The International House of Mojo

Rightly fearful of a world where Escape from Monkey Island magazine coverage gets lost to the Mysts o'Tyme, our own Scummbuddy blew the dust bunnies off the scanner and preserved the feature story that graced the Sept. 2000 issue of Computer Games Magazine.

You may already be familiar with the cover of this issue, as it’s been universally acknowledged since the game came out to be objectively superior to the actual box art the geniuses in Marketing saw fit to approve in the end, but the preview itself by Cindy Yans is some proper journalism, and the pre-release quotes from Mike Stemmle and Sean Clark will take you back to those innocent, anticipatory days when we thought we had another classic coming our way. (Footnote: And we were right. Don’t want to hear it.)

Keep Reading

Source: Mojo Forums

No, not that Adventurer – this Adventurer. You know the one. The newsletter we unleashed with a roar and then kind of forgot about because of a shiny object that flew by. (The has taken an unhealthy interest in Duke Nukem Forever, for example.) Anyway – it’s back and you should subscribe…

… because we’re totally gonna keep it going this time, maybe. Hell, even if we did drop the ball, the worst thing that would happen is that you’d receive fewer emails. Which is kind of a bonus.

So, don’t be a butt – subscribe!

Double Fine published their appropriately loving tribute to their sophomore release last week, so why shouldn’t Mojo get in on the action on this most prestigious anniversary?

For us, the fun was revisiting what it was like to follow the game’s development all those years back, and it was quite the odyssey. In fact, we think it all played out a bit spicier than you may have mellowed it down to in your headcanon, though we should probably speak for ourselves given our well-established signs of mental deterioration. Anyway, join us as we travel back to the Age of Metal and relive the ecstasy and pain of Brütal Legend’s storied forging. Embrace your inner Doviculus, and you may recognize there is no distinction.

I mean, not in the classic sense, but rather that we’ve added another section to MojoDB Preview Edition: Cover Art. Frankly, LucasArts Posters is where you want to go for high-quality scans (Footnote: thx jan!), but then, do you really want to forego browsing classic artworks like this?

That’s the kind of bespoke content you can only find at MojoDB, your friend in LucasArts+ covers.

Got your plans set for the weekend? Cancel them, as your next few days will be spent traversing Mojo’s recently resurfaced podcast archive. Forty-two nuggets of gold from 2008 through 2019.

If you follow MojoCast in your favorite podcast software, you already have the updated feed, including a dozen episodes that were, until now, lost to time. And you can, of course, find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Podcast Index, through RSS, and so on. It’s even on YouTube if that’s your jam.

As for new podcasts? You got 20-odd hours to go through as it is, stop bothering me until you’ve listened to them all. >:

LucasArts soundtracks: You love them, you listen to them, and Mojo has hosted an unseemly amount of them over the years. Some, like the straight rip of The Secret of Monkey Island CD-ROM, are classics in their own right, but the real gems are the ones painstakingly mixed and/or recorded by sites like Highland Productions and Soundtrack Island (RIP (for now?)). And so, we’re trying to collect both types of soundtracks and make them accessible through our new YouTube list: The LucasArts+ Soundtrack Collection.

We’ve only put up fourteen videos so far, but the number should slowly but surely rise (unless another shiny object is dangled in front of us). And we hope some small details will make these soundtracks stand out just a little bit. For example, we’re trying to gather proper credits for the compositions—who wrote what for Escape from Monkey Island? We got a scoop of the scoop. On the flip side, who created those lovely MT-32 recordings of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge and Sam & Max Hit the Road? Mojo’s very own server admin: Zaarin! (Seriously, those Woodtick synth pads are true chef’s kisses.) To top it off, we’ve tried to up the nostalgia factor for at least some of the albums by adding screenshots and concept art for the various tracks.

It’s all a work in progress. But it’s a start.

Do you have any information pertinent to any of the albums? Credits? Anything? Sound off. We’re agile around these parts.

Now go browse the collection.

“The soundtrack uploads on Youtube are quality work. I really like the diverse mixes, and every thumbnail design” —Marius, giving his stamp of approval.

We’re just a tick behind schedule on this—what’s a year or four amongst friends?—but MojoDB is starting to come together. Sort of. At least enough so we can give you, our privileged core readership, an exclusive preview of the MojoDB Trivia section. Enjoy a mix of ancient content from our current not-at-all-outdated trivia section as well as gems from the excellent SCUMM Bar. Hey, it’s a bit more readable than what we currently have, at least. And you can rediscover gems like this—Raz appearing in Alice: Madness Returns.

This is all to whet your appetite and expect practically everything to change as we move along. But, for now, enjoy our new Trivia section—just another bespoke service from your friends at Mojo.

It’s quiet days, so we might as well toss an old-school trivia nugget your way. This time, a perennial elTee favorite.

Mark Ferrari, what a pro.

Look, I’m not gonna lie. This post is probably about trying out a beta feature. Probably? Entirely. But why not do so with a classic piece of trivia to do so? Double the fun if you so like.

Sure, most of Mojo’s esteemed readership recognize that little chestnut, but you’d be surprised that many aren’t familiar with the alternate ending.

In the realm of fringe dorkdom, few catastrophes resonate more rancidly and/or amusingly than the cancellation of Sam & Max: Freelance Police on March 3rd, 2004.

Yup, it’s been twenty years now, and what better way to mark this bittersweet anniversary than by cracking open our pitiful memoir on the topic for a re-read. Or at least to gawp shamelessly at Bill Eaken’s artwork for it, conveniently available with and without text. Frankly, if you don’t already have that thing framed in your house, a question is inescapably raised: Are you even Proper Mojo™?

For years* your Max plushie had to alone put up with your unregulated private detective skills and musings.

Finally the day has come for these crime-fighting and life partners to adorn your computer shelf together.

Now open for preorders on Uncute is the Sam plushie, for a seemingly high $50 pricetag. But you can't leave Max alone can you? That's ill-advised.

*if you could afford the import/shipping costs...

Source: Uncute Plushies

It's been two years since our inquiry into the public access TV show Fiction by Louie was published and we took home all those Pulitzers. Like any artistic masterpiece, it included a single imperfection to avoid offending the divine. Alerted by Remi’s cynical-minded promotion of the article on Bluesky this week, Dave Grossman caught the mistake and brought it to our attention.

One of the tidbits that appears in the article is that a MIDI track used in the show was composed by the familiar name of Patrick Mundy. Thinking that I could trust my memory of The Secret of Monkey Island opening credits, I styled him as “Patrick Mundy of Earwax Productions fame,” but Dave points out to us that the composer was in fact separate from the Earwax guys. A quick revisit of the game's opener shows that I was indeed blending credits in my head:

Dave further notes that Mundy was the composer of the music heard when navigating Guybrush around the top-down views of Mêlée Island and Monkey Island. I didn’t know that before, and as we’ve established I know everything, so it seems this all worked out profitably in the end. Though it will be your instinct, I assure you there is no need to thank me.

Remember in 2003, when all the Domino bricks started falling, and we learned that, yes, a Monkey Island movie was in production at some point? In 2013, we published a short article about it on The SCUMM Bar, and it has now resurfaced here on Mojo.

In 2021, Polygon published its own story with a lot more official-ish information, of course, but it never really caught the zeitgeist angle quite as vividly. So, go read and relive the movie that thank god never was.

Want to relive the Monkey Island 2 commentary tracks without the hassle of playing the game or dealing with YouTube? Mojo got you covered with our new Commentary Browser. Thirty-one tracks, all at your fingertips, right here!

Usual caveats apply: Minimal beta testing, may not work on your device, etc.

Rumor has it the CEO is already working on expanding this with his favorite game, Day of the Tentacle, so stay tuned.

We keep digging through the archive, this time stumbling across our #monkey-island IRC chats with Ron and Dom.

All I can do is apologize.

So, we’ve made the rounds after Xwitter fell out of favor: Instagram, Threads, even YouTube Shorts. None of them were for us. And while our Mastodon presence will remain, we have decided to take matters into our own hands: Today M soft launches.

This is a social network that has it all: Properly embedded images and videos; threading that actually works; a conversational structure. How can we achieve these things other social networks can only dream of? The secret lies in our artisanal technology stack: Mid-90s-era forums.

Yes, M is built on our existing forums. It is a forum, just with some slight alterations. M is where we post the type of short-form articles we used to post on the sosh: “Mojo Scene of the Day” is already going. “Your Daily Watch is a new thing. Much more to come over the next few days: Rumor has it Thrik is firing up his meme machine. M is short-form Mojo, in other words. Microblogging. You get the idea.

Currently, only Mojo can start topics, but we welcome everyone to join in the conversation (screw you Bluesky). Welcome to M, by Mojo. (Footnote: We actually own MbyMojo.com—don’t accuse us of spending those Patreon funds willy-nilly.)

Never you mind about what Rotten Tomatoes or some Reddit mega thread has to say. The final word on cinema, as on all matters, is Mojo’s, and you are all her constituency. With pride in this civic duty, we bring you our release date review of Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny. After reading it, you will require no other review, or much of anything, because you’ll be dead of old age. Cripes, Jason.

Disclaimer: While we tried to be mindful about spoilers by refraining from any explicit summary of the plot beyond the first act, we can’t vouch for what your personal standards are. Go to the cinema clean if you want to experience the movie that way. And who are you kidding, anyway -- it’s not like you aren’t going see this like a good little consumer.

I have no problems admitting I don’t really “get” speedruns, but as others do, I feel like I should link this “Monkey Island 2 Speedrun History” video.

Ron even makes an appearance, so that must be worth something even for those who don’t hurry through games.

I haven’t watched the video yet, but I can only assume it takes place to the dulcet tones of “The Cook Chase.”

Source: Legend of MI

You may or may not recall how we introduced a virtual LeChuck’s Revenge code wheel replacement a few months back. While not particularly relevant to most—DREAMM and the Special Edition bypass the code screen fully—those with exquisite taste may still prefer to play the game on an Amiga emulator. (Or, if you’re Benny, the actual Amiga!)

Which all is to say, we now have a new Secret of Monkey Island code grid for your hacking pleasure. Mojo’s beta testing has, of course, been axed by the CEO , meaning... This should work, but who knows?! No money-back guarantee.

Your late-nineties self sure will appreciate this!

We had grand plans for Mojo's 25th anniversary last year, at least until Return to Monkey Island was announced. And, as the CEO had made necessary cuts to our features department (“preparations for emerging financial realities”), we could only focus on one. Needless to say, ReMI won out over Remi.

But: We're still in our 25th year, and there is plenty of time left to celebrate. (Months!) To kick it off, Jason put his mean face on and made all staffers pick their favorite Mojo articles from our vast back catalog.

And he didn't stop there.

For those who really want to reminisce, former staffers Spaff and Jake get meditative as they look back on their glory years. Even telarium gets in on the fun, sneaking in a small Tales of Monkey Island trivia.

Check out the whole 12-page extravaganza and relive some true relics from our past. And more to come, maybe.