Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies



Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies (aka Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Case of the Missing Floppies) is an unfinished (or was it finished, and lost?) and unreleased game of the Leisure Suit Larry series. It is largely an injoke of the series, but developed its own meta-history throughout the series.

Note: If the joke was truly followed on this wiki, this article would be missing as well.

Background
The game was created by Larry Laffer, and Passionate Patti had composed the phenomenal score for it (the mysterious Julius Biggs had been one of the backers for the musical score). It was ready to go on sale in time for Christmas. It was based on the incredible and sexy things which had happened to Larry since he escaped Nontoonyt Island and began living the glamorous life of a computer game programmer. All the details he kept in his diary.

They covered two things: Larry's romance with Passionate Patti (and their eventual breakup), and his first time working for Sierra On-line.

Larry was later sent (shortly before the events of Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail Mobile) to the Last Chance Seminary to improve his productivity, or be fired by the Williams. In order to keep them 'safe', Larry packed the alpha prototype LSL4 (Leisure Suit Lover 4) disks in his suitcase. After accidentally boarding the wrong plane heading to Manyanga Islands, Larry lost the prototypes when his luggage was jettisoned during an accident. He later found his luggage floating in the ocean, with one of the disks having washed up on the beach. He was able to find it and the other disks scattered throughout the islands. After accidentally jumping into bed with Al Lowe naked, he blackmailed the elder programmer into letting him keep his job at Sierra, where he continued to work on the finalized game

Leisure Suit Larry 4 tells the adventures of Larry Laffer as he works as a programmer at Sierra Online. Copies of the game were lost in the mail when he tried to send them to Peter Spear. After which, Larry was not heard from for a while. A search of his house revealed that his CD player had been left on and that he had mysteriously disappeared. It was later revealed that Larry had been kidnapped, discovered at Camp David, and had amnesia of many of the events from his time working at Sierra to the point of his kidnapping. The Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies was never found.

It is believed that Ken Williams (or one of his look-a-likes) helped lose the disks. At least one copy was stolen by Julius Biggs, and it's said he destroyed the copy and the masters.

Larry Lovage, the nephew of Larry, owned a copy of Larry 4 for the Pornodore 69. It is said that Larry 4 is wildly considered the greatest video game ever made.

InterAction magazine
You won't find your copy of "Leisure SUit Larry IV: The Case of the Missing Floppies" in your Greatest Hits Collection. Al Lowe insists that he really did make the game, and swears that he left it righ ton his boss' desk--but we never saw it and Al stands by his story.

The Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry
In the First Edition Larry and Al Lowe discuss making Leisure Suit Larry 4 as the next game in the series. They speculate on what they might want to do with that game.

In later editions post Larry 5: Larry admits he didn't write the first three Larry games, Al Lowe was the man in charge. Larry just helped with the games. Al Lowe says that he let Larry write a single game of the series, Leisure Suit Larry 4. Larry had lost the floppies Larry 4 was on, and naturally he hadn't made any backups. Larry doesn't remember any of this, and wondered if Al was mad at him. Al Lowe wasn't mad, but believed they would turn up soon or later. He wondered if they had been mixed up in some stuff they had sent to Ralph Roberts or Stephen Levy for the last before this one. That they would let him know if they found it. But the way Roberts kept his office, he wouldn't be surprised if it was in a pile there somewhere.

Leisure Suit Larry's Beside Companion
Peter Spear mentions that in Summer 1990 while he was finishing editing his first edition of the Bedside Companion, Larry telephoned him that he had finished up a new computer game, he called Leisure Suit Larry IV: The Missing Floppies, and that Patti had composed a score for it, and that it would be on sale in time for Christmas. It was based on the incredible and sexy things he had done since he escaped Nontoonyt, and began his life as a programmer. It was all in his diary, and Spear could have it, to write his next edition. He wanted Peter and his editor to include it in the next edition, and they agreed. He promised to email a copy of his diary and send copies of the game that afternoon. When the disks didn't arrive, they waited several more days, and wondered if the Postal Service was at fault. They attempted to call Larry, but only got his answering machine.

They believed in him, so they held the presses until the arrival of his new material, but had to give up, and published the first edition of the Bedside Companion without it. They never saw the new game, their calls were never returned, and the game was never published.

Sierra Online was also left wondering what happened to Larry. They sent someone to his house, but it appeared deserted. Half-eaten microwave burrito had been left on a plate, a full glass of Chateau Quiki rouge was next to it, some dead flies, crumbs, and a dead moth floating in it. Larry's CD player was playing mail-order 70's Disco music on auto-repeat. It was hot to the touch, and been playing for days, if not weeks. The tv was turned to the Brady Bunch Network. The police found no clues to Larry's disappearance, and the FBI filled his case under "Missing Persons" right behind Jimmy Hoffa. That is how it stood until April 1991, when Larry called from Camp David. He wasn't entirely sure what happened to him immediately after his last phone conversation. But he knew that organized crime had stolen The Missing Floppy disks, and that he had been suffering from amnesia because of it.

What he could remember he reworked into Larry V, and that was worked into the Second Edition of the Beside companion. But as far as Peter Spear knew The Missing FLoppies were still missing. He speculates its possible that he was finally able to recover them, and was using them to relive his past, and that he might be happier there.

The Missing Floppies covers a year or so of Larry's life. Larry suffers amnesia of that entire year. Patty tried to fill him in on as much as she knew. He tried to write down as much that both of them knew in his diary, before they forget it all, and can no longer remember. Most of what Larry remembers begins in LOS Angeles and is the start of Larry 5. But he doesn't now how he ended up there, and thinks it must have been genetic imprint, that lead him back to a place which meant much to him.

Julius Bigg was humming the music Patti scored for the game. He had destroyed the master disks and tapes. Somehow, Bigg's destruction of Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies caused Larry's amnesia.

Larry is left wondering in his diary:
 * But something has been bothering me, dearest of dear diaries. Why did I get amnesia--and also forget everything--when Bigg destroyed Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies? How can that cause amnesia? Am I not a man? If I hit myself on the head with a hammer, do I not bleed? If I prick myself, do I not grow hair on my palms?

Finally, Larry 4 is brought up again in Chapter 9 (How to Score) where Peter Spear discusses a very strange object for a Larry game (and a number of original events), and wonders if he'll be asked of the Floppies have been found.

Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Folder
A folder entitled LSL4 could be found on the CD of several of the Leisure Suit Larry Collections. Inside Al Lowe left a note in readme file which states;


 * Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies
 * by Al Lowe
 * No, it's not here.
 * No, it's never going to be.
 * Why? I never wrote it.
 * Why not? I didn't want to.
 * (Besides, who says sequels have to be done sequentially?)

Leisure Suit Larry 1 SCI
At the end of the game, Ken shows up to advertise the remaining games of the series. He would advertise LSL4 if the disks show up again.

"You may wonder why I didn't mention `Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies!'"

"Me, too. The problem is: we don't know where it is! You know me; if we COULD find it, I'd sell it!"

Leisure Suit Larry 5
Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies are advertised in the about screen of Larry 5 along with other games by Al Lowe. With the advertisement saying to order spare copies of the games. It mentions though that people should probably avoid ordering Larry 4 just yet, as they had seemed to have misplaced their master copies.

The manual mentions that anyone who goes after Patti will have a little competition. That the relationship is detailed in a computerized expose with the unlikely title Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies. Pattie refused to tell where to find a copy, and no software store the authors contacted had any knowledge of the game.

Larry is suffering from amnesia in Larry 5. The last thing he remembers before the missing memories are; He was writing his life story as a computer game, sitting on a deck with a half-naked woman, overlooking a beautiful lake high in the Sierra Nevadas (this a reference to the ending of LSL3). He only remembers woman named Patti; his time on Nontoonyt Island and his that he had a gig as a computer programmer (these were also memories of LSL3). He could not remember how he ended up in Hollywood, and what he was supposed to be doing there. He didn't know why he was in Larry 5; and wondered what happened to Larry 4. He realized he was suffering from amnesia, but didn't know how a computer character could suffer from amnesia. Before Larry 4 his memories were in shambles he could only remember bits and pieces. Thus he couldn't remember who Patti was, didn't know if she still existed, if she ever existed, or if she was just partially-toggled bits in his memories. This stirred a few more memories that she Passionate Patti the famous pianist/entertainer, and that he loved her, and she loved him.

A plot point in Larry 4 was that Larry may have had his own savings and loan company. Larry once tried to sell flight simulator software from a major compouter game compnay a few years before LSL5 (this may be a pre Sierra or during the LSL4 era). Larry chattered on and on about his computer. Larry spent hours playing Red Baron a game that came out in 1990 (during the period LSL4 was supposed to be in development).

Mr. Bigg had access to the Larry 4 disks. He had played a copy of the game, and even knew the theme song written by Patti. The song was never published recording never released. Mr. Bigg under his alias Julius had hired Patti to create the music, then erased the floppies to keep from paying her. He was the cause of Larry's amnesia.

Larry has several dreams and flashbacks of Passionate Patti having a performances and other events around the world which may happened during the missing period (or at least events he wished he could have with Patty in the future); Larry at Patti's Parthenon concert, a huge success, is now over; the critics have acclaimed her technique, interpretation, and mature musicianship; her promoter is arranging a one year tour; and the two of you take this opportunity to celebrate.... this is the life! In your dream, you are the handsome gondolier, poling through the canals of Venice with your lone, lovely female customer: Passionate Patti! Everything is going well until.....Larry sticks it in too deeply. Deciding to seize the moment, he wriggles down beside Patti, relying on the subtle canal currents to propel him through his night of love... "It's not hard to see, Patti, the problems of two little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy mixed-up world..." "Larry, in all the scenes, in all the games, in all the world... you had to walk into mine!" "Remember Larry: we'll always have Nontoonyt!" "Here's looking at you, kid!" They snuggle up together, drifting dreamily through the moonlit canals of Venice, the songs of other gondoliers wafting softly across the waters. Suddenly the gondola springs a most inopportune leak.... Larry watches Passionate Patti perform a rock concert before the reflecting pool of the Taj Mahal! What a great musician! What a romantic setting! What a gorgeous babe!! The Taj Mahal concert has progressed. Late at night, the gig over, the amps and drums packed in the road cases, it's now time for just the two of you, relaxing together on a couple of overstuffed cushions, emotionally drained. To calm herself, and prepare you for the evening ahead, Patti plays a little selection on her oboe.... You soon realize the snake is not the only thing Patti has charmed!

Patti also has some of her own dreams as well including her spending some passionate time with Donald Tramp, Bil "Willi" Gates, and Scrooge McDuck.

Al Lowe skipped the fourth part altogether in order to surpass the problems of continuing the definite finale of Larry 3. This allowed him to introduce (intentionally) some grey plot points and begin freely a whole new adventure with Larry 5.

Larry 5 Design Doc
According to production notes (given by Lowe himself) the following events must be assumed to have happened between Larry 3 and Larry 5 in order to logically connect the two games:

Larry and Patti plan to marry Patti leaves him at a Yosemite church to pursue her career, but Larry is gone when she returns The villain of Larry 5, Julius Biggs, somehow steals the game disks and Larry suffers amnesia The absence of the floppy disks was a plot element in the sequel since this is the explanation why Larry, as a computer generated character, came to suffer from amnesia.

The demo for the game has a line which states: "Back for Episode 4, which he calls Larry 5!"

Perhaps Larry really did make billions as a savings and loan tycoon in "LSL4: The Missing Floppies," perhaps not. No one really knows for sure, including Larry! But since those halcyon days of yesterdisk, his life script has soared like a Stealth boat anchor. He assumes he found fame in LSL4 as he is fortunate to have his present job in the glamorous Hollywood entertainment industry. Unfortunately, his job is as Chief VCR Rewinder and Sterilizer (Beta Division) at the all new "America's Sexiest Home Videos," a proposed taw— dry syndicated television show nearing production that solicits home Videos primarily distinguished by their creative bed sheet stains. To those who ask, "Larry, why don't you quit that lousy job?" Larry, of course, replies, "What? And give up show business?!"

Actually Larry's memories of LSL4 are quite vague. As LSL5 begins, his most recent memories involve programming some computer on some deck beside some lake with some woman named Passionate Patti. Whatever happened to her? Poor Larry has no idea. Now he's alone in Hollywood work— ing a minimal wage job. Since"LSL4: The Missing Floppies" is missing, Larry's memory of those disks is also blank! How he wishes he knew what had happened to him! Could he really have lost a whole year, a tenth of a decade, a hundredth of a century? Yep.

Meanwhile, Patti's memory is unaffected, although sometimes she would like to forget. Her career has been one semi—moderate success after another, ever since that fateful scene (which Larry doesn't remember) when she left our Leisure One standing at the altar of The Little Church in Yosemite Valley! What a waste! She dumped a good man to run off to Hollywood just for one of those once—in—a—lifetime recording deals. Of course, after all the composing, arranging, rehearsing and recording work was actually done, the deal turned out to be just another show biz snow job. When she returned for Larry, he had mysteriously vanished with— out a trace. So Patti resumed both her career track and her worldly ways. She is presently on a whirlwind national tour of famous airport hotel cocktail lounges. She and Larry in two different worlds.

Investigate Mob inﬂuence in the music biz. Of course she's interested in revenge, especially when, he mentions a possible White House gig. After all, she suspects the bum who cheated her on her album contract in "LSL4: The Missing Floppies" was involved in organized crime.

Whatever happened to Larry 4?" disks stolen by the bad guy and erased causing Larry to have amnesia unable to remember anything that happened that year running gag references to "LSL4: The Missing Floppies"...

This is even better than having your own savings and loan (as you believe you may have had in ’LSL4: The Missing Floppiesl

Patti recognizes Bigg's love song is one she composed for her LSL4 album. "There's no way you could know that song without having played LSL4! You're the one who stole "LSL4: The Missing Floppies" and you must be the man I've been chasing! Desmond, arrest him!!"

You finally realize where you heard that love song Bigg was humming! "That song! I wrote that for the album I made in LSL4: The Missing Floppies!" There's no way you could know that song unless you played LSL4! Those disks were stolen before they reached production Of course, you hired me to create the music, then erased the ﬂoppies to keep from paying me! No wonder my poor Larry has amnesia” Julius Bigg you are the man I've been chasing!

Playspy
The Play Spy manual makes reference to Larry 4.


 * She's currently single good news men I - but made several veiled references to a man she called "Larry," who dearly means, or meant, a great deal to her. (Fair warning, boys, that there may be a little competition here!) The relationship is detailed in computerized form in an expose with the unlikely title Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies, but Patti refused to tell us where we could locate this compu-parable, and not a single software store we contacted had any knowledge of the game. In any case, there were certainly no floppies anywhere to be seen around Patti, who eschews the label "Passionate" even though her sensuality pours fourth like milk from a ripe coconut.

The Laffer Utilities
The About message warns:


 * Please do NOT order "Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies since we are presently unable to find the master disks! We'll let you know when its ready, "okay?".

The program shows various scenes of Larry with Passionate Patti presumably during the missing years. One images shows that that they even got married, or at least got as far as the church, if not the altar..

My Scrapbook: Leisure Suit Larry's Greatest Hits and Misses!
""
 * (What's that? Where's Larry 4? That's a whole other story. Write to Al Lowe, care of Sierra's corporate offices, and ask him about it sometime. No, wait. On second thought, DON'T!)

The cover is missing with the comment "Place Photo Here". Al Lowe left a scrapbook note:
 * Leisure Suit Larry 4: The Missing Floppies
 * What is the truth about why I skipped Larry 4? Was I trying to catch up with the Space Quest guys? Nah. Did I write a game too dirty to ship? No. Were the floppies really stolen by Broderbund and released as "Where in the hell is Leisure Suit Larry?" NO!
 * --A.L.

Leisure Suit Larry 6
One can ask for a copy of the hintbook for Leisure Suit Larry 4.

Leisure Suit Larry: Collection Series
The lower inside cover says; "4: "The Case of the Missing Floppies"? The name says it all. Larry 4 was never found. Some say the game is in New Mexico somewhere. Anyway if you find it here, make sure to call us and let us know.

The back of the box shows a blank rectangle where the box should be. Under it says: "There are conflicting stories about what happened to Leisure Suit Lary 4: The Case of the Missing Floppies. One theory is that Al Lowe never made 4, since Larry doesn't believe in "4-play." Another theory is that is held under lock and key at Area 51.

Leisure Suit Larry 7
Rod may be Ken (Ken Williams) who hid all the floppy disks from Larry 4.

Leisure Suit Larry: The Ultimate Pleasure Pack
The inside front cover says: "4: Leisure SUit Larry 4: There isn't one. Something to do with tequila and a long night in Tijuana. Don't ask."

Back of the box has a list of box covers, and Leisure Suit Larry 4 is listed. A brief description note: "Leisure Suit Larry 4: There isn't a Leisure Suit Larry 4. After 3, Al swore there would never be a Leisure Suit Larry 4. And he kept his word. Kinda.

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
Larry Lovage has one of the only known copies of the game.

Larry Laffer speaks of his time working for Sierra Online designing his own games, and the Laffer Utilities.

Leisure Suit Larry: Love For Sale Mobile
The game takes place during the LSL4 development years, and a subplot for the best ending, requires finding the lost disks.

Chapter 4 goes missing, it is a missing day as Larry sleeps through it, and misses all the events.

Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded
While Larry remembers most of his life in previous games, Leisure Suit Larry Missing Floppies is a hole in his memories.


 * It's hard to make out what that building is, especially when your life is flashing before your eyes. (Curiously, you seem to skip over that whole incident with the missing floppies right in the middle there!) (Footnote: for those of you who are confused, please google "Leisure Suit Larry Missing Floppies" and all will become clear.)

This easter egg is difficult to replicate, and may have been made more difficult by later versions of the game. It requires being able to interact in the alley, before being beaten up by the Bruiser.

Hoyle I
Larry of Hoyle I takes place in the period between LSL3 and LSL5. Although LSL4 is not directly mentioned it does mention that he is still with Patti (spelled Patty), and it's likely he is having affairs while on business trips (which may have lead to their eventual breakup).

Space Quest IV
Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers, another Sierra game, played with the idea extensively. Unbeknownst to the employees of Sierra On-Line, the disks were apparently stolen by an agent of Sludge Vohaul, who used them to store his consciousness upon his demise in Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge.

Later, the floppies were found floating in space by scientists from the Xenon Super Computer Project. When the game was installed on the computer, Vohaul's consciousness was unleashed on the planet, and the events leading up to the fictional, future sequel Space Quest XII: Vohaul's Revenge II began. In Space Quest IV, Roger can erase the game off the supercomputer when he accesses its mainframe, but this is not mandatory to complete the game.

The game is said to look like toilet material.

Behind the scenes
The fourth installment of the Leisure Suit Larry series was officially Larry 5. The actual fourth part of the scenario was never made for various reasons, but it is jokingly referred to by both Sierra and fans under the subtitle of The Missing Floppies (or The Case of the Missing Floppies). Much gossip and rumor have spread to explain this: most believed that the original production floppies of the game were lost (some rumors jokingly claimed that Lowe's dog ate them) and the team would not remake it from scratch.

The actual reasons are mainly two and have been given by Al Lowe at separate points:

Note that the Laffer Utilities and the Leisure Suit Larry 1 SCI remake are each sometimes unofficially credited as Larry 4, as the first was the fourth ever Larry production, and the latter, the fourth game to be made. Of course, similar SCI remakes of Space Quest I, Police Quest I, and Quest for Glory I were not given new numerical titles. However, it should be noted that Larry 1 SCI acknowledges Larry 5 as already happened, and Larry is seemingly back with Patti again based on his reference to her at one point. Both games had been released in the same year, and were under development at the same time. According to the Official Book of Leisure Suit Larry, this is explained that events of LSL5 happened, the games we received LSL1SCI and LSL5 were designed after they started working for Sierra again, with them reenacting the events from those stories again.
 * Sierra began work on a multiplayer installment of Leisure Suit Larry that was to be played out over The Sierra Network. This failed due largely to technical reasons, and the planned multiplayer Larry game was shelved.
 * The ending of Larry 3 was very definite and somehow metafictional (showing Larry and Patti escaping their game world, and coming to the Sierra studios and making games based on their adventures (essentially creating their own existence), living happily in a mountain cabin in Coarsegold). This completed a relatively cohesive trilogy with no sequel planned; Al Lowe was in a dead end because he couldn't find a way to start it since the scenario had completed a story arc.

MAD Magazine had proposed what the possibility of a Leisure Suit Larry 4 may look like in a 1990 issue spoofing video games. Their idea was "the after effect of Larry's screwing around with the time coming for Larry having to pay the piper". They proposed the idea of Larry in a maze game similar to Berzerk, where he must steer clear of out-of-wedlock pregnancies he has caused, as well as private investigators, case workers, and angry fathers wielding shotguns, making it extremely difficult for Larry to continue his infamous carefree attitude towards casual sex.

On April 1st, 2009 the Abandonware site Abandonia.com released an alleged "leaked copy" for download. This turned out to in fact be an elaborate April Fools Day prank: the screenshots were fakes, the review - fictional and the "game" archive actually contained 55 identical copies of scanned front casing of Xbox 360 version of Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust.