The Secret of Monkey Island (SMI) is a well known adventure game that spawned a series of famous and classic comedy adventure games, known as the Monkey Island series as well as making a name for LucasArts (then Lucasfilm Games) as a producer of adventure games, thus the largest competitor with Sierra On-Line at the time. A screenshot from the CD-ROM release of The Secret of Monkey Island This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game. ... Image File history File links Mi1cover. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ... Official LucasArts logo LucasArts Entertainment Company (sometimes shortened to LEC), is a video game developer and publisher. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Official LucasArts logo LucasArts Entertainment Company (sometimes shortened to LEC), is a video game developer and publisher. ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... Ron Gilbert is an American computer game designer, programmer, and producer, best known for his work on several classic LucasArts adventure games, including Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. ... The Secret of Monkey Island, CD version. ... A game engine is the core software component of a computer or video game or other interactive application with real-time graphics. ... SCUMM stands for Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion and is a scripting language developed at LucasArts (known at the time as Lucasfilm Games) to ease development of the graphical adventure game Maniac Mansion. ... Video games are generally categorized into genres. ... Adventure is a genre of video games typified by exploration, puzzle-solving, interaction with game characters, and a focus on narrative rather than reflex-based challenges. ... In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ... The USKs official logo. ... The Videogame Rating Council (VRC) was introduced by Sega of America in 1993 to rate all video games that were released for sale in the United States of America on the Sega Genesis, Game Gear, and Sega CD and rarely, some computer games. ... The Sega Mega-CD (Japanese: メガCD) is an add-on device for the Sega Mega Drive released in Europe, Australia, and Japan. ... The original Amiga 1000 (1985) with various peripherals The Amiga is a family of personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation. ... The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. ... Instructions on how to use the directory command. ... The FM TOWNS (also spelled FM-TOWNS, FM Towns and FM-Towns) system is a Japanese PC variant, built by Fujitsu from February 1989 to Summer 1997. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... ScummVM is a multi-platform stack-based virtual machine which was originally made to allow one to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system on platforms other than those for which they were originally released. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... A contemporary computer mouse, with the most common standard features — two buttons and a scroll-wheel. ... A computer keyboard is a peripheral partially modeled after the typewriter keyboard. ... Adventure is a genre of video games typified by exploration, puzzle-solving, interaction with game characters, and a focus on narrative rather than reflex-based challenges. ... The Secret of Monkey Island, CD version. ... LucasArts is an American video game developer and publisher. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The game was primarily designed by Ron Gilbert with the help of Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman. The trio would also helm the development of the sequel Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge after which Gilbert left LucasArts. Schafer's later work were to include Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, while Grossman co-designed Day of the Tentacle. Ron Gilbert is an American computer game designer, programmer, and producer, best known for his work on several classic LucasArts adventure games, including Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. ... Tim Schafer (born July 26, 1967) is an American computer game designer. ... Dave Grossman is a noted game programmer and game designer. ... Full Throttle is a graphical adventure game, originally developed in-house and released on 30 April 1995 by LucasArts. ... Grim Fandango is a graphical adventure computer game released by LucasArts in 1998, the title derived from a line of a mournful poem read by one of the characters in the game. ... Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle (DoTT) is a graphical adventure game, originally released in 1993, and published by LucasArts. ...

The game's memorable soundtrack was composed by Michael Land in MIDI format. Michael Land (b. ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ...

Story

The game introduces Guybrush Threepwood, a youth who desires to become a pirate. At the beginning of the game, he washes up on the Caribbean island of Mêlée. Close up portrait of Guybrush from The Secret of Monkey Island. ... West Indian redirects here. ... Mêlée Island in The Secret of Monkey Island. ...

Guybrush meets the Pirate Leaders who set him three challenges to prove himself a pirate: defeat the island's swordmaster in insult swordfighting, steal a statue from the Governor's mansion, and find buried treasure. Along the way he meets several interesting characters, including swordsmaster Carla, Meathook (a fellow with hooks on both hands), a prisoner named Otis and, most significantly, the gorgeous Governor Elaine Marley. Insult swordfighting is a feature of many of the Monkey Island graphic adventure games. ... Elaine Marley in Curse of Monkey Island Elaine Marley is one of the primary characters in the Monkey Island series of adventure games developed by LucasArts. ...

The ghost pirate LeChuck, however, has been in love with Elaine since his living days. While Guybrush is busy, LeChuck's ghost crew abduct her, taking her to Monkey Island. Guybrush gathers a crew (Carla, Meathook, and Otis), buys a boat, and sets out to find the mysterious island and free Elaine. LeChuck, scourge of the Caribbean and all pirates The pirate LeChuck is the main villain appearing in the Monkey Island series of computer adventure games produced by LucasArts. ... Monkey Island as it appeared in the original game. ...

When Guybrush finally reaches Monkey Island, he explores it and discovers a band of cannibals. After he helps them recover a lost voodoo ingredient, they provide him with a recipe that can destroy ghosts. However, when Guybrush goes after LeChuck, one of his crew tells him that LeChuck went to Mêlée Island to marry Elaine.

Guybrush returns back to Mêlée with the help of the hermit Herman Toothrot, and goes to the church to prevent the wedding. When he arrives at the church wedding (desperately shouting "Elaine!", in an obvious spoof of the final scene of The Graduate), he realises that Elaine had her own plan to escape. LeChuck starts beating Guybrush; until the arrival at the ship emporium, where he sprays LeChuck with Root beer (a reference to the supposedly unique voodoo root). LeChuck defeated, he watches the fireworks with Elaine, enjoying a romantic moment. For the American rock band, see The Graduate (band). ...

Production

The Secret of Monkey Island is the fifth game to use the SCUMM engine. The project leader was Ron Gilbert, and the game was designed by Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman. Another notable contributor was author Orson Scott Card, who wrote the insults for the "insult swordfighting" section. SCUMM stands for Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion and is a scripting language developed at LucasArts (known at the time as Lucasfilm Games) to ease development of the graphical adventure game Maniac Mansion. ... Ron Gilbert is an American computer game designer, programmer, and producer, best known for his work on several classic LucasArts adventure games, including Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. ... Tim Schafer (born July 26, 1967) is an American computer game designer. ... Dave Grossman is a noted game programmer and game designer. ... It has been suggested that Saintspeak be merged into this article or section. ... An insult is a statement or action which affronts or demeans someone. ...

The game was originally released on floppy disk in 1990 for Atari ST, Macintosh and PC systems (using EGA graphics);^{[citation needed]} it is also the first adventure game to use character scaling that showed Guybrush shrink or enlarge according to his position on screen.^{[citation needed]} The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. ... The first Macintosh computer, introduced in 1984, upgraded to a 512K Fat Mac. The Macintosh or Mac, is a line of personal computers designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) is the IBM PC computer display standard specification located between CGA and VGA in terms of graphics performance (that is, colour and space resolution). ... ...

Several months later, the PC version was re-released with VGA graphics;^{[citation needed]} the Amiga version, released shortly after this,^{[citation needed]} used the PC EGA version's 16-color character graphics along with the PC VGA version's room backgrounds (reduced to 32 unique colors per room). Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a computer display standard first marketed in 1987 by IBM. VGA belongs to a family of earlier IBM video standards and largely remains backward compatible with them. ... The original Amiga 1000 (1985) with various peripherals The Amiga is a family of personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation. ...

In June 1992, a CD-ROM version of the game was released, featuring vastly improved music as well as graphical verb and inventory icons (as seen in Monkey Island 2). The interface of the original version uses 12 verbs from which the player can select to perform actions, including ones that are rarely and optionally used in the game such as "Turn on" and "Turn off". In the CD version, the interface is changed to use only 9 verbs. In the fall of 1992, the CD-ROM version was ported to the FM Towns. The fact that the Sega CD could only display 64 on-screen colors at once (compared to the then standard 256 colors on screen of a computer) gave the Sega CD version a slightly washed-out look, that was (as was the case with the Sega CD edition of Rise of the Dragon) preferred by some fans. The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... The FM TOWNS (also spelled FM-TOWNS, FM Towns and FM-Towns) system is a Japanese PC variant, built by Fujitsu from February 1989 to Summer 1997. ... Rise of the Dragon is a graphic adventure game that was released in 1990 for the DOS computer and later remade for the Sega CD (1994). ...

The release included a Sega CD version. The Sega CD version was noted for having an odd password feature that did not seem to save the various items the character had acquired in the game, but always saved the items needed. The Sega CD version also suffered from long load times, due to the single-speed CD-ROM drive of the system. The low commercial success of the game on that system prompted LucasArts to cancel plans to release Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Monkey Island 2 for the Sega CD. The Monkey Island series did not repeat a console release until the fourth game in the series, Escape from Monkey Island from 2000. The Sega Mega-CD (Japanese: メガCD) is an add-on device for the Sega Mega Drive released in Europe, Australia, and Japan. ... The CD-ROM (an abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (ROM)) is a non-volatile optical data storage medium using the same physical format as audio compact discs, readable by a computer with a CD-ROM drive. ... LucasArts is an American video game developer and publisher. ... Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (sometimes also referred to as Indiana Jones 4) is a graphical adventure game, originally released in 1992 and published by LucasArts. ... Escape from Monkey Island (EMI) is the fourth, and currently final, game in the Monkey Island series of computer adventure games, released in 2000 by LucasArts, following the successful games The Secret of Monkey Island (SMI), Monkey Island 2: LeChucks Revenge (MI2), and The Curse of Monkey Island (CMI). ...

Response

Critical reaction

The game received a mainly positive reaction from the press. Amiga Power magazine described it as "the first truly accessible adventure" and awarded it 90% while Computer + Video Game described the PC version as "utterly enthralling" and awarded it 94%.^[1][2]

Monkey Island: The play

On the 21st and 29th of May 2005 a live stage version of "The Secret of Monkey Island" was performed at Hammond High School in Columbia, Maryland. The play was a faithful adaptation of the original game by a fan of the series and student, Chris Heady.^[3] Heady worked alongside LucasArts to obtain the rights in the publishing of this play in the fall of 2004. Although originally a cult following, thanks to the help of internet sites such as Google videos and YouTube popularity of the play has soared.^{[citation needed]} Hammond High School is a secondary school located in Columbia, Maryland near the Kings Contrivance Village Center. ... The People Tree statue has become a symbol of Columbia, Maryland. ... Google, Inc. ... YouTube is a popular free video sharing website which lets users upload, view, and share video clips. ...

In July 2006, GameSpot featured a Designer Thread Interview with Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert, who mentioned the play during the first few moments of the interview. The play was also mentioned by British gaming magazine PLAY and "The Baltimore Sun." Early elections in November are announced in the Netherlands. ... GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. ... The Secret of Monkey Island, CD version. ... Ron Gilbert is an American computer game designer, programmer, and producer, best known for his work on several classic LucasArts adventure games, including Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. ... Play, is a monthly magazine produced by Imagine Publishing in the United Kingdom, covering all aspects of Sonys PlayStation product range, including the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and yet-to-be-released PlayStation 3. ... The Sun is the newspaper of record for Baltimore, Maryland, with a daily press run of 247,193 copies and a Sunday run of 418,670 copies (9/30/05 Audit Bureau of Circulations report). ...

In-jokes

LucasArts

A character from LOOM advertising the game.

The game contains a few references to the LucasArts game LOOM. The SCUMM Bar contains a character from LOOM, wearing a pirate hat and a button reading "Ask me about LOOM". If asked, he describes the game with much enthusiasm. The game also includes a seagull from LOOM as well as several references, including the opening scene for the game. Having been launched out of a cannon, one of Guybrush's dialogue options is "I'm Bobbin, are you my mother?", a reference to LOOM's protagonist Bobbin Threadbare. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A Turkish woman in Konya works at a traditional loom. ... A Turkish woman in Konya works at a traditional loom. ... Seagull or Seagulls may refer to: Gull, a family of seabird, members of which are often called seagulls. ...

The game also pokes fun at the conventional gaming conventions of game over. Though it is usually not possible to die in The Secret of Monkey Island, Guybrush can at a point in the game fall off a tall mountain. This prompts a dialog box proclaiming, "Oh, no! You've really screwed up this time! Guess you'll have to start over! Hope you saved the game!" and offering the choices "Restore, Restart, or Quit". This is similar to the death scenes of rival company Sierra Entertainment's adventure games of the time; seconds later, however, Guybrush bounces back into view and lands safely on the path. He offers the concise explanation, "Rubber tree.", and the game continues as normal. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Stump joke

One infamous joke, which many players assumed was a technical error, involved a stump in a forest. When examining the stump, Guybrush proclaims that a hole in it leads to a maze of caverns. If Guybrush tries to climb down into the stump, the game prompts the player to successively insert "disk #23," "disk #47" and "disk #98", though the game was distributed on four or eight floppy disks.

The endgame credits also have an entry for "art and animation for disk #23." Many people did not get the joke, and LucasArts tech support received quite a large number of calls for help with the missing disk. The joke was removed from the CD version of the game. It was, however, mentioned in MI2: Guybrush can call the LucasArts hint line from a phone and ask, "Who thought up that dumb stump joke?", and the annoyed operator answers, "I'm tired of hearing about that damn stump. Do you have any idea how many calls I get a DAY about that?" In CMI, Guybrush briefly sticks his head into an opening, which leads to the very same tree stump rendered in EGA-style graphics. He is then quickly forced to escape back through the hole as he spots a horde of "stunningly rendered rabid jaguars".

The stump joke is also revisited in Tim Schafer's Psychonauts, in which examining a hollow stump causes a similar reply. In the Game Grim Fandango Manny Calavera will repeat the line of "Wow! It's a tunnel that opens onto a system of catacombs!", which is what Guybrush says when he examines the log. Tim Schafer (born July 26, 1967) is an American computer game designer. ... Psychonauts is a platform game developed by Double Fine Productions, published by Majesco, and released on April 19, 2005, for the Microsoft Xbox, the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. ... Grim Fandango is a graphical adventure computer game released by LucasArts in 1998, the title derived from a line of a mournful poem read by one of the characters in the game. ...

Trivia

• According to a survey of movie stars done by PC Gamer magazine, The Secret of Monkey Island is Elijah Wood's favorite videogame.
• Pressing the key combination Ctrl + W in the first two games "wins" the game instantly. This feature possibly gets SMI the award for the fastest completion available in a videogame. (Note that this "winning" is intentionally jokey, and is not the same as completing the game; the Ctrl + W keypress simply displays the text "You Win!" with the epilogue music and ends the game. If the player completes the game the "normal" way, this text is never displayed.) This function has been kept in the later games.
• It's actually possible to die in the first chapter. At one point Guybrush becomes trapped underwater. He is famously able to hold his breath for ten minutes, but after that time he drowns. In CMI, if the player keeps telling Guybrush to go into the ocean, he eventually agrees to do so. Once underwater, he walks into this scene.

It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled PC Gamer US and PC Gamer UK. (Discuss) PC Gamer US April 2005 cover covering Call of Duty 2 PC Gamer is a computer games magazine, founded in 1993. ... This page may meet Wikipedia’s criteria for speedy deletion. ...

References

External links

• The Secret of Monkey Island at MobyGames