Few adventure games are as iconic as The Secret of Monkey Island. Originally released in 1990 by LucasArts (later known as Lucasfilm Games), the game became a defining title for the point-and-click genre, thanks to its humor, writing, and memorable characters. More than three decades later, the game is now making an unexpected appearance on the original PlayStation!
A new PS1 homebrew project by Mark “Happy-Ferret” Bauermeister aims to bring The Secret of Monkey Island to Sony’s classic console. The project was officially announced on April 5, and while it’s still in a very early stage, there’s already a first look available.
At the moment, the only public material is a video on the
developer’s YouTube channel showing the game’s introduction running on PS1. The footage shared so far focuses on the game’s introduction. It begins with the
title screen, where the
main theme plays while the background
clouds are already
animated, hinting at the visual direction of the port. This is followed by the opening scene featuring
Guybrush Threepwood speaking with the
mysterious Old Man on a cliff, as he expresses his desire to become a pirate.
The footage reveals a few interesting technical details. The project is currently being tested using
DuckStation, with the emulator configured to simulate 8MB of RAM (a notable tweak that hints at the project’s current requirements).
Performance is still quite limited, with the frame rate hovering between
5 and 6 FPS, making it clear that this is very much an early prototype. The audio also sounds somewhat off, suggesting that the sound implementation still needs refinement. On the visual side, the game is running at a resolution of
320x239.
Despite these limitations, it’s already an impressive technical effort. Bringing a classic point-and-click adventure like Monkey Island to the PS1 (a system not originally designed for this type of experience) highlights both the challenges and creativity behind modern homebrew development.
It’s also worth noting that the project has already drawn attention from other developers within the PS1 homebrew scene.
OldPirate (known for his work on ports like
Wolfenstein 3D and
Rick Dangerous for the original PlayStation) has reacted to the announcement, saying he’s looking forward to seeing the project move forward.
An alpha version of the project is currently available through the developer’s Patreon (around €4), giving early supporters a chance to try it out. If you’re interested in following the project, you can check out Mark’s work on YouTube and support the development through his Patreon page.
