The International House of Mojo

Elaine would never marry Guybrush. This alone makes all the sequels wrong. As a purist I hope Ron picks up the story like he promised where he left off MI2.

I think you're incorrect. It's just that the line is only triggered by certain circumstances. I used to know all this stuff...

No. It didn't. Not until the CD-ROM release.

In the earlier versions - well, my Amiga one at least - all Elaine says is, "I wonder what's keeping Guybrush?" The next line about LeChuck's horrible SPELL (in caps, no less) was new in the CD-ROM version, released either just before or just after CMI.

I noticed it immediately when I first re-played the game on CD-ROM. I've even gone back and replayed the Amiga version twice to make sure I wasn't imagining it. Yes, twice, because after a few years, I started second-guessing myself again.

I stopped losing sleep over the meaning of the LeChuck's Revenge ending 20 years ago. I still like to hear other people's takes on it (why else would I be here?), but it grates me when anyone tries to insist that Ron Gilbert's vision was a curse, based on that ending, because it's just not true.

I don't consider that line canon, because Gilbert didn't write it. It was inserted years later to make CMI's retcon make more sense. But on that note, I whole-heartedly agree with the following:

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the piece Jennifer wrote for out EMI "Secret History" article awhile back that explores the strong Disneyland connection with the fourth game in particular. I had intended to link to it in the article along with The SCUMM Bar one but I didn't keep track of that original intention.

http://mixnmojo.com/features/sitefeatures/LucasArts-Secret-History-Escape-from-Monkey-Island/5

Monkey Kombat!

Honestly, the Humongous Entertainment games were fantastic.

I also like all the games - only in recent years I started to see the value of Monkey 4, and apart from some elements there are some great things in it as well. As someone once said - it's easier to like now that it's not the finale of the series. I always get a bit sad when people automatically discount any Monkey Island game that doesn't have Ron Gilbert's involvement. Not to understate his importance for the first two games, I still think that most of the things people remember most fondly of them came from people like Grossman, Schafer, Purcell, Chan and Land, and without a game like Curse the series wouldn't be as well remembered and highly regarded as it is today.

I'm not necessarily hoping for a Monkey sequel helmed by Gilbert either - apart from The Cave he really didn't make anything after Monkey 2 that I liked, while other people who worked on the franchise continued to impress me after their time on the islands. I'd love to see another game/series by either Telltale or Double Fine though. There's really no reason to ignore the last 3 games in the series either, unless Herman Toothrot's backstory is really essential to Gilbert's secret master plan.

I actially like all the Monkey Island games. Even Escape, I think the major problem there might have been the controls and things like Monkey Combat. Also, Herman's story makes no sence. The tourist stuff was a bit thick, but that doen't make it a bad game, and Charles L. Charles was kind of awesome in his own way.

Wait, what monkey corpse? The giant monkey head is made of stone. That and the rib cage stairs too.

They're the exact opposite of What If stories.

I consider Curse, Escape and Tales to be 'what-if' stories. Not the true continuation of MI2.

This is the second time I've heard the "Guybrush's childhood dream" argument here (or was it on The Scumm Bar?). I don't see how any attempt to explain MI2's argument can brazenly overlook the two most obvious clues to the player (which literally spell out what's going on -- twice, no less).

MI2 always ended on a curse. There's not really any confusion about that. It was jarring, surprising and weird, but that's how the game ended. QED.

Trying to pull in later creator's visions in support of a different interpretation (all of which follow the "it was a curse" route, I might add) is like trying to pull in other blog posts about it. They literally are not canon.

Anyways, that's just my 2c.

What baffles me is how everyone always overlooks the fact that there's a giant monkey corpse on Monkey Island. Somebody made a choice there that's never been fully explained.