Leisure Suit Larry is the title character of a series of adventure games written by Al Lowe and published by Sierra On-Line from the 1980s to the present.
The original game was based on a text only adventure called Softporn Adventure, created by Chuck Benton in 1981 for the Apple II and published by Sierra (then named On-Line Systems). Benton is mentioned in the Larry credits, because the entire layout and puzzles of the game are the same as in Softporn Adventure. However, the jokes are Lowe's.
The games involve 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 through high-luxury and cosmopolitan hotels, ships, beaches, and more commonly, casinos. One of Larry's trademarks is the way of introducing himself: "Hi, my name is Larry; Larry Laffer."
Because of the nature of the games, the first and third episodes of the series featured an age verification system, which consisted of a series of questions to which the authors reasoned only adults would know the answer. (The verification system could be skipped by pressing Alt-X in episode one, or Ctrl-Alt-X in episode three.)
The games
Leisure Suit Larry 1: Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (1987, remade 1991)
Released in 1987, it was one of the first completely graphical adventure games with 16 color EGA graphics. It used the AGI (Adventure Game Interpreter) engine. It ran on DOS and the Apple II and was later ported to other platforms such as the Amiga, Atari ST and Sega.
In 1991, a remake was released by Sierra that used the same Sierra Creative Interpreter engine with 256 colors and icon driven graphical menu as Larry 5.
Larry Laffer is introduced as a near 40-ish geek who one night decided to explore the sinister streets of the city of Lost Wages, lose his virginity and maybe find true love in the face of the girl of his dreams to spend his life with. He will eventually find it in the face of Eve.
A rumour about LSL1 was that if you had unprotected sex with one of the NPCs, your computer would catch a virus.
Leisure Suit Larry 2: Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places) (1988)
The first sequel used the new engine by Sierra called SCI (Sierra Creative Interpreter), with 16 colors and MIDI sound. It introduced grand-adventure elements, changing through many places and settings (boat, islands, etc). This is the only game of the series where Larry meets several girls but has no activity with them (except the final one). A running joke whenever Larry meets a girl was the tagline "you find xxxxx women sexy" followed by the comment "(but then you find all women sexy)."
Eve, the girl of Larry's dreams he met at the end of the previous game, never thought she was supposed to live with him forever, and ousts him as every one-night-stand girl should. Larry begins his exploration again, and a microfiche falls in his hands by mistake. He is then pursued by KGB and the agents of the evil scientist Dr. Nonookee to get it back. His travels lead him by chance to the tropical island Nontoonyt, where he will meet Kalalau, the daughter of Kennywauwau, the natives' leader (curiously resembling Ken Williams). Larry will enter Nonookee's headquarters where he will defeat him by chance and eventually win the heart of Kalalau.
Leisure Suit Larry 3: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals (1989)
The third episode presented enhanced 16-color graphics and the package offered a funny game guide in the form of a magazine, which were part of the copy protection system. The game action takes place on Nontoonyt and is composed of two parts.
The first part is like the two previous games: Kalalau breaks up with Larry (leaving him for a lesbian cannibal Amazon repairwoman) and he is left again free to explore and meet girls until he finds his One True Love, which this time is Passionate Patti.
The second part is after Larry and Patti break up because of a misunderstanding, and the gamer takes control of Patti in her adventures to find Larry again.
Leisure Suit Larry 4: (The Missing Floppies)
The fourth installment of the series was never made for various reasons, but it is jokingly referred to by both Sierra and fans under the subtitle of The Missing Floppies (or The Case of the Missing Floppies). Many speculations and urban legends have been spread to explain this, like the one claiming that Lowe's dog ate the in-production floppies of the game.
Various "real" reasons have been given by Al Lowe at separate points:
- The ending of the previous game was very definite (albeit extreme, showing them coming to the Sierra studios and making games based on their adventures, living happily on a mountain cabin in Coarsegold . This formed a complete trilogy. No sequel was planned.
- Sierra had tried to create an online gaming world, The Sierra Network, a precursor of today's MMORPGs. Mainly because of technical reasons this failed, and a planned multiplayer Larry game was shelved.
- The Leisure Suit Larry (1) VGA remake was the real Larry 4, as it was a complete remake of the game. This is unlikely because the VGA remakes of Space Quest 1, Police Quest 1, and Quest for Glory 1 were not given new numerals either.
Whatever the actual reason, Al Lowe eventually had new inspiration, and decided to skip the fourth part and intentionally introduced some plot gaps. This allowed him to begin freely a whole new adventure with Larry V. [1] [2]
During the Larry timeline, these events must be assumed to have happened between Larry 3 and Larry 5 in order to connect the two games:
- Larry and Patti plan to marry
- Patti leaves him at a Yosemite church to pursue her career, but Larry is gone when she gets back to him.
- The villain of Larry 5, Mr Julius Biggs, steals the game disks and Larry suffers of amnesia
Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work (1991)
This was the first game that used the new icon interface and VGA graphics. It is also notable that unlike all other games, in this one, Larry never dies or fails. Like Larry 3, the action is divided in two parts, and the player controls both Larry and Patti, but this time in parallel (when the one finishes a mission, the scenario automatically switches to the other character).
Amnesiac Larry is found working for PornProdCorp, and sent across the US to find three sexy girls to present a new show. On the other hand, Patti is assigned by the FBI to find incriminating evidence against two music companies. The action is broken by cutscenes showing the works of a mob working to eliminate their porn competition by giving money to a group called Conservatives Against Nearly Everything, who could make legislation to regulate television.
The scenarios finally merge at the end, when the two lovers meet again, and Larry regains his memory.
Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! (1993, CD version in 1994)
Larry 6 featured improved video and sound, and returned to the earlier Sierra philosophy of allowing Larry to die by wrong moves. However, the deaths were only for humor's sake, as a "Try Again" button allowed the player to reverse the mistake, but in one case,the player could reach a dead end from which the game could not be completed. It was also the first game to be released the next year in a CD edition with voices, with better graphics and higher resolution compared to the floppy version.
It is notable that Larry is found alone again, without explanation of what happened to Patti. Larry is found trapped in a hotel/health center known as La Costa Lotta. His aim is simply to meet and have sex with eight women. However, each of these encounters leaves him with an object which he is supposed to offer to Shamara Payne, the New Age spiritual girl, to win her heart.
Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail! (1996)
Featuring more fleshed-out, cartoon style graphics and full voice acting, "Love for Sail!" was the sixth installment in the LSL series. The formula was much the same, but the new gag was that Larry was a guest on a cruise ship populated by sexy, slutty spoofs on famous people. Among the other cruise guests were "Drew Baringmore" (Drew Barrymore), "Dewmi Moore" (Demi Moore), "Victorian Principles" (Victoria Principal), "Nailmi" and "Wydoncha Jugg" (Naomi and Wynona Judd ) and "Annette Boning" (Annette Bening). Various other pop icons were parodied in the background, such as the Archies gang playing naked volleyball . Larry 7 was the first Larry game to include a minigame: by collecting hidden dildos, in a game called Where's Dildo? (a pun on Where's Waldo?), the player could unlock high quality pin-up desktop wallpapers of the ladies in the game. Larry 7 also allowed the player to appear in the game, by providing voice samples and a photo to be used in-game.
Installation program for Leisure Suit Larry 7 on Windows 2000 and XP
Leisure Suit Larry 8: Lust in Space
Leisure Suit Larry 8, tentatively subtitled Lust in Space, was in full development in 1998, when funding was cut. Shortly after Sierra's adventure games department was disbanded, and Al Lowe left Sierra. Like the canned Space Quest sequel, Larry 8 was to be in full 3D, but no more than a few test renders now survive.
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
In 2003, a surprising announcement was made by Sierra Entertainment, now a division of Vivendi Universal Games, that the Leisure Suit Larry franchise was being revived with an eighth game, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude. This is the first game in which Al Lowe is not involved in any way.
The new Larry game does not star Larry Laffer, but a new character, his nephew Larry Lovage. There are numerous homages to the earlier Larry games: Larry Laffer is the tutorial guide and giver of questionable advice for Larry Lovage; Larry's computer is playing Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies ("the best game of its time"); and secret tokens can be collected, which are coins with the dildo character from Larry 7. The loose storyline of the game is that Larry wants to appear on a dating TV show, called Swingles, but he must prove his worth before he is allowed on air.
Like many other current games, Magna Cum Laude has a free exploration mode, where Larry can walk about campus and interact with students and personnel on the premises. In this mode Larry can search for hidden money or tokens, strike poses for girls to impress them, and take photos which can later be sold to collectors. At several locations on campus a minigame can be entered, usually by "activating" an object or a person (starting a conversation). The player must win most of the minigames in order to advance. Minigames started by a conversation usually lead to score the affection of one of the girls in the game; other minigames can provide money or confidence.
There are several different minigames, and variations on them:
- Chat: here the player must control a sperm through a course of "hot spots." Green hot spots result in a good conversation, whereas red spots result in inappropriate and amusing but humiliating topics.
- Dancing: a small rhythm game; here the player must press the right buttons on time
- Trampoline: a variation of dancing, where Larry is bouncing on a trampoline
- Serve: food or other items must be passed to each row, before the queue reaches Larry
- Quarters: a drinking game, where coins must be tipped in a glass to get the other player drunk
Other minigames included are panty raids , and evasion, where Larry must escape other people by running along a set course. Typically in order to "win" a girl, multiple of these games must be played in succession.
There are two versions of Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude being marketed. The first version has an ESRB Rating of M (Mature) due to its depiction of mature humor, softcore nudity, softcore sexual situations and alcohol use. The second version entitled Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude Uncut and Uncensored has an ESRB rating of AO (Adults Only) due to its depiction of mature humor, hardcore nudity, strong sexual content and alcohol use. The uncut version includes more video and art than the censored version.
The reviews were cold and Al Lowe denounced it completely, emphasizing on his website that he was never a part of its creation.
Game character Luba Licious appeared nude in the October 2004 U.S. edition of Playboy magazine as part of an feature called "Gaming Grows Up."
Other Larry products
- The Laffer Utilities (1992) (a parody of the Norton Utilities package)
- The official Leisure Suit Larry book (1994) (written by Al Lowe and Ralph Roberts, contains background information and hint guides).
- Leisure Suit Larry's Casino (1998) (an advance standalone version of LarryLand from the ImagiNation Network and Lowe's last production ever)
Collections
Five collections have also been published:
- Larry 3 Pack (1991): this collection included the three games that were available at the time.
- Leisure Suit Larry's Greatest Hits & Misses (1994): this collection included all the Larry games up to #6, including both versions of 1 and 6, the Laffer Utilities, and the original Softporn game. A limited edition version of the Leisure Suit Larry book was also included.
- Leisure Suit Larry: Collector's Series (1997): this collection included everything the previous collection contained, as well as Larry 7. The book and the Laffer Utilities were not included however.
- Leisure Suit Larry: The Ultimate Pleasure Pack(2000): this collection was identical to the Collector's Series, but also contained Larry's Casino.
External links
Last updated: 08-09-2005 22:06:29
