The Secret of Monkey Island

aka: The Secret of Monkey Island: Enhanced Version, The Secret of Monkey Island: VGA CD-ROM version
Moby ID: 141074
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Description

An updated version of The Secret of Monkey Island with some graphical and audio updates.

A notable change includes the inventory using icons instead of text, like in *Monkey Island 2

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Credits (Macintosh version)

50 People (47 developers, 3 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 16 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 117 ratings with 4 reviews)

Guybrush's Sega Adventure

The Good
The Secret of Monkey Island was one of the many classic adventure and RPG that were scheduled for a Sega CD port. One of the reasons that I bought the Sega CD was because of its ability to run some big RPG and Adventure games, which often didn't get released for cartridge-based, home console systems.

LucasFilm's wannabe, silly swashbuckler is a welcome addition to the Sega CD library. All the characters, comedy, locations and puzzles are brought over from the original computer version.

Young Guybrush Threepwood has arrived on a Caribbean Island with a dream; become a grog-drinking pirate. Along the way he will meet the beautiful governor, a zombie pirate and maybe, maybe, discover the secret of Monkey Island.

The Bad
The Secret Of Monkey Island doesn't really take advantage of the Sega CD hardware. Unlike the later remakes, this game seeks to be a direct port of the original game. Not a bad idea, if it can be done well.

Unfortunately, the Sega CD hardware can't handle a direct port. One of the first cases of this involves the Sega controller.

It is a bit awkward to control with the standard Sega controller. It's not impossible, but this is a game best suited for mouse. Alas, the Sega CD Mouse controller came later and isn't compatible with this game.

The second example of the hardware limitations involves the single speed drive.

The Secret of Monkey Island suffers from frequent pauses while the single speed device loads the disc's data. It's not quite as bad as the Sega CD port of Willy Beamish, but it's noticeable.

Then we come to the graphical limitations of the Sega CD. While it is nice to be able to see your inventory items (early computer versions of the game simply listed your available inventory), the overall graphics in the game suffer from the hardware limitations of the Sega CD.

The Sega CD - like its cartridge sibling - could only display 64 colors on screen, from a total palette of 512. This could be overlooked for the Genesis, because its hardware was designed in the 1980s.

However, when the Sega CD was released in the early 1990s, it was difficult to justify anything lower than 256 colors on screen out of several thousand. That was the capacity of the SNES and most PC and Mac computers of that era.

In this case, the Secret of Monkey Island looks darker and muddier than its original computer version. Not necessarily a bad look for a pirate-themed game, but it doesn't help sell the Sega CD as the Next Level of 16-bit gaming.

Finally, the game relies on a password feature, in order to save progress in the game. The save game feature wasn't great on the Sega CD (due to its limited available memory), so I can see why the game designers opted for a password system.

It's obviously better than nothing, but the passwords don't always save your entire inventory. Instead the password seems to only save the inventory items you absolutely need to win. Not a huge complaint, but can discourage experimentation.

The Bottom Line
The Secret of Monkey Island is a classic, point and click, graphic adventure game. Lucasfilm was a leader in adventure gaming and it's unfortunate that Disney, after buying the company, chose to close the book on these games. This Sega CD version is still fun to play, but suffers from the system's hardware limitations. It also would have benefited from a compatible mouse. Sega CD owners looking for an adventure game, should give the game a spin.

SEGA CD · by Shamal Jifan (20) · 2017

Guybrush goes to the "Next Level".

The Good
The Secret Of Monkey Island for the Sega CD is a near-perfect port of the DOS game of the same name. Most of what is great about this Lucasfilm PC adventure game is still great on the Sega CD.

The player takes control of a young and naive wannabe pirate as he explores the people, places and puzzles found in some Caribbean islands.

Initially, you are on a quest to become a pirate, at least in the eyes of the pirate leaders who hang out in a crummy looking bar.

However, as the game's story progresses you quickly become entangled in a supernatural and super funny world of zombie pirates, sword fighting, jail breaks, monkeys, a beautiful governor, cannibals and, yes, a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle of it.

Guybrush is (mostly) easy to control with the standard Sega controller, and a password feature allows you to save your progress in the game.

But for a few faults the game is a perfect port of an adventure games classic. What faults are these you may be asking? Well, some are the fault of Sega and some are the fault of Lucasfilm.

The Bad
The Sega CD promised to be the "Next Level" in gaming, but the hype was mostly just that.

The Sega CD had less internal memory then the Sega Genesis, and could only utilize 64 on-screen colors out of a total pallet of 512.

These two design flaws made it difficult for Lucasfilm to produce a perfect port of the Secret Of Monkey Island.

Standard PC computers often had more internal memory and the ability to utilize far more colors.

The Sega CD port has fewer colors, giving it a somewhat duller or darker tone.

The Sega CD port has to pause, quite often, to load the music, or whenever you move to a new location or, in the sword fighting quest, look through your list of available insults. It rarely goes longer then a few minutes, but it is noticeable.

The password feature, while helpful, doesn't always save all the items you collected. It does save the items you need to complete the required puzzles, but it does seem to discard the optional inventory items, where much of the game's humor comes from.

Finally, I have to say that it probably would have made much more sense to have released Monkey Island 1 and 2 as a boxed set collection or, the first Monkey Island with another classic adventure games.

The Sega CD port of Monkey Island didn't sell enough copies to warrant future ports of Lucadfilm adventure games. Why?

Beyond a lack luster advertising campaign, little in the game really takes advantage of the massive storage capacity of the Sega.

Had the first two Monkey Island games been sold together on the Sega CD, or maybe the first two Manic Mansions sold with Monkey Island 1, it would have been in a better position to justify the port of classic adventure games to the CD format.

The Bottom Line
Sega CD gamers have, in this game, a nearly perfect port of a PC adventure game classic. The Secret Of Monkey doesn't highlight the Sega CD potential terribly well, and suffers from the system's embarrassing hardware limitations. However, the game is still fun to play and a must own for any die-hard adventure gamer.

SEGA CD · by Edward TJ Brown (118) · 2014

The BEST LucasArts game!

The Good
Everything! I loved the funny little sprites, the music, the dialogue, the sound effects - everything! I bought the CD version in a second hand shop for $3. Best $3 I ever spent!

The Bad
The one thing I didn't like about this game was that the puzzles were a bit tedious. Sometimes they didn't make sense. But that minor little problem doesn't let down the whole game.

The Bottom Line
If you get it, I'd get the CD version. It contains enhanced graphics and better music. It also includes sound effects. For $3, what a bargain! LucasArts really topped it off with this one!

DOS · by James1 (240) · 2001

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by MAT.

Macintosh added by Kabushi. FM Towns added by Terok Nor. SEGA CD added by Unicorn Lynx.

Additional contributors: Alaka.

Game added January 21, 2020. Last modified March 2, 2024.