T
hefirstPCgameI
everplayedwas
monkeyisland2:
lechuck’srevenge,
whichwasincludedin
amagazine.BecauseIwasakid,I
lostitorscratcheditaswelltheset
offloppydisksIendedupplaying
thefirstmonkeyislandon,forcing
metoeventuallybuyabundleof
bothgames.Thatbundle,called
monkeyislandBountypackcame
withademoofthecurseof
monkeyisland. The year was 1997,
and I had just found the game that
would likely accompany me forever.
Childhoods are filled with weird
compulsions. You eat your favourite
snack until the mere sight is enough
to give you hives, you read the same
book over and over again and you
fervently declare that you will never
stop loving whatever you love at the
time. For many things you’ve loved
as a child, games included, the
fervour gradually cools.
We say goodbye to a lot of games
we love, either due to technical
constraints or simply because there
are so many games to play.
Sometimes we stop playing a game
because we’re worried the present
reality won’t hold up to the romantic
memories we have of it. To me, The
Curse of Monkey Island never fell into
either box – I’ve played it at least
annually for 22 years.
In the era of digital games that
doesn’t sound like much of a feat, but
I’ve kept this game in its original box
with me, moving to different flats and
across countries. It felt very normal
to do so; you pack your favourite
book, I pack Monkey Island (and
some underwear).Looking at the system
requirements really puts the
continuous advancement of
technology into perspective, right
down to the paradoxical yet entirely
understandable fear that your system
has become too powerful to run your
favourite game. 16MB RAM!
Windows 95! DirectX 5!
Those were different times.
Miraculously, Monkey Island always
ran fine no matter what system I
used, and I didn’t need to use
ScummVM to run it until a few years
ago, just prior to its GOG and Steam
releases.Ididn’tplay the game likeThe Curse of Monkey Island
needToknow
releaseD
November1, 1997
PUBlisHer
LucasArtsDeVelOPer
Inhouse
linK
bit.ly/2PfNdYjKeeping the love for a childhood favourite alive. Bymalindy Hetfeld
eXtra liFe
nOWPlaYinG I UPDate (^) I MODsPOtliGHt (^) IGUiDe (^) I HOWtOI DiarY (^) I REINSTALL (^) I MUst PlaY
I admit, the chapter at sea isn’t
Monkey Island’s strongest.