E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Another World
Alien friendships and unforgettable stories. #friendship #cinema #videogame
Welcome back to Artcade, the tour guide for the curious. This week, we’re making contact with the universe. Is this our way of tipping the hat to Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy? Maybe. Or maybe it was a last-second idea that landed here in the intro—I’d bet on the second option. In any case, whether you’re Earthling or alien, try to stay on your own planet (and treat it well, if possible), because as today’s installment shows, playing away from home is a lot trickier. Enjoy the read!
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (let’s be honest, not the best name ever. It’s like landing on Mars and the locals start calling you E.M. the Extra-Martian) comes to Earth on a mushroom-picking field trip with his buddies, but a mishap makes him miss the ride back.
His resemblance to a wrinkly plush toy distantly related to a turtle doesn’t help him blend in—but it sure delights the merchandising department.
Through incredible adventures and a few mysterious powers (none of which got him back to the ship on time) E.T. overcomes every obstacle thanks to a brand-new friend:
Steven Spielberg (1982) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial [Audiovisual work] [Sci-Fi] [114 Min.] Universal Pictures
Another World (known as Out of This World in North America) starts with a bang. A lone scientist spends a stormy night running an experiment with a particle accelerator. What could possibly go wrong?
The answer: instant teleportation to another planet. To be fair, he does try a friendly approach… with limited success:
The friendship he longs for arrives in a cage. From that moment on—through every absurd situation—his cell-mate comes to the rescue again and again, in a bond of mutual aid that carries through the whole journey.
This is the 20th-anniversary edition of Another World. The visuals have been cleaned up and enhanced, but there’s a nostalgic twist for anyone who played the original on an Amiga 500: tap a key at any moment and you can toggle between the modern graphics and the 1991 look—how wonderful! Here’s a sample:
Éric Chahi (2018) [1991] Out of This World (20th Anniversary Edition) [Another World] [Video game] [Platform] [2½ H.] (Nintendo Switch) [Android, macOS, iOS, PlayStation 3/4/5, Windows, Xbox One/Series X/S] Delphine Software International
Information Desk:
Spielberg has legions of fans, yet some still call him an overrated genius. There’s one stat that unites everyone, though: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial cost $10.5 million and grossed $359 million at the U.S. box office alone. Add re-releases and worldwide sales and the figure passes $797 million.
The film’s own 20th-anniversary edition (just like Another World—fancy that) came with heavy touch-ups. Among other tweaks, the cops’ shotguns turned into walkie-talkies and E.T. got a digital nose job—see below:
How did Éric Chahi build a blockbuster-sized universe on an Amiga 500? With elegant programming tricks explained clearly in this documentary:
My last two coins
When Another World launched, nothing else in gaming captured the feel of a space epic the same way. Parts of it were brutally hard (my child-self struggled through sequences that had to be solved perfectly in one go), yet the pull was irresistible—I stayed glued to the joystick, replaying until I nailed it. The bond with the alien friend, the breathtaking views, the sense that the world existed beyond my presence—those memories remain some of my strongest as a player. If you were there back then… I bet you feel the same—right?
Until the next episode, ciao!