Maniac Mansion (C64)

Maniac Mansion

Platform: Commodore 64 Year: 1987 Developer: Lucasfilm Games, LLC

Maniac Mansion is an adventure game developed by LucasArts, originally released for the Commodore 64 in 1987, and ported to many other systems in the years since. The storyline features the usually mad-but-harmless scientist Dr. Fred Edison being possessed by a meteor, after which he kidnaps a cheerleader from the local high school and creates a device that'll suck her brains out. Her boyfriend, Dave gets the help of two friends (from a pool of six other characters), with the goal of breaking into the Edison family home and stopping Dr. Fred.

This was the first game to make use of the SCUMM engine, and is generally considered to mark the official start of LucasArt's line of adventure games. Unlike most of their later games, it's possible to make the game unwinnable. However, it's still much more forgiving than most other adventure games of this era, as it requires you to make a poor selection of characters at the start and/or commit several major errors during the storyline.

Screenshots

Character selection. Rule #1: Never, ever pick Jeff. Bernard's probably the most useful character, but also a major wimp. Getting into the mansion is the first puzzle you'll face. This is one dinner invite you really don't want to take up. Encountering the residents will usually result in a direct trip to the dungeon. Dr. Fred's prized pet, the Green Tentacle.

Music

VGMPF Album Art

This is probably the sparsest soundtrack for a LucasArts adventure game, with just the game's main title theme and a short bit of music that you hear when you play the Green Tentacle's demo tape. That said, what we do get is fairly decent; both tracks are definitely catchy, and the main theme establishes the game's sci-fi setting quite well. The main theme's title comes from the later Maniac Mansion (NES). Chris Grigg and David Lawrence are both credited as composers; it's unknown whether they each worked on one of the game's two tracks, or whether they wrote them together, though according Chris's resume he was responsible for arranging the sound data to work with the SCUMM engine.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
01	Maniac Theme	Chris Grigg, David Lawrence	Chris Grigg	1:28		Download
02	Demo Tape	Chris Grigg, David Lawrence	Chris Grigg	0:27		Download

Credits

• Ripper: HVSC
• Recorder: OlfinBedwere
• Game Credits:
  • Original music by: Chris Grigg
  • Original music by: David Lawrence
  • Sound effects by: Chris Grigg

(Source: 1, 2, 3)

Game Rip

Format	Download
	Download (Info)

Ripping Commodore music is beyond the scope of this Wiki.

Releases

USA Title: Maniac Mansion Platform: Commodore 64 Released: 1987-10-?? Publisher: Lucasfilm Games, LLC.     Germany Title: Maniac Mansion Platform: Commodore 64 Released: 1988-??-?? Publisher: Lucasfilm Games, LLC.

Links

• mobygames.com/game/c64/maniac-mansion - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.com/c64/583712-maniac-mansion - GameFAQs.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maniac_Mansion - Wikipedia.