32 Years Later, Ron Gilbert Confirms The 'Secret' Of Monkey Island
After all these years, Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert has finally confirmed what the secret of Monkey Island is from the 1990 game.
11th Oct 2022 14:41
Images via Lucasarts
32 Years Later, Ron Gilbert Confirms The 'Secret' Of Monkey Island
After all these years, Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert has finally confirmed what the secret of Monkey Island is from the 1990 game.
11th Oct 2022 14:41
Images via Lucasarts
Monkey Island is a cult classic franchise that has moved slowly, but only when it needs to. There hasn't been the typical quality drop-off for the series that you'd expect to see from a franchise that has been on the go for a whopping 32 years.
Still, Monkey Island has drastically changed its aesthetic for its latest entry, Return to Monkey Island. And blimey, what a return it is. It seems as though the game has plenty of questions to answer - and one of them happens to be one that the series has been asking since it first arrived.
What Is The Secret Of Monkey Island?
After all these years, the creator of Monkey Island has finally revealed just what the "secret" of Monkey Island actually is. Remember, the first game that launched in 1990 was called The Secret of Monkey Island, so, why did we never learn it?
In an interview with the BBC - spanning his career - Ron Gilbert revealed exactly what the titular secret was when the game was first in development. "The original game was called The Secret of Monkey Island, and we never addressed what that secret was," he says. "Well, we really need to tell people what that secret is. You don't want to just kick that football down the field another time."
"And the thing that I'm not sure that people really understand is that this is actually the secret of Monkey Island. As I conceived the secret in 1988 when I first started working on this game, and it got the title The Secret of Monkey Island, this was the actual secret of the game. It was that Guybrush was just in a giant amusement park. That's where it got its title."
There Are Still Hints To The Original Plot In Monkey Island
This secret plot was obviously removed from the story of the game, but there are still elements of the original intent of making Monkey Island itself a theme park. The island is peppered with little stalls and grog machines that fans have come to accept as a part of the furniture with the game's bizarre approach.
When considered in context of what could have been, it certainly sticks out. The Secret of Monkey Island may have been out for some time, with some particularly investigative fans, so we're glad to have the mystery finally put to bed. It's about time.
About The Author
Joseph Kime
Joseph Kime is the Senior Trending News Journalist for GGRecon from Devon, UK. Before graduating from MarJon University with a degree in Journalism, he started writing music reviews for his own website before writing for the likes of FANDOM, Zavvi and The Digital Fix. He is host of the Big Screen Book Club podcast, and author of Building A Universe, a book that chronicles the history of superhero movies. His favourite games include DOOM (2016), Celeste and Pokemon Emerald.
