Revisiting ‘Lollipop Chainsaw’: James Gunn and Suda51’s Gory Collab

So, Lollipop Chainsaw‘s remaster, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP, came out recently. Reception to it has been… mixed? Mostly positive? However you want to call it. A great deal of the critique surrounding RePOP can be boiled down to just technical problems, or its purposeful exclusion of licensed content, or even the unspoken elephant in the room: that it’s a remaster of a modestly budgeted action game that was released shortly after the peak of the seventh generation of consoles.

But to boil down Lollipop Chainsaw into such a broad and generalizing statement would be a disservice. Yes, it’s an action game that came out on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Yes, it’s not exactly the most modern, conceptually challenging, or even entertaining action game to come out on those platforms. But what Lollipop Chainsaw lacks in these areas, it makes up for in a handful of others.

Lollipop Chainsaw originally debuted in the early 2010s, a title whose modest graphics and short length carried with it some genuine charm and decent gameplay — among other things. An incredible licensed soundtrack, theming that reflects the kind of underground creativity that developer Grasshopper Manufacture blossomed from, and direction handled by the talented Goichi “Suda51” Suda made this AA title stand out in the same year that brought Dishonored and Far Cry 3 to the table. But this is just scratching the surface.

As the dust begins to settle on the re-release of this forgotten action game, why not look back at what made it so compelling? Let’s jump all the way back to 2012 when the scrappy Grasshopper Manufacture teamed up with Warner Bros. Games to combine glitz and glamor with gore and gristle — with DC’s James Gunn serving as a special creative consultant.

James Gunn’s Sole Game Writing Credit

Lollipop Chainsaw is all about Juliet Starling, head of the cheer squad at the illustrious San Romero High School. It’s her 18th birthday. To celebrate such a momentous occasion, she quickly rushes off to San Romero High to meet up with her boyfriend, Nick Carlyle. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned.

While riding her bike to school, Juliet witnesses the advent of a zombie apocalypse. Cars are exploding every which way. The youth of San Romero are running in abject terror, blaring obscenities as they limp away from ravenous flesh-eaters. If Juliet were an ordinary high school student, there’s a good chance she’d perish with the rest of the student body. But luckily, she isn’t.

Juliet, just like the rest of her family, is a bona fide zombie hunter. After pulling a bedazzled chainsaw from her gym bag, she mows down hordes of the undead before finally catching up with Nick, who is quickly bitten by one of the zombies. What would’ve been the perfect birthday is now in ruin. Or maybe not.

In a bid to save his life, Juliet quickly severs Nick’s head from his body before performing a magical ritual to keep the infection at bay. Nick is now nothing more than a begrudging fashion accessory as his head precariously dangles from Juliet’s belt. Ripping through the rest of San Romero High, Juliet meets her zombie-fighting tutor, Junji Morikawa, who gives the rundown on what’s going on before meeting his ultimate demise. In short, Juliet is now tasked with:

• Hunting down a mysterious man known as Swan, who caused the zombie outbreak by opening a gate to the Rotten World, an infernal realm beyond our understanding.
• Defeating the five Dark Purveyors who are leading the outbreak before the world succumbs to their power.
• Introducing her boyfriend to her eclectic family members, much to the chagrin of the now-discombobulated Nick.

RELATED: Why ‘Dead Rising 2’ Remains a Bigger, Bloodier, Better Sequel

That’s about it, really. Lollipop Chainsaw isn’t very long by any means, clocking in at around seven stages total if you include the prologue. To make up for this, each stage is incredibly unique, melding several interesting themes together between rounds of killing the undead and saving your fellow classmates. The high school, for instance, will see you traversing the innards of San Romero High before being flung into a punk rock concert in a scrappy junkyard.

The O’Bannon Farm, meanwhile, sees you navigating the sprawling fields of rural farmlands while under the influence of illicit drugs, lopping off the heads of mutated chickens, and plowing through zombies in a giant combine harvester. For what it’s worth, there’s enough variety here to keep things interesting.

Part of what makes Lollipop Chainsaw‘s narrative so entertaining is, admittedly, the involvement of James Gunn. Working on the game’s script with Masahiro Yuki, who previously co-wrote Grasshopper Manufacture’s The 25th Ward: The Silver Case, the two bring an irreverent sense of humor to the game’s dialogue, scenarios, and overall pacing. Juliet is as bubbly as she is naive, balancing whimsical optimism with a kind of hilarious obliviousness to Nick’s bodyless conundrum.

Nick’s complete and total apathy to the Hell surrounding him is nothing short of hilarious, moving from a pleading insistence that Juliet take things more seriously to just bouncing along as things go from bad to worse. Juliet’s family, though they’re relegated to supporting roles, provides enough of a fun development that ties into Juliet’s goals as well. As Nick gradually realizes that Juliet’s family is completely unhinged, there’s admittedly a bit of hesitancy when it comes to continuing his relationship with her. The delivery is made all the better by Tara Strong and Michael Rosenbaum, who voiced Juliet and Nick, respectively.

If anything, Lollipop Chainsaw is loud. Bold and brash, even. Its colorful presentation mixed with a rash of raunchiness can be found across all aspects of its presentation. Juliet and the rest of the main cast pop out with vibrant colors against the comparatively drab undead. Poppy licensed music tracks like “Mickey” and “Lollipop” clash with heavy hitters like “Nemesis” and “Stop Reading, Start Doing Pushups.” Even the game’s enemies get in on the fun. A fun quip by Juliet will often be accompanied by some kind of vulgar insult from the undead.

Some choice quotes include:

• “Ten-hut, ten butt-f***!”
• “Nuclear testes in my pants!”
• “I can’t get this Katy Perry song out of my head! Oh, what a terrible way to die!”

Nick even pulls from the library of Howard Stern at one point, yelling out “baba booey, baba booey” on the O’Bannon Farm.

Punk Rock and Zombie Killing

If you’re familiar with Grasshopper Manufacture, you’d know that their games are, at least aesthetically, “offbeat” compared to their contemporaries. This often extended into their specific visual styles, how they played, or the themes each game indirectly tackled. No More Heroes is arguably the most well-known example of this. It combined punk rock aesthetics, references to gaming culture and other forms of media, and a reverence for its own wanton violence and sexuality into a game that tackled themes of pointlessness, the consequences of our selfish actions, and the allure of flashy careers versus stable day jobs. Lollipop Chainsaw is fairly similar.

Lollipop Chainsaw is all about action. You play as Juliet, using a combination of her pom-poms and chainsaw (light and heavy attacks, respectively) in order to take down undead hordes. Her chainsaw is somewhat magical, meaning it can also take the form of a phone to answer calls, turn into a repeating blaster, and propel her at lighting speeds across the pavement. Nick is no slouch, either. By collecting “Nick Tickets,” you’re able to use your boyfriend’s head as a temporary super attack — swinging him around like a yo-yo, shooting his head out of a cannon, or even shaking his head like a piggy bank to make coins fall out aren’t out of the question.

RELATED: ‘Silent Hill: Shattered Memories’ Revisited: A New Direction for the Franchise

Each stage is broken up into a series of arenas, set pieces, and minigames before you take on a multi-stage boss battle. Arenas are the bread and butter of the game: you’ll fight zombies, occasionally rescue vulnerable classmates, and otherwise do the bulk of your playing in these. The game heavily emphasizes your ability to stun enemies through a variety of means in order to immediately kill them with a swing of your chainsaw. The more enemies you stun at once, the more you can kill with a single swipe, netting you a huge supply of currency that you can use for stat upgrades, costumes, concept art, and additional skills. You’re even rewarded with a flashy “Sparkle Hunting” cutscene, which shows every zombie you’ve slashed simultaneously being blown up into a flash of confetti and sparkles. It’s fairly standard stuff for the genre, though the focus on crowd control and positioning yourself for maximum decapitation is fairly novel.

Set pieces are unique to each stage, often breaking the mild tedium that comes from regular gameplay. These can include anything from taking down a tractor or helicopter that’s careening towards Juliet, quickly getting through an area before a bomb goes off, or simply whizzing by obstacles with your chainsaw. They’re fine. They’re really not anything particularly amazing, but they exist to give the tools you’re working with a bit more to do.

Then there are the minigames. The biggest draw next to Lollipop Chainsaw‘s raunchy presentation and head-splitting combat, these momentary escapes from everyday gameplay offer their own unique rules and challenges. Some examples include:

• Zombie Basketball: Lop off zombie heads and throw them in the hoop. A defender zombie will attempt to smack the heads back at you, forcing you to draw their attention or outright kill them to continue scoring. Once you reach a certain amount of points, the game is over.
• Zombie Baseball: Defend your decapitated boyfriend as he rounds the bases at a baseball stadium. You’re stuck at home plate, meaning you’ll have to gun down any zombies approaching him with your blaster.
• Zombie Harvesting: Ram a monolithic combine harvester into a horde of zombies. The challenge comes from just steering the hulking thing, as you’re completely invulnerable.

Then there are the bosses. Much like No More Heroes, these enemies steal the show. They’re the ultimate thing to look forward to at the end of each stage, and they absolutely know it.

Every boss is a marathon. They all have multiple phases with unique challenges, are uniquely themed after a specific form of rock music, and use your varied skill set in unique ways. The first boss, Zed, is a vulgar punk rocker whose obscene insults materialize into actual projectiles, letter by letter. Mariska, a laid-back hippie type, splits herself into multiple forms within a psychedelic arena, all while hovering around and lobbing bubbles of all sorts at you. Lewis Legend, a pompadour-rocking Elvis lookalike, utilizes his motorcycle before transforming into a mechanical monstrosity that you must slice apart piece by piece.

It almost seems like the rest of the stage is a formality. The comparatively simple zombie battles are an appetizer for something much more visually and mechanically stimulating. Conceptually, the sheer creativity going on in some of these battles is nothing short of memorable, and even years after I originally played it, I could still remember some of these battles beat for beat. They’re the definitive high point here, as they should be in a game like this.

Lame-y Pop Chainsaw

There is very little objectively wrong with Lollipop Chainsaw. While its recent remaster is plagued with technical issues of all kinds, the base game on seventh-gen consoles works well enough without any major issues. But it’s not perfect.

The early game is admittedly pretty painful. Your move set and overall strength are incredibly limited, meaning that pummeling a group of zombies takes an obnoxious amount of time. It’s not unexpected to inadvertently fail in rescuing several of your classmates the first time you encounter them because of this, as your damage output is barely enough to handle the onslaught being thrown at them.

But then again, your move set almost becomes too good. Stunning zombies, especially those with larger health pools, become as simple as just using a single attack that you can unlock fairly quickly. There’s something equally cathartic and underwhelming in simply leaping into an enemy, stunning them near-instantly, and following up with a single chainsaw strike to immediately put them down. Granted, if you’re playing for a high score, this may not be the best strategy.

RELATED: ‘Elvira: Mistress of the Dark’ Horror Adventure Game Revisited

The game also admittedly suffers from a plague that afflicted pop culture throughout the 2010s: references. They’re hit or miss; there’s no doubt about it. I personally got a laugh out of the aforementioned Howard Stern bit, but there’s a good chance most young adults today—you know, the target audience for a game like this—wouldn’t even know what Sirius is, let alone who Howard Stern is.

This extends to the game’s music choices. Some are delightfully antiquated in a way that adds to the game’s charm. “Mickey” by Toni Basil kicks off right at the chorus whenever you enter a super-powered state, allowing you to decapitate zombies with a single chainsaw swing. “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” blares over the roaring pistons of the combine harvester section. It’s cheesy, but it works. The heavier, guitar-laden tracks mesh well with the game’s more serious original tracks as well. When you get to contemporary additions to the soundtrack, including songs by Skrillex and DragonForce, you start to veer into subjective territory. This is more of a personal thing than anything else, however.

Should You Play Lollipop Chainsaw?

The question becomes whether or not Lollipop Chainsaw‘s faults are outweighed by its positives. It’s not the best action game ever made. But then again, many Grasshopper Manufacture’s games never really fell into that category either. Their acclaim stems more from the sum of their parts, their bizarre mashing of esoteric ideas and satisfying moments that coalesce into something memorable. No More Heroes isn’t as mechanically sound as something like Bayonetta or Devil May Cry, for example, but it’s good enough. Everything else surrounding the combat is what helps elevate it. The same can be said here.

It makes recommending Lollipop Chainsaw in its most recent incarnation a bit more difficult. RePOP does more than just refresh this game for current hardware. Licensed music tracks are almost completely omitted. The game’s cel-shaded visuals are nonexistent. Licensed costumes based on Evil Dead and various anime characters are completely absent. While combat has been revamped significantly to address some pain points in the original game, its execution is incredibly rough, leading to Juliet controlling worse than she ever did in the base game. It’s also worth noting that RePOP is hilariously lacking in graphics settings on PC, allowing you to change the game’s display resolution, and… that’s it. At the very least, additional costumes and brand-new chainsaw functionality are a decent band-aid.

Still, while it may be easy to brush this Japanese action game off as just another objectifying power fantasy, there’s enough going on here — intentionally or not — to make me think otherwise. It’s not completely mindless, but it’s not too complex as to become pretentious. It’s not amazing in a technical sense, but it’s not completely boring. It’s perfectly serviceable.

RELATED: Revisiting the 1995 Sega Genesis Oddity ‘The Ooze’

You can’t disregard the sheer level of talent here as well. Suda51’s direction is as recognizable as ever, Gunn’s morbid humor pairs well with the kind of unhinged zaniness that Grasshopper Manufacture built its legacy on, and even Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame composed a hefty number of original songs here. It’s a game that feels like a distinct product of the 2010s in a way that isn’t obnoxious or bad. Mostly.

With all this said, is Lollipop Chainsaw still worth playing today via Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP? For $45? Maybe. The alternative is spending upwards of three times that for an original physical copy, though. Even if RePOP may not be a perfect remaster, having the game available in some modern fashion is still better than nothing.

It’s a game that’ll certainly “click” with you. If it does, you’re bound to have an entertaining time. If not, you may want to refund it sooner rather than later. Those who buy RePOP on PC can at least rely on mods to remedy some missing features, while players on all platforms can look forward to an eventual patch that fixes its technical issues.

Lollipop Chainsaw: RePOP is available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation.

We’re hardworking geeks who love to geek out, but we can’t do it without you! If you enjoyed this article and want to see more like it, please consider tipping our writers. Also, as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.