Line #69 VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monkey_island_cover_art.jpg]]
2
3	->''"Three small trials and you're a pirate like us." Fair enough. If only I could stomach the foul brew these scurvy seadogs swilled, the rest would be easy. How could I have known I'd meet a powerful and beautiful woman with a jealous suitor too stupid to realize he'd been dead for years? And how can I crawl through this great stone monkey to find a man who walks three inches above the ground and sets fire to his beard every morning?''
4	-->-- Excerpted from ''The Memoirs of Guybrush Threepwood: The VideoGame/MonkeyIsland Years''
5
6	The first game in the ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland'' series, ''The Secret of Monkey Island'', was released in 1990. The game begins as our hero, Guybrush Threepwood, finds himself on Mêlée Island[[TradeSnark ™]], with one clear objective on his mind: Becoming a Mighty Pirate™. To become one, he must first pass "The Three Trials", and while doing so he learns of Elaine Marley, the local governor, and her story with the notorious ghost pirate, [=LeChuck=], who now terrorizes the waters around Mêlée Island™ together with his undead crew. After passing the trials, Guybrush finds out Elaine has been kidnapped by [=LeChuck=], and he must now set sail for [=LeChuck=]'s lair which lies on the titular Monkey Island™ in order to save her.
7
8	Way later in 2009, Creator/LucasArts made a brief comeback to the AdventureGame business to remake the game, complete with voice acting by the cast of ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland''.
9	----
10	!!This game provides examples of:
11	* AerithAndBob:
12	** Guybrush Threepwood and... almost everyone else, including Bob. Although you do get the occasional [=LeChuck=], Herman Toothrot, or Mancomb Seepgood.
13	** The Amazing, Adventurous, Acrobatic And Exceedingly Well-Known Fabulous, Flying Fettucini Brothers are called Alfredo... and Bill.
14	* AllJustADream: The game's littered with clues that this might be the case, as was Gilbert's original intention. They've mostly been {{Retcon}}ned into either MediumAwareness or AnachronismStew. While this has never been ''explicitly'' disproved, Gilbert has claimed that "it was all just a dream" is NOT the elusive Secret, and that the ending of the second game was always meant as a joke and a cliffhanger.
15	* AlwaysNight: It's always 10 p.m. on Mêlée Island, even as hours pass. Can't be a good sign.
16	* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Elaine Marley is not a smart person to try this on.
17	* AndYourRewardIsClothes: Twice:
18	** "I found the Legendary Lost Treasure of Mêlée Island™ and all I got was this stupid T-shirt!"
19	** "I beat the Sword Master and all I got was this stupid T-shirt."
20	* AntiPoopsocking: These parting words: "Turn off your computer and go to sleep."
21	* ArtShift:
22	** Most conversations between Guybrush and another character will feature a close-up shot of that character in a highly detailed and realistic portrait. It is this realism that clashes with the visual style of every other game. The original EGA release had the close-ups in a style somewhat more consistent with the rest of the game's graphics -- compare [[http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/secret-of-monkey-island/screenshots/gameShotId,318377/ Elaine's EGA close-up]] with its [[http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/secret-of-monkey-island/screenshots/gameShotId,318378/ VGA counterpart]] -- and Ron Gilbert objected strongly to the more detailed style that was added in the later VGA release, but was overruled by the higher-ups at Lucasarts.
23	** The redrawn artwork in the remake - the shift is so drastic that there is actually a petition to have Guybrush's hair changed back to how it used to be and a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeEFVekLOT8 fan-made patch]] restores the good old ways.
24	* AsideGlance: Guybrush frequently turns to the player when voicing his descriptions out loud, but seems confused when other characters do the same.
25	* AudienceWhatAudience: Herman Toothrot keeps [[AsideGlance turning to the screen]] and talking to "the people watching, of course." Guybrush asks him who he's talking to (even though he's constantly doing the same thing himself).
26	* BarefootSage: The Voodoo Lady's long dress doesn't cover her bare feet.
27	* BilingualBonus: If you understand French, you might more easily guess the purpose of the "caniche endormi" [[spoiler:(literally, "sleeping poodle")]] flowers.
28	* BizarreBeverageUse: The grog served at the Scumm Bar is so corrosive it eats through the mugs. Guybrush takes a mug of grog, transferring it between mugs when one is rendered nearly useless, and uses it to dissolve the lock on Otis' prison cell.
29	* BlandNameProduct:
30	** The 'Grog-O-Mint' mints Guybrush buys to give to Otis are this of Lifesavers Pep-O-Mints, or Polo mints to UK players.
31	** The Grog machine is a Coca-Cola vending machine, red with a white stripe, just with "Grog" in place of "Coke". It also has the following flavors: "Grog", "Diet Grog", "Cherry Grog", "Grog Classic", "Caffeine free Grog", and "Root Beer". All of which, aside from the last one, are different types of Coke.
32	* BloodyBowelsOfHell: The catacombs (implied to be part of the capital "H" Hell) have eyes, noses, whole faces, and even hearts growing out of the walls and floors. Crosses over with FireAndBrimstoneHell, due to the rivers of magma. If you spend too long wandering through TheMaze, looking at every random horror, [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror Guybrush starts to think they're "Neat!" and "Gnarly!"]] He never gets used to [[FungusHumongous the mushrooms]], though.
33	* BookEnds: The conversation in the outro cinematic is similar to the one that begins the game.
34	* BoringReturnJourney: Getting to Monkey Island takes up an entire chapter (and that's ''after'' you've obtained the ship and the crew); getting back again is over in a single line of narration. {{Lampshaded}} by Guybrush.
35	* BuffySpeak: "...and [[TheThreeTrials the Trial]] of, err, Treasure Hunter-y."
36	* BreadEggsMilkSquick:
37	** The ingredients for grog, listed under GargleBlaster below (actually more like: [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Squick, squick, squick, pepperoni]])
38	** Guybrush uses gopher repellant on a gopher, another gopher, a gopher horde and a funny little man.
39	* BreakingTheFourthWall:
40	** After receiving sword-fighting lessons from Captain Smirk, Guybrush says, "I can’t help but feel like I’ve been ripped off," then [[AsideGlance turns towards the screen]] and continues, "[[SelfDeprecation I’m sure you're feeling something similar.]]" On the other hand...
41	** If you look at Monkey Island™ from your ship Guybrush will say, "WOW! This was well worth $59.95 plus tax."
42	** One of the dialogue options the player can make when challenging a pirate to a fight is to ask "Why do you guys talk so funny?" to which the pirate will reply (breaking accent in the Special Edition), "[[TalkLikeAPirate Pirate Lingo]]! It's how everybody talked back then. Come on Guybrush, play along."
43	** Monkey Island castaway/hermit Herman Toothrot occasionally addresses comments to the fourth wall. At one point, Guybrush asks who he's talking to, and he replies, "The people watching, of course!" -- to which Guybrush reacts as if he's crazy, even though, as these examples show, he does the same thing.
44	** In Monkey Island's river canyon area, the player can move the cursor over the sun and urge Guybrush to walk to it. He then turns towards the screen and says [[DeadpanSnarker "Oh, sure. Walk to the sun."]]
45	** As Guybrush is leaving Stan's shop for the first time, Stan monologues on how his business is booming, until Guybrush is out of the frame. Afterwards, he turns to the camera and says, "He'll be back." Later, after appearing reluctant to accept Guybrush's final price offer for a ship and telling him about how he'll have to run it by his boss, Stan remarks "Sucker!", as soon as his back is turned to him.
46	* BrickJoke: If you dissolved the top half of one of [=LeChuck's=] ghostly crew with root beer during the final act, his legs go running past Guybrush and Elaine during the ending.
47	* BringTheAnchorAlong: The Trial of Thievery ends with Fester Shinetop tying the stolen item, the Idol of Many Hands, to Guybrush Threepwood and dropping him in the bay. How does our hero get out of this? [[spoiler: Just pick up the Idol. You know, the one he was just carrying a few seconds ago.]] It should be noted this is the only part of the game in which Guybrush can actually die.
48	* CannibalTribe: The Monkey Island cannibals. They're very civil. Their leader doesn't even really seem to ''want'' to eat you. In ''Curse'', Lemonhead reveals they went vegetarian shortly after Guybrush left the island.
49	* CannotTalkToWomen: When Guybrush first meets Elaine, he is unable to do anything except [[GibberishOfLove utter random syllables]]. In their second meeting he acquits himself better, but the conversation quickly turns to increasingly saccharine pet names, which in a way is worse. He [[DeterioratesIntoGibberish relapses into gibberish]] in later games whenever a woman is upset with him, indicating Guybrush just cannot take a woman's scorn.
50	* CardboardPrison: The cannibals imprison Guybrush in one. He escapes thanks to [[MyopicArchitecture a loose board]]. As a running gag, the [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy clueless captors]] throw Guybrush in jail again and upgrade the door several times up to modern technology levels if Guybrush comes back.
51	* CaveMouth: The giant monkey head statue opens up to the [[BloodyBowelsOfHell Caverns of Meat]] that lie between you and [=LeChuck=]'s ship.
52	* ChekhovsGun:
53	** Conspicuously, you can walk inside the big church in the middle of Mêlée Island™ Town, but it serves no purpose until the final act.
54	** Same goes for the vending machine at Stan's.
55	* ChekhovsSkill: Guybrush's ability to hold his breath for ten minutes makes him really hard to kill by drowning.
56	* CoatFullOfContraband: The "Melee Island citizen" sells maps in this manner.
57	* ComedyAsAWeapon: The results of sword fights are based entirely on insults and puns.
58	* ConfusingMultipleNegatives: Guybrush can promise [=LeChuck's=] ghostly first mate he "won't not promise to avoid refraining from harming you" (which, once translated, means you ''don't'' promise not to hurt him). It doesn't work -- it's too confusing for him to understand, so [[ButThouMust you have to really promise]] in order to continue.
59	* ConvenientMisfire: In the church scene, when Guybrush tries to ''christen'' [=LeChuck=] with root beer, the bottle jams.
60	* ConvenientlyPlacedSharpThing: Parodied through [[InvertedTrope inversion]] in the underwater sequence. [[spoiler: [=LeChuck=] ties a heavy statue to Guybrush's leg by rope, and throws him into the ocean. He is dragged down to the ocean floor, only to find that it is practically ''littered'' with sharp objects with which he might cut the rope]] -- except they are ''all'' just out of reach.
61	* CopyProtection: The "[[http://sleevage.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/dial-a_pirate_spinner.jpg Dial-a-Pirate]]" code wheel. The game would start off with a "short quiz", and show a picture of a pirate (made from two halves of the heads on the code wheel) and asking when they were hung in a specific location. Once you rotated the wheel accordingly, the year for every possible location the game would ask would be revealed on the wheel, and typing in the correct answer would let you proceed. This was only present in the original EGA release and the slightly later VGA update. Beginning with the CD release, the copy protection was removed since it was still the early days of the CD-ROM format when copying one was unheard of.
62	* CoversAlwaysLie: See Guybrush exploring Monkey Island, sabre in hand and leading a group? It's not going to happen. In the game he bumbles alone and unarmed.
63	* CreatorCameo: The TrollBridge that demands a troll toll is actually [[spoiler:Creator/GeorgeLucas in a troll costume]]. (This is made much clearer in the special edition, where you can even see [[spoiler:a red plaid flannel shirt sticking out when the suit is unzipped]].)
64	* CryingWolf: After Guybrush overuses his "LookBehindYou! A three-headed monkey!" {{Catchphrase}}, the cannibals of Monkey Island™ don't fall for it when an actual three-headed monkey shows up behind them.
65	* CuttingTheKnot: The glorious underwater idol puzzle. Several sharp objects that could free Guybrush are just out of reach. If you wait long enough, two guys walk onto the pier, lengthily debate tossing a sword into the ocean directly over your head... [[HopeSpot then decide against it and walk off again]]. Then in a unique instance, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMq762wbQS8 Guybrush dies for real]]. The knot-cutting moment comes in when you figure out the solution is [[spoiler:to pick up the idol you were tied to in the first place.]]
66	* DamselInDistress: In the second half the game you are supposed to save Elaine from getting married to [=LeChuck=]. But just as Guybrush [[SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace interrupts the ceremony]], he finds out [[DamselOutOfDistress Elaine had freed herself a long time ago]], due to [=LeChuck=]'s gullibility, and was just about to complete the final step in her plan for getting rid of him, and now [[NiceJobBreakingItHero he just messed it up]].
67	* DescriptionCut: In the ending, Guybrush wonders [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse what happened to various characters]]. Cut to Stan plunging into the Mêlée Island™ bay [[IFellForHours several minutes]] after being {{Megaton Punch}}ed by [=LeChuck=] -- then to Guybrush's crew imprisoned by the Monkey Island™ cannibals and blaming Guybrush for the rock he catapulted into their ship, or, if you didn't sink the ship, to Herman Toothrot, still stranded, still wondering where Guybrush is.
68	* DesertedIsland: The titular island, of the Castaway/Treasure Island variety.
69	* DevelopersForesight:
70	** For the Special Edition, they recorded Guybrush saying various amounts of money he might have. If your current total is not one of those recorded, he just says he has enough to buy anything he might need.
71	** They also recorded two takes on each insult comeback -- one that is said confidently when it's the correct comeback, and another that's said awkwardly when it's the wrong one.
72	** If you try to steal from the shopkeeper by picking up an item and leaving the store, he'll remember it and continue to call you out for it whenever you talk to him. If he's not in the store and you try to steal from him, he'll return just in time and furiously call you out for trying to steal when he's not there.
73	** If (and when) you drop the Swordmaster's insults on regular pirates, they automatically lose the round, but they call you out on it.
74	** At one point, Guybrush boasts that he can hold his breath for 10 minutes. Much later in the game, you have to beat an (extremely easy) puzzle while underwater. If you wait the full ten minutes instead of solving it, which can only really happen intentionally, you die (the only real way to die in the entire game.)
75	* DirtyOldMan: The shopkeeper is more than happy to go visit the Sword Master as many times as you need him to.
76	* DoYouWantToHaggle: Guybrush starts off in a decent, if not great, bargaining position with Stan, about to buy a subpar, no-frills ship from him for a price that's almost his entire line of credit or more; the game then gives you options to either wheedle him down to less, or act like a cagey negotiator but naively keep ''raising'' the offered price [[RuleOfFunny so that Stan can take him for all 5000 pieces of eight]]. Whichever way you play it, it soon becomes clear that Guybrush was cheated -- [[TheAllegedCar the ship's worth less than even his lowest possible bid]].
77	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The game features surprisingly little of this, thanks to the following entries in the series tending to follow its gameplay and story structure so closely. The major things that stand out compared to the following entries are the Voodoo Lady acting as a glorified hint system rather than having a plot-crucial role, the soundtrack (aside from a few standouts like the main title theme and [=LeChuck's=] theme) being a lot more basic and generic in tone, and the game sometimes going into detailed close-ups of certain characters during dialog sequences.
78	* EdibleThemeNaming: The Fettucini Brothers, particularly Alfredo, a reference to the pasta dish.
79	* EstablishingSeriesMoment: You can tell the kind of adventure you are undertaking when the very first character you meet in the game is the Mêlée Island's lookout... who's half-blind.
80	-->Hi, my name's Guybrush Threepwood and I want to be a pirate.
81	* ExactWords: Elaine rebuffs [=LeChuck=] and tells him to "drop dead". "And so he did." [=LeChuck=]'s ghostification is not fully explained but a figurative meaning is also hinted and his eventual death might have occurred later during the trip to Monkey Island™.
82	* ExpressiveMask: The Monkey Island cannibals -- Red Skull and Sharptooth wear huge masks with moving mouths. Lemonhead (also TheQuietOne) just bobs his head up and down.
83	* FailedASpotCheck: The Cannibals do realize that the idol given by Guybrush has exactly the same features as one of Lemonhead's, down to the "made by" writing, but fail to make the trivial logical connection that Guybrush just took back one of their offerings from the giant monkey head.
84	* FireAndBrimstoneHell: The catacombs are implied to be part of Hell, and have pools and rivers of magma. Not to mention body parts growing on the walls and floors, see "Bloody Bowels of Hell" above.
85	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the Special Edition [=LeChuck=] and Sheriff Shinetop are both voiced by Earl Boen, though with different accents. When you talk to Otis in the first act, he leaves you with the words, "It's not like I'm the ONLY pirate on the island."
86	* FungusHumongous: The Caverns of Meat located beneath the giant monkey head have more than their share of spotted, hairy, waist-high toadstools. Guybrush hates them even more than [[BloodyBowelsOfHell all the bleeding giant organs jutting from the walls]].
87	-->'''Guybrush:''' Somehow I knew there'd be mushrooms in Hell.
88	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the ending, Guybrush wonders aloud what happened to Stan, which leads to a brief cutscene of him falling into the sea by the docks. If you allow [=LeChuck=] to MegatonPunch Guybrush back to the docks before using the root beer on him however, then Stan will fall into the water in the background while Guybrush and Elaine obliviously watch the fireworks created by the exploding [=LeChuck=].
89	* GargleBlaster: Grog, which contains one or more of the following: kerosene, propylene glycerole, artificial sweeteners, sulphuric acid, rum, acetone, red dye #2, scumm, axle grease, battery acid, and/or pepperoni. It's so vile that it [[AteTheSpoon dissolves the mugs used to contain them]], which leads into a puzzle where you have to carry a mug of grog from one location to another.
90	* GhostlyAnimals: The ghost pirates' ship contains ghost chickens and ghost pigs, which, like the human pirates, resemble glowing blue skeletons with outlines of their former bodies. They behave as they did in life, with Guybrush being disgusted by the view of the slop moving through the pigs' translucent bodies. They also produce items that are needed to proceed (a feather and lard, respectively).
91	* GibberishOfLove: Guybrush is reduced to gibberish when he first meets Elaine. He gets over it (barely) on their second meeting.
92	-->'''Guybrush:''' Bgglw! Mfrnkf? Dmnkly... ''--sigh--'' I really wish I knew [[CannotTalkToWomen how to talk to women]].
93	* HaveANiceDeath: Parodied, as this was the beginning of the trend of not being able to die in Lucasarts adventure games.
94	** Parodied where Guybrush can fall from a cliff and a Creator/{{Sierra}}-style death screen appears [[FissionMailed for a moment]] -- before Guybrush reappears thanks to a "rubber tree."
95	** As you may repeatedly brag in dialogue options, Guybrush can hold his breath for ten minutes. Failing to solve the underwater idol puzzle during that time provides the game's only actual death. While there's no message or prompt to reload, after Guybrush drowns, the verb menu changes from Walk to, Look at, and so on, to Float, Bloat, Decompose, and to drive the point home, Buy Hint Book. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah5o3aAeZso Watch the multi-version whole ten-minute ordeal]]
96	%% Existing but private video with music and a Sierra-style death message added by the uploader https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMq762wbQS8.
97	* HellGate: The tunnels of Hell literally open up underneath Monkey Island. As a tourist attraction, no less.
98	* HeroicComedicSociopath: Some mild examples compared to the sequel:
99	** Guybrush's crew getting stranded and captured by the - admittedly harmless - cannibals because you sank the ship is played for laughs.
100	** Guybrush can optionally kill Bob with root beer when Bob [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlives his usefulness]], right after Guybrush promises him not to in exchange for information. Bob reppears in ''Returns'', so he is canonically spared.
101	* HookHand: [[MeaningfulName Meathook]], who lost both hands and an eye to a ferocious beast... a terrifying ''[[KillerRabbit parrot]]''. Not the same one he now keeps under lock and key on Hook Island (although he's just as afraid of that one). [[NoodleIncident How it happened, we'll never know.]]
102	* HypocriticalHumor: A pirate at the Scumm Bar laughs at Guybrush's name and calls it the stupidest name he's ever heard. When you ask for ''his'' name, though...
103	-->'''Pirate:''' My name is Mancomb Seepgood.
104	* ImAHumanitarian: Subverted. The Monkey Island Cannibals have been trying to cut back on red meat for health reasons. According to the village nutritionist, they need to worry about their cholesterol.
105	* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: [[spoiler:In this case, Sheriff Fester Shinetop, a magically disguised [=LeChuck=].]]
106	* InWhichATropeIsDescribed: The naming conventions for each "part" of the game, setting the formula for the rest of the series.
107	-->Part I: ''The Three Trials''\
108	Part II: ''The Journey''\
109	Part III: ''Under Monkey Island''\
110	Part IV: ''Guybrush Kicks Butt''
111	* IslandOfMystery: The titular Monkey Island and its eponymous secret... which we're never told. What the secret isn't, apparently, is the fact that you can't get there without some kind of magic, that it's inhabited by a tribe of cannibals, or that there's a literal [[HellGate gateway to Hell]] underneath.
112	* ItBelongsInAMuseum: Guybrush can claim that the Idol of Many Hands "belongs in a museum" when Sheriff Fester Shinetop catches him trying to steal it. Note that in neither case Guybrush actually means it, and it's just one of the optional lines of dialog to try to get the item for himself. However, the owner of the idol does agree with that statement.
113	* JailBake: Parodied with the carrot cake Otis apparently received from his Aunt Tillie. He doesn't even try to cut a slice himself because he hates carrot cake. Of course, Guybrush finds a use for the file hidden inside...
114	* JustLikeMakingLove: "Swordfighting is kinda like making love. It's not what you do but what you say what's important."
115	* LevelGrinding: An unusual appearance of the trope in an adventure game. You must wander the island getting into insult fights to learn insults, then you must get into ''another'' fight in order to ''use'' the insult and learn the response.
116	* LostInTranslation: Not as bad as the infamous Monkey wrench of the sequel, but present:
117	** The book "How to Get Ahead in Navigating" taken by the cannibals in exchange for their navigator's head also has its translation problems in other languages.
118	** The idiom "Red Herring", whose meaning is necessary to know in order to advance, doesn't mean anything in other languages. Fortunately, it happens early enough on the game so Guybrush doesn't have many items, you already know you have to GIVE something and an edible offering makes sense, so at most you only have to try a few times.
119	* TheLostWoods: TheMaze on Mélee Island™ is one, and both the treasure of Mélee Island™ and the Swordmaster are hidden in it.
120	* LoveAtFirstSight: Guybrush for Elaine. Also, if you decide not to save the idol task for last in The Three Trials, you get to see a scene that reveals that Elaine also fell for Guybrush at first sight.
121	* TheMaze: One in the woods of Mêlée Island™ and one in the BloodyBowelsOfHell beneath Monkey Island™.
122	* MeanwhileBackAtThe: ...ghostly ship of [=LeChuck=], anchored in a sea of lava...
123	-->''Deep beneath Monkey Island™''
124	* MediumAwareness: The characters, including Guybrush himself, are intermittently aware of or oblivious to the fact that they are in a video game, depending on [[RuleOfFunny what makes a joke work]] at any given time.
125	* MegatonPunch: [=LeChuck=] repeatedly punches Guybrush straight up into the air above Mêlée™, sending him flying across the length and breadth of the island during the finale -- an AstronomicZoom displays Guybrush's ballistic trajectory. Stan gets socked into the bay as well.
126	* MultipleEndings: Did you sink your own ship with the catapult? Your crew won't take it well... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxlTnrhtBXk Watch]]. ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' makes it the canonical ending; the crew resents Guybrush for abandoning them.
127	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: No ''Monkey Island'' would be complete without at least one instance:
128	** A literal example when Guybrush sinks his own ship on Monkey Island™ with a catapult hit, but it has no gameplay consequences and only provides a [[MultipleEndings slightly different ending]], with your crew left stranded on Monkey Island. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxlTnrhtBXk Watch.]]
129	** Guybrush in the final act ends up being a SpannerInTheWorks to Elaine's plan, crashing the wedding just in time to stop her from zapping [=LeChuck=] herself.
130	* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: In addition to the prominent disclaimer stating that the developers do not in any way condone animal cruelty, Guybrush comments on the poisoned dogs: "They're only SLEEPING!!!"
131	* NonSequiturThud: "...[[VideoGame/{{Loom}} I'm Bobbin,]] [[MythologyGag are you my mother?]]"
132	* NoodleImplements: In the offscreen fight against Shinetop in the Governor's Mansion, Guybrush uses various random items for purposes unknown. He comes out of the fight with a Manual of Style, staple remover, and gopher repellent, of which only one is actually useful later in the game.
133	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome:
134	** The two sequences in which Guybrush tries to steal the idol in the first place. Much of the action takes place automatically in a room that you can't see; all you can see is dialogue and the actions that Guybrush is doing, many of which you can't normally do in the game. The highlight is perhaps "Hypnotize quarrelsome rhinoceros". The fight between Guybrush and the Sheriff in the Governor's Mansion starts out pretty funny and then keeps getting more and more insane.
135	** Elaine escapes from an undead pirate, carries out a plan to kill said pirate... offscreen. Then comes [[SpannerInTheWorks Guybrush and]]...
136	* OracularHead: A severed navigator head which guides you through hell.
137	* OrAreYouJustHappyToSeeMe: "Is that a banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see us?"
138	* PigLatin: When one of the Cannibals, Sharptooth, tells Guybrush that he can't go through the Caverns of Meat [[spoiler:to get the Voodoo Antiroot]] without something, Red Skull (another cannibal) interrupts and tells Sharptooth, "Ixnay on the Eadhay of the Avigatornay!", but Guybrush has no clue what they're talking about (they're talking, of course, about [[spoiler:the Head of the Navigator]]). It is lampshaded, of course:
139	-->'''Guybrush:''' Why are you guys talking in Pig Latin?\
140	'''Red Skull:''' ''[to the other Cannibals]'' I see he is baffled by our native dialect. Good.
141	* PaintingTheMedium: There's a certain stump in the woods of Mêlée Island™ with a tunnel hidden underneath it, leading into what Guybrush describes as a system of catacombs. However, it's impossible to enter it, as the game requests the player to insert several floppy disks that didn't come with the game, and Guybrush simply concludes that the catacombs are inaccessible. Many players at the time didn't realize this was a joke and thought that there was some actual missing or DummiedOut content, however, a fact which is referenced in [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge the sequel]]. Later players could only learn of the joke from the Internet, since the joke was taken out in the CD edition and the Special Edition (which was directly based on the CD version).
142	* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: The pirates of Mêlée Island are too afraid of [=LeChuck=] to go raiding, so the spend most of the first act getting drunk. This ends once [=LeChuck=] has been and gone, they cheerfully loot the governor's mansion and leave now that there's nothing to be afraid of.
143	* PragmaticAdaptation: While almost every single detail of the original is preserved in the SpecialEdition (and every detail is intact if you use the "original version" button), to sidestep the outrageous amount of voice acting it would require, rather than stating the exact number of Pieces of Eight that he has after getting paid by the Fettucini Brothers, Guybrush's description for his money becomes "I have enough money to buy whatever I need."
144	* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Guybrush gets the option for a lot of these in the last act, aptly named "Guybrush Kicks Butt". Of course, you have the option to have him say something incredibly dorky and awkward instead.
145	* ProtagonistWithoutAPast: Guybrush's background prior to washing up on that beach in the first game is never elaborated on at all. Due to the serious plot contradictions, though, that became one of the fans' least concerns.
146	* PublicDomainSoundtrack: The SCUMM Bar music is a rendition of the old English drinking song "[[https://youtu.be/49EaPxu_FTo O Good Ale, Thou Art My Darling]]".
147	* PsychoPoodle: The Governor's Mansion is protected by poodles that have been cross-bred with piranhas (somehow). Guybrush has to get past them by stewing meat with yellow flowers. (ItMakesSenseInContext.)
148	* {{Pun}}: The game needs you to recognize one to solve a puzzle. See LostInTranslation up there.
149	* RealityIsUnrealistic: Probably unintentional, but still. Freedivers are actually capable of holding their breath for about 10 minutes, so Guybrush is really just very skilled in this.
150	* RedHerring: Subverted; the ''literal'' red herring you pick up in the game has an important use: it's the only item you can use to bribe the [[TrollBridge bridge troll]].
151	* {{Robinsonade}}: The Monkey Island arc. Guybrush and Herman Toothrot before him. With GoMadFromTheIsolation elements, later subverted.
152	* SavedByThePlatformBelow: If Guybrush gets too close to the edge of a particular cliff, it will break off and he'll fall, apparently to his death. a [[FissionMailed false]] HaveANiceDeath message appears for a few seconds, then disappears as Guybrush soars back onto the plateau, with the explanation that he landed on a rubber tree (Needless to say, rubber trees do not work this way in real life).
153	* ScoobyDoobyDoors: Most of the doors on Mêlée Island take you to a random other door in the town.
154	* SeesawCatapult: Herman Toothrot has built a fixture on Monkey Island that he insists is modern art, but consists of a log placed over a rock with a boulder on one end. This leads to a puzzle in which Guybrush must turn the log to the correct angle and drop a rock from an overhanging ledge in order to knock down a banana tree on a distant beach. If he gets the angle wrong, he may hit his own ship, resulting in slight embarrassment on his part and an extra scene in the ending in which his crew are marooned on the same island.
155	* ShaggyDogStory: Two of the final long quests are practically rendered moot; [[spoiler: Elaine escapes the villain's clutches on her own, and you bungle her attempt to destroy the villain. The potion which can destroy ghosts is actually root beer, which can be found in the vending machine on the very island where the story began. In fact, Elaine's competence means that Guybrush's entire journey is technically moot, as she would have taken out [=LeChuck=] on her own had he not been involved.]]
156	* ShoutOut:
157	** Many to other Creator/LucasArts games, including ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'', the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' series, and (in the Special Edition artwork) ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'' and ''VideoGame/GrimFandango''. The Indiana Jones references (most notably "I'm selling these fine leather jackets") make more sense if you realise that Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade was the previous Lucasarts adventure game and introduced the more realistic graphical style and interface that Monkey Island used.
158	** When you are about to crash the wedding between [=LeChuck=] and Elaine, you have a choice of dialogue for Guybrush, one of which being just shouting "[[SayMyName Elaine!]]" In fact, that's actually a shout out to ''Film/TheGraduate''. WordOfGod says that's where Elaine's name came from.
159	** In a swordfight, one of the opening options is: "[[Film/ThePrincessBride My name is Guybrush Threepwood. Prepare to die.]]"
160	** In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_13sSvtqTP8 demo]] version of the game, Guybrush has the option to call one of the pirates in the SCUMM Bar a "[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons kwyjibo]]."
161	** In the demo, Guybrush can turn into Indiana Jones inside the house of the Vodoo Lady (called fortune teller in the demo).
162	** Otis' name is an homage to Otis Campbell, the jailbird and drunk from ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'', while Sheriff Fester Shinetop's first name is most likely an homage to the equally bald [[Series/TheAddamsFamily Uncle Fester]].
163	** The circus music has a part which sounds like [[StandardSnippet the music typically used in circus settings]], ''Entrance of the Gladiators'' by Julius Fučík.
164	** Two of the idols surrounding the gigantic monkey head resemble Sam and Max, of ''Franchise/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' -- Steve Purcell was one of Lucasarts' animators/background artists at the time. The Special Edition changes this to Purple Tentacle (you can tell by the angry monobrow) from ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle''.
165	** At one point, Guybrush can be made to walk off a cliff. The player is then shown a parody of Creator/{{Sierra}}'s HaveANiceDeath menus, before Guybrush bounces back into view and explains, "Rubber tree." Also a good-natured TakeThat:
166	--->''"Oh no! You've really screwed up this time! Guess you'll have to start over! Hope you saved your game! <Restore, Restart, Quit>"''
167	** "[[Series/GetSmart That's the second-biggest monkey head I've ever seen!]]"
168	** When Herman Toothrot sees the Sea Monkey, he calls Guybrush "braver than you look," a reference to how Princess Leia says "you're braver than I thought" when she sees the Millennium Falcon in ''Film/StarWarsANewHope''.
169	** At the end of the special edition credits: "[[Franchise/JamesBond Guybrush will return. Guybrush will return.]]"
170	* ShrunkenHead: At one point, Guybrush trades a book called ''How to Get Ahead in Navigating'' for the shrunken head of a [[TheNavigator navigator]] who helps him through a labyrinth.
171	* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Of course this is the moment when Guybrush interrupts the wedding.
172	* SpoofAesop: "At least I learned something from all of this..." Among the other possible options:
173	-->'''Elaine:''' What's that?\
174	'''Guybrush:''' [[SelfDeprecation Never pay more than 20 bucks]] for [[BreakingTheFourthWall a computer game]].\
175	'''Elaine:''' ''({{beat}})'' A what?\
176	'''Guybrush:''' I don't know, I'm not sure why I said that.\
177	''(SmashToBlack, end credits roll)''
178	* SpySpeak: "Excuse me, do you have a cousin named Sven?" "No, but I once had a barber named Dominique." "Close enough." Guybrush wasn't making Dominique up, as the pirate barbers in ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'' mention that he used to be the fourth member of their quartet.
179	* StalkerWithACrush: [=LeChuck=] toward Elaine and the storekeeper toward Carla.
180	* StalkingMission: Guybrush chases the storekeeper to learn the location of the Sword Master. Knowing the path ahead of time isn't enough, since the shopkeeper knows the trick to revealing the final part of the path, but if you have the map, you can walk all the way on your own and use the sign on the ravine, just like the store keeper does.
181	* StatusLine: It shows the various commands behind the sound effects to compensate for the purposefully low lighting of some scenes.
182	* StopPokingMe: There is a rat you can pester by hovering your mouse over him. Doing this repeatedly will cause it to run away, and a nearby group of pirates will get mad at you.
183	* SufficientlyAdvancedBambooTechnology: Parodied. The cannibals of Monkey Island™ have state of the art security doors for no reason beyond the RuleOfFunny.
184	* ThatWasTheLastEntry: The Captain's log found in the Sea Monkey. It ends abruptly when the two characters described in the log leave the ship to investigate the eponymous Monkey Island, leaving their fate a mystery. [[note]] They were Herman Toothrot and his dead buddy from the end of the river. [[/note]]
185	* TheoryOfNarrativeCausality: Herman Toothrot has a ship that he can use to leave Monkey Island any time he likes, but he waits to be rescued because that's how things are done when you're a castaway on a tropical island. He even offers to loan his ship to Guybrush on the condition that he rescues him with it.
186	* TheThreeTrials: Swordplay, thievery and treasure hunt-er-y. The {{Trope Namer\|s}}.
187	* TitleDrop: Shown in the Captain's log, complete with the "TM" suffix.
188	* TooDumbToLive: Herman Toothrot has been waiting to be rescued from Monkey Island for decades, but has had a fully-functioning ship the entire time. Similarly, Otis has been waiting to be freed from jail for years, but has had a fully-functioning file the entire time--he just would rather eat rats than the carrot cake containing said file.
189	** Also the ghost in the final part who loves root beer despite it killing him.
190	* TookALevelInBadass: The final part, aptly named "Guybrush kicks butt", has GB gleefully [[OneHitKill one-hit-killing]] ghost pirates with root beer.
191	** Guybrush learns how to fence and toss around insults like a pro.
192	* TotemPoleTrench: With monkeys, in [[spoiler:the wedding dress, as part of Elaine's cunning plan to defeat [=LeChuck=] that Guybrush inadvertently spoils]].
193	* {{Tradesnark}}: Monkey and Mêlée islands always have "TM" on them.
194	* TragicVillain: [=LeChuck=]'s crew were PressGanged and made ghosts by force, as his first mate recalls with bitter irony.
195	* TrollBridge: Although the scary bridgekeeping troll really is [[spoiler:Creator/GeorgeLucas in a suit]].
196	* {{Understatement}}: The corpse of Herman Toothrot's friend is labeled "unhealthy-looking man," but then again Toothrot said he looked even worse while he was alive...
197	* UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay: Sheriff Shinetop has you thrown off the pier tied to the golden idol you were tasked with stealing from the Governor's manor, leaving you to drown. How do you get out of this predicament when every tool that could cut the rope is just out of your reach? Just pick up the idol itself.
198	* UnintentionallyUnwinnable:
199	** One of the most extreme examples of this trope ever; if you wait underwater for around 9 minutes and 58 seconds after Fester Shinetop throws you into the ocean, then save the game, you won't have enough time to pick up the idol and get out of the water before Guybrush drowns, forcing you to start over.
200	** A guide, past knowledge or brute force using players can bypass getting a map, only to be stuck when they are required to use it as a fuse.
201	* UpdatedRerelease: Originally released on PC EGA (16 colors) in October 1990. It was released on VGA (256 colors) later in December. The 1992 CD-ROM version improved all of the audio, added new ambient tracks, and overhauled the HUD compared to the original floppy disk versions, using the purple theme of the sequel, with fewer verbs and displaying icons instead of the name of the objects
202	** ''The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition'' can be considered a remake of the game, with a new interface, graphics and voice acting. Built on top of the original SCUMM code, it also includes the original CD-ROM version, but now with speech. Both can be switched on the fly by pressing a key.
203	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: After getting your hands on the root beer on Monkey Island, you have the opportunity to use it to destroy Bob. While he ''is'' apparently [=LeChuck=]'s right-hand man, he also happens to be a MinionWithAnFInEvil who was PressGanged and murdered into undeath. Guybrush breaks his promise to spare him in exchange for information, so offing him is more than a little cruel.
204	* VillainousCrush: Evil pirate [=LeChuck=] had been love with Elaine for years. She told him to drop dead... so he did, sailing off in search of Monkey Island and getting himself killed along the way. Which actually made him an even worse scourge on the Caribbean than he was when he was alive.
205	* WalkDontSwim: Guybrush, when tied to the idol and thrown off the pier, marches slowly around the sea bottom.
206	* WeaksauceWeakness: Ghosts can be killed by dousing them with "voodoo anti-root" root beer.
207	* WeddingFinale: The game's climax has [=LeChuck=] trying to forcibly wed Elaine and Guybrush crashing the wedding -- except Elaine was already on top of things, so [=LeChuck=] was actually about to marry what turns out to be [[TotemPoleTrench two monkeys in a wedding dress]]. Guybrush throws off her plans, and the now brideless [=LeChuck=] [[MegatonPunch punches Guybrush straight up through the roof of the church]].
208	* WeirdMoon: The Special Edition has an ''enormous'' moon hanging about in some of the backdrops. (Averted in the original version, where it's a much more reasonable size.) This is a nod to ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland,'' which likewise has several such moons visible throughout the game.
209	* TheXOfY: Various treasures and relics, such as ''The Idol of Many Hands'' you need to steal for the Trial of Thievery.
210	* YouFightLikeACow: The extended swordfighting subquest is the TropeNamer, with the original insults and their retorts written by Creator/OrsonScottCard.
211	* YourMom:
212	** At one time if you let the Fettucini Flying Brothers argue over who gets to go in the cannon:
213	--->'''Alfredo:''' Your mother wears combat slippers!\
214	'''Bill:''' Leave our mother out of it! Get in the cannon!
215	** "So's your mother" is one of the options in Insult Swordfighting that won't win, although it only appears during the training scene with Captain Smirk.
216	----

Context VideoGame / TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland