It did not take until 1987...
The precursor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softporn_Adventure was released in 1981. According to Ken Williams, it sold 25,000 copies for the Apple II, when there were only 100,000 Apple II in circulation.
Reg Hardware Sex Week I'm actually surprised that it took till 1987 for someone to make a real effort and bring sexy time into a computer game. This new sub-genre effectively combined sex, comedy and gaming into a somewhat sleazy but hilarious adventure. It's all about the polyester leisure suit and gold chains... feel that …
Leisure Suite Larry is one of my all-time favorite games. Some time during the late 1990s Sierra Online released the Ultimate Larry Collection, which contained all games, 1 through 7, in all versions available, EGA/CGA and VGA. Every few years I fire up DosBox and go at the whole series.
Very entertaining, indeed.
Another favorite of mine that I would like showcased here is the Space Quest series. Similar in humorous style and tone (minus the sexual innuendo), irreverent and unapologetic of its silliness; and just as good--especially for the sci-fi inclined geek.
Now, excuse me while I configure my DosBox...
-dZ.
As an early-teen, I remember finding my dad's LSL floppy-disk and had great fun learning the answers to the age protection questions, mostly around 1970s American politics, I seem to recall.
Don't think I got too far in the game, though.
Surprised you didn't mention Police/King's/Space Quest, which were essentially the non-adult version of LSL. All fantastic puzzle games.
"Lost Wages" is a nickname for Las Vegas, a city that must have had a pretty fair density of lounge lizards when the species flourished--maybe it still does.
Years ago I worked with some computer operators who were finding their way through the game. About that time, one of them came up with a 1970s "Playboy". It later turned out that he had taken it from somebody's desk elsewhere in the building. As he said, "Larry would've done it."
There were a lot of "copied" disks around with viruses on them.
We had an external engineer who had just come back from the USA to service some equipment. He showed LSL to two of our people who really liked it. They installed it on their PCs. The PCs were on Novell networks interconnected on a WAN - Two days later we had a few hundred infected machines. It was the first big infestation that I saw.
Man I remember this! We used to play it at work on our XT systems.
This is probably one of the first "work time waster" games I ever saw crop up. All those little questions in the beginning to 'ensure you were 18 or older' and the sprite based game play that took us on an adventure.
The Spearmint flavoured ribbed condoms also raised a giggle or two.
We then got a UNIX version that was ported to our Siemens Nixdorf mainframe. LSL on the graphics capable dumb terminal :¬)
Those were the days
Another trip down memory lane, thanks El Reg.
no, you are correct, the same game :)
I played this on my Atari ST loads and loads, it certainly got easier when someone told me you could SAY "TAXI" to move about, rather than getting stabbed or run over :)
according to various magazine walkthroughs, it's possible to finish the game with 204 out of 200 points by doing various daft things, one of which is ringing the (real at the time) sierra help line from the pay phone.
I stumbled across one of the T-Shirts I received from the good folks who published this App, Sierra, if I remember correctly. And at the time was one of those games that had the best graphics.
On the front, the shirt read Liesure Suit Lary.. On the back, it read "what do you want, good graphics or good taste?"
Ahhh, Leisure Suit Larry. So many fond memories of those and other Sierra "Quest" games...
King's Quest 1-7 (MoE is not 8, same as Highlander has no sequals): a great medieval fantasy series, and one of the great grand daddies that started the whole movement of 3D-looking adventure games. A fun romp through all of the western fairy tails we liked to read as kids, with some twists to keep things from getting too predictable.
Space Quest 1-6: First sci-fi based comedy adventure game ever. Love the protagonist, and there's plenty of sci fi toungue-in-cheek references for ANYone to choke and die on. Ah, for the good old days before games were worthy of notice in courts...
Police Quest 1-4 (and probably SWAT 1, sort of): First game series to seriously look at what it took to be a cop. Was used by at least one precint to help train new cops on proper police procedures. Warning: can actually inspire some people to become cops if young enough (my hand's up).
And my absolute favorite:
Quest for Glory 1-5: One of the first Adventure-RPG hybrids ever, and certainly one of the first worthy of anyone's time. Distinct character classes with unique solutions to puzzles depending on class/abillities (yes, stats help determine if you can solve a puzzle or not), quirky-yet-serious atmosphere (first game: quirky=just about everywhere, serious=Brigands' Valley), and very realistic in-game features (eating, sleeping, time, day/night, etc) for Adventure games (and even some RPGs!). Could make my own review about the series, but I'll leave others to do it.
For those who haven't, I highly recommend fans of these series also trying to snag a copy of the respective Companions for each. Not for the help getting through the games (why when we have Internet?) but for the wonderful stories that help bring elements of the games to life. My old dog-eared coppies were ready from front to back over and over when I was a kid, and they still sit proudly on my shelves to this very day!
I still remember how I cheated the casino in this game - there were two ways:
1. At the DOS prompt type RANDOMIZE 1 - this would set the random number generator to the same seed, meaning that the same winning sequences would also appear
2. Gamble all of your money. If you win, save the game, then gamble again
4.If you lose, load your previously saved game and try again, repeating until you do win
Was there anything better than the Sierra Online games back then? I was fortunate enough to witness Al Lowe modify a bit of code for the Police Quest series one day. He showed me how a line of code could correct the bug I had discovered. I didn't understand what he had done, but was able to see the results. It fascinated me and I believe that moment and the Sierra Online game series had a lot of influence on where I am today.