The Secret of Monkey Island
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Classic Collection: Adventure -
Collection LucasArts: Aventure - The Secret of Monkey Island / Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge -
Games, Games, Games: Volume 2 -
LucasArts Classic Adventures -
LucasArts Mac CD Game Pack - LucasArts Mac CD Game Pack II
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Monkey Island 1 & 2 -
Monkey Island Special
Description official descriptions
Deep in the Caribbean lies Melee Island, ruled by the governor Elaine Marley. The cruel pirate LeChuck is deeply in love with her - so deeply that he refuses to accept his own death. As a ghost, he dwells with his undead crew somewhere near the mysterious Monkey Island. Meanwhile, a young fellow named Guybrush Threepwood is determined to become a real pirate. At the Scumm Bar, he meets three pirates who tell him he has to complete three difficult tasks in order to be worthy of this title. But as Guybrush is trying to complete these tasks, he encounters the lovely governor, and this meeting changes his life forever. Risking to incur the wrath of LeChuck, Guybrush has to prove his wit is as sharp as his sword, and figure out a way to foil the ghost pirate's plans.
The Secret of Monkey Island is an adventure game that utilizes the command verb-based SCUMM interface first introduced in Maniac Mansion: the player constructs commands for Guybrush by selecting an appropriate verb and then combining it with an object or an inventory item. Objects that can be interacted with are highlighted when the player places a cursor over them. The game is the first LucasArts adventure in which it is impossible to get irrevocably stuck; like in Loom, the player character also cannot die. The branching dialogue system, where the player chooses between several available responses during conversations, allows the player to talk to characters in different ways without fearing a wrong choice and is often used as a humorous device.
The puzzles are predominantly inventory-based; most of the problems in the game are solved by picking up items and combining them with each other or with objects (or people) in the game world. Several tasks are dialogue-based; among those is the humorous "insult swordfighting", which involves Guybrush learning and choosing witty insults while dueling pirates.
The CD DOS and FM Towns versions of the game have a slightly updated interface (with graphically represented inventory items instead of the text-only labels in the original version), as well as CD audio music tracks.
Spellings
- γ’γ³γγΌγ»γ’γ€γ©γ³γ γ¦γΌγ¬γ€ζ΅·θ³ε€§ι¨εοΌ - Japanese spelling
- η΄ε³Άε°θ±ι - Chinese spelling
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Credits (DOS version)
85 People (83 developers, 2 thanks) · View all
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 89% (based on 60 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 732 ratings with 27 reviews)
Yet another review for THE Adventure... someone has to do it
The Good
Back in the Old Years, an adventure game came and boosted up the genre, a bit closer to the qualities of the later games.
Monkey Island is a great game, almost in all aspects. The first thing you ever see it's graphics, and graphics is where it was breakthrough. The backgrounds for example, previously were flat, and now obtained depth and perspective. Sometimes they were immersive (like outside the Mansion, or the cannibal village). The sprites were not something impressive but they were adequately drawn as semi-cartoony. The dialogue close-up portraits were the first photographic quality images to enter an adventure (AFAIK).
Your sprite now instead of walking and opening doors, will contribute to impressive cutscenes, like the fight with Sheriff and at the end with LeChuck.
The gameplay is highly different from the other products. Here you don't use 'What is' and start pixel hunting. The name of the recognised object appears right when you point it. The scenario is open and you can do stuff no matter in what order. Go to the SCUMM bar, talk to the pirates, the leaders, learn for the trials, and return the evidence? Fine. Start solving the trials without talking to the leaders? When you present the evidence to them they will say 'Ah I see you have heard of the trials'. Do you want to save time and avoid the dialogue? Fine. Start with the trials, which you can, by the way, solve in whatever order.
The dialogues give also a sense of freedom. Introduced in Indiana Jones, here they are extremely better. Although the dialogues don't affect puzzles or distant future events, they are richly designed. Many ways to introduce yourself to strangers, which will affect their reply, or not. Then you can ask many thinks, in whatever order you like. Sometimes your questions will bring up other questions or you can avoid them and go back to the original questions. Sounds familiar? Well that's how it started.
Dialogues are also an indicator of humor. For example when you meet Elaine, your availiable lines you have to choose from vary between 'Ulp...' and 'Err...'. Or when you have to say 'I do' many times till you convince Smirk to train you.
Oh yes, humor. After Larry and Space Quest, Monkey Island is one of the funniest games. The plot is self-sarcastic and Guybrush is driven toward funny situations. Vegetarian Cannibals, anachronisms (grog slot machines), a hanged man who died while trying to set up a swing, a monster-parrot, gangs, punchlines, in-jokes. They won't impress you as the later games but they will at least make you laugh.
It was also the first game to use a full soundtrack so this must be noted. I was not a fan of reggae, but here you don't hear music only in the intro, but in many places you will visit. The first job of the famous Michael Land.
The Bad
When I was thinking of writing a review I found it hard to think of any flaws. A brief reading of other reviews proved the same. Is the game THAT good? Anyway, after thinking a bit I can tell the following:
The savegame system is poor, identical to LOOM. You can save up to a certain number of games (which is small), and cannot change your directory. If you want to keep your games you must backup them in another directory. If you want for some reasons to review them (eg. for screenshots, or test other replies) it's a real trouble, especially back when some used plain DOS.
Another minor flaw, in-game this time, is the distance you have to travel each time. In later games Lucasarts fixed this by jumping you to the next screen when double-clicking. However in those times, people did not conceive time as we do and wan't hurrying. Few games had such 'tricks'. Besides it's less slow than Syberia!
Also, some puzzles are a bit frustrating. For example how could you guess that you can switch monkey blood with a bottle of wine? I can forgive these since this is a comedy adventure, and after all you can always start 'USE'ing everything you have and find the solution.
The Bottom Line
The big Hitchhiker's Guide to the Adventure Games of the Galaxy, in the definition of the word 'classic' must have the box-cover of MI. I won't say that MI is my favourite game, or the best ever made, but it is indeed one of the most influential, at least to us of the 'newer generation' who are too young for other classics, like Zork. If you are an Adventure gamer and haven't still played it, well, did you miss something?
DOS · by Boston Low (85) · 2005
The Good
The Secret of Monkey Island is without any doubt one of the greatest games ever made. It marked the beginning of LucasArts "golden era" which ended with Full Throttle (ok, Grim Fandango was a masterpiece and the latest Monkey Island was quite good but the company's heydays were long since over, but enough about that). The Secret of Monkey Island lets you take the role as Guybrush Threepwood, a young man with one wish; to be a foul-smelling, grog-swilling pirate. On his quest to achieve this goal Guybrush meets all sorts of interesting and funny characters such as; Otis, a notorious thief with a fetishism towards flowers. Elaine Marley, the independent and beautiful governor of Melee Island, Stan a dealer in used-ships and of course LeChuck, the most evil undead pirate you'll ever have to misfortune to gaze upon. LucasArts have always been good at creating a memorable cast for their games and The Secret of Monkey Island is no exception. Between the ordinary puzzles you must also engage in the Monkey Island series trademark: Insult Swordfight. The idea that sharp, witty insults are more important in a duel than your sword is (at least in my opinion) creative, also, this was as far as I know the first adventure game where you couldn't die (well, there's one point where you can but you must be a really bad gamer if you can't get past that certain part on your first try).
The Bad
The ending felt a bit rushed, that's all I can think of at the moment.
The Bottom Line
One of LucasArts finest games.
DOS · by Colonel Olrik (7) · 2005
An unforgettable tale in the Caribbean seas
The Good
Monkey Island was the game that started my passion for graphic adventures. I played it in the old 286 days, and I loved it. I played again a couple of years ago and I felt the same feeling of playing an incredible game.
You will play as a pirate wannabe while you indulge in some fights (with insults!), wander through different places, assemble a crew and many, many things more.
It was one of the first megahits from LucasArts, the game that gave them a virtual golden medal for "Best graphics adventures".
The Bad
Nothing in this sector. Nothing to complain about.Even with the outdated graphics it's still a blast to play. If you never played it, forget about the out of date graphics and go and play it. You won't be disappointed.
The Bottom Line
Come on!! Give me some Grog, practice some insult fights and let's play!!
DOS · by Emepol (212) · 2019
Discussion
| Subject | By | Date |
|---|---|---|
| UK Release? | Edwin Drost (7872) | Mar 24th, 2017 |
| 3.5 Disk | Edwin Drost (7872) | Jan 22nd, 2017 |
| MI, a real phoenix | VVP (143) | Jun 9th, 2009 |
| Talkie | Wormspinal (619) | Feb 20th, 2008 |
| A disturbing walkthrough for the game | Sciere (915205) | Oct 16th, 2007 |
Trivia
1001 Video Games
The Secret of Monkey Island appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Budget
The budget of the game was $130.000.
CD version
The CD version of the game features CD music, a furnished interface with graphical inventory items and new sound effects not seen in the disk version. If you try to load the game with "e" parameter, you won't see the inventory because it is 256 colors only.
Concept notices
One of the first scribbles for Monkey Island that were used for the different story-branches hang in the bathroom of George 'The Fat Man' Sanger's studio in Austin/Texas.
Cut content
- Originally, there used to be a ship combat sequence in Monkey Island. While this scene didn't make it into the final cut, the idea was re-used in Monkey Island 3.
- At one point, the developers actually deleted a whole bunch of the games because it didn't flow well with the story.
- Ron Gilbert was going to make the part where you get Meathook to join your crew longer, but the idea was axed.
Copy protection
The original version came with a code-wheel copy protection, in which you had to mix and match several pirate's faces and assemble their names.
Demo version
The demo version features story, dialogues and puzzles not present in the main game. More information can be found in its game entry.
Distribution
According to a G4 interview with Tim Schafer because Lucasarts was so small at the time and the first shipment of Monkey Island was larger than normal, Lucasarts asked the staff to go help stuff the boxes for the first shipment. So you might own a copy packed by the creators themselves!
DOS versions
There are three different versions of the game: 16-color EGA disk version, 256-color VGA disk version, and 256-color VGA CD-ROM version.
Gags
- When wandering in the forest, if you examine a certain tree stump very closely, Guybrush sees something in there and tries to crawl in. The game then asks you for disks you don't have, and Guybrush says something like "Oh well, I guess I don't fit".
- Keep escaping and returning from the cannibal village and the prison door will change its shape to a more modern door.
- Did you know that you CAN kill Guybrush? Just stay under water for more than 10 minutes.
- Did you know you can make Meathook make his tattoo talk? Ask him at his hut!!!
Guybrush Threepwood
Guybrush got his name from the fact that in DPaint, the art software being used at the time, you saved palettes and other art particulars in files called "brushes", and the one for the guy who was the hero was called the "guybrush". "Threepwood" was decided by a company contest.
Herman Toothrot
The character of Herman Toothrot was added because the script was running a little slow once you got to Monkey Island...the player needed someone to talk to.
Inspiration
Though he's long been on the record regarding Monkey Island's inspiration from the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride (the ride, having earned its own movies, effectively nullifying any chance of a Monkey Island movie once in development), Ron Gilbert has come clean regarding another primary source of inspiration, a recently-back-in-print book by Tim Power entitled On Stranger Tides, ensuring a heavy injection of voodoo into the Monkey Island mythos.
Legal trouble
- The giant cotton swab, used as the key to the monkey head, was originally named a "Q-Tip" after the commercial brand name; however, according to Ron Gilbert, it had to be changed because "it would have been OK if we were using the Q-Tip in a "correct fashion", but taking a giant Q-Tip and sticking it into a stone monkey's ear is not "correct usage"."
- Originally, examining a skeleton in the voodoo lady's hut would cause Guybrush to comment: "Looks like an emaciated Charles Atlas." After a cease-and-desist letter from Charles Atlas Ltd., it was changed in later versions of the game.
Monkey Island
"Monkey Island" is a colloquial term used to describe the area on the roof of the bridge on a modern cargo ship. It is mainly used by the crews of the large cargo ships operating in the East Indies, South East Asia and the South Pacific.
Mono Island
Did you know there IS a real Monkey Island in the Caribbean Sea? Well, it's real name is Mono Island, but the word "mono" means "monkey" in Spanish.
PC Gamer release
A complete version of The Secret of Monkey Island is available on Classic Games Collection CD featured in the July 2000 issue of PC Gamer Magazine.
References: LucasArts employees
- The original closeup of Elaine (where Guybrush is speechless) was supposedly based on Avril Harrison, an artist who was working for Lucas Games at the time.
- Carla, the Swordmaster, was a likeness of Carla Green who was at that time in charge of Lucas Games Product Support.
- The guy who was in the Troll suit on the bridge was meant to look like George Lucas.
- The name of Guybrush's archnemesis LeChuck was born after Steve Arnold, the General Manager at Lucasfilm Games in 1989, had been telling Ron Gilbert (the series creator) how he really liked the name "Chuck" and would like some character in one of their games to be called "Chuck".
References: Games
- Lucasarts makes a stab at Sierra adventure games when Guybrush walks off the ledge of the outcrop containing the projectile device on Monkey Island. A standard Sierra adventure death dialogue box emerges saying that your character (Guybrush) has died and you can now choose to Restore, Restart or Quit the game.
- In the SCUMM bar, one of the pirates is wearing a button with the word LOOM written on it. All he says is "Aye," but if you ask him about LOOM, he will give you a full and lengthy advertisment to LOOM - the Idea was re-used again in Monkey Island 3 with Manny Calavera ( from Grim Fandango)
- Just like other games from LucasArts, this has also a reference to Sam & Max. Just look at the idols neat the big monkey head.
- In the demo of the games, when you went to the fortune tellers place, you could touch the chalice...and you would turn into Indiana Jones.
References
- The troll on the toll bridge saying 'none shall pass' was inspired by Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
- The SCUMM bar early in the game is obviously a reference to the SCUMM game engine (which stands for "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion"), created by Ron Gilbert of Lucasfilm Games/LucasArts, and which has been used in several other adventure titles including The Secret of Monkey Island.
- In order to practice insult swordfighting, Guybrush stops pirates on the road and says the line "My name is Guybrush Threepwood. Prepare to die!" This is probably taken from the duel between Inigo Montoya and the six-fingered man in The Princess Bride. During that duel Montoya repeats "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" 5 or 6 times.
- During the Governor's wedding scene near the end, Guybrush has the option to yell "Elaine!" which is a reference to a line from the movie The Graduate. Ron Gilbert liked that so much that he gave this first name to the originally nameless Governor.
Ron Gilbert
Stan is reportedly Ron Gilbert's favorite character in all of the Monkey Island games.
Sales
According to an interview with Ron Gilbert in the German magazine PC Games 01/2013, the game sold more copies in Germany than in the USA.
Secret of Monkey Island
THE Secret of Monkey Island has never actually been revealed by Ron Gilbert, but some people believe that it has to do with the anachronisms in the games.
SEGA CD port
The Secret of Monkey Island saw a Sega CD version in 1992, soon after the system was released on the U.S. The Sega CD version is based on the 256-color VGA version of SOMI...even the layout of the CD Audio is exactly the same as the PC version.
Except there is a mastering error for the background sound effects. Specifically, the night time forest sound effect on track 24 is only two seconds long, and this track continues on to the next three tracks, also cut off in seconds. Also, because of this error, there is no jungle background sound effect that should be present in track 25. Indeed, itβs curious to hear night time ambiance heard at Melee Island during the daytime when Guybrush is in the jungle on Monkey Island.
A fix to this problem can be done by taking the last two audio tracks from the PC-CDROM version (tracks 24 and 25) and, usually through an extraction of the data and individual audio tracks of the Sega CD disc (except tracks 24, 25, 26, and 27) and a creation of a proper cuesheet (complete with the 2 second pregap for all audio tracks) for burning through CDRWin, restore the correct sound effects playback for the game at the points affected for the Sega CD version.
Software Toolworks
The CD version of the game was distributed by Software Toolworks at one point - with one of their computer map programs.
Speech version
Despite the rumours, no speech version was created.
Spiffy
The back cover of some versions of the game has a screenshot with a close-up of Spiffy the Dog. The image is however not available in the original game. It was cut to save space on the floppy disks, but the marketing team had already chosen it for the artwork. The image of the close-up was added in the 2009 game The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.
Win the Game
The "FUNCTION AND COMMAND KEYS" section of the enclosed reference documentation listed a somewhat peculiar option after the more conventional game interface options:- Reposition Instantly (CTRL+R)
- Quit Game (CTRL+C or ALT+X)
- Win the Game (CTRL+W). Enthusiastic game-players who jumped in before fully reading the manual might never have encountered that little easter egg. When the key combination was entered, the game would prompt the player: "Are you sure you want to win? (Y/N)" If the player responded Y, the screen would blank, then triumphantly flash"You Win! You scored 800 out of 800 points", regardless of how much (if any) of the game had been completed, all the while tootling the goofily festive music from the Fettucini Bros. circus tent. The regular closing credits (with more than a few joke titles there also) would follow, the entire interactive remainder of the game having been neatly bypassed. Truly here was proof that the playing of the game is far more satisfying than the mere winning of it.
Apparently some permutation of this easter egg is revisited in distant sequel Escape From Monkey Island.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- December 1993 (Issue #114) β Introduced into the Hall of Fame
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) β #19 in the "150 Best Games of All Time" list
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) β #2 Funniest Computer Game (together with Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge)
- November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) β #2 Most Rewarding Ending of All Time
- Enchanted Realms
- July 1991 (Issue #7) β Distinctive Adventure Award
- GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 12/1999 β #12 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
- PC Gamer
- April 2005 β #49 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
- Power Play
- Issue 01/1991 β Best Adventure in 1990 (Amiga and DOS versions)
- Retro Gamer
- October 2004 (Issue #9) β #33 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)
- ST Format
- August 1991 (Issue #8) β #1 Top Atari ST Classic Games (Editorial staff vote)
- January 1993 (issue #42) β #1 in '50 finest Atari ST games of all time' list
Information also provided by Adam Baratz, Boston Low, Daniel Albu, Emepol, Felix Knoke, Itay Brenner, James1, Jason Harang, Kip Wells, Marek, PCGamer77, Pseudo_Intellectual, Rambutaan, rstevenson, Sasha Smith, Satoshi Kunsai, Sciere, showmeyourspine, Silverblade, Swordmaster, Trevor Harris, Unicorn Lynx, William Shawn McDonie and Zovni
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Related Sites +
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Hints for Monkey Island 1
Stuck? These hints will help you solve the game without spoiling it for you. -
ScummVM
Get "The Secret of Monkey Island", as well as many other adventure games, to run on modern systems by using ScummVM, a legal and free program. -
Secret of Monkey Island comic book
The story of MI1 presented as a comic book in the art style of the Curse of Monkey Island (MI3), by fan artist Paco Vink. Not yet complete, but ongoingly in progress over the past three years! -
The Scumm Bar
A wonderful site dedicated to the Monkey Island games. -
The Secret of Monkey Island: The Play
In spring of 2004 a high school mounted a student production of a theatrical adaptation of the game. Here is the first of nine segments on YouTube. -
The World of Monkey Island
A comprehensive site about the world of Monkey Island games from Lucasarts.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by IJan.
Amiga added by POMAH. Macintosh added by Kabushi. Antstream added by lights out party. FM Towns, Atari ST added by Terok Nor. SEGA CD added by Unicorn Lynx.
Additional contributors: Trixter, MAT, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Apogee IV, tarmo888, Pseudo_Intellectual, Havoc Crow, DarkDante, Ricky Derocher, 6β of Nine, Petr Maruska, Patrick Bregger, Narushima, Jo ST, FatherJack, firefang9212.
Game added December 25th, 1999. Last modified January 21st, 2024.