Did anyone like Monkey Kombat?

[Poppycock]

It was very annoying to figure out. It's been so long, I cannot remember if I cheated or won it by chance. Should I give it another try? I'd like to play it again, but I am not sure if it's worth the bother of MK. I may get headaches.

[Macfly77]

Oddly enough, after having read about how terrible Monkey Kombat is, it did not bother me too much when I played Escape for the first time last June.
I won't say that I liked it, but it was certainly not the game "killer" that some people had led me to believe.

[zhebrica]

It's been years since I played the game, but I don't think I really had trouble figuring it out. I remember writing down the answers. It wasn't what you'd call a fun or clever puzzle, but it wasn't that bad. What I didn't like about the game was mostly the plot and the annoying interface.

[Lennie Melvin]

OOP ACK CHEE

That's enough Monkey Kombat for one day.

[MusicallyInspired]

I'll be honest. I never got that far.

[Ash735]

Hate it, it was never really a puzzle as such, just tedious leg work, that always became a stopping point in speed runs of the game, it's just droll, boring, and feels like a lot more work than it really is, and that does not translate well in a game.

[Barnabus]

I kind of enjoyed it. I seem to remember the easiest way to sort it was to draw a pentagram showing every possible combination and write the moves on each line. The most obnoxious puzzle for me was the one involving the prosthetic limb filing system.

[plrichard]

I liked it until the final battle.

[Hyperactive German Guybrush]

The best bit of Monkey Kombat was Guybrush doing his dance when he won.

...Yeah, I think I liked it, thinking back. It helps that I was just watching somebody else play the game, though.

[Eduardo]

Was sometime annoying when I couldn't get a particular new move, but not really. Oh, World of Monkey Island Monkey Kombat chart was quite helpful in keeping track of them.

[ATMachine]

Was sometime annoying when I couldn't get a particular new move, but not really. Oh, World of Monkey Island Monkey Kombat chart was quite helpful in keeping track of them.
I really wish they'd included such a chart within the PC version of the game. It would've eliminated the problem where players threw away their notes after defeating Jojo Jr., and thereby got screwed in the final endgame sequence.

LucasArts did eventually include an in-game Monkey Kombat move chart in the PS2 version, but for PC gamers that's cold comfort.

(Yes, I'm still sore about it. Why do you ask?)

[Acemaster]

I liked it very much. I liked it even more when it came back as the ending battle! ^-^ Never got it why so many people seem to dislike Escape.

[Irishmile]

Come now lets all point and laugh at all the people who liked it...... JK..

[Spadge]

I kind of enjoyed it. I seem to remember the easiest way to sort it was to draw a pentagram showing every possible combination and write the moves on each line. The most obnoxious puzzle for me was the one involving the prosthetic limb filing system.

Did the same thing, pentagram and all. It wasn't too bad, even enjoyable, kind of old school with the paper and the pen.
As for the filing system... Now, that was the one that I REALLY hated.

[Acemaster]

Come now lets all point and laugh at all the people who liked it...... JK..

I liked it very much. I liked it even more when it came back as the ending battle! ^-^ Never got it why so many people seem to dislike Escape.

^ GHAHAHA... Oh, wait. Shii-.

Well, I think Monkey Kombat is a great puzzle precisely because it "kills the game". It's not as straightforward as many of the other puzzles (and the whole ToMI series for example...), and that's why I liked it. You had to have pen and paper for it and track many things down, i.e. which move beats which and how to change from one form to the others. It's also one of the most epic battling formats known to mankind... :rolleyes: The stances were great. The equality what Guybrush felt to monkeys because of it was great. And the victory dance...

[Irishmile]

I think it would have been ok if it was a little shorter.... it just brings the game to a screeching halt for a spell.

[Indrid Cold]

I enjoyed it.

Good idea about the pentagram, I've always drawn a grid so far, which means I write the insults twice each. But I also include a column about which stance beats which.

[Neumi]

I hated it - or better thought it was something completely stupid.


My girlfriend loved it however.

She did all by memory ...

[Little Writer]

First time I played, I thought it was a pain. Second time, I finished that bit in less than ten minutes. Still would've preferred regular insults, though.

[Bobbing Baboon]

Look at my name. Monkey Kombat is the best puzzle in EFMI! I love the monkeys and the music and you can learn all the stances and play it with your friends! Haha!

[Eduardo]

About using a pentagram for Monkey Kombat, this is the the chart I mentioned being helpful before:

http://www.worldofmi.com/thegames/monkey4/monkey_kombat.jpg

Taken from http://www.worldofmi.com/thegames/monkey4/index.php

[StarEye]

Hated it. Funny the first couple of fights, but then it just got tedious work. I mean, at least Insult Sword Fighting had funny insults and responses, which made you have to think. This was just a combo-collect quest, and the actual combos were nonsensical. No jokes, no humour, just pointless rock/paper/scissor puzzle, that took more time than it should've.

The PS2 version was blessed with an in-game chart that were automatically filled in as you got the right combos, so that was an improvement over the PC version though.

[Rather Dashing]

I wouldn't say I "liked" it, but I certainly didn't mind it too badly. It's no more pointless stupid grind than insult swordfighting. And hey, at least Escape isn't as damaging to the franchise as a whole as Curse was.

[StarEye]

I wouldn't say I "liked" it, but I certainly didn't mind it too badly. It's no more pointless stupid grind than insult swordfighting. And hey, at least Escape isn't as damaging to the franchise as a whole as Curse was.

:confused:

"You fight like a dairy farmer!"
"How appropriate, you fight like a cow!"

vs

"Eek, oop, ack"
"Opp, chi, eek"

Well, at least ONE of them is funny... and makes sense. Yeah, maybe not for the 20th time, but then neither is any other joke ever made.

[GuruGuru214]

I wouldn't say I "liked" it, but I certainly didn't mind it too badly. It's no more pointless stupid grind than insult swordfighting.

Except that insult swordfighting was in English, didn't require you to keep track of anything, didn't require you to have all the responses in order to finish, and if you were missing a response, you just had to repeat the insult until you got it. Monkey Kombat does nothing to add any humor, requires you to make a chart, requires you to collect all of the "insults" to finish, and if you're missing a specific one, good luck getting it.

And hey, at least Escape isn't as damaging to the franchise as a whole as Curse was.

Haven't you driven this argument into the ground already? Anyway, at least Curse didn't send the series into hiatus for nine years.

[thesporkman]

Haven't you driven this argument into the ground already? Anyway, at least Curse didn't send the series into hiatus for nine years.

You're not being fair to the game at all. Escape received positive reviews and sold quite well for an adventure game at that time. There probably would have been another sequel within a couple of years or so if not for the internal changes that started to take place at LucasArts around the time.

[Rather Dashing]

Except that insult swordfighting was in English, didn't require you to keep track of anything, didn't require you to have all the responses in order to finish, and if you were missing a response, you just had to repeat the insult until you got it. Monkey Kombat does nothing to add any humor, requires you to make a chart, requires you to collect all of the "insults" to finish, and if you're missing a specific one, good luck getting it.
You had to keep track of the insults. The only difference was that they were easier to remember. And you had to find all the responses if you wanted to win insult swordfighting too, though I suppose you could have gotten by on luck if you were missing two or three.

Haven't you driven this argument into the ground already? Anyway, at least Curse didn't send the series into hiatus for nine years.
And LeChuck's Revenge was so terrible that it drove the series into hiatus for six years? That's simply not how these things work. If Curse was made at the same time as Escape, it would have faced the same "business realities" that cancelled the Freelance Police game. Escape was financially successful and had a generally favorable critical reception in its time.

[ATMachine]

You had to keep track of the insults. The only difference was that they were easier to remember. And you had to find all the responses if you wanted to win insult swordfighting too, though I suppose you could have gotten by on luck if you were missing two or three.


And LeChuck's Revenge was so terrible that it drove the series into hiatus for six years? That's simply not how these things work. If Curse was made at the same time as Escape, it would have faced the same "business realities" that cancelled the Freelance Police game. Escape was financially successful and had a generally favorable critical reception in its time.
I will point out that MI1 archived the insults and comebacks you collected. You didn't have to write them down on paper. Also, you didn't need to choose the correct words to string a sentence together every time you wanted to make an insult.

Monkey Kombat did force you to write down the "insults," at least in the PC version. And you had to combine several monkey words--nonsense gibberish, which IS harder to remember--in the correct order to create a complete "insult," a wrinkle not found in Insult Swordfighting.

And, again unlike in Monkey Kombat, you could actually stand a chance of defeating the Sword Master with only half the insults collected or so. (Not a great one, but it's possible--I've done it.) You only need to out-insult her five times to win the fight, and you won't lose unless you fail several times to reply correctly to her insults.

Also, while I myself like Curse much better than Escape, I do agree with you that Escape didn't "drive the series into hiatus" at all. LucasArts management was simply becoming less receptive to adventure games in general. It was the company's changing culture, and not the quality of the last MI sequel, that ended the adventure era there.

[coolsome]

monkey kombat is the only thing i rly hate about EMI I can ignore the herman stuff (the cutscene was pretty funny) the island levels not that bad till the kombat part I dont find it funny and I used the ps2 one with the map (I tryed normaly at first but theres no point writing down if its on the game)

[jeeno0142]

I quite liked it! I remember being really chuffed with myself for having figured out the combinations. It was a sense of acheivement.

@Edurado: Thanks for the pentagram. I was wondering what you were all talking about.

[Milamputechture]

I thought it was clever concept.
Recently opened the box for my EMI and countless pieces of paper fell out containing notes I'd made for it every time I played through it.
Didn't realise how many times I actually played it! Might have to revisit soon...

I do prefer insult-based battles though.

[WinterSnowblind]

It was quite satisfying when it finally clicked and you got it complete, but it was far too long, required a lot of trial and error, note taking and just generally wasn't much fun. I'm not sure I despised it as much as some seem to, but it would definitely be a barrier for me ever considering replaying the game.

[SHODANFreeman]

And hey, at least Escape isn't as damaging to the franchise as a whole as Curse was.

Pssst... if your name is Mike Stemmle, you might not want to read the following paragraph. ;)

Escape is easily, by far, the worst game of the entire series, in every imaginable way. Poor puzzle design, annoying controls, ugly art style, most of the new/different voice cast was dreadful, storyline was terrible, the jokes were almost non-existent, and the game was just generally a bad experience overall. Meanwhile, Curse has great puzzles, possibly the best point and click controls of all time, amazing art style, perfect voice casting, decent storyline, incredible amount of hilarious jokes, and easily one of the top 10 best adventure games of all time.

Yep, Curse was more damaging. :rolleyes:

[coolsome]

The jokes in EMI was awsome! some of my fav jokes are from EMI! the story was realy deep it had ozzie with his nazi like hatred and segragation of pirates Gubrush loseing his world he loves to an uncontrolble force (tourism) and I thought the puzzles where well thought out (minus monkey kombat in my opion)

EDIT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-m38KVmOUk

proof its funny as hell

[Hassat Hunter]

Well, EMI was getting on my nerves and Monkey Kombat was the draw that made me uninstall it and bury it for the end of times.

Only MI I never finished. Should say something...

[GuruGuru214]

You're not being fair to the game at all. Escape received positive reviews and sold quite well for an adventure game at that time. There probably would have been another sequel within a couple of years or so if not for the internal changes that started to take place at LucasArts around the time.

And LeChuck's Revenge was so terrible that it drove the series into hiatus for six years? That's simply not how these things work. If Curse was made at the same time as Escape, it would have faced the same "business realities" that cancelled the Freelance Police game. Escape was financially successful and had a generally favorable critical reception in its time.

...You guys realize I wasn't serious, right? I was making fun of Dashing's post. If I really wanted to tear down Escape, I have plenty of better ways to do it.

You had to keep track of the insults. The only difference was that they were easier to remember. And you had to find all the responses if you wanted to win insult swordfighting too, though I suppose you could have gotten by on luck if you were missing two or three.

That is not what I meant. I meant that the game actually remembers which insults and responses you've heard and displays them in a list, rather than Monkey Kombat's system of basically generating a random three digit code using the numbers 1-4 to do your "insults".

Also, I played through Secret last night and managed to beat Carla on my first try with only 8/16 responses.

[monkeymovies]

most of the new/different voice cast was dreadful
Not saying I disagree with the rest of your statement (I see where you're coming from), but WHO in the Escape cast was terrible? All of the best voices from CMI were brought over, and introduced a host of new and great actors performances. It's some of the best VO work I've ever heard.

The only character I thought was slightly off was the perfume salesman played by Neil Ross, but I let him off because of his performance as Wally in Curse. But aside from that, every actor/character gave a great performance.


Anyway, Monkey Kombat. On my first play, it confused the heck outta me, when I beat it, I was like YYYYEEEEAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Next few playthroughs, since I knew what to do, I progressed without too much problems. One potential game-halting moment relating to puzzle design though (the game as a whole had a problem with puzzle design), is that if you throw away the notes you took after beating Jojo Jr, you'd have no way of defeating LeChuck at the end.

[GuruGuru214]

Charity James as Elaine was a problem mainly for two reasons. 1. She's not Alexandra Boyd, and 2. It's hard to say if it was her voice or the lines she was reading, but Elaine was portrayed in a totally different way in this game, particularly in regards to her interactions with Guybrush.

And Pat Fraley as Stan. God, that was awful.

[monkeymovies]

Ok, fair enough. I enjoyed Alexandra Boyd's Elaine (particularly in Tales, not so much Curse and maybe SE1) as well as Charity James' Elaine. I liked Pat Pinney and Pat Fraley's Stan. If anything, I think Fraley's most like how I imagined Stan to act/speak. Pat Pinney, good as he is, doesn't quite speak as enthusiastically as he should in the Special Editions (at least 1, the gameplay videos for 2 seem more promising) but I had no problem with him in Curse.

[GuruGuru214]

Pat Fraley's take on him was just too high-pitched and annoying to me. Pat Pinney just captured the fast talking salesman feel, and for me, his Stan is exactly as annoying as a pushy salesman is supposed to be and no more.

Also, I think Gavin Hammon did a great job in Tales, but that's something else entirely.

[Mermaid]

I generally don't like mini games of any kind thrown in in a classic adventure, intended to add "variety". Usually, because I'm just too stupid / lazy to solve them. So whenever I come across one I get pissed off and end up downloading a savegame to skip it.
With EMI being a Monkey Island game,my pride forbid me to do so though and I worked my way through, was kinda proud when I finally understood how the Monkey Kombat system worked but got terribly annoyed during my first replay, when I found that all of the combinations change with every game.

So for me, it's definitely a hold up in the game's flow.

[Didero]

Wait, you're too lazy to complete a minigame, but not too lazy to play a genre of games that requires you to click on everything? Seems a bit weird to me :p

Also, I haven't played EMI for too long, so I don't really remember what I thought of Monkey Kombat, except for the fact that I couldn't solve the final puzzle of the game at all because apparently I didn't pay enough attention to every detail of the monkeys during Monkey Kombat.
I am going to replay all the MI games around the time MI2:SE comes out though, so I'll tell you what I think of Monkey Kombat then :)

[Mermaid]

Wait, you're too lazy to complete a minigame, but not too lazy to play a genre of games that requires you to click on everything? Seems a bit weird to me :p

Not at all. I enjoy a classic adventure game with its elements of combining puzzles, interacting with other people, exploring places. I just hate to be stuck in one place and to be doomed to find out about some annoying clockwork-puzzle. If I'm in the mood for that I play different games. Have you played "So Blonde"? It's flooded with mini games, mostly at places where they are totally unnecessary. Some of them are funny, but I was glad to find out that I could skip them and go on with the main game. :p

Anyway, Monkey Kombat's dimension in EMI is not what you call a mini game though.

[WinterSnowblind]

I wouldn't say I "liked" it, but I certainly didn't mind it too badly. It's no more pointless stupid grind than insult swordfighting. And hey, at least Escape isn't as damaging to the franchise as a whole as Curse was.

I actually found many parts of Escape quite funny and again, definitely didn't despise the game as much as many seem to. But in what way was Curse more damaging? I'd actually consider Curse to be the best in the series, where as I can list several things from Escape that were damaged so badly they can't ever be included in any future games.

Herman Toothrot being the major one...

[akaimizu]

I didn't despise Escape, myself. Just that it was a bit of a disappointment after Curse. Curse was definitely, IMO, the best Monkey Island of the original series. So much to say about that one, including the art design, pacing, puzzles, and what you actually accomplish in that game. It just felt like Guybrush did a bit of everything and hit against a lot of aspirations in that game. Softly-spoken prophesies as well.

So oddly, Escape really felt more like a Tag-on extra to a fairly complete original trilogy, without really starting a new big thing to worry about. It felt more like *hey, here we are again, ummm...let's do something entertaining* instead of, "You thought things were ok after Curse, but his troubles are *just* beginning."

However, here's where I think Telltale came to the rescue. When they started up the new Monkey Island series, they kind of made something Escape should've been. Start off with something big enough to really throw a monkey wrench into the consumer's understanding of what's going on, and increase the threat. Then they put you through an adventure that actually raises the stakes over the original series.

[Didero]

But in what way was Curse more damaging?

Don't get him started >_>
Short version: He dislikes the direction the series took with Curse.

I really like Curse though. Probably partly because it was the first Monkey Island game I played. But the music is great, the story is good and that art style is fantastic, so that probably contributed somewhat to my opinion too :p

[Alcoremortis]

I was okay with Monkey Kombat the first time I played the game but the fact that the insults change with each replay sort of annoyed me. So, I just get my brother to do that bit (he loves Monkey Kombat).:D

[doodo!]

I never really understood it and I just decided to blow it off and to find ways around it. It's really the only part of the game that takes time and effort. Aside from the time clock maze. Though I don't think any of the MI puzzles take that much time.

[thin029]

It's not worst than the insult sword fights. I feel the same about them: boring, slow and not necessary at all.

[SHODANFreeman]

It's not worst than the insult sword fights. I feel the same about them: boring, slow and not necessary at all.

At least they're funny and easy to learn and keep track of in your head. Monkey Kombat exists solely to provide an hour long chore and isn't even fun the first time.

[GuruGuru214]

Not to mention that it pretty much kills any chance of an Escape speed run. I may have been sleep deprived at the time, but the fastest I was able to finish Escape in the last race was five hours and 45 minutes. I have no idea how much of that was spent on Monkey Kombat, but I'm sure it's a substantial amount of time.

[Irishmile]

why hasn't some crafty fan figured out a way to patch those parts out of the game.... or make it faster?

[techie775]

Insult swordfighting was simple enough. All you had to was learn insults and what comebacks defeated them. Yeah it wasn't rocket science, but it was fun and that one of the reasons I got Monkey Island 1 and 3. Plus the jokes were amusing. It took a little work but I never found it too troublesome.

Yeah Monkey Kombat was a new approach, but my biggest complaint with it was it took too much effort. You have to learn the codes to switch stances, Learn which stances beat what and have waste time writing it down in a notebook or one of those charts. And the worst part is the codes change every time you start a new game. Now granted some people may wanted to play the game hard core and get all the codes again if they replay the game, but it shouldn't be a requirement.

That and that frustrating puzzle with the dials on Lucre Island to get to pegnose lowers MI4 in my opinion. I couldn't find any hints within the game how to do it, which is poor for an adventure game. Never had any problems like that in Curse.

[Ezny]

I never passed MK so therefore I never got to finish Escape. Trust me, I really tried to pass it, too.


One of these days...

[Acemaster]

The challenge. That you really had to track things down to go forward. Basically learning bits of an unknown language. THAT's what made it a puzzle equal to insul sword fighting. I also think the battle stances and the fact Guybrush is actually speaking monkey in it makes it funny, too. :D Every single time. And yes, whoever thinks Guybrush needs to know all the combinations in it is likely to have not played it in a long time, or at all. You really don't have to know every insult row because every stance is beaten by two stances; you only have to be able to change to one winning stance to beat the opponent's stance.

Btw. Why I like the whole EfMI is that it's by far longer than Curse overally, include the Monkey Kombat parts there or don't.

[onlyamonkey]

Yes. Yes, I did.

[Scrawffler]

I haven't got to that part yet. That reminds me, I need to install Escape onto my new hard drive.

I'm actually looking forward to getting to it though, just because it sounds like a legend. An evil adventure fan torturing legend. But I just have to experience it!

[Alcoremortis]

Escape isn't nearly as bad as everyone says it is. It's actually quite fun. I think it's just everyone had really high expectations after the previous three games and Escape just didn't quite meet those expectations. For myself, after years of only playing "educational" games and real time strategy, Escape was amazingly fresh and got me into adventure games. It just depends on perspective, really.

[Irishmile]

Once again.... I know someone here has to have the talent to mod the game so Monkey Kombat is more enjoyable...

[Friar]

I really want to replay it. My favourite PS2 game, and the one i mosy want to replay; and i can't find it anywhere. I think my mum threw it out =(

[guitarsareboring]

I liked it and found it pretty simple to get to grips with. You just need paper, a writing tool and some patience.

What I really hated was the final battle. How the hell is anyone supposed to know you have to DRAW in order to win!?

[Mermaid]

I liked it and found it pretty simple to get to grips with. You just need paper, a writing tool and some patience.

What I really hated was the final battle. How the hell is anyone supposed to know you have to DRAW in order to win!?

Yeah, as far as I can remember that was one of the few times I had to take a look into the walkthrough.
There is one *tiny* clue to this while Guybrush is talking to Allegro Rasputin on Monkey Island and asks him what he can do to avoid the Ultimate Insult from taking over the world. The priest says something like "do as LeChuck does - defeat your enemy with their own weapon". I can't remember the exact line though but even then this is a weak hint at best. Also, talking to Allegro Rasputin about that is optional.

[coolsome]

herman and or jojo mentions somthing after u keep blasting lechuck over n over I think

[Alcoremortis]

Jojo says that when you are supposed to learn how to master Monkey Kombat, you're supposed to use a "monkey see, monkey do" strategy.

[SM_Unlimited]

I really wish they'd included such a chart within the PC version of the game. It would've eliminated the problem where players threw away their notes after defeating Jojo Jr., and thereby got screwed in the final endgame sequence.

LucasArts did eventually include an in-game Monkey Kombat move chart in the PS2 version, but for PC gamers that's cold comfort.

That sounds to me like a need for an escape special edition :P

[MacGyver12345]

no! no monkey combat

[Sira Raven]

I didn't find Monkey Kombat too bad, as long as I was able to write stuff down. Trying to do it from memory would be...intense.

[mightypiratetm]

i really liked it! and it isn't so lame after all i have hear

[mister_e]

EMI is the only Monkey Island game I have never completed and Monkey Kombat is the reason why :( Hated it

[roberttitus]

EMI is the only Monkey Island game I have never completed and Monkey Kombat is the reason why :( Hated it

I got to it the first time yesterday... I cannot figure it out.

Guess I'm never completing the game....

[mightypiratetm]

Well, I think lucas arts don't form it right if they give something like a move chart on pc version or give more clues it would be fun enough

[tmsmyth4]

forget jurassic park+BttF, i want monkey kombat season 1. you could have extra noises for different episodes and such. now telltale have those new licences, they could have jeff goldblum vs soda poppers in one episode, jeff goldblum vs the 3D shark from 2015 and so on and so forth. this has great potential especially as season 1 implies more seasons. This is the perfect way to retain the action from the films, while adding a classic adventure twist to it

[Mandahaya]

Do I have to mention what I feel about Monkey Kombat after this morning?

I guess I don't.

[doodinthemood]

Manda spent four hours on monkey kombat, that's about the amount of playtime for 1 sam and max episode. Now there's value for money.

[charliestumpy]

It can be fun.