Lollipop Chainsawis mostly remembered for putting a unique spin on the zombie apocalypse. The brainchild ofauteur Japanese developer Suda51and American film director James Gunn, Grasshopper Manufacture’s hack-and-slash action game stars 18-year-old cheerleader Juliet Starling as she battles the zombie horde with her pink, heart-patterned chainsaw.
Despite its cult stardom, the game remains trapped on seventh-generation consoles. However, that may not be the case for much longer, with the former head ofLollipop Chainsaw’s publisher announcing the game’s comeback. Although, it’s not entirely clear what said comeback entails.
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“Lollipop Chainsaw is back by Dragami Games. Please look forward to it,” tweeted Yoshimi Yasuda, the former CEO of Kadokawa Games,Lollipop Chainsaw’s Japanese publisher. Now in charge of Dragami Games, Yasuda’s tweet confirms that the cult hit isn’t dead yet. Unfortunately, he did not provide any additional information about the new project. As a result, it’s not even clear whether Dragami is working on a sequel, a remake, a remaster, or simply bringingLollipop Chainsawto modern consoles. Neither director Goichi “Suda51” Suda norco-writer James Gunncommented on the announcement, and it’s unclear if they are involved in the project.
Lollipop Chainsawturned ten years old earlier this week, with Gunn and Suda putting out celebratory tweets. The 2012 game saw an overwhelmingly positive reception in Japan, with glowing reviews from publications like Famitsu and Dengeki PlayStation. However, western critics were much more divided on the game.Many reviewers praisedLollipop Chainsaw’simaginative concept but harshly criticized its execution, particularly issues with the controls and camera. Reviewers’ opinions were also split over whether the game’s humor landed or fell flat. This mixed and often negative reception can be summarized byLollipop Chainsaw’s fairly mediocre Metacritic scores, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions scoring 67% and 70%, respectively.
Sill,Lollipop Chainsawalso has its defenders, with then-Destructoid contributor Jim Sterling rating it a 9/10 and citing it as one of the best games that year.Lollipop Chainsawalso attracted a passionate cult following and was a massive financial success for developer Grasshopper Manufacture. The studio is known for creating unique games such asKiller7,Killer is Dead, andtheNo More Heroestrilogy, all of which received various levels of cult popularity with a segment of the gaming community.Lollipop Chainsaw’s reported 1 million sold units was enough to make it Grasshopper’s best-selling game up to that point.
Given the game’s relative success, it is almost surprising that developers letLollipop Chainsawsit idle for so long. Unfortunately, thePS3 and Xbox 360 game is still not backward compatiblewith modern consoles, and developers never ported it to PC. Thus,Lollipop Chainsaw’s upcoming revival is excellent news for fans, even if it’s unclear what form that return will take.
Lollipop Chainsawis available on PS3 and Xbox 360.
