Leisure Suit Larry once almost brought down a global banking system
If you’re a gamer of a certain age, the name “Leisure Suit Larry” probably still strikes you as scandalous. Before sex became more or less commonplace in gaming blockbusters, the idea that there was a game out there built around the pursuit of sex was a blush-worthy one. As MEL Magazine puts it in a new breakdown of Leisure Suit Larry’s origins, the game “had the mystique of a shrink-wrapped Playboy in a convenience store.”
That’s hilarious now, of course, as the below playthrough reveals the title’s pixelated figures aren’t likely to tickle anyone’s erogenous zones. Still, despite being an initial flop, the game’s bawdy humor and unique approach developed a cult following that led to no shortage of sequels, each of which finds the franchise’s namesake schmuck on the hunt for companionship.
MEL’s piece digs deep into its roots as a text-based adventure game called Softporn Adventure to its reinvention by a former high school music teacher to that time it almost brought down a global banking system.