The Secret of Monkey Island

The Good
The Secret of Monkey Island came to the Sega CD! Few graphic adventure games were released for the home console systems, let alone a wonderful game such as this. Everything that was great and laugh out loud funny about the computer version is here in full glory, along with a password feature.

The Bad
The first two problems are due to the hardware limitations of the Sega CD, which become even more absurd given the fact that this is not a perfect adaption of an old computer game.

Their is a loading time, that is not too terribly long but you will probably notice it from time to time. While most computers used 256+ on screen colors, the Sega CD only used 64, which gives Monkey Island a slightly drab and washed out look. The other problems stem more from the choices made by the friendly folks at Lucas Arts.

The passwords only return you to the general vicinity where you quit, with some of the items you collected missing. It is not a major problem because it does not interfere with the ability to beat the game, but it is something worth noting.

Last, but not least, the marketing behind this game was almost non-existent from what I can remember. As a limited commercial success, LucasArts decided not to release more of their CD-ROM graphic adventure games for the Sega CD.

The Bottom Line
The Sega CD version of the Secret of Monkey Island does not offer any major differences from the CD-ROM computer edition, beyond a password feature, single speed loading time and a slightly more drab look.

While it is hard, if not unwise, to mess with something as great as Monkey Island the Sega CD edition never got the support that it needed to be successful and thus home console gamers had to do with more LucasArts adventure games.

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.

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.