[ATMachine]

Originally Posted by Jake

When I first met Tim Schafer as part of an article about Double Fine I was writing, he said that the end of Monkey Island 2 was actually supposed to be the end of Monkey Island 1, but Ron Gilbert was talked down from including it at that point. Presumably at that point the "it's a trilogy" concept hadn't yet formed. I've heard that story of MI2's end originally being intended for MI1 echoed in other places as well since I first heard that from Schafer, and have always since assumed it to be generally true.

Yeah, I totally believe that. It makes sense that if the MI2 team was in the situation of "Hey, we've got three months until the ship date and we still have to write an ending!" they could fall back on an idea floated for MI1. Of course Ron probably kept the idea fresh in his head--he was dropping some hints about using it in an MI sequel back in 1990 when the first Adventurer magazine came out around MI1's release.

AFGNCAAP, I'm not trying to say "This ending stinks because it was rushed!" A lot of great art over the centuries has been made under pressure, you're right. But it does provide an interesting look at what went into the writing of that particular ending.

Since you mentioned it, by the way, I do have a page detailing 98% of the changes made between certain parts of the demo and the full game.

Spoiler:

But as you pointed out, most of that stuff is minor. In fact, I think everything I've discovered up to this point pales to the fact that there is absolutely no trace of the final voodoo puzzle in the demo datafiles (which include the name of every room in the game at the time and all the inventory images). No inventory items of LeChuck's four basic voodoo groups. No mention of any underground tunnels. No secret elevator passage to Melee Island. Yet the backgrounds, inventory items, and animations for all the rest of MI2 are named (not included as images, to save space, but named). I am forced to conclude that at that point in time the game was almost complete but ended when Guybrush found the chest on Dinky Island, because no final ending had been put in yet.

My personal take on the MI2 ending follows.

Spoiler:

I don't really have a problem with the whole notion of "it was all a boy's fantasy", which I actually find a fascinating idea, but I think there are two problems with the ending as written.

A) It would have worked much better as the MI1 ending. By buying a sequel, audiences are admitting to being emotionally involved with a world and its characters. For the most part, they aren't expecting to have it turned upside down, and are very likely to be confused and/or displeased. In contrast, newly established characters and settings make it much easier generally for people to accept twist endings, as there's much less emotional and monetary investment.

And B) I think the "emergency exit" (that is, Chuckie's eyes glowing and the scene of Elaine standing above the hole) really weakened the interesting concept of the ending. Sure, it was the only way they could allow a sequel to happen, but it seriously cheapens the whole mind-blowing, shocking nature of the scene. If you're going to try something so ballsy, I think you should have the guts to go all the way. But that's just my opinion.