As many of you may know, October marks the 30th anniversary of the release of The Secret of Monkey Island™, the beloved adventure game created and designed by Ron Gilbert; written and programmed by Gilbert, Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer; and published by LucasArts (then, still known as Lucasfilm Games).
Spanning five games (and two remakes), the Monkey Island™ series has captured the imagination of dairy farmers for generations, only to be forgotten by Disney (who acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, alongside LucasArts and all of their IP) and locked away in a vault somewhere (next to all remaining DVDs of Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars).
Given that the latest release, Monkey Island™ 2 Special Edition, saw the light of day over ten years ago, in July of 2010, no one was expecting the franchise to make a return - that is, until Limited Run Games announced, during their E3 2019 digital event, that they'd be releasing "definitive Collector's Editions of classic Star Wars games and more" (unfortunately, their blog post with the full lineup has been removed from their website and does not have an archive in the Wayback Machine).
Only a hint of Monkey Island™ was heard, but fans were excited nonetheless. Then came the somewhat underwhelming (and, in most cases, extremely expensive) SW releases, filled with the same items that have become standard in most LRG collector's editions: a metal coin, an enamel pin, a reversible poster, a booklet, a "certificate of authenticity" and three art cards, all packed in a weirdly sized box (not the traditional PC "big box") with very dull artwork. The saving grace, if you could call them that, were the retro cartridges/discs and their action-figure-inspired packaging - which had to be purchased separately, for the most part.
February saw the release of the first Monkey Island™ by LRG: the original The Secret of Monkey Island™ for… Sega CD? Two editions were available: Classic, with a disc in retro Sega CD packaging; and Premium, with, you guessed it, a metal coin, an enamel pin of questionable design, a reversible poster of the same size as the SW ones (18" x 24"), a game manual, a "certificate of authenticity" and three art cards. The game disc came in a regular CD jewel case, and the only extra was an undeniably cool "Ask me about Loom" button. All packed in the same weirdly sized box - but at least it had Steve Purcell's beautiful cover art on the front.
LRG hosted their not-E3 2020 livestream in July, and confirmed that the Monkey Island™ series would be getting a "franchise-spanning anthology box" on PC, to be released in October. Speculation ran rampant among fans, with some wondering if a remaster of Curse could potentially be on the way, or maybe if the Tales episodes had been recovered and updated to run on a more modern version of their engine. None of those things materialized, of course, but that's not LRG's fault.
What is their fault is revealing this lackluster box as the anthology:
Let me break down its contents:
If it hasn't become clear from the description, I take issue with their choice of items for several reasons, the most egregious being that the selection appears to have been made by someone who only knows Monkey Island™ from some quick Google searches, and the fact that this so-called anthology doesn't even contain items from all games in the series.
Now, it wouldn't be so bad if it cost, like, 60 or 70 bucks. But this thing costs $160! ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY US DOLLARS. That's $10 more than LRG's recent Streets of Rage 4 Limited Edition, which came with a brand new game ($25 on its own, at time of release), in an actual disc or cartridge (PS4 or Switch), a game case (with reversible cover), a second Genesis case (with different art), the soundtrack in a CD (with separate jewel case), an artbook, a replica metal Genesis cartridge, a roasted chicken rubber toy, a real-sized poster and a 7" statue featuring not only one, but two characters, plus the same contents as their $60 "Classic Edition" (a custom Genesis clam shell case and a SteelBook) - all in a premium box with amazing art.
Compare that to three pieces of paper, a wooden (?) box, the same USB stick you may already own, a floppy disk (most likely only for show), a bunch of ugly pins, a book, a slipcover, and an even smaller statue, available in a bland, black box*. Yeah.
Just out of the top of my head, I came up with 10 items that not only really share something with Monkey Island™, but also have much more fan appeal than the random mass produced LRG crap, while still being cheap and realistic to make, both in quality and scope:
And that's limiting the selection to only 10 items. You could still include a decent statue of Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck, a three-headed monkey plushie, an unopenable tiny treasure chest containing Big Whoop™, the imaginary disk for Monkey Island™ 3a… The possibilities are endless!
Just daydreaming about the anthology box we are never going to get makes me even sadder. So, let me finish this write-up with Guybrush's eternal words of wisdom:
*Josh Fairhurst, co-founder of Limited Run Games, has mentioned that they were supposed to visit the Skywalker Ranch archives, where the only art that still physically exists is located, but COVID got in their way.
Which begs the question: why not postpone this release until they can do right by the fans, then? I know it's the anniversary of the original game, but it's not like the CE is getting done any time soon. As is always the case with their releases, they'll be accepting pre-orders for an item that may not release for two to four months (and, sometimes, for as long as six months). I'm not a fan of this Kickstarter business model, where you pay for an idea of a project, based on 3D renders and pure FOMO.
Spanning five games (and two remakes), the Monkey Island™ series has captured the imagination of dairy farmers for generations, only to be forgotten by Disney (who acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, alongside LucasArts and all of their IP) and locked away in a vault somewhere (next to all remaining DVDs of Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars).
Given that the latest release, Monkey Island™ 2 Special Edition, saw the light of day over ten years ago, in July of 2010, no one was expecting the franchise to make a return - that is, until Limited Run Games announced, during their E3 2019 digital event, that they'd be releasing "definitive Collector's Editions of classic Star Wars games and more" (unfortunately, their blog post with the full lineup has been removed from their website and does not have an archive in the Wayback Machine).
Only a hint of Monkey Island™ was heard, but fans were excited nonetheless. Then came the somewhat underwhelming (and, in most cases, extremely expensive) SW releases, filled with the same items that have become standard in most LRG collector's editions: a metal coin, an enamel pin, a reversible poster, a booklet, a "certificate of authenticity" and three art cards, all packed in a weirdly sized box (not the traditional PC "big box") with very dull artwork. The saving grace, if you could call them that, were the retro cartridges/discs and their action-figure-inspired packaging - which had to be purchased separately, for the most part.
February saw the release of the first Monkey Island™ by LRG: the original The Secret of Monkey Island™ for… Sega CD? Two editions were available: Classic, with a disc in retro Sega CD packaging; and Premium, with, you guessed it, a metal coin, an enamel pin of questionable design, a reversible poster of the same size as the SW ones (18" x 24"), a game manual, a "certificate of authenticity" and three art cards. The game disc came in a regular CD jewel case, and the only extra was an undeniably cool "Ask me about Loom" button. All packed in the same weirdly sized box - but at least it had Steve Purcell's beautiful cover art on the front.
LRG hosted their not-E3 2020 livestream in July, and confirmed that the Monkey Island™ series would be getting a "franchise-spanning anthology box" on PC, to be released in October. Speculation ran rampant among fans, with some wondering if a remaster of Curse could potentially be on the way, or maybe if the Tales episodes had been recovered and updated to run on a more modern version of their engine. None of those things materialized, of course, but that's not LRG's fault.
What is their fault is revealing this lackluster box as the anthology:
Let me break down its contents:
- A "certificate of authenticity" signed by only one of the three main people behind the series;
- A "Big Whoop Amusement Park" ticket
, from The Curse of Monkey Island™, where the park is actually called the Carnival of the Damned[Edit: I've been reminded that this is the name of the carnival at the end of MI2 (spoilers). However, none of the rides mentioned in the ticket exist in-game, which threw me off, as Curse does have some named rides (although still different from those listed). I'm mad that I forgot about this detail and even madder that Curse doesn't get an exclusive item, while Escape does] ; - An 8" x 10" print (that they have the audacity to call a poster) of the "Ultimate Insult", from Escape from Monkey Island™, which incorrectly labels "bronze" as "badass" and interprets the line where the fur meets the monkey's face as a smiley face (original recipe here);
- A "disk 22" floppy disk, from The Secret of Monkey Island™, with no indication of its contents;
- A USB stick with the games, featuring the logo of Lucasfilm Ltd. (the film and television production company, not the game company) - the same stick that had already been shipped with some of LRG's SW releases, albeit in a different color;
- A shadow box that should last no more than 10 minutes;
- A "very thick" book with behind the scenes interviews, game analyses, art, production documents and more;
- A slipcover box with five undisclosed items (booklets?);
- An enamel pin set with seven pins, each with a Guybrush face from a different game (plus the remakes) - three of Guybrush facing sideways; three of Guybrush facing the camera; and one of the Guybrush from Tales in his earliest 3D rendition - I assume someone at LRG saw this image on Pinterest and went with whatever was on it;
- The pièce de résistance: a 6" statuette of Guybrush based on his Monkey Island™ 2 Special Edition design, holding an item only available (not simply referenced) in the first game.
If it hasn't become clear from the description, I take issue with their choice of items for several reasons, the most egregious being that the selection appears to have been made by someone who only knows Monkey Island™ from some quick Google searches, and the fact that this so-called anthology doesn't even contain items from all games in the series.
Now, it wouldn't be so bad if it cost, like, 60 or 70 bucks. But this thing costs $160! ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY US DOLLARS. That's $10 more than LRG's recent Streets of Rage 4 Limited Edition, which came with a brand new game ($25 on its own, at time of release), in an actual disc or cartridge (PS4 or Switch), a game case (with reversible cover), a second Genesis case (with different art), the soundtrack in a CD (with separate jewel case), an artbook, a replica metal Genesis cartridge, a roasted chicken rubber toy, a real-sized poster and a 7" statue featuring not only one, but two characters, plus the same contents as their $60 "Classic Edition" (a custom Genesis clam shell case and a SteelBook) - all in a premium box with amazing art.
Compare that to three pieces of paper, a wooden (?) box, the same USB stick you may already own, a floppy disk (most likely only for show), a bunch of ugly pins, a book, a slipcover, and an even smaller statue, available in a bland, black box*. Yeah.
Just out of the top of my head, I came up with 10 items that not only really share something with Monkey Island™, but also have much more fan appeal than the random mass produced LRG crap, while still being cheap and realistic to make, both in quality and scope:
- A rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle, from The Secret of Monkey Island™ (c'mon, that's a given);
- A Guybrush Threepwood voodoo doll, from Monkey Island™ 2: LeChuck's Revenge;
- A talking Murray, the demonic skull, toy (or at least a paper weight), from The Curse of Monkey Island™;
- An empty case symbolizing the nonexistence of Escape from Monkey Island™;
- A flask containing the tears of former Telltale Games employees, from Tales of Monkey Island™;
- A poster with brand new art by Steve Purcell, just like Telltale commissioned for Tales;
- Games in independent physical media, each with its own big box replica packaging with proper artworks;
- An "Ask me about Grim Fandango" button, since the Loom one has already been made available;
- Cloth maps (or at least prints/postcards) of all major islands in the series;
- Dial-A-Pirate and Mix 'N' Mojo DRM wheels.
And that's limiting the selection to only 10 items. You could still include a decent statue of Guybrush, Elaine and LeChuck, a three-headed monkey plushie, an unopenable tiny treasure chest containing Big Whoop™, the imaginary disk for Monkey Island™ 3a… The possibilities are endless!
Just daydreaming about the anthology box we are never going to get makes me even sadder. So, let me finish this write-up with Guybrush's eternal words of wisdom:
*Josh Fairhurst, co-founder of Limited Run Games, has mentioned that they were supposed to visit the Skywalker Ranch archives, where the only art that still physically exists is located, but COVID got in their way.
Which begs the question: why not postpone this release until they can do right by the fans, then? I know it's the anniversary of the original game, but it's not like the CE is getting done any time soon. As is always the case with their releases, they'll be accepting pre-orders for an item that may not release for two to four months (and, sometimes, for as long as six months). I'm not a fan of this Kickstarter business model, where you pay for an idea of a project, based on 3D renders and pure FOMO.
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