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April Fools Madness 01 Apr, 2002, 14:43 / 51 comments


So, no, Monkey Island 5 isn't real. Yet. It was all a poorly orchestrated farce from some bored webmasters and a lovable voice actor. People have asked for the history of our overly-elaborate joke (not to mention the music and any unused lines), so here it is:<:MORENEWS:>

First off there was the leaked "I'm Guybrush" line. Following that was a clip from what appeared to be cutscene audio re-introducing Largo. And, finally today, April 1st, some dialogue between Guybrush and the 2 puppets from EMI surfaced. Of course, it's all lies.

Considering the Monkey Island series' roots in "Pirates of the Carribean," it's only fitting that this years April Fools gag was thought up during a Mojo trip to Disneyland at last year's E3. Originally we were going to turn Mojo into a porn site for the day. Use of the winking Elaine gif was debated and, thankfully, dropped after two seconds of discussion.

Once we realized that idea was idiotic (and disgusting) we settled on forging the existance of Monkey Island 5.

After checking with the appropriate people that the plan was okay to do, we secured the help of Dominic Armato, who was eager to help (yes, it's really him). Following approval from the powers that be and Mr. Armato, we set about writing everything down. Almost all of the dialogue was written by Mojo staff writer Andrew "telarium" Langley sometime in early March.

Dom dissapeared for a month and panic ensued. Finally, on Friday March 29th, recording was completed. For the next two nights Andrew and Jimmi "Serge" Th?gersen from HighLand Productions worked on fixing up music, and editing together the cutscene and puppet bits.

The joke started getting out of hand when World Of MI posted a fake Monkey 5 box by notable fan artist Paco Vink. "Return to Monkey Island" it is! Though not everyone was fooled it was still pretty fun, and we hope you all enjoyed it!

As a bonus, here are some recorded lines we didn't use, as well as the 2 music tracks separated from the dialogue:And, in case you missed them the first time around, here are the three "authentic" "leaked" sound clips from Monkey Island 5:
There's always the failed April Fools ideas. For instance, Jedi Outlaws: Six-Shooter Lightsaber was scheduled to make a guest appearance today but due to the excessive laziness of Mojo staff it didn't happen. However, we do happen to have the theme song for your not so listening pleasure.

Tremendous thanks to all who helped out and weren't credited (and thanks to those who knew about it and kept their mouthes shut!). And, biggest thanks of all to Tom Sarris!
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51 Comments

  • WilliamStewart on 07 Apr, 2002, 06:38…
    the voodoo priestess in emi said she had a 5 game unbreakable deal with lucasarts to guybrush....so there has to be another one and largo should be in it i think that would be a great surprise so should all of the original islands on 2 cds so you can explore all the islands from all 4 games in 3d like emi that would be cool
  • macl on 05 Apr, 2002, 09:56…
    Nice music cuts!!! Simply great!! Will you please release a full version of them? Not mind the joke (great joke indeed), but the music is a great MONKEYMIX!!!
  • GoodSoup on 04 Apr, 2002, 09:47…
    I'm Guybrush Threepwood, and I really need MI5. Great joke guys!
  • Nemisis on 02 Apr, 2002, 18:19…
    Why is everybody so mad about this? I think it's funny. Useing the original Guybrush was gold.
  • telarium on 02 Apr, 2002, 20:47…
    I don't see many people being mad about it. Most people seem to be very good sports about it all, thankfully. :) We just wanted it to be fun.
  • Morpheus on 02 Apr, 2002, 12:39…
    I'd just like a long complete version of the Largo theme in the same style you did it for that clip! :P
  • fionabunny on 02 Apr, 2002, 12:13…
    CURSE YOOOUUU!
    Make it real, I say, make it REAL!
    *whips out voodoo doll and stabs it repeatedly*

    Let's make biscuits!
  • Muppet on 02 Apr, 2002, 10:21…
    Hey, does that now mean this Monkey Island 5 will suck hard fictionally just like Curse of Monkey Island did in real life?
  • Big_Whoop on 02 Apr, 2002, 08:04…
    I just love these music files!!
    I want more!!!
  • GregD on 02 Apr, 2002, 02:58…
    Hats off to the people who took part... especially tel and jimm for the music and dialog

    Out takes were possibly funnier than the original files themselves :)



  • jannar85 on 02 Apr, 2002, 02:19…
    All I can say is: Great work, good joke(s), and it was just great!

    You tricked me for a second! :D
    heh... You're the best!
  • Marek on 02 Apr, 2002, 02:13…
    You said "ensued" ...
  • ED on 02 Apr, 2002, 01:15…
    the outtakes are better than the real thing, you should make some more of these
  • Dalixam on 02 Apr, 2002, 01:42…
    What "real" thing :)
  • ED on 02 Apr, 2002, 05:25…
    Well the real one that you released
  • Dalixam on 02 Apr, 2002, 05:52…
    I didn't release any sound files?
  • ED on 02 Apr, 2002, 07:44…
    ok voice files, Stop messing with my head it can only take so much info. :)
  • Metallus on 02 Apr, 2002, 08:40…
    Dalixam wasn't involved with this particular scheme :).
  • Jake on 03 Apr, 2002, 13:19…
    Yeah, none of us were. I swear it's real coming from LEC! It's Dom in the recordings for gods sake!
  • SunshineSlayer on 02 Apr, 2002, 00:47…
    Hi :) I haven't posted here before, but I work over at adventuregamers.com. I just wanted to say how much I loved this April Fools joke. It was really well done and made me lmao. :)

    I can't wait to meet everyone from mixnmojo at E3!
  • spaff on 02 Apr, 2002, 08:38…
    *sob* i cant goooooooooooooo
  • SunshineSlayer on 02 Apr, 2002, 11:05…
    I know, that really sucks. :( Are you sure you can't like fit inside Mareks' suitcase or something? That way you can go free of charge? :)
  • deadworm222 on 01 Apr, 2002, 22:03…
    LOL !! That was marvellous !!

    I think you folks should do MI5 :D
  • spaff on 02 Apr, 2002, 08:40…
    yes we should. :) ok maybe not me...
  • SrpskiPrinc on 01 Apr, 2002, 20:23…
    Ok, i know this is a whole April Fools joke and everything, but i got to thinking, would lucasarts make another one? I mean think about it....I would like a 5th one. When i first thought about the 4th monkey island i couldnt believe it, then it came out, now i this april fools stuff actually got me thinking, could they and would they make another one in the not too distant future?
  • netmonkey on 01 Apr, 2002, 19:34…
    Heheh, Yeah, I got kind of skeptical whenever I realized it was april first.. I decided to wait for the announcement that it was a joke.

    Good voice acting! If you would like to do some voice acting for my games, e-mail me at netmonkey@cellosoft.com

    hey, did djg do the voice for largo?
  • Bobo Donkey? on 03 Apr, 2002, 11:23…
    dominic did the voice for largo didnt that seem obvious to you.--apparantly not-- good april fools joke. the best so far from anything i have seen. it just too bad i was away on holiday. i missed the whole thing(sob) oh well. i think then there does become a MI5? they should use that largo scene(but with someone else doin largo, dominic just didnt sound right.)
  • DJG on 02 Apr, 2002, 11:19…
    I don't do voices. I'm an artist.
  • netmonkey on 01 Apr, 2002, 19:37…
    never mind about djg.. I didn't read the whole message :-P
  • MonkeyMug on 01 Apr, 2002, 19:12…
    I'd like to quote something my best friend Perivydash said.. "Holy **beep**!!! Those outtakes are **beep** funny!!! God Dom sounds
    hot...." *wonders if she should say she agrees with PID* Opps I guess I just did... ^.^;
  • invisibelle on 01 Apr, 2002, 23:35…
    heh.
  • john_doe on 01 Apr, 2002, 18:40…
    Cooly cool! Especionally the "outtakes" were hilarious!
    Well done folks!
  • telarium on 01 Apr, 2002, 18:24…
    I just wanted to drop a quick note and thank all of those involved, especially Serge for helping me write the music and Dom for being a great sport. It was a real thrill, considering it'll probably be the closest I'll ever get to working on a Monkey Island game. And thank you guys for debating about its validity, which is what we really wanted in the first place! :)
  • Serge on 01 Apr, 2002, 19:09…
    And back to ya :) Same comments from me really. Plus, it was great to be back in the HighLand business after all these years :)

    And I hope you people don't hate us TOO much for doing this :) Let's just hope the next time we hear about MI5, it will be for real.
  • Remi O on 01 Apr, 2002, 16:36…
    "recently divorced and out on the prowl"? Humour!
  • Kj?len on 01 Apr, 2002, 16:19…
    If LucasArts was involved in this then I wouldn't be surprised if hey decided to use some of those in MI5, I think you got famous MixnMojo! :O
  • RaptorII on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:46…
    I just wish I could have been there when they were thinking all this up. It sounds like they had lots of crazy fun down in LA. :\
  • spaff on 01 Apr, 2002, 17:51…
    actually it was really miserable.... nah im just kiddin. it was damn good fun. i can't go this year tho = sux0r
  • raVen_image on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:44…
    Nice follow up. After it was revealed that this was a joke, I assumed that all permissions were already obtained from LucasArts.

    And the bonus soundfiles are great!

    Again, it was a great ride ...KUDOS!!
  • MonkeyMug on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:19…
    *really wishe's she could edit her last comment* Wait, a sec... This outtake thing makes it look like Mr. Bunny here helped out!
    GBT: I have one vote! *Message me for his Mini site, I will not put an ad here... cuz I'm nice*
    Blaze: Ignore Guybrush here, he think's he's the real one... hmm... Did he say divorced? =^.^= PURRRRR... Hee hee ^.^;
  • Metallus on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:15…
    Dance Dance Jedi Revolution! Or SOMETHING!
  • 8 of 12 on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:15…
    I didn't believe it. I wanted to, but the closeness to the date was too convenient. It was still very mean.
  • Jake on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:11…
    By the way, for those who claimed otherwise, the cannon and ship battle sounds in the Largo cutscene weren't from CMI, they were mixed by Andrew. He thinks LEC might have the same stock sound CD that he does, though.
  • Dalixam on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:10…
    Think "Groundhog Day" (The movie) :)
  • MonkeyMug on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:20…
    OH YEAH!
  • cpage on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:09…
    i'm hurt :(
  • MonkeyMug on 01 Apr, 2002, 15:08…
    It was good, now I want more. Why can't April 1th be every day? WHY?!?!?
  • bigjko on 03 Apr, 2002, 14:32…
    It's 1st!! Not 1th!! :P ;)
  • Nemisis on 13 Apr, 2002, 14:45…
    Yep, that's absulotly rite! :D
  • Nemisis on 13 Apr, 2002, 14:50…
    That last one was just a joke, but I'm a really sucky speller.
  • Nemisis on 13 Apr, 2002, 14:52…
    Well come on! I'm only 10 years old!