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The Genesis of Monkey Island...? 02 Apr, 2008, 00:53 / 10 comments

By elTee


This is a weird one. I was about to go to bed when I went through my spam folder and lo-and-behold if there wasn't an email from my old @mixnmojo address. God knows why it was being forwarded to my spam, or how many important e-mails I may have missed (grrr) but anyway, check this out:

SEGA Monkey Island?


It is what appears to be box artwork for a SEGA copy of The Secret of Monkey Island. What's weird about it is that Monkey Island was released on the SEGA CD, but not the SEGA Megadrive (or Genesis, if that's what you prefer.)

I can't tell you the source of the image, but apparantly it's on a rolling slideshow on a big plasma screen somewhere in the LucasArts complex. This photo was taken on a mobile phone as it rolled past, as the photographer experienced what I can only assume to be blind disbelief.

It all sounds crazy, and apparantly 'the woman' at LucasArts didn't know anything about it. Perhaps LucasArts were working on a Megadrive port of The Secret of Monkey Island and then canned it when the SEGA CD was announced? It's possible I guess.

For completists the original photo can be found here, albeit in a cropped form.

(PS. I don't know how to work the image system, but I figured this news was worth sharing as soon as I found it. Sorry if I've messed up our galleries!)

Update: Yes of course, it was an april fool. View the real (and very clearly fake) image below.

SEGA Monkey Island
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10 Comments

  • Ronzo on 01 Apr, 2008, 13:17…
    Woah, this is news to me!!
  • ThunderPeel2001 on 01 Apr, 2008, 10:29…
    Best April Fools joke ever!!!

    No, wait a minute...
  • Laserschwert on 01 Apr, 2008, 09:26…
    OR, elTee just phone-shot a self-made image from his computer-screen. Today I don't believe ANYTHING! :P
  • Glo_kidd on 01 Apr, 2008, 06:47…
    Extremely cool find elTee :D

    This makes me wonder who ended up with the mockup box... I want to see what the back looked like too :)

    This is definately worth some further digging, especially with that prototype un-edited Maniac Manision NES rom floating around the web. Who knows maybe someone has the prototype SMI Genesis/Mega Drive cart in their closet in a back room, hogging it all to themselves :P
  • Glo_kidd on 01 Apr, 2008, 15:25…
    Ya i think i got burned here, I noticed the date about 3 minutes after posting :P

    lol
  • elTee on 01 Apr, 2008, 17:53…
    Hehe, sorry man :(
  • Ronzo on 01 Apr, 2008, 18:18…
    :-(

    Boy is my face red. I completely forgot that it was April Fools day as well!

    Guess I'm a big fool now, huh? Just a big big fool...

    (Hey! I'm Ron Gilbert! Hello! Here I am!)
  • Glo_kidd on 01 Apr, 2008, 18:17…
    Nah man :) Its a totally plausible idea, esp. with the existance of the MM NES prototype and those "never really released yet they exist in a few collections" Amiga CDTV releases of loom and indy3
    Good form :D
  • Shmargin on 02 Apr, 2008, 07:17…
    Yeah, I thought this sounded reasonable, but the box pic looked too fake.

    I mean, MI wasnt exactly beyond the genesis. Proof of this lies in anyone whos played any other Sega CD games, they were basically genesis games with FMV cut scenes and CD music.
  • elTee on 02 Apr, 2008, 08:44…
    I'm not sure if the Megadrive could really have handled Monkey Island. I mean, it definitely could have done it in one form or another, but nothing as simple as a 'direct port' which the SEGA CD version feels like, even if it isn't.

    As for the fakeness: it was literally 01.00 AM and it occurred to me we didn't have an april fools (that I knew of.) If I'd had the chance to plan I'd have made a reverse cover too, and printed it in the library for 20p and then put it in a real Megadrive game box, then taken photos.

    But that would have been a lot of work for a fairly lame joke :)