THE ITALIAN MAN WHO WENT TO MALTA! DONKEY KONG MOVIE
Lets just say that Another World tries to be as much of a movie as possible while still being a game, in contrast to FMV choose-your-own-adventures like Dragons Lair and Night Trap which are at the other end of the spectrum. Some might dispute if Another World is even a platformer at all, although it satisfies the basic platformer requirements of being able to jump and having at least some limited platforming involved (as in jumping over chasms). But curiously, its not that easy to define what makes a cinematic platformer, especially if you notice that Prince of Persia and Another World (aka Out of This World) are two very different games, the latter probably fitting into a genre of its own. If I mention Prince of Persia, Another World, Flashback or Oddworld: Abes Oddysee, people immediately recognize the type of game Im talking about. Of course, Im talking about the cinematic platformer. And it is during this decade, from the late 80s to the late 90s, that a new genre was born, one that would curiously spawn a relatively small number of games but still leave a significant mark on video game history. Even with the introduction of a third dimension, it took a few years to make the transition from vaguely anthropomorphic forms into somewhat believable and realistic looking characters and environments, so the cinematic and realistic action adventures remained in the 2D side view for quite a while. Some of them tried to keep a certain level of realism and a cinematic feel to them, from cosmetic things like character proportions to more realistic physics, the inability to change direction mid-flight, adding falling damage, low jump height and climbing on ledges. Platformers evolved into action adventures, puzzle platformers, light-RPG adventures and all sorts of weird genre mixes, adding more story and interaction to them, all the while keeping their original 2D side view. And while real time 3D graphics were still in their infancy, most action games involving a character (as opposed to a vehicle and such) were set in the familiar 2D side view (scrolling or not), so as time went on, genres began to blur, creating new sub-genres.
Ever since Mario (Jumpman at the time) started jumping over Donkey Kongs barrels, platformers have been the staple of cartoon physics and impossible acrobatics, becoming one of the most popular genres in video game history. And while certain genres such as vehicle simulators or sports games seemed to fit this approach quite naturally, others were always set in more outlandish, caricatured and deformed versions of reality. As is the case with various forms of art, there has always been a branch of game design philosophy oriented towards realism, be it gameplay mechanics, visuals, physics or all of the above.
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