Sergio Morales has released ScummNext, a SCUMM adventure interpreter for the ZX Spectrum Next, with support for the CD/VGA edition of The Secret of Monkey Island. Sergio reports completing the game from beginning to end on original Next hardware.
The public release arrived on 30th October 2026. Written in Z80N assembly, the engine runs the adventure’s scripts using converted game data.
Lucasfilm Games first released The Secret of Monkey Island in 1990. Ron Gilbert, Tim Schafer and Dave Grossman wrote and programmed the adventure, which follows would-be pirate Guybrush Threepwood as he pursues a pirate career and confronts the ghost pirate LeChuck.
The PC CD-ROM edition followed in 1992. It retained 256-colour graphics while revising the interface with nine verbs and illustrated inventory items. ScummNext targets this edition, including its CD soundtrack, rather than the earlier floppy releases.
ScummNext targets a Next with 2 MB of RAM. The converter requires 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, and its interface and documentation are in Spanish. The project also includes Python conversion tools, although Sergio has not tested those on other operating systems.
The interpreter handles conversations, inventory and the game’s verb interface, alongside scrolling rooms and animated characters. Actor scaling changes characters’ size as they move through scenes, while foreground masks place them behind scenery. Eight named save slots preserve progress on the SD card.
Audio includes the game’s digitised effects and converted CD music. The converter also synthesises sounds available only in the original AdLib format.
The later build released that evening, v2026.10.30b, adds direct CD-image importing, including CUE/BIN, CloneCD and ISO support. ISO images contain data without the CD audio tracks, so they do not provide the music.
Monkey Island CD remains the only tested game. ScummNext implements SCUMM v5, but Sergio warns other games using the same interpreter version are likely to encounter problems.
This is a separate project from Croft Soft Software’s ScummNext experiment. Our earlier Fate of Atlantis on Spectrum Next article covered work on loading scenes, moving Indy and handling foreground masks. Croft Soft Software and SpriteFountain share an owner.
The ScummNext release page provides the engine, converter and source code. Its notes credit ScummVM’s code and documentation as the basis for substantial parts of the implementation. You need your own original Monkey Island CD data and audio to prepare a playable installation.
