For that Ron (and Lucasfilm/Arts of yesteryear), I am eternally grateful.

Ron, a warm thank you for what has always been my #1 favourite game of all. I'd pay you, but I already did (LOL). :P

Can't express it in words.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Happy Birthday, Guybrush!

\o/

<3.
Thank you for contributing to the making-me-grow-up-with-a-strange-sense-of-humour fund.
-Emmy.

Great thanks on creating a historical masterpiece...... or 2! and ive just heard telltale is probably making a completely new sam and max.....
Cause Lucasarts failed us!

greetz

Hilbrand

hmm and when in 1991 was mi2 finished? it's interesting how the greatest game took only one year to make...

Hurrah! Shame Monkey Islands 3 and 4 sucked. But you weren't involved in those... were you?

"Monkey Island" was one of my first games and it's the only one I still play in nowadays.
Right now it's running on my PSP while I'm posting here.^^
Hope there are some freaks who can port it to the 360 otherwise I wouldn't know what to do with MicroSoft's fine piece of design that lags of fine games to play...

Thank you for 15 years of joy and laughter.

Maybe i'm too flatterer right now, but...

Just thinking about connections. It's a masterpiece of art, devoted by thousands over the world, claimed to be the best ever made, done in the very early days, remembered several years later ...

What I'm talking about?

Is maybe Monkey Island the Citizen Kane of game industry? Is Guybrush a kind of Charles Foster Kane ?

Is Ron Gilbert the Orson Welles of video games?
Of course, he is.

Keko from Argentina - sorry for this improvised english.

patiently waiting for his touch of evil pirate

Ron, your team gave us some of our most pleasant childhood memories. I sincerely hope my children may someday have the same fortune.

Good luck!

finally got to complete all four games recently.  They're all great in my book.  Thanks for the wonderful characters.

Juheirassa

Congratulations. Thanks for many hours of fun. :)

You've given me the funniest hours i've every had in my whole life - i am not able to show my gratidute towards you and the whole team. I just say: we are not worthy :)

Gabor Takacs
Game critic for 576Konzol
http://www.576.hu/index.phtml?action=kiadvany

Monkey Island Forever

Thanks Ron

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag,  Guybrush! ... und natürlich auch alles Gute für LeChuck!
Thank you Ron for making one of the coolest games ever!
Greetings from Germany.

It is a coincidence then, that yesterday I worked on the character map graphics for the original version of SCUMM that ran on c64. (remember those very limiting 4x8pixel blocks Ron?)

http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8752&start=135

It ended up as a bit of of a proof of theory that MI would have never worked for c64, but still fun nethertheless :)

I came to a greater appreciation for the graphics in the EGA game. Some of the MI EGA screens have to be the best things ever put to EGA.

Hats off from Germany to you, Ron. You've created a hell of a game, one I keep playing each and every time :o) Thanks for countless hours of swashbucklin' fun :o)

Jan

I played MI2 one more time, a year ago. I just wanted to spend little time... But I did the whole game one more time ! This is one of the few games I must replay entirely while I just want to spend little time playing ;)
The Lucasfilm hotline... ^^

MI was so great... The stump thing, when we discovered it I was little boy and we really asked ourselves questions about what was this disk 144! And it finished by a "Game Over" if I remember correctly!

Ron, I'd like to be there, working on your next masterpiece and be part of the magic.

Congrats 15 years later is a little late. I don't know why you never finished good and evil.  Times change. The market changes. You either change with the times or you don't and you can't sell stuff and you complain more than you code. I enjoyed your past work. Good luck.

BTW: I'm still stuck on MI2. It's the 1st puzzle: The CodeWheel ;)

Thanks Ron for the many, many hours of entertainment!

Hello,
The amount of posts on here are testament to the games success and longevity.
I was about 14 when I first played MI (Amiga) and the nostalgia still lives with me so much today that I play the first 2 about once a year. I used to bunk off school and play it at my friends house with his sister :)
Moments I remember are Guybrush turning green in the water when Fester chucks you in and that navigators head, that just freaked me out.
Thanks for the memories and thanks for giving us such a great game.

Dudes, that's a lot of posts. This just shows how many people ware mentally maimed and scarred by that great game...

I still have my dad's original MI Box, complete with all the floppy disks, the manual and the "dial-a-pirate". all signed by our guru :)  I'll just give it a hugg before I go to work...

http://sa.arandoir.com/images/Tarim/p13_b.jpg

I was going to wait for four more posts so I could be the 200th, but I can't be arsed.

I dont think we'll ever see a new Monkey Island again. But it always will be remembered as a legendary adventure series.

BTW, Ron, I would like to know your opinion about "Fenimore Fillmore - The Westerner", in the case you have played it. It contains many similarities to Monkey Island series, but with a cowboy in the far western.

Ron you and your buddies made an incredible story,
one which could be adapted into whatever medium someone chooses to put it in.  Whether it's through fan art, a comic strip, songs, or a play by some high school kid; monkey island still lives on strong after fifteen years.  

Btw the production of the play got me a scholarship to go to college.

People are still wowed when they hear I adapted a video game to the stage, the story is really just that good.

The Secret of Monkey Island will always be something very special to me.
It's not one of the best games ever made it actually is "THE" BEST GAME ever made!!!
Well I think so at least :)

Ah yes, those were the good old days.

Ehy ron why don't you write something about the creation of MI?
I always asked myself where some things of the story and the jokes come from, maybe there is something funny about it, for sure you had fun creating it.
Share with us some "back stage" story! (please)

How old is Guybrush at this time?!? 37?!?

Sorry in spanish... :-)

¿¡15 años!? el tiempo pasa demasiado rápido. Desde luego que esta aventura es una de las mejores, bueno diría que es la aventura definitiva. Auténtica y genial por todos lados, ¡tantos recuerdos! es imposible explicarlo, Ron eres el mejor.

Now in english:

The Secret of Monkey Island is the "ultimate" graphic aventure, it's really great and original. Thanks for do it.
from Spain.

I liked the game, just not the adventure aspect of it. I wish it would have more firstperson action or some cool minigames, like the latest Leisure Suit Larry.

Surely you must be joking :-)

So nun mal auf Deutsch

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, würde mich über ein 5. Teil freuen.

Hey, that disk is clearly from the VGA version! It wouldn't be 15 years old yet! Where are the original EGA disks, Ron?

Wow.  Someone finally noticed that.  I was beginning to think I'd slipped one by.  I don't have the EGA version.  I am a notoriously bad pack rat.  

At least it is the 5 1/4 floppy version.

Now I'm starting to wonder if you pulled that disk image off of Mobygames... : )

If you dig any deeper, you'll discover I had nothing to do with Monkey Island.  It's all starting to unravel.

Aha, I knew it. Zsa Zsa Gabor was the real creator of Monkey Island - and that also happens to be the fabled secret. Your house of swindling cards is coming crashing down now, Mr. Gilbert.

(Oh, and do come and visit South Africa some time. You'll find our grumpyness is nearly unmatched.)

Ron, what happened to you? You are now a black spot! LOL

but you are elvis, arn't ya

Of course u had nothing to do with Monkey Island I thought of it all :P

Hmm. It seems you're going to have to get a pirated version...

Man, I hated that badly xeroxed copy protection wheel with a toothpick in the middle.

The other solution was to Xerox each position of the wheel. I think it turned out to be 16 positions in all, so 16 sheets...

That was quite a lousy protection indeed.

15 years have passed between paper wheels and DRM...

It's been 15 years already? Wow. I guess now might be a good time to ask:
How do I get the fish from the back of the kitchen? ;)

It's just a red he