The MIDI-music in Monkey Island 2 is something special. Driven by the famous iMuse-system, the music changes dynamically to the situation and position of Guybrush, without any gaps and breaks.

There is at least one scene in the game where this is used brilliantly: In the swamp when Guybrush rows to the hideout of the Voodoo Lady. The further he rows, the more instruments kick in, until the full Voodoo-Lady-theme is playing. There is even a short sample playing when the elevator moves up. And this sample doesn't play instantly. His boat is waiting on the platform and moves up at that time, when it matches to the music. Awesome.

I asked myself if the Special Edition of Monkey Island 2 behaves the same. The Special Edition was release in 2010 and is a complete remake of the original, including a new graphics style. But there is a Classic Mode, which gives the original pixel art plus the new full voice support.

So here is a comparison video between the two. And well, they did it. The instruments kick in one after another the further Guybrush drive to the right. Its even sound a little better. Perhaps the used a better Midi-library or even a MT-32. The DOS version in this video is played with ScummVM including its Midi emulation. But something is missing in the Special Edition: The elevator sample. The elevator even waits to the to the matching time of the music, but nothing is played :D

#retrogaming #videogames #monkeyisland #imuse #lucasarts #lucasfilm #lucasfilmgames #monkeyisland2 #rongilbert #adventure #pointandclickadventure #michaelland #scummvm #midi #videogamemusic #guybrush #guybrushthreepwood #retrocomputing #dosgames #dosgaming

00:00 DOS Version 01:42 Special Edition - Classic Version