In my mind, the greatest video game of all time is The Secret of Monkey Island! It’s fun, it’s engaging, it’s humorous, it’s adventuresome, it’s silly, it’s romantic, and it’s non-linear. Many people say that most graphical adventure games, up to Monkey Island, were fairly linear. With the advent of Three Quests, Guybrush Threepwood (that’s who you control in the game), could try to solve three puzzles concurrently. If he got stuck on one, maybe he could make progress on one of the others. Monkey Island was very innovative on that front.
How Many Times Have You Bought It?
Here’s a metric to see how much you like something: How many times have you bought it? Ask yourself, how many times have you bought Star Wars (or your favorite movie)? On VHS tape, on Laserdisc, on DVD, on Blu-Ray! Or your favorite album? On Album, cassette, CD, and streaming! Or … your favorite video game.
Here’s how many times I have bought Monkey Island:
- The Secret of Monkey Island (original and Speical Edition): Amiga 3000, iPhone, iPad (twice), Playstation 3
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge: Amiga 3000, iPhone, iPad (twice), Playstation 3
- The Curse of Monkey Island: Windows 95
- Escape from Monkey Island: Windows 95 (?)
- Tales of Monkey Island: Playstation 3
I love this game, and will replay it every few years. It makes me laugh every time, and I have a ball reliving the game.
Disney Acquires LucasFilm
Not that everyone doesn’t already know this, but Disney bought Lucasfilm lock, stock and barrel. And that barrel of Grog includes Monkey Island. Ron Gilbert even tweeted, asking Disney if he could get the IP for Monkey Island back:
Dear
@Disney, now that you’re not making games, please sell me my Monkey Island and Mansion Mansion IP. I’ll pay real actual money for them.
As to my knowledge nothing ever happened on this front. I have heard that Disney is afraid that they might dilute their “Pirates of the Carribbean” franchise if they allow Monkey Island to move forward.
Pardon me while I beg for a moment: Please Disney! Please let Ron make the final Monkey Island! I will buy it three times! (See my record for buying Monkey Island stuff!)
Ahem.
There’s also a petition online.
IOS 11 and Monkey Island
And thus we come to the saddest part of this. Neither The Secret of Monkey Island nor LeChuck’s Revenge will work on your iPad or iPhone if you upgrade to IOS 11. The Monkey Island games are 32-bit applications, and the newest iOS won’t support those anymore.
And Disney won’t let them update it anymore. Or they won’t spend the resources. Or something.
In this day of viruses and security holes and hackers, you probably want to upgrade your devices to the newest IOS 11.
So, you can:
- Upgrade and lose Monkey Island
- Buy a Playstation 3 and download it
- Keep an old iPad around and play it from there
- Boot up your old Amiga 3000 (will it still boot? I think so!) and run it there
R.I.P. Monkey Island
I love Monkey Island. I would love to see it updated for IOS 11. I would love to see Ron Gilbert write the final installation (so we can know the real secret of Monkey Island!). I would love to design a Monkey Island board game (such a fun IP). I would love to just see Monkey Island get some more love.
I don’t know if we can do anything to bring it back … but HEY DISNEY! I will buy Monkey Island stuff if you put it out!
Did that help?
UPDATE: GOG has Monkey Island!
A few weeks ago, my friend sent me an email: GOG has the first few Monkey Island Games available!
https://www.gog.com/game/the_secret_of_monkey_island_special_edition
Perhaps more exciting, you can also get The Curse of Monkey Island! I have an old Windows 95 Box whose SOLE PURPOSE is to run The Curse of Monkey Island (COMI)! With the GOG version, I can now play it on my Mac laptop. I know that COMI is not considered canon by some people, but I think it really fits well into the Monkey Island mythos. Heck, it’s worth it just because of Murray.
If you don’t know Murray, you have to play the game, he’s hilarious.
Anyway, just wanted to shared you can still get Monkey Island in other ways!
UPDATE to the Update!!
As of April 1st, 2022 ..
What’s this? Ron Gilbert is going to be working on a new Monkey Island? It’s not an April Fool’s day joke!
coopgestalt 
Ha! My siblings and I grew up playing Monkey Island 1-3. They are fantastic games. Did you ever play Loom?
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Never played Loom… but the in game advertisement makes me think about it every time I play!
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You should get a RPi or an old PC and run ScummVM 🙂
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what about downloading through xbox ?
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I don’t have an xbox … but I do have an Ps3/4. I have the DVD version of Monkey Island for PS/3
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Why is COMI not canon? Was it not Ron Gilbert?
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It was not Ron Gilbert! I think that’s why most people don’t consider it canon.
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Is there anyone who can help me with an IPA for Monkey Island Special Edition for ipad ? I’ve got the 2nd one (SE) – but can’t find the first. Would be quite happy to buy via the App Store but it’s no longer available. Please let me now and I can buy you a coffee or something :-).
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I wish I could: I just happen to have an older iPad that still has it on it, but I have no idea how to get it. I know the PS3 has a physical version of MI you can buy, and I thin you can download it from the Playstation store. Also, the web site GOG has it. But I think we are out of luck unless you already had on an iPad … sorry!
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Thank you very much for the reply.
If you’re interested (as an aside project – i.e. no hurry) I can talk you through what I’ve found out about creating IPA files. You do need to jailbreak the device, but it’s not as bad as it sounds (using the right tools). It’s also non-destructive, i.e. the iPad continues to function normally :-).
For me this is all about preserving some history – I grew up with the Amiga 500/2000 and I love the work that LucasArts created. It’s a pity that the Special Edition Apps have been pulled – but I doubt they’ll come back (as they are 32 bit only).
And I will definitely buy you at least one Coffee via PayPal…..
Patrick Rynhart
patrick@rynhart.co.nz
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