Kojima was also asked what games had most profoundly impacted him. First of all he mentioned Super Mario Bros, and said that without that game, he probably wouldnt be sitting here. Another game that impressed him and stood out to him when he entered the game industry, was polygon based game called Another World (Out of this World in America). According to Kojima, this game did a great job of conveying the creators style. Click to expand...

Ueda's main inspiration for Ico was Eric Chahi's game Another World (Outer World in Japan), which used cinematic cutscenes and lacked any head-up display elements as to play like a movie. It also featured an emotional connection between two characters, despite the use of minimal dialog. Ueda also cited Lemmings, Flashback and the original Prince of Persia games as influences, specifically regarding animation and gameplay style. Click to expand...

Who do you think is the best game character of all time, apart from Travis, and why?



I'm a big fan of Eric Chahi, he's a game designer who created Outer World (japanese release name) and Flashback (note: wasn't actually involved). I don't remember the characters names but the experience of playing the games is unforgettable. Click to expand...

IGN Wii: What is your favorite videogame of all time and why? On the same note, what is your favorite movie of all time and why?



Suda: My favorite game is Out of this World. I was shocked and impressed by the game by Erick Chahi. My favorite movie is Paris, Texas. I was very moved by this movie, and that feeling still remains today. Click to expand...

Alongside the obvious franchises like the Tomb Raider, Assassin's Creed and Uncharted series, cinematic platformers left an obvious mark on some other developers and studios. Some cite certain titles like Another World and Prince of Persia as direct influences while others have suspiciously similar elements in their games. Of course, some might have ended up at the same conclusion and decisions while contemplating on a cinematic approach to their games.A list of developers citing Another World as influential to their work (so far all Japanese, curiously enough): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkbNBD4m89o#t=1209 (20:10 mark)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ico https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BA3MnMx_nU#t=395 (6:35 mark) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV25ZylPwIk#t=109 (1:50 mark)Apparently,(of Resident Evil fame) has also cited Another World as one of his favorite games, but I can't find any direct sources or quotes. Also, if anyone else has any info and sources about other devs influenced by cinematic platformers, feel free to share.The mid 90s rapid advance in realtime 3D graphics shifted the industry's focus towards this new and popular design approach. In, Delphine Software made, a direct sequel to Flashback in full 3D. The game had a lesser emphasis on actual platforming and focused more on the action adventure and puzzle solving gameplay. It was only a year later that Core Design showed how to successfully transfer cinematic platformers to the third dimension with. The game was pretty much a direct attempt at making a 3D cinematic platformer and has most of the key elements in place: realistic movement, high vulnerability, brutal deaths, traps and hazards, almost no HUD, trial and error gameplay, environmental puzzle solving, cinematic presentation and lots and lots of platforming. It showed that realistic platforming and climbing mechanics could be successfully pulled off in a 3D environment which paved way for some of the most successful franchises of today.was released in, an atmospheric puzzle platformer with a minimalistic visual and narrative style, following a horned boy escorting a girl companion as they attempt to escape a castle together. Fumito Ueda cites Another World, Prince of Persia and Flashback as direct inspirations for his cult classic. His next game,also shares many of Ico's sensibilities and gameplay mechanics although it is a significantly different game, mostly designed around unique boss battles.And while Tomb Raider sequels lined one after another and various 3D games introduced elaborate platforming and climbing mechanics, it wasn't untilthat the movement controls started feeling much more fluid and streamlined, parkour-style, with the release of the first game in the modern Prince of Persia trilogy,. It introduced a lot of improvements and novelties in the genre, with fluid acrobatics, more elaborate and action packed melee battles and a time rewinding power that became the staple of the series. This game established the 3D third person action adventure platformer mold that spawned some of the most successful modern video game titles.After the Prince of Persia trilogy was concluded, Ubisoft Montreal started working on a sequel with a diffrent direction in mind. This time, the player was not the protagonist but merely a bodyguard of a very young prince. Eventually, the bodyguard, an assassin, was selected as the lead character and the idea evolved into what we know today as thefranchise, with the first title in the long running series released in. It perfected the parkour-style movement, enabling the player to climb any building or object in the game world. Combat took a hit and perhaps returned to its very early roots, with somewhat clumsy and servicable melee fighting, but the historical epic adventure established the series as one of the most popular and prolific in recent years.The same year, another famous franchise was concievend by the very talented Naughty Dog studios, with the release of. Drawing obvious inspiration from titles like Tomb Raider, it further perfected the cinematic third person action adventure recipe with epic set pieces and an action packed story.In, one peculiar gem also gave a go at realistic platforming, but this time in first person with the release of. In essence, it somewhat successfully transfered Assassin's Creed parkour mechanics into a first person perspective, creating a memorable cinematic plaforming experience.Here's a short (and probably incomplete) list of modern cinematic platforming action adventures:Valve'sis also a very interesting example.Here we have an iconic and wildly respected game starring a silent protagonist, a scientist that causes (through his own fault, chance or other outside forces) a science experiment to go terribly wrong, opening a portal to another world. At first, the player doesn't have any weapons and has to survive using his wits, reflexes and platforming skills. A bit later, he finds the most useful and iconic weapon just lying around on the floor. The levels are filled with traps and hazards causing gory and brutal deaths to the player and his eventual companions, one of the frequents being an alien "sarlacc pit" creature with chomping teeth and hanging tentacles. The entire adventure lasts a few hours to a day or so (inside the game world that is), a crisis situation with the main goal of escaping the dangerous environments and eventually stopping the bad guys, all done through very minimalistic storytelling. And as an icing on the cake, the protagonist actually teleports into a weird, alien world near the end.Most of these elements are directly comparable to Another World, even the basic mechanics like platforming through hazardous environments, backtracking, solving simple environmental puzzles and cinematic setpieces full of exploding walls and collapsing structures. The parallels are pretty interesting, although as I mentioned earlier, Valve might have come to the same conclusions as Eric Chahi while thinking about the cinematic approach to video game design, although some of the details are eerily similar.The same can be said about a lot of today's common gameplay mechanics like quicktime events, David Cage games in general, context-based actions (frequent in Uncharted or something like fluidly going into a fixed cinematic camera when entering a tomb through a narrow crack in the wall in the Tomb Raider reboot) and cinematic setipeces with rockets flying around, collapsing buildings and friends helping each other climb a ledge. Again, I'm not claiming that Another World directly inspired Call of Duty, only that they've drawn the same conclusions regarding cinematic gameplay, which only strengthens the idea of just how much Eric Chahi and Jordan Mechner were ahead of their time.With the advance of smaller, indie titles on Steam, current gen consoles as well as the popularization of crowdfunding, various genres have begun to make a return and as we've seen before in this thread, there has been a surge of atmospheric, weird and interesting 2D sidescrolling cinematic platformers with even more titles announced in the coming months and years. Most of the following games are still in development with little info on them so whether they actually belong to the genre or not is largely up for debate so the list will probably change as the games get released. Here's a small list of upcoming titles, feel free to recommend more and I'll add them to the list: Behind Nowhere (upcoming) Black the Fall (upcoming) Guild of Darksteel (upcoming) INSIDE (upcoming) Randall (upcoming, 2015?) The Last Night (upcoming kickstarter in March, 2016 launch) The Way (upcoming, 2015 launch) Somerville (upcoming) Orphan (upcoming, late 2015)(upcoming)(upcoming)(upcoming)(upcoming)To sum it all up, I believe that cinematic platformers should get a bit more recognition, especially when discussing video game history and the influence of certain titles on the industry. It's one of the evolutionary paths of a 2D sub-genre that reached its peak years ago and left some classic and highly influential games in its wake, not unlike what immersive sims have done for the first person action-adventure-RPG genre (Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines). They are special in some ways, giving off a sense of mystery and adventure without the need to explain anything in detail. As perhaps the most compelling example, Another World gives us a very powerful and intimate peek at the creative mind of the developer, his sensibilities and sources of inspiration. It's a game primarily designed with the core inspiration in mind. Eric Chahi created the intro first, without even knowing where the story would lead him next, and he kept this approach throughout the development process. The focus was always in setting the mood, getting an emotional reaction from the player, creating a cinematic set piece and pulling the player in with its art and atmosphere.You could argue that this approach is flawed and to be fair, Another World has its share of problems and annoyances, but I believe its artistic approach to visuals and game design leave a lot more room for expression and originality, giving the player a unique and memorable experience rarely encountered in video games. You could also argue that the cinematic approach is a very bad idea, trying to turn one medium into another when they're not completely compatible. This is certainly true, especially with extreme examples like FMV adventures and Quantic Dream's choose-your-own-adventures that often neglect the gameplay aspect, leaving you wondering why the developers didn't just make a movie. But I think there can be a balance and that video games as a medium offer a wider spectrum of narrative styles, with cinematic platformers perhaps managing to successfully combine well designed and strong gameplay with minimalistic and atmospheric storytelling, leaving the player with a sense of reading a good book, watching an exciting movie or just existing in another world while still very much being a good video game.I hope this thread will be useful or interesting to people so feel free to comment, reminisce and post about upcoming games or something I've missed. I certainly haven't played all of these games and there's bound to be mistakes and inconsistencies, especially since at this point it's mostly my take on what should or shouldn't be on this list. It's a work in progress so hopefully we can make it even better. Thanks!