Oh, my freaking god, I am just a little excited!! A new teaser trailer for Return to Monkey Island was released, and the game is dropping this year!! 

This is a big deal for a mighty pirate like myself, and you can watch the teaser trailer below.

When I saw that Ron Gilbert was making this new installment to the franchise, I lost my mind and so did social media! Ron Gilbert is the original creator of the first two Monkey Island games, The Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck’s Revenge, from 30 years ago. They are my favorite games of all time! 

Monkey Island follows the adventures of Guybrush Threepwood, a bumbling want-to-be pirate who is on an adventure to find the treasure but ends in all kinds of trouble. There are five games in the series, but it’s the first two games that are the favorites amongst fans. 

They were just so memorable…

Although all the games are enjoyable, I felt that Monkey Island lost some of its charm after the first two games. After LeChuck’s Revenge, the franchise underwent some changes that I don’t feel were for the best…

To refresh the series look, the animation style and character design changed. Guybrush was barely recognizable in the 3rd game, Curse of Monkey Island. In the 4th and 5th games, Escape from Monkey Island and Tales of Monkey Island, the series abandoned its cartoon point and click style and moved to 3D. That didn’t really work for me. The comedy also didn’t feel as sharp and clever. Some fans don’t consider the last three games to be true canon Monkey Island games. I don’t mind them, but I can understand this reasoning. 

Out of all the new installments brought to the franchise, the remaster of the first two games, The Monkey Island Special Edition, won over the fans’ hearts, proving that the original Ron Gilbert games still reigned supreme after all these years! 

The Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck’s Revenge were genre-defining games for point-and-click adventures. They had superb writing and comedy. The games are just hilarious with laugh-out-loud moments that you need in your life! If you’re a fan of quirky British humor, you will love it. The game constantly references pop culture, and the humor takes its cue from comedies such as Monty Python with its absurd moments. For example, we win sword fights with playground insults, and in the first game, one of your most useful tools is a rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle… you had to be there.

The characters also refer to the fact that they are in a game and how ridiculous this whole situation is. They even break the 4th wall several times. It’s genius!

Monkey Island also liked to have fun trolling its players. This was when games came on floppy discs, usually multiple. At one point in the game, Guybrush comes across a tree stump while walking through a forest. When examining the stump, Guybrush says that there is a hole he can climb down to lead to catacombs below. When the player chooses to climb down, the game then asks the player to insert disc 22, then discs 36 and 114. These discs do not exist. When the player is forced to exit the choice to go down the catacombs because of the lack of discs, Guybrush disappointingly tells the player how he must skip this whole part of the game. 

Unfortunately, this joke was later removed from the game as too many people started calling the helpline looking for the missing discs… The Secret of Monkey Island came on eight floppy discs! So having a disc 22 wasn’t too far-fetched! Shit, Monkey Island 2 was on 14 floppy discs! I lived that struggle!

It was a great troll moment and just another example of this game’s comedy genius. 

 Monkey Island is a gem that continues to stand the test of time. You can send someone the game, and most likely, they will come back telling you about all the fun they had. I gave the first game to our very own CouchSoup Contributor Shana Martin because she had never played it, and she loved it! That’s saying something for a game that is over 30 years old! 

Monkey Island deserves to make a comeback, and I think Guybrush deserves his place in history as one of the greatest game characters! Did you know he was one of the greatest pirates in history in Uncharted 4? 

Well, there he is! 

I can not wait for this game to be released! I hope that Ron Gilbert and Devolver Digital will bring back all that classic Monkey Island magic we love when it is released later this year! Date to be confirmed. Dominic Armato is onboard to reprise his role as the voice of Guybrush Threepwood too! Considering Phil Lemar, Jess Harnell, and Rob Paulsen have all lent their voices to previous Monkey Island installments, we could be in for a real treat with the voice cast! Although we are still waiting to hear what platforms the game will be released on, I could see Return to Monkey Island being released on all platforms, as were the special editions and other games in the series!

I will be preparing my best sword fighting insults and dusting off the old games to prepare for this new release, and I will keep my ear to the ground for more updates and news to share!

Since hearing this exciting announcement, that might not be a banana in Guybrush’s pocket…I’m sure he is glad to see us again after all these years.

Have you played the Monkey Island games? Are you as excited about this new announcement as I am? Let us know in the comments below!!