GBAtemp Recommends! Another World

[Another World]

GBAtemp Recommends! Another World
G.R. Issue #11 (GBA)


This week we deviate from the expected into "Another World," a sci-fi adventure platformer never officially released for the GBA.

Welcome to the eleventh issue of GBATemp Recommends! - a weekly magazine feature in which we share our favourite Game Boy Advance titles. The games we recommend may be top titles from the GBA library, a homebrew, or they may be sleeper hits that flew by the radar, but one thing's certain, they're all fantastic games that deserve your play time!

GBAtemp Recommends!

Another World

Another World was conceived by Eric Chahi in August of 1989. Chahi’s designs incorporated Rotoscope captured polygon layered vector graphics which used less space and allowed for more frames of animation per second. Considered 10 years before its time, Another World was criticized for its ability to be stored on a single floppy disk. Game designers assumed it would lack potential by using newly developed untested coding and design elements.

Unique to Chahi's vision the in-game animations and cut scenes unfold cinematically. Visuals are further entwined by mood enhancing expressions, sounds, and vague ominous background settings. Lacking a heads-up-display and providing only one life, the player must solve synchronized puzzles to advance. While the game is considered short, replay value is high due to the overwhelming amount of graphical details.

Originally designed on the Amiga computer this game was ported to various systems first by Delphine Software and later by Interplay. Cyril Corgordan [2004] was responsible for reverse engineering the Atari ST version, which was recompiled and remastered for the GBA. Chahi originally decided “to ban its release in order to make a potential business, but specially authorized its distribution later.”

Another World has been celebrated as an underrated influential landmark video game. Virtually missed by homebrew hobbyists, this GBA version is a legally sanctioned well polished retrospective of Chahi's work.

For more information, from concept to design, please visit Eric Chahi’s official homepage (linked at the bottom).

This game places the player in the role of Lester Chaykin, a young nuclear scientist. When an experiment goes badly wrong, Lester finds himself transported to Another World -- a strange, desolate and very alien land. Now Lester has to try to survive and find some way -- any way -- back home. Explore this strange world and make friends in the most unexpected places in this now-classic title.

Spoiler: Computer Version Intro/Gameplay

[tv]111084-260[/tv]​

Spoiler: Rotoscoping Technique

[tv]111084-261[/tv]​

Genre: Adventure/Platformer
Publisher: Foxy's Softs [Cyril Corgordan]
Release Date: 28/04/2005
ROM Size: 15.28Mbit

Official Hompage (English)

Download

Game Profile at IGN

Official GBAtemp Recommends! Mini-Page & History

Discuss

 

[SylvWolf]

Nice. Looks pretty sweet. I've heard of this before, but never looked into it. Think I'll check it out.

 

[VatoLoco]

I haven't tried this GBA port yet (waiting on 3in1 to arrive), but I've played the PC and Genesis versions,

and I can attest that Another World is a great game in class of its own, and most definitely worth playing.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

I never played this game, I wasn't even aware that there is a GBA version of it, well check it for sure, looks really interesting!

 

[Garcimak]

Big up to Foxy,
His work deserves it, he did the best 16/32bit era conversions for GBA.

 

[pilotwangs]

Another World is my favorite game of all time, and I loved the GBA port.


I really hope Eric Chahi makes a new game soon.

 

[ConJ]

Excellent game! I used to play this for hours on my Amiga. I remember being totally blown away by the graphics. If you havnt played this yet, then pick it up,

 

[Hadrian]

I've yet to complete this, and I've been trying since I first had it on the Amiga so many years ago. An excellent game and the inspiration to "Flashback" & "Blackthorne" (both I'll be lobbying to be future GBAtemp recommends).

I really hope that one day someone will port the sequel "Heart of the Alien" which has only ever been on the Sega CD/Mega CD console. In that game you play as the alien, Buddy.

 

[plasmatron]

One of the best games ever. Completed it lots of times on AMIGA, and it catshes me everytime I play it.

 

[pieman202]

lol another world posted this xD now i know where the pic is from

 

[amptor]

This was a very popular game in the early 90's for pc but I don't remember ever finishing it. I vaguely remember the intro. It fit on one floppy so it was very easy to pirate

 

[Ferrariman]

I remember this game being really hard

 

[BakuFunn]

Surprised i have missed this.
The graphics must have been top-notch back then. Even now for the GBA.
Nowadays, the graphics see like a shovelware DS game

Anyways, gameplay seems fun. If you touch anything, you die. Just run and jump. Ill be sure to try it out.

 

[throck]

I've yet to complete this, and I've been trying since I first had it on the Amiga so many years ago. An excellent game and the inspiration to "Flashback" & "Blackthorne" (both I'll be lobbying to be future GBAtemp recommends).

Flashback was never released on the GBA (much to my chagrin). A sequel/remake/reboot was developed, but never released, under the title "Flashback Legends." The gameplay and story are completely different, and only a beta has ever found its way into the wild.

A couple attempts have been made to port it to the NDS: Flashback DS and REminiscenceDS, neither of which has been updated in over a year. Flashback DS is kind of buggy with the sound, while REminiscenceDS is pretty full-featured (even allowing for SegaCD speech files).

Still, I wish someone had made a GBA version.

 

[saxamo]

It's great but pretty challenging.

 

[coolbho3000]

O noes! What are this ROMz doing on my GBAtempz?

 

[updowners]

This game is too hard.

Edit: *removed* (requested)

 

[Another World]

anyone interested in coding, game dev, and this particular game should check out the homepage i linked to at the bottom of the article. it is a very interesting read.

-another world

 

[Vater Unser]

There's also recently been a re-release of the game for windows with improved graphics (which can be turned on and off) as well as the ability to change the game's resolution, although it looks kinda shitty in higher resolutions, since it makes all the characters look fat and makes everything look more artificial and static.

Personally, I liked the SNES version best. It has a few more screens than prior releases of the game (which is noteworthy since the whole game is short as hell), as well as some new kick-ass music which, as far as I know, didn't appear in any other versions of the game, including the recent re-release. The framerate sucked ass though.

 

[[Truth]]

damn this game is so fucking difficult.
this is real trial and error.
but it annoys if you have to redo the same sequences again and again because you don´t know what to do at a specific point.
i found a nice guide for the game:
*removed* (requested, sorry)