This is my SCUMM | The Secret of Monkey Island

THIS IS MY

The Secret of Monkey Island

Year: 1990
Country: United States
Format: 5.25’’
Box condition: EX

What’s in my box:
8 floppies , manual , Dial-A-Pirate , reference card , 2 poll cards

TRIVIA

- Technical specs according to the label: PC, XT, AT, PS/2™, TANDY^® 640K RAM 16-color VGA/EGA/MCGA/CGA, TANDY. Joystick and mouse optional. Supports AdLib™ and SOUNDBLASTER™ cards. Eight 5.25″ 360K disks. Hard drive recommended.


	IBM DOS v1 (16-Color/EGA) version

- Essentially the same box also came out for IBM DOS v2 (256-Color/VGA), IBM DOS v3 (“Enhanced version”), Amiga, Atari ST, and Macintosh (with different spec labels).

- The IBM DOS v3 and Macintosh boxes have different screenshots on the back (details further down). The first also boasts some additional text to promote the new enhanced features “music in CD-Audio” and the inclusion of multilingual versions of the game and manuals.¹

- First box of this SCUMM games series to not have the swirl paint background (and it’s gone for good).

- The line “A graphic adventure by Ron Gilbert” is nicely tailored to the aesthetics of the title adopting the “The Secret of” font.


	Complete title from the front cover

- The illustrations (front and back cover) were done by Steve Purcell who also worked on the game’s background art. He remembers:

For both Monkey Island covers I was an artist on the games so I knew all the elements. I submitted three sketches for each, pencil sketches for The Secret of Monkey Island and on LeChuck I did three little paintings on my ideas. One would transfer the sketch to the board. The first Monkey Island painting was in dyes and gouache (an opaque watercolor).²

Purcell on one last minute change:
When I did the actual cover I had painted Guybrush's expression more tentative, sort of 'in awe'. It was decided that he should have a more mature, determined expression so I brought the painting home and repainted his face.³


	Sketch 1⁴: tied up Guybrush and Elaine		Sketch 2⁵: Guybrush and Elaine venturing out		Sketch 3⁶: version that made the final cut

- Two of Purcell’s more elaborate early colored drawings that (more or less) made it onto the front cover:


	The giant monkey head⁷		LeChuck's ghost ship⁸

- The two cannibals are Sharptooth and Lemonhead (with Red Skull missing).⁹

- Front cover Elaine does look like herself in-game during close-ups but wears a different shirt than in normal game screens.


	Elaine in close-up		Elaine in normal game screens

- Elaine is supposedly based on Avril Harrison, an artist who was working for Lucasfilm Games at the time.¹⁰

- The white monkey is imitating Elaine's and Guybrush's posture, with a banana in his hand (instead of a sword).

- The three pirates as well as the big skull and bones are not really found in-game and seem to only serve the overall mood
of the box art.

- Purcell's name appears on the hem of the pirate to the right.


	Purcell's signature

- While his ship is there, no image of LeChuck appears on the front or the back cover! Not even his name is brought up.

- Guybrush is wearing the necklace from the navigator’s head that makes him invisible to LeChuck’s crew.


	Navigator’s head and necklace

- The content of the back cover is framed by rope ladders and monkeys wearing purple pirate hats, bandanas, and cool sashs.

- The introduction is an excerpt from The Memoirs of Guybrush Threepwood, the Monkey Island Years.

- Let’s have a look at the screenshots and their highly ironic captures. Screenshot 1 is from the 256-Color IBM/VGA (v2) version whereas screenshots 2, 3, and 4 are from the 16-Color IBM/EGA (v1) version.


	Screenshot 1: Do business with quaint and humble shopkeepers.


	Screenshot 2: Participate in complex and meaningful dialogs.¹¹		Screenshot 3: Visit interesting places and steal stuff.		Screenshot 4: Experience the never-ending nightlife of Mêlée Island.

- Screenshot 1 is impossible to reproduce. Stan calmy waiting for customers with Guybrush completely out of the picture and active verb panel. Not happening in-game!

- Screenshot 1: There is an interesting story that Brad Gilbert shared about Stan’s vending machine:

Originally, I wanted the Grog Machine to be a Coke Machine, baring that, I wanted it to look like a Coke machine. It originally had the "Coke Wave" on it, but said "Grog". The Lucasfilm legal team came back and said it was too close to the real trademarked Coke Wave. I tried to argue parody to no avail. We kept changing it little by little until legal was satisfied it didn't look too much like a Coke machine.¹²

- Screenshot 2: a close-up of “Spiffy the Dog”. The image however does not appear in the actual game at all. It was cut to save space on the floppy disks, but the marketing team had already chosen it for the artwork.¹³

- Also, Spiffy in the bar screen is grey with a bone, not a white Snoopy look-alike.


	Spiffy close-up from the box		Spiffy in-game

- Screenshots 1, 3, and 4 also feature a different font for the verb panel and inventories that are impossible to have at these points in the game.

- The IBM DOS v3 and Macintosh boxes have different screenshots (most probably in order to showcase the new graphical verb/inventory panel) but keep the same captures:


	Screenshot 1: Participate in complex and meaningful dialogs.


	Screenshot 2: Do business with quaint and humble shopkeepers.		Screenshot 3: Visit interesting places and steal stuff.		Screenshot 4: Experience the never-ending nightlife of Mêlée Island.


	Verb/inventory panel IBM DOS v1 and v2


	Verb/inventory panel IBM DOS v3

- "Eye-gouging 3D graphics": Yes, Guybrush can walk behind objects!¹⁴

HOME

References:
(1) “The Secret of Monkey Island Covers.” Moby Games. www.mobygames.com/game/secret-of-monkey-island/cover-art. 2020/03/10.
(2) Retro Gamer. No. 116. Sep 9, 2016. P. 30.
(3) Retro Gamer. No. 116. Sep 9, 2016. P. 31.
(4) “The Secret of Monkey Island (Concept Art).” The International House of Mojo. https://mixnmojo.com/media/galleries/The-Secret-of-Monkey-Island-Concept-Art. 2020/03/01.
(5) Idem.
(6) Idem.
(7) Marley, Scott (Editor).The Adventurer. Volume One, Number One. Fall 1990. P. 2.
(8) Idem.
(9) “Cannibal.” Monkey Island Wiki. https://monkeyisland.fandom.com/wiki/Cannibal. 2020/03/10.
(10) “The Secret of Monkey Island Trivia.” Moby Games. www.mobygames.com/game/secret-of-monkey-island/trivia. 2020/03/29.
(11) “The Secret of Monkey Island - Spiffy Closeup.” YouTube, uploaded by cocomonk22, 2008/12/27. www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6K8Ckzg9bI. 2020/03/31.
(12) Gilbert, Ron. “Stuff and Things and Monkey Island.“ Ye Olde Grumpy Gamer Blog. Est. 2004, 2009/05/31. https://grumpygamer.com/stuff_and_things_and_monkey_island. 2020/03/31.
(13) “The Secret of Monkey Island Trivia.” Moby Games. www.mobygames.com/game/secret-of-monkey-island/trivia. 2020/03/29.
(14) Cifaldi, Frank. “The Secrets of Monkey Island's Box - Complete in Box.“ YouTube, uploaded by Kotaku, 2018/04/18. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sImkjRYJCgw. 2020/02/14.