Any Monkey Island fans?

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Any other Monkey Island fans here?

Monkey Island was my first special interest - I actually watched my parents play it when I was about three years old and have been obsessed ever since.

I played the first one on Sega CD. I thought it was good. I remember getting to LeChuck's hideout but being unable to complete the game. (No internet at the time)

Aww, I love Lechuck's hideout! Especially the music!

Were you stuck trying to get the key from his cabin? That's one of the bits that takes a slightly unexpected item.

Yeah. I kept examining LeChuck's room and possessions, only to discover that the bed was apparently full of blue worms. Eventually I was compelled to return the battered old coaster to the rental facility.

I've never actually played them, but I've enjoyed watching playthroughs of them on YouTube. (Love the "World of Longplays" channel.) It's amazing just how much the Pirates of the Caribbean films ripped from the Monkey Island games with no attribution. Here's an article about it for anyone interested.

But Monkey Island ripped off PotC (the ride), as well as On Stranger Tides (which the fourth PotC film is kind of based on).

XD Yeah, you use Stan's compass to get the key, since it's a magnet.



I love watching the playthroughs, sometimes when I'm also also doing something else so can't play them myself. It amuses me how PotC and Monkey Island stole so much from each other, although I do wish PotC had admitted it. And I didn't know Cracked mentioned it in an article, that's great!

The Pirates ride and On Stranger Tides came first, but Monkey Island didn't take much from them beyond the general atmosphere. The Pirates films, on the other hand, ripped so many details from the Monkey Island games that I'm stunned there was never a lawsuit. The screenwriters can't claim that they were unfamiliar with the games, since they wrote a Monkey Island screenplay in the early 90s. When the Monkey Island movie fell apart, it seems they just took their screenplay and did some minor rewrites and they had the first Pirates movie.

The first three Pirates films were also swiping scenes from On Stranger Tides before they officially used the book for the fourth movie. I think Disney is just smart enough to avoid lawsuits: they can point out that the Pirates ride existed before Monkey Island whenever someone points out their plagiarism (even though Monkey Island took nothing from Pirates and the latter took almost everything from the former), and by officially buying the rights to On Stranger Tides and using it for the fourth film, they retroactively make it okay for the first three films having ripped scenes from it.

Ah neat, I've never heard that one before. It must have been one of those "not very faithful to the game" movies if they only had to do -minor- rewrites.

I still need to read On Stranger Tides...it's just sitting on my bookshelf, I even let a friend borrow it =( I need to stop checking the Internet before bed, and grab a book instead...so many to catch up on...

I highly recommend Tides. Probably the second best pirate novel I've ever read after Treasure Island, and I've read quite a few of them, always hoping for something comparable to Treasure Island and usually ending up disappointed. The recommendation goes double if you're a Monkey Island fan, since the creators of the games have openly acknowledged it as their primary inspiration. (The fourth Pirates film has very little in common with it, aside from the title, the presence of Blackbeard and his crew, and the Fountain of Youth.)

Ooh, I should really read On Stranger Tides.

The Pirates! series by Gideon Defoe is really good, I've read two or three of them. Though I wouldn't say they compare to Treasure Island, they're a lot less serious.

Aardman made a movie of one of the books, and though I usually love Aardman, it's not quite as good as the original. They changed a lot of it, and left out most of my favorite parts.

I've had both the Defoe books and the animated film recommended to me, but never did get around to either. I'll get around to them eventually; I read so many books and watch so many movies that I get around to everything on my list eventually.

I played the original DOS version of first game (and the second) not long after it came out, as well as the third (which came out a bit later). I never got into the fourth games or the later series. There is a nod to PoTC ride in the second game, when Guybrush gets captured on Phatt island and is thrown in jail - there is a dog named Walt holding the key. I enjoyed the third game the most, though wish it was longer

"I am Murray, the invincible demonic skull!"

I don't know about the newer games (haven't tried them yet), but don't bother with the fourth game. Huge letdown.

I love the series. Granted, I've only beaten the first two and the first two episodes of Telltale's version (though I've played about halfway through Curse) but they're hilarious and bring back fond memories of gaming on my old 386.