‘Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP’ Director Clarifies Game Will Feature “The Original Scenario And Script Without Any Changes”, Dev Team Fighting “To The Best Of Our Ability” Against Censorship
Spencer Baculi
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Seeking to put an end to the flurry of confusion regarding the title’s upcoming leap to modern consoles, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP director Yoshimi Yasuda has definitively clarified that the title will be neither a remake or remaster, but rather a technical and graphical ‘upgrade’ to the original game.
Juliet (Tara Strong) gains access to her Chainsaw Blaster weapon in Lollipop Chainsaw (2012), Kadokawa Games
The waters surrounding Juliet’s return to zombie-slaying were first muddied by Yasuda himself on October 12th, when the director took to his personal Twitter account to announce, “We have changed the game design of RePOP from Remake to Remaster based on your requests!”
However, with the definition of these terms varying from developer to developer, rather than applause and support, Yasuda’s tweet was met with confusion and requests for clarification as to how exactly Dragami Games was approaching the project.
Archive Link Yoshimi Yasuda via Twitter
Seeking to bring an end to this confusion, Taijiro Yamanaka, a writer for the Japanese video game news outlet Automaton, reached out to Yasuda a few days later and directly asked him, “On your X/Twitter account, you posted that the game design of RePOP has been changed from remake to remaster, but what exactly will change about the game?”In turn, the director asserted, “Though we haven’t yet revealed the full details of RePOP’s game design, due to my vague use of the words ‘remake’ and ‘remaster,’ there have been a lot of rumors and speculation arising, causing some confusion among fans. For this, I would like to apologize. I would also like to withdraw my previous statement in which I use the words ‘remake’ and ‘remaster’ to describe the game’s contents.”
Nick (Michael Rosenbaum) has questions regarding his current predicament in Lollipop Chainsaw (2012), Kadokawa Games
Moving to address the Yammanaka’s main question, he then confirmed, “Now, regarding the scenario and script of RePOP, we have decided to use the original Lollipop Chainsaw scenario and script without any changes.” “Up until now, we have been open-mindedly discussing the scenario, but we will not be making any additions or changes to it after all,” said Yasuda. The original scenario’s acclaim and the requests of fans were both reasons that went into this decision. On the other hand, we will be making improvements and adding new elements with the purpose of increasing the game’s appeal.”
Juliet (Tara Strong) attempts to grab Cordelia’s (Linda Cardellini) attention in Lollipop Chainsaw (2012), Kadokawa Games
Pressed for details on the ‘requests of fans’ he had received, Yasuda detailed, “When we announced RePOP for the first time in July last year, we had used the word ‘remake’ without any specific explanation, which caused some anxiety among fans of the original game. In the following period, we received thousands of inquiries via e-mail and social media from fans containing questions and requests about the project, and among them, ‘Please don’t change the game’s scenario and worldview’ and ‘Please make it uncensored’ were among the most requested.”
“From there, we made the decision not to make changes to the script, taking into account both the wishes of users and international reviews,” he then recalled. “As for requests for the game to be uncensored, we are also working on realizing this to the best of our ability.”
Juliet (Tara Strong) strikes a pose in Lollipop Chainsaw (2012), Kadokawa Games
As for what changes the dev team was looking to make to the sunny beach-side town of San Romero, Yasuda informed Yamanaka, “Battle is an element we’re quite focused on.”
“We would like to revamp the battles into something that the console action game players of today will enjoy, such as doing away with any sluggishness in chainsaw battles with speed adjustments, improving the input timing for cheerleading and chainsaw combo attacks, as well as improving camera movement,” he explained. “As the chief director of the original Lollipop Chainsaw, I have a good understanding of the issues it had, and I intend to tackle them through the development of RePOP.”
“Aside from improvements to battle, we will also be making improvements to things like resolution, frame rate, loading time and more,” the director added. “We are carefully selecting new elements to raise the game’s appeal, such as changeable extra functions for the chainsaw and a consecutive hit system independent of the combo sttack system.”
Juliet (Tara Strong) walks away from the wreckage of a floating viking ship in Lollipop Chainsaw (2012), Kadokawa Games
Ultimately, Yasuda ended his time with Automaton by addressing the fans directly, informing them, “For RePOP, we will be going down the tried-and-true path of keeping everything that the original game was highly acclaimed for and improving everything that had previously been received poorly.”
“While responding to user requests and adding carefully selected new features, we’re going to make RePOP a game that everyone can love and enjoy on modern consoles,” he concluded. “From now on, I will be making updates about once a week on X to explain improvements and new features to the game. I make sure to look at user messages, so don’t hesitate to share your opinions or wishes with us. Thank you for your continued support for RePOP.”
Juliet (Tara Strong) has questions for Rosalind (Kimberly Brooks) in Lollipop Chainsaw (2012), Kadokawa Games
As of writing, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is currently set to bounce onto the scene sometime in Summer 2024.
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