Details of Monkey Island

[Marius]

There are some things that excite me a ton, and I would consider them "small details" that we rarely talk about. Please share your favorite things from the games that make you happy.

 

Window Lights

In the town of Mêlée Island you can see some window lights turn on and off.

 

Changing location names on the map

Some location names change when you visit them the first time.

[BillyCheers]

One of the details that immediately came to my mind is the walking animation of LeChuck in Monkey Island 2. Especially in combination with the music (e.g. in the underground tunnels) it makes him super creepy! 😶
 

(Couldn’t find a gif unfortunately.)

[OzzieMonkey]

I always find it really funny how much LeChimp looks like Homer Simpson.

 

[Marius]

Monkey 1 has some amazing views. I love how much of the screen they occupy.

[Remi]

We take it for granted at this point, but that the coda changes if you leave Herman of if you abandon the crew is 👏.

 

[OzzieMonkey]

3 minutes ago, Marius said:

Monkey 1 has some amazing views. I love how much of the screen they occupy.

That top one especially really gives a sense of how big Monkey Island itself is. That's definitely something you want for a place that's meant to contain a mysterious Secret. My hope for Return is that there is a lot of unexplored areas of the island we get to see as Guybrush gets closer to uncovering the Secret and maybe revealing new mysteries.

[BillyCheers]

Perfect thread to give this all the love it deserves:

May not seem like a small detail, but I just LOVE how simple and yet amazing the Monkey Island logo is!

 

(And I am soooo happy, they brought it back for “Return”. 🥰)

[OzzieMonkey]

Just now, BillyCheers said:

Perfect thread to give this all the love it deserves:

May not seem like a small detail, but I just LOVE how simple and yet amazing the Monkey Island logo is!

 

(And I am soooo happy, they brought it back for “Return”. 🥰)

It's also really imposing for a logo so simple. That font is just striking and fits the piratey aesthetic of the games perfectly.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I know it's not MI, but re the logo: The level of attention to detail was so exact. (It's why the font changes in Full Throttle Remastered really bugged me.)

 

[Remi]

I don't remember this one verbatim, but if you have interacted with Spiffy in the SCUMM Bar, Guybrush will say "it's the dog from the bar" if you Look At the painting in the Governor's Mansion. Otherwise, he'll say "it's a man and a dog." (Paraphrased.)

 

[Laserschwert]

37 minutes ago, Marius said:

Monkey 1 has some amazing views. I love how much of the screen they occupy.

Still amazing how much subtle coloring they managed to pull out of that EGA palette (like the distance haze).

[BillyCheers]

This poster here is full of nice details:

 

 

First it serves to get Guybrush taken to Gov. Platt and imprisoned, and then we have to use it to do the same to Captain Kate.

 

Then it's already a nice detail that they took Guybrush's look from Monkey 1 and put a cheap mustache on his face. Perfectly logical in a time where there are no photos and you have to rely on hearsay.
But even nicer, of course, are all the crimes that can be read on it - and that renew themselves again and again when he's done some new crap. A nice gag, which I also discovered much too late... 

[madmardi]

I know this has been discussed before many times, but I absolutely loved iMUSE in MI2. Besides Woodtick, I remember being amazed by how the music from one theme would slowly fade away while the new theme would fade in when you made a transition. Every game before that the music changes were just so abrupt. You left a 'room' and the musics would just halt. I remember hearing that abruptness in other (non-LA) games even years later, and always wondering why they couldn't do something like iMUSE did back in 1991.

[Thrik]

23 hours ago, ThunderPeel2001 said:

I know it's not MI, but re the logo: The level of attention to detail was so exact. (It's why the font changes in Full Throttle Remastered really bugged me.)

 

I never really noticed before the similarities between the Monkey Island and Full Throttle logos. 😵‍💫 

[ThunderPeel2001]

1 minute ago, Thrik said:

I never really noticed before the similarities between the Monkey Island and Full Throttle logos. 😵‍💫 

Holy crap, I literally never noticed that until you just pointed it out 

[Vainamoinen]

On 6/17/2022 at 4:27 PM, Marius said:

Monkey 1 has some amazing views. I love how much of the screen they occupy.

 

I love the screens that have that kind of repoussoir in the foreground. It really gives the whole scene that much more depth and credibility. By Monkey Island 2, they had perfected the technique and we even had out-of-focus elements directly in front of our noses that framed and guided our view.

 

The two slanting ship masts that guide our view into Wally's home, for example. The map room under Rum Roger's house. The foreground of the Booty Island shop. Sometimes I feel like it's a lost art form as well and would today be considered a waste of space by modern designers.

 

It really, really isn't.

 

On 6/17/2022 at 4:31 PM, Remi said:

We take it for granted at this point, but that the coda changes if you leave Herman or if you abandon the crew is 👏.

 

It's an early example of interactive storytelling, and I love it dearly. From the guy who brought you "cut-scenes", here's a story that actually changes depending on how the protagonist acts. There's more of course, with an entire cutscene (Elaine meeting Guybrush on the dock) being optional depending on what order you do your tasks in. I really, really hope Ron brings this back.

 

There may be even more hilarious applications of the paradigm. 😄

 

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Vainamoinen

[Huz]

13 hours ago, BillyCheers said:

But even nicer, of course, are all the crimes that can be read on it - and that renew themselves again and again when he's done some new crap. A nice gag, which I also discovered much too late... 

I love this aspect too. It can be tricky to match the crime with the thing you did sometimes, but it's always possible...

 

Here's a question for the uber nerds. Are there crimes on the poster that act as rare achievements - either because you get them just before starting Part 3, so you need to remember to revisit the poster before leaving the islands, or because they relate to something completely optional you can do?

[Torbjörn Andersson]

7 hours ago, Huz said:

Here's a question for the uber nerds. Are there crimes on the poster that act as rare achievements - either because you get them just before starting Part 3, so you need to remember to revisit the poster before leaving the islands, or because they relate to something completely optional you can do?

 

The ever growing rap sheet is one of my favorite Monkey Island 2 jokes. The following crimes are always listed:

• the murder of G.P. LeChuck
•  the use of witchcraft on the person of Largo LaGrande
• the thievery of clothing and medically prescribed hair supplements for such witchcraft
• graverobbing
• trespassing
• larceny without a permit
• and releasing a dangerous reptile in a populated area

The rest of the crimes are conditional, but I'm not sure exactly what all of them correspond to. Some are mutually exclusive.

• disturbing the peace
• illegal gambling on a sporting event
• use of falsified identification for the purchase of alcohol
• exceeding allowable FDA limit for rodent parts in vichyssoise
• premature entombment of a non-dead individual
• reckless tampering with city-maintained plumbing without prior acquisition of an environmental impact report
• transportation of animals not in a mental state to give consent
• vandalizing a historical miniature
• reckless use of gardening tools
• impersonating a woman in order to evade prosecution
• unauthorized exiting from a penal institution
• two counts of unauthorized exiting from a penal institution
• unauthorized exiting from a penal institution
• impersonating a federal mail boat
• reanimating dead persons within city limits
• possession of library books not specifically checked out to oneself
• mixing drinks without a liquor license
• Also wanted for questioning regarding the disappearance of prescription eyewear

I hope I didn't miss any.

[Torbjörn Andersson]

As an aside, I guess the developers at Adventure Soft liked the rap sheet joke as well, because The Feeble Files had it too. With an even longer list of possible crimes:

• Piloting a Company spacecraft through an asteroid field.
• Damaging a Company spacecraft by colliding with unknown object.
• Piloting a damaged Company spacecraft.
• Failing to report damage to a Company spacecraft.
• Destruction of Company facility: Ministry of Galactic Uncertainty, Crop Circle Division.
• Unnecessary flamboyance when starting a Space Bike.
• Unauthorised messing about with a flashy space car.
• Unauthorised charging of carbonated drinks products.
• Lacing a drink with out-of-date Charm pills.
• Witholding information about treasonous activities from the OmniBrain.
• Using docking permits under false pretences.
• Making a treasonous statement about the OmniBrain.
• Making advances to a member of the opposite gender without a Hot Love Permit.
• Delivering a package to a centre of rebellious activities.
• Possession of out-of-date Charm Pills.
• Attempting to barter for Charm Pills.
• Attempting to incite other prisoners to escape.
• Dismantling decorations in Company Correctional Facility.
• Unauthorised nocturnal activity.
• Being found several times outside a correctional facility cell.
• Defacing security equipment with edible material.
• Tampering with Company property leading to malfunction of a security droid.
• Watching a traitorous TV channel.
• Setting in motion a Company production line out of hours.
• Possession of the traitorous Freedom Fighters Database.
• Forcing exit of a correctional facility thus damaging Company property.
• Taking and driving away a Prison Transport Vessel.
• Achieving release from Cygnus Alpha under own recognisance.
• Colluding with a known traitor Delores.
• Developing a sarcastic and critical sense of humour.
• Unapproved interference with natives from a Class C Planet.
• Removing a Company number from XDirectory.
• Phoning Citizens In Need without good reason.
• Releasing mind altering chemicals into the water supply of a Class C Planet without a permit.
• Using a Company teleporter without necessary status.
• Causing destruction of a Company research facility.
• Posing as a member of the opposite gender.
• Attempting to remove a captured ship from a junk droid.
• Endangering Citizens safety by deactivating a junk droid.
• Taking possession of a space car from a junk droid.
• Stealing a magnetic tow rope from a Company employee.
• Deliberately and repeatedly activating a spacebike alarm.
• Failing to be aware of a miraculous new Company product 'Miracle Mud'.
• Being spectacularly bad at a Company Entertainment Device.
• Causing unauthorised repair to an illegal spacecraft by being sneaky.
• Naughty rebellious goings-on at Asteroid 447.
• Illegal parking of a space Bike.
• Attempting to use female charms to gain favours from a Docking Controller.
• Attempting to use female charms without being female.
• Consorting with another known rebellious type, Gardum.
• Entering a Docking Controller's office.
• Stealing photographic equipment from a tourist.
• Indulging in a pointless activity: Ship Spotting.
• Causing a Docking Controller to be buried under a pile of rapidly-reproducing life forms.
• Removing a set of keys from the prone form of a docking controller.
• Unauthorised landing in a space car at Metro Prime.
• Attempting to steal Company Information Publication.
• Being present at a centre of rebellious activity.
• Tampering with a Company Robot.
• Tampering with a Company Robot again.
• General 'attacking the Company stronghold' type behaviour.
• Taking a security pass from a recently-vaporised Company Engineer.
• Having sympathy for a dying treacherous robot.
• Altering the operation of a Company ventilation system.
• Experimenting with grenades of unknown destructive capability.
• Introducing foreign bodily liquid into the OmniBrain's fluid.
• Taking a Company safety device: Fire Extinguisher.
• Taking a Company device: Antigravity weight.
• Taking fluid and matter from the OmniBrain vat.
• Reducing the temperature of a liquid life form to freezing point.
• Outwitting an Octoped and making off with a Company publication.
• Searching for protected information.
• Failing to lead a happy and fulfilled life.
• Looking up 'Directive Charter' in Oracle.
• Not watching Omni TV for long enough.
• Interrupting a Citizen in the process of validating a Hot Love Permit.
• Unauthorised knowledge of the location of the C.C.C.C.
• Using the food machine in Cygnus Alpha during Sleeptime.
• Failing to use an Apprehender droid for its intended purpose.
• Posing as a supernatural being.
• Exceeding Light Wave Soda quota.
• Collaborating in an extended pun.
• Wasting an Enforcer's time.
• Concealing deep-seated misery from a Happybot.
• Repeatedly defying a Docking Controller's orders.
• Using Earthspeak.
• Attempting to use a token to pay for a newspaper.
• Breaking into a Company Entertainment Facility.
• Owning in excess of 500 Company Gaming Tokens.
• Attempting to vandalise Company property.
• Attempting to use a Class A security pass machine.
• Poisoning a Company Employee: Ministry Controller.
• Theft of private property from a doddering Company employee: Ministry Professor.
• Misuse of a key pass.
• Creating a laughably unrealistic decoy in an attempt to deceive a loyal Company agent.

[AndywinXp]

Hoping that this can count as a detail, a very hidden one: COMI has a hidden old-style main menu in the code (I had to patch the executable to make it work). I guess that the kinda out of place palette for the "Are you sure you want to overwrite this game?" banner makes sense now

Edited June 19, 2022 by AndywinXp

[Marius]

Oh man the WANTED list is so good. Lots of material for fun mental images.

 

3 hours ago, Torbjörn Andersson said:

premature entombment of a non-dead individual

I guess they reported it but didn't bother to free Stan 😄

 

3 hours ago, Torbjörn Andersson said:

reckless use of gardening tools

Man, that gardener really can't stand Guybrush.

 

3 hours ago, Torbjörn Andersson said:

Also wanted for questioning regarding the disappearance of prescription eyewear

I love the mental imagine of Wally calling the police, and then giving a report to an officer in his home. Also that Wally cleary sees Guybrush as a suspect.

 

 

The responses in this thread are amazing btw. 🥰

[madmardi]

20 hours ago, madmardi said:

I know this has been discussed before many times, but I absolutely loved iMUSE in MI2. Besides Woodtick, I remember being amazed by how the music from one theme would slowly fade away while the new theme would fade in when you made a transition. Every game before that the music changes were just so abrupt. You left a 'room' and the musics would just halt. I remember hearing that abruptness in other (non-LA) games even years later, and always wondering why they couldn't do something like iMUSE did back in 1991.

Saw this at the store today and couldn’t help but think of this thread 😅

 

[Toymafia88]

On 6/17/2022 at 3:34 PM, OzzieMonkey said:

It's also really imposing for a logo so simple. That font is just striking and fits the piratey aesthetic of the games perfectly.

Its true, when they tried to update it for Tales and special editions it looked far less interesting.

 

Really shows less is more sometimes.

[Toymafia88]

6 minutes ago, madmardi said:

Saw this at the store today and couldn’t help but think of this thread 😅

 

Oh wow are you living in Japan, super jelous 😂

 

Visited there lots, amazing place.

[madmardi]

2 hours ago, Toymafia88 said:

Oh wow are you living in Japan, super jelous 😂

 

Visited there lots, amazing place.

 

Yea, I'm currently living in Osaka