High on Life 2 boss fight nearly failed console certification

High on Life 2 ramps up the absurdity from the first game, packing in larger set pieces, more jokes and a script that reportedly runs over 10,000 pages. The sequel pushed parody and fair use boundaries, and one encounter grew so unusual the team worried it might not pass console certification.

In that fight a sleazy alien, voiced by Richard Kind, shrinks down and climbs into the player’s battle suit and the game’s menus, forcing a battle inside the pause menu and settings. The enemy even starts tinkering with in-game options, such as changing the language, which made the designers nervous about whether they could legally and technically adjust those settings as part of gameplay.

The game’s intro posed its own technical test: a fast, jump-cut montage that serves as a tutorial and recap. Inspired by Blendo Games’ Thirty Flights of Loving and French New Wave editing, the sequence required instantly loading new environments and a lot of trimming to get the pacing right.

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