Video Games
The first chainsaw appearance in a video game was unsurprisingly the 1982 Texas Chainsaw Massacre Atari game. However this game, with antagonist Leatherface chasing down victims on a highway for points would see low sales and limited exposure due to many stores refusal to sell it, along with fellow horror film adaptation Halloween.
Though chainsaws would be used as weapons in the 1970s/1980s horror film inspired cult Splatterhouse game series, and used by enemies in some beat-em ups (such as the Robocop arcade game) the next major appearance would not be until the 1990s. In 1993, pioneering first person shooter Doom was the first game including a chainsaw as a weapon for the player; giving chainsaws in horror games the same cult position they held in horror cinema, ans setting them as a the tool that can defeat terror, turn horror against itself, and rally the courage of heroes. Some of the horror games to use chainsaws would include the Resident Evil series, Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2, the Silent Hill series, Manhunt, Dead Space, Left 4 Dead 2 the Gears of War series, MadWorld and, of course, the Evil Dead spin off games.
Largely in reference to Scarface, chainsaws would also appear commonly in organized crime themed video games. These include the Grand Theft Auto series (starting with the Scarface inspired GTA: Vice City), 50 Cent: Bulletproof, Saints Row 2, and of course the Scarface game.
Though less common, chainsaws (or more specifically fictional chainsaw inspired weapons) have also made appearances in some sci-fi war games. Prominent examples include the chainsaw bayonets in the Gears of War series, the "Ripper" chainsaw-knife of the Fallout series, and the much larger, epic tools of evil-slaying and destruction called "chainswords" seen in based on the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. Another incarnation of chainsaw-based weaponry can be seen in the popular Facebook game Battle Stations where it exists as a large-scale ship-mounted melee weapon.
Some real-time strategy games, for instance Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos have units which use chainsaws to fell trees thus fulfilling its intended purpose. In these games said units can almost always use those chainsaws as weapons as well and apart from this few video games portray chainsaws in any context other than a weapon.
The newest game, Lollipop Chainsaw, also utilizes a chainsaw as a primary - and possibly only - weapon of the game that Juliet is able to use.
On PlayStation All-Stars Legends, Noodle's guitar transforms into a chainsaw to attacking Ratchet, Clank, Jak, Daxter and Sly Cooper in a boss stage based on God of War and Twisted Metal.
Read more about this topic: Chainsaws In Popular Culture
Famous quotes related to video games:
“I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)