Nostalgic Vacation: 1990 - Pinball Quest/Secret of Monkey Island

On 09/28/2014 at 07:44 PM by KnightDriver

A big year for NES. Here's what made the first cut of probably two score games: Final Fantasy [NES], Maniac Mansion [NES], Dragon Warrior II [NES], Pinball Quest [NES], River City Ransom [NES], Sword of Vermillion [Genesis], Batman The Video Game [Genesis], Fire Shark [Genesis], Fist of the North Star: 10 Big Brawls [GB], Secret of Monkey Island [PC], Panzer Battles [PC], Wizardry: Bane of the Cosmic Forge [PC], and Commander Keen [PC]. My first choice was Wizardry: BotCF, and it's available on Steam, but I'm allergic to PCs, so I went with a game I had in my collection and haven't played yet, Pinball Quest on NES. That went too quickly so I added Secret of Monkey Island because the Special Edition trial has been sitting on my Xbox for years now.

First screen of Pinball RPG

Pinball Quest contains four games. Three are straight pinball with different themes and one is an attempt at making pinball and role playing games marry and have kids. I think the pinball mechanics are well executed. I like the way the way you can move your flippers to the bottom or top of the screen to scroll for a bit for a bigger play area. The RPG version is kinda neat but ultimately your still stuck with pinball mechanics, which are always difficult to control no matter how good the setup is. The screen looks like a 2D RPG environment and you flip the ball into channels to move to a new screen. Then you can hit the ball at enemies to defeat them and then pick up items. Between levels your ball rolls to a store and you can buy special flipper and ball effects. Let the ball drain at the very first screen and it's game over. I got to the third screen and had enough. Trying to keep the ball going forward instead of dropping back down to a previous screen is a real pain. Ah pinball, you task me and I shall drop you.

The Secret of Monkey Island is an adventure game put out by LucasFilm/Arts (whatever) FAB 2 Ron Gilbert (Maniac Mansion) and Tim Schaffer (worked on NES port of Maniac Mansion). I've always wanted to play this and the trial of the Special Edition has been sitting on my Xbox 360 for years.

smism

There be the Sword Master.

I managed to find the treasure and steal the item, but I couldn't beat the Sword Master. Some of these puzzles are just crazy weird. Luckily you can hold the "x" button down for a hint if you need it and occasionally I did. When I got the Sword Master I really hit a wall. You have to answer a bunch of insults with witty responses but there seems to be no way to find out the proper responses for the Sword Master's insults. You fight other pirates to learn the various insults and their responses, but none of them will tell you the answer to the Sword Master's insults. They just say, "not fair, you're using the Sword Master's insults". I revisited probably every character on Melee Island to no effect. I clicked for a hint but all I got is "You probably have enough insults to beat the Sword Master". I kept thinking there was some trick. I fought the Sword Master several more times, trying different responses but nothing was working. The only thing left was to look up a walkthrough, and I absolutely refused to do it. This puzzle should not be so wierd. I'm not having fun anymore. I just feel I'm not given even a sliver of a clue on this one. Frustration too high, must. . . stop.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

09/29/2014 at 08:20 AM

that's the problem with puzzle games, puzzles that make no sense or are too tedious. They all have them. There were a few in Valiant HEarts. I guess that's just the way it is though, you never know how people are going to react to your puzzles. What might seem obvious to one person isn't to another.

KnightDriver

09/29/2014 at 07:21 PM

Yea, it seemed like I had to figure out the mind of Ron Gilbert on this game. There was one puzzle that seemed very straightforward but it turned out to be a word play thing. It was funny, but it made me crazy figuring it out.

jgusw

09/29/2014 at 09:36 AM

I have Monkey Island on the 360. I played it a bit until I got stuck. I meant to look up a way to get around where I was, but my attention went to another game.

09/30/2014 at 12:45 AM

I actually thought about where I was stuck as I was going to bed again just to see if I came up with anything, but no, I'm really stumped. What would Ron Gilbert think is funny, I ask myself.

Alex-C25

09/29/2014 at 04:12 PM

Hard puzzles or not, i still want to play Monkey Island. Good thing the Special Edition is also on Steam.

That Pinball game seems like something I would try just for the novelty factor. I've never heard before of that combo.

09/30/2014 at 01:11 AM

I want to finish Monkey Island too. I just bought the sequel on a Xbox Live sale. I think I'll probably look up what I missed in that one spot sometime and continue it.

Cary Woodham

09/29/2014 at 05:18 PM

Pinball Quest was cool. My favorite LucasFilm point and click adventure was Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders.

09/30/2014 at 01:30 AM

I saw Zak McKracken in looking through game lists recently. I'd love to try it sometime.

NSonic79

10/04/2014 at 11:03 PM

I actually bought the Monkey's Island series on PSn when they had their last .99 sale. Not sure if they mirror what you played with the first game in regaurds to themes. I figure the graphics are different. Still need to buy the XBLA version

10/05/2014 at 03:55 AM

I never knew those PSN games were new ones to the Monkey Island series. I'll have to get those sometime. The remakes of the first two games on XBLA and I assume PSN too, although I'm not sure about that, are really good and beautifully improved from the pixelated 1990 originals which you can see at any time by pushing the "back" button on the Xbox controller.

Ranger1

10/06/2014 at 06:57 PM

Oh, that Sword Master Insult part! Drove me up a wall! I finally managed to beat him, but I don't remember if I did it on my own or I resorted to a walkthough. I know I had pen and paper out at one point to keep track of stuff.

10/07/2014 at 03:52 PM

I thought maybe you have to keep fighting her, but that didn't work. Then I thought maybe you use the comebacks you have that sort of vaguely apply to her insults. That didn't work either. Then I went around the world and talked to everybody again. No luck there. Then I just mashed the "hint" button: "Looks like you probably have enough insults to beat the Swordmaster". It always gave me the same response. . . That word "probably" though. . . hum. . . WTF! I've been everywhere and talked to everybody! What's left?!!! Grrrrrr!

I'll keep working on it. I know I can just look it up, but I'm having fun just letting it sit until I think of something. Like you would "old school" style.

PixlBit