Maniac Mansion

[Keir]

Maniac Mansion was one of my favorite games as a kid in the 80s. Though I spent many many hours trying different combinations of commands and characters I was never able to finish the game until yesterday, finally ending my 35 year quest (I may have taken a few decades off in between). While I did not use a walkthrough I don't think I ever would have done it without some prior knowledge. It makes me curious; I know the game is well-loved but how many people were actually able to solve it back then?

 

For those of you that have finished the game, did you do it "back in the day" or more recently? Did you have to look up any solutions or use a walkthrough? If you played it but didn't finish, do you remember where you got stuck?

[leech]

I haven't really played Maniac Mansion yet... but I did beat Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders on the Atari ST back in the day.  I also completed Secret of Monkey Island on it.  I had a lot more time back in the early 90s... damn adulthood.

[Keir]

That's impressive! I could never beat Zak then either. When I replayed it last year I got stuck at the same place (Mars) and ended up getting a hint from UHS to finally beat it. I know exactly what you mean about time. It only took 12 hours of gametime to beat Zak but it still took nearly a month, and that's using emulation so I didn't even have to deal with saving and loading!

[Geoff Oltmans]

I've beat a lot of Lucasfilm games back in the day, but I confess I never really played Maniac Mansion or Zak McCraken. Off the top of my head:

 

Three Money Island games

Loom

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Day of the Tentacle

Sam & Max

 

All those were a lot of fun.

[jerseystyle]

I never managed to beat MM back in the day, but I did finish Day of the Tentacle. And Loom! Man, what a fantastic game that was. Remake, anyone?

[Keir]

I haven’t played any of those other Lucasfilm games. I really should!