| Maniac Mansion | |
|---|---|
Ken Macklin's cover artwork depicts five of the playable characters: Syd, Dave, Bernard, Razor, and Jeff. |
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| Developer(s) |
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| Publisher(s) |
Lucasfilm Games
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| Designer(s) | Ron Gilbert Gary Winnick |
| Programmer(s) | Ron Gilbert David Fox |
| Artist(s) | Gary Winnick |
| Composer(s) | Chris Grigg David Lawrence |
| Engine | SCUMM |
| Platform(s) | Commodore 64, Apple II, IBM PC, Amiga, Atari ST, Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Graphic adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Media/distribution | Floppy disk, cartridge |
Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games. Initially released for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, it was Lucasfilm's foray into publishing. The game follows teenager Dave Miller as he ventures into a mansion and attempts to rescue his girlfriend from an evil mad scientist, whose family has been controlled by a sentient meteor that crashed near the mansion 20 years earlier. The game was conceived in 1985 by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick, who based the story on horror film and B movie clichés with humorous elements. The pair used people they knew and characters from movies, comics, and horror magazines to design the game's characters. The developers based the mansion's design from the Main House at Skywalker Ranch, outlining the map and pathways prior to programming.
In Maniac Mansion, the player uses a point-and-click interface to guide Dave and two of his friends through the mansion, avoiding its dangerous inhabitants and solving puzzles. This interface was born out of the designers' desire to improve on contemporary text parser-based graphical adventure games seen in most Sierra Entertainment adventure titles. To reduce the effort required for the game, Gilbert implemented a game engine called SCUMM, which would be re-used for many other LucasArts titles. The developers reduced the game's size to 64 KB to fit within the Commodore 64's size limitations. Maniac Mansion was ported to several other platforms; the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) version had to be considerably modified to follow Nintendo of America's content policies, which barred material deemed inappropriate for children.
Regarded as a seminal adventure title, Maniac Mansion was critically acclaimed; reviewers lauded its graphics, cutscenes, animation, and humor. Its point-and-click interface has been regarded as revolutionary by reviewers and other developers, and it led competitors to adopt similar interfaces. The game influenced numerous other titles, has been placed on several "hall of fame" lists, and has led fans to create remakes with enhanced visuals. A TV series, written by Eugene Levy and starring Joe Flaherty, was created in 1990 and lasted for three seasons, filming 66 episodes. Lucasfilm Games released the sequel Day of the Tentacle in 1993, which also received critical acclaim.
Contents |
Maniac Mansion takes place in the mansion of the Edison family: Dr. Fred, Nurse Edna, and their son Weird Ed.[3] Living with the Edisons are two large, disembodied tentacles – one purple and the other green.[4] The intro sequence shows that a meteor crashed near the mansion 20 years earlier.[3][5] The sentient meteor took control of the family and caused Dr. Fred to start sucking out human brains for use in experiments – something that his family has supported and encouraged. One day, main protagonist Dave Miller's cheerleader girlfriend, Sandy Pantz, disappears without a trace, and he suspects that Dr. Fred has kidnapped her.[6] After the game's introduction, Dave and his two companions prepare to enter the mansion to rescue Sandy;[3][5] the game starts with a prompt for the player to select two of six characters to accompany Dave.[4]
Maniac Mansion is a graphic adventure game in which the player uses a point-and-click interface to guide characters through a two-dimensional (2D) game world and to solve puzzles.[3][7] Players can select among fifteen different commands with this scheme;[4][8] they include "Walk to", to move the characters; "New kid", to switch between the three characters; and "Pick up", to collect objects. Each character possesses unique abilities; for example, Syd and Razor can play musical instruments, while Bernard can repair appliances.[9] The game may be completed with any character combination, but, because many puzzles can be solved only with specific skills, there are different ways to finish the game, depending on the characters the player has chosen.[3][10]
The gameplay is regularly interrupted by cutscenes (a term coined by Ron Gilbert[11][12]) that advance the story and inform the player about non-player characters' actions.[3][4] Aside from the green tentacle, the mansion's inhabitants pose a threat and will throw the player characters into the dungeon – or, in some situations, kill them – if they see them. If one character dies, a replacement must be chosen from the unselected characters; the game ends if all the characters die. Maniac Mansion has five possible successful endings, depending on which characters the player uses, which ones survive, and what they do.[13]
Maniac Mansion was first conceived in 1985, when Lucasfilm Games assigned employees Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick the task of creating an original game.[15] Noah Falstein had recently hired Gilbert at Lucasfilm Games on a three-month contract to program Koronis Rift. At the same time, Winnick was working on Labyrinth: The Computer Game, and it was then in which both Gilbert and Winnick found that they shared similar tastes in humor, movies, and television programs. Eventually, Gilbert was hired full-time. As with earlier Lucasfilm titles, the company's management provided little oversight in the development process, which Gilbert credited the success of many of its earlier games.[6]
Gilbert and Winnick were co-writers and lead designers of Maniac Mansion, but they worked separately on programming and art, respectively. Together, they brainstormed story ideas and, based on their love of B horror films, decided to create a comedy–horror title set in a haunted house.[15] They drew inspiration on the game's main ideas over what Winnick called "a ridiculous teen horror movie"; the teens were in a house and were slaughtered one by one, not once thinking about leaving. The pair compared this film to clichés in other popular horror films such as Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, and used them to come up with the game's setting.[6] Early development involved experimentation and was organic; according to Gilbert: "Very little was written down. Gary and I just talked and laughed a lot, and out it came." After development had begun, Lucasfilm Games relocated its office to the Stable House at Skywalker Ranch. The ranch's Main House inspired Winnick's design of the game's mansion, leading him to create the concept art for it.[7] He recreated several rooms in the Main House for the game, such as a library with a spiral staircase and a media room with a big screen TV and grand piano.[16] The various rooms at the ranch inspired the design of other rooms in the mansion.[6]
The pair prioritized the story and characters and wanted to maintain a balance between a "sense of peril and sense of humor".[14] The first character concepts were a set of siblings and their friends, which gradually evolved into the final characters.[16] Gilbert and Winnick based the characters on stereotypes and people they knew. For example, Winnick's girlfriend Ray inspired Razor, and while Gilbert's mother apparently served as the basis for Nurse Edna[7][16] – Gilbert has denied the connection.[6] Dave and Wendy were based on Gilbert and a fellow employee named Wendy, respectively.[16] According to Winnick, the Edison family were based on various movie characters and elements from EC Comics and Warren Publishing magazines.[6] They sought to give each playable character unique abilities.[7] However, several characters had to be excluded due to size limitations.[15] To parody the horror genre, the developers inserted many clichés into the story,[7] drawing inspiration for several in-game elements from films. A segment of the 1982 anthology film Creepshow titled "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" was the inspiration for the meteor that takes control of Dr. Fred. The designers included a man-eating plant similar to the villain of the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors.[16]
The pair struggled to choose a gameplay genre; Gilbert described their early ideas as "disconnected". While visiting relatives for Christmas, Gilbert saw his cousin playing King's Quest: Quest for the Crown. Gilbert was an adventure games fan and decided that the ideas he and Winnick had conceived would work well with the genre. His first exposure to a text adventure with graphics, Gilbert spent the holiday playing the game to familiarize himself with the format.[16]
Gilbert and Winnick created Maniac Mansion's basic structure and story prior to programming; its earliest version was a simple board game, which was playable on paper. The mansion's floor plan served as the game board, and cards represented events and characters.[7] Lines connected the rooms to illustrate pathways characters could travel. The designers used layers of cellulose acetate to map out the game's puzzles by tracking which items worked together when used by certain characters. Impressed with the map's complexity, Winnick included it in the game as a poster in one of the mansion's rooms.[16] Because each character contributed different skills and resources, the pair spent months working on the event combinations that could occur; this extended the game's production time beyond that of Lucasfilm Games' previous titles, which almost resulted in Gilbert's termination.[15] Though they had outlined the game's events, the dialog was not written until after programming had started;[7] David Fox provided the dialog. Alternate endings were uncommon at the time, and Maniac Mansion was one of the first games to feature them.[6]
Development focused on the Commodore 64 platform. To accommodate the system, the staff tried to make the game small enough to fit into the computer's 64 KB memory.[15] They used scrolling to show objects and characters in rooms during cutscenes.[16] The designers also used the technique to force players to explore the mansion's larger rooms by hiding elements off-screen.[11] However, generating the individual screens for the bitmap scrolling required 16 KB, which Gilbert considered too large. Instead, he used the computer's programmable character set to generate the game's visuals with limited memory, reducing the necessary file size per screen to around 1 KB. The set uses 8 × 8 pixel tiles. However, the computer could store only 256 tiles, which limited the level of detail Winnick could design into the graphics. To circumvent this, Gilbert created a program to generate the tiles from Winnick's pixel art. To comply with the tile limit, the program compared similar tiles and created approximations that could replace multiple tiles. Winnick inspected the results for visual errors and then repeated the process until the number of tiles was sufficiently reduced. To make the characters easily recognizable, Winnick made the heads relatively large. Because the Commodore 64 restricted sprites to 24 pixels horizontally, the characters' animations never extend outside this width.[16]
Gilbert started programming the game in assembly language for the 6502 microprocessor.[7][16] However, he soon determined that it would have taken him far too long to realize the ambitious game concept with this approach, and he concluded that he needed to build in support for an abstract scripting language.[7][15] Gilbert initially considered basing this language on LISP but ultimately chose a syntax that more closely resembles that of the C programming language.[16] He discussed the problem with fellow Lucasfilm employee Chip Morningstar, who helped him build a foundation for the game engine, which Gilbert then extended.[17] In designing the engine and language, Gilbert developed a "system that could be used on many adventure games, cutting down the time it took to make them". He logged considerable overtime with the goal of creating an adventure game superior to those of Lucasfilm's competitors.[15] Gilbert designed the engine to allow for multitasking so that designers could isolate and manipulate specific game objects independently.[16] Most of the first six to nine months of Maniac Mansion's development involved building the engine.[6]
All adventure games of the time required typing, and this is understandable given that most of them were text based. A few games, most notably the Sierra ones, had graphics but they still required typing. I never understood this and felt that it was only taking it halfway.
A primary development goal was to create a control system that not only retained the structure of classic text adventures, but also dispensed with the typing.[15] The two lead designers were frustrated with the text parsers and the inevitable player character deaths that were prominent in the genre.[14] While in college, Gilbert had enjoyed Colossal Cave Adventure and Infocom's games but had "really wanted to see graphics".[16][17] He felt that the visual element Sierra Entertainment added for its games was "a big improvement", but he disliked the games' use of text parsers.[17] While playing Kings Quest, Gilbert found guessing what terms the designer had programmed it to recognize aggravating because he could see the object he wanted to interact with on the screen, but he had to figure out the correct commands. Gilbert reasoned that if he could view the graphic, then he should be able to click on it with a cursor; by extension, the player should also be able to click on verb commands.[16] Gilbert devised a new and simpler interface "because I'm lazy and don't like to type. I hated playing adventure games where I had to type everything in, and I hated playing the 'second guess the parser' game so I figure everything should be point-and-click."[18]
The team originally envisioned 40 verb commands, but it whittled the number down to the 12 it felt were essential. The commands were then integrated into the scripting language in a similar fashion Sierra did with its Adventure Game Interpreter and Sierra's Creative Interpreter.[16][19] Gilbert believed that a complex game did not need a text parser, but rather an innovative use of the interactions between in-game objects. He showed the team a demonstration of Sierra games and then led a discussion about their user interface and gameplay issues. Gilbert finished the engine – which he later named "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion" (SCUMM) – after around a year of development. It freed the developers from having to code the details in low-level language.[7] Though the game had been designed with the Commodore 64 in mind, the SCUMM engine enabled easy porting of Maniac Mansion to other platforms.[7][15] Lucasfilm developers Aric Wilmunder and Brad Taylor would assist in the PC port of the script.[6]
At Gilbert's request, David Fox, who had previously worked on Labyrinth: The Computer Game, assisted with Maniac Mansion's scripting. Fox was between projects and planned to do a month's work on the game; however, he stayed on the project for roughly six months.[7] He discussed the game's events with Gilbert and Winnick, and used that information to create the rooms with the script.[16] The developers added designated areas or "walk-boxes" that characters could traverse in the game world.[11] Gilbert and Fox wrote the characters' dialog and choreographed the action. Fox expanded the game based on ideas he conceived while viewing Winnick's concept art, such as allowing players to place a hamster in the kitchen microwave.[7]
Gilbert wanted players to enjoy Maniac Mansion and not be punished for applying real world logic. In one adventure game, for example, the character could bleed to death by picking up a piece of glass. Fox asserted that "I know that in the real world I can successfully pick up a broken piece of mirror without dying" and characterized such game design as "sadistic". The team wanted to avoid illogical "surprise deaths" to spare players from having to regularly reload the game from a previous save state.[7] As a result, the group created a number of possibilities to give the player more freedom. While scripting the game, however, the designers realized that the number of characters resulted in a very complex game with a number of flaws, particularly dead ends that prevented the player from completing the game. To address these issues, they often revised the puzzles. In retrospect, Gilbert acknowledged that the fact that Lucasfilm Games had only one tester allowed many errors to go undetected.[16]
In contrast to its previous games, where Lucasfilm Games had been only the developer and had used external publishers, the company started taking on the role of publisher with Maniac Mansion.[7][20] Lucasfilm Games hired Ken Macklin, whom Winnick knew, to design the packaging's artwork. Gilbert and Winnick collaborated with the marketing department to design the back cover. The two also created an insert that includes hints, a backstory, and jokes.[16]
After around 18 to 24 months of development,[6] the game debuted at the 1987 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.[21] The game was initially released for the Commodore 64 in October 1987.[22] After a Toys "R" Us customer complained about the word "lust" on the back cover, the store pulled the game from its shelves until Lucasfilm Games altered the box. Soon after the initial release, Lucasfilm released the Apple II port, which features more detailed graphics and a larger display resolution. Ports for the Atari ST, Amiga, Macintosh, and NES eventually followed.[16]
Published by Jaleco in September 1990,[23] Maniac Mansion was Lucasfilm Games' first NES release. The developer was unable to properly focus on the project due to a large workload, so Douglas Crockford volunteered to manage it. The studio used a modified version of the SCUMM engine titled "NES SCUMM" for the port.[1] Crockford noted that "one of the main differences between the NES and PCs is that the NES can do certain things much faster".[24] Developer Tim Schafer, who would go on to develop other Lucasfilm games (such as the sequel Day of the Tentacle), play-tested the port; this was Schafer's first professional credit.[25] The studio first changed the game's graphics to conform with the NES's display resolution and modified the content for a younger audience.[1] Lucasfilm Games had censored profanity in Maniac Mansion's content during development – Dave Miller's opening line of "Don't be a tuna head" was originally penned as "Don't be a shit head" – but the designers removed further content for the NES release.[6] Jaleco USA president Howie Rubin advised Crockford about what content Nintendo might object to. For example, the staff removed the word "kill" from the game at his suggestion. However, reading the NES Game Standards Policy led Crockford to believe that other elements might also conflict with the policy, so he sent a list of questionable content to Jaleco. Its staff believed that the content was reasonable, and Lucasfilm Games submitted Maniac Mansion to Nintendo.[1]
A month later, Nintendo of America sent Lucasfilm Games a report that outlined on-screen text it called offensive and nude graphics that it wanted removed. Crockford further modified the content to comply, while trying to maintain the game's essential aspects. For example, graffiti in a room provided players with hints on how to activate a story event. Unable to remove it, the designers shortened the message. Nintendo also listed objectionable dialog lines. Many of Nurse Edna's lines were originally sexually suggestive and were changed. Based on a phrase ("sucked out") that censors had deemed too graphic, the staff changed similar text on posters. The nudity Nintendo outlined encompassed a poster of a mummy in a playmate pose, a swimsuit calendar, and a classical statue of reclining woman. The studio removed the poster and calendar, but fought to keep the statue, claiming that it was modeled after a Michelangelo sculpture. The censors suggested an alteration, but Lucasfilm Games ultimately removed the object. Nintendo of America also objected to the phrase "NES SCUMM" in the end credits. Crockford removed the phrase, but questioned why the censors had overlooked more offensive content. In retrospect, Crockford felt that such standards resulted in "bland" products and called Nintendo a "jealous god".[1]
After implementing the changes, Lucasfilm Games re-submitted Maniac Mansion to Nintendo, which then manufactured 250,000 cartridges.[1][26] The NES cartridge features a battery back-up to save data,[27] and a prototype NES cartridge with the original content is rumored to exist.[27][28] In early 1990, Nintendo announced the port in its official magazine and provided further coverage later in the year.[9][29] The ability to microwave a hamster remained in the game, which Crockford cited as an example of the censors' confusing criteria.[1][27] However, Nintendo later noticed it and had it removed from the European release.[15][27] After the first batch of cartridges was sold, Nintendo made Jaleco remove the content in future releases.[26][27] The Japanese release omitted some graphical and musical elements, featured flip-screen scrolling, and had alterations to the characters' appearances.[6] Maniac Mansion was one of four games in the NES library – along with Shadowgate, F-15 Strike Eagle, and Déjà Vu – to be translated into Swedish.[30]
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Eurogamer | 9/10[31] |
| ACE | 820 out of 1000[8] |
| Zzap!64 | 93%[4] |
| The One Amiga | 83%[32] |
| Commodore User | 8/10[33] |
| Amiga Format | 73%[34] |
| The Games Machine | 76%[35] |
| Mean Machines | 89%[36] |
Maniac Mansion was well received by critics, and several reviewers likened the game to films. Commodore User's Bill Scolding and Zzap!64's three reviewers – Paul Summer, Julian Rignall, and Steve Jarratt – compared it to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.[4][33] Other comparisons were drawn to Psycho, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Addams Family, and Scooby-Doo.[4][33][37] COMPUTE!'s Gazette's Keith Farrell cited Maniac Mansion's similarity to films, particularly with its use of cutscenes to add "information or urgency". He lauded the game's high level of detail along with its graphics and animation, writing, "Each of the teenagers is fully realized, with features and wardrobe that are wholly in character."[38] Commodore Magazine's Russ Ceccola praised its cutscenes as creative and high-quality. He called the ending "unforgettable" and praised the game's audio-visuals; Ceccola noted that the "characters are distinctively Lucasfilm's, bringing facial expressions and personality to each individual character". He ended by recommending readers to buy Maniac Mansion, as it would please fans of the genre.[39]
Zzap!64's reviewers praised the game's humor and called its point-and-click control "tremendous"; they concluded by describing the game as "innovative and polished".[4] ACE magazine's reviewer enjoyed the game's animation, multi-character gameplay, and depth, and called it "one of the better pics n' action games on the market". The reviewer enjoyed the game but commented that "traditional adventurers" wouldn't as much.[8] Scolding noted Maniac Mansion's "flash graphics and black humour" and finished by calling the game one of the best of its kind.[33] German magazine Happy-Computer compared the cinematic cutscene usage to earlier Lucasfilm titles Koronis Rift and Labyrinth: The Computer Game, and the menu system to ICOM Simulations' Uninvited. The reviewers lauded the game's user-friendly menu system, graphics, originality, and overall enjoyability; one of the reviewers called it the best adventure title at the time.[40] The magazine later reported that it was West Germany's highest-selling video game for three straight months.[41]
In more recent reviews, Eurogamer's Kristan Reed praised the game's "ambitious" design, citing the cast of characters, "elegant" interface, and writing.[31] Game designer Sheri Graner Ray listed Maniac Mansion as an example of a game that challenged the "damsel in distress" concept by including female protagonists.[42] However, writer Mark Dery commented that rescuing the kidnapped cheerleader reinforced negative gender roles.[43] In choosing the top ten all-time games for the Commodore 64, Retro Gamer stated that Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken were equally good, but it selected the latter because of Maniac Mansion's prominence.[44] In another issue, editor Ashley Day listed the game as having his favorite ending – the mansion's explosion upon pressing an unexpected button.[45] In 2009, IGN staff named Maniac Mansion one of the ten best LucasArts adventure game.[46] Richard Cobbett of PC Gamer called it "one of the most intricate and important adventure games ever made", citing the SCUMM interface and establishing a legacy for Lucasfilm Games during this time.[47]
Maniac Mansion was also well-received in multi-format reviews, including the Commodore 64, Apple II, and PC versions. In noting the game's parodic nature, Questbusters: The Adventurer's Newsletter editor Shay Addams wrote that the SCUMM system worked better than the wheel used in Labyrinth: The Computer Game, calling it an improvement from Interplay's title Tass Times in Tonetown. He concluded by writing that Maniac Mansion was Lucasfilm's best title released and that it is a good buy for Commodore 64 and Apple II users who were unable to play games with better visuals such as from Sierra Entertainment.[37] Computer Gaming World's Charles Ardai praised the game's pacing, cutscenes, and humor, stating that it "strikes the necessary and precarious balance between laughs and suspense that so many comic horror films and novels lack". Despite faulting its small number of commands, he hailed its control system as "one of the most comfortable ever devised". However, Ardai disliked the game's small quantity of sound effects and music. Ardai finished by calling it "a clever and imaginative game[, ... and] a successful stylistic experiment".[5]
In other multi-format reviews, The Deseret News staff called it "wonderful fun" and noted that the "art and animation are gorgeous". The writers considered the game's audio "the best [they had] heard".[48] Reviewing the PC and Atari ST ports, a critic from The Games Machine called Maniac Mansion "an enjoyable romp" with a structure superior to subsequent LucasArts adventure games. However, the magazine writer noted the game's poor pathfinding and stated that "the lack of sound effects reduces atmosphere". Of the two versions, the reviewer believed that the Atari ST audiovisuals were better.[35] Comparing the PC version to Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure, reviewers from French magazine Génération 4 praised the game's story, interface, and humor, stating that it was "beautifully done"; however, one reviewer commented that the developers ripped the graphics from Indiana Jones.[49] Bill Kunkel and Joyce Worley of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment called Maniac Mansion "the most popular haunted-house adventure" and "a genuine cult classic"; while they found the plot and setup similar to most horror-themed games, the pair praised the game's interface and execution.[50]
The game's Amiga version received a fair amount of praise, despite graphical shortcomings. In a 1993 review, The One Amiga's Simon Byron noted that the game retained its "charm and humour" six years after its first release. However, he believed that Maniac Mansion's art direction had become "tacky" compared to more recent games. Byron ended by writing that "if you fancy a cheap edge-of-the-seat challenge then you couldn't really do much better".[32] Amiga Format reviewer Stephen Bradly found the game derivative, but he noted that it featured "loads of visual humour"; he added, "Strangely, it's quite compelling after a while."[34] Heinrich Lenhardt of German magazine Power Play wrote that the Amiga version "played like a poem" and just as well as the other ports.[51] Michael Labiner of Amiga Joker, another German magazine, stated that it was one of the best adventure games released for the computer. While he wrote that there were minor graphical flaws, such as limited colors, Labiner stated that the gameplay made up for those shortcomings.[52] Sweden-based Datormagazin's Ingela Palmér stated that the Amiga version differed little from the Commodore 64 one, and that those who already have the latter need not get the Amiga version. She added that, while the graphics and gameplay were not the best, Maniac Mansion remained highly enjoyable and easy. Palmér recommended that people new to the genre play this game first.[53]
Reviewers well received Maniac Mansion's NES version. Based on the computer release's success, Game Players' writers speculated that the NES port would be one of 1990's better titles.[28] UK-based Mean Machines reviewers lauded the game for its presentation, playability, and replay value, while criticizing the blocky graphics and "ear-bashing tunes". Reviewer Edward Laurence wrote that aside from minor graphical and sound improvements, little had changed from the Commodore 64 version. Julian Rignall compared the game to Shadowgate but noted differences between the two; he commented how Maniac Mansion had easy controls and that it lacked Shadowgate's "death-without-warning situations". Despite his criticism of the audiovisuals, he wrote, "Maniac Mansion's excellent, thoroughly rewarding and genuinely funny gameplay more than makes up for its deficiencies, and the end result is a highly original and very addictive adventure that no Nintendo owner should be without."[36] Video Games magazine reviewed the translated German version, and the reviewers labeled the game as a "Video Games Classic". Co-reviewer Heinrich Lenhardt said that Maniac Mansion was unique and that no similar NES adventure game has since been released. He wrote that it was just as fun as the computer versions with good controls, but he noted that the graphics could be misleading at times. Co-reviewer Winnie Forster wrote that the game was "one of the most original representatives of the [adventure game] genre" and that it was one of Lucasfilm's more successful games.[54] In recent commentary, Edge magazine staff described the port as more conservative than the original version, calling it "somewhat neutered".[7] GamesTM magazine writers referred to the NES version as "infamous" and heavily censored.[15]
Maniac Mansion was featured often in the magazine Nintendo Power. The game debuted on the magazine's Top 30 list at number 19 in February 1991, peaking at number 16 in August 1991.[55][56] The magazine reviewed Maniac Mansion again in its February 1993 issue, as part of a staff overview on overlooked or otherwise undersold NES games. The editors felt that the popular RPG Final Fantasy overshadowed its September 1990 feature and drew more people to that game instead.[57] Seven years after the game's release, the magazine ranked the NES version the 61st best game in its 100th issue in September 1997, calling Maniac Manion a "brilliant adventure".[58] In its 20th anniversary issue, the magazine listed Maniac Mansion as the 16th best NES title, praising the game for its clever and funny writing and for being unlike any other game on the system.[59] In its November 2010 issue, as part of the NES' 25th anniversary, Chris Hoffman described the game as "unlike anything else out there – a point-and-click adventure with an awesome sense of humor and multiple solutions to almost every puzzle."[60] Nintendo Power also commented on the ability to microwave a hamster;[58] in its 25th anniversary retrospective, the staff stated that "it's hard to mention Maniac Mansion without it".[60]
Referring to Maniac Mansion as a "seminal" title, GamesTM staff credited it with reinventing the graphical adventures' gameplay. The writer stated that removing the need to guess input verbs allowed players to focus more on the story and puzzles, resulting in less frustration and more enjoyment.[15] Reed made similar comments, writing that the design freed players from the "guessing-game frustration", and made the process "infinitely more elegant and intuitive".[31] However, Connie Veugen and Felipe Quérette noted that determining the game's vocabulary was an enjoyable aspect of the genre.[61] GamesTM magazine further commented that Maniac Mansion had solidified Lucasfilm Games as a leader in the graphic adventure genre.[15] Authors Mike and Sandie Morrison commented that the studio had brought "serious competition" to the graphic adventure genre in the form of Maniac Mansion.[62] Authors Rusel DeMaria and Johnny Wilson echoed the sentiment, calling it a "landmark title" for the company. They also stated that the game, along with Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry, had inaugurated a "new era of humor-based adventure games".[63] Reed seconded the statement, noting that the game "set in motion a captivating chapter in the history of gaming" that encompassed wit, invention, and style.[31] GameSpy's Christopher Buecheler credited the game's success with making its genre commercially and critically viable.[12] Maniac Mansion was also one of the first video games to feature product placement (Pepsi brands); other games, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game, Zool , and Tapper followed suit.[64] Retro Gamer's Stuart Hunt wrote in a September 2011 issue that "Maniac Mansion proved that videogames could capture the essence of an entirely different medium and opened our eyes to the wonderful things that happened when they placed their interactive stamp on them". The Secret of Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle developer Dave Grossman said that Maniac Mansion revolutionized the adventure game genre, also noting the fact that the game was only 64 KB large and that the music was good, especially for PCs.[6]
Reed described the SCUMM engine as "revolutionary".[31] Lucasfilm Games used SCUMM to develop eleven other games in the following decade, and competitors eventually adopted similar systems; GamesTM attributed this change to a desire to streamline production and produce fun games.[15] Lucasfilm Games improved the engine with each subsequent game.[16] Following his departure from LucasArts (Lucasfilm Games had been combined under this name with ILM and Skywalker Sound in 1990[65]) in 1992, Gilbert used the SCUMM technology to create adventure games and Backyard Sports games at Humongous Entertainment.[16] The designers built on their experience developing Maniac Mansion and expanded the process and their ambition in subsequent titles.[14] In retrospect, Gilbert commented that he made a number of mistakes designing Maniac Mansion (for instance, the dead-end situations that arise if certain items are used incorrectly) and applied the lessons to future games. In cut scenes, Gilbert had used a timer rather than a specific event to trigger the scene, which occasionally resulted in awkward scene changes. The designer aimed to avoid these flaws in the Monkey Island series of games.[15] However, Gilbert commented that Maniac Mansion is his favorite because of its imperfections.[16]
Elements of Maniac Mansion have appeared elsewhere in popular culture, especially in other Lucasfilm games. An in-game object called "Chuck the Plant" reappeared in other Lucas adventure titles like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Tales of Monkey Island.[66][67] According to Gilbert, Steve Arnold, the LucasFilm general manager at the time, had a long running joke in which he continually requested game designers to add a character named Chuck to their game. Gilbert and Winnick were the first to humor Steve's request in Maniac Mansion. Because the developers were unable to fit an extra character name in the game, they named an existing in-game plant.[68] David Fox included a gasoline item for a nonexistent chainsaw in his game Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders as a parody of the chainsaw that required nonexistent gasoline in Maniac Mansion. Enthusiasts have created fan art depicting the characters, participated in cosplay based on the tentacle characters, and produced a trailer of a fictitious live action film.[16]
Various fanmade enhanced remakes of Maniac Mansion have appeared over the years. One German fan, Sascha Borisow, created a remake titled Maniac Mansion Deluxe with enhanced audio and visuals. He used the freeware Adventure Game Studio to develop the game, and distributed it free on the internet.[69][70] The remake had over 200,000 downloads by the end of 2004.[71] German developer Vampyr Games created a remake with 3D computer graphics titled Meteor Mess 3D, which began as a learning tool for Gamestudio.[72][73] A group of German gamers called Edison Interactive is developing another remake, titled Night of the Meteor, which combines Maniac Mansion's features with Day of the Tentacle's visual design.[74] Fans also created an episodic series of games based on Maniac Mansion.[75] An uncensored unofficial NES version exists on Frank Cifaldi's website LostLevels.org.[76] Gilbert stated that he would like to see an official remake resemble the gameplay and graphics from Tales of Monkey Island, but he balked, citing George Lucas' enhanced remakes of the original Star Wars trilogy as a reason to keep the flaws in the original game.[77]
Lucasfilm had conceived the idea for a television adaptation, which The Family Channel purchased in 1990.[78] A sitcom named after the game debuted in September 1990.[79] It aired on YTV in Canada and The Family Channel in the United States.[80] Partially based on the video game, the show focused on the Edison family's life and featured Joe Flaherty as Dr. Fred. Eugene Levy headed the writing staff. The program was a collaboration between Lucasfilm, The Family Channel, and Atlantis Films.[81] In retrospect, Gilbert commented that the premise gradually changed during production to something that differed greatly from the game's original plot.[16] Upon its debut, the show was well-received by critics;[82][83][84] Time magazine named it one of the best new shows of the year.[85] However, other reviewers, such as Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker, questioned how the show made it on The Family Channel, given Flaherty's usage of SCTV-like humor.[83] PC Gamer's Richard Cobbett, in a retrospective on the series, criticized its generic storylines and lack of relevance to the game.[47] The series lasted for three seasons, filming 66 episodes.[6]
In the early 1990s, LucasArts asked Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer, who had both worked with Gilbert on the Monkey Island games, to design a sequel to Maniac Mansion, eventually titled Day of the Tentacle. Winnick and Gilbert initially assisted with the writing. Grossman and Schafer were able to include the voices and the improved visuals Gilbert had originally envisioned for Maniac Mansion. The game discarded the character selection and branching story lines in favor of a simpler format, and introduced time travel as the main puzzle element. The developers retained the Edison family and Bernard characters, but changed the art style to more closely resemble Chuck Jones' works. As an homage to Maniac Mansion, the designers included a puzzle that involves freezing a hamster;[86] according to Grossman, he gave a happier outcome for the hamster as a response to Gilbert's grim ending for the hamster in Maniac Mansion.[87] They also made the original game playable on an in-game computer,[15] which Grossman attributed to a software bug.[86] LucasArts released Day of the Tentacle in 1993 to critical acclaim.[15][88]
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