Maniac Mansion

From WE Computers Museum
Maniac Mansion cover.png
Maniac Mansion
Developer Lucasfilm Games
Jaleco (Famicom)
Publisher Lucasfilm Games
Activision (1988 DOS release)
Jaleco (Famicom/NES)
Kixx XL (Amiga and DOS in United Kingdom)
Disney (Antstream, Linux, macOS, Windows)
Platforms Adventure Flashback Blast!, Amiga, Antstream, Apple IIe, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, Linux, Mac OS, macOS, NES, Windows
Released Apple IIe
United States: September 1987
Commodore 64
United States: October 5, 1987
Germany: 1989
DOS
United States: May 1988
United States (enhanced): December 31, 1989
Spain: 1989
Brazil: December 1990
Europe, United Kingdom: 1993
Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom
Japan: June 23, 1988
NA: September 18, 1990
EU: October 22, 1992
Amiga
United States: July 26, 1989
United Kingdom: 1993
Atari ST
United States: October 1989
France: 1989
Mac OS (Day of the Tentacle)
North America: 1996
Linux, macOS, Windows
Worldwide: December 18, 2017
Adventure Flashback Blast! (NES)
North America: November 1, 2019
Antstream (NES)
Worldwide: August 10, 2021
Added to
Museum
macOS/Windows (GOG.com): March 22, 2018
Adventure Flashback (NES): August 1, 2020
DOS (Classic Adventures): February 6, 2024

Maniac Mansion was the first game to use the SCUMM scripting utility (Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion).

Story

Dave's girlfriend Sandy is kidnapped, and he must go in to the creepy mansion with two other kids to save her.

Gameplay

Dave must always be in the party, but the player can choose any of the other kids to go with him. The other kids have special abilities that can help in the mission, and using these special abilities will lead to other possible endings to the game.

Development

The game was co-designed by Ron Gilbert, who would go on to found Humongous Entertainment, Hulabee Entertainent. It was co-designed by Gary Winnick, who would go on to found Terrible Toybox with Gilbert.