It was sitting in the bargain bin. My mother bought it for my birthday because she figured it was cheap ($20 which for certain types of games back in the day was VERY cheap), and might be worth a few hours of mindless entertainment for me. What it ended up being was a game experience that would shape everything I expected of games from that point on.
Our story revolves around one Guybrush Threepwood. We don't know who he is, or where he comes from. The only thing we know about our intrepid hero is that he wants to be a mighty pirate. In fact, it's the first thing out of his mouth.
Guybrush's quest has lead him to a fictional island found 'deep in the Caribbean' called Melee Island. In pursuit of his quest to become a fearsome pirate he is told that he must steal something from the Governor's mansion. No one mentioned however, that the Governor is the highest sought piece of pirate booty in the Tri-Island area.
That's right, Governer Elaine Marley is every pirate's dream woman. She's cute, she's cunning, and she'll cut you from end to end if you so much as look at her funny. Unfortunately, Guybrush isn't the only one smitten with Elaine Marley. So is LeChuck, the most feared pirate on the waters. When Elaine told LeChuck that he should drop dead, he literally did. LeChuck decided that the only thing that would impress Miss Marley would be to go to the legendary "Monkey Island", discover it's secret, and return with it. Unfortunately whatever LeChuck sought on Monkey Island ultimately killed him like everyone else before him, and brought him back to the realm of the living as a ghost.
LeChuck now spends his time wreaking havoc on those foolish enough to leave port anywhere in the Caribbean, taking the best of the sailors he slaughters violently and turning them into members of his own undead crew. He also invests considerable hours scheming just how he can possess that lovely governor that slipped through his fingers...
The best part of the Monkey Island series (And MOST LucasArts adventure titles) is the humour value. These games were an alternative to the action style of games that were slowly gaining popularity, but also, a bit of an alternative to normal adventure games. Adventure games were very much like an interactive book, and before Lucas started throwing their hat into the ring most of these titles were quite serious. While four other adventure games were developed under Lucas before Monkey Island, Monkey Island is to date one of the most popular series LucasArts has ever created.
By this point, you're probably wondering why I've talked about this for so long. I assure you there is a point. About a week ago, rumours began to fly around the internet. For some reason, the German version of the ESRB was listing that there was going to be a special edition to Monkey Island. As of this weekend at E3, it has been officially announced that not only will the Secret of Monkey Island be released in a special edition version on XBox Arcade and a direct PC download, but Telltale games will be releasing a fifth in the series.
If anything I have said here sparks your interest, I highly recommend you play the original at the very least. It would only take you a few nights of solid gameplay to finish, as comparatively to modern games, it's a rather short one.
http://www.lucasarts.com/games/monkeyisland/
If you like it, try the new sequel as well. Unfortunately there is nowhere to get games 2,3,and 4 officially yet, but maybe if 1 is a popular enough download they will release the other old ones as well. Telltale did a great job reviving another one of Lucas' old adventure titles ('Sam and Max' based off the 80's comic book series), so I am convinced they will do this new MI justice.
http://www.telltalegames.com/monkeyisland
