History VideoGame / MonkeyIsland

** There's actually a way to die in each of the five games, but only the first and fourth ones count: In ''Secret'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMq762wbQS8 Guybrush drowns]] if he stays underwater for too long after ten minutes (the rest of the games, excepting ''Escape'', perhaps, he automatically surfaces after the ten minutes are up). ''Revenge'' [[HowWeGotHere is being told after the fact]], so if Guybrush dies, Elaine tells him to stop screwing around and tell the real story, and in ''Curse'', you need to fake your death to progress. The ''Curse'' example actually comes with not one, but two [[BreakTheFourthWall fourth-wall breaking]] {{lampshade|Hanging}}s; one from Guybrush, telling the kids not to try this at home, and one from the barkeep and the gravedigger, wondering how Guybrush managed to die in a Creator/LucasArts game. ''Escape'' sums up two ways to die: 1. by drowning in the second dive underwater after surfacing upon Guybrush's running out of breath in the first dive; and 2. having him kill his future self in the Mysts of Tyme and then going around and having himself get killed by his past self. ''Tales'' has one way to die, [[spoiler:and surprisingly, it's not an Easter egg, but rather a part of a story to progress on from Chapter 4 to Chapter 5.]] ''Return'' does the same gag ''Revenge'' did,[[spoiler:since Guybrush is telling the story to his son. However, after the first two times you try to drown Guybrush, the game explicitly tells you he died, gives you an achievement, and returns you to the title screen.]]

** There's actually a way to die in each of the five games, but only the first and fourth ones count: In ''Secret'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMq762wbQS8 Guybrush drowns]] if he stays underwater for too long after ten minutes (the rest of the games, excepting ''Escape'', perhaps, he automatically surfaces after the ten minutes are up). ''Revenge'' [[HowWeGotHere is being told after the fact]], so if Guybrush dies, Elaine tells him to stop screwing around and tell the real story, and in ''Curse'', you need to fake your death to progress. The ''Curse'' example actually comes with not one, but two [[BreakTheFourthWall fourth-wall breaking]] {{lampshade|Hanging}}s; one from Guybrush, telling the kids not to try this at home, and one from the barkeep and the gravedigger, wondering how Guybrush managed to die in a Creator/LucasArts game. ''Escape'' sums up two ways to die: 1. by drowning in the second dive underwater after surfacing upon Guybrush's running out of breath in the first dive; and 2. having him kill his future self in the Mysts of Tyme and then going around and having himself get killed by his past self. ''Tales'' has one way to die, [[spoiler:and surprisingly, it's not an Easter egg, but rather a part of a story to progress on from Chapter 4 to Chapter 5.]]

This all changed, however, on April 4, 2022, when Gilbert & Grossman revealed on [=YouTube=] that they, with Ron's studio Terrible Toybox, were teaming up with indie publisher Creator/DevolverDigital and Lucasfilm Games for a true sequel, ''Return to Monkey Island'', due in September 2022 and once again starring Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood. View the announcement teaser [[https://youtu.be/AXrH4TfI0JQ here]].

This all changed, however, on April 4, 2022, when Gilbert & Grossman revealed on [=YouTube=] that they, with Ron's studio Terrible Toybox, were teaming up with indie publisher Creator/DevolverDigital and Lucasfilm Games for a true sequel, ''Return to Monkey Island'', due sometime in 2022 and once again starring Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood. View the announcement teaser [[https://youtu.be/AXrH4TfI0JQ here]].

For years, the franchise seemed dead: due to the acquisition of [=LucasArts=] by Disney in 2012, the IP became their property and they promptly shut the entire developer down. They did keep the older games up for sale and some of the older adventure game [=IPs=] were sold off, but efforts by series creator Ron Gilbert to purchase the ''Monkey Island'' rights went nowhere. Telltale Games had similar luck getting the license to do future seasons of their ''Tales'' series before they closed in 2018, hence leaving their revival as a once-off.

* SceneryPorn: All games in the series have lovingly drawn, detailed graphics that are mighty impressive. The Special Editions of the first two take it UpToEleven.

Originally conceived as a ''Literature/TreasureIsland''-like {{pirate}} adventure by Creator/RonGilbert and heavily inspired by the pirate adventure novel ''Literature/OnStrangerTides'' [[note]](no, not [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides that one]])[[/note]], co-creators Creator/TimSchafer and Dave Grossman (of Creator/TelltaleGames) began using their own [[NoFourthWall meta-fictional]] jokes as placeholders. As [=LucasArts=] was actually somewhat clever and still had a sense of humor in those days, they told Schafer and his gang to write the rest of the dialogue. Presto changeo.

* ''Return to Monkey Island'' (2022, published by Creator/DevolverDigital and developed by Creator/LucasfilmGames and Gilbert's studio Terrible Toybox)

--->'''Guybrush''': Hey, Little Lechuck, will you be my Valentine?\\
'''Little [=LeChuck=]''': What are ye, daft? It ain't even Valentine's Day!\\
'''Little Guybrush''': That's right, it's April 1st! And- hey... does that mean all this ''Monkey Island 5'' talk was an April Fool's joke?!

* {{Uninstallment}}: ''Tales of Monkey Island'' is refereed to as the sixth ''Monkey Island'' installment, and starts off at the climax of a unseen epic adventure which presumably was the events of the non-existent fifth game. [[NoodleIncident Exactly what happened on this adventure is unknown]], but judging from the vague references Guybrush keeps making to it throughout ''Tales'', it apparently involves something with [=LeChuck=] coming back to life as a walrus.

This all changed, however, on April 4, 2022, when Gilbert & Grossman revealed on [=YouTube=] that they, with Ron's studio Terrible Toybox, were teaming up with indie publisher Creator/DevolverDigital and Lucasfilm Games for a true sequel, ''Return to Monkey Island'', due sometime in 2022 and once again starring Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood. View the announcement [[https://youtu.be/AXrH4TfI0JQ here]].

Until April 2022. On Monday April 4, Gilbert & Grossman revaled on [=YouTube=] that they, with Ron's studio Terrible Toybox, were teaming up with indie publisher Creator/DevolverDigital and Lucasfilm Games for a true sequel, ''Return to Monkey Island'', due sometime in 2022 and once again starring Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood. View the announcement [[https://youtu.be/AXrH4TfI0JQ here]].

Until April 2022. On Monday April 4, Gilbert & Grossman revaled on [=YouTube=] that they, with Ron's studio Terrible Toybox, were teaming up with indie publisher Devolver Digital and Lucasfilm Games for a true sequel, ''Return to Monkey Island'', due sometime in 2022 and once again starring Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood.

Until April 2022. On Monday April 4, Gilbert revaled on [=YouTube=] that he and his studio, Terrible Toybox, were teaming up with indie publisher Devolver Digital and Lucasfilm Games for a true sequel, ''Return to Monkey Island'', due sometime in 2022 and once again starring Dominic Armato as Guybrush Threepwood.

Unfortunately, the franchise seems dead at the moment -- due to the acquisition of [=LucasArts=] by Disney in 2012, the IP became their property. They promptly shut the entire developer down. While they have kept the older games up for sale and some of the older adventure game [=IPs=] have been sold off, efforts by series creator Ron Gilbert to purchase the ''Monkey Island'' rights have been fruitless for several years. Telltale Games had similar luck getting the license to do future seasons of their ''Tales'' series before they closed in 2018, hence leaving their revival as a once-off.

Series creator Gilbert left after the second game. After the long hiatus following ''Escape'', Telltale took up the mantle with their episodic ''Tales of Monkey Island'' release - with Gilbert's blessing and the involvement of key staff members from the original two games. [=LucasArts=] has also gotten back in the game of late, finally redeeming themselves in the eyes of adventure fans by remaking both the original ''Secret of Monkey Island'' and the first sequel ''[=LeChuck's=] Revenge'', complete with voice acting by the cast of ''Curse''.

Unfortunately, the franchise seems dead at the moment - due to the acquisition of [=LucasArts=] by Disney in 2012, the IP became their property. They promptly shut the entire developer down. While they have kept the older games up for sale and some of the older adventure game [=IPs=] have been sold off, efforts by series creator Ron Gilbert to purchase the ''Monkey Island'' rights have been fruitless for several years. Telltale Games had similar luck getting the license to do future seasons of their ''Tales'' series before they closed in 2018, hence leaving their revival as a once-off.

* NamedAfterTheInjury:
** Meathook, a character who appears in ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'' and ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'', has two {{Hook Hand}}s after losing them to a parrot.
** One of the minor antagonists from ''Escape From Monkey Island'' is Pegnose Pete, who gets his name from his prosthetic nose.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: Monkey Island itself is a good example. And the always beloved three-headed monkey.

Unfortunately, the franchise seems dead at the moment - due to the acquisition of [=LucasArts=] by Disney in 2012, the IP became their property. They promptly shut the entire developer down. While they have kept the older games up for sale and some of the older adventure game IPs have been sold off, efforts by series creator Ron Gilbert to purchase the ''Monkey Island'' rights have been fruitless for several years. Telltale Games had similar luck getting the license to do future seasons of their ''Tales'' series before they closed in 2018, hence leaving their revival as a once-off.

* ThePennyfarthingEffect: A strong case can be made about the saga being a notable inversion. The first two games (1990-91) have the classic [=SCUMM=] interface displaying a lot of verbs and the inventory. It's always visible, taking a good portion of the screen, but this makes them easily accessible and it's complemented by hotkeys. Later games have an streamlined interface with fewer verbs, but doing simple things like item combination requires more clicks and bringing forward a new, intrusive screen, which hurts the gameplay. The simplified interface of the remakes also shares some of these problems and the situation gets compounded by the VideoGame3DLeap -done by the fourth game-, a traumatic transition for the adventure genre that frequently involves losing some PointAndClick features here and there.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: For the first three games, Elaine was practically the poster girl for this trope. She escapes from an undead pirate, carries out a plan to kill said pirate, manages to locate and travel to the elusive [[spoiler: D]]inky island without a map (Guybrush, eat your heart out), and saves Guybrush from being killed by Big Whoop. None of these four events occurs onscreen. (The last one was actually ''intended'' to be shown on-screen in a major cutscene late in ''Curse''. The scene went as far as having the dialogue recorded, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen but its animation was sadly never finished due to budget concerns.]])

* DemBones: [=LeChuck's=] crew, Murray, and Guybrush's hallucinations of his parents, as well as the cameo of [[GrimFandango Manny]] in 3.

** While nobody is ever impressed by this talent, being able to hold your breath for a long time is actually a very useful skill for, you know, ''a pirate''.