Disney's Aladdin

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Aladdin
Cover art for the NES version
Developer(s)	Virgin Interactive, Inc. Disney Interactive Studios, Inc.
Publisher(s)	Virgin Interactive
Producer(s)	Neil Young, Andy Luckey, Rob Alvey
Designer(s)	David Bishop, Disney
Platform(s)	Mega Drive/Genesis, Amiga, MS-DOS, NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color
Release date(s)	Mega Drive NA November 11, 1993 EU November 11, 1993 JP November 12, 1993
Genre(s)	Action, Platform
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	VRC: GA
Media	ROM cartridge
Input methods	Game controller

Disney's Aladdin is a video game based on the 1992 motion picture of the same name. Unlike some cross-platform games of both then and now, the five versions (Sega Genesis, Super NES, Sega Master System/Sega Game Gear, Game Boy and NES) are each different games.

Mega Drive/Genesis version

The game from Virgin based on the 1992 animated Disney film, released initially on the Sega Genesis console, is a side-scrolling platformer.

The Genesis version was released in 1993 jointly by Virgin Interactive and Sega. The game, which was notable for its use of cel animation for in-game graphic elements, was produced by a team at Virgin Interactive which consisted of many members who would later form Shiny Entertainment and work on Earthworm Jim, including Mike Dietz and David Perry himself (who supposedly coded the game in 3 months). Also involved were veteran game designer David Bishop and animators Andy Luckey and Ian Freedman. Five original compositions and five arrangements from the movie were composed by Donald S. Griffin at the request of Virgin's audio director, Tommy Tallarico, who did the Genesis instruments and incidental transition music.

The Genesis version was worked on by Disney animators under the supervision of Virgin's Animation Producer Andy Luckey and Virgin animators Mike Dietz and Ian Freedman. This was achieved by use of the "Digicel" process -- developed at Virgin Interactive by David Perry, Andy Astor, Andy Luckey and Dr. Stephen Clarke-Willson. The process compressed the data from the animator's drawings into the limited processing capacity of the Sega Genesis cartridge and/or Mega Drive^[1]

Game design

The game involves killing enemies with basic swordplay and jumping across ledges. There are several levels, including one level where Aladdin must escape from the Cave of Wonders on Carpet and another where he must jump across the Agrabah's rooftops.

The player controls Aladdin, who must make his way through several levels based on locations from the movie: from the streets and rooftops of Agrabah, the Cave of Wonders and the Sultan's dungeon to the final confrontation in Grand Vizier Jafar's palace. The Sultan's guards and also animals of the desert want to hinder Aladdin in his way. He can defend himself with his sword or by throwing apples. Next to apples, Aladdin can also collect gems which can be traded for lives and continues with a traveling trader. Finding Genie or Abu icons enables bonus rounds. The Genie bonus round is a game of luck played for apples, gems or extra lives, and continues until the player runs out of Genie tokens or lands on Jafar. In Abu's bonus round, the player controls the little monkey who has to catch bonus items that fall from the sky, but without touching any of the unwanted objects like rocks and pots.

Ports

A NES game was released in Europe based on this version. It was also ported, unofficially, twice more to the NES under the names Super Aladdin and Aladdin 2; Super Aladdin is generally considered superior to the official port. The (original) NES version was in turn also made into a Game Boy version, which was compatible with the Super Game Boy and later ported to Game Boy Color. Also, PC versions (Amiga and DOS) were based on the Genesis version. The only difference in the PC version from the console one is the health meter: in the Genesis, it is a lamp that slowly loses its smoke when hit, finally blinking when critical; in the computer versions, it is an hourglass, alongside the Genie (whose face becomes more desperate as the health lowers). The music is also higher quality.

SNES version

The Super Nintendo version of Aladdin was developed and published by Capcom. Unlike the Sega Mega Drive version of the game, the player does not equip a scimitar. Instead, the gameplay revolves around jumping on enemies, as well as vaulting off stumps to reach otherwise inaccessible areas, though like the Genesis version, the player can also throw apples to stun opponents. The storyline more or less closely follows the plot of its namesake, the Disney full-length animated motion picture, with Aladdin going from a street rat to a prince, who first woos, and then has to rescue, the Princess Jasmine. Most levels and stages of the game will be readily recognized by people who have seen the motion picture, but there are a few levels that have nothing to do with the movie—including an Egyptian pyramid and a surreal world where Genie—dressed in a tuxedo—serves as Aladdin's guide. The game features renditions of the soundtrack from the Disney motion picture, as well as several mini-games dependent on the player catching a golden scarab or collecting all diamonds within a stage. An extra challenge involved finding 70 red diamonds throughout the game. While they weren't necessary for ending the game, the credits screen changes slightly according to how many diamonds were collected. That version sold over 1.75 million units worldwide.^[2]

The reason that the Super Nintendo version of developed by Capcom and not Virgin Interactive was that the film came out at a time when Capcom held the licensing rights to games on Nintendo consoles based on Disney intellectual property. This deal resulted in some classic titles as Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Game Boy version), and Goof Troop. The license expired some time between the cinematic releases of Aladdin and The Lion King, as the videogame adaptation of The Lion King was developed by Virgin Interactive on all platforms including the Super Nintendo, and the Mega Drive version of Aladdin was ported to the NES for a European release on New Year's Eve 1994. The Capcom version was also ported unofficially to the NES by an unknown company in 1995. It was also ported unofficially to the Mega Drive/Genesis

A version of the game would also later receive a port for the Game Boy Advance with an extra stage, though all the songs based directly on the original movie were replaced with new music.

Master System/Game Gear version

This version was developed by SIMS and published by Sega, and released in 1994. The game is basically the same on both systems, except for the screen size. Gameplay in much of the game resembles Flashback: The Quest for Identity or Prince of Persia.

Reception

Aladdin was awarded Best Genesis Game of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly. They also awarded it Best Animation.^[3]

The game was reviewed in 1994 in Dragon #211 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Both reviewers gave the game 5 out of 5 stars.^[4]

Other Aladdin games

• Aladdin: Nasira's Revenge, released in 2001 for the PlayStation, Windows 95 and 98, was developed by Argonaut Games and distributed by Activision. Nasira's Revenge was a 3D platformer with a plot featuring Jafar's sister, Nasira.
• Disney's Aladdin Chess Adventures, a chess computer game with the Aladdin license was released in 2004 by Vivendi Universal
• Aladdin is featured in the RPG series Kingdom Hearts, which are a crossover between Disney and Square Enix. Agrabah is a playable world, where the storylines of the movies are followed with new dialogues and altered situations to fit the games' protagonists (Sora, Donald, and Goofy) and Aladdin joins Sora's party. Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories follow Aladdin's plot, and Kingdom Hearts II takes on The Return of Jafar. Players are also able to summon Genie into battle in each game. Agrabah also appears in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

References

External links

• Disney's Aladdin at MobyGames
• Aladdin Nasira's Revenge gamespace on GameSpot
• Aladdin Chess Adventures gamespace at IGN
• Aladdin (Sega Genesis) at the Internet Movie Database