Issue #99: Hell on Eyes
I didn’t plan on mentioning (one of) the ill-fated Full Throttle sequel, but here we are.
Let’s just jump into it, shall we?
A Week+ of Features
Kiln, Pretty Much Reviewed: Maybe “impressions” is a better word for it? Either way, the article’s out there, and it is positive. Online multiplayer games aren’t really my thing, but Kiln’s fast, fun, and casual gameplay makes it an exception to the rule. I didn’t hear any twelve-year-olds yelling slurs at me, either, so that’s always a bonus. Read the review/feature if you so like.
Meanwhile, AI pushes traffic our way in unexpected ways: Meaning, AIs are – surprise, surprise – dumb, and it benefits all of us. Especially The SCUMM Bar.
To quote the article I wrote in the wake of the discovery:
Recently, I noticed something weird over at The SCUMM Bar: Over the last year, there was a noticeable uptick in traffic to our walkthroughs. Why? I couldn’t think of any reasonable explanation – surely everyone uses AI for game hints these days.
Well, turns out AIs likely were the inadvertent reason for the spike. When it comes to walkthroughs, they are, as it seems, a whole lot more artificial than intelligent. To wit, I decided to take a look at how our friend, Claude, could help us with a few common Monkey Island head scratchers.
I usually scroll past AI hallucination posts, but in this case, I couldn’t help but collect a few bizarre examples myself.
Hell, it amused Dave Grossman, so maybe the article will amuse you, too.
Speaking of The SCUMM Bar
The backlog for The SCUMM Bar content is, for the lack of a better word, vast. But, once in a while, not often, but now and again, I roll up my sleeves and… well, I put in a minimal effort.
First, I put up a short video showing some of the oddities from The Secret of Monkey Island’s Mac version.
Weird musics – plural – and anti-aliased graphics? What’s not to love? Check out our (currently under re-development) version comparisons for more.
Meanwhile, over on The Curse of Monkey Island’s Story Document section, you can find a map/puzzle-flow illustration from what was once known as The Pirate Curse of Monkey Island.
Monkey Island Frantic – Updated
Among the many iOS 26 oddities was Safari’s borked-up datalists (typeable drop-down lists). The new implementation made Frantic too frantic to play in any fair form. All this to say, we’ve released a beta version of the game that fixes the issue. And, we’ve added a bucket full of new images to add some variety. Feel free to read the release notes, or, even better, run and play Monkey Island Frantic Beta right now!
Our Grim Fandango Contest Winner…
… is Matt! Who, as the only entrant – sheesh – won by default. Matt, I’ll contact you within the next couple of days. Congrats!
– Remi
This Week’s Trivia: Full Throttle 2 – Hell on Ears
Here’s a bit of a different one. When Mojo attended E3 back in 2003, we – well, they1 – got a demo of Full Throttle 2: Hell on Wheels courtesy of Dale Geist. This is from our preview.
“Or turning left! Or right!” became a Mojo favorite for a while. And to give you an idea of what Full Throttle 2 would have looked like…
Look, it’s easy to make fun of what could have been – it didn’t look great. That’s not to say it wouldn’t have been fun, though. The announcement trailer wasn’t that bad.
… though maybe not that good, either.
As part of our Secret History article on Full Throttle, I put together a short section on the game’s failed sequels. A lot of the information was based on anonymous sources, which makes me sound like a really important journalist.
Finally, a few unfinished Hell of Weel cutscenes have since leaked. Make of them what you will.
Soundtrack of the Week: Full Throttle – The Gone Jackals Mini Soundtrack
Hey, the original’s soundtrack ripped.
This Week’s Poll
Last week was all about the awesomeness of the “ReMI” (“Return to Monkey Island”) and “SeMI” (“Sea of Thieves: Legend of Monkey Island”) abbreviations. The supermajority agreed with us (62%) that they were super clever – I mean, come on – while 38% of you just didn’t know what’s what. 🤷
This week:
Historical Moments in History
16 years ago this week, Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse: The Tomb of Sammun-Mak
Merch for the People
Only the best! The Adventurer 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.
Full News Roundup
19 May: Actor Tom Kane has passed away: He performed in various Star Wars games, Grim Fandango, and Monkey Island.
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.
14 May: “red####” – Red Edison: Fred Edison’s ancestor.
15 May: “ed#####” – Ed Edison: Fred Edison’s son.
16 May: “weird##” – Weird Ed Edison: Fred Edison’s son’s more informal name.
17 May: “edna###” – Edna Edison: Fred Edison’s wife.
18 May: “nurse##” – Nurse Edna Edison: Fred Edison’s wife and her profession.
19 May: “jed####” – Jed Edison: Fred Edison’s ancestor.
20 May: “zd#####” – Zd Edison: Fred Edis... look, are you seeing a pattern here?
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.
Your Daily Challenges
Mojole too easy? Too hard? (Probably too hard.) Here are other daily challenges to get the brain cells firing on all cylinders.
Monkey Island Frantic: A Monkey Island scene-guessing game at a frantic pace. Image updates at midnight Pacific time. Brag about your results on the Mojo Forums!
Guess That Tune: Each daily game features a clip from Monkey Island music. Guess the tune in up to 6 tries, and return each day for a new challenge! Here, too, you can post your results on Mojo Forums.
Return to Monkey Island Trivia Card Game: The card-guessing game, now in your browser.
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!
The Mojo Network
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.
Only our finest reporters were allowed to attend.
I didn’t enter the GF prize contest, as that would’ve been greedy.
As for this week’s poll: I don’t need a 3D FT2 by Tim Schafer, we got that as Brütal Legend. But I won’t say no to another 2D P&C game by anyone capable.