Leisure Suit Larry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Leisure Suit Larry
Leisure Suit Larry Collection Series.jpg
Cover art for the 1997 collection
Genres Graphic adventure
Developers Sierra Entertainment, High Voltage Software, Team17, Replay Games
Publishers Sierra Entertainment, Codemasters, Replay Games
First release Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
July 5, 1987
Latest release Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust
March 31, 2009

Leisure Suit Larry is a series of adventure games written by Al Lowe and published by Sierra from 1987 to 2009. The main character, is Larry Laffer who, though still somewhat lovable, is a balding, dorky, double entendre-speaking, leisure suit-wearing "loser" in his 40s. The games follow him as he spends much of his life trying (usually unsuccessfully) to seduce attractive women.

Contents

Overview [edit]

The series had its origins in Sierra's earlier Softporn Adventure, a 1981 text adventure created by designer Chuck Benton,[1] whose story and basic structure were reused for the first "Larry" game. The "Larry" games were one of Sierra's most popular game series during the genre's heyday when it was first released in the mid 1980s. As such, they remain well-known among fans of the type today. The series stands out among Sierra's catalog in that they are the only games the company produced that contain significant sexual themes.

In general, the games follow Larry's escapades as he attempts (and mostly fails) to convince a variety of young nubile women (rendered with increasing sophistication throughout the series) to have sex with him. A common link between the games are Larry's explorations of luxurious and cosmopolitan hotels, ships, beaches, resorts and, more commonly, casinos. One of Larry's trademarks is his manner of introducing himself: "Hi, my name is Larry; Larry Laffer", a reference to James Bond's introduction style, "My name is Bond; James Bond." "Leisure Suit" came from Lowe's statement to Sierra founder Ken Williams that Softporn Adventure was so dated that it should be wearing a leisure suit.[2][verification needed]

After the gleefully seedy first game, the series – despite becoming infamous for its saucy content – gained something of a reputation for not actually featuring all that much raunchy material when analyzed, particularly the mid-entries to the series. This became even more evident in later years, when more genuinely racy games appeared in the market, like Cobra Mission. At most, the raunchier moments were usually hidden as Easter eggs. Things began to become racier again toward the end of the series, particularly in the (original) final installment, Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail!.

In Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out!, Love for Sail!, Casino, and Magna Cum Laude, Larry is voiced by Jan Rabson. Larry Lovage, the protagonist of Magna Cum Laude, is voiced by Tim Dadabo. In 2007, Vivendi Universal Games announced a mobile game remake of Love for Sail!.

In 2008, Sierra Entertainment announced Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust for PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and mobile phones.[3] It was developed by Team 17 and the publishing rights were offered to Codemasters who published the game in March 2009.

In June 2011, Replay Games announced on their blog that they had acquired a license for the Leisure Suit Larry series. Replay Games plans to re-release the titles it has licensed for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, XBLA, PSN, On-Live, and Steam. It is also announced that Al Lowe will be involved with the development of the new releases.[4] In April 2012, Replay Games initiated the Kickstarter project "Make Leisure Suit Larry come again!" which finished funding on May 2, 2012 and secured a total of $674,598 ($655,182 via Kickstarter and $19,416 via PayPal) in funding compared to the $500,000 that was asked for. The $650,000 mark will add more story, dialogues and one more character.[5] The "HD" Version of the game, titled Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards: Reloaded has a completion date of October 2012 listed, but is delayed to late May 31, 2013. In April 2013, Al Lowe stated in an interview with Digital Trends how minor work for a Reloaded version of the second Leisure Suit Larry game,[6] Josh Mandel later confirmed the game's early development in a Kickstarter update[7]

Game series [edit]

Original games [edit]

Lovage games [edit]

Neither of these had any involvement of Al Lowe and other original Sierra staff.

Reloaded games [edit]

Canceled games [edit]

Leisure Suit Larry 8: Lust in Space [edit]

Leisure Suit Larry 8, tentatively subtitled Lust in Space (as well as Explores Uranus in some references), was in full development in 1998 until funding was cut. Shortly afterwards, Sierra's adventure games department was disbanded and Al Lowe left Sierra on February 22, 1999. Like the canned Space Quest sequel, Larry 8 was to be in full 3D, but no more than a few test renders now survive.[8] The full title of the game, as well as its teaser, was referenced in Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail! triggered with an easter egg, as well as a teaser after completing the game. In 2013, Al Lowe pointed how that title is still being considered, with support from series co-writer Josh Mandel; however Lowe stated that even though he would like to complete the Reloaded series first, Leisure Suit Larry 8 is "absolutely" still in the works.[6]

Leisure Suit Larry: Pocket Party [edit]

Leisure Suit Larry: Pocket Party was the canceled game in the series that was supposed to be released in the second half of 2005 for the N-Gage. The publishers were Vivendi and Nokia, while the developer was TKO-Software.[9] In the game, players would explore a 3D college campus, while solving puzzles and engaging in risque activities. As they search for the ultimate good time, gamers bump into Rosie Palmer, the head cheerleader at Larry’s college. Attempting to win over Rosie’s heart, Larry is thoroughly embarrassed by her jock boyfriend Chuck Rockwell—humiliation never stopped Larry before and he is determined to do anything to be with Rosie.[10] In addition to single-player gameplay, players could also wirelessly square off against an opponent in four different turn-based mini-games.[9]

Leisure Suit Larry: Cocoa Butter [edit]

In late 2005, Target department stores (through online vendor Amazon.com) began accepting pre-orders for a sequel to Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude entitled Leisure Suit Larry: Cocoa Butter. This new game was being developed for the PC, PS2, Xbox, and PSP systems, but has since been canceled.

Collections [edit]

Several Larry collections have been compiled:

  • Larry 3-Pack (1991): This collection included the first three games that were available at the time.
  • Leisure Suit Larry's Greatest Hits & Misses (1994): This CD collection included all the Larry games up to Larry 6, including both versions of the original game, the VGA (non-talkie) floppy version of Larry 6, the Laffer Utilities and the original Softporn game. A limited edition print of the Leisure Suit Larry book was also included, titled "My Scrapbook".
  • Leisure Suit Larry: Collection Series (1997): This two-CD collection included everything the previous collection contained, plus the VGA and SVGA CD talkie versions of Larry 6, a Larry 7 preview, and Larry's Big Score: Pinball. This was the only collection to include The Official Book of LSL (Perfectbound Edition).
  • Leisure Suit Larry: The Ultimate Pleasure Pack (2000): This four-CD collection was, again, otherwise identical to the one before it except that it also included the 1998 Larry's Casino and the full version of Love for Sail!.
  • Leisure Suit Larry Collection (2006): This barebones collection only contains the 1–6 Larrys originally released on floppies (substituting the Larry 1 VGA remake for the EGA original, and excluding the full-talkie CD edition of Larry 6). According to www.Allowe.com, Vivendi excluded Love for Sail! from the collection in fear that the hidden Easter egg ending would give the collection an Adults Only rating. Unlike previous collections, this one does not come with any printed documentation (instead including PDF files containing the original manuals for copy protection purposes) and the games are loaded through DOSBox.
  • Leisure Suit Larry: Greatest Hits and Misses! (2013): Downloadable release on GOG.com by Codemasters. It includes Larry 1-6 (including both EGA and VGA remake of Larry 1, and the VGA and SVGA talkie versions of Larry 6) and Softporn Adventure. It SVGA version of Larry 6 was slipped in during an update.[11] LSL7 is sold separately.

Other software [edit]

  • The Laffer Utilities (1992), a parody of the Norton Utilities package.
  • Leisure Suit Larry's Datebook (1992), mentioned in a 1992 Sierra Catalogue as "Larry speaks! Custom Larry screens pop on to tell you about meetings, birthdays, work habits, and hard-drive hygiene! Let Larry organize your life. Scary, huh?" Never released; in fact, according to Al Lowe, he did not know it existed and had no plans to make it.
  • Leisure Suit Larry's Casino (part of the Crazy Nick's Software Picks line of games, includes slot machine, blackjack, and poker taken from the In the Land of the Lounge Lizards VGA remake and Larry V.
  • Leisure Suit Larry's Casino (1998) in which Larry Laffer is running a casino. The game offers five casino games, three party games, a full gift shop, three restaurants, three bars and a few surprises. Also featured an online component which allowed for players to upgrade their hotel room, and participate in other online-only activities.)
  • Leisure Suit Larry's Sexy Pinball (2005), a pinball game for mobile phones.[12]
  • Leisure Suit Larry Bikini Beach Volley (2006), a beach volley game for mobile phones.[13]
  • Leisure Suit Larry Love for Sail (2007), a mobile game based on Love for Sail!.[14]
  • Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude (2008), a game based on Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude for mobiles showing some mini games to play with the number pad.[15]

Other products [edit]

  • The Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry (1990) (written by Al Lowe and Ralph Roberts, containing background information and hint guides). The book was revised and edited so that there was a second (1991), a third (1993), and a fourth (1997) edition, and Special Edition (released with Larry Collection).
  • The Authorized Uncensored Leisure Suit Larry Bedside Companion (1990) (written by Peter Spear), containing the stories of the first three Leisure Suit Larry games, as well as detailed walkthroughs, point lists and maps). The book, like other Sierra books by Peter Spear such as The King's Quest Companion, was revised and edited so that there was a second edition (1991) covering Larry V.

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Al Lowe Downloads game history". 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-21. 
  2. ^ Lowe, Al (2012-04-13). "I am Al Lowe, creator of Leisure Suit Larry. AMA!". Reddit. Retrieved April 14, 2012. 
  3. ^ "Leisure Suit Larry does Hollywood with new comedic adventure video game in 2008". Sierra Online Games. 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2008-06-04. 
  4. ^ "Replay Games acquires the rights to Leisure Suit Larry". Replay Games. 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2011-06-11. 
  5. ^ "Make Leisure Suit Larry come again! – Kickstarter". 2012-04-03. Retrieved 2012-04-03. 
  6. ^ a b Digital Trends
  7. ^ Kickstarter
  8. ^ Leisure Suit Larry 8
  9. ^ a b GameSpy
  10. ^ N-Gage Gamezone
  11. ^ Leisure Suit Larry for download $9.99 - GOG.com
  12. ^ "Mobile Games – Leisure Suit Larry's Sexy Pinball Review". 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 
  13. ^ "MSN Mobile – Bikini Beach Volley". 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-21. 
  14. ^ "Mobile Games – Leisure Suit Larry Love for Sail Review". 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 
  15. ^ "Leisure Suit Larry Magna Cum Laude inMobile Game Domain". 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 

External links [edit]

Leisure Suit Larry series
Original games
Lovage series
Reloaded series
Other
Sierra adventure games
 
Leisure Suit Larry
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leisure_Suit_Larry&oldid=555528892"