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''Monkey Island'' is the collective name given to a Series of four graphical Point-and-click Adventure Game s produced and published by LucasArts , originally known as LucasFilm Games through the development of the first two games in the series. The games follow the misadventures of the hapless Guybrush Threepwood as he struggles to become the most notorious Pirate in the Caribbean , defeat the plans of the evil Undead pirate LeChuck and win the heart of governor Elaine Marley . Each game's plot usually involves the mysterious Monkey Island and its impenetrable secrets. Ron Gilbert , the creator of the series, only worked on the first two games before leaving LucasArts. The rights to Monkey Island remained with LucasArts, and the third and fourth games were created without Gilbert's input. OVERVIEW The Monkey Island series is known for its humor and "player-friendly" qualities. The player cannot permanently place the game in an '' (1989) but preferred the open format for other humor-oriented adventure games such as '' Sam & Max Hit The Road '' (1993) and '' Day Of The Tentacle '' (1993). Each of the games takes place on s rather than history, and there are many deliberate Anachronism s and references to modern-day Popular Culture . Much of the Soundtracks of the games is composed by Michael Land , and it is filled with Dub and Reggae -inspired music; Elaine Marley's name is also a possible reference to Bob Marley . Setting The main setting of the Monkey Island games is the "Tri-Island Area", a fictional archipelago in the Caribbean . Since the first game in the series, ''SMI'', each game has visited the titular island of Monkey Island while introducing its own set of islands to explore. ''MI2'' features four new islands, ''CMI'' introduces three, and ''EMI'', which revisits some of the older islands, features three new islands as well. The main islands of the Tri-Island Area are Mêlée Island , Booty Island , and Plunder Island , which are all ruled by Governor Elaine Marley in place of her long lost grandfather, Horatio Torquemada Marley . Elaine moves from island to island at her convenience, though she considers her governors mansion on Mêlée Island, the capital island of the area, as home. Other islands in the region are considered under the umbrella of Tri-Island Area as well, even though Elaine does not rule them. These include the Pirate islands Scabb Island and Phatt Island, the Urbanised Lucre Island and Jambalaya Island, the minor islands of Hook Island, Dinky Island, Skull Island and Knuttin Atoll, and the Volcanic islands of Blood Island and Monkey Island itself. Additional islands seen in maps of the area but never visited include Spittle, Pinchpenny and Blunderbuss, the former two appearing in the main sea map from ''EMI''. The Drink
Inspiration Although Ron Gilbert stated publicly that the game was inspired in the Pirates Of The Caribbean Disneyland ride, in his blog he admited that his true inspiration was Tim Powers ' book ''On Stranger Tides''1. Characters See Also: Minor characters in Monkey Island Many "supporting" characters have recurring roles in the games, including:
THE GAMES The Secret of Monkey Island See Also: The Secret of Monkey Island The series debuted in 1990 with ''The Secret of Monkey Island'' on the Atari ST , Macintosh and IBM PC platforms, and it was later ported to Amiga , Sega CD and FM Towns . The game starts off with the main character Guybrush Threepwood stating "I want to be a pirate!", and he is soon off to prove himself to the old pirate captains. During the perilous pirate trials, he meets the beautiful governor Elaine Marley, with whom he falls in love, unaware that the ghost pirate LeChuck has kept his love for Elaine beyond the grave. When Elaine is kidnapped, Guybrush procures crew and ship to track LeChuck down, he defeats him and rescues his love. ''Islands visited'':
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge See Also: Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge The second game, ''Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge'' from 1992, was available for fewer platforms, only being ported to Amiga, MS DOS , Macintosh, and later for FM Towns. As Guybrush, with a treasure chest in hand, and Elaine hang on to ropes in a void, he tells her the story of the game. He has decided to find the greatest of all treasures, the Big Whoop , but unwittingly he has helped revive LeChuck, now in zombie form, and Guybrush is eventually captured by his archnemesis. With help from Wally, he escapes and finds the treasure only to be stuck on the rope with the treasure, the situation from the beginning of the game. As Guybrush concludes his story, his rope breaks and he finds himself facing LeChuck, and the two of them engage in voodoo magic. The ending is very surrealistic and suggests a number of interpretations. ''Islands visited'':
The Curse of Monkey Island See Also: The Curse of Monkey Island ''The Curse of Monkey Island'', the third in the series, was exclusively available for Windows users in 1997. When Guybrush unwittingly turn Elaine into a gold statue with a cursed diamond engagement ring, he first tracks her down from the greedy pirates who stole her, before searching for a new diamond ring to lift the curse. LeChuck appears in a fire demon form, and is on the heels of Guybrush until they stand off in LeChuck's amusement park ride, the Rollercoaster of Doom. ''Islands visited'':
Escape from Monkey Island See Also: Escape from Monkey Island The last game to date, ''Escape from Monkey Island'' from 2000, was released for Windows, '' seems to indicate a strong reluctance towards producing new graphic adventures. When Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley return from their honeymoon, Elaine has been declared officially dead, her mansion is under destruction order, and her position as governor is up for election. When Guybrush investigates further, he unearths a conspiracy by LeChuck and evil real estate developer Ozzie Mandrill to use the voodoo talisman the "Ultimate Insult" to make all pirates domicile, in order to turn the Caribbean into a center of tourism. ''Islands visited'':
COMMON THEMES The games in the series share several in the first game (the term Rapier Wit gets a new meaning here), a number-based "password" in the second, rhyming insult sword-fighting in the third, and insult Arm Wrestling and "Monkey Kombat" in the fourth. The first and fourth games also both feature a puzzle which involves following another character through several locations, a trick also used in '' Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis ''. Some other minigames include a Spitting competition, naval cannon battles and platform diving. Pop-cultural references The Monkey Island series is full of spoofs, In-joke s, humorous references, and Easter Eggs : so many, in fact, that entire web sites are dedicated to their detection and listing. '' adventure game). Many attempts have been made to draw parallels between the series and the movie ''''. This would be very appropriate since Ron Gilbert openly admits that sections of ''Monkey Island 2'' borrowed extensively from the original Disneyland Ride , such as the famous "dog holding the keys to the jail-cell". Each game in the series features cameo appearances by Steve Purcell 's characters Sam & Max (who were featured in their own LucasArts adventure game, '' Sam & Max Hit The Road ''). The pair appear as voodoo idols in the first game, as costumes in a costume shop on Booty Island in the second, as toys in LeChuck's demonic carnival and as light-formations at the theatre (in Mega-Monkey mode) in the third and as one of the possible aliases for Pegnose Pete in the World Of Prosthesis puzzle in the fourth scene from EMI. The secret None of the games actually reveal the "Secret of Monkey Island". LeChuck himself, when asked in the second and third games, refuses to answer the question; Guybrush can eventually prod LeChuck to confess that he does not know what The Secret is. There are many theories popular among players, and at least one case can be made from each game in the series. A theory is that the bizarre revelation at the end of ''MI2'' is the true Secret of Monkey Island. The fact that it was debunked in ''CMI'' is merely a Retcon by the new development team after the departure of Ron Gilbert. But flashes of supernatural power from little Chucky's eyes, and the "meanwhile" of Elaine still waiting for Guybrush in the final scene of ''MI2'' seem to indicate that ''MI2'' is not giving out the definite truth and a sequel was intended by Gilbert. Gilbert stated in a 2004 interview that when the game was originally conceived it was "too big", so they split it into three parts, adding that he "knows what the third is" and "how the story's supposed to end," indicating that he knows what the secret is.Idle Thumbs, [http://idlethumbs.net/display.php?id=59 Ron Gilbert Speaks: Part 2 In an attempt to resolve the issue over the secret the team behind Escape named the cut-scene revealing the Giant Monkey Robot "The Real Secret of Monkey Island". This however seemed to confuse the matter even more. FOOTNOTES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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