Depending on what side of the world you live on, you might even say Metal Gear Solid's daddy is Out Of This World.
I already know I'm a hopeless nerd, so I have no problem confessing that I love to find out about what inspires creative types. I get to say "Oh hey! Me too!" and for a precious second, I feel validated. Then the shadows gather again.
Kotaku published an article about the five games that matter to Hideo Kojima. Super Mario Bros is a given, but I was happy to see that Eric Chahi's brooding alien adventure Another World was on the list as well.
Another World, cleverly renamed Out Of This World in North America, comes from a rare point in history when computer gamers had every right to laugh at console gamers. While young scientist Lester Knight Chaykin picked his way through a grim and hostile alien world with seemingly no hope of getting home, he took hundreds of enthralled Amiga, Apple II and DOS owners along with him. Every move he made counted, because one wrong turn or one bad step was all it took to die a hauntingly animated death. Every victory in Another World was bitterly earned, every discovery mattered.
Meanwhile, console gamers said "Ook Ook", threw their NES controllers at the screen and picked each other for lice.
I'm just being a smartass. I was very much a console gamer, which is why I never heard of Another World until Interplay adapted it for the Super Nintendo in 1993. The computer versions animate a lot more smoothly (though I do like the music added for the SNES title), but the game still left an impact on me that lasted for years. I'm a fan of subtle storytelling, which is something Another World did brilliantly with its militant, mostly silent grey aliens. They don't necessarily like each other and they certainly can't be bothered to muster up any love for Lester.
Except for Buddy, of course. He is a good alien. We should all take his example and guide lost tourists past alien guards and razor-clawed beasts. If the tourists don't speak English, more's the better. If no beasts or poison leeches are around, substitute cars and sewer rats. If the tourists do speak English, respond to their threats to call the police with "Me-tsu-dah!"
Good choice on Kojima's part, even if he has yet to master the art of silent storytelling.
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Hideo Kojima's Inability to Show Instead of Tell