Past Masters: Monkey Island 1 & 2

Thomas longs for the days of SCUMM

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Back in the good old days of the Amiga 1200 and floppy disks it was sometimes hard to come by a game that really blew you away, let alone kept you interested for more than 10 minutes at a time. The only games that really excited me was a strange beat em' up called Moonstone, Cannon Fodder and a few games of Sensible Soccer with my next door neighbour. Then along came The Secret of Monkey Island in 1991, a point and click adventure by LucasArts. The next few weeks were spent in the darkness of my bedroom (more like a rubbish dump) pointing and clicking my way through this gorgeous game.

Monkey Island first caught my attention when I saw a friend of mine playing it, I was captivated by the gorgeous graphics which looked very much like a cartoon. The music at the time was also pretty impressive and in-keeping with the scene currently being played out. However, it was the main character, 'Guybrush Threepwood' and his unrelenting want to 'be a pirate' which was the winner for me. Not only did I want to see him succeed but you always kind of knew that if he did become a pirate he probably wouldn't make a very good one and comic scenarios would ensue.

Finishing that game was no easy task, especially during the forest maze on Melee Island, however with perseverance I managed to get through it and experience one of the best fights in a game ever; 'Insult Sword Fighting'. Anyone that has played Monkey Island will know what I mean but if you have never experienced it then you are missing out on some truly witty script writing.

So when I finally finished The Secret of Monkey Island I was left wanting more, thankfully more was delivered in 1992 on a whopping 11 floppy disks. I was left with my chin on the floor after I first started up the sequel which was titled: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge. The graphics were even more gorgeous than before and your first encounter with Largo LeGrande was unforgettable, not to mention chatting with familiar faces from the off. Yes, LucasArts had truly hit the nail on the head again with a superb sequel that (in my opinion) was even better than the first, a feat not too often accomplished.

So, here I am 16 years on re-discovering these brilliant games using an emulator called ScummVM. These guys have been painstakingly creating a program that works with today's operating systems in order to get these classic games working. Using the emulator I was able to boot up two of my most favourite games of all time and also sample a few more too, at the time of writing this, Loom and Beneath a Steel Sky are both freely downloadable games, and gems in their own right, however I decided to get a copy of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis for something new, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.

What I am trying to say (I suppose) is that these games (for me at least) have lost none of their charm. Maybe I am sentimental but they truly are some fine examples of the adventure genre that, in recent times, has taken a bit of a beating. I could play through most of the games in the ScummVM compatibility list and be entertained for many weeks, a testament to the creativity that went into some of the earlier adventure games that used the Scumm engine. Of course the point and click 2D worlds that used to feel so rich and satisfying wouldn't seem so cool for kids today, I tried to get my younger brother of 14 to play Monkey Island only for him to shrug it off.

To finish off however, I would have to say that if you are interested in genre-defining moments in the history of videogames, or if you simply enjoy a dabble into retro gaming in general, then you can't go far wrong with two of the finer examples of the adventure genre than Monkey Island 1 & 2.

By Thomas Ryan