Cool things in old Lucasfilm Games adventures that you only discovered years later

Original Bones song :o)

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Shameful confession time:

I have just got that, in Monkey Island 2, “Phatt Island” means
 “Fat Island”
 :roll_eyes:

Do you know why Melée Island is called the way it is? Because it sure was a minor revelation for me when I found out!

Please do elaborate. From my own experience, I remember reading or hearing the term “melee combat” for the first time only years after playing MI and thinking “hey, that’s a familiar name”. Took a few more to get it :wink:

(While playing MI, I always associated its name with bees or honey
 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meli-Park
)

Hmm, no, I don’t know. It’s a fictional name (on the contrary, Monkey Island do exists for real).
What’s the origin for MelĂ©e Island?

I don’t know that.

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It should be related to the fights. A melee is that moment in rugby in which everybody is packed together struggling for the possess of the ball.
Mischia, in italiano.

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So, MĂȘlĂ©e Island should mean: the island with a mix of pirates, voodoo ladies, whatever?

Melee is located in japan (hope the link works).

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MĂȘlĂ©e it’s actually the french word for that. In English, it’s called scrum.

Which is also a software development methodology that bosses love and developers hate because it’s full of nonsense overhead that takes the developers away from actually developing stuff but allows the management to obtain numbers they can manage and understand and who cares if the code is shitty.

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Melee combat is another word for fighting with close ranged weapons. Like with swords. You learn sword fighting on Melee island, IÂŽm pretty sure that is where the name comes from.

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Yeah, but why is Monkey Island called like that?

Wait, I think I know.

Oh, sure. I don’t even go to the toilet without checking the article on Wikipedia, nevertheless I didn’t think to look for Melee
 You seem right.

Learnt some new things that I overlooked in the past. But all the in-joke part made me think about hidden in-jokes that didn’t make it into the game.
I just remembered the novelisation of The Dig by Alan Dean Foster. In the relative beginning of the book there is something, that wasn’t in the game. AFAIR the president of the USA is notified of the meteor that is approaching the earth. In the English version it’s:

“Well, come on, then, Willy. So it’s a rock. What kind of rock? Big, small, purple 
 what?” The
President waited, expectant but impatient.

A clear reference to Maniac Mansion. So now I wonder, if he knew the games and in-jokes or if the novelisation is based on a script for the game and this part just was cut or never implemented.

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This wasn’t obvious to me, though I was just a kid and wondered what happened to those additional scenes. I finally understood several years ago when I played through again for the first time in about 10 years. So you are not alone!

And great observation on the Wolfenstein games! I never thought that, but it makes sense and would be interesting to see if there was any inspiration there.

Castle Wolfenstein (1981)

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade The Graphic Adventure (1989)

A melee is a fight. A typical thing in the life of a pirate.

Well it was a secret that LeChuck and his crew were hiding there
 But mainly I think it’s because it was a play on the typical names of adventure stories of the time.

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Although there was a secret of Monkey Island before LeChuck hid there. Estevan in the Scumm Bar tells you this. He mentions that LeChuck was looking for it.

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