12-1-04
Another fan art submission, and this one's a doozy. Brendan Huza sent in this masterpiece for the Fan Art section. The artist cites MM Deluxe as an inspiration for the image.
11-30-04
Those of you who missed The Inventory shin-dig, besides being total losers, missed out on some very interesting information (unless you just go check the forums which are open for reading). While not MM related, one great announcement of note was that A Vampyre' Story of Bill Tiller's Autumn Moon Entertainment has at last secured a publisher, Bad Brain Entertainment. For those who don't know, A Vampyre's Story is a new point 'n click adventure game by some ex-LucasArts adventure veterans, and Tiller (also background artist, probably best known for his work on The Curse of Monkey Island) revealed that we may hopefully see the game before the end of 2005. So you should be looking forward to that if you weren't already (and be sure to read everything at the designated Autumn Moon forum).
Next up are the fine folks at TellTale (Inventory forum here), who revealed a few (possibly meaningless) teasing hints about their highly anticipated upcoming first game. If I'm reading right, it would appear as though this license will be one that has never seen life in the adventure genre before (which effectively rules out the Maniac Mansion series), and may or may not have something to do with vegetables.
And finally, some puzzling and exciting words at the Bad Brain forum (topic of interest here), very likely hints at negotiating the rights for the ill-fated Sam & Max 2 from LucasArts. Since it was assumed that Telltale would be the company pursuing the cancelled game, it was briefly speculated that perhaps multiple companies were working cooperatively to resurrect the title. Strangely though, when Dan Connors (of Telltale) was questioned, he claimed to be unaware of such negotiatins, and had heard nothing from Bad Brain. Weird.
I usually tend to lay off all material that isn't MM-related, which is why there is (mostly) a lack of Double Fine, Telltale Games, Autumn Moon Entertainment, etc. praise around here, but this little gathering was worth recapping. In any event, it would appear as though anything Maniac Mansion related will not be coming to us from these great companies (yet...or so I hope), and so the coverage will end here, but as with Double Fine and the others, I will of course personally be following these folks, and encourage everyone to do the same. These guys are sure to come up with something great.
11-19-04
Teddog rescues us from another round of updateless misery by finding some of her old fan art she made way back when. Go check out the new additions in the deeply attractive Fan Art section.
11-7-04
So apparently David Fox had some sort of video interview from Assembly 2004 discussing the early years of LucasArts games (including Maniac Mansion, of course) in not one but two incredible segments (or at least they probably are as I haven't watched them yet).
source: SCUMMVM forum post
Incidentally, I forgot to wish you guys a Happy Halloween. Oops.
10-30-04
Those of you who've signed up for the Telltale mailing list know that the company will reveal the big license for their first game within the coming weeks. They tease us, saying that some of us were right (and since every single license in the world has been suggested since the announcement, that doesn't really help). Don't forget to check out the new forum and merchandise which were added to the site yesterday.
10-28-04
Be sure to check out Ron's comments on the previously noted blog entry, where he says how Skywalker Ranch was a big inspiration for the mansion of MM. While this was known before, he links to the Skywalker Ranch web site, which has some pictures of the interior to help back the claim up. Ever wondered what the mansion's library looks like in "real" life? Be sure to keep your eye on the entry in case Gilbert spills any more tidbits on the game.
10-27-04
A new interview with Telltale by Total Video Games is online, and Connors talks some more about the company. (Apparently, one of the current nine members of the company has in fact worked on DOTT.)
In other news, be sure to check out Ron's latest blog entry, which discusses his adventures attending the 5th annual Game Designers Workshop. At the end he mentions his parents' having a copy of every game he worked on, adding a fascinating tidbit: that Toys-R-Us stores banned the early Maniac Mansion box because of the word 'lust' on the back. This helps to understand why the box went through a seemingly pointless change during the frequent re-releases.
10-26-04
LucasFan Games, the folks who brought you the highly successful Maniac Mansion Deluxe, is holding a poll on their web site so that you can decide what their next project will be. The choices are between Labyrinth Deluxe, Zak McKracken 3, Maniac Mansion - Special Edison, and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hey, man, I want to see a slot-machine adventure engine, Zak McKracken's third endeavor, or a new Indy adventure as much as anyone, but I think the choice here is clear. Go and cast your vote.
10-22-04
Idle Thumbs' interview with Ron Gilbert continues with Ron Gilbert Speaks: Part 2. I'm fairly sure that Jake and Chris just forgot to bring up Maniac Mansion this time around, but it's still, of course, a great read, and a possible part three to the interview may appear at some point in the future.
10-19-04
Ron Gilbert has posted an article discussing the economics of a 2D adventure game in today's market. His article makes for an interesting read, and at one point he points out Maniac Mansion Deluxe, and its success of over 200,000 downloads.
10-15-04
The great folks over at Idle Thumbs (mainly Chris Remo and Jake Rodkin) have posted the first of a two-part interview with Ron Gilbert entitled, quite brilliantly, "Ron Gilbert Speaks." While the Great Ron doesn't really discuss Maniac Mansion, it's a great read, and reveals some tidbits about Ron's future plans and how he feels about the game industry. Read it, you tuna head.
10-10-04
The new layout for Maniac Zombies is now finished, and it looks quite tasty indeed. For those who don't remember or haven't been paying attention, Maniac Zombies is a relatively new web site dedicated to the games Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, and Ghoul Patrol. It would appear as though the MM/DOTT community is finally regaining its footing after the shutting down of its major fan hubs in the past several years. Here's hoping a long life to this new, promising addition to the MM fan, uh, universe.
In other news, I got off my lazy ass and added the DOTT bonus level from Zombies Ate My Neighbors to the Injokes section. Thanks go to the people in this thread for pics and codes.
Also, I just noticed that defgav's site was updated a month ago to point out that the second MM NES ROM hack is still underway. If it's half as entertaining as his last one, we're in for a real treat.
10-9-04
On the Telltale front, a new interview with the trio reveals that they will attempt to make a Sam & Max game as their second big project (the rights to the crime-fighting duo still belong to LucasArts, and will apparently revert back to creator Steve Purcell in May, when they expire). Assuming that the weird caveman dude the folks at Telltale are revealing is part of one of their so-called smaller projects, the big exciting license that they are negotiating to use for their first game is still the subject of mass speculation. For those who believe that this "popular" license is indeed a LucasArts one, the slim possibility of a third Maniac Mansion game still exists. With Sam & Max scratched off the list, the only other reasonably popular license is Monkey Island. Who knows? Maybe even lesser-known heros Zak McKracken or Bobbin Threadbare will re-emerge? Maybe the license is not one belonging to LucasArts? We'll just have to wait and see what Telltale has up their sleeves. The license cannot be revealed until the company gets some investor aid (after which a developing team will begin to be hired), but given the background of the talented people who make up Telltale, I'm certain that all of their projects will prove to be awesome for adventure fans.
10-2-04
OK, so I lied about members of the Telltale team ever being involved in a Maniac Mansion game. Still, that page has caused all kinds of speculation, including the possibility that it could be Sam & Max 2 or a Monkey Island 5. Would a Maniac Mansion 3 be any more far-fetched? Could Telltale very well be able to get that license from LucasArts? Who knows, but consider this the most solid MM3 rumor in years (not that that's saying much).
10-1-04
Gamespot has posted something interesting today. Apparently even more members of the team for the cancelled Sam & Max: Freelance Police have joined the still rather new company TellTale Games. The company was founded by ex-LucasArts employees who have worked on adventures games (including a certain Maniac Mansion series) and assure everyone that they will bring back these kinds of games to their former glory. They also claim to be working on a "secret" project. Ooh.
9-27-04
Thanks to the folks who run the Questbusters site, we have a new scanned review (a rather positive one, I may add) for the book and magazine picture section.
9-23-04
I've recently been informed by MM fan fasdit of a flash video that he created some time ago. If you haven't seen it before, I suggest that you head over to Newgrounds and do so. fasdit says that a second flash video is already underway and is at least halfway completed. "it has more scenes, animation, music, and overall a longer story." I personally can't frickin' wait.
For more fun, check out other Newgrounds MM classics like this and this.
Remember, if you've created any sort of fan piece related to MM and you aren't sure if we know about it, please inform me! I'm always happy to post this kind of stuff.
Note: fasdit has allowed me to host the flash video on the site, so you can view it here.
9-13-04
I'm still trying to figure out how much red plastic decoder stuff I'm going to need to scan the hint books while waiting for Hurricane Ivan to kill us all, so you can pretty much fill in the rest. I mean, man! I'll settle for a crummy mention of the darn game on the LucasArts web site. Luckily, the good folks over at Maniac Zombies have found some info on MM/DOTT fan games (including some of those abandoned ones I used to mention), so you should probably head over there and check it out. Also stop by the ever-growing LucasArts Museum for some other fun stuff. And you could always argue with Ron Gilbert about Donnie Darko on his immortal blog site. Don't forget Tim Schafer's Psychonauts, a release that is inching closer. See? There is stuff to look at, you just haven't been trying hard enough.
9-4-04
This isn't the most relevant (or up-to-date) information imaginable, but hey, I'm desperate: I just found out the titles to be included in the second wave of the NES Classic Series for the Game Boy Advance, and all four of them are unsurprisingly in-house Nintendo games. I hope nobody honestly thought Maniac Mansion had a chance, but I also hope that you realize how important it was to vote for it regardless. I'm not sure if any future volumes of this series are planned, as the Nintendo DS system is upcoming, but keep your eyes peeled for any chance to further show your support for everyone's favorite 1987 graphic adventure featuring mutated tentacles.
As for the lack of updates, I just wanted to remind you all that it's strictly because there's simply nothing to post about. I'm still here and completely ready to update as any MM news arrives. Stay tuned! And if you're bored, go check out Ron Gilbert's blog while waiting!
8-20-04
News has been a bit slow lately. This is partly due to the fact that my summer vacation ended a week ago, and there's also the slight problem of trying to constantly update about a game over fifteen years old. To help pass the time until we get that inevitable Maniac Mansion 3 announcement, enjoy this new section concerning what the original MM team is up to. It's not much, just something I whipped up in about five minutes awhile back (Yeah, remember back when I promised it?), but it's something.
8-13-04
Wow. Things over at LucasArts are getting pretty dark. I'm sure you all remember when LucasArts said "No" to good games by cancelling Sam & Max: Freelance Police? I'm sure you also recall that, just weeks later, LucasArts fired many staff members, including veteran Sean Clark (Monkey 1, Fate of Atlantis, The Dig, EMI, and the canceled FT2) and members of the Freelance Police team. Well, numerous reports indicate the many LucasArts employees have recently been laid off, with more likely to follow. Rumors indicate that the notoriously evil Randy Breen was one of the people let go, and other rumors seem to think that Mike Stemmle (lead on Freelance Police, also worked on Fate of Atlantis, Sam & Max Hit the Road, EMI) was also among the people fired. Apparently LucasArts is going to continue to lay off lots of people, and the company is expected to pretty much cease internal development (or at least greatly decrease it), and will probably mostly publish 3rd-party-developed Star Wars titles (and possibly Indiana Jones). If it was safe to say that Maniac Mansion was pretty much gone on March 3rd, it's a certainty now. For those of you who will not accept no as an answer, you may hang on to the very small possibility of LucasArts selling the Maniac Mansion license, but the outlook of that (or any other original LucasArts title, really) ever seeing the light of day is bleak at best.
I think many will agree that they really didn't care about what happened to the company after they betrayed their fan base several months back, but it really is pathetic that what was once one of the best entertainment companies in the business has been reduced to publishing franchise titles.
8-7-04
Purple Tentacle strikes again! Yep, the fabled Purple Tentacle suit has made another appearance at an anime convention. Oh, quit pointing. You know you're even more pathetic than that person. Be sure to check out the earlier pictures as well.
thanks to Teddog for heads up
8-4-04
I'm slightly late on this, but I just discovered that the August 1-7 issue of TV Guide has a Maniac Mansion answer in the crossword puzzle. Yeah, I'm talking about the television series, but hey, it's pretty cool that somebody remembers the show.
8-3-04
What's that? You didn't see the TechTV special that aired today? Never fear, you can download it and milk the SCUMM Bar's server at the same time, just by clicking here! MM is mentioned for about a half a second, but the special is still interesting to watch and covers a lot of LucasArts classic adventure games. This special was obviously produced awhile ago, so just try not to cry when Mike Stemmle mentions Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels and Sam & Max: Freelance Police as games that are in development.
video source: The SCUMM Bar
8-2-04
TechTV is airing a a sort of special on the history of LucasArts (info here) tommorow. It's not completely certain that Maniac Mansion will be discussed, but since the game is somewhat of a milestone in the company's history, you'd think they'll at least give it a mention (especially if they're going to acknowledge the ancient Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus!).
7-27-04
SCUMMVM 0.6.1 has been released today, so you should all go and get it immediately!
7-24-04
Since Jorg van Beers has closed down his web site, he's allowed me to host his cool MM backgrounds. They now reside in the newly created Wallpaper picture section, and I've also moved appropriate images from Fan Art. Yeah.
7-23-04
Finally, a decent MM fan site is put on the web. It just opened today, so it doesn't contain much yet, but Maniac Zombies looks quite promising, and will offer all kinds of fun stuff related to Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, and the immortal Zombies Ate My Neighbors (you know, that fun wacky SNES/Genesis two-player game with a DOTT bonus level). The site appears to be in response to the demise of the two old MM/DOTT Mixnmojo sites, The Mansion and DOTTcom. Go bathe in MM goodness!
7-22-04
In an effort to make me look like an idiot, LucasArts has thankfully put the Adventure Collection back in the company store. I don't want to take credit for anything I don't really deserve, but I think it's safe to say that I single-handedly saved this product with my bickering and arguing. In all seriousness, the company likely just ran out of stock of the item awhile ago and put it back up once stock refilled. What threw me off is that the company usually keeps the pages up and tells you after the order is placed the the product is out of stock, and the page is removed when the item is actually discontinued. I'd say I overreacted, but I think we all really know deep down in our hearts that I'm always right.
This isn't MM-related, but in the same spirit Outlaws was also made available again today.
7-19-04
In a semi-genuine attempt to make the site nice and more "user-friendly", I whipped up (in 23 seconds) a new layout for the book and magazine scans section, featuring thumbnails which should significantly decrease the size of the page and appease the
7-18-04
Thanks to The CGW Museum, there are some nice scans in the Book and Magazine Picture Section.
7-14-04
Apparently Ron Gilbert (ya know, the guy who headed Maniac) will be returning to mainstream gaming in an upcoming title aimed for adults that will not be of the adventure genre. Read this poorly translated transcript of a German radio broadcast for more fun info. There's some MM-related stuff in there, including a SHOCKING revelation about tentacles! Okay, not really.
source: Mojo
7-7-04
The generosity of picture-hording fans comes back into play as there are now scans related to the TV series from the LucasFilm fan club magazine issue #12 in the book and magazine picture section. Thanks, Mark!
7-5-04
There's a new interview with David Fox that you should check out, like, now. He talks about some interesting things concerning MM, as well other older titles. There's even a mention of MM Deluxe, so read it already!
7-2-04
Here are some more pictures, this time Fan Art. New submissions include a lego Purple Tentacle and a GBA box mock-up. Enjoy. In other news, a new version of Maniac Mansion Deluxe has just been released, sporting many bug fixes. So go download version 1.1 right now!
7-1-04
In yet another genius move by LucasArts, the company store has removed the Adventure Collection product, which contained Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Day of the Tentacle, and Sam & Max Hit the Road. This cut off any official outlet for all three of these wonderful games. This also marks the end of the line for Maniac Mansion, since it was only available in the form of an easter egg in DOTT. Everybody celebrate! Yay!
Bastards.
Edit: It seems I had forgotten LucasArts Archives: Volume 1 for Mac, which does feature DOTT. Also, though not distributed by LucasArts, DOTT is available overseas.
6-30-04
Daniel comes through again by submitting some very strange pictures of a Purple Tentacle suit. Don't ask. Just go check them out.
6-28-04
Thanks to visitor Daniel, there's finally a decent scan of the PC hint poster over at that there documentation picture section. So go check it out, dog.
6-21-04
New scans are now in the books and magazines picture section, this time from The Game Player's Strategy Guide to Nintendo Games. These scans are particularly interesting because they show screens that are obviously from a prototype cartridge. But look at the arcade room. The arcade to the far right is Kill Thrill, which Douglas Crockford seems to claim was removed before it was sent to Nintendo. Indeed, the Nintendo power magazine features screens from the prototype, but Kill Thrill is now Tuna Diver. What's going on here? And how to does it fit in with your Post-War Commie Conspiracy?
6-19-04
The newest (and fastest) MM speedrun to date has been added to the download section for all of you kiddies. Also, it seems that Nintendo has taken down the survey for the selection of upcoming additions to the NES Classic Series line for the GBA. I hope you took it. If not, it's all your fault that MM won't be ported. I hope you'll be able to live with yourself.
6-13-04
As I'm sure many of you are aware, Nintendo has recently put out a Game Boy Advance game line dubbed the "NES CLASSIC SERIES," which features direct ports of NES games to the GBA. The current line features a few classic NES games such as Zelda and Mario. Well, Nintendo.com is currently having a survey to decide titles for possible future releases. At one point in the survey, you are allowed to select a favorite NES game from a list of every title, including Maniac Mansion. While it's pretty far-fetched to hope that Nintendo would even consider selecting anything other than an in-house game for any future NES ports, it wouldn't hurt for you to select Maniac Mansion among your favorite NES games. So if you would like to see the NES version of MM ported to the GBA and you are unrealistically optimistic, go ahead and take the survey.
6-11-04
I've finally integrated the site updates and news items into one section, as I really should have from the beginning. So starting now, news items can be present in all updates. At the bottom of the page is a link to both the old news item archive and the site updates archive (where everything will be put from now on). Now go play Maniac Mansion: Deluxe because Ron Gilbert says it's a good game.
6-10-04
I've been offline for the past month because of computer troubles (Apparently the CPU needs to be plugged in to an electrical socket.) A load of new FanArt has been submitted, consisting of some excellent images of Bernard, Razor, and Sandy, as well as two site logos (1, 2) for the world to enjoy. Now that I have a bunch of cool logos, expect some rotation of them on the main page. I love all the work all of you have done and urge everyone to continuing submitting your great fan art. Here's hoping my computer works for more than the next few days.
5-3-04
Sorry about the recent lack of updates (or something). Today we've got a new magazine scan for its section as well as a new piece of Fan Art for its section.
4-4-04
Thanks to sirkevinthegeek, we now have scans of the NES hint poster as an addition to the Documentation Picture Section.
4-1-04
April Fools! You see, I decided to do something different. I'm going to tell you that it's April Fool's Day before I lie about the upcoming release of Maniac Mansion 3. Boy, am I clever. So here we go: Maniac Mansion 3 is in development! Hahahaha!
You get it? You get it? Because it's not actually being developed. It's not really true!
Ya get it? Ya get it?
Some people have no sense of humor.
3-30-04
We've got a new piece of FanArt up today for your viewing pleasure. Yum.
3-16-04
For those of you who keep up with all the fun at the forum, you may be aware that we've been trying to get MP3s of the NES music tracks up. Well, thanks to visitors Teddog and ian, we've finally got everything up and running! Check out the Music Section for all that great 8-bit music!
2-27-04
You all may or may not remember when our very own Weird-Edsel discovered the old URL of this web site in the Digital Press Video Game Collector's Guide awhile back. I was finally able to pick up a copy of this great book, and a scan of the Maniac Mansion related part now resides in the Book and Magazine Scans Picture Section. So there.
2-23-04
Courtesy Jorg van Beers, we've got a new piece of FanArt up today. Enjoy.
2-21-04
Today is my birthday. I will, of course, be playing Maniac Mansion continuously and will also be ignoring my family and anything involving contact with another human being. I am a normal, healthy person. I'll leave you with this fan art submitted by MMFan a few years back as a b-day present:
2-20-04
Have you ever dreamed of having a section detailing the SCUMM engine in a unique, educational, and informative way? Well, keep dreaming, but I did whip up a few words about the good 'ole SCUMM engine, apparently enough to merit a section.
2-14-04
Despite my best attempts to not update I managed to upload scans of the C64/Apple II Manual and the Reference Card as additions to the Documentation Scans Picture Section. Also, we've got another piece of board fan art up just for you. I'll try harder next time. Really.
1-22-04
I was going to wait until the next actual, productive update before taking care of the useless junk, but what the heck. I've gotten rid of the Ebay Section (I tried to tell you guys in the first place that it was a stupid idea...) and I've moved the Documentation Scans picture section to its rightful place in the Picture Section. Enjoy?
1-7-04
We've got some fun message board born pics for you today. First up are some enhanced NES character sprites by 3 links theory that have been added to the Fan Art Picture Section. Also up are some photos submitted by meggie of a glass Green Tentacle which have been added to the beloved Oddities Picture Section. Knock yourself out.
1-4-04
Here is the first update of the new year: full scans of the PC Manual as an addition to the Documentation Section.
12-31-03
I've still got nothing, but it's only right to wish all of you a Happy New Year (considering tommorow's the new year and all). I don't want you guys to have too much fun partying tonight. Your hand could get numb playing Maniac Mansion for a long time.
12-25-03
Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate...anyone do Festivus?) and a Happy New Year from the Maniac Mansion Fan Site. I was hoping to have some more documentation up, but no dice. So there's no update. I guess I ruined Christmas. I hope that you and your family
12-10-03
Remember the two misleading heading pictures on this page and the news page? Fixed, baby! Oh, you wanted an actual update. Well, expect the In-Jokes Section to gradually increase, and I'm working on that SCUMM team section. Now what are you still doing here? There are only so many shopping days left until Christmas! You need to go buy the Classic Adventures Pack for all your friends and family!
11-29-03
Well, I've updated the Documentation Section with full scans of the Maniac Mansion section of the Classic Adventures manual, containing the original MM manual as well as a walkthrough from the hint book. This is all I can do at the moment. Until I get a decent scanner and access to all my MM stuff, I can't get the real stuff up. Stay tuned.
11-28-03
After a ridiculously long wait, the In-Jokes section is up and running again. It's not finished, it's missing pictures, and it's (quite frankly) rather messy, but I've made you guys wait long enough. It will be completed soon.
Also, a new picture section has arisen to help organize the mess a little bit, dubbed Book and Magazine Scans. The appropriate pictures from the Oddities Picture Section have been moved. You will notice a few NEW scans in this new section. Yay.
11-27-03
Happy Thankgiving everyone!
Wait...Weird-Edsel once posted awhile back that he hated pointless updates like this one. I suppose I'll make his day just this once...
First of all, the In-Jokes are really, really, really, really, honestly, seriously, without a doubt, coming very, very soon. No, really. Also, expect some new sections to pop up in the not-too-distant future, including one detailing the original Lucasfilm SCUMM team. Ooooh, goodie! As for the shiny new Documentation Section, I'm still in quite a pickle involving my MM collection as well as my now toasted scanner. As soon as I can, I shall get them up here. And finally, you guys really need to participate in the kinky new forum. We don't want to hurt Duke's feelings, now do we?
Now go eat your old rotting turkey, you tunaheads. Don't forget the week old roast. And remember, I don't do tablecloths!
11-17-03
YAAAAY! Duke (who is now THE MAN, by the way) has provided a new, beautiful, wonderful pHp forum for the Maniac Mansion Fan Site! Obviously, we're going to be replacing the old, boring one with it immediately. So prepare to make adjustments for the new url: http://mmforums.gamersepitome.net/
Enjoy, and be sure to thank Duke!
11-10-03
Teddog has provided some Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle related scans from a book. They can be found in the extraordinarily impressive Oddities picture section.
10-31-03
Happy Halloween, everybody! Just wanted to let you guys know that the Day of the Tentacle section has been taken down. Let's face it: it sucked. This website was created to supply info on Maniac Mansion, and I just don't feel that I can do DOTT justice myself. I hope that this doesn't disappoint, but encourages you guys to make good DOTT sites of your own. With "The Mansion" and "DOTTcom" gone, isn't it about time someone else stepped up to the plate of making the definitive DOTT site? Well, in any case, the section is gone. The quiz will remain, though, as will the music, because those are cool. :)
I still consider DOTT to be an important part of Maniac Mansion history...I just don't have the resources or time to keep up with it. Now go eat your candy.
10-27-03
Out of nowhere, a new eBay section has been added, covering..you guessed it: eBay auctions. I think that this new section is a pretty good idea, but don't be surprised if one day it suddenly stops being updated. We'll see what happens.
10-20-03
This is it. Bust out the champagne and Mr. Pibb, because it's the five-year anniversary of The Maniac Mansion Fan Site. Wow. Just wow. Who would have thought we would be here for this long? I dunno. Maybe the only reason this site still exists is because Fortune City NEVER DELETES MY ACCOUNT. God, I can remember joining Fortunecity because it offered more than two megabytes of web space. In any case, I hope that this site has provided the comprehensive information for Maniac Mansion that we all crave, and I hope it continues to improve throughout the years (because we all know that there's room for improvement). Look, I can go on all day about how much I
10-16-03
I wasn't expecting to update until the anniversary, but I felt I needed to say this. I usually keep in touch with Lucasarts regarding legal replacements for the Nuke'M Alarms copy-protection booklet. It seems that now you no longer require the game's UPC and the charge has been reduced to $2.50. So if anyone wants an authentic copy of this booklet, go for it now. The door codes section has been updated.
Note: I don't know what kind of booklet Lucasarts will send to you. I can't promise that it will be the original version. It could be the version from the Classic Adventures Pack booklet, or simply a cheap printout. In any case, you'll only be out $2.50.
9-2-03
The fifth year anniversary of the Maniac Mansion Fan Site's existence (on the web, anyway) is approaching. While the the host move probably won't take place by then, I promise a decent update. This will include the new documentation section, and probably a few other neat surprises. Though it's difficult to calculate the exact time of the official anniversary, (the site was actually created much earlier than it was put on fortunecity, and for a while it sat there without an update) I'm going to go with the date of the first news update that appeared on the site. So mark your calenders, because October 20th, 2003 is the big day.
Oh, and one more thing, the MM Team idea is no more. I assume that you must have figured this out by now, but it just isn't going to happen. For one thing, I wasn't able to regain contact with the people who signed up in the first place. It was too many people to manage one web site, anyway. Perhaps cooperative web design may be in order in the future, but as of now the idea doesn't exactly have potential. The page will remain, however, for old times sake.
8-30-03
I'm continuing to have problems getting the documentation stuff up. I'll try to have most of the NES docs up in a few weeks. The PC, Amiga, and C64 related docs are going to be a little longer, however. Also, I am still in the process of getting the In-Jokes Section back up, but all of it was completely lost, so I still have to start all over. Sorry if you guys are disappointed. In other news, the Maniac Mansion Fan Site's 5-year anniversary is coming up, and that's always nice.
8-14-03
I've been offline for over a week due to some major computer issues (unrelated to the Microsoft bug). My apologies to anyone who sent me an e-mail or has taken one of the tests during this period. Your e-mail was deleted and I never read it. Please re-send the mail. Sorry for the inconvienience. While we're talking about huge bummers, my first day of school was today. Terrific. Anyway, I'm working on a new section which will feature full scans of MM documentation (manuals, hint books, posters) for all versions of the game...but I can't start until my scanner works.
6-25-03
Yeah, you guys guys have been patient, so I've decided to reward you with the release of a new quiz. Also, be sure to check out hal's ROM crack, which is now in the downloads section. Keep up the hard...uh...waiting.
6-19-03
Hey! Yeah, I didn't die yet. The new website is getting closer. I promise.
2-21-03
Yay, it's my birthday! Yeah.
1-4-03
Hope you guys enjoy the new look, and I'd like to give out a late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I'll be changing a few things soon, so stay tuned.