The Monkey Island SCUMM Bar: Easter Eggs, Trivia, and Secrets

Some versions of “The Secret of Monkey Island” – Amiga, EGA, VGA floppy – still used the old SCUMM interface that included the “Turn on” and “Turn off” verbs. Both were superfluous and never required, but there are still two scenes where using them produces dialogue not seen in other versions.

Source: The Mojo Comments.

An unused close-up from the resource files shows Guybrush grabbing a key, shovel, and a map(?). This scene was completely cut from the game.

When entering the Sea Monkey’s hull, four lines of a dialogue were supposed to be triggered, but because of a coding error, the dialogue was left unused. As the lines were actually recorded for the Special Edition (but, again, not used) we have recreated what the scene might have looked/sounded like.

Credit: Found by Erik Torbjorn, who also grabbed the screenshots. Posted, amongst other places, on the DREAMM Discord.

Update: Ron Gilbert has since said this wasn’t a coding issue, but rather the lines being cut (but still kept in code).

Show Rose the four different mops, and she’ll have a different reaction to each of them. Bonus: You will also receive the “Mop Top” achievement by doing so.

After you disguise yourself as Gullet on LeShip off Monkey Island, you can climb down the rudder and meet “yourself.” Here, it is revealed that Gullet has a twin brother: Mullet.

If you need further proof that the Monkey Island games are set in a theme park, note the drain on the ocean floor outside the eponymous island. (Of course, the monkey hand fits within the interior mythos. A box within a box if you so like.)

Fake news! Return to Monkey Island is the first Monkey Island game since Secret not to feature a cemetery, although looking at the concept art, the plan was to have one. The red hues and burning tree suggest it could have been located on Terror Island.

As Dave Grossman points out, this is not a cemetery, but rather a circle of stones – i.e., a henge. We have, of course, written about there being a cemetery on Cogg Island, but are not sure if that really counts, seeing how a) the island is an easter egg, and b) the location is not marked as a cemetery.

Basically, let this be known as Cemeterygate.

Deep in the concept art, you can find a depiction of what looks to be a meat and cheese shop. Was it to be located somewhere in Big Whoop? Note the digital register.

After Boybrush and Chuckie follow their “parents,” Big Whoop turns back from an amusement park to something “real.”

Guybrush was originally supposed to turn to talk to Elaine in the final scene. This was cut because of disk space constraints, and Guybrush ended up just shifting his eyes. See the full animation over at The Video Game History Foundation.

Originally, the SCUMM Bar was one large, scrolling room where the kitchen was seen from a different perspective. Courtesy of The Video Game History Foundation.

An early version of the Mêlée dock had a door where the poster would ultimately show up. Too, “SCUMM :) Bar” was known as “SCUM Bar,” meaning in some separate timeline, you’d be visiting scumbar.com. Courtesy of The Video Game History Foundation.

You could originally see a lot—or a bit—more of Monkey Island from the Sea Monkey. The line shows where the cutoff is in the final game. Courtesy of The Video Game History Foundation.

An early version of the Governor’s Mansion was shown from a very different perspective. Courtesy of The Video Game History Foundation.

An early concept for the “troll bridge” puzzle involved the bridge collapsing. Exactly what the puzzle would have entrailed is unknown, but the scene was fully animated. View it over at The Video Game History Foundation.