In Games

This week is again one of my favourites.

I still remember the day I bought this game. They didn't sell it in our small town, so I had to wait until we got to the next bigger town. So we got to the store, I bought Maniac Mansion and then couldn't wait to get home again, although we just started shopping. I guess I was very annoying to the rest of my family that day.
I think I read through the box text and instruction booklet a dozen times and couldn't await playing it, because the review I read about Maniac Mansion was so good.
And when we got home I wasn't disappointed. Maniac Mansion is one of my alltime favourites and a really great and outstanding game. As I didn't have internet at that time I had to figure out everything on my own and it took me long weeks, but in the end I could beat it and it was a great feeling.

Read interesting stuff about MM on wikipedia:




Japanese cart and boxart:


Western cart and boxart:


I hope this is enough to get you started.

If you should not have played this gem yet, better try to find a NES ROM and try it soon. You missed something if you haven't played Maniac Mansion!

Yes, indeed. Another unforgettable one, but another one I've yet to finish! I got as far as, I believe, where there's a car parked in a driveway? It's been years since I've played this one, even though I have both the cart & the NES ROM.
Definitely one of the strangest games I've ever played, and another NES one that left an impact when it was first released with me because again, it was unique (and Nintendo keeps doing it; read: REVOLUTION controller!), and just plain weird.
Weird Ed...he seems to be the character I remember most. Again, much like you, Manuel, I prefer to stay away from the FAQ sites with this one, hopefully I can conquer it one day. No luck with Ninja Gaiden, still!

i have still never played Maniac Mansion eventhouhj everything i've ever heard about it was positive. i need to try it out, but i'm not much for NES ROMs.

Then try to find the cart somewhere, you really missed on something here.

As Todd said, it's a very weird game and who doesn't like weird games?

Weird Ed, Edna, Dr. Fred and the tentacles... must.play.again...

I'm a big fan of Lucas Arts point and click adventures so of course love Maniac Mansion, especially as it was the only one to make it to the NES. It's got great humour (though maybe not as funny as some other Lucas Arts games) and there is real edge of the seat tension as you creep around the mansion trying to avoid the family. There are many endings (about 7 I think) so there is plenty to come back for once you beat it the first time.

Has anyone played the sequel Day of the Tentacle? It's a great game that improves on Maniac Mansion in my opinion.

I've never played the sequel, but I would if I came across it for cheap on a console I own.

A Maniac Mansion run on youtube. Enjoy!

Cool video. I knew there was a car in a driveway/garage...I was that close to finishing it at one time?!
That video reminded me of one crucial trick in this game: switching kids as soon as Nurse Edna or one of her cohorts appears on the screen; switch back to the original kid and the enemy will be gone. Otherwise, Nurse Edna will take you to the dungeon when you enter the kitchen at the start every time (which I've been finding out the past couple of days until I watched that video).
Some parts seem to be missing from it, though--I thought you had to develop a picture and fix a manuscript of some type, or did this kid just edit those bits out? I also remember something regarding making a cassette tape.

Some parts seem to be missing from it, though--I thought you had to develop a picture and fix a manuscript of some type, or did this kid just edit those bits out? I also remember something regarding making a cassette tape.

There are a few different ways of beating the game that lead to various endings. So you don't have to do everything to get each ending. In fact some things can only be done with the right character combination.

A useful and interesting map of the Maniac Mansion mansion.

Well, I clicked the link and I got this:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /Atlas/NES/ManiacMansion-EdisonMansion.png on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
I think this game is trying to kill me. I was playing it again last night, along with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, the combination is about to send my blood pressure through the roof (I almost caved in and nabbed a FAQ but didn't).

There you go :)

I still haven't played this game yet. Once I find it, I'll grab, but theres like 0 places to get NES Games here now...

Thanks, Roth! That's a hell of a website, too. Plenty of other stuff on there to check out!

I haven't really played this game, but I tried it out on an emulator, but it just wasn't for me...

Need to get this out of the way first-if you loved this game, and are ok with playing an older generation (DOS era) PC game, you absolutely have to track down a copy of Day of the Tentacle, as pointed out by an earlier poster.

Now onto Maniac Mansion. I remember playing night after night, picking up item after item and trying to figure out where to use everything. It was challenging, and I know I looked up things here and there in Nintendo POWer. I probably spoiled certain areas because of that, but it was still fun. I’m sure I got caught by nurse edna in the kitchen on my first game, and that had me a little freaked out for exploring further into the house, not knowing who I’d run into in the next room. Those cutscenes were always fun too. When Ed announces that he’s hungry, I started panicking, wondering if I’d be in his path from his room to the kitchen. I would also get so nervous exploring nurse edna’s room, because I wouldn’t know how long I’d have till she got back.

That's so true.
i also was quite thrilled when playing that game. You always didn't know what would happen next. Who is around the next corner and throws you in the cell? Ah man, that was fun.
I still have to try Day of the Tentacle. This would be a cool addition to the VC I think. Unfortunately it wasn't on a Nintendo or Sega console (and not on Turbio Grafx, too), right?

I think it was only for the PC. The cool thing about that one, is that they included Maniac Mansion inside day of the tentacle (when you use a computer in the game, it starts the Maniac Mansion game). There are so many fun animations and things to figure out, and for some reason the puzzles seemed a little bit easier/more logical than in Maniac Mansion.