Everybody loves rotoscoping: Let's Play Out of this World!

OK, show's over, time to move along.

Running to the right brings us to a ledge. You have to jump pretty much as soon as you enter the screen, otherwise you go barrelling over the edge and...


Oh lord. Preferring to keep his insides unperforated, Angus makes a second attempt and puts a bit more effort into things:


Hey, it's a wall! That's exciting. Jumping off the ledge to the left will leave Gus with a bad case of stalactite-through-the-liveritis, so it looks like the only sensible thing to do is to blast his way through the wall.


And now we're in a cave! If you've been following with us up to this point, then you're probably assuming that the little hole in the ground is a fairly dangerous thing for our dear friend Angus to jump into. You would actually be wrong! Using his sturdy physicist knees, Gus can take that route straight down into a lower screen, sustaining no bodily harm in the process. I'll show you that in a bit, but first let's head right.


The next screen contains a wall that's just begging to get blastered, and it also offers a more low-impact route to get to the screen below the previous one. That is to say, here:


So it looks like our choice is to go either down or right from where we started. I don't know about you guys, but given the choice between exploring some boring old cave and blowing the fuck out of a deserving wall, I know which option I'll usually go for.


Oooh yeah.


The next area offers the choice of up or right. Climbing stairs is hard, so we'll check out the area to the right first. Upon doing so, we see some sort of dam-like structure with water coursing down it. Angus isn't afraid of getting a little wet, so he sets out to cross the dam.


Damn. Ok, let's try upstairs!

Damn dam.

Since no one has pointed it out yet, I'd like to vote for the Sega CD version as the best version of the game. The extra power of the Sega CD made it roughly on par with the SNES version, but with a CD quality soundtrack (done by the original composer of the game, so not the music that was in the SNES and Genesis versions). I also contains the game's sequel, Heart of the Alien which was not developed by Chahi, but created with his input. It's not as good as the original, but it takes place from Buddy's perspective (how he got caught and then helping Lester out) and so interesting at least on that front.

Hey kids! I owe you guys an update, and an update shall come within the next 24-48 hours or so. Before I can do that, though, I need YOU to make an important choice! In our last episode we discovered that the high road lead only to death by waterfall. With no other choice but to head deep underground, Angus comes to a crossroads:

From here, he can go right or down. And you guys get to decide which one it'll be! To help you with your choice, here is a quick preview of what lies each way.

To the right, exciting jumping times!


Down below, the enigmatic anvil-shaped rock!


So which is it going to be, Talking Time? The next 5 people who post their decisions will get their votes counted, and then I'll prepare the next update (probably) tomorrow night. Let's deciding!

The anvil. Everything's better with anvils.

Down. You can die in more hilarious ways.

I vote for whichever option gets the most votes.

I vote down. Partly because of the anvil rock, partly because Stiv says there are better deaths there.

I think we should take the anvil route.

Our protagonist is a physicist, and if there's anything certain other physicists have proven, it's that they can't do jumping sequences worth a crap (I'm looking at you, Miiiister Freeman). So clearly we shall investigate anvils.

I am excited for Anvil times!

Anvils will never hurt you.

Wait a minute. Falling on an anvil? That's backwards. That's just plain wrong. I change my vote to taking the upper route.

Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken. Down we go!


So here we are, taking the low road. Say, what's this?


I bet you guys are thinking what I'm thinking right now:


Once again succumbing to his more violent side, Angus takes out his frustrations on the poor, unsuspecting anvil-shaped rock. The result is a path that leads back up to the previous area...or at least, it would, if we weren't permanently stuck on the wrong side of it. Oops.


With no choice but to head right, Angus heads, uh, right. The pile of bones on the floor probably has some sort of warning to offer to him, but he's more preoccupied with the pointy stalagmites on the floor. Remember kids, stalagmites grow up from the floor, stalactites hang from the ceiling!


Having already demonstrated the "death-by-impaling" animation, Angus opts to gracefully leap over the treacherous mineral deposits and push farther into the cave.


The next area shakes with the same mysterious geological instability that we saw when Gus first dragged himself out of the lake. This has FULL LIFE CONSEQUENCES, sending a shower of rocks falling down on the path that never seems to let up ever. Throwing caution to the wind, Gus makes a break for it and...


Crunch. Angus gets a face full of space granite and we get this:


If you've played as much Out of this World as I have, then these four letter are engraved into your brain as a result of the number of times you have seen them. The falling rock gauntlet, as well as the various and sundry hazards that follow it, comprise a grueling gauntlet that can claim the lives of several dozen Guses over the course of an average playthrough. My hazy memories tell me that this version of the game is actually much more forgiving than the SNES version, due to the addition of some extra continue points that the latter wasn't kind enough to provide you with. I'm not actually sure that this is the case, though, as I don't have a working copy of the SNES cartridge to verify my claim. Suffice to say, though, that there are enough hazards in the next area to make the faint of heart put the controller down and never come back. Neither myself nor Angus is smart enough to make that decision, however, so we'll be pressing onwards. Or rather, backwards.


This part of the game has the charming tendency to put you back at the very beginning of the caves. Fun! We make our way back to the falling rocks room and try to cross again. Since it's too dangerous to sprint across the screen, Gus decides to hang back and examine the situation before proceeding.


Which doesn't turn out to be safer after all! For the record, it should be noted that the rock that killed our good physicist this time doesn't even fall if you start running across the screen upon entering it. That's right, this is a sentient rock that only falls on wary travelers who don't charge headfirst into lethal environments. Fuckin' igneous.

Turns out that the trick is to run out just far enough to trigger the first wave of rocks and then run backwards after they land to find a safe spot. Once the rocks have started falling, they lock into a pattern and become much more predictable. This allows you to bide your time and run through when the coast is clear, like so:


Yes! We've made it safely to the next screen. And what kind of dangers will Angus find here?


Ah, falling rocks. Razzafrazzin' stupid no-good....

I always thought of it as "stalactites have to hold on tight".

I've also heard that Stalagmites come out of the ground, which seems more consistent with the ceiling mnemonic.

Yeah, that's how I learned/remember it (or a close variation).

And stalagmites might reach the ceiling one day.

This is, of course, the correct way to view things.

Are you going down and blasting the anvil ramp every time before the rocky death? Just ... wondering ...

You'll have your answer soon! I'll try to update again tonight, and then you'll see.

I think you should make intimate friends with the tentacles hanging from the ceiling. It's not like they're attached to a gaping hell-maw lined with serrated teeth.

After several bludgeoning deaths by heavy falling rocks, Angus finally makes it through the gauntlet and into the next screen. Success!


The next area features groping tentacles on the ceiling and some strange looking mouths on the floor. Surely they mean us no harm, right?


Of course that's not right! The toothy mouths pull old Gus down to a painful death which is, mercifully, not shown onscreen. The mouths aren't very swift predators, but they can sense when food is nearby: if you stand near one, even without moving, it just starts chewing, hoping that you'll step into it. It's actually kind of adorable.

Anyway, we're dead. Now what?


Thankfully, the game is merciful with us and plunks us back on the right side of the falling rocks area. Again, my hazy memories of the SNES version of this game had me playing through the whole damn cave from the start every time I died anywhere, but I can't be 100% sure that there wasn't a save point here. But enough philosophizing, let's find a way through this hallway!

Leaping gracefully, like some kind of red-headed, flat-shaded gazelle, Angus lightly springs over the treacherous chewing orifices.


Oh hey, it's another screen of tentacles and mouths! Now that we know how to deal with them, let's get hopping.



Jesus Christ! This has to be the messiest and potentially most disturbing death scene that Out of this World has to offer. I hope everyone was sufficiently impressed by its gooeyness!

Request granted!

Angus is pretty pissed off now, so he does the manly thing and lets his blaster do the talking.



Cathartic.



Hopping over the teeth, we come to...



A chasm, along with some more teeth. I suppose we should have a quick peek down the hole while we're here, right?



Raise your hand if you didn't see that coming. Interestingly enough, there seems to be another one of those power lines down there. Too bad there's no way to get down to that level without ventilating Angus' sternum.


Angus instead opts to choose life...and live.

Tune in next time to find out what thrilling challenges our plucky physicist will face next!

Let's continue, shall we?


This next screen is noteworthy because it doesn't contain a single thing that can kill, maim or mutilate our protagonist. Amazing!


This screen doesn't either, for that matter. It does, however, have a paper-thin wall that is simply begging to get blastered.


Time to go claim our reward for traversing the Caves of Terror!


...

This is our reward? This place is about as exciting as an empty swimming pool! I guess we've got no choice but to hoof it back to the anvil and check out the other path that was available to us. Way to choose, Talking Time.


Thankfully, the return trip puts us on the high road through falling-rock land. This path is thankfully out of harm's way, and the boulders fall harmlessly in front of Gus as he runs by.


Now that we're up high, how can we make it back to the plateau on the left side of the screen?


With the help of your good friend and mine, Mr. Stalactite! So now we know that Mr. Particle Physicist is not only a brilliant scientist with sturdy knees, but he's got grip strength for days. Might as well put that to work for us and leap our way to freedom!


Ew.

Fill the pool with water, blast an entrance, and them swim to safety! It's fool-proof!

If I didn't already know this isn't the SNES version, I'd be able to guess by the streamers of blood coursing down Gus's shoes whenever he gets digested.

So the hangy tentacle thing wants to play rough, does it? Well WE know how to deal with aberrant appendages, now don't we? Take this, you churlish brute!


Stupid 2D world. I'd show you, if I could move Gus along the z-axis.

Frustrated by his inability to inflict violence upon the tentacle creature, Gus goes back the previous screen and takes out his aggression on some kinda hanging bat thing or something.


Flustered, the flying fiend flutters from his favorite perch...


...and heads toward the site of our last confrontation. Hmm. Angus follows it to the left to see how things unfold.


The tentacles chow down on the unfortunate beastie, providing a window of safety for gus to traverse the stalactities. Sorry, friend, of all the things we've killed so far in this game, you're probably the only one that didn't have it coming. Well, there's no time for regrets, time to get hopping!


...aaaand we're back on top of the anvil!

I thought we broke the anvil? Or was that some kind of parallel universe deal?

Edit: Oops, never mind.

Now that we're here, it's time to pop this rock and head back up a level. Thankfully, after we broke the anvil way back in Episode 4.3, we died several horrible, painful deaths. If we hadn't, we would have gotten back to this area and found that we couldn't get back to the other side to climb up. Lucky!


I know what you guys are thinking. You want to see Gus get crushed under the anvil so that he can die a horrible, grisly death. You people are horrible.

Fortunately, so am I!


Aw. It seems that, for all the nasty things that Eric Chahi programmed into this game, it never occurred to him that people would try to smoosh Angus underneath 20 tons of alien granite. Ah well, guess it's time to move on.


Here we are again at the Crossroads of Choice! Since your last choice sent Gus through a horrible gauntlet of agony and torture all for the sake of destroying a wall that leads nowhere, I'm taking charge of things now. Off to the right!


Hop!


Jump!


Ooooh.

Now this is interesting. I think our next course of action is pretty clear, don't you?


Sweet!


Uh...

Crap.


Glub glub indeed.

Oh goodness! Is there no escape from these interminable tunnels?