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127-460: Another World is a cinematic platform action-adventure game designed by Éric Chahi and published by Delphine Software in November 1991. In North America it was published as Out of This World . The game tells the story of Lester, a young scientist who, as a result of an experiment gone wrong, finds himself on a dangerous alien world where he is forced to fight for his survival. Another World

254-652: A prologue before the introduction begins, which consists of an entry that comes from Lester's diary. The Mega Drive port's prologue is different from that of the SNES and 3DO ports. The Sega CD version of Another World combines the original game (with CD-quality new music by Freitas) with the sequel, Heart of the Alien , and was released exclusively in North America as Heart of the Alien: Out of This World Parts I and II . All of

381-599: A true 3D platformer is a French computer game called Alpha Waves , created by Christophe de Dinechin and published by Infogrames in 1990 for the Atari ST , Amiga , and IBM PC compatibles . Bug! , released in 1995 for the Saturn , has a more conservative approach. It allows players to move in all directions, but it does not allow movement along more than one axis at once; the player can move orthogonally but not diagonally. Its characters were pre-rendered sprites, much like

508-488: A "running/jumping/climbing game" while developing it. Miyamoto commonly used the term "athletic game" to refer to Donkey Kong and later games in the genre, such as Super Mario Bros. (1985). Donkey Kong spawned other games with a mix of running, jumping, and vertical traversal, a novel genre that did not match the style of games that came before it, leaving journalists and writers to offer their own terms. Computer and Video Games magazine, among others, referred to

635-448: A 1980 arcade release by Universal , is sometimes credited as the first platformer. Another precursor to the genre from 1980 was Nichibutsu 's Crazy Climber , in which the player character scales vertically scrolling skyscrapers. The unreleased 1979 Intellivision game Hard Hat has a similar concept. Donkey Kong , an arcade video game created by Nintendo and released in July 1981,

762-559: A 2014 review of the 3DS version, Bob Mackey of USGamer opined " Another World is definitely an experience every gamer should have — and not just for the sake of checking out a historical curiosity. Another World still feels incredibly forward-thinking, almost as if Chahi had developed a game for this decade's indie scene without even realizing it." In 2008, Tim Rogers named Another World "The best videogame of all time", describing it as "an Actual Genius's osmosed omniscience regarding game design." In 2011, Wirtualna Polska ranked

889-401: A 2D plane are called 2.5D , as they are a blend of 2D and 3D. The first platformers to simulate a 3D perspective and moving camera emerged in the early-mid-1980s. An early example of this was Konami 's Antarctic Adventure , where the player controls a penguin in a forward-scrolling third-person perspective while having to jump over pits and obstacles. Originally released in 1983 for

1016-559: A 3.6 MHz ROM either. So, frustrated, I shoved my block move code into the DMA registers and use it as RAM running at 3.6 MHz. It worked. I got fast block moves on slow cartridges and made a game using polygons working on a 65816 with pure software rendering." Another World is the only game directly ported from the Super NES to the Apple IIGS, which has the same 65C816 microprocessor. The 3DO port

1143-462: A balance between open-ended and guided exploration. Another platform-adventure released that year, Pony Canyon 's Super Pitfall , was critically panned for its vagueness and weak game design. That same year Jaleco released Esper Boukentai , a sequel to Psychic 5 that scrolled in all directions and allowed the player character to make huge multistory jumps to navigate the vertically oriented levels. Telenet Japan also released its own take on

1270-481: A bouncing car that jumps on various platforms such as buildings, clouds, and hills. Jump Bug offered a glimpse of what was to come, with uneven, suspended platforms, levels that scroll horizontally (and in one section, vertically), and differently themed sections, such as a city, the interior of a large pyramid, and underwater. Irem's 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol combines jumping over obstacles and shooting attackers. A month later, Taito released Jungle King ,

1397-525: A brief burst of episodic platformers where the first was freely distributed and parts 2 and 3 were available for purchase. The abundance of platformers for 16-bit consoles continued late into the generation, with successful games such as Vectorman (1995), Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995), and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995), but the release of new hardware caused players' attention to move away from 2D genres. The Saturn , PlayStation , and Nintendo 64 nevertheless featured

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1524-452: A cage back and forth. In the initial part of the game, the player's character Lester is unarmed. He is able to kick at small creatures, but is otherwise defenseless. Later in the game, the player acquires a laser pistol from a fallen foe. The pistol has three capabilities: a standard fire mode, the ability to create force fields to block enemy fire, and a powerful charged shot that can break through force fields and some walls. Enemies also have

1651-751: A classic D-pad, three difficulty modes and remastered sound effects. The Android version was released in March 2012, the Steam version was released on April 4, 2013 and the GOG version was released April 22, 2013 (15th Anniversary Edition available on GOG in the same package as 20th Anniversary Edition). Retouching the background in such high resolutions was not so easy. I had to find the equilibrium between details and vectorial design. ... Finally, I decided to use subtler shades of light than before with some very crisp detail and razor edge polygons. Éric Chahi The console versions of

1778-414: A clear idea of how to implement his game engine , he mostly improvised when creating the actual content of the game, allowing the game to develop "layer by layer without knowing where it was going." He planned on creating a science fiction game that was similar to Karateka and Impossible Mission . Because he wanted to create a dramatic, cinematic experience, the game features no HUD or dialog, giving

1905-489: A code wheel that came with the game. The player had to turn the wheel according to the number that was requested in the screen whenever the game is loaded in order to reload the game. Another small change between the Amiga and ST versions and the others was that Lester would yell as he grabs the vine in the first area if he was not being chased by the beast in these versions; this feature was omitted from most other versions. The game

2032-462: A comment that the "groundbreaking" Another World "is one of those rare games that everybody seemed to love." Discussing "Buddy" in 2013, Rock, Paper, Shotgun 's Adam Smith called him still "one of gaming's greatest companions". Entertainment Weekly wrote that "More like being in a movie than playing a video game, this leisurely paced, noir-tinted adventure demands that you use your wits to find your way out of an eerie parallel universe." I think

2159-527: A common term for the genre by 1989, popularized by its usage in the United Kingdom press. Examples include referring to the " Super Mario mould" (such as Kato-chan & Ken-chan ) as platform games, and calling Strider a "platform and ladders" game. The genre originated in the early 1980s. Levels in early platform games were confined to a single screen, viewed in profile, and based on climbing between platforms rather than jumping. Space Panic ,

2286-778: A decade and a half after it was first released on the Amiga, the game was released for mobile phone handsets using the Symbian operating system, thanks to Telcogames and developer Magic Productions. In 2006, Magic Productions also released a remastered Pocket PC version for Windows Mobile 5.0 OS or later in QVGA (320×240 resolution). Telcogames entered administration in 2008, closing the Magic Productions studio. The administrator's letter to stakeholders mentions that its assets will be sold, but does not indicate to whom or mention Another World assets by name. An Atari Jaguar port of Another World

2413-489: A development diary, an exclusive postcard autographed by Chahi and a separate soundtrack CD. The CD-ROM version of 15th Anniversary Edition contains strict digital rights management technology – upon installation, the game verifies the user's serial number through the Internet, allowing only for five installations of the game using any given serial number. Uninstallation does not reset the count, so after five installations,

2540-481: A different soundtrack, but Chahi did not agree to the change and Delphine's lawyer helped to keep the original intro music. The Apple IIGS and Super NES versions were programmed by Rebecca Heineman , who said: "Since Interplay wouldn't pay for a Super FX chip, I found a way to do it with static RAM on the cart and DMA which got me a great frame rate. Interplay wouldn't pay for the static RAM either, so I ended up using Fast ROM instruction. Interplay wouldn't pay for

2667-556: A few nods to Another World , including the use of personal force fields in combat, a nearly identical end text in the ending cutscene, and an almost exact motion recreation of the gun pickup cutscene. A very similar plot premise was used in 1999's Outcast by Infogrames Entertainment , also from France. The game also had a big influence on several other game designers, especially in Japan. Fumito Ueda cited Another World as an inspiration for his creation of Ico . Hideo Kojima , creator of

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2794-450: A forward-scrolling effect similar to Sega's 1985 third-person rail shooter Space Harrier . 3-D WorldRunner was an early forward-scrolling pseudo-3D third-person platform-action game where players were free to move in any forward-scrolling direction and could leap over obstacles and chasms. It was notable for being one of the first stereoscopic 3-D games . Square released its sequel, JJ , later that year. The earliest example of

2921-618: A high level of polish". Chahi said the animations were "refined to remove the rough edges revealed by such a high resolution rendering" of up to 2560×1600 pixels. Digital Lounge and DotEmu also worked on the port for the Nintendo Switch , which was released on July 9, 2018. Another World , along with Flashback , shipped as a single retail package by Microids for the PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One on April 16, 2020 in Europe. Another World

3048-605: A high quality of animation. The 1988 shareware game The Adventures of Captain Comic was one of the first attempts at a Nintendo-style platformer for IBM PC compatibles . It inspired Commander Keen , released by id Software in 1990, which became the first MS-DOS platformer with smooth scrolling graphics. Keen's success resulted in numerous console-styled platformers for MS-DOS compatible operating systems, including Duke Nukem , Duke Nukem II , Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure , and Dark Ages all by Apogee Software . These fueled

3175-455: A less-fluid game, but the Amiga's sound capabilities afford it a high sound quality compared to contemporary ports. The game released on the Atari ST is identical, but with a less refined sound, and its colors are less sharp than on Amiga. These versions had code wheel protection that made it difficult to use unauthorized copies, forcing the player to enter a code (series of figures) looked up from

3302-470: A movie-like feel." IGN listed Out of This World 69th in their "Top 100 SNES Games of All Time." The alien "Beast" creature from the game's first level was ranked sixth on the GameSpot 's 1999 top list of best monsters in gaming and IGN ranked the game's laser gun as the 86th best weapon in gaming history in 2012. The alien "Buddy" was ranked third on GameSpot's list of the ten best sidekicks in 2000, along with

3429-559: A named character—Mario, which became a mascot of the company. The term platform game gained traction in the late 1980s, as did the alternate form platformer . During their peak of popularity, platformers were estimated to comprise between a quarter and a third of all console games. By 2006, the genre had experienced a decline in sales, representing a 2% market share as compared to 15% in 1998. In spite of this, platformers are still being commercially released every year, including some which have sold millions of copies. A platformer requires

3556-413: A new level just before the amphitheatre scene, when the alien friend rescues Lester at the end of a long dead-end corridor. Chahi said: "I like this extra level a lot because it reinforces the close relationship between the hero and the alien by developing their mutual aid." Also added were more dangers and more save points. This ended up being the 1992 DOS version, which was coded by Daniel Morais, and had

3683-453: A number of other video games and designers, inspiring such titles as Ico , Metal Gear Solid , Silent Hill , and Delphine's later Flashback . It is now considered among the best video games ever made. Another World is a platform game , featuring a control scheme where the player uses either the keyboard, joystick or gamepad to make the protagonist run, jump, attack and perform other, situation-specific actions, such as rocking

3810-623: A number of successful 2D platformers. The 2D Rayman was a big success on 32-bit consoles. Mega Man 8 and Mega Man X4 helped revitalize interest in Capcom 's Mega Man character . Castlevania: Symphony of the Night revitalized its series and established a new foundation for later Castlevania games. Oddworld and Heart of Darkness kept the subgenre born from Prince of Persia alive. The difficulties of adapting platformer gameplay to three dimensions led some developers to compromise by pairing

3937-453: A sequel, as he wants the ending of the original to remain ambiguous and fans could make their own conclusion to Lester's story. It's not a survival horror moment, but the beginning of the game Another World made me feel like I had really been swallowed and dropped alone on a vast, new world. That scene had a deep impact on me, and it was at that moment that I first began to consider the potential games had for stirring an emotion like fear in

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4064-466: A shift in design. Later 3D platformers like Banjo-Kazooie , Spyro the Dragon , and Donkey Kong 64 borrowed its format, and the "collect-a-thon" genre began to form. In order to make this free-roaming model work, developers had to program dynamic, intelligent cameras. A free camera made it harder for players to judge the height and distance of platforms, making jumping puzzles more difficult. Some of

4191-406: A side-scrolling action game some platform elements: jumping between vines, jumping or running beneath bouncing boulders. It was quickly re-released as Jungle Hunt because of similarities to Tarzan . The 1982 Apple II game Track Attack includes a scrolling platform level where the character runs and leaps along the top of a moving train. The character is little more than a stick figure , but

4318-484: A similar effect using much less computer storage . After first attempting to write the graphical routines in C , he turned to assembly language . He wrote a polygon routine for the Motorola 68000 on an Atari ST to test his theory, with much success. Later, he found that he could run the code on the Amiga platform and achieve a frame rate of about 20 frames per second, later recognizing this as "a major turning point in

4445-663: A teenager with a rebellious personality to appeal to gamers who saw the previous generation of consoles as being for kids. The character's speed showed off the hardware capabilities of the Genesis, which had a CPU clock speed approximately double that of the Super NES. Sonic 's perceived rebellious attitude became a model for game mascots. Other companies attempted to duplicate Sega's success with their own brightly colored anthropomorphisms with attitude. These often were characterized by impatience, sarcasm, and frequent quips. A second generation of platformers for computers appeared alongside

4572-459: A way Prince of Persia was, commenting that "despite a small cast of characters, minimalist gameplay, and some truly grueling difficulty, Another World  ... resonated with gamers in ways they weren't expecting. The game's vivid vector graphics were utterly stunning at the time, and the pacing of the heavy, nicely animated platforming naturally melded with taking in the sights of the sublime alien landscape," and adding that "slowly adapting to

4699-469: Is in a vector game called Major Havoc , which comprises a number of mini-games, including a simple platformer. One of the first raster -based platformers to scroll fluidly in all directions in this manner is 1985's Legend of Kage . In 1985, Enix released the action-adventure platformer Brain Breaker . The following year saw the release of Nintendo's Metroid , which was critically acclaimed for

4826-423: Is mirrored in the near-death of Lester at the end of the game. Upon publishing, Delphine did not perform a playtest of the full game, only having previously tested the first portion of the game. Delphine's U.S. publisher Interplay undertook a full playtest and Chahi fixed a number of bugs that arose from this. Interplay had also requested additional changes in the game, including making the game longer and changing

4953-462: The Metal Gear series, said it was one of the five games that influenced him the most. Video game designer Goichi Suda called it his favourite game. Chahi returned to the concept of cinematic platform games after leaving Delphine. In 1998, he and his company Amazing Studio made Heart of Darkness , which is in many ways a spiritual successor to Another World . After that, Chahi disappeared from

5080-446: The 20th Anniversary port were released by Digital Lounge for Xbox One , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation Vita , Wii U , and Nintendo 3DS in June 2014. The three PlayStation versions allow cross-platform functionality. According to Digital Lounge, the goal was to "simply to deliver the original experience of Another World faithfully, with the benefits of today's hardware and

5207-611: The Atari 2600 , with 256 horizontally connected screens, became one of the best-selling games on the system and was a breakthrough for the genre. Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle was released on the ColecoVision that same year, adding uneven terrain and scrolling pans between static screens. Manic Miner (1983) and its sequel Jet Set Willy (1984) continued this style of multi-screen levels on home computers . Wanted: Monty Mole won

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5334-537: The Kamehameha . The game's art style and atmosphere also drew influence from science fiction or fantasy art , including artists such as Frank Frazetta , Bernie Wrightson , and Zdzisław Beksiński , as well as the novel Hyperion . The laser blasters were also influenced by Star Wars . In August 1989, Chahi was impressed by the flat-color animations that the Amiga version of Dragon's Lair had and thought that it would be possible to use vector outlines to create

5461-675: The MSX computer, it was subsequently ported to various platforms the following year, including an arcade video game version, NES , and ColecoVision . 1986 saw the release of the sequel to forward-scrolling platformer Antarctic Adventure called Penguin Adventure , which was designed by Hideo Kojima . It included more action game elements, a greater variety of levels, RPG elements such as upgrading equipment, and multiple endings . In early 1987, Square released 3-D WorldRunner , designed by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nasir Gebelli . Using

5588-516: The Master System with Alex Kidd in Miracle World . It has horizontal and vertical scrolling levels, the ability to punch enemies and obstacles, and shops for the player to buy power-ups and vehicles. Another Sega series that began that same year is Wonder Boy . The original Wonder Boy in 1986 was inspired more by Pac-Land than Super Mario Bros. , with skateboarding segments that gave

5715-619: The Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, became the archetype for the genre. It was bundled with Nintendo systems in North America, Japan, and Europe, and sold over 40 million copies, according to the 1999 Guinness Book of World Records . Its success as a pack-in led many companies to see platformers as vital to their success, and contributed greatly to popularizing the genre during the third and fourth generations of video game consoles. Sega attempted to emulate this success with their Alex Kidd series, which started in 1986 on

5842-450: The Sega arcade game Congo Bongo (1983) adds a third dimension via isometric graphics . Another popular game of that period, Pitfall! (1982), allows moving left and right through series of non-scrolling screens, expanding the play area. Nintendo 's flagship Super Mario Bros. (1985) was a defining game for the nascent genre, with horizontally scrolling levels and the player controlling

5969-533: The virtual camera , it had to be constrained to stop it from clipping through the environment. In 1994, a small developer called Exact released a game for the X68000 computer called Geograph Seal , which was a 3D first-person shooter game with platforming. Players piloted a frog-like mech that could jump and then double-jump or triple-jump high into the air as the camera panned down to help players line up their landings. In addition to shooting, jumping on enemies

6096-494: The "visionary" Another World as the 15th best game for the Amiga, remembering it for a cinematic feel and "uncommonly" high difficulty (for a first-time player) and calling it "one of the most important titles in the history of electronic entertainment." In 2012, 1UP.com ranked this "short-but-sweet cinematic action game" as the 99th most essential video game of all time, commenting: "Especially in an age of entertainment where fans cry out for pages upon pages lore and glossaries for

6223-460: The Enchanted Castle , which was only modestly successful. That same year, Capcom released Strider in arcades, which scrolled in multiple directions and allowed the player to summon artificial intelligence partners, such as a droid, tiger, and hawk, to help fight enemies. Another Sega release in 1989 was Shadow Dancer , which is a game that also included an AI partner: a dog who followed

6350-475: The Hedgehog into 3D. Their project, titled Sonic Xtreme , was to have featured a radically different approach for the series, with an exaggerated fisheye camera and multidirectional gameplay reminiscent of Bug! . Due in part to conflicts with Sega Enterprises in Japan and a rushed schedule, the game never made it to market. In the 1990s, platforming games started to shift from pseudo-3D to "true 3D," which gave

6477-521: The Most Innovative New Game of the year from Electronic Gaming Monthly . In 2012, it became one of the first 14 titles added to the video game art exposition at the Museum of Modern Art . It also received the nomination for Game, Classic Revival at the 2014 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards. Retrospectively, Kristan Reed of Eurogamer called Another World "one of

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6604-519: The acrobatics evoke the movement that games such as Prince of Persia would feature. B.C.'s Quest For Tires (1983) put a recognizable character from American comic strips into side-scrolling, jumping gameplay similar to Moon Patrol . The same year, Snokie for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers added uneven terrain to a scrolling platformer. Based on the Saturday morning cartoon rather than

6731-464: The alien to help the player imagine this world. Later in the game's development, Chahi added laser pistols, including the one that Lester carries for several effects. The idea was influenced by the Star Wars blasters , but added depth to the gameplay by giving the player more options. He also found that repeated laser fire by the enemies helped to enunciate the rhythm of the game. Chahi would later add in

6858-415: The basis for the non-linear mission structure found in most open-world, multi-mission, sidequest -heavy games. Another Capcom platformer that year was Bionic Commando , which popularized a grappling hook mechanic that has since appeared in dozens of games, including Earthworm Jim and Tomb Raider . Scrolling platformers went portable in the late 1980s with games such as Super Mario Land , and

6985-464: The chance to develop Another World "without any constraint of any sort or any editorial pressure." After Future Wars was released in 1989, Chahi had the choice either to work on Cuisset's next game, Operation Stealth , or create his own game. As "there had been many books and tools released to develop easily on the Amiga at that time," Chahi felt confident that he could go back to programming. The game

7112-467: The chance to explore the types of cinematics he could create through the engine. Chahi later considered this the "first step in the improvisation process" that he used throughout the rest of development. He finished the game's introduction sequence in early 1990 and started working on the first level . Chahi worked at the game at a linear pace, developing each section of the game in chronological order and influenced by his own personal feelings and attitude at

7239-421: The characters the player meets speak in an unintelligible alien language. The protagonist of the game is Lester Knight Chaykin, a young physicist . In the opening cinematic, Lester arrives at his high-tech underground laboratory in his car during a thunderstorm and goes to work on his experiment using a particle accelerator , attempting to reconstruct what happened when the universe was born. Immediately before

7366-589: The console as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in North America, along with Super Mario World , while Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis . Sonic showcased a new style of design made possible by a new generation of hardware: large stages that scrolled in all directions, curved hills, loops, and a physics system allowing players to rush through its levels with well-placed jumps and rolls. Sega characterized Sonic as

7493-475: The console versions include some form of dynamic musical score during gameplay, and in the case of the Mega Drive conversion, use arrangements of the music originating in the SNES and Apple IIGS versions. This differs from other versions which only have music for the opening and ending segments. Interplay wanted to add additional tunes by Charles Deenen . They also wanted to exchange Jean-François Freitas's music for

7620-597: The console's several processors: the GPU and blitter perform polygon rendering; the GPU performs on-the-fly data decompression; the DSP plays stereo music and sound effects; and the 68000 CPU performs JIT compilation and execution of the scripts. The Jaguar version is playable in the original graphics 16-color mode and Deluxe 15th Anniversary graphics 256-color mode. It can be played in normal and speed-run modes. It supports five languages: English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish. After

7747-422: The creation of the game" and the point where he knew the polygon approach would work. He was able to take advantage of the Amiga's genlock capabilities to create rotoscoped animations with the polygons, using video recordings of himself performing various actions. Though he had tried to use smaller polygons (which Chahi called "pixigons") to construct the backgrounds for the scenes based on Deluxe Paint artwork,

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7874-421: The criteria of a platformer, and was billed as an action adventure . It used true 3D characters and set pieces, but its environments were rendered using a rigid engine similar to the one used by Wolfenstein 3D , in that it could only render square, flat corridors, rather than suspended platforms that could be jumped between. Sega had tasked their American studio, Sega Technical Institute , with bringing Sonic

8001-449: The development, including reusing background graphics and creating building blocks that allowed him to focus more on the game's puzzles. At the same time, he began to seek a publisher for the game. He first spoke to his former employer, Delphine Software, but also sought other distributors. One, Virgin , was favourable to Chahi's game but had suggested that he change it to a point-and-click style adventure game. Chahi had considered changing

8128-519: The disc, such as when Lester escapes the big pool in the first level and when he is grabbed by the guard that appears at the end. At the ending, there is a fragment of the introduction of the sequel, Heart of the Alien . Also included in some versions of this 3DO release is a separate minigame "Stalactites", in which the player pushes up stalactite shapes falling from the top of the screen. This version also includes an Easter egg animation of Rebecca Heineman getting her head chopped off. Chahi acquired

8255-419: The earlier Clockwork Knight . The game plays very similarly to 2D platformers, but lets players walk up walls and on ceilings. In 1995, Delphine Software released a 3D sequel to their 2D platformer Flashback . Entitled Fade to Black , it was the first attempt to bring a popular 2D platformer series into 3D. While it retained the puzzle-oriented level design style and step-based control, it did not meet

8382-399: The edge of [one's] seat for some time to come." Reviewing the 3DO version, GamePro said " Out of This World is destined to be a classic", but that the 3DO version has too little improvement to be worthwhile for those who have already played the game. Among many other accolades, Another World was named as number one top new Amiga game of 1992 by Amiga World and received the award for

8509-526: The exact code wheel protection of the Amiga and ST versions. The Macintosh features higher resolution than the DOS version, but is otherwise identical. Through Interplay Entertainment , the game was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), and the Apple IIGS in 1992, and then for the Sega Genesis (Mega Drive) in 1993. The SNES, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (3DO) and Apple IIGS ports each contain

8636-521: The first award for Best Platform game in 1984 from Crash magazine. Later that same year, Epyx released Impossible Mission , and Parker Brothers released Montezuma's Revenge , which further expanded on the exploration aspect. The first platformer to use scrolling graphics came years before the genre became popular. Jump Bug is a platform-shooter developed by Alpha Denshi under contract for Hoei/Coreland and released to arcades in 1981, only five months after Donkey Kong . Players control

8763-530: The foreground and background, and the camera panning and curving around corners. Meanwhile, Pandemonium and Klonoa brought the 2.5D style to the PlayStation . In a break from the past, the Nintendo 64 had the fewest side scrolling platformers with only four; Yoshi's Story , Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards , Goemon's Great Adventure , and Mischief Makers —and most met with a tepid response from critics at

8890-464: The game a greater sense of speed than other platformers at the time, while its sequel, Wonder Boy in Monster Land added action-adventure and role-playing elements. Wonder Boy in turn inspired games such as Adventure Island , Dynastic Hero , Popful Mail , and Shantae . One of the first platformers to scroll in all four directions freely and follow the on-screen character's movement

9017-497: The game as "A moody but amazingly fluid game which faultlessly takes you between action sections and plot scenes drawing you into the excellent story." In 1995, Flux magazine listed the game 73rd in its Top 100 Video Games writing: "Another giant leap in cinematic gameplay, every bit as cool and smooth as the later Flashback, but far weirder. In the same year, MegaZone included the game on their Top 50 Games In History summarizing: "Great depth and strange but functional graphics give it

9144-435: The game in line with this request but realized "the effort to do this would have been too huge, and some friends who played the game loved it." Ultimately, he accepted Delphine's offer in June 1991, and set a tentative release date in November. To meet this deadline, Chahi used storyboards to sketch out the rest of the game's plot, balancing the overall pacing of the game. One ending captured on these storyboards, but abandoned,

9271-548: The game industry for several years, but in 2005 he regained interest in making video games. In 2011, Ubisoft released his next game, From Dust . Citations Platformer#Cinematic platformer The genre started with the 1980 arcade video game Space Panic , which has ladders but not jumping. Donkey Kong , released in 1981, established a template for what were initially called "climbing games". Donkey Kong inspired many clones and games with similar elements, such as Miner 2049er (1982) and Kangaroo (1982), while

9398-460: The game's engine in Devpac assembler, to control and animate the game, interpreted in real-time by the game engine, effectively creating his own animation sequencer. With the creation of the tools needed for building out the rest of the game by December 1989, Chahi began working on the introductory sequence as a means to validate the full capacities of his engine. The introduction sequence also gave Chahi

9525-409: The game's introduction music. Chahi was adamant about retaining the game's opening music, and had attempted to change Interplay's minds by sending them an "infinite fax", a looped piece of paper, with the message "keep the original intro music" on it. Only when Delphine's lawyer got involved and told Interplay they legally could not change the music did Interplay relax this requirement. The game's music

9652-498: The gameplay from its precursor but traded the frog-like mech for a cartoony rabbit mech called Robbit. The title was successful enough to get two sequels and is remembered for being the first 3D platformer on a console. Rob Fahey of Eurogamer said Jumping Flash was perhaps "one of the most important ancestors of every 3D platformer in the following decade." It holds the record of "First platform videogame in true 3D" according to Guinness World Records . Another early 3D platformer

9779-419: The genre are walking, running, jumping, attacking, and climbing. Jumping is central to the genre, though there are exceptions such as Nintendo 's Popeye and Data East 's BurgerTime , both from 1982. In some games, such as Donkey Kong , the trajectory of a jump is fixed, while in others it can be altered mid-air. Falling may cause damage or death. Many platformers contain environmental obstacles which kill

9906-465: The genre as "Donkey Kong-type" or "Kong-style" games. "Climbing games" was used in Steve Bloom's 1982 book Video Invaders and 1983 magazines Electronic Games (US)—which ran a cover feature called "The Player's Guide to Climbing Games"—and TV Gamer (UK). Bloom defined "climbing games" as titles where the player "must climb from the bottom of the screen to the top while avoiding and/or destroying

10033-452: The genre continued to maintain its popularity, with many games released for the handheld Game Boy and Game Gear systems. By the time the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 launched, platformers were the most popular genre in console gaming. There was a particular emphasis on having a flagship platform title exclusive to a system, featuring a mascot character. In 1989, Sega released Alex Kidd in

10160-412: The genre. A modern variant of the platform game, especially significant on mobile platforms, is the endless runner , where the main character is always moving forward and the player must dodge or jump to avoid falling or hitting obstacles. Various names were used in the years following the release of the first established game in the genre, Donkey Kong (1981). Shigeru Miyamoto originally called it

10287-434: The hostile surroundings offered a hard-earned satisfaction and a surprisingly moving story." In 2018, Complex rated the game 60th on their The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time writing: "From the very beginning, Out of This World sweeps you away on its sci-fi adventure. It’s almost as good as its spiritual successor, Flashback. Almost, we said." In 1995, Total! ranked the game #46 on its Top 100 SNES Games. They described

10414-401: The last point indefinitely. On the Amiga and older consoles without the ability to save a game, the player can write down an alphanumeric code for these checkpoints and re-enter it when restarting the game later. In any given scene, the game provides no clues as to what the player should do next, features no HUD except for an oxygen bar during the swimming sequences, and no on-screen text; and

10541-454: The levels were open and had objectives. Completing objectives earned the player stars, and stars were used to unlock more levels. This approach allowed for more efficient use of large 3D areas and rewarded the player for exploration, but it meant less jumping and more action-adventure . Even so, a handful of boss levels offered more traditional platforming. Until then there was no settled way to make 3D platformers, but Super Mario 64 inspired

10668-489: The maze game, Namco's 1984 Pac-Land is a bidirectional, horizontally-scrolling, arcade video game with walking, running, jumping, springboards, power-ups , and a series of unique levels. Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani described the game as "the pioneer of action games with horizontally running background." According to Iwatani, Shigeru Miyamoto described Pac-Land as an influence on the development of Super Mario Bros. . Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. , released for

10795-405: The more linear 3D platformers like Tork: Prehistoric Punk and Wario World used scripted cameras that limited player control. Games with more open environments like Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie used intelligent cameras that followed the player's movements. Still, when the view was obstructed or not facing what the player needed to see, these intelligent cameras needed to be adjusted by

10922-405: The most visionary and memorable games of its time." Reviewing the 15th Anniversary Edition in 2010, Eurogamer's John Walker called it "still utterly beautiful", adding that the game's art style is "just fantastic. Chahi's design is exquisitely simple and enormously evocative. Built from spare polygons, its paper-craft -like animation conjures the world, the creatures and the threat wonderfully." In

11049-479: The new wave of consoles. In the latter half of the 1980s and early 1990s, the Amiga was a strong gaming platform with its custom video hardware and sound hardware . The Atari ST was solidly supported as well. Games like Shadow of the Beast and Turrican showed that computer platformers could rival their console contemporaries. Prince of Persia , originally a late release for the 8-bit Apple II in 1989, featured

11176-506: The obstacles and foes you invariably meet along the way." Under this definition, he listed Space Panic (1980), Donkey Kong , and despite the top down perspective, Frogger (1981) as climbing games. In a December 1982 Creative Computing review of the Apple II game Beer Run , the reviewer used a different term: "I'm going to call this a ladder game, as in the 'ladder genre,' which includes Apple Panic and Donkey Kong ." That label

11303-490: The original background art (as an option), and it features twice as many checkpoints as the original, which makes it somewhat easier, as well as newly remixed sounds. The game does not include Interplay's extra music, but it includes the extra level, as well as the added enemies and hazards from the console versions. This version is part of the Another World 15th Anniversary Edition CD-ROM released in 2007, which also includes

11430-478: The particles reach their intended destination, a lightning bolt strikes the laboratory and interferes with the accelerator, causing an unforeseen particle fusion and an explosion, opening a hole in time and space and teleporting Lester to a barren, alien planet. After evading a number of dangerous indigenous animals, Lester is captured by a race of humanoid aliens and taken to a subterranean prison camp. Lester escapes along with an alien captive known as "Buddy" and

11557-435: The plasma ball that increased the available strategy to players. Several points in the game use elevators or teleporters to move Lester between levels; Chahi had used these instead of stairways, as it was difficult to produce proper animation for these. After 17 months of development, Chahi was only about one-third finished with the game, and realized that this rate would have been impractical. He began to take steps to simplify

11684-408: The platform-action game, Valis , which contained anime -style cut scenes . In 1987, Capcom 's Mega Man introduced non-linear level progression where the player is able to choose the order in which they complete levels. This was a stark contrast to both linear games like Super Mario Bros. and open-world games like Metroid . GamesRadar credits the "level select" feature of Mega Man as

11811-549: The player around and aid in battle. In 1990, Hudson Soft released Bonk's Adventure , with a protagonist positioned as NEC 's mascot. The following year, Takeru's Cocoron , a late platformer for the Famicom allowed players to build a character from a toy box filled with spare parts. In 1990, the Super Famicom was released in Japan, along with the eagerly anticipated Super Mario World . The following year, Nintendo released

11938-405: The player more control over the character and the camera. To render a 3D environment from any angle the user chose, the graphics hardware had to be sufficiently powerful, and the art and rendering model of the game had to be viewable from every angle. The improvement in graphics technology allowed publishers to make such games but introduced several new issues. For example, if the player could control

12065-451: The player must purchase a new copy. This problem does not exist on the digital copy sold by GOG.com . At the 2011 Game Developers Conference , Chahi announced that an Apple iOS port of the title would be created by DotEmu and distributed by BulkyPix . On September 22, 2011, BulkyPix released a special 20th anniversary edition for the iPhone / iPad , featuring a switch between the original and HD graphics, new intuitive touch controls or

12192-425: The player only a representation of the surrounding game world during both gameplay elements and the cutscenes progressing the story. However, with no idea of the technical limitations he would face while building out the story, he focused more on creating ambiance, rhythmic pacing, and narrative tension to the game. Chahi resorted to developing his own tool with a new programming language through GFA BASIC coupled with

12319-481: The player to maneuver their character across platforms to reach a goal while confronting enemies and avoiding obstacles along the way. These games are either presented from the side view, using two-dimensional movement, or in 3D with the camera placed either behind the main character or in isometric perspective . Typical platforming gameplay tends to be very dynamic and challenges a player's reflexes, timing, and dexterity with controls. The most common movement options in

12446-498: The player's character upon contact, such as lava pits or bottomless chasms. The player may be able to collect items and power-ups and give the main character new abilities for overcoming adversities. Most games of this genre consist of multiple levels of increasing difficulty that may be interleaved by boss encounters, where the character has to defeat a particularly dangerous enemy to progress. Simple logical puzzles to resolve and skill trials to overcome are other common elements in

12573-406: The player. Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama The company that produced Another World , Delphine Software, has since gone into administrative receivership and Another World remains their most recognized game. Paul Cuisset's best-selling 1992 game Flashback , also released by Delphine but created without any involvement from Chahi, features similar gameplay and graphics and makes

12700-1043: The player. In the 1990s, RPGs , first-person shooters , and more complex action-adventure games captured significant market share. Even so, the platformer thrived. Tomb Raider became one of the bestselling series on the PlayStation , along with Insomniac Games ' Spyro and Naughty Dog 's Crash Bandicoot , one of the few 3D games to stick with linear levels. Moreover, many of the Nintendo 64 's bestsellers were first- and second-party platformers like Super Mario 64 , Banjo-Kazooie , and Donkey Kong 64 . On Windows and Mac , Pangea Software 's Bugdom series and BioWare 's MDK2 proved successful. Several developers who found success with 3D platformers began experimenting with titles that, despite their cartoon art style, were aimed at adults. Examples include Rare 's Conker's Bad Fur Day , Crystal Dynamics 's Gex: Deep Cover Gecko and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver , and Shiny Entertainment 's Messiah . In 1998, Sega produced

12827-440: The process of creating them was excruciatingly slow, and he returned to using bitmapped images. Another World was influenced by everything I liked at that time of my life — mainly by pictorial art, movies and science fiction books, like Dune or Hyperion . Comics and fantasy art also inspired me; artists like Michael Whelan , Richard Corben , Frank Miller and Frank Frazetta . Éric Chahi While Chahi had

12954-477: The release of the Pocket PC version, in 2006 Chahi created a new Windows version targeted at Windows XP . Emmanuel Rivoire increased the resolution to 1280×800 pixels and Chahi created more detailed backgrounds. He found that his original choice to use polygons for the game characters enabled him to use the original character art at a higher resolution. The game still supports the original 320×200 resolution, as well as

13081-492: The rights to Another World ' s intellectual property from Delphine Software International after they closed down in July 2004. Magic Productions then offered to port the game to mobile phones , and it was ported with help from Cyril Cogordan. Chahi saw that the game's playability could be improved, so he used his old Amiga for reprogramming certain parts of the script and made the graphics' shading clearer in order to counter mobile phones' low resolutions. In July 2005, almost

13208-402: The same capabilities, requiring the player to take advantage of the three gun modes and the environment to overcome them. Lester and his alien ally cannot sustain any damage, and the game ends immediately if either of them is struck by a projectile or comes in contact with an animal or an environmental hazard. However, the game uses numerous checkpoints enabling the player to keep restarting at

13335-472: The sequel, beyond suggesting "redesigning the game from the alien point of view," by which he meant making an alternative version of the original game but was misunderstood. In 2014, Polish filmmaker Bartek Hławka created a live-action fan film titled Another World: The Movie , and in 2015, Italian filmmaker Daniele Spadoni did a different fan film mixing live action footage with CG animation. Chahi has stated in several interviews that he has no intention of making

13462-452: The story is complete. It has a lot of mystery, so doing a sequel would be very tricky. It could break the magic it has. Eric Chahi A sequel titled Heart of the Alien was developed by Interplay and released exclusively for the Sega CD in 1994. The game is similar in graphics and gameplay, as the player plays as Lester's alien friend Buddy. Chahi had nothing to do with the development of

13589-486: The time. Despite this, Yoshi's Story sold over a million copies in the US, and Mischief Makers rode high on the charts in the months following its release. The term 3D platformer usually refers to games with gameplay in three dimensions and polygonal 3D graphics. Games that have 3D gameplay but 2D graphics are usually included under the umbrella of isometric platformers , while those that have 3D graphics but gameplay on

13716-405: The time. For example, as Chahi recognized he was trying to create a game on his own, the first portions of the game evoke loneliness and isolation, reflecting Chahi's mood at the time. He did not have the original intention of the character meeting an ally, but again described the improvisation approach led him to include the alien friend, and had included specific cinematics that showed a close up of

13843-412: The tiniest minutiae of their fiction, Out of this World ' s dimension contains a sense of mystery that makes it all the more lonely, and often, quietly beautiful. The game can be brutal and heartbreaking, but Chahi's amazing vision makes [it] a thoroughly gripping experience." That same year, Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar named it as number one top "cult-classic franchise" that should be rebooted in

13970-489: The top of the tower, Lester collapses, but is promptly joined by Buddy, who picks Lester up and the two escape on a dragon-like creature, flying off to the horizon. The game's French designer Éric Chahi had previously worked as a game programmer and then as a graphic designer for video games since 1983. It was the success of his earlier work with Paul Cuisset as a graphic designer for the adventure game Future Wars for Delphine Software and its royalties that gave him

14097-422: The two must evade capture while travelling through a series of dangerous environments, battling alien soldiers and wild creatures while solving numerous puzzles in order to survive. The duo traverse the prison complex, a cave system and a tower structure. In the game's climax, Lester is severely wounded by one of the aliens, but with the help of his alien friend, manages to kill his attacker and escape. After reaching

14224-437: The video game industry internationally. The following year, Donkey Kong received a sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. and later Mario Bros. , a platformer with two-player cooperative play . It laid the groundwork for other two-player cooperative games such as Fairyland Story and Bubble Bobble . Beginning in 1982, transitional games emerged with non-scrolling levels spanning multiple screens. David Crane's Pitfall! for

14351-455: The visual flash of 3D with traditional 2D side scrolling gameplay. These games are often referred to as 2.5D. The first such game was Saturn launch title , Clockwork Knight (1994). The game featured levels and boss characters rendered in 3D, but retained 2D gameplay and used pre-rendered 2D sprites for regular characters, similar to Donkey Kong Country . Its sequel improved upon its design, featuring some 3D effects such as hopping between

14478-413: Was Floating Runner , developed by a Japanese company called Xing and released for PlayStation in early 1996, before the release of Super Mario 64 . Floating Runner uses D-pad controls and a behind-the-character camera perspective. In 1996, Nintendo released Super Mario 64 , which is a game that set the standard for 3D platformers. It let the player explore 3D environments with greater freedom than

14605-532: Was Lester becoming the leader of the alien world. Chahi also argued for his own cover art for the game even with the time crunch for release; he had been disappointed in cover art that was foisted on his games by previous publishers and insisted he be allowed to create it for this game. The game was finished in 1991, which inspired the game's tagline: "It took six days to create the Earth. Another World took two years"; Chahi noted his own exhaustion at completing this project

14732-497: Was a primary way to attack. This was the first true 3D platform-action game with free-roaming environments, but it was never ported to another platform or released outside Japan, so it remains relatively unknown in the West. The following year, Exact released their follow-up to Geograph Seal . An early title for Sony's new PlayStation console, Jumping Flash! , released in April 1995, kept

14859-554: Was also used by Video Games Player magazine in 1983 when it named the Coleco port of Donkey Kong "Ladder Game of the Year". Another term used in the late 1980s to 1990s was "character action games", in reference to games such as Super Mario Bros. , Sonic the Hedgehog , and Bubsy . It was also applied more generally to side-scrolling video games , including run and gun video games such as Gunstar Heroes . Platform game became

14986-447: Was commercially successful, selling about one million copies during the 1990s. The game received critical acclaim. Computer Gaming World criticized the brief documentation and short length of gameplay, but praised the game's graphics and Amiga sound, and called it "one of Europe's most playable and enjoyable arcade efforts." The Lessers of Dragon gave the game 5 out of 5 stars and called it "an adventure that will keep [the player] on

15113-516: Was composed by Jean-François Freitas. The music was influenced by film soundtracks such as Back to the Future . Black Screen Records released CD and vinyl versions of the 18-song soundtrack in August 2017. The game was originally released for the Amiga and Atari ST in November 1991, running at a display resolution of 320×200 pixels. These versions received less play-testing than other versions, making for

15240-440: Was developed by Chahi alone over a period of about two years, with help with the soundtrack from Jean-François Freitas. Chahi developed his own game engine , creating all the game's art and animations in vector form to reduce memory use, with some use of rotoscoping to help plan out character movements. Both narratively and gameplay-wise, he wanted the game to be told with little to no language or user-interface elements. The game

15367-410: Was developed by Interplay in 1993, and features very detailed raster graphics backgrounds. However, Chahi believes that this actually detracts from the game, because the polygons do not fit in with this, and thus make the backgrounds look flat. The game's soundtrack was changed again, albeit without any legal troubles, due to Chahi's focus on a new project. Some new tunes were also added, all played from

15494-521: Was found in any previous game in the genre. With this in mind, Nintendo put an analog control stick on its Nintendo 64 controller, a feature that had not been seen since the Vectrex but which has since become standard. The analog stick provided the fine precision needed with a free perspective. In most 2D platformers, the player finished a level by following a path to a certain point, but in Super Mario 64 ,

15621-448: Was influenced by works that Chahi liked at the time. The art and atmosphere were influenced by science fiction books such as Dune , artists such as Michael Whelan , and comic illustrators such as Richard Corben . Manga such as Akira Toriyama 's Dragon Ball influenced the way it suggests a lot with very little, character blurring effects such as the use of thin lines to suggest fast motion, and charging power attacks influenced by

15748-440: Was originally developed for the Amiga and Atari ST but has since been widely ported to other contemporary systems, including home and portable consoles and mobile devices. Chahi has since overseen release of various anniversary releases of the game. Another World was innovative in its use of cinematic effects in both real-time and cutscenes , which earned the game praise among critics and commercial success. It also influenced

15875-585: Was originally in development and planned to be published by Interplay in September 1994 but it was never released. In 2012, the Jaguar port of the game was confirmed and approved by Chahi. It was released as a limited collector's item in cartridge form, complete with a box and manual published by the association Retro-Gaming Connexion (RGC) in 2013. The game engine was rewritten especially for the Atari Jaguar to make use of

16002-429: Was published in North America under the title Out of This World in order to avoid confusion with the popular but unrelated soap opera television series Another World . Coincidentally, the science fiction sitcom Out of This World aired at the same time as the game's USA-Canada release. Many reviewers criticized the short length of the game. Chahi, working for 16 hours a day for two months, responded by creating

16129-418: Was the first game to allow players to jump over obstacles and gaps. It is widely considered to be the first platformer. It introduced Mario under the name Jumpman. Donkey Kong was ported to many consoles and computers at the time, notably as the system-selling pack-in game for ColecoVision , and also a handheld version from Coleco in 1982. The game helped cement Nintendo's position as an important name in

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