Maniac Mansion
Description official descriptions
The Edison mansion has always been a creepy old house on the edge of town. There have been rumors of strange experiments going on and of odd creatures living amongst the Edison family. There is even a story that a meteorite once crashed near the home nearly 20 years ago. More immediately, a girl named Sandy has gone missing from the local highschool and her boyfriend Dave swears that he saw Dr. Fred abducting her. Dave knows that he cannot do it alone and will need help from two other students if he has any hope of infiltrating the mansion and rescuing Sandy.
Players start by choosing two students to accompany Dave to the Edison mansion, and can then switch between these three characters at will. Most actions are carried out by selecting verbs on the screen and applying them to an object (such as "OPEN Door"). Each character maintains a separate personality and may have a different way to solve a problem from his classmates. Thus many of the puzzles can be overcome in different ways depending on the character being used. If any one of the kids are captured by the Edisons, they are thrown into the dungeon and must be rescued themselves by any character who still has their freedom.
GOG release includes both Original and Enhanced game versions.
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Credits (Apple II version)
22 People (20 developers, 2 thanks) · View all
Produced by the |
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Created and Designed by | |
Programmed by | |
Graphic Art and Animation by | |
Sound Effects by | |
Original Music by | |
Apple Conversion Special Support by | |
Creative and Technical support by | |
Lucasfilm Games General Manager | |
Production and Marketing Management by | |
Administrative Support by | |
Lead Playtester | |
Special thanks to |
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Box Cover Art by | |
Package and manual designed by | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 82% (based on 54 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 282 ratings with 16 reviews)
The Good
Maniac Mansion features impressive graphics, music and sound effects. The eccentric characters, puzzlers, parodies and witty humor from the computer game are all here. If you like graphic adventure games and own a 8-bit Nintendo, then you need to play this game!
The Bad
Nintendo insisted that several things be censored before the game could be released. If you are familiar with the original computer version, you will notice the content changes and get a kick out of the Big N's censorship. Despite the strict content guidelines, some versions of the game do allow you to kidnap and brutally kill a pet hamster by frying him in the microwave.
The Bottom Line
Maniac Mansion is one of the few point n' click, graphic adventure games for the 8-bit Nintendo. The home console version is as fun to play as the computer version, with the biggest complaint being the silly and uptight content changes that were ordered.
NES · by ETJB (428) · 2010
The adventure game that makes no sense
The Good
In 1987, Lucasfilm released their first adventure called Maniac Mansion. It was also the debut of their SCUMM engine, which was superior to Sierra's AGI engine. As well as making it easier for designers, players could also select commands and objects on the screen, rather than entering them on the keyboard.
The story revolves around a meteor that has crash-landed near a mansion. Doctor Fred, the owner of the mansion, decides to bring it in from the cold and store it inside his “seckrit lab”. Since then, Fred does some strange things. First, he goes out and kidnaps a young girl, and hooks her up to his machine capable of turning innocent people into zombies. Then, he occupies himself with too much work, meaning that he doesn't leave his lab for years, even refusing to eat dinner with his own family. His bizarre behavior is affecting the entire family.
The news of the kidnapping reaches the girl's boyfriend, who comes to the rescue. Joining him are two of his friends. I like how you can play as different characters. You first start controlling Dave, who is the character that you play most of the time; but anytime during the game you are free to change to a different character and swap objects between the three of them. There are up to five other characters you can play, and all of them have different skills. For example, Syd and Razor both play a cool tune on the piano; and Bernard can put technology he finds to good use, such as the HAM radio).
How you treat the characters is up to you. You can rescue Sandy with all three kids intact, kill the main character and tough it out with just two kids, give the meteor a contact, or have him arrested. I actually played Maniac Mansion more than once just to watch each ending. Most of the endings are funny, especially the first one. I believe that multiple endings are hardly seen in any LucasArts game. Speaking of the characters, how they respond to you, as well as the others, is quite interesting to listen to: Edna with her sexually-suggestive comments, Weird Ed with his 'Tum de Dum' lines.
The graphics were good at the time. I like how the mansion is laid out, with at least two rooms on every floor. Apart from the second last floor, where Weird Ed and Nurse Edna live, you can just walk into any room and actually do something without getting caught. Everything, including the main characters, are quite colorful and animated nicely. I played the enhanced version, which looks much better than the original one.
Although there is little music in the game, the music is catchy. The sound effects are very basic, since everyone can only hear them through PC Speaker. The alarm that sounds when you turn the main power off sounds excellent, and what's funny about it is it sounds like a fire engine, and not a real alarm. I also enjoyed listening to the tunes that Syd and Razor uses the piano to belt out. The enhanced version sounds much better.
If you played any future LA games, then chances are that there is a fair bit of humor in Maniac Mansion. One example of such humor would be where you land yourself in the dungeon after being caught. Also, entering the wrong code for the big security door causes a nuclear meltdown. As I mentioned earlier, the endings are quite funny, especially if Doctor Fred gets involved.
The Bad
The “What is” command is useful for finding objects on the screen and using those in conjunction with the commands, but it doesn't help when you are in a dark room, where the light or lamp is already turned off. By selecting this command, you have to hunt for the light source, and this takes some time.
The Bottom Line
Maniac Mansion was not the first LA game that I played; that was Monkey Island 2. The first time I got to look at the game was from Day of the Tentacle, where you can access Ed's computer to play it. The one from DOTT uses Version 0 of the SCUMM engine, the same as the Commodore 64 version. This version had bland graphics compared to the 1989 remake of it.
Besides Zak McKracken, this is the only game that gives you the ability to control up to three characters during the game. As I mentioned before, each playable character has different skills, and because of this, Maniac Mansion can be replayed with different characters. Also, there are multiple endings, and most of these are worth watching.
If you enjoy playing LA games for their humor, then I recommend playing Maniac Mansion. you should get the 1989 version, as the graphics and sound are heaps better. I don't think that there are timer issues with it, so you should get it up and running on modern computers.
DOS · by Katakis | カタキス (43087) · 2008
A classic game, whose sequel I find a lot more appealing.
The Good
Maniac Mansion is a classic in all respects. I may not really like it, but I feel compelled to appreciate the amount of work which went into making a game to compete with adventure mammoth Sierra On-Line.
The graphics are decent, if nothing more. The story is interesting and well-implemented, the control system is intuitive and the scripting system is something of a legend - SCUMM has become the veritable core of all future LucasArts adventure games.
The Bad
It's boring! I don't know what it is that makes me twitch every time I play this game, but I never played it for more than 20 minutes, not to mention complete it. I don't know why, really don't, but this game bores the hell out of me.
The graphics are minimalistic and the music/sound effects (or more precisely, lack thereof) don't add to the general atmosphere of the game.
Also, from what I hear the game is extremely difficult - a couple of friends of mine told me it took them several weeks to complete it.
Either way, I prefer the amazing sequel The Day of the Tentacle every day of the week.
The Bottom Line
A classic game I don't really like, but can appreciate. Go play its sequel - you'll love it.
DOS · by Tomer Gabel (4536) · 2000
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Famicom version -- new entry? | Pseudo_Intellectual (66423) | Jul 21, 2012 |
Trivia
1001 Video Games
Maniac Mansion appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Chuck the plant
In the mansion's library, there is an un-useable plant called "Chuck the Plant" The plant also appears in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in Henry's room, and Day of the Tentacle in the lobby.
Copy protection
The computer versions featured an humorous copy protection scheme. In a new game a player entered the house, walked upstairs and are confronted by a giant iron bolted door which opens after entering four correct symbols on the keypad as shown in "Nuke'm Alarms - Nukes Burglars in their tracks: Owner's Disarmament Quick Reference Guide" included with the game. The wrong answer proved fatal!
Day of the Tentacle
Maniac Mansion is included as a bonus game inside Day of the Tentacle (on Ed's computer).
Hamster in the microwave
Players can microwave the hamster in any of the computer releases (but not the European NES version), but they have to use a sick-minded character (such as Syd or Razor) when doing it. Showing the exploded hamster to Weird Ed will make him kill that character.
NES version
The game was ported not once, but twice, to the NES. One version was made in America, while another one was made by Jaleco in Japan. The two versions look very different. It was one of the very few NES games to be translated into Spanish.
Many things had to be censored/changed to comply with Nintendo's policies: * Some of the language was toned down, for example: "The meteor is going to be pissed" was changed to "The meteor is going to be mad." * The "KILL THRILL" arcade game was changed to "TUNA" * "For a good time EDNA 3444" was changed to "Call Edna 3444"
A complete list of changes and more info can be found at http://www.crockford.com/wrrrld/maniac.html
In the European NES version, additionally the possibility to microwave the hamster was removed. In turn, at least in the German version, some linguistic points from the above list are closer to the original.
References
- The name of Razor's punk band is "Razor and the Scummettes", a reference to the SCUMM graphical interface used by LucasArts adventures.
- There is an X-Wing model in Ed's room.
- The speakers in the green tentacle's room are "THX" sound speakers. THX is a high-quality sound technology developed by Lucasfilm.
Zak McKracken
Connections between Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken (based on Amiga version): * In the game room there's a Zak McKracken poster. * In Maniac Mansion there's a chainsaw that has no gas. In the game Zak McKracken there is a can of gas on Mars. The can reads, "For use with chainsaws only". When trying to pick it up the character says, "I don't need it. It's for a different game." * "Tuna head" is said in both games. One of the aliens in Zak McKracken is always saying, "Tum de dum." In Maniac Mansion when Weird Ed is walking through the kitchen to get his cheese he says, "Tum te dum." * It appears that Zak happens to be going out with Sandy from Maniac Mansion. In Zak McKracken, if players go away and come back home enough times and keep checking the answering machine they will soon get a message from Weird Ed from Maniac Mansion. He calls up about going to a monster truck show, and that he'll come by with Sandy at 6:00 in the Edsel. * In Zak McKracken, at the police station in Nepal: there is a wanted poster for the purple meteor.
Remake
The German LucasFan Games developed a freeware 256-colour remake called Maniac Mansion Deluxe.
TV series
The game spawned a comedy series on the Family Channel in the early 90's.
Awards
- Commodore Format
- April 1991 (Issue 7) - listed in the A to Z of Classic Games article (Great)
- GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 03/2013 – One of the "Ten Best C64 Games“
- Happy Computer
- Issue 01/1988 - Best Game Idea in 1987
- Power Play
- 1987 - #2 Best C64 Game '87
Information also contributed by Игги Друге, Der.Archivar, Garcia, Jason Harang, kelmer44, Hitman23, Ricky Derocher, Tiago Jacques, whatt, Ye Olde Infocomme Shoppe
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Hints for Maniac Mansion
These hints by Kevin Carnes will get you through the game and help you solve the puzzles on your own. -
Howard & Nester do Maniac Mansion
A regular feature in Nintendo Power magazine, Howard & Nester was a comic strip about two game whizzes who would one-up each other, while disclosing hints and tips, in the settings of various recently-released games for the NES platform. In Volume 18's two-page installment, they explore Maniac Mansion with Razor, encountering Dead Cousin Fred, Green Tentacle, and Nurse Edna (the blue-skinned one, of course, from Jaleco's NES release.) -
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Lemon Amiga
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LucasArts' Secret History
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Replacementdocs (Apple II, Manual)
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Replacementdocs (NES, Bulletin Board)
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Replacementdocs (PC, Manual)
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Replacementdocs (PC, Quick Reference Card)
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The Maniac Mansion Fan Site
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Tony Van.
Amiga added by POMAH. Commodore 64 added by Rebound Boy. Macintosh, Windows, Linux added by Sciere. NES added by jeremy strope. Antstream added by lights out party. Apple II, Atari ST added by Servo.
Additional contributors: Jason Harang, Jeanne, tFX, Shoddyan, Sciere, Pseudo_Intellectual, Ricky Derocher, Zeppin, Patrick Bregger, Maniac Mansion Fan, Izmir Egal, Fred Zanfardino, Victor Vance, FatherJack, ZeTomes.
Game added January 10, 2000. Last modified April 1, 2024.