The International House of Mojo

Maniac Mansion

Developer: LucasArts Publisher: LucasArts
Released: August 1987

Available for: PC CD-ROM (DOS), PC Floppy (EGA), ScummVM, NES, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Apple II

We say: First released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, Maniac Mansion is a landmark LucasArts (then called Lucasfilm Games) game in many ways.

In this spoof of bad horror/scifi movies, players take control of Dave Miller and two other college students to rescue Dave's girlfriend Sandy from the clutches of the mad scientist Dr. Fred Edison. The three team members must search the Edison family mansion for a way to enter Dr. Fred's secret lab and save Sandy from his evil plans.

Maniac Mansion was the first adventure game to operate without the need of a parser interface; instead it was controlled by a GUI of verbs and inventory items. This paved the way for the entire genre of the "point 'n' click adventure."

The game was programmed in SCUMM (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion), a new engine created by the Lucasfilm team. SCUMM would go on to be used (with modifications) in many of LucasArts' adventure games, its last appearance being in 1997's The Curse of Monkey Island.

Maniac Mansion (or MM) was the brainchild of developers Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick. Gilbert would later become famous in gaming circles for being the creator of the first two Monkey Island games, The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.

As the first real Lucasfilm adventure game, MM doesn't have all of the company's typical design ideas in place (which most agree happened with the first Monkey Island). For example, you can die, you can get stuck in a "dead end," and the interface isn't as streamlined as later games would make it. These factors make the game harder and/or more frustrating than subsequent Lucas releases. That said it was a revolutionary step forward and compared to other adventures of the time, very forgiving. Its classic status is well earned.

There are several versions of Maniac Mansion available:

Commodore 64/Apple II: The first version of MM released. PC release of this version followed shortly after in a new line with slightly different packaging. Ugly graphics (160x200 resolution at 16 colors) and not-so-good sound. The Commodore 64 and PC low-resolution versions have a few slight differences, but nothing major.
Commodore 64/Apple II/Amiga/Atari ST/PC Re-release: The second version of MM to be released. Better graphics than the older version (320x200 resolution at 16 colors), and better sound too. The PC high-res version is in the Classic Adventures Pack (sadly no longer available from LucasArts).
NES: The graphics are not quite as nice as those in the PC re-release but are creatively adapted and well done for the console. Contains several unique features such as CD players in the characters' inventory that plays a theme song for each kid. Censored by Nintendo before release (see below). In the European cartridges the ability to microwave Weird Ed Edison's hamster, which is possible in every other version, was removed.
Japanese NES (AKA Famicom): This was released before the more widely available US Nintendo port. It's not censored like the regular Nintendo version is, but it's got an ugly art style. Also, the rooms don't scroll, which is odd. Easily the worst port overall, and unsurprisingly not developed by the LucasFilm Games team.
Macintosh: The Macintosh version of Day of the Tentacle included a Mac port of MM by Aaron Giles.

The Nintendo version was heavily censored by Nintendo of America (Before the ESRB existed Nintendo had its own strict screening process), prompting developer Douglas Crockford to write an article about it, called "The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion."

In the early 90s, a short-lived "Maniac Mansion" television series aired on the now defunct station The Family Channel. The original concept for the show was very loosely based on the game, but the hiring of writer/comedian Eugene Levy, who wanted absolutely no connection to the game, in the conceptual stages resulted in the show being utterly unrelated to the game except for the title and the name Edison. The show was a slightly wacky family-oriented sitcom that had its following (especially in Canada) but most people consider it to be terrible and it has never seen a DVD release.

In May of 2004, a team of fans calling itself "LucasFan Games" released Maniac Mansion Deluxe, a 256-color remake of the high-res PC version of MM, with a simplified interface and fewer ways to get stuck. We've put a few screenshots of the remake in the database to whet your appetite. You can, and probably should, visit LucasFan Games' website right now to get the latest version of MMD.

The sequel to this game is Day of the Tentacle, by Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman. DOTT, as it's known, stars Bernard from the original game as he and friends Hoagie and Laverne travel through time. It's quite different than Maniac Mansion but also excellent and an undisputed classic.

They say: "Pardon the mess... it's all those brain donors." Ever since that meteor landed, strange things have been sighted at Dr. Fred's old mansion.

Disembodied tentacles hopping around. Chainsaws in the kitchen. Plants with unusual appetites. An odd glow from the swimming pool.

And now, sweet Sandy the cheerleader is in Dr. Fred's clutches. So round up your pals, take a deep breath, and get ready for the weirdest, funniest adventure of your life.

Just point 'n' click... no typing ever!
High resolution graphics and great sound effects.
Meet all sorts of zany characters.

Stuck? Need a hint? Check out this obsessive Game Guide.

Screenshots
53 Images

Concept Art
7 Images

In-Jokes
9 Images

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