Happy Birthday Monkey Island
I guess Monkey Island turns 25 this month. It’s hard to tell.
Unlike today, you didn’t push a button and unleash your game to billions of people. It was a slow process of sending “gold master” floppies off to manufacturing, which was often overseas, then waiting for them to be shipped to stores and the first of the teaming masses to buy the game.
Of course, when that happened, you rarely heard about it. There was no Internet for players to jump onto and talk about the game.
There was CompuServe and Prodigy, but those catered to a very small group of very highly technical people.
Lucasfilm’s process for finalizing and shipping a game consisted of madly testing for several months while we fixed bugs, then 2 weeks before we were to send off the gold masters, the game would go into “lockdown testing”. If any bug was found, there was a discussion with the team and management about if it was worth fixing. “Worth Fixing” consisted of a lot of factors, including how difficult it was to fix and if the fix would likely introduce more bugs.
Also keep in mind that when I made a new build, I didn't just copy it to the network and let the testers at it, it had to be copied to four or five sets of floppy disk so it could be installed on each tester’s machine. It was a time consuming and dangerous process. It was not uncommon for problems to creep up when I made the masters and have to start the whole process again. It could take several hours to make a new set of five testing disks.
It’s why we didn’t take getting bumped from test lightly.
During the 2nd week of “lockdown testing”, if a bug was found we had to bump the release date. We required that each game had one full week of testing on the build that was going to be released. Bugs found during this last week had to be crazy bad to fix.
When the release candidate passed testing, it would be sent off to manufacturing. Sometimes this was a crazy process. The builds destined for Europe were going to be duplicated in Europe and we needed to get the gold master over there, and if anything slipped there wasn’t enough time to mail them. So, we’d drive down to the airport and find a flight headed to London, go to the gate and ask a passenger if they would mind carry the floppy disks for us and someone would meet them at the gate.
Can you imagine doing that these days? You can’t even get to the gate, let alone find a person that would take a strange package on a flight for you. Different world.
After the gold masters were made, I’d archive all the source code. There was no version control back then, or even network storage, so archiving the source meant copying it to a set of floppy disks.
I made these disk on Sept 2nd, 1990 so the gold masters were sent off within a few days of that. They have a 1.1 version due to Monkey Island being bumped from testing. I don’t remember if it was in the 1st or 2nd week of “lockdown”.
It hard to know when it first appeared in stores. It could have been late September or even October and happened without fanfare. The gold masters were made on the 2nd, so that what I'm calling The Secret of Monkey Island's birthday.
Twenty Five years. That’s a long time.
It amazes me that people still play and love Monkey Island. I never would have believed it back then.
It’s hard for me to understand what Monkey Island means to people. I am always asked why I think it’s been such an enduring and important game. My answer is always “I have no idea.”
I really don’t.
I was very fortunate to have an incredible team. From Dave and Tim to Steve Purcell, Mark Ferrari, an amazing testing department and everyone else who touched the game's creation. And also a company management structure that knew to leave creative people alone and let them build great things.
Monkey Island was never a big hit. It sold well, but not nearly as well and anything Sierra released. I started working on Monkey Island II about a month after Monkey Island I went to manufacturing with no idea if the first game was going to do well or completely bomb. I think that was part of my strategy: start working on it before anyone could say “it’s not worth it, let's go make Star Wars games”.
There are two things in my career that I’m most proud of. Monkey Island is one of them and Humongous Entertainment is the other. They have both touched and influenced a lot of people. People will tell me that they learned english or how to read from playing Monkey Island. People have had Monkey Island weddings. Two people have asked me if it was OK to name their new child Guybrush. One person told me that he and his father fought and never got along, except for when they played Monkey Island together.
It makes me extremely proud and is very humbling.
I don’t know if I will ever get to make another Monkey Island. I always envisioned the game as a trilogy and I really hope I do, but I don’t know if it will ever happen. Monkey Island is now owned by Disney and they haven't shown any desire to sell me the IP. I don’t know if I could make Monkey Island 3a without complete control over what I was making and the only way to do that is to own it. Disney: Call me.
Maybe someday. Please don’t suggest I do a Kickstarter to get the money, that’s not possible without Disney first agreeing to sell it and they haven’t done that.
Anyway…
Happy Birthday to Monkey Island and a huge thanks to everyone who helped make it great and to everyone who kept it alive for Twenty Five years.
I thought I'd celebrate the occasion by making another point & click adventure, with verbs.
Thanks a lot for creating these awesome games! If I love adventure games it's thanks to you.
Needless to say that we want a MI3a so bad!!
I love the game, I remember getting Maniac Mansion on a magazine, played with my brother, then Indiana Jones and then Monkey Island 1, but couldn't play, didn't have any VGA monitor at that time. When we finally got a VGA monitor, the disks stopped working (gaah!). Later on we played Monkey Island 2 and couldn't find Monkey Island 1 anywhere till some years after that.
Anyway, Thanks, and I hope that we can get our hands onto MI3a.
Somehow Monkey Island was touching for lots of us, it might be the atmosphere, the pirate theme, the graphics, the freedom, ... But it did. Long live to Monkey Island. I keep on installing it in all the my nephews when they turn 10... and they keep enjoying it.
(Ps do Disney own the rights for Pig Island inhabited by dangerous Wolf men, with a girl and her evil big sister, venturing out on a quest, after having, say, two previous quests completed? On an unrelated note, satire against copyrighted works is legal in a few EU countries)
I wonder if Trevor is backing Thimbleweed Park? :)
If I tried hard enough...I think I coluld play the game completely in my head.
Happy birthday MI!
I don't remember when I got hold of the game though. You see, at the time there wasn't an option for me or for any of my friends to get an actual non-pirated version of any game. We didn't have any money, and anyway there wasn't anywhere for us to go and buy it. I assume it was available somewhere to buy in the country, because we did eventually get a hold of a pirated copy. But that might have been a seventh generation copy, lacking the manual. If we were lucky we got a legible copy of the copy-protection (I think we did get one for MI). If we were unlucky we had to crack the copy protection, or to find ways around it. Not very good for the game play experience, pretty good for a carrier in software engineering.
I hadn't even got to see the big game boxes. Life was very different at the time for us. Years later I ended up compensating for that and bought some of these original big boxes for a premium on ebay.
As for the game itself, well, it was the best game I played. It is still the best game I have ever played. I remembering saying it a few times to my friend that I was playing it with back at the day, and he agreed. We high fived whenever something crazy happened. We almost cried when we fell on that rubber tree and got the old Sierra's save early, save often box.
It was just groundbreaking. It changed the way we looked at games, it interacted with us, and broke some barrier that existed between us and the game. It was fun. Thank you!
That moment was a real turning point in my childhood as I must have been something like 6 at the time. From then on I've played many games. Lots of graphic adventures and all of Lucas Arts ones.
Still MI1 and MI2 will always be my number 1 and 2 games ever.
I lost count of how many times I have gone though them, I know by heart most dialogues I guess. It's not only for the storyline or the magical setting.. It's mostly for the humour and the wit. Can't wait for Thimbleweed.
Thanks for everything to you and the team and happy birthday Monkey Island!
Also, you should totally send me the source code. (I'm just kidding!)
BTW, if it is ever made, no need for 3a, there never was a MI3, nominally. The third game of the series is called CoMI, and IIRC the executable wasn't even named "monkey3.exe"... So "Monkey Island 3" is available :-).
Ron, I truly hope you can work something out with Disney, but if you can't, would you ever reveal the Secret?
I can't explain why it means so much to me, probably as much as you don't get why it means so much to people. But it does. I think it's because it's the first PC game I can remember actually playing and taking seriously, and actually enjoying. When I revisit it now I realise a big part of it is the humour which I get more now I'm older and the history surrounding it. Monkey Island really is part of the bigger package of my undying love and appreciation for the golden era of LucasArts. They are all works of art and each one has a reason for existing, not a single one was made (except maybe for The Dig I guess) just because you needed sales, each one was made because you wanted to make them, and that love comes through in the writing and the attention to detail you afforded them.
Monkey Island I think is probably still so endearing because games which are made with actual love and attention are so few and far between. Big companies are able to fart out a hundred Assassin's Creeds and Call to Dinners as often as they like because they're willing to hire hundreds of people who don't give a damn about what they're working on. On the other hand of course you do have the new wave of Kickstarted games which allow developers to show a bit more love to their creations and so I don't think the "next" Monkey Island is very far away.
On my shelf sits an original copy of Monkey Island 2 as well as the Bounty Pack. I'm still hunting for an original Secret, but they're elusive and very expensive. I had hoped the Thimbleweed Park box would join them but at the time the Kickstarter happened I only had enough to spare for the 'get the game' tier. I will spend a lot of time scouring ebay for a box after it's released though. Or maybe upgrade my pledge if I get lucky.
Anyway, Ron, you sure as hell made a great piece of work and I'll be playing it this month to wish it a happy birthday. Maybe I'll take it out for a beer. I think I've played it at least once every year anyway, though.
Well that's my two pieces of eight, I guess. Wish I could help you understand why it's so important to people but I guess it might actually just be completely inexplainable. Or unexplainable. Which one is it? My spell checker says both are wrong. It suggests inexpiable I didn't even know that was a real world. Is it a medical condition?
People like me who born in the 80's remember MI as one of the best graphic adventure games, above Last Crusade in my case, just like Wolfenstein 3D is one of the grandfathers of the first person shooters. Now the games are differents, of course, the nostalgic force to make old-fashioned games, but game designers think that games need wonderful colors, graphics almost compared to reality (GTA).
If I want to see the original MI3? I don't know, maybe as Ron said it won't be the same right now. We have MI in a podium. I'm not saying it will be bad, but, IJ and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Starwars try to bring back old stories, and I'm not sure if they did it right.
Writing this post, I googled for "graphic adventure games". The first thing it shows me is:
Popular result in the web: The Secret of Monkey Island / Maniac Mansion / The Walking Dead / Day of the Tentacle / Grim Fandango / Sam & Max / Full Throttle / Monkey Island 2 / Fate of Atlantis. All games are from LucasArts (or Telltale for TWD). Maybe Sierra was prior, but the synonym for adventure is LucasArts.
Oh! Look behind! A three headed monkey!
More seriously, you could think about creating a test level or demo to get some media attention and the ball rolling with Disney.
For support, I would buy this game 10 times : Android, iOS, Steam, Xbox, Playstation, Wii, Vita, Ubuntu, Windows Store, Ouya.
But I would only play it with a mouse, voodoo2, and adlib sound card.
When I think of it, most Lucasfilm Games start at night. Maybe the reason why I liked them so much 😉
My ten year old son started playing Monkey Island 1 a few days ago (the special edition) and he is really excited about it. It feels good to see him playing a game that influenced me on so many ways, but of course I know it will not have the same impact on him. Nevertheless it is really fun playing it together and thinking about how to solve the puzzles.
MI 1 was my first game I bought saving money during summer, and I still love to play it!
Thanks for making it real!
PS: can you fix your RSS feed? I still live in the old Internet and use RSS... :-)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONKEY ISLAND!
(And remember: Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game, except for Thimbleweed Park!)
I played it back in 1992 and after finishing it, I redraw Guybrush in Deluxe Paint Animation and started to animate it to do silly things. It ignited my passion for arts and games and I've never stopped since.
Thank you Mr. Gilbert for Monkey Islands (and many other great games you've done), you are an inspiration to us all!
When I was in Highschool I was so impressed by Mr Guy.brush adventures that I started to make a sort of boardgame of it: I passed hours to prepare paper pawns with all the characters, making suffer the worst pain to my old printer. Then the project stopped, but I keep them in a little box, looking at them with a smile.
Then I remember when I went to my professor at the University of Tourin saying "I want to do a Thesis about the possibility of telling stories with videogames, using three examples (MI, Syberia and Myst)". He looked at me and started to laugh, than he told me something like "Yeah, I remember Monkey Island. Great game, but I never managed to finish it. Let's to this."
So happy birthday from my heart to this little great pirate, and for the deepest, hidden secret of his game: if you want to be great in your life, you don't need to be the greatest hero: if you THINK, using your brain to find new ways to solve problems, you're ALREADY a great hero.
PS: Ron, I'm still waiting about the ossobuco affair :D
I wish you could get the IP from Disney to finish the trilogy you envisioned, I didn't like MI3 and never played MI4, it wasn't the same without you leading the ship. You deserve ownership of your creation. I'm not very optimistic about Disney selling it, but who knows, I never thought I would ever see a new adventure game from you and Gary Winnick and David Fox in the style of the old ones and there's Thimbleweed Park (which I hope is the first of many) to prove some dreams can come true.
I still vividly remember a 11-year old me, eagerly waiting for the postman every day at the mailbox over the course of several weeks. When it finally arrived I almost died of excitement! Sensible and careful as I was I made backups of the floppies first before even thinking about playing the game I read so much about in every German games magazine I could get hold of.
It was so worth it though! Still to this day I have very strong feelings towards MI and consider it one of the most important and influential games I've played in my life. It might be the major reason I went into game dev, but Maniac Mansion and Indy might have played a big role as well :)
Thank you so much! I'd love to draw you something as amazing as Trevor's picture, but I guess that this is not possible.
Yeah, I know you're really disappointed with this and you would never work on someother IP AGAIN, but... you know, this isn't a perfect world, some compromise must be accepted to accomplish greater things.
Please, rethink about that!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(2006_TV_series)#Second_season_2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Perpetual_Exemption
The behemoth that is Disney can likely put food on the table without the Monkey Island IP (shudder - thinking of Guybrush et al in terms of an 'IP' drains a little of the magic so I shall desist at that!).
Cheers Ron (& all the team). Happy birthday MI:)
Spero in un seguito come ci ho sempre sperato.
It's the best game ever, my congratulations, I bought it again and again, even for XBOX 360. It's really a masterpiece, I replayed it on my smartphone, even my ringtone is Monkey Island themed.
I hope there will be a following, I have always hoped for it.
Seriously guys, we have to do something about this IP problem, it just can't be like that its too sad.
The only thing I can tell you is thanks, thanks, thanks. This games really touched my heart and are a big part of my memories.
Happy Birthday Monkey Island!!
Sincerely.
For my heart MI1 is the best game ever, i can hear the intro music again and again and... MI2 was good, too but it could not compete with the memories from my first contact with MI1 when i was 11 ;-)...
Thats said, thank you very much
To the three brothers Guybrush Peepwood, LeChuck and Ron Gilbert!
It was one of the first computer games I ever got to know. I played both monkey island games for the first time on an 80286 with a gray scale screen and I have never been impressed that much later on by any other game.
25 years may be a long time, especially for a computer game, but Monkey Island is timeless. Aside from the technical aspects, it will never really be obsolete.
Game developers can still cut a slice off Monkey Island!
It's because you guys did what you loved.
It's because you loved what you did.
And it's because it shows.
Goodness, does it ever SHOW in your games! You've put so much into it, and you had fun all along the way. You never tried to make something marketable; you didn't do things the way you did because you thought they'd sell well, you did them because you you wanted to do them that way. Because it felt right. Because it was fun.
It shows, both in Monkey Island and other games of yours, and the feeling's transferred to the players. Players feel the same fun when they play the games; they feel that this is a labor of love. That's why people loved it, and why people keep on loving it.
Look at any successful game, any game that still has a following decades later (DOOM, for instance, to pick one from a radically different genre that nonetheless has an enduring and thriving fanbase) and you'll find that the same thing's true. They're all labors of love, and fun.
And while I'm at it - congratulations on Monkey Island's 25th. And thanks, thanks to all of you on the team there, for making some of the greatest games I've ever played.
Happy birthday! I don't have a real gift for you... all that I have is this rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle!
First PC game I ever played. I was a small kid when MI came out and it was not clear to me that there was a beginning and an end, Guybrush was something like the more recent SIMS game (which I never played) to me: a neverending story, with sometimes big surprises, like life is.
I would sneak in the PC room after I'd finish my homework, load MI and go have fun with Guybrush. Many happy hours!
Thanks for this great game!
G
Ron you're a legend. I have always enjoyed your games and the creativity of the story and characters.
I have had my own little indie games company for a year or so, after we finish the two games we have got going at the moment we are going to begin working on a point and click adventure due to our love for the genre from your games.
If it turns out anywhere near as good as yours then I will be happy.
Looking forward to Thimbleweed Park, Keep up the good work.
Can't believe it's been 25 years! I played this game with my little brother sitting in the basement of our childhood home up in the north of Sweden. Like you mention, it's how we learned English and having a lot of fun at it!
Thanks for bringing this wonderfully wacky and funny game into the world!
It's amazing reading your description of the testing and publishing process, especially since I'm currently involved with getting a console game tested, published and patched. It's a different world (well, 25 years worth of difference anyway.)
Ron, what did you think of the choice to cast Dominic Armato as the voice for Guybrush? If you did make a 3rd installment, would you consider having him voice Guybrush again?
Happy birthday Monkey Isanld and thanks for the best time in my life! <3
I dont know if you read these comments, but i have a Monkey Island fan group on facebook, so i would just love if you joined, thats if you even have a personal fb account, maybe you dont hehe :) Anyho if there is anyway you could drop a few lines there that would be so great! :D
And to all other fans; join us and share a memory and/or a few Grogs! :D
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fansofmonkeyisland/
Monkey Island is the best videogame ever played. Only overcome by Monkey Island 2.
I really hope that the rights back to you one day. Without you, monkey island is not "The Monkey Island".
Cheers with Grog!!!
Thank you for this game, Ron.
Guybrush is such a lovable, positive, relatable person. I really identify with him, struggling to achieve his goals, always falling just a bit short, but still never giving up.
In general, all of the characters are interesting and have personality. Even the "bad" ones seem like they have relatable motivation, and, in a different situation, you might get along with them quite well.
Elaine in particular is a fantastic role model for girls, I think, particularly for a time when there were very few good female characters in games. She's self-reliant, powerful, and smart. Even the way her kidnapping is handled shows her as a strong, independent person.
The whole story in general is just really well written and perfectly paced.
The world-building is freaking incredible. The pirate society, the way people interacted, it's just fantastic. I wish I could experience it for the first time again.
The gameplay is really good. There were some puzzles that required a bit of thought, but I think none were unfair, and the harder ones made figuring them out all the much sweeter.
Oh, and the music, particularly on the Mac version. To this day, the opening music is my favorite videogame music ever.
I even liked the beautifully drawn "cut scene" images from the Mac version that showed quite realistic pictures of some of the characters from the game, which I think were not in the original game, and which Ron is not a huge fan of. Seeing them really made me feel like I was getting a glimpse into a real world inhabited by real people.
In conclusion, the reason why people still love this game is because it is very close to perfect. It tackles a lot of different, hard things — doing puzzles in an adventure right, telling a compelling story in a videogame, having meaningful character development, humor, etc. — and it does all of them really, really well. It's just a huge joy to play. Which is why I play through it again every few years.
Thanks for this game, Ron!
Also: "I wish I could experience it for the first time again." (!!!)
Anyway, it was a GREAT game and I love it. Probably one of the bests in the world.
Is not any way to collect signatures from EVERYONE and try to move Disney to do 3rd?
I'm 37 now, I keep playing the first 2 episodes over over...
let's hope for a proper sequel!!!!
Happy birthday Guybrush
I spent that month thinking in the game, and hoping to get back to school (and home) just to continue playing.
BTW, It took me DAYS to realize that I had to open that damn cereal box to find the key of captain's cabin!!
Happy birthday Monkey Island. Thanks for thousands of great moments!
You´ve made my childhood much more better than it was already at these days.
Be honored by your fan.
Another thank you
Anni
I'm getting old... and you're still so young! :-P
Guybrush is extremely likeable, the graphics/art is perfect and the interface very userfriendly. And every detail, ranging from characters, story, items, etc is comically brilliant.
Happy Birthday and thanks to everyone involved!
Daniel
Brindemos con una buena jarra de GROG !!!
Por otros 25 años mas !!!
You were certainly not my first experience with adventure games but certainly one of the most memorable.
What I felt made the game most endearing was its humor, shown through the dialogue of the characters and some of the puzzles. But, it was definitely more than that- the mood from the setting and music, and the feeling that you were part of this living world.
The games you have made have definitely been some of my favorites: Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and The Cave.
I was too old to play any of your Humongous Entertainment games, but I'm sure I would have loved them as a little kid. I liked pop-up books which provided a form of interactive reading (Jan Jankowski's Haunted House was my favorite). And, I remember LOVING the books of Richard Scarry which made me feel like I had some kind of window into this bustling alternate world. As a little kid, my video gaming choices were pretty limited: Pong, and Intellivision. I'm sure your Humongous Entertainment games would have blown my mind back then.
Anyways. Thank you Ron for doing what you do! You have brought pieces of happiness and joy into many peoples lives! May all your creative endeavors bring You as much happiness and joy for the next 25 years. ...and may they also bring you financial success. Because money is nice.
Following Thimbleweed park development and waiting for it (one of the backers)
Thanks again!
Back to Monkey Island...that game was my starting point...for all my future games and i just wished, they could do better job with Special Edition versions.
Talk about Ron...Happy Anniversary! Good job!
Thank you Ron Gilbert, you have inspired a lot of people with two wonderful pieces of art, happy birthday - from a guy that make things inspired by your works
http://tinyurl.com/pl92lnc
When my husband and I were dating we saw a pirate's draw on the street. I said to him ´he looks like Guybrush´. His reply was: ´you are the perfect woman´. Now of course we are happily married and playing Monkey Island together.
Round of GROG for everyone!
Cheers!
P.S. I wanted to say: "You forgot to write something at the end of the blog" but then I remembered that this is your blog .
as many others I testify that Monkey Island was/is my childhood. As well as Indiana Jones, and Sierra's games, your creation allowed me to expand my creativity and thinking, and to have great fun at the same time. I remember I used to play Monkey Island many, many times - even though I knew how to solve all the puzzles. It was just such a great experience to dive into this splendid world.
Here's to Ron, to Guybrush, to Elaine, to Wally, to LeChuck - hell, even to Largo LaGrande! Happy anniversary,
Max
GREATINGS FROM ARGENTINA!!!! and sorry for my english...hope u can make a lot of new games like this, because we are a lot of gamers who LOVE adventure style games! :D
Happy birthday Elaine, LeChuck and Guybrush.
And thank you again.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you... THANK YOU, Ron Gilbert.
Peace and love.
Am I the only one who's playing it right NOW?
Happy birthday Monkey Island. I am forever grateful!
My first adventure game and, of course, the best. I play them (MI1 and MI2) every year at least once.
The laughs came always like the first time I played it.
I will pray for that third part made by you :)
Thanks Ron.
25 years? ufff...
PD: forgive my por english :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Unforgettable moments playing MI-1 and MI-2 .. its difficult to say what I learned playing them T.T .. I wish you could make MI-3.. MI will be always with me ^^ ... actually in my mobile phone with an emulator hehe... finished MI-1 MI-2 and Maniac Mansion II on it ... Good luck and best wishes for you!!
Left foot: Threep
Right foot: Wood
The first day I went to work, a colleague of mine noticed the text and directly made a reference to the game :D
From Spain, thanks for it!
Greetings from Serbia, Europe :)
Thank you for that brain you have, Ron. You're my inspiration! Happy birthday, Monkey Island!
Thank you for helping me somehow to divert my mind from those hard times and happy birthday!
May the force be with you always...
no wait..
Many thanks to Ron and the team for creating such a memorable game!
I hope to see more of Threepwood adventures, because so many questions left.
I wish all the crew of developers and people who worked with Monkey Island more bright ideas, more successful projects and don't forget about simple and charismatic, great and a little silly guy, who wanted to be a pirate!
Thank you for so many hours of the best adventure in my entire life!
I DID LEARN ENGLISH from playing Monkey Island, in addition to Ultima, XCOM and Wing Commander. In fact, I emigrated to the U.S. and started working in the games industry thanks to your work - and damn the official sales, I can attest that MI was played by more people that those who actually paid for it (due to rampant international piracy in the 90s).
Funny, piracy is absolutely terrible, but it allowed MI to touch the minds & hearts of many kids my age. And not just in the U.S. but GLOBALLY. Kids who wouldn't be able to afford the game otherwise. Heck, I'm from the Middle East and we still reference MI among friends. Your work touched people, affected lives, MONKEY ISLAND MATTERED. It still does.
Disclaimer - I bought the game on every legit platform over the years, multiple times :)
Can't wait for my kid to be old enough so I can show her this game.
4342 5687 3672 1289
01/2019
517
They're MY credit cards details.
Ok my overdraft can buy the IP.
HB MI!
So if I have a hankering to buy your new game (once released) I can do it without ever having to look at my card. Think of the convenience! In truth it does come in handy when shopping online.
I wonder if Ron used one of those "credit card number generator" programs popular in the mid-90's among the less-than scrupulous people! To those who don't know what I'm talking about, this was at a time when online retailers would often use an algorithm to verify the card-number was "genuine" before being manually entered into an eftpos machine offline. I doubt you could get goods like that - after all as soon as the number is entered it's shown to be false - but you could use it to flood your competitors with 100's of invalid online orders they would have to individually check. Ah, those were days. And, that's just like something Guybrush would do!
A while ago I had a telemarketer call me and tell me "I'm calling to tell you you're going to have a discount on your next phone bill". So I said "thank you so so much", he tried to speak I said "no thank you, this really means a lot to me" he tried to speak I said "I've been waiting for a discount for a very long time thank you very very much". When I let him speak he said I had to move to his company I said "Not a problem!". So he asked me "do you have a a credit card" - "of course I've got a credit card" I said. "What type of card is it" he asked I said "Elmo-card". He said "what type" I said "Elmo card".
Barely able to contain my laughter he said "what type of card is that" I said "surely you take Elmo-card the most commonly used credit card in Australia?" So he asked for the number I said (something like) "5353-51331-3353-3535" (he then asked me to repeat the number twice, which I did) "I'm sorry there seems to be a problem with the credit card number, do you have another card?" I said yes of course, this time I gave him a slightly different number, something like "5535-5335-3335-5335" (and yes it really was just 5s and 3s).
Anyway, then after that didn't work either I said "you do realise this isn't my phone-line?" He hung up! LOL Ah that was hilarious (it wasn't my phone either it was a work phone and he'd never asked if it was mine, LOL).
You should definitely incorporate some kind of joke based on this into Thimbleweed, just make sure you credit where you got the idea from! If you do it right it will be really really annoying for the player, which I think is a great idea!
I'm a huge fan and love Monkey Island, but I feel that you are setting up a scenario that will never happen by demanding to own the IP of Monkey Island. Lately Disney has been giving the LucasArts back catalogue far more attention than latter day LucasArts ever did. If Disney allowed you to make your own Monkey Island 3 with full creative control and "final cut" rights, would you consider it? I would love to see your true vision of how Monkey Island was supposed to end. I need to know the true secret of Monkey Island before I die. It's on my bucket list.
Happy Bday! :)
In 2015, at the age of 29, I still use dozens of quotes from the games and swordfighting insults on daily basis (yes, nearly everyone who knows me ends up loving or at least knowing Monkey Island). This very morning I remember using the sentence "Hai le maniere di un mendicante!", the italian translation for "You have the manners of a beggar!".
Artworks of Guybrush are still hanging on these walls, my library is filled with different versions of all games (including the big 5.25" floppy versions), official hint books, (no longer) talking voodoo dolls, bottle-shaped t-shirts and a home-made rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle. I often wear Monkey Island t-shirts, including the rare one that says "It's a great day for spitting" with the relief green spit on the front.
I would spend a fortune to let another Monkey Island 3 see the light. Maybe it's never too late for it (as you can see) but time flies and it's time to reach with a decision - which leads me to some questions:
1) Current situation is worse than my nightmares could be: Monkey Island is property of one of the world's most valuable brands, which probably is not interested in selling the IP.
Is it "impossible" to have another Monkey Island without owning the IP?
I mean, is it better to let Mickey Mouse tread on Guybrush and never let another Monkey Island 3 make history (and perhaps the never-achieved commercial success it deserved)?
2) There are thousands and thousands of fans - and the power of the internet which you didn't have back in the '90s.
How can we, the people, help making it? Besides the crowd-funding campaign (which would make history), what can we actually do to make it happen? And I mean actually.
I don't see what's the point in keep talking and dreaming about it... if there is no chance to see it and no plans to try and make it coming true. It's time to get started... or forget about it and keep playing the timeless masterpieces.
Thanks for changing my life!
Like people already said, we must make a petition and prove to Disney that if they let Ron Gilbert make a MI3a it will be... well... the best day of my gamer's life. But that's already something.
Just two words ... THANK YOU!
P.s.: TANK YOU EVEN MORE for my great childhood with your games! Loved Monkey Island from the beginning and still love it! :)
Greetings from Germany
Insult swordfighting! I remember seeing an advertisement for MI in a game magazine in 1990. But we didn't have an "IBM compatible " -as PCs were generally referred to at the time. So there was this kid in my class at school who did and he had a copy of MI!! Just talking about it was thrilling!
So I first finished Maniac Mansion and Zak on C64, and then went on to buy monkey madness (MI+MI2 VGA CD-ROM) a few years later. A few years later, I remember downloading images of CMI on the university computers which were connected to this new thing called the internet. So probably my first Google search was Monkey Island or Lucasarts or so. Of course Google didn't exist, perhaps it was a yahoo search on Netscape. I only remember it taking ages. Yes, I did like curse of MI. Anyway, a few years back, at work I suddenly hear this mobile ringtone, just a few notes before my colleague picks up, and I went: "all right, MI!". Recently played the special editions- after 20 years I did forget most of the puzzles, so it did feel like playing them again for the first time!! Interestingly I also made the same errors, getting stuck and only remembering "wait, this looks familiar". Spitting contest!!
Currently playing Tales of MI for the first time. And installed MI an MI2 of my monkey madness CDROM onto the android of my daughter, so she can play them and learn some English. Circle is completed.
Happy birthday Guybrush, Elaine, Herman, Voodoo Lady, Meathook, Carla, Otis, Lemonhead, Stan, three important looking pirates TM, men of lower moral fiber, Fettuccini brothers,... And all those monkeys- especially the three-headed kind! Yipes!
Insult swordfighting! I remember seeing an advertisement for MI in a game magazine in 1990. But we didn't have an "IBM compatible " -as PCs were generally referred to at the time. So there was this kid in my class at school who did and he had a copy of MI!! Just talking about it was thrilling!
So I first finished Maniac Mansion and Zak on C64, and then went on to buy monkey madness (MI+MI2 VGA CD-ROM) a few years later. A few years later, I remember downloading images of CMI on the university computers which were connected to this new thing called the internet. So probably my first Google search was Monkey Island or Lucasarts or so. Of course Google didn't exist, perhaps it was a yahoo search on Netscape. I only remember it taking ages. Yes, I did like curse of MI. Anyway, a few years back, at work I suddenly hear this mobile ringtone, just a few notes before my colleague picks up, and I went: "all right, MI!". Recently played the special editions- after 20 years I did forget most of the puzzles, so it did feel like playing them again for the first time!! Interestingly I also made the same errors, getting stuck and only remembering "wait, this looks familiar". Spitting contest!!
Currently playing Tales of MI for the first time. And installed MI an MI2 of my monkey madness CDROM onto the android of my daughter, so she can play them and learn some English. Circle is completed.
Happy birthday Guybrush, Elaine, Herman, Voodoo Lady, Meathook, Carla, Otis, Lemonhead, Stan, three important looking pirates TM, men of lower moral fiber, Fettuccini brothers,... And all those monkeys- especially the three-headed kind! Yipes!
Insult swordfighting! I remember seeing an advertisement for MI in a game magazine in 1990. But we didn't have an "IBM compatible " -as PCs were generally referred to at the time. So there was this kid in my class at school who did and he had a copy of MI!! Just talking about it was thrilling!
So I first finished Maniac Mansion and Zak on C64, and then went on to buy monkey madness (MI+MI2 VGA CD-ROM) a few years later. A few years later, I remember downloading images of CMI on the university computers which were connected to this new thing called the internet. So probably my first Google search was Monkey Island or Lucasarts or so. Of course Google didn't exist, perhaps it was a yahoo search on Netscape. I only remember it taking ages. Yes, I did like curse of MI. Anyway, a few years back, at work I suddenly hear this mobile ringtone, just a few notes before my colleague picks up, and I went: "all right, MI!". Recently played the special editions- after 20 years I did forget most of the puzzles, so it did feel like playing them again for the first time!! Interestingly I also made the same errors, getting stuck and only remembering "wait, this looks familiar". Spitting contest!!
Currently playing Tales of MI for the first time. And installed MI an MI2 of my monkey madness CDROM onto the android of my daughter, so she can play them and learn some English. Circle is completed.
Happy birthday Guybrush, Elaine, Herman, Voodoo Lady, Meathook, Carla, Otis, Lemonhead, Stan, three important looking pirates TM, men of lower moral fiber, Fettuccini brothers,... And all those monkeys- especially the three-headed kind! Yipes!
2 and 3 were fun,the new ones ...well imho crap,the script i mean.
Its sad that Disney have his claws on MI....i miss the 80's
All now its about money and a sure bet.
"When was this pirate hunged in Barbados".
The music... the graphics, the jokes. Also, i remember played it with my brother. That day was a complete celebration, we moved our Hercules screen to the living room over the table and started playing.
God... what an incredible memories...
Anyway, as a broke preteen in the late 80s/early 90s I only had a few hints about this crazy game. I'd buy game magazines just to get a couple of screenshots and comments about a game that might eventually show up in my local store. And that only mattered if I had the money saved up and I could find a way to the mall.
So I finally got Monkey Island and it blew me away. Monkey Island 2 as well, which I didn't even know was coming out. I just happened to find it and happened to afford it, and it was MINE. I remember countless hours in the nebulous space of adventure games, ignoring cries to mow the lawn.
Then I got a sound card (that I to save a huge $200 for) and it made all my games a thousand times better - once I figured out how to install it. Same thing happened when Sam and Max came out on CD ROM. I bought it only knowing it was going to rule (knew Steve Purcell from the comics in the newsletter). But I hadn't figured out how to get this weird CD drive thing to work yet in my 486. Having the proper motivation, I got that drive working and gamed away that very night.
This was supposed to be about how much I love the original Monkey games, but I think you get it. I'm old.
Next year we can celebrate my learning how to spell the word "Vichyssoise".
I have never enjoyed a graphic adventure so much.
Thank you, Ron.
The Internet did exist in 1990, but of course, not much was going there yet..
For me, games need to have the immersion made possible through the story, music, challenges, look and feel of the game.
Monkey Island was like none other, and will always be that game that made me fall in love with games and stories.
Thank you.
Disney, please call Ron!!!
Thank you Ron for still being passionate about adventure games!
Do the floppy disks still work?
Ron thank you for giving me the opportuity to cherish one of the best memories of my childhood.
Those were the days.
I'm Polish, so as a kid I played these games with a walkthrough and even then it was pretty hard - both to play and understand. What an amazing experience it was though. Most of the other games I had access to were arcade, shooters, stuff like that. Story based games were a revelation to me (starting few years earlier with Maniac Mansion on C-64). I actually think Monkey Island and Monty Python are two of the most important things that shaped my sense of humor. How about that!
But I don't think that buying rights could be a realistic option.
The only thing that could happen (who knows) is, if Thimbleweed Park will be a great success, that the owner of the rights of MI could let Mr. Gilbert to direct the new project with total freedom.
It is all a matter of power. If somebody has the power of moving the crowds so much, if his name is feared in every dirty corner of the geek community, if he has such a huge hardcore fans cohort ready to transform such a tiny project a planetary success, then HE has the power to convince a major house that HE is the only person who can put those rights to their best use and give the biggest return they could.
I didn't know Ron's blogs, so I even didn't know he was interested in 2D-point-and-click adventure games anymore...
Now that I know HE IS, why shouldn't I HOPE for a 3rd game?
Or, why shouldn't I DREAM of a deluxe box set with all the three games, a beautiful booklet full of production pictures and notes, and a poster? :-)
25 years ago I was 14 when I first played MI and I still love it today. Unlike many games today, MI wasn't an insult to young people's intelligence.
Thanks for making this game (and also MI2).
taught me English
helped me detect, and laugh at, the branding culture of our time. At the age of 11. Invaluable.
* influenced my approach to problem-solving in real life. I often use [non-obvious thing] with [implausible gadget] when designing or repairing stuff. It works!
It also made me smile during a difficult phase in my life.
Thanks ♥
Ron, I'm sure you've got more than enough resources of your own, but I do have experience with intellectual property law as it relates to software and licensing as well as years of exec management of software projects/businesses. A deal can always be made and I'd help for free. Have investment cash as well (and so does your fanbase, from the looks of it).
Also have access to SV-caliber dev/QA/design that could be at your disposal, but I imagine you've got your own peeps.
Who doesn't want to see another Monkey Island?? Nobody, that's who. Because: Best Game Ever.
If there's another Monkey Island (albeit the possibilities may be close to zero), please call Michael Land for the music.
In all Reviews, interviews, YT videos, etc. mostly Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer, Dave Grossman were mentioned. But without the great soundtrack of Michael Land MI would not be what it is today: a legend.
About creating Monkey Island 3 you have think in use non-commercial intentions, so the license doesn't matters much then, and work for it by yourself slowly and some help here and there, of course there are a lot of people that can do that very well and for free too(im a game creator too), maybe the hardest part had to be to match Michael Land style, althought it can be posible and get help from he too...
Of course today technologies and engines can help a lot, althougth i suppose you lack graphic skills its not a real problem. Its my idea because i have been seeing the real Monkey 3 as just a dream for many time, and maybe it can end as that, and it would be very bad, and with that you can do that...
Sorry for my english its not that good im spanish but its readable. About that monkey island floppies, it may be fun to have a look to the source code too, or the SCUUM maybe? But i know that floppies die easily so i havent much hope XD
You must have a ide about the plot all worked out in that strange mind of yours, and I hope you'll share it with the rest of us one day. Not today, and not this year, just in case I'm wrong and Disney decided to sell you the IP, cause then I want to play it. When Monkey Island gets, lets say 40 lights on its imaginary cake, I hope you'll release the story behind what was suppose to happen in number 3. Me myself, I'll be a old man at that time, but I truly hope my children will find the article and make sure I see it.
Still wondering if all was just a dream, and maybe I'll wake up in a amusement park..
Thanks for all !
This game was the main reason why I wanted to buy an Amiga 500 back in the day. It turned out to be one of the best adventure games ever made.
/Kim
I think for me the magic was being able to go on a great adventure. And not just an ordinary adventure but a pirate™ adventure! I mean every kid loves pirate™ stories, right? In addition to that the wonderful art, catchy tunes and the witty humor, incredible characters.
All in all I consider Monkey Island almost more organic™ than a software product or a game. It has so much friendly heart and unique soul in it. Art in short. Those disks belong in a museum! :)
Hey people, shouldn't we the fans be doing a petition™ to Disney now? I mean MI just turned 25 and all. Let's celebrate and let them know we want Ron to continue the story? At least something would be more right in the world if the Monkey universe™ would be kept alive and breathing with new addition(s). That being at least a possibility gives me some warm fuzzy feelings. And Thimbleweed Park™ does too.
It's about 40 minutes I'm trying to write something about me, about how I started using Vic20 when I was 8, about what Amiga meant in my life, about when I've put my A1200 in a pc case, about when I've bought AmigaOne, that I resisted till 2005 before I had to buy a PC, that I've learned my weak english using Amiga, that I was in Amsterdam few months ago celebrating Amiga 30th anniversary, that sometimes (often) I still play the original Monkey Island again and again, etc... but I understand that I could never say enough, and I understand that I don't need to say too much 'cause everyone that is writing or reading here already knows and shares my very same feelings.
So...I'll just say thanks to you Ron, to Lucasfilm, to Commodore (damn), to SCUMM, to Stan, to LeChuck, to Elaine, to the Voodoo Lady, to Herman, to Largo, to the Lookout, to Carla. to all the other guys that I'm forgetting now, and of course to my friend Guybrush, for making me spent many, many, many nights dreaming of being a pirate (and I mean it).
I hope you can fix everything with Disney and do a new (real) Monkey Island. Of course I hope for it and I know I will love it, but at the same time I know that it will never be the same, and it's not your fault of course, but mine, because you never forget your first love.
Thanks again Ron, I wake up every single day hating my job and you...look at this page...so many people thanking you after 25 years...you did something huge, and you've changed my life.
Now please....
.....Turn your computer off and go to sleep!
Sincerely,
Luca
The Secret of Monkey Island I and II original games send me back to my youth and best days in my life.
They've become part of me, my story. As for many other people. Thanks.
:-)
But Monkey Island wasn't just escapism. No. Love the game with all my heart, and do replay it at least once a year. It is true that it can make me feel warm and fuzzy inside when I feel alone and sad. But today, Monkey Island is just ... fun to play. Amazingly fun to play.
Again, I don't know where I would be today, if this game were not around to keep me both occupied and with a smile on my face.
Love,
David
And thank you so much for endless hours of fun with the game series, Ron and everybody involved in the project.
I played computer games till 1989 and started again 2013, but during the "dark ages" between 1989 and 2013, Monkey Island were the only games I played. This is the truth and LeChuck can keelhaul me if I lie.
Please convince Disney to sell the rights to you. Crowdfund it. I'd be happy to support this project with as much money as I can afford.
*Ps. This game made us buy everything that carried the name Ron Gilbert anywhere on the box.
I hope Disney will hear your request for selling the rights to you and do so. It is a complete waste if the rights to these amazing characters will just forever sit in a file cabinet, never to be used. These characters mean a lot to a lot of people. I would love to play the final chapter of the Monkey Island trilogy - from the minds of the people from whom these characters were thought out.
Today I'm an "industry veteran" myself, but I don't think anything I create is nearly as awesome and influential than what you guys have given us.
Thank you very much!
1: Everybody signs and shares this: https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-give-the-monkey-island-intellectual-property-to-ron-gilbert?source_location=petitions_share_skip
ii: The social media snowball starts rolling, and 1.7 billion people sign the petition
iii: Disney begs Ron Gilbert to take the IP, throwing in a few millon bucks for having defiled his IP with their greasy fingers
iv: monkey3.exe
Easy!
I am 33 now but I remember playing it when I was around 10. As there was no Internet, we used to comment with friends how to overcome the difficult parts during the playground time..it was amazing when after some days we could "unlock" some part of the game.
I am replaying the game as a hommage to it and I also pledged for Thimbleweed park to have the joy of playing something similar again.
Thanks Ron for giving this to the world.
Thank you so much for delivering the real Caribbean to us.
See you at Phatt Island Waterfall!
I LOVED the game from the opening moment. It was just perfect from start to finish. It had a wonderful game world, threw in an earnest and likeable lead, and then never ruined that world -- something that could have easily happened. It never got overly cynical. It never lost its sense of humour. It didn't decide halfway through that it needed to get "dark" and "serious" in order to make a point. It remained consistently delightful.
Every secondary character fell into a recognizable archetype that also somehow felt fresh and different, too. There was a Sword Master on Melee Island, a pirate with such skill with a sword that nobody could beat. In another game, the character would be a dull trope. A sage monk-like warrior, perhaps, who spoke in Zen parables. Or maybe, a terrifying, booze sodden Captain, called "Death Beard". A maybe a gigantic barbarian with a giant broadsword.
In Monkey Island she was called Carla.
Monkey Island did that sort of thing a lot. The world Guybrush inhabited was a fun place that loved playing with your expectations. And Guybrush himself was just as lovable -- earnest, funny and not in the least bit jaded.
There was a lot to love in Monkey Island, and even now I'm approaching 40, I still boot it up and let myself love it again.
Thanks!
And thanks Ron and to all of you that made us dream!
Marco from Italy
Maybe Monkey petition for Disney would be a good idea?
maybe if enough people signed, they would evaluate it being a worthwhile gesture.
but if it gained even more popularity they'd take it back and turn it into Pirates of the Caribean bred with star wars and toy story
ps: i think there are some bugs in the Seckrit Question code
Anyway Happy Birthday Monkey Island - See you at the Scumm bar for a Grog on me!
Mr Gilbert thank you! Thank you for dozens of hours of joy, adventure and humor that you have given me for so many years. And I cross my fingers for a real suite for the Monkey Island series. And why not a new Loom ... The hope is to live ...
Ced
Threepwood, Thriftweed, Peepwood and Mancomb Seepgood ROFLMAO
Even those simple things were of rare quality back then (and still).
Can't wait for Thimbleweedpark to come out....oh the anticipation :D
Thanks for it all and many congrats on the 25th, yoho and a bottle of RUM.
Ojala hagais la siguiente. Disney, dale los derechos, que se note que tu fundador era de Almeria!
rish
Thanks Ron. Thinking of MI everytime my mobile phone rings (made my own ringtone from the music)
Thank you for this. Game, Blog, everything Ron! Thank you very much!
that's cool
I have a question as fan of retro games and abandonware. Ron do you have any idea if the Sega CD version of Fate of Atlantis will be released some day in the next future ?
Sorry if is not the subject of the post, but i always wondered why this game was unreleased when iam sure it was finished and ready to sell. Is just a shame this gem never seen the light, wich is for me my two fav aventure games ever.
Thanks for be part of my chilhood and memories Ron :)
To all you guys comparing mi to the carribean movies. Perhaps you're joking but there is no way in hell the rights to the game and the movies share any part because of some plot/character similarities. The basic plot isn't very complex at all. Good versus evil, here in the shape of a pirate and a ghost-pirate. Hard to copywrite simple basic premises like that. And it's not what makes this game great. Really.
Maybe you could do a 'Get funds for claiming the rights from Disney' Kickstarter campaign? :D
Thank you Mr. Gilbert !
I'm from Spain, sorry for my horrible english. I knew "The Secret of Monkey Island" in 1999. In an era with 3D graphics, I fell in love with this world of pirates, voodoo, ghosts, grog and monkeys. I played "Monkey Island 2" inmediatly too. I played "Monkey Island" every weeks throught the years. This games are important in the history of videogames and they are funny, magic and uniques.
When I discovered "Monkey Island", I was in a bad time of my life, I was depressing. But "Monkey Island" made me laugh and helped me to recover.
I was obsessed about "the secret" during years, I was too much nights without sleep, thinking about it, making theories. It's fascinating. I would love to see a "Monkey Island 3a". I hope that the luck be with you and you would can get the rights. Thanks for the magic of "Monkey Island".
P.D.:
To Disney:
Please, people of Disney, can you help to Ron to make another "Monkey Island" game? Can you sell the rights to him? I think that the world would be a better place with a "Monkey Island 3a". The people would be a bit more happy with a "Monkey Island 3a". And everybody would love more Disney and Ron Gilbert with "Monkey Island 3a". We need a bit of magic in this world. We deserve something good. I will send you a chicken with a pulley in the middle if you sell the rights to Ron. Thanks.
I guess the only way to convince Disney to sell the rights is to insert the disk 22 and press Button...
Long live Guybrush!
For that I can remember Monkey Island 2 clearly. Guybrush in his nice blue coat, Wally B. Feed - of whom I though he had one big eye because my kid self didn't realize it was his monocle - and of course Zombie LeChuck. Oh, Zombie LeChuck this small pixaleted sprite, as kid he frightend me with his goofy walk cycle, spitting while talking and chasing you through this strange underground tunnle. These last scences of Monkey Island 2 give me slight creeps till this day and it's fantastic! Also that telephone in the deep jungle of Dinky Island is not to forget. I don't know what the lady in the orginal english version says as I only ever played the german version, but in the german version she complained that the translaters were having nightmares as they didn't know how to translate all the puns.
With this: Happy Birthday Monkey Island and thank you Ron Gilbert for creating such an awsome game with so many lovable characters (Wally B. is my favorite till this day, I don't know why)! I will pressing my thumbs forever that Disney will make a Monkey 3a possible!
I loved that game and i love it still today.
I was 14 years old when I was infected by the Monkey Island virus, and the one or the other puzzle that even in the sleep still employed has!
I had it on the Amiga, later also on PC, and still today it is on my mobile and also on my steam account as a Special Edition.
Thank you Ron.
I will pressing my thumbs too, that Disney will make it true...
and then.... do it again please ;)
best regards and may the Grog be with you! ;)
Of course those internet patches will be hardly legal, but it wont be your foult at all :)
We also had 2 rabbits, named by our eldest, called Guybrush (still going strong) and Otis (sadly died last year).
THANK YOU FOR THESE GAMES AND OUR MEMORIES WE HOLD DEAR!!
https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-give-the-monkey-island-intellectual-property-to-ron-gilbert?source_location=petitions_share_skip
Comedy is probably the most difficult element to judge. It depends on so many factors: audience, atmosphere, timing, delivery. And it's not so much that the individual jokes carry so much weight (I can hold my breath for ten minutes!), it's that the overarching comedy of failures between Guybrush and LeChuck played out so well.
Nevertheless, good comedy requires clever writing, and Monkey Island was as witty as any of its time. Captain Smirk alone is exemplary of the game's spot-on sarcasm.
The art and music still stand the test of time; perhaps you and I are only two of the few who still enjoy pixelation or MIDI, but the original compositions of this masterpiece are alive and well today. The other games emulate the Secret of Monkey Island as opposed to spinning new themes or visuals. Curse, Escape, and Tales are all direct predecessors of the first, and it's not because they didn't hire good writers.
For anyone who hasn't yet discovered them, there are Talkie editions of the first two games available. They are fantastic. Playing the originals with the professional voices feels like playing an advanced version of the game (like the Special Edition CD-ROM of TIE Fighter). And the vocal cast is outrageously talented (James Arnold Taylor and Jess Harnell to name a couple, plus the original cast all the way back from Curse).
I really encourage anyone to play the Talkie editions if you haven't yet.
http://gratissaugen.de/ultimatetalkies/
Thanks Ron.
On the back of the box of my game there was a screenshot of a close-up of the dog in the Scumm bar. But never find it in the game.... why? It did appear again in the SE....
And, by the way: why the sunset on the harbor of the EGA edition disappeared in the VGA version? I was loading the VGA edition for the first time, woandering how awesome would it have been in 256 colors... how disappointed I was to discover it was missing... :-D
Also I would love to get my hands on a gold master of Monkey Island 1.
Know where I could by one? :p
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=52&v=7LYWL8V_qNo
I hope you are going to have a look at that Ron
MI2 will always be on of my most important chillhood memory. I discovered the game in a magazin as gift when i was living on the carribean island of Sint-Maarten and it is still a huge source of inspiration.
Played mi2 on the iPad yesterday. Still better than every meaningless game-app. I love the peaceful, nonviolent and funny atmosphere. It's a little bit weird, but sometimes i only listen to the soundtrack and begin to dream of a another great adventure in the caribbean.
Same as the story you told about the guy who played with his dad, some of those memories are kinda attached to my dad also. Back in 1992 i had long morning walks to school with my dad, i remember that in many of those walks we chatted about ideas on how to advance in the game, or how i've achieved something the day before. He used to give me hints, then i'd return to home on the afternoon and try the new ideas. Today i treasure those talks with my dad in my memory for the rest of my life :')
Thanks Ron for the great times!
http://kulturreederei.de/programm/#_monkey-island
I heard for this years (barely reached) krautfunded rendition the costumes were overly improved, but you can see a glimpse of the play from 2014 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0aa0brtiM4
Very strange indeed.^^ Unfortunately it resembles the special edition, as their heads are not pixelated at all :)
Memo to Disney: Can you give the rights for MI3 to Ron Gilbert? Pretty plaese with sugar on top
Anyway, there's a petition to Disney, claiming giving the rights to Ron Gilbert :
https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-give-the-monkey-island-intellectual-property-to-ron-gilbert
https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-give-the-monkey-island-intellectual-property-to-ron-gilbert
Whether it is Monkey Island three or another day of the tentacle.
We need good adventure.
The call for our spirit.
The best way in monkeys island one.
Or what about Full Throttle.
I'm a big fan of challenging adventure.
But I've never found such a good as Monkey Island two.
The best were the many choices. But there no longer possible true in the revised version.
Those were the days.
Even a perfect adventure.
These are all ideas for thinkers.
The demands of the market today.
My opinion.
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Monkey island for many was not just a game, was pure inspiration!
Thanks again Ron!
Alberto