There are times when east and west come together to make something beautiful. Lollipop Chainsaw was that at least in theory.
Published by none other Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for PS3 and 360 in 2012, the name tells you almost everything you need to know. You play as Juliet Starling, a barely 18-year-old high school cheerleader with a thing for lollipops and a big ass chainsaw. When zombies attack her usually quaint American town, she uses her chainsaw and the sentient head of her decapitated boyfriend to fend off zombies and unravel a conspiracy at the heart of her quaint hometown.
Lollipop Chainsaw is very much part of a subgenre I'll call the “horny hack-n-slash”: a character action game where the player is meant to ogle at the female protagonist, e.g. the Senran Kagura and Onechanbara franchises.. Bayonetta is another big one that also happens to have an oral fascination. Nier Automata, also by Platinum, is a more recent example. Like that did with 2b, you actually get an achievement for looking up Juliet's skirt. If that ain't proof the developers of both games were aiming for the horny demographic, I don’t know what is.
it was developed by Grasshopper Manufacture, studio of Killer7 and No More Heroes mastermind Suda51. The script was written by Hollywood director James Gunn, two years before Guardians of the Galaxy. At the time it came out to mixed reviews, but Gunn’s B-movie charm and Suda’s quirky Americana by-way-of Japan vibe have earned it somewhat of a cult following over the years. Fun fact: Gunn was inspired by the game's cutscenes when he went on to shoot some of Harley Quinn's action scenes in The Suicide Squad.
It’s a good thing then that executive producer Yoshimi Yasuda tweeted that his studio Dragami Games has acquired the rights to the game and is working on bringing it back somehow. Who knows, maybe it'll have a Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance type of resurgence if it finally comes out on PC.
Just what this means isn’t clear just yet. Could it be a sequel? A remaster or rerelease for current gen consoles? A full-on remake? The long-awaited PC port? That’s anyone’s guess right now. Until then, I’ll be keeping close watch on this.
Have you played Lollipop Chainsaw? Should they bring it back somehow or make a sequel? Sound off below!
