Mars Express Director Tackles Amiga Classic That Influenced Hideo Kojima [EXCLUSIVE]

20.04.2024 - 02:10 / gamerant.com / Dominik Bo

Game Rant can exclusively reveal a Mars Express behind-the-scenes clip featuring director Jérémie Périn tackling Another World, an Amiga classic that influenced a number of prominent game designers, such as Hideo Kojima. The video offers insights into the kind of art that informed Périn's directorial style, consequently permeating his upcoming cyberpunk animated film.

Jérémie Périn is a French animation veteran known for his work on the Lastman prequel series, Co2, and Like, Share, Die, among other shorts and shows. Mars Express is his feature film debut that premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in May 2023. NYC-based distributor GKIDS subsequently secured the movie's distribution rights, with plans to release its French original and English dub in May 2024.

Game Rant can reveal an exclusive behind-the-scenes video featuring Périn revisiting and reminiscing about Another World, also known as Out of This World in North America. Widely touted as one of the best cinematic platformers ever made, this 1991 classic has inspired a number of seminal video games, ranging from Silent Hill to Ico. Shortly before Mars Express had its Cannes premiere, Hideo Kojima namedAnother World as one of four games that influenced him the most, along with Xevious, The Portopia Serial Murder Case, and Super Mario Bros.

The video sees Périn reveal that he first played Another World on the original Amiga in his early teens, having recalled how he was «struck» by its cinematic qualities at the time. Elaborating on that point, the Mars Express director highlighted how the French game designer Éric Chahi managed to combine clean animations with an efficient art style that exemplifies the «less is more» mantra, something he has admired ever since. The filmmaker was also impressed with how Another World depicted characters and environments realistically, at least relative to the early '90s tech, despite being heavily stylized, as underlined by its minimalist linework and flat colors.

This balance between style and austerity is something that all of Périn's works in animation sought to achieve. Mars Express is no different, with its otherworldly setting even being vaguely reminiscent of the Amiga classic. However, in terms of story, themes, and characters, the animated feature film is much closer to iconic cyberpunk works such as Blade Runner, not least because it tackles topics like the impact of rapidly developing technology on human civilization and the resulting loss of humanity that such advancements can bring.

Ditto for the film's inclusion of androids and its mesmerizing tech-noir world, which have helped it secure four award nominations and one accolade in the form of the Best Animated Film honor at the latest Paris Film