The Secret of Monkey Island (PC / XBox 360) - Retro Game Review 

We had this hidden in our grade 8 computer (back when there was only one pc on the second floor of the school.) Used to sneak in and play it on lunch break. Great memories of this one.

Easily the greatest adventure game series ever. It absolutely enthralled me as a kid.

"I will milk every drop of blood from your body!" -- "How appropriate, you fight like a cow!"

For me, the best PC game ever. It is my childhood comfort. Even in my mid-forty now, when I am sick, I just play it or watch a walk-through video of it and relax. Then I get a real good sleep. Btw, I was born and raised and am living in South Korea.

Yeah, this was my first adventure game ever as a little kid. After that I played some King's Quest games, and as much as I liked em it got really old dying in damn near every area just doing innocuous things.

I literally just beat this game around an hour ago. It was very cool to play the game that began the series! I started with Escape and Tales, so I didn't know any of the point and click titles. The Special Edition is nice for someone like me who Is used to the cartoony style of those games as well as the stellar voice acting and humor. Now, I understand who Carla and Otis actually are...suffice it to say I plan on playing the other two games as well. I love the humor and all around light hearted approach of the series. So much of the games I enjoy are either dark or just serious in tone, making this series a welcome relief from that.

Your reviews always make me smile :D well done Pam!

That is nice pixel art, wow, I'm amazed at how real those picture look. Thanks for making videos, I'm always being introduced to games I've never heard of before, that's really cool.

Still a favorite. My uncle introduced it to me back in the 80s. I fell in love with the art style and humor, and even though I didn't get very far I picked it up on disk for my Mac, disc for Sega CD and the Special Edition on PS3. It remains a gem, though man, Guybrush's Special Edition hair was pretty hideous. None of the sequels did it for me with 2 coming the closest to the level of enjoyment I had with Part 1. The Idol of Many Hands... still cracks me up.

Fortunately "Monkey Island Ultimate Talkie Edition" exists for both MI1 and MI2, letting you get the audio for use with VGA graphics in ScummVM.

This was a great review. Easy to tell you enjoyed it. Makes me want to finally play my copy I got from Games With Gold a while ago

Hi, Pam. I knew a review of this game would show up on your channel at some point since it was in your game room / collection video. Awesome review as always. You're so cool.

Ahoy there fancy Pam! So happy you decided to review this, thought your script in particular is extremely well written :D I couldnt agree more with your comparison between the original and SE, especially those closeups...Really interesting you refer to the fighting in Last Crusade, which triggers fond but frustrating memories of exploring the castle. Also I think that's the origin of the phrase "I'm selling these fine leather jackets"!

Yay! One of my favourites. You really captured the experience of the gameplay. I might have to replay it now :)

Incredible review you did Pam on the game The Secret of Monkey Island it's one of my favorite games.

You're spot on with the pixel art, I remember being being in awe of them when this first came out and still love them today. The updated vector artwork is nice but it just doesn't have the heart or soul of the originals. If you're in to point and click games and you haven't already played it, check out an old one called 'Lure of the Temptress' on either the Amiga, Atari ST or MS Dos, that will keep you entertained for a while :)

Awesome review, I think this is one of your best videos so far. I've never tried this game, but Kathryn has and agreed with you on many of your points. The voice over + pixel art seems like the best way to play it AND I MIGHT DO JUST THAT!!! :D

There will never be a hero quite like Guybrush Threepwood - I shall name my first born after him!!!

One of my favorite games of all time. So many belly laughs. And I agree, the combination of the humor and not being overly punishing made it one of the first PC games I ever completed. I'd like to see your thoughts on 2 and Curse one day!

I need to play it. Thanks for encouraging me!

Thanks for the review Pam. This is one of my all time favourites and it's always nice revisiting it / hear someone else talk about it. Such a richly funny and unforgettable game. Used to play it on the Amiga, which was one of the few times the Amiga version was the nicest looking. On initial release and for this type of game that is. This was pre-VGA ofcourse, on the Amiga it looks pretty much exactly as the pixel art version here. Just a memory I have of the times when system competition was still fun to argue about. The scene with Stan in MI2 is probably better... still gives me a chuckle how willing he is to demonstrate the "comfiness" of the coffins in his new chosen sales business, which gives you some opportunity to play a trick on him.

I love these games so much.

Great review on one of the GREATEST games of all time!

great review of my favorite game

Best game ever, fantastic video & more awesome channel. Thanks for your hard work.

One of my all time top games. Lucasfilm Games/LucasArts on the Amiga holds great childhood memories for me 😊

I've never played this but heard lots of good things. Looks like it would be a fun play through for sure.

Great video as always :) The special edition is wort it's price just to get to play the first two games with the old graphics and the new voice over. They did an awesome job on it and it gave me a reason to play these gems one more time. It's something anyone interrested in old PC games should play through at least once.

the picture at 0:08 looks like the host of the show.

I played the first two games on the Amiga back in the late 80s/early 90s. The Lucasarts games were ported to the Amiga much better than the Sierra games, which usually used the EGA graphics and had slowdown issues when there was too much animation on the screen. I've never played the special edition of TSoMI, but I've watched videos of others playing it. One thing I noticed that everyone seems to overlook is that they removed some lines of dialog from when you give the wimpy little idol to the cannibals. In the original, Lemonhead goes through 2-3 ways that it's like one of his before noticing that it says "Made by Lemonhead". In the SE, he just goes straight to the "Made by Lemonhead" line, kind of spoiling the joke. It's a little thing, but it makes me wonder what else they might have left out.

great review.

The fact that the sword master is a woman is awesome! And I agree-- games shouldn't have unwinable situations. Great review !!

I never knew they ported it to the 360. Why would they do that? It's a point and click adventure game. How do you click with no mouse? I say this as someone who actually played Maniac Mansion on the NES before I played it on PC.

Another great game. You have great taste.

Good review Pam but I think you described a lot of elements and moments without putting the focus on why someone would want to play The Secret Of Monkey Island. SOMI is probably the best example of the point n click adventure genre. It's not just that there's insult sword fighting. It's that the insults and comebacks are hilarious and endlessly quotable. And the puzzle design while accessible is still intriguing and filled with humour. Added on top of that is some of the memorable characters in gaming. SOMI didn't just beat Sierra at their own game, it has stood the test of time almost 30 years later and is a good entry point for people want to get into adventure games.

Hahaha yeah the ending of LL2. i remember this dead end also, i was so mad.... Great Review btw.

I wish they would have stuck to the original naturalistic look instead of comic graphics in later games.

Secret of Monkey Island II es also very good, but has Zombie LeChuck instead of Ghost. and a great ending twist. But my favorite point & click adventure is Maniac Mansion: The Day of the Tentacle. Please Do that!

Everyone who likes this game or especially Maniac Mansion (my fav), you gotta play 'Thimbleweed Park'. It's really good, though the puzzles can be somewhat vague. Still, an amazing game. Also, Dave and Sandy from Maniac Mansion own a 50's style burger joint in town. It took me a while to realize that it was them, even though it is rather obvious.

I had this game on the Amiga. It was excellent. The original artwork was far nicer than the modern version.

Cool. I played the second one, not sure whether I played this one. I always remember the spitting competition in the second one: "2, 4, 6, 8, c'mon let's expectorate!" I believe was the cry, lol...

I'm guessing that the new art was changed to aid more animation. The original "pixel" art has more of an illustrative or "real-life" quality, which suggests that the artist(s) involved worked with models and photographs. That kind of art style doesn't work as well as a simple, cartoon-style, if you plan on your characters moving around, and talking a lot more. If the new stuff has more motion, and the old has more stills, that's probably the reason. I haven't played either, so yeah, just a guess.

God Help me i Love the Music

My pants are fancy, thank you!

Awesome

I agree with your review on all fronts, especially on the aesthetic choices of the remaster. I prefer the matte painting movie poster aesthetic because the contrast between its realism and dignity with the cartoony situations just works right. Then there's Yonkey (Junkie) Island. It's a recently released hack of the original by Charnego Translations (Charnegos are what Catalonians call Andalusian migrants). It changes some sprites and all the dialogues with some very crass and geeky Spanish (and charnego) humor. The funniest thing is having to figure out again all the insults for the field which are written in the same fashion... But are much more mean spirited. These guys also made crass hacks of Link's Awakening (La lellenda de la Cerda) and others. They're quite an institution for old school Spanish geeks.

I love point and click games but are not very fond of the ones where you can get stuck or die. Lucas Arts rule in that respect. I had plenty fun with Secret of Money Island, especially the sword fights. The term "red herring" escaped me as a child though since English is not my native language so I always wondered about the fish. ;-) In later years the game, or rather it's excellent soundtrack always bring back (fond) memories of my late aunt. I used to make mix tapes for her to liste to in the car and she LOVED the intro/main? theme to Monkey Island. Well, who wouldn't really because it is EPIC! :-D Been a while since i played it though. Maybe I should remedy that at some point. Odd ly I never played much of the sequels, other than dabbling a bit with Monkey 2. Damn, here goes the game budget!.. :-P

I forgot to say that this is a very, very nice review. I really like how you point out some unique details of the game. And I fully agree, that the artstyle of the SE looks really sloppy and ugly. To me, they totally destroyed the charm of the game. On the contrary, the reworked soundtrack was really cool, I think Michael Land himself was involved. Those closeups during Dialogs in the original man... outstanding. But right now, we all cross our fingers, that Ron Gilbert will not adapt to the SE style when he finally ..."returns to Monkey island in 2022"

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I had to put on my fancy pants to watch this review 😀

Fun game played the pc version in 1993 I was 9 my neighbor had it at the time 😎

I want to finally get these games after playing Return to Monkey Island, but I have a question. I love the accessibility of playing my xbox series x remotely, but not sure how well the point and click system translates to console. Would recommend that I get them via xbox or pc? I appreciate your help.

But what *IS* Secret of Monkey Island?!?!?

One of my favorites. The original is one of the games that got me into pc gaming as a kid. For a long time I equated computer games with point and click adventures

They told us the secret of monkey island in MK4. It was lame - although Ron Gilbert says it's not what he originally intended. He wouldn't have MK3 that way either though.

nice video :))

So it's a physical release on 360? Or only on XBLA?

I have wanted to order Jurassic Park for long, as a Point and Click in that certain mileu seems great but I hate the idea of being put on time in fear of loosing a game if it is riddled with mind puzzle situations one must be brave to take a stab at, i.e. thinking out of the box. So this given case the region lock on that release is not an issue, I know a providing store that can order it from Another PAL based Place and they can do so in an afforable way and send my an invoice to deal with when the time is right, yet I hesitate alot, all things considered, Pam and all you others who play Point and Click must understand why this is both challanging and intriguing but how it is also FRUSTRATING(!) these kind of problems are covered in the review in a good way, what is frustrating is how in can get a new download from a Mac os 9 version of the game that is already installed but dowloaded via a newer computer that has a modern web based browser as the MACs I own were modern more like erstwhile finding it like that a long time ago… I cannot really go into it more, it is too much an off topic kind of thing to type down, but I really like this You Tube clip, makes you think, indeed it is so indeed

At one minute and 32 seconds in THERE IS A FRAMED PICTURE OF THE PILSBURY DOUGHBOY ON THE WALL!! I want to play this game now! There is no framed picture of Poppin' Fresh in Call of Duty and that is just one of the many reasons I feel no desire to play it.

I played the second one first on my neighbors Amiga 500, on 12 3.5" diskettes lol. Played the first one on steam many years later. S.E art looks generic and uninspired, pixel art is timeless.

Looks a bit like "I have no mouth and I must scream".