The 8-bit Home Computer Bait and Switch

Back in the early 1980s, home video game consoles and home computers were competing for consumer dollars.  Home computers, Commodore's in particular were advertising that they could do so many more things than just play games, which they could do very well.  Dad could do the home finances, mom could keep her recipes, and the kids can learn with educational programs and write out their reports on a word processing program.  Thus the consumer saw home computers on retail shelves.  The most consumer friendly in terms of features and price included at first the Atari 400 and (barely) 800, the Commodore VIC-20 and 64, the TI 99/4A and the Tandy Color Computer.  Apple's expensive computers were mainstays of the hobbyists, educators and some small businesses, while IBM's even more expensive computers were almost exclusively purchased by business users and software development companies.

Even home consoles began getting into the act.  The Odyssey2 had a full set of keyboard keys.  The keyboard was a membrane keyboard and utterly useless for serious work.  The Intellivision and Colecovision and 5200 had numberpads.  Mattel developed two keyboard peripherals but failed to market them properly.  Mattel also released the underpowered Aquarius computer, which had little success.  The 2600 gave some lip service to programming by releasing a pair of programming controllers and a BASIC carrtridge.  The results were unimpressive due to the severe limitations of the 2600 hardware.  Coleco also released the Adam computer, which was a Colecovision upgraded with a keyboard and cassette drives.  It was not a success.

Unfortunately, the idea never of the all-in-one computing device quite meshed with the reality.  All of these systems were designed to display on home TVs.  None had an 80-column text mode, making it difficult for people to do serious word processing.  All IBM PCs had 80 column text and Apple's machines either had it built-in or was upgradeable.  The keyboards on many of these machines were far from typewriter quality, and none had a built-in numberpad.

Once the novelty of typing a book report wore off, little Johnny probably went back to handwriting them.  It must have been no joy to have to type a report on these mushy keyboards connected, via an RF switch, to a fuzzy TV.  As this took time, his work would probably have been relegated to the small secondary TV if the family had one.  Back in the early 80s, having two color TVs in an average American family was something of a luxury, so he would have to do his work on the smaller B&W TV.  Often this would occur on the kitchen table or on a small desk not designed for a computer.  Printing the thing in quality sufficiently legible for the teacher would often be a slow, noisy and frustrating effort with the dot matrix printers of the day.  If he got a disk read error or the power went out, his draft report would be gone in an instant!  Did I mention the slow speeds of the disk drives and tape drives available for the 8-bit machines?

Business software of any quality was slow to be released on these machines.  VisiCalc and WordStar were seldom seen.  RAM expansions beyond 48 or 64K was unsupported due to the lack of a standardized method   IBM's PCs could expand themselves naturally to 640KB, and once Lotus 1-2-3 became popular this became very important.  The Apple IIe could officially expand itself to 128K and unofficially (but simply) could enjoy much more RAM.

One great advantage that many of these computers had over IBM and Apple were in their graphics and sound capabilities.  Apple's graphics were born of the 70s and IBM's CGA didn't impress anyone. The Atari machines could produce 256 colors, and Commodore and Texas Instruments computers produced sixteen solid and distinct colors.  For arcade-like games, these machines also supported hardware sprites.  With these 8-bit CPUs, having hardware sprites really improved performance in games with moving objects on the screen compared with the more business oriented computers.

Another advantage was that these machines had sound chips built in.  The sounds of the arcades, including background noise, sound effects and short themes could be reproduced much better than the internal speaker of the IBM and Apple machines.  Lengthy music in computer games only became widespread in the late 80s, but music teaching and composing programs like Music Construction Set and Bank Street Music Writer were very popular.

Finally, these machines usually shared some peripheral compatibility.  The joysticks of the Atari 2600 worked in all Atari machines and in Commodore's VIC-20 and 64 and the TI 99/4A.  Except for the CoCo, which used analog joysticks, joysticks were a well-supported and easy to program for interface.  IBM and Apple did not release standard joysticks for most of their systems, and they were analog when most games released at that time preferred digital controls.

Even if the promise of the computer as a the universal appliance remained elusive, the more affordable computers were great for playing games.  Companies like Activision survived the home video game crash by turning their development efforts from video game consoles to computer systems.  Electronic Arts fully embraced the Atari 8-bit machines and later the Commodore 64 and were very successful.  Most companies had ports for most of their games for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, IBM PC, and later the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga and the Apple Macintosh.  In the United States, however, by the late 1980s all the game developers knew that the IBM would be the future and devoted their development efforts firmly or solely on that platform.

Another World, a.k.a. Out of this World - Versions of a Classic

European Title

North American Title

Another World, a.k.a Out of this World, was developed by Eric Chahi on an Atari ST and Amiga with music by Jean Francois-Freitas of Delphine Software, a French software company.  This game was released as Another World in Europe for the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST by U.S. Gold.  It was released in North America by Interplay for all platforms except the Sega Genesis and CD, which were released by Virgin Interactive.


In this article, I intend to compare the various versions of this game.  I will give screenshots of the opening level for each version.  Some versions of the game support more than one graphics mode.  I have not included screenshots for the Macintosh (I have no experience with Macintosh emulators) or the 3D0 (ditto).  All screenshots are presented in their natural, unfiltered and non-aspect ratio corrected resolutions.



I.  Commodore Amiga and Atari ST

Commodore Amiga

Atari ST

Use 320x200 active pixels.  ST has a slightly darker palette than the Amiga.  No more than 16 unique colors are used for any given screen.

The Atari ST version runs somewhat slower than the Amiga at the stock speeds of the respective computers (8MHz ST vs. 7.16MHz Amiga).  Although the Amiga and ST share the same CPU, the 68000, the Amiga has far more advanced graphics and sound hardware than the ST.

Atari ST and Amiga support one-button joysticks.  The jump is activated by pressing up on the joystick, just like Prince of Persia.

Pressing "c" on the keyboard brings up the password screen.  With the Amiga and ST versions, putting in the code for the first level (EDJI) may be the only way to skip the introduction.

The game can be installed to a hard drive on the Amiga.  The ST version comes on double-sided disks (single sided disks were more common).

This game uses a code wheel for copy protection.  There is only one code wheel and it works for all versions of the game.  You may enter the symbols in any order, but you must successfully pass the code wheel protection twice to play the game.  If you fail the protection on the Amiga or ST, the game will hang.

How can you tell if someone is playing the Amiga or ST versions?  There is a little scorpion walking across the first level.

Amiga/ST/DOS Password Screen

Atari ST only has sound effects for the introduction and ending.  It seems as though the Atari driver could only handle one digitized sound stream at a time.  Music is heard when Lester looks out over the alien city in the second level.  The lack of music makes the ending seem especially eerie.

All versions of the game use a password save system.  The Amiga and ST use different passwords for the game than the later versions, twelve levels are available.

Amiga Cinemascope Mode

Amiga Vertical Mode

The Amiga has three special graphics modes available, "Cinemascope", "Vertical" and "High Resolution", selectable by pressing F2, F3 and F4, respectively.  Cinemascope uses a 640x200 resolution, stretching the graphics horizontally.  Vertical uses a 320x400 resolution, stretching the graphics vertically.  I believe that the "High Resolution" mode uses a 640x400 resolution.  WinUAE does not seem to display it correctly, so I am not including it here.  The 400-line modes should be interlaced, leading to flickering on real hardware.













II.  MS-DOS & Macintosh

MS-DOS VGA

MS-DOS EGA/Tandy

MS-DOS supports VGA, EGA and Tandy 16-color graphics.  The palette is much more limited in the EGA and Tandy modes, but the resolution is always 320x200 in the DOS version.

Out of this World for DOS supports Sound Blaster, Adlib, Pro Audio Spectrum, PC Speaker and Disney Sound Source, all at either 10 kHz or 5 kHz.  It also supports the Roland LAPC-I and CM-32L (and compatibles with a Roland MPU-401 interface), but not the MT-32 or MT-100.     It only uses the 33 extra sound effects found on the LAPC-I and CM-32L and music is not played.  Another World supports all of the above except the Pro Audio Spectrum and LAPC-I/CM-32L.  It will complain if an Expanded Memory Manager is loaded, as it could have an impact on the game's performance.  However on a 486, this should not be an issue.  The game supports digitized music through the PC Speaker or Adlib, but these are noisy and quiet options compared with the Sound Blaster, PAS or DSS.

DOS supports a two-button joystick, with attack/run on one button and jump on the other button, just like Super Mario Bros.  I strongly recommend using a digital joystick like the Gravis Gamepad for this game.  I could not get the joystick functionality to work correctly on my 486DX2/66 with a non-speed adjustable gamepad like those found on a Sound Blaster or Sound Blaster Pro and the 10KHz Sound Blaster or Disney Sound Source options.  No amount of speed-adjustments elsewhere worked.  When I used my Sound Blaster 16's joystick port, the problem went away without having to play with speed options.

In DOS, failure to input the correct codewheel code will freeze the game after the third failed attempt, use Alt X to exit the game.   There are legitimate copies of the game for DOS which do not have the copy protection.  If the game came on a CD or cannot be played off the floppy disks which came in the box (using a compression-based installer), then it should not have copy protection.

Amiga/ST/MS-DOS Copy Protection

The scorpion in the first level is absent from the DOS and later versions.

Lester's yell when he swings on the vine in the first level (without the beast chasing him) is heard in the DOS version but not in later versions.

The DOS and later versions use different passwords from the Amiga & ST, and fifteen levels are available.  This was done by Chahi to address complaints that the game was too short in the Amiga and ST versions.

The Macintosh port was a contemporary of the DOS port and uses a 640x400 graphics window.  If your machine is too slow for that, it can also do 320x200, 480x300 or 512x364.  The main benefit to the higher resolutions is that the polygon graphics look less aliased (less jaggy).

There are a couple of really tough spots in the game, most of which were added to the DOS version :

After you escape from the cage, you get to an elevator. You have to go down and into a small room to disable an electrical panel. In the Amiga/ST versions, the room is otherwise empty, in the DOS version, there is a guard there. The guard is very quick and you must shoot the moment you leave the elevator room or he will kill you.

When you are rolling around in the ducts, in the Amiga/ST version, harmless steam spews out at certain points. In the DOS version, the steam will kill you.  You must time your movements to get past the steam when it is not blowing.  This is in addition to choosing the correct path to avoid falling to your death.

The caves are full of difficulties, from the falling rocks, to the tentacles on the ceiling and the pit traps to avoiding drowning after you release the water.  The laser, fully powered up, can kill the ceiling tentacles.

Just after the caves, there is an corridor where you have to fight one guard on each side, and it is difficult to maintain your shields and charge up your gun to kill both guards before one gets you.

When you have to return to the caves, now flooded, an extra screen and pit traps were added to the DOS version in the area where you have to disable an electrical circuit.  A running jump is necessary to get back into the water.

Immediately after the sequence were the guards are destroying multiple gates to get at you, in the Amiga/ST version you go straight to the tank. In the DOS version, two extra levels are added where you have to rescue your alien friend twice.

The tank in the arena requires you to push more buttons in the DOS than the Amiga/ST version to activate the escape pod.  It does not seem like the enemies can destroy the tank in the Amiga/ST version, but in the DOS version you will have to be pretty quick or the enemies will kill you.

III.  Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Apple //gs

The Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo versions of this game are ports of the DOS version.

Sega Genesis

Super Nintendo

The Genesis version uses the 256x224 (NTSC) resolution, even though the system can support 320x224 resolution graphics.  The gameplay is in a 224x176 pixel window, however.

The SNES version uses the 256x224 (NTSC) resolution, and it does not support a 320x224 resolution.  The gameplay is in a 224x160 pixel window.

The Genesis version allows you to input a code on the start menu or when you die.  It uses the YM-2612 FM synthesis chip to recreate the original music by Freitas instead of digitizing it like on the SNES.  The SNES, Genesis and the Apple //gs have an in-game text prologue with a journal entry from Lester.  All contain extra music from Charles Deenen or Tommy Tallarico.  While I understand that the music was trying to enhance the danger and suspense of the game, it is not really in keeping with the otherworldiness of the Freitas music.  Of Freitas' music, only the piece in the introduction remains, the short piece where Lester looks over the alien city and the ending music have been replaced.  Blood has been removed, and the red slobber in the tentacles has been replaced with green.  The nude alien girls have had their butt cracks virtually eliminated.

Apple //gs 16mm "Full Screen" Mode

Due to the compromises in the SNES version, there are loading times before viewing the intro and for each level, up to ten seconds.  This is virtually unheard of in a cartridge game of this era.  Unlike the Genesis version, you can only input a code on the game's start menu.  I have noticed one slight gameplay difference in the SNES version.  When you climb out of the pond, the first two screens to the left have these lethal slug creatures.  In the Amiga, ST, DOS and Genesis versions, 3 slugs will appear or drop on the first screen and 7 on the second.  In the SNES version, two slugs will appear on the ground on the first screen and two or three will appear on the second, but none will fall from the ceiling.

Apple //gs 35mm "Matted" Mode

The Apple //gs version is hard drive installable and ported from the SNES.  It requires an accelerator to get the game running at full resolution, and supports three lower resolution modes for those who are running a stock 2.8MHz CPU or not much faster.

While these versions have a journal entry just after the title screens, the earlier versions had virtually the exact same journal entry in their game manuals.

Apple //gs 70mm Widescreen Mode

Apple //gs Television Mode

The Apple //gs has four graphics modes, selectable when the game is booted.  The ideal mode is the 16mm mode, which uses the ordinary 320x200 pixels.  The next best mode is the 35mm (matted) mode.  This mode is squished vertically and uses 320x152 pixels.  The third available mode is the 70mm widescreen mode.  This stretches the image horizontally for 640x192 pixels.  The final and least detailed mode is the Television mode, which uses a 160x192 mode.  Using the most detailed mode requires an accelerated Apple //gs, at least 8MHz.



V.  Sega CD, 3D0

Sega CD

The Sega CD version is called Heart of the Alien : Out of this World I & II.  This includes Out of this World and Heart of the Alien, and apparently had no Another World European counterpart.  The game loads to a game select screen where you can choose either game.  For Out of this World, the introduction movie immediately begins.

This version has enhanced music and sound effects, the music being done by Freitas this time.  The load times are very reasonable.  Some of the sound effects, like the beast's growl, are not quite as good as the original Amiga/ST versions.  Unlike the Genesis version, the Sega CD version runs in the 320x224 resolution, but the graphics only occupy 304x192 pixels.  The graphics, however, are not shrunk, merely cropped.  This was probably done to limit the issues with overscan on TVs, not due to performance.  The extra music is far more complimentary to the game than the cartridge versions. It plays like the Genesis version, so you will get all the dropping slugs in the first level.

Once the game ends, the sequel, Heart of the Alien, will begin.  I will not say more about that game except it is so frustrating that it can drive one to violence, even with savestates.  Chahi had no involvement in the game, and it lacks his fine sense of difficulty and pacing.  The alien is much more difficult to control, and there are evil timing puzzles and pixel-perfect moves required.  While Out of this World retains the censorship of the SNES and Genesis, Heart of the Alien is far from censored and the game was originally rated MA-13.  Overall, if you have to play a console version, the Sega CD is the one to play.

It is well-known that the 3D0 version eliminates Freitas' music entirely and uses redrawn backgrounds with more detail.  Chahi approved of neither change, feeling the backgrounds gave too much detail and did not work well with the polygon character models.  What may not be so well-known is that the ending has been extended.  The alien returns Lester to the ruins of his village, and once there the alien recalls how his village was attacked and he was captured.  This same sequence is used, more or less, in the Sega CD version, but Heart of the Alien is not included in the 3D0 version.

V.  Windows 3.1 and 15th Anniversary Edition

I do not have access to the Windows 3.1 version, but I read that its very similar to the DOS version.  It may use MIDI music, however.  Nor do I have access to the Symbian and Power PC ports, any of the unofficial, non-commercial ports, or the iPhone, Android & iPad 20th Anniversary editions.  As I find the translation of joystick to touchpad controls to be a waste of time, I do not believe I will be trying them.

The 15th Anniversary Edition was released in 2006 and is compatible with Operating Systems from Windows 98 to Windows 7.  It offers enhanced backgrounds (redrawn to 1280x800), higher resolution polygon graphics and an enhanced sound track, but these options can be turned on and off individually.  It can run in a slow or fast mode.  It supports resolutions from 640x480 to 1920x1200 and maybe beyond.  It also supports joysticks and gamepads with redefinable keys.  It uses the Prince of Persia and Super Mario Bros. styles of control.  In other words, you can press Up or Button 2 on your gamepad to jump.

You do not have to turn any of these options on, so if you leave them off you essentially have virtually the same game as the DOS version, although it almost certainly sounds superior.  The aspect ratio is always 1.6:1, regardless of resolution used (black bars being used to keep the aspect ratio).

The game supports many more save points than the original, and will automatically keep track of all the levels you unlock, making passwords mostly superfluous.  There are three passwords for the first level alone.  I only played the demo version, but I may buy this even if only to use the high-resolution images for my desktop.  This was developed by Chahi, and seemingly represents his ideal vision for the game, both classic and modern.  The music was remastered by Freitas.

Windows 15th Anniversary Edition