Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge is an adventure game developed and published by LucasArts in 1991. A sequel to 1990's The Secret of Monkey Island, it is the second game in the Monkey Island series. It was the sixth LucasArts game to use the SCUMM engine, and the first game to use the iMUSE sound system. In it, pirate Guybrush Threepwood searches for the legendary treasure of Big Whoop and again faces off against the pirate LeChuck, who is now an undead corpse.
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Ron Gilbert
Tim Schafer
Dave Grossman
Ron Gilbert
Bret Barrett
Tami Borowick
Steve Purcell
Peter Chan
Sean Turner
Larry Ahern
James Alexander Dollar
Ken Macklin
Michael McLaughlin
Collette Michaud
Tami Borowick
Dave Grossman
Bret Barrett
Tim Schafer
Ron Gilbert
Original version
December 1991[1]
Special edition
7 July 2010
The development team for Monkey Island 2 was largely the same as for The Secret of Monkey Island. The project was led by Ron Gilbert, who was again joined by Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman. The game was a critical success, but a commercial disappointment. Monkey Island 2 was followed by The Curse of Monkey Island in 1997; the third game in the series had to deal with the predecessor's ambiguous ending and vaguely explain it. A "Special Edition" remake of Monkey Island 2 was released in 2010, following a similar remake of the first game. In 2022, a sixth game Return to Monkey Island was released, whose plot begins right after the cliffhanger of Monkey Island 2,[2][3] but is not a sequel to the latter, and the games following Monkey Island 2 all remain canonical.[4][5]
Plot[edit]
Several months after the events of The Secret of Monkey Island,[6] Guybrush Threepwood is on Scabb Island searching for the legendary treasure of "Big Whoop".[7] He is robbed by Largo LaGrande, former first mate of the pirate LeChuck whose ghost Guybrush defeated in the previous game. Largo has imposed an embargo on the island, preventing anyone from leaving. Visiting the International House of Mojo in the island's swamp, Guybrush receives guidance from the Voodoo Lady who assisted him in his first adventure. Through actions involving laundry collection and grave-robbing, Guybrush collects the necessary materials for her to make a voodoo doll of Largo, which Guybrush uses against him. However, Guybrush makes the mistake of showing Largo LeChuck's still-living beard, which Largo steals and uses to resurrect LeChuck as an undead zombie.
From his island fortress, LeChuck swears revenge against Guybrush. The Voodoo Lady reveals that Big Whoop contains the secret to another world which will allow Guybrush to escape LeChuck forever. She gives Guybrush a book which says that the four pirates who discovered the treasure created a map to its location which they divided into four parts. One of the pirates was the grandfather of Guybrush's love interest, Elaine Marley, who has broken up with him. Guybrush charters a ship sailed by Captain Dread, and sets out to find the map pieces.
Guybrush's search takes him back and forth between three islands: Scabb, Phatt, and Booty. On Phatt Island he is imprisoned by order of Governor Phatt, who hopes to claim the bounty LeChuck has placed on him, but Guybrush manages to escape. On Booty Island he encounters Stan, a used ship salesman from the first game who is now selling used coffins. He also reunites with Elaine, who is bitter toward him and says that their relationship was a mistake. Through various quests involving a Mardi Gras party, a spitting competition, a bloodhound, a drinking contest, a glass-bottom boat, a sunken ship's figurehead, rigged gambling, a library catalog, and temporarily resurrecting the dead, Guybrush manages to collect the map pieces. He takes them to diminutive cartographer Wally, who determines that Big Whoop is on Dinky Island. Wally and the map are soon kidnapped by LeChuck. Guybrush infiltrates LeChuck's fortress but is captured, and LeChuck places him and Wally in an elaborate death-trap. They manage to escape, but Guybrush accidentally sets off an explosion which propels him to Dinky Island. There he encounters castaway Herman Toothrot, who he previously met on Monkey Island.
Navigating a mazelike jungle with the help of a talking parrot, Guybrush locates the site where Big Whoop is supposedly buried. He digs until he hits concrete, and uses dynamite to blast through it. Elaine hears the explosion from Booty Island and sets out to investigate, finding Guybrush dangling over a deep hole which he then falls down, winding up in an underground facility. LeChuck arrives, claims that he is Guybrush's brother, and proceeds to torture him using a voodoo doll. In the tunnels, Guybrush discovers an E ticket, a first aid station, a "lost parents" area with the skeletal remains of his parents, and an elevator leading to Mêlée Island, which he previously visited in The Secret of Monkey Island. He manages to create a voodoo doll of LeChuck, and dismembers his foe by tearing its leg off.
LeChuck begs Guybrush to remove his mask, revealing that he is actually Guybrush's creepy brother, Chuckie. Their reunion is interrupted by a workman, who says that "you kids" should not be there. The two brothers, now appearing as children, exit the tunnels together and meet their parents above-ground in the "Big Whoop" amusement park. Guybrush is confused, and Chuckie's eyes glow with evil energy. Back on Dinky Island, Elaine wonders if LeChuck has cast a spell over Guybrush.
Development[edit]
Origin[edit]
The idea of a sequel to The Secret of Monkey Island originated in that project's planning by its director, Lucasfilm Games employee Ron Gilbert. Gilbert envisioned The Secret of Monkey Island as the first of a trilogy of adventure games,[8] although he hadn't fully developed the overarching narrative direction for the series at the time.[8] The possibility of a second Monkey Island game was alluded to by Gilbert in a late 1990 interview with in-company newsletter The Adventurer,[9] and he told Retro Gamer in 2006 that "I knew there was going to be a sequel" before he completed work on The Secret of Monkey Island.[10] He proceeded to conceive ideas specifically for Monkey Island 2 before Lucasfilm Games commenced the publication of the previous game.[11] Gilbert remarked that his opportunity to develop the sequel came in part from the company's contemporary project management practices which he likened to the narrative setting of Lord of the Flies, as the staff enjoyed the capability to "[run] around and do whatever we wanted".[8] Further inspiration for Monkey Island 2's inception stemmed from Lucasfilm Games staff's enthusiasm for exploring conceptual avenues not applied to The Secret of Monkey Island.[10] Gilbert explained that, although the earlier game's team had been led to omit several of its design decisions from the title to complete it within deadline, "it didn't matter [...] because I could just save the work out and come back to it in the sequel".[12]
According to Gilbert, Monkey Island 2 began due to his personal interest in expanding his work in the original game rather than due to commercially oriented suggestions from Lucasfilm Games' management.[13] Gilbert commented that the game's origin would have been improbable in the latter case, as the company was unable to assess the viability of a potential sequel due to its then limited knowledge of the first title's sales performance.[13] The initial uncertainty of the first game's commercial success also encouraged Gilbert to start the Monkey Island 2 project without express approval of the wider company.[14] His intention was to deter a scenario wherein Lucasfilm Games' discontent with the market performance of the first game would prompt the company to abandon developing new Monkey Island titles for ventures with greater consumer appeal such as Star Wars licensed games.[14] Gilbert eventually convinced Lucasfilm Games to commit to the creation of the sequel irrespective of its commercial viability, a decision which Gilbert attributed to the "simpler days" of that period of his involvement with the company.[11] In 1990, around the time that the development of Monkey Island 2 was sanctioned, Lucasfilm Games and other Lucasfilm subsidiaries were reorganized into integrated divisions of the newly formed LucasArts Entertainment Company.[15] Monkey Island 2 thus served as the first adventure title of the Lucasfilm game development branch to be produced under the LucasArts brand name.[16] Development of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge began shortly after The Secret of Monkey Island's release in October 1990.[14][1] As with most of their contemporary releases,[13] LucasArts both developed the sequel and self-published the game's originally issued edition.[17]
Reception[edit]
Sales[edit]
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge was highly anticipated; Amiga Power called it the most eagerly awaited game of 1992.[78] According to Ron Gilbert, Monkey Island 2 and its predecessor "sold well, but Sierra Online and King's Quest were still kicking our ass completely!"[79] A writer for Next Generation noted that the games were "relatively minor hit[s]" in the United States, but became blockbusters on the PC and the Amiga throughout Europe.[80] Conversely, Edge reported that both games "sold very poorly on release". Designer Tim Schafer said that Monkey Island 2 sold about 25,000 copies,[81] despite its being released at a time when LucasArts was "really excited if we sold 100,000 copies of a PC graphic adventure".[82] Following the underperformance of Monkey Island 2, Schafer recalled that the management came and told them that Monkey was a failure and that they should make something else. He speculated that the Monkey Island series' reputation grew as a result of software piracy. According to Schafer, the pressure to develop a more commercially viable game ultimately led to the creation of Full Throttle, which became the first LucasArts adventure to sell one million units.[81]