LucasArts Adventure Game Special - PortsCenter

WARNING: Contains strong language. Like "fuck."
PortsCenter is a webseries looking at unique and interesting ports of videogames. This week, we pay tribute to the point 'n' click adventure games of LucasArts with looks at three quirky ports of their earliest games - Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, and Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders.
As referenced in the video, a complete list of changes and cuts to the NES version of Maniac Mansion can be found here: www.crockford.com/wrrrld/mania...
Features additional contributions from Mike McFly of the Church of Awesome (churchofawesome.com), Mike Deneen (the commentator for PortsCenter 1.07), and Tyler Uslan of Gameplay First ( / gameplayfirstreviews .
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[@RobinE_Art]

Love your Mickey Runaway Brain statue. Also, great video on LucasArts adventure games.

[@MyInfiniteZero]

An extremely fitting eulogy. I grew up on TIE fighter (flying w/out a joystick, doing loops was hard) and, to a lesser extent, Full Throttle and the adventure games. Cheers.

[@araknair9605]

I really need to get into this genre.

[@OneOfTheLoveless]

I hope all of you adventuregame enthusiasts have played I have no mouth and I must scream.

[@stephenbianchi7141]

Great video. Maniac Mansion is one of the coolest NES games to me, but I have never played a computer version, so there you go. I always thought it was pretty edgy for an NES game. so now I have to check out the list of differences.

[@weirdproq]

What about the Famicom version of Maniac Mansion? That one is completely different from the NES version and has more simplified and kinda anime style graphics.

[@wachomein1239]

The famicom version of Maniac Mansion is completely different from the NES. Talk about it!!!

[@PortsCenter]

I've played it a little, but never spent any real time with it. I did actually capture a little footage from the Director's Cut edition, and I plan to go back and play it properly. It was ported to the GBA, and I'd love to see how it changed in transition.

[@minty-pineapple]

Great video! Happy birthday.

[@borninshadow]

There's some interesting ports to be certain. Thanks for an interesting video!

[@keios]

You know what you needed in there? Some footage from Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis... =P

[@ItsTheFizz]

You know... Some could argue that Disney already did their adaptations of Monkey Island... Only they called it Pirates of the Caribbean

[@BiggysMusic]

PortsCenter is fantabulouso!

[@bonzafrog]

My favourite was always full throttle!

[@PortsCenter]

I may come back and do the Monkey Island special editions at some point.

[@RetroJonesy]

OMG someone else who thinks loves Beneath a steel sky! This is probably my favourite point and click adventure of all time. Nice one mate!

[@PortsCenter]

I *love* Beneath a Steel Sky. I'm still holding out for a sequel. Or a remake.

[@RetroJonesy]

That would be brilliant, here's hoping for that. Loving your channel, keep up the good work

[@PortsCenter]

Craig Jones Thanks!

[@GadgetUK164]

Great video. You should have mentioned The Dig, Loom, and Fate of Atlantis, they are awesome. I wish someone would create new scumm games.

[@johnnyfiveisking]

Good stuff, looking forward to the Rayman 2 episode.

[@PortsCenter]

Ha! (Looks back down at his iPhone)

[@The08linkin]

Good video. You deserve more subs.

[@maboroshi1986]

have you played any games by wadjet eye games? they're responsible for some really great adventure games recently like resonance, gemini rue and the blackwell games, some really great stuff in there.

[@Mystemo]

I like the NES version of Maniac Mansion a lot more than any of the PC versions. Sure, the censorship sucks but everything important is still intact and the in my oppinion far superior Graphics and exclusive music makes the game much more enjoyable to me.

[@dad2jmcnb]

Good video but I think that at some point a closer look at the games themselves? I might load up Monkey Island 2 again - haven't played that it a while...

[@Mirandanicholas]

quality content

[@PortsCenter]

I did actually capture footage from these games, but ended up not using it. Those are some great games but they don't really have any interesting ports.

[@PortsCenter]

Me too!

[@res20stupid]

I'm tempted to ask but since you like adventure games, have you ever played Broken Sword? That's a good adventure game and it has had several ports over the years

[@Dreaddanzig]

great episode but why does nobody in this video mention full throttle :( one of lucasarts best

[@Cubeezz]

What about " Escape from Monkey Island" port to PS2 ? Pretty less is the same , as I have found infos from the web...

[@PortsCenter]

There are a few differences between the PC and PS2 ports - I own both of them - but not enough worth bothering to do an episode about. Plus Escape From Monkey Island isn't exactly the best entry in the series.

[@Cubeezz]

Yeah I totally agree about Escape is not the best in the series... I remember the site mixnmojo has an article with differences of the ps2 port . I hope I play it some day. Thnx for your immediate answer.

[@RocMegamanX]

Kinda wish I had a computer with a Floppy Disk drive, so that I could actually buy and play all these games. Also kinda wish that I can actually play a point-and-click without looking at a guide or getting lost.

[@maun6139]

You do know they have remakes on steam right?

[@poppajoe11]

What the hell, is that an 8-bit version of Dawn of the dead credits song starting at 6:05?

[@PortsCenter]

Yep!

[@poppajoe11]

+PortsCenter that is all kinds of awesome

[@meatrace]

How did you never finish a KQ or SQ game?! Clearly it's just my opinion, but the Sierra games are vastly superior to the LucasArts adventure games. Heck, I thought of myself as a hardcore adventure game player in the 90s, amassing quite a collection and spending a LOT of time on the internet visiting KQ and SQ fan sites and messageboards and never ONCE did anyone even mention Lucas Arts. I genuinely never knew they made adventure games until the early 2000s, so I find it downright bizarre how much nostalgia there is for them. It's like finding out today that there was a console made by Sony in the 1980s that outsold the NES and had all the really good games you've never heard of... Additionally, I've always felt encouraged by Sierra games to explore and try new things. A good amount of puzzles have multiple solutions, NPC dialogue frequently adds to the rich flavor of the games, and in SQ the deaths are hilarious.

[@PortsCenter]

I'll agree that the music is great, but the visuals are very jarring and when you know what's missing it feels a little hollow. Not a terrible experience (as I say in the video, it is essentially the same game) but it didn't quite feel right to me.

[@HoneyMike]

i just downloaded SCUMMVM from the play store

[@konradszkudlarek]

Boo i really miss PortsCenter....

[@dollors1]

Nope nope nope don't use that guy in the pikachu shirt again, he's too young and doesn't know what he's talking about