LucasArts' PC adventures possible on DS, stalled by size limitations

by Ross Miller { Jun 2nd 2008 at 11:25AM }

To this day, it baffles us that LucasArts still hasn't re-released its library of adventure titles, if only so our non-gaming friends can believe us when we tell them the developer "doesn't just make Star Wars games." Speaking to Eurogamer, Fracture assistant producer Jeffrey Gullett said it's something they've looked into it but that there's an issue of size limitations for a DS version.

Said Gullet, "The cart size of the DS makes it impossible to put out ports of any of our old graphic adventures ... There's literally not enough room on those carts to put the games out." The standard DS cart supports up to 256MB (but with slower data transfer speeds), while the DS version of ScummVM is just over 7MB. We're not sure if Gullet meant the entire LucasArts adventure library wouldn't fit on a cart, but we're willing to bet you could at least get the first three Monkey Islands under 128MB.

Tags: adventures, lucasarts, maniac-mansion, monkey-island, sam-and-max

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Donald @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:31AM

In before fighting like a cow.

Shadow Hog @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:54AM

What...? Don't you like that part? If not, you have the manners of a beggar.

Booxatron @ Jun 2nd 2008 1:34PM

Your hemorrhoids are flaring up again, eh?

Geist @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:51PM

How appropriate, your mother is a dairy farmer. And by that I mean she gets around a lot.

Trevsweb @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:34AM

monkey island 3 cranks out at about 700mb so unless they scaled it down i doubt itll fit on the cart either.
i tihnk indy jones fate of atlantis, monkey island 2 and prolly loom/manic mansion thrown in for good measure on one cart would be awesome

Dan Bugglin @ Jun 2nd 2008 2:24PM

If you compress it with the ScummVM tools it comes down to 519mb. My guess is Gullet was thinking of the newer (relatively speaking) games which came on CDs instead of the old ones.

The Dig is also too big, but most of the older CD ones come down to below 100mb when compressed, and the real old pre-CD ones are mostly below 10mb.

Trevsweb @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:35AM

although broken sword made it to GBA that looked pretter good. no sound was a bummer but it fitted on a gba cart :)

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:35AM

mmm... The Monkey Island came in a floppy disc. The DS card sizr is pretty big, 256MB, considering it doesnt use textures with a very high resolution.

Grim Fandango came in a 500 MB CD-Rom, with PC high resolutions. Maybe the directs ports can't fit, but a remake is very possible.

I want Grim Fandango DS

=p

Dr. @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:36AM

Full Throttle. Need I say more?

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:37AM

mmm... I prefer Day of the Tentacle or Grim Fandango.

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:42AM

We need more Tim Schafer games.

=p

Deck @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:39AM

This would be nice if they were to be able to do it..too bad I don't have a DS though :P

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:41AM

Blah blah blah... Nintend BS MI RITE?

*cough* Excuse me... I must have channeled name123 or something for a second there.

Yeah, I'd give my left nut for some adventure game ports but if size is really and issue, why aren't we seeing more games built specifically for the console? Who wouldn't openly nut if instead of a port, we get a new adventure game? I think the success of Phoenix Wright proves the market is there.

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:51AM

There are some prtty good adventues games on the DS:

Ace Attonney series, Hotel Dusk, Touch Detectives series, Myst, Proffesor Layton, Code Lyoko, Trace Memory, Contact... etc.

The market is definitely there. The DS has the advantage of the touchscreen to make this kinda of games very accesible on a portable system.

Same as the Wii. Thanks to the IR Pointer, adventures games can be done on the Wii, and Sam & Max, and the Strongbad game is a prove of that.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award) @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:06PM

Professor Layton is a puzzle game... and considering how you had to drag through the crap to get soem of those on your list (Code Lyoko?!?), I'm suprised Nancy Drew or CSI wasn't mentioned.

vdeogmer @ Jun 2nd 2008 1:50PM

Just how the devil is Contact an adventure game? It's a singleplayer MMORPG.

Anthony @ Jun 2nd 2008 1:55PM

How is Contact possibly a MMORPG if it is single player? The first two MMs in that word stand for "Massively MULTIPLAYER", you know...

If anything it's an RPG, but it does play like an adventure game.

Arturis @ Jun 2nd 2008 2:11PM

Someone came through the office the other day with a SCUMM emulator running on his iPhone...

I have never wanted an iPhone as much as I did the very moment the opening lines of Sam & Max: Hit the Road echoed around to my cubical.

"Friends? Friends?!? We've only gone out together three times, and already you're telling me you want to be friends? You never gave me a chance! And for that... you'll fry like a pork sausage!"

Optimaximal @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:42AM

Any of the pre-Full Throttle adventures should be easily ported because they were just talkies. FT, CoMI, GF & EMI did have CGI/animated sequences, so might be harder, but with a bit of compression or reworking they might be possible.

I think the real reason is LEC doesn't want anyone playing their pre-'nothing but Star Wars' games because it might raise future expectations which the current management have no hope of meeting.

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:45AM

That's the word I was looking for: reworking.

I mean, if they want to port the games directly from the PC version, well, of course they are going to have to some problems.

They just need to re-work a little bit on the game, use modern compression techniques, etc.

arrrgh @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:44AM

I call BS on this dude. There's no way they couldnt port at least SOME of the old point and click titles. I want me the original Zak mcCracken, maniac mansion, day of the tenticle, the first monkey island...cmon you bastids!@

Bigsven @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:48AM

I agree, this is BS. I have run all pre-Full Throttle games through ScummVM so there shouldn't be any problem. If they compressed the audio then the talkies would work just fine.

mattclarkie @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:49AM

There are other consoles than the DS. If size is the issue, which I doubt they could merely use a console with a higher limit, now the 360s limit has been raised again and the PS3 doesn't have one they could port it to those, and even the Wii could be used, and the wii-mote would be similar to the sylus of the DS.

Sunny @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:53AM

Maybe they are talking about the more modernized versions with CD-audio based music? But even then, audio compression has gotten really good over the years...

Poisoned Al @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:54AM

You never gave me chance, and for that.... YOU'LL FRY LIKE A PORK SAUSAGE!

That Fuzzy Bastard @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:54AM

Even direct porting wouldn't be that hard. The old titles were all created before MP3 audio compression, so you could shave off a *lot* of space by compressing the audio from it's massively space-hogging PC form. Ditto on graphics, which could be much smaller on the DS.

differented @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:56AM

Size limitations is a bit of a feeble excuse when many people who use homebrew DS software are able to play most of those games using ScummVM right now.

I think the ones that work are:

Maniac Mansion
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Loom
The Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Day of the Tentacle
and
Sam & Max Hit the Road

Games from Full Throttle and onwards are, I would assume, too big, but even so, that's a healthy collection of absolute classics right there.. Quite a few of the earlier games would fit onto one cart too.

why not the LS2LS7? @ Jun 2nd 2008 11:56AM

They're great games. But I don't think these relatively short titles with absolutely zero replay value are a good match for the DS. They'd have to be sold for rock-bottom prices in order to be a decent value and that would take the profit out.

Vaitork @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:08PM

Zero replay value? I've played SoMI, SoMI2:LR, S&M:HtR and DotT at least 3 or 4 times each. Just try to play them again with a span of 2-3 years between each playthrough. It's always a blast to beat those games.

Besides, the kids today should know where it all got big, and those titles differented mentioned are a good example of that time.

I mean, who doesn't like Konami Classics? That cartridge rocks!

Dale @ Jun 2nd 2008 1:40PM

I went back to DOTT recently, and it was every bit as fun as the first time I went through it.

Spiza @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:03PM

Virtual console anyone?

chez @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:03PM

The last LucasArts game I'm really looking forward to is Grim Fandango, unless they didn't make that game and I'm just imagining everything.

RobH @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:04PM

Total Bunk, it can so
http://scummvm.drunkencoders.com/

Someone should load the games on carts, sell them. If anyone cries copyright tell them to go jump off a bridge, "You said it couldn't be done, so this can't be your game"

Blue_Falcon @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:05PM

Personally, I would much prefer a collection on the Wii than the games on the DS.

AwesomeTown @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:07PM

I would love to see this, but unless they can get the voice compressed for the talkies then I wouldn't want them (the non-talkies, bring 'em on). Games like Full Throttle, Sam and Max, Day of Tentacle, and Monkey Island 3 had so many memorable voices. Amazing games without them, but the voices really made the games that much better, for me anyway. If the voices weren't there, I'd much rather pop in my discs and use ScummVM.

differented @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:24PM

The talkies would work fine... in fact they already are (apart from Full Throttle I think). Do a search on youtube for ' scummvm ds '. You can witness the talkie DS action.

AwesomeTown @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:37PM

Awesome.

dark_inchworm @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:18PM

They might as well have said, "Look, a three-headed monkey!" just before running far, far away from the interviewer.

jsutcliffe @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:25PM

Yep, I have MI, MI2, and Loom on my DS right now. ScummVM DS was one of the main reasons I got a flash cart.

The implementation isn't perfect, but I don't care. Playing Monkey Island on my commute is more than worth the occasional control niggle.

Tiago @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:31PM

Am I the only one that thinks that he was probably talking about SCREEN size?

The DS is fine and all but the only way MI (for example) would be confortable to play would require some major reworking of the game.

The way I see it, it's the only way the statement makes sense.
How the hell can't the old point and click adventures not fit in 128MB?

chez @ Jun 2nd 2008 1:31PM

The bigger games have voice packs which can take up a lot of room. Resolution isn't a problem either, see ScummDS.

KeenCommander @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:40PM

Uncut, the full install of Curse of Monkey Island is over a gigabyte. Sure, that can be compressed - but it's still a tight squeeze. There's absolutely no reason why the first two games or Sam & Max couldn't be done though. I guess the homebrew users have the advantage on this one.

princeofshapeir @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:48PM

Ross, this is false, with MP3 compression I've seen 300MB+ Lucas Arts games compressed to under 10MB and still playable under ScummVM.

princeofshapeir @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:50PM

Like you guessed, Curse of Monkey Island is using uncompressed bitmaps and uncompressed wav files. You change those into compressed textures and compressed mp3's and all of a sudden that size goes down by a factor of 10.

Benny @ Jun 2nd 2008 12:52PM

Ah man, I'd love to see Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, and Full Throttle on the DS.

Sequels would be even awesomer.

jpelles @ Jun 2nd 2008 1:14PM

Syberia DS says high. Much bigger game size wise and it’s coming to DS perfect with graphics and audio intact.

Talk about a load of bull$hit. Don’t pay attention to LucasArts people. They’re the people who critisized EA for not releasing Superman Returns the game with the movie.