Issue #67: A Promise Fifteen Years in the Making
The soundtrack trilogy closes with the release of “Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse OST.”
I mean, it wasn’t exactly a promise, but many of us had expected a Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse official soundtrack back in 2010 – the two other games in the trilogy had seen that treatment after all. But it didn’t happen until today, and a jubilant day it is.
Elsewhere, the “missing lines” from The Secret of Monkey Island have kept us digging up some old favorite ICYMIs. Hey, it’s still kind of slow-going around these parts, and we’ll take what we can get.
Respectfully,
Remi
The Devil’s Listening Party
“If you missed it, you missed it,” as they say (thought maybe you didn’t) – Skunkape threw a Devil’s Playhouse OST listening party last night, and apparently thousands showed up. Relive it here:
Enough partying, though, here’s the real thing – a soundtrack that truly was worth the wait. It even has features:
Nearly three hours of music by series composer Jared Emerson-Johnson, organized thematically and overhauled with updated instruments, a new mix pass, and additional live performances.
New tracks created especially for Skunkape’s Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse remaster.
Soundtrack-specific Narrator dialogue.
Brand new cover art by Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell.
Specially mastered for crystal-clear, high-impact digital streaming. Engineered with streaming platform codecs and loudness standards in mind, to deliver consistent clarity, dynamic range, and punch across all major listening environments.
(Quote from Skunkape.)
You can grab the soundtrack from Steam ($9 – it’ll be on Bandcamp later this evening according to Jake, so blame him if it is not) and, frankly, you’d be a butt if you didn’t.
Some More The Secret of Monkey Island Secrets
Sometimes inspiration hits, and we decided to throw out a couple of in-case-you-missed-it factoids on the ‘tube.
Those familiar with the pre-CD-ROM versions of the first Monkey Island game will remember the useless “Turn on” and “Turn off” verbs. Except, they can be used on the Grog machine and the pot in the Scumm Bar for some easy-to-miss throwaway lines.
Surely we’re scraping the bottom at this point…
Also, those who played the game on the Amiga will surely have noticed some differences between playing it on a 500 vs. a 1200.
Like many, I could have sworn the enhancements were due to extra RAM or using a hard drive, but my (sadly extensive) UAE testing showed the CPU being the differentiator.
Still, an emulator isn’t real hardware, and I’d gladly be proven wrong on my thesis. Sound off in the comments if you have tangible proof – but please, don’t throw in Spiffy Effect speculations.
And, finally, in the Amiga world, some of us remember playing LeChuck’s Revenge on floppy disks – eleven of them to be precise. If you didn’t have the “pleasure” of switching floppies ad nauseam just to get to the opening credits, well, good for you. For an approximation of what some of us had to go through:
Keep in mind, I actually removed some of the loading cycles there, so yeah… Mojo Intern Scummbuddy’s “But there was a joy - a thrill - to being asked to put in a new disk. What new island were you about to see??” comment might have been a result of severely rose-tinted glasses. ¬
Delicious Milk and Secrets
Finally! Making its way from Twitter, The Milkman has hit Bluesky. Follow him to learn only the darkest secrets of the LucasArts+ Universe, many of which may or may not be true.
El Poll Diablo
Last week, we asked, “In what language did you first play The Secret of Monkey Island?” 66% went with English, and 21% with German; 15% picked Spanish, while Italian trailed with 3%.
In the spirit of the new Sam & Max OST, here is today’s poll:
Soundtrack of the Week
Predictably enough…
Full News Roundup
17 Apr: Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse OST now available: Treat yourself.
16 Apr: Set aside your evening for a live listening party of The Devil’s Playhouse OST: After all you’ve put them through, your ears deserve this.
13 Apr: Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse soundtrack gets liberated April 17th: Heck, you might as well dub it Liberation Day, though I hear that one’s taken.
Last Week’s Mojole Results
It’s the game that sweeps the nation! Can you beat Mojole, our fiendishly difficult daily puzzler? Only hardcore LucasArts aficionados need apply.
10 Apr: “##sharp” – The Sharp X68000 didn't look sharp, mind you.
11 Apr: “douglas” – Did you know Douglas Adams designed a LucasFilm adventure game?
12 Apr: “##adams” – Yes, that Douglas Adams as I give you a freebie.
13 Apr: “#colon#” – Labyrinth: The Computer game it was called.
14 Apr: “colon##” – Yeah, no actual : option in Mojole.
15 Apr: “macklin” – Yep, Ken Macklin was one of the artists -- freebie day!
16 Apr: “ken####” – Ken Macklin… wait, today is the freebie day, not yesterday!
And for the competitive amongst you, the Mojole forum thread has gone strong for more than two years. The two juggernauts to beat: Sushi and Huz.
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There may be some rose tinted glasses but also I miss the noises of a disk being read. "You can do it, drive!"