Tales of Monkey Island

Tales of Monkey Island
The stylized cover artwork shows the characters Elaine and Guybrush, both wielding swords, on a ship together with a monkey.
Cover artwork by Steve Purcell
Developer(s)Telltale Games
Publisher(s)Telltale Games
Director(s)Mike Stemmle
Mark Darin
Joe Pinney
Jake Rodkin
Producer(s)Matt Hansen
Designer(s)Mark Darin
Mike Stemmle
Chuck Jordan
Brendan Ferguson
Jake Rodkin
Will Armstrong
Joe Pinney
Sean Vanaman
Dave Grossman
Programmer(s)Randy Tudor
Artist(s)Derek Sakai
Writer(s)Mike Stemmle
Mark Darin
Sean Vanaman
Composer(s)Michael Land
John Marsden
SeriesMonkey Island
EngineTelltale Tool
Platform(s)Windows, Wii, OS X, PlayStation 3, iOS
ReleaseWindows episodes
July 7, 2009[1]
– December 8, 2009[2]
Wii episodes
  • NA: July 27, 2009[5]
    – February 1, 2010[6]
  • PAL: July 31, 2009[3]
    – February 19, 2010[4]
OS X
February 11, 2010[7]
PlayStation 3
iOS (iPad-enhanced)
December 14, 2010
– June 23, 2011[10][11]
iOS
November 4, 2011[12]
– February 23, 2012[13]
Genre(s)Graphic adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Tales of Monkey Island is a 2009 graphic adventure video game developed by Telltale Games under license from LucasArts. It is the fifth game in the Monkey Island series, released nearly a decade after the previous installment, Escape from Monkey Island. Developed for Windows and the Wii console, the game was released in five episodic segments, between July and December 2009. In contrast to Telltale's previous episodic adventure games, whose chapters told discrete stories, each chapter of Tales of Monkey Island is part of an ongoing narrative. The game was digitally distributed through WiiWare and Telltale's own website, and later through Steam and Amazon.com. Ports for OS X, the PlayStation Network, and iOS were released several months after the series ended.

Players assume the role of pirate Guybrush Threepwood, who—while attempting to destroy his nemesis, the undead pirate LeChuck—accidentally releases a voodoo pox across the Gulf of Melange. With the assistance of his wife, Elaine Marley–Threepwood, Guybrush seeks out a cure. The game was conceived in late 2008, due to renewed interest in adventure game development within LucasArts. It was developed concurrently with LucasArts' special edition of the 1990 game The Secret of Monkey Island; LucasArts oversaw production of Tales of Monkey Island, and ensured that it matched the remake in certain areas, such as art direction. Production began in early 2009; franchise creator Ron Gilbert was involved in project planning, while development was led by Dave Grossman, who co-designed the first two Monkey Island games. The game's music was composed by Michael Land, and the core cast of The Curse of Monkey Island reprised their voice roles.

Tales of Monkey Island received generally positive reviews. Critics praised the game's story, writing, humor, voice acting and characterization; 1UP.com described Guybrush as Telltale's strongest and most expressive character yet. The game's music and graphics were also lauded. Complaints focused primarily on the perceived erratic quality of the game's puzzle design, a weak supporting cast in the early chapters, and the game's control system. Tales of Monkey Island garnered several industry awards, and was Telltale's most commercially successful project until Back to the Future: The Game.

A sixth entry in the franchise, Return to Monkey Island by publisher Devolver Digital, Lucasfilm Games and Terrible Toybox, was released on September 19, 2022.[14]

  1. ^ "Tales of Monkey Island Premiere Episode Now Available". Telltale Games. 2009-07-27. Archived from the original on 2009-08-06. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ch5 PC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference PAL ep1 Wii release was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference PAL ch5 Wii was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Nintendo Download: Monkey Island and Musketeers, Card Games and Sudoku". Nintendo of America. 2009-07-27. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2009-07-27.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference NA Ch5 Wii was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference mac release was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Kebby, Mike (2010-06-16). "'Heads-Up' PlayStation Store Update (16th June 2010)". PlayStation.Blog.Europe. Sony. Archived from the original on 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
  9. ^ "Tales of Monkey Island Sails to the PlayStation 3 June 15". IGN. 2010-06-11. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2011-02-10.
  10. ^ "Take Tales of Monkey Island Wherever You Go: Now on iPad". Telltale Games. 2010-12-14. Archived from the original on 2010-12-20. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
  11. ^ "Monkey Island on iPad – A Free Episode and a Full Season". Telltale Games. 2011-06-22. Archived from the original on 2011-06-27. Retrieved 2011-06-23.
  12. ^ "Guybrush Threepwood Plunders the iPhone". Telltale Games. 2011-11-08. Archived from the original on 2012-01-20. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
  13. ^ "App Store – Monkey Island Tales 5". Telltale Inc. Archived from the original on 2012-06-03. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
  14. ^ Egan, Toussaint (2022-04-04). "New Monkey Island game Return to Monkey Island arriving in 2022 from original creator Ron Gilbert". Polygon. Retrieved 2022-04-11.

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