Lechuck

This is amazing. Could this also work with the Monkey Island backgrounds? I'd be curious to see what doing this to, say, the Melee town scene would look like, or the main Woodtick panorama.

Are you saying that we're supposed to look at, say, the Zak Mckracken box and not link that to the character in the game? What about the Day of the Tentacle and Sam and Max Hit the Road boxes? And Curse of Monkey Island? In the same way that Harrison Ford's likeness is featured on the Indiana Jones boxes, the box art is there to fill in the void that pixel art can't convey. They're showing us what the characters are supposed to look like, so that we'll imagine them like that in the game. And as Jake pointed out, the close ups in MI1 do resemble the box art depictions.

Monkey 2 has a mix of styles in its close up moments. The campfire near the beach and the fisherman both veer towards cartoony, but Rapp Scallion is quite realistic and is a pretty close match to the box art. The mismatch in styles never bothered me, and still doesn't - they just went with what was right for each moment. They tended to treat the horror aspects with a bit more realism, which I always liked. It was fun horror that still felt a bit dangerous - it trod its tonal tightrope very well.

I think something that is getting overlooked in the art discussion is not just the art from the original games, but the art used to sell them. While pixel art may leave a lot to the imagination, Steve Purcell's box art painted a pretty clear picture of how those worlds and characters were supposed to look. And I think we can agree that those paintings are seminal works amongst Monkey Island fans. Nostalgia for the childhoods of the 80s and 90s has been sweeping the world for several years now, across numerous properties, so I don't disagree that it's part of it. I've read about it for other reasons and it's seen as a symptom of troubled times, so take from that what you will. Yes there was a shift in art style between MI1 and 2, but it was hedged. The backgrounds were more surreal but the characters were similar, or in some cases exactly the same. And the promotional artwork was consistent in style across both games. The full shift in art didn't happen until Ron left the series. When taken as a totality - box art and game art, and the original creator responsible for both coming back - the choice to go in this direction is like expecting a sequel to the Mona Lisa and instead getting Picasso. Brilliant in its own right perhaps, but also confounding for many who were expecting something like the original Ron Gilbert game style.

Unfortunately I'm just not a fan of the art style. To me, art as abstract as this is a barrier to immersion, and one of the things I always loved about the first two games was that you could get lost in those worlds. That was what Ron used to want too, with his story of wanting to get off the boat at Disneyland. This is no criticism of Rex. He does what he does very well. But for a game that is celebrating so many of the original team coming back, it feels like a shame that this wasn't extended to the art team as well. I wasn't necessarily after pixel art, and I hear Ron when he says that the games always used the most cutting edge technology that was available, but by returning to this property after so many years and making a direct sequel to MI2, this is by definition a legacy / nostalgia IP and that does come with years of weight to it. But it is what it is, and I will really try to meet the game on its own terms when I get to play it.

Thanks for these, these are awesome!

Question - is that Guybrush Chan's concept art for the original MI2? I thought it was concept art for the special edition.

So what do we know so far? Melee Island is back. Guybrush probably gets there through through the elevator in the tunnels. LeChuck's ghost ship is docked at Melee Island... but didn't Guybrush wipe out his crew? And how will Zombie LeChuck engage with his old crew? Why didn't he use them in MI2? The one thing Ron's said about this in the past is that Guybrush will probably go to hell. But what does that mean? Is that different to what's below Monkey Island? Are we doing a Dante nine levels of hell? Or is it a different kind of hell? The hell of everyday life as a young boy? Confirmed returning characters: Murray and the lookout. We can probably assume Elaine, Voodoo Lady and Stan will be back too.

Here's hoping for some new Steve Purcell box art.

The art style looks like an evolution from MI2, which was already leaning towards a stylistic vibe over the more 'realistic' SOMI. I know Ron wasn't such a fan of the more realistic close ups etc. I personally always liked them, and the pixel art kind of let your own imagination run wild as to what it all really looked like. I guess my one hope is that they keep that "light horror with an edge" vibe of MI2 - like that LeChuck was actually kind of scary. Some of his designs over the years with short stubby legs always felt like they undercut the character. But I'm looking forward to seeing more of everything. It's so great that so many of the original team are back!

Excellent eye, Laserschwert - it was fun to imagine!

There's been a bit of a one-two punch today between this post of Ron's: https://grumpygamer.com/april_fools_2022 And this Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/MonkeyIsland/comments/tu1p55/grumpy_gamer/ Ron has been very consistent with not doing April Fools jokes over the years... but either way, the artwork is beautiful.

If it were somehow 3a

That's very cool! What about the Monkey Island backgrounds?

Absolutely fantastic work!

Love this, thank you Laserschwert and Jake. What a time to be alive!

Love it, thank you

Absolutely stunning. Thank you, kiddomanteca!!

Well, that is amazing!

Just amazing, thank you

That looks amazing, Laserschwert!

Looks amazing!

This post from the Monkey Island subreddit sums up how I'm feeling:

I would kill for a Grog-o-mint pin!

Sigh - what could have been.