Issue #93: Psssssssst

Let’s toss out some trivia today, because why the hell not?

Cripes almighty, I just noticed The Adventurer is about to turn four. Four! Years! Not months! I can’t remember the last time I put such a long-lasting effort into anything.¹

Anyway, let’s have a look at this week’s news…

First and foremost, Double Fine’s next game, Kiln, has a release date: April 23rd. A beta “throwdown” is set to hit Steam from April 9th through the 11th – the former date is when the pre-orders open:

• Xbox

• Steam

• PS5

You’ll even get a pre-order bonus, so put the date on your calendar. $19.99 for the standard edition; $29.99 for the “Fired Up Edition.”

Meanwhile, the potential SCUMM documentary is facing some challenges. Their goal is to hit a thousand signatures, and they’re only at eight hundred as of a few days ago. Should they not hit a thousand, the documentary will likely not happen.

So: Be a mensch and sign the dotted line. Who doesn’t want more SCUMM in their lives? Steve Purcell, Collette Michaud, and Brad Taylor have all confirmed they’d be part of the thing. Can’t get much more promising than that. Here’s that link again: scummdoc.com.

(For future budding project signature gatherers, I would gently suggest not to use a newsletter sign-up as a measuring tool. Not everyone wants to receive even more email.)

In the movie realm, you can find Ron Gilbert’s 1979 directorial debut on Vimeo:

And if videos are your thing, we've got links to a bunch of recently released interviews. Chuck Jordan, Oliver Franzke, Noah Falstein, Aaron Giles… You know and love ‘em all.

Yeah, I don’t know, maybe not earth-shattering content today. So, let’s make up for it with some fun: Trivia! I felt the need to jump into The SCUMM Bar’s trivia section – lord knows why – and plucked out a few gems for ya. That’s just how I roll.

– Remi

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The Secret of Monkey Island: Ignoring the Psssssssst:

If you choose to ignore Fester Shinetop’s "pssssssst" and go see Otis, the dialogue will change fairly significantly.

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge: The Deleted LeChuck/Big Whoop Scene Voiced

Strangely, voices were recorded for the deleted LeChuck/Largo scene in Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge Special Edition. The scene doesn’t appear in that version of the game, either, but through the magic of reconstruction, here’s what it would have sounded like. (Video taken from VGHF’s fireside chat video.)

The Curse of Monkey Island: Happy New Year!

Visit Domingo in January, and he will wish you a happy New Year. (Note, you can change your system date/time to January and this will still work.)

Escape from Monkey Island: The Inaccessible Harbor

You CAN access the harbor in Escape from Monkey Island—it just requires you to download the demo. (Or watch this informative video!) You even get a couple of lines of extra dialogue. Note, too, the placeholder music from The Curse of Monkey Island. You can download the demo from Mojo and play it in DREAMM.

Tales of Monkey Island: The Two CEOs

In “Episode IV: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood”, portraits of Telltale co-founders Dan Connors and Kevin Bruner can be seen in the courtroom.

Return to Monkey Island and The Secret of Monkey Island: Bob and Conrad’s Sprite Flipping

In the grand tradition of sprite flipping: In The Secret of Monkey Island, Bob’s pegleg would famously switch from the left to the right side depending on which direction he was facing. This was a result of the sprite being flipped in code as opposed to being properly redrawn. In Return to Monkey Island, Conrad, the museum curator, gets the same treatment – and, additionally, his “Melee” shirt flips, too. Fitting for a location that is a nod to the minuita of the previous games.

And Even More!

I run a series of articles on Mojo called ICYMI with a bunch of trivia like this. The type of stuff only a truly sick and perverted Monkey Island fan would care about. In case you did miss the ICYMIs, here ya go:

• The Secret of Monkey Island

• LeChuck’s Revenge (It has now reached eight pages, so take some time if you’re interested in reading it.)

• The Curse of Monkey Island (Now sitting at a healthy five pages.)

• Escape from Monkey Island

• Return to Monkey Island

  • “The Many Epilogues of Return to Monkey Island”

  • “The Secret of Cogg Island”

Tales coming soon, possibly.

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So, how many of you came to The Adventurer from Mojo? A healthy (and not unexpected) 83%.

9% came straight to The Adventurer and never read Mojo (what’s wrong with you?), while 8% of you came to The Adventurer first and are now (sensibly) Mojo readers.

Let’s dive further into what stands on the intersection of The Adventurer and Mojo.

(To be clear, this is all in the name of morbid, hypothetical curiosity, not an indication of anything to come. But, y’know, who knows how things will pan out in the distant future.)

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Only the best! Mojo has a web store for all your apparel and decoration needs! Don the original LucasArts logo, Manny Calavera’s face, or the OG Adventurer logo, though be warned: Popularity will smack you in your face when you wear – or display – these masterpieces.

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Full News Roundup

• 18 Mar: Double Fine Announces KILN Release Date…: It’s pre-order time! (Almost.)

• 18 Mar: SCUMM/LucasArts documentary gagging for sign-ups: It may not come to fruition if more people don’t make their support known.

• 16 Mar: Ron Reveals His Directorial Film Debut: Pretty sure you can find the original secret of Monkey Island in there.

• 13 Mar: A Vampyre Story: A Bat’s Tale chugging along nicely: The latest developer update reveals all. Or enough.

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.

• 13 Mar: “hint###” – ... line. Also, not something we like to give here at Mojole

• 14 Mar: “big####” – ... Whoop. Ron wasn’t kidding: Big Whoop? Big whoop.

• 15 Mar: “lrg####” – Limited Run Games. They make collector’s boxes.

• 16 Mar: “box####” – What the old LucasArts games came in. And also the new collector ones.

• 17 Mar: “boxes##” – Hell, sometimes you need more than one box in your collection.

• 18 Mar: “boxer##” – Hurley does some boxing in Grim.

• 19 Mar: “jack###” – Jack Sparrow: Referenced in Return to Monkey Island.

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.

Become a Mojoer! (sponsored content)

Hey, kids, do you want to become one of us? Why not join our Patreon? One single dollar will make you a Friend of Mojo. And for the privileged few, there’s the $5 Diamond Club tier, which will earn you a special mention in The Adventurer. Join now! Our interns are hard at work finishing up the special mention section!

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The International House of Mojo: Web, Bluesky, YouTube, and Mastodon.

The Monkey Island SCUMM Bar: Web, Bluesky, and Mastodon.

The Grim Fandango Network: Web, Bluesky, and Mastodon.

1. I kid, it’s Mojo, closing in on twenty-five years, good grief.