10 Manliest Video Games of All Time: What, no Leisure Suit Larry?!?

I’ve just finished browsing through Arthur’s Hall of Viking Manliness’ 10 Manliest Video Games of All Time, and I have to say, yes, the list is indeed full of manly video games.

How did the guys up at Arthur’s Hall come up with the idea of giving the world such a list of video games? Shatner (yes, after William Shatner), Arthur’s Viking Assistant, gives us the details:

I had a discussion with Arthur the other day regarding the question, “Are video games manly?” While wasting your life away on a couch playing video games isn’t quite as manly as killing small animals for food, or going to war against the forces of tyranny, we decided that in the end, video games are a manly form of entertainment.

Here’s how I went through Arthur’s Hall’s list:

Pro Wrestling on the Nintendo Entertainment System … check. Counter-Strike on the PC … check. Double Dragon on the NES, in the Arcade, and on the Sega Master System … check. Street Fighter II on multiple systems … check. Ikaruga on the Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo GameCube … what the hell’s Ikaruga? Tecmo Bowl on the NES … never played it since American Football is a very alien sport in my country. Metal Slug on the Neo Geo … check. Custer’s Revenge on the Atari 2600 … yeah, saw it when I was younger but didn’t understand the object of the game (which was to order General Custer to, uhmmm, ravish a young Indian girl). Mike Tyson’s Punch Out on the NES … check. And finally Contra on the NES … perfect!

Then I thought, “Waitaminute! Where’s Leisure Suit Larry?

Leisure Suit Larry is the series of adventure games written by Al Lowe (hail to the chief!) and published by Sierra On-Line from the 1980s to the present. The character, whose full name is Larry Laffer, is a balding, dorky, double entendre-speaking, leisure suit-wearing “loser” in his 40s who spends much of his life trying, usually unsuccessfully, to seduce attractive women.

Undoubtedly, Leisure Suit Larry is the manliest game of all time … that is, if Larry is a bit more manly looking. But where’s the adventure in playing a good-looking, hunky guy in his 40s with the goal of chasing, always successfully, nubile young and attractive women?

Here’s a short overview courtesy of Wikipedia:

Leisure Suit Larry originally stemmed from ideas of Sierra’s first adventure game Softporn Adventure created by designer Chuck Benton. The Larry games were one of Sierra’s most popular games series during the genre’s heyday when it was first released in the mid 1980s. As such, they remain well-known among fans of the type today. The series stands out among Sierra’s catalog in that they are the only games the company produced that contain significant sexual themes.

In general, the games follow 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 of luxurious and cosmopolitan hotels, ships, beaches, resorts and, more commonly, casinos. One of Larry’s trademarks is his manner of introducing himself: “Hi, my name is Larry; Larry Laffer,” a reference to James Bond’s introduction style, “My name is Bond; James Bond.”

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. However, many of the questions were United States-centric and this frustrated some non-U.S. gamers. Also, the multiple-choice questions did little to deter adolescents with some patience and a notepad.