Matthew // Normal Happenings17 Comments

The Secret of Monkey Island | The Game That Defines Later Levels

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Audio

We know we’re mixing games in the franchise, but we cannot get over the goodness of this ambient mix from Monkey Island 2. 

 

 

The Games That Define Us features carefully chosen music and remixes from the franchise of the game represented. Music is a key component of sharing the emotions one feels about a game, so we hope you will press the play button if you’re in a position to do so. 

introduction

Just a brief summary if this is your first time here: This collaboration is a 34-day long adventure through video games. Each piece is its own unique audiovisual experience, complete with artwork, designs, music, and (most importantly) amazing works of prose by brilliant bloggers around the world. This adventure will take you through nostalgia, joy, ambition, self-discovery, regret, anxiety, frustration, mourning, and every human experience in between. Video games exist as fragments on the timeline of our lives, and each one of us have chosen the adventure we feel most defines us.

Happy Saturday, and welcome to day three of The Games That Define Us! We have two posts this weekend you simply can’t miss! Tomorrow I’ll be unveiling my piece for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — one I’ve worked very hard on and am excited for you all to read.

But that’s for another day, literally. Today we’ll be visited by a legend in our local blogosphere. Give a big hand to Kim of Later Levels! She is one of the most stand-out people I know, and has done so much to help Normal Happenings get off the ground.

You can’t go wrong with her writing either. She knows how to get right to the heart of the matter, and you always come out the other side of her posts feeling like a better, more informed person. All of her posts are excellent, but here are some recent suggestions you should consider exploring after finishing up here:

She’ll be your tour guide today as we seek The Secret of Monkey Island, so let’s get adventuring! We hope you treasure this chapter of The Games The Define Us!

– Matthew, Normal Happenings

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starring

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Kim @ Later Levels
Twitter: @LaterLevels

For all the aspiring pirates

Game: The Secret of Monkey Island
System: Amiga 500
Release Date: October 15, 1990

1P Start

I’d never heard of The Secret of Monkey Island, but after booting it up on the Amiga, I was amazed. It was then that I realized fantastic worlds I thought only existed inside of books could be brought to life through a video game.

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We all have that one Christmas present we remember receiving as a child, and mine was an Amiga 500. After I’d excitedly unwrapped the box, my dad told me to think about what I wanted to try first while he figured out how to hook it up to the television. This was obviously a very big decision for a little kid, so I carefully made my selection: it was the floppy disks which came with a manual depicting a mysterious skull, fierce-looking pirates and a young blonde hero which caught my attention.

I’d never heard of The Secret of Monkey Island, but after booting it up on the Amiga, I was amazed. It was then that I realised fantastic worlds I thought only existed inside of books could be brought to life through a video game. My dad and I were wrapped up for hours, battling dangerous-looking yaks in the Governor’s mansion and insulting swashbucklers by telling them they fought like cows; and I felt extremely proud of myself for reaching the solution to the grog-mug challenge before the grown-ups.

That was the start of a lifelong love-affair with the adventure genre and a childhood crush on Guybrush Threepwood. I’d played other games on the Commodore 64 and NES, but nothing so story- or puzzle-focused; and that title became the first I played for myself, all the way through to the end and without much help. It influenced me as a gamer and, even though I now enjoy a variety of releases, it’s point-and-clicks that I always return to because they hold a special place in my heart.

After that Christmas I went on to play as many adventures as I could, eagerly working my way through Simon the Sorcerer, Myst and The Dig. I eventually had the chance to play a game I was inspired to try after meeting Cobb in the Scumm Bar back on Mêlée Island and questioning him about his ‘Ask me about Loom’ badge. I love references in titles like this; a subtle nod can hold intrigue for players and direct them towards releases they may not have otherwise have found.

During a charity marathon stream a couple of years ago, I played The Secret of Monkey Island very early in the morning and my stepson joined me once he’d woken up. He was then about the same age I had been when I’d received my Amiga and I’d never thought to show the game to him, seeing as it didn’t contain anywhere near enough explosions for his tastes. Much to my surprise, however, he was totally captivated – and even ended up taking over the last part of my shift.

That’s the real secret of Monkey Island. It can show a young girl that magical worlds exist in pixels and give a dad an opportunity to spend some quality time with his daughter. It can explain to a ten-year old stepson that video games don’t always have to be about weapons and violence, and can even contain a story with humour. It can give a blogger an adoration for adventures and the chance to meet amazing people in this community. And it proves that all you really need to defeat an evil zombie pirate is a bottle of root beer.

adventure map

WordPress Reader viewers, please consider enjoying this post again on the site. While we designed with you in mind, you miss some of the nuances of the piece by not enjoying it in its original form. 

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This collaboration took an overwhelming amount of time and dedication from 34 exceptionally creative bloggers. Help us with the resources to make even greater collaborations in the future. We also have aspirations of developing a podcast called Normal Talks about finding optimism in everyday life. Please consider becoming a patron of Normal Happenings and help us try to make the world a better, more positive place.become_a_patron_button

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