The leg bone’s connected to the hip bone; the arm bone’s connected to er… the… shoulder bone? The… no, hang on. Wait a second. The foot bone’s connected to the leg bone, and the... oh, stuff it. I can’t actually remember the progression of the aforementioned tune that presented itself midway through Monkey Island 2 in typically jaunty fashion, although the whacky melody and the image of dancing skeletons is burnt into my brain and refuses to shift, no matter how many times I wash it with alcohol or how much the advance of old(er) age blurs it.

Guybrush Threepwood’s second adventure was one of the very first video games I ever played, and when taken into account that I also watched Monty Python’s Flying Circus as my first dabble in comedy at about the same age it kind of explains quite why my sense of humour is a little left of centre at times. Everything from the endless woodchuck sequence to Captain Dread’s natty haircut and the spitting contest were completely memorable in their own unique ways, even to an eight-year-old.

It was also, in retrospect, probably the very pinnacle of point-and-click gaming. Whilst there was still Day Of The Tentacle and Sam and Max to come, nothing in my opinion ever quite matched journeying between Phatt, Scabb and Booty Islands trying to discover the secret of Big Whoop’s treasure. The characters and soundtrack were all intensely memorable, and some of the in-jokes and parodies to Back to The Future and in particular Indiana Jones were wickedly amusing.

Most amusing of all though was lead character Guybrush’s complete ineptitude and the haphazard way he managed to go about searching for the treasure. Ever the wannabe pirate and having attempted to grow his very own pirate’s beard, his run-ins with various characters throughout the game often presented hilarious moments of comedy. Take for example the start of the game, which shows Guybrush dangling on a rope talking to his girlfriend Elaine. The game takes place in the form of Guybrush recollecting what has happened to get him up to that point, and one optional thread saw Guybrush plunging into a bubbling pit of acid and perishing. This is all fine and good until Elaine reminds him that he is very much alive and still swinging on the end of his rope, upon which the game sends you back to the acid pit and allows you to take the proper route out.

Little did we all know at the time, but this would be the last Monkey Island game for the best part of six years, and also the last time which Ron Gilbert would wave his magic wand over series proceedings. This is especially a shame given recent revelations that Gilbert had three games originally planned, and that the third was going to bookend the series and give a definitive answer to what the secret of Monkey Island actually was. Although subsequent interviews with him have suggested that he would love to do a fifth Monkey Island game that will wrap everything up, LucasArts’ insistence on ploughing investment into Star Wars and their willingness to chuck series like Full Throttle and Sam and Max in the bin means that we could all be in for a long, fruitless wait.

Still, we have our memories, eh? Combining the hypnotised monkey with the stuck tap? Creating a voodoo doll out of spit, a wig and some bones? Fantastic stuff. Using a coffin as a makeshift boat to get across the voodoo ladies hut. Having obscenely huge amounts of gold and loot at the very start of the game, only to lose it all without being able to do anything. All the little incidentals that shouldn’t have stuck but did anyway. It may have been succeeded by a selection of other point-and-clickers, but has Mr Threepwood’s second adventure ever been truly bettered? For all the loot in my pocket, I would have to venture not.