Welcome to another edition of Genesis Does. The review article that looks at all things Sega Genesis. I’ve talking in the past with my other article series Playing With Power about the fact that more often than not Disney would always deliver in the video game department. And for the Sega Genesis, that was definitely the truth. Sure, there were a couple stinkers (*CoughFANTASIAcough*), but for the most part, it’s a solid track record of games. But will the game I’m reviewing this week be more of the same? Or was this a wish come true?
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1993
PUBLISHER: Virgin
GENRE: Action Platformer
Aladdin is the 31st animated feature film by Walt Disney Pictures, and was released in theatres November 25th, 1992. Following the success of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin proved to be another major hit for the company. Thanks not just to its solid story, but the strength of the biggest celeb in the movie, Robin Williams, who provides the voice of the big, blue, and energetic Genie.
It’s personally my favorite Disney animated movie, not just of the 90’s, but of all time. Sure, it may not have held up in all areas as others have, but for me, it hit at the right time, and the eight year old me that saw it for the first time loved every minute of it. It has a great love story, solid action, and some great humour. Even if by now the references from the time can feel slightly grating now. It’s still an entertaining watch.
And of course, its success would lead to an eventual video game release. Many Aladdin games would be released for pretty much every console under the sun. While Capcom would exclusively handle the SNES port, the rest of the major console ports would be done by Virgin Interactive. The best port of the Virgin’s version of the game would be easily the Sega Genesis port. The game was worked on by many of the programmers who would later form Shiny Entertainment, and would work on the classic Earthworm Jim, such as David Perry (who apparently coded the game in a mere three months) and Andy Astor.
The graphics were done by a style known as Digicell animation, with character sprites actually hand drawn by Disney animators. The game was released in 1993, and proved to be a hit for the console. It even won the Best Sega Genesis Game 1993 award by Electronic Gaming Monthly. So, naturally, the game definitely earned some solid accolades. But were they warranted.
COVER STORY
I absolutely adore this cover. It’s very action heavy, as the game is known for. First off, it’s official Disney art, which always has me excited when I see it. Not to mention pretty much every major character is featured in full detail. It’s a definite eye catcher, and one of the best boxes that the Genesis had to offer.
STORY
Set in the Arabian land of Agrabah, a young boy named Aladdin is just a poor street rat, who wishes he could be more than he is, as well as be worthy enough to win the heart of Princess Jasmine. When he’s tricked by Jafar, the evil vizier to the sultan to collect a magical lamp inside the ominous cave of wonders, Aladdin ends up with the lamp, and the wise-cracking, impression making, wish granting genie. With wishes in tow, can he earn the heart of the princess, as well as deal with the evil Jafar?
GAMEPLAY
Disney’s Aladdin is a one player action platformer. You play as the titular Aladdin, who goes from level to level through the many major parts of the movie. The D-Pad moves Aladdin left and right, as well as up and down when he climbs ropes. The A button will throw apples, the B button will swing Aladdin’s sword, and the C button jumps. The 6-button controller is not necessary for playing this game. You can change your control setting at the options screen to your liking.
Aladdin has two main weapons for attacking. One is his sword which can slash through most enemies in his way. it can also deflect certain items such as daggers, which is a pretty nice touch. The other is apples. The apples can be used to attack trickier enemies that are further away from you, or to damage an enemy so you can go in for a fatal sword slash. Apples will run out as you progress, but there are plenty to find as the levels go on.
Aladdin has a health bar on the top of the screen, represented by the smoke coming out of the lamp. The more damage taken, the more smoke vanishes from it. To heal, you can find heart balloons throughout the levels which can heal you up. Other items found within levels are rubies that can be exchanged at the merchant shops in each stage for 1-ups or wishes. Aladdin heads are extra lives, Abu heads, found in a couple of stages, will lead to the bonus stage. Black lamps will destroy all enemies on screen, and Genie vases act as checkpoints.
There are also Genie heads you collect throughout the level. These are wishes. At the end of each stage, you get a roulette game. You can earn extra lives, more apples, or more rubies as you use your wishes each turn. But get Jafar’s head once, and it’s game over. Ah, back when kids video games encouraged such harmless gambling.
The game is broken into ten levels, and for the most part, save for really one level, they all follow the flow of the movie. Aladdin starts off on the marketplace of Agrabah, dealing with the palace guards out to get him. Next is the desert, where he has to collect the two pieces of the golden scarab. Next is the rooftops, followed by the palace dungeon. After that is the Cave of wonders, which starts basic, then becomes a fight for survival, that starts with running from giant boulders, and finally a harrowing carpet ride.
All you have to do in the carpet level is just move up and down, watching Genie’s hand as it tells you which way to move, as to not get hit by a flying boulder. It’s definitely one of the more frustrating levels if you’re not very good at these hand-eye coordination style of levels in video games. Though, let’s be honest, there’s far worse (Turbo Tunnel, anyone?).
From there on, you go inside the lamp, as you go through the Genie’s warped and twisted wonderland. After that, you will go through two levels in the palace to finish the game off. One normal, and the other in a fiery blaze as Jafar is now in control. So, as I said, for the most part the game follows the movie greatly. But misses some things that even the SNES version had. One prominent example being that it would have been nice to have some representation of the Whole New World scene from the movie.
If you collect an Abu head, you’ll get a bonus level. After completing the main level, you’ll then control Abu, who has to survive an oncoming wave of everything from barrels and boulders in order to collect the many goodies that you can earn, including gems, apples, and extra lives. Abu is also equipped with a sword to deal with enemies like palace guards or bats. If he gets hit once, its game over.
You’ll face several bosses in the game, all from the movie. You’ll face Razul, Iago, and many others, including of course Jafar. I will say the final fight with Jafar, as well as the last couple stages are very underwhelming, and hurts the game a little, especially after such a strong game going in. They use story elements from the movie in terms of still frames, but even that seems to vanish almost entirely by game’s end. It just feels like so much is lacking at the end, that it hurts the game a bit. There isn’t really any satisfying ending. Just Aladdin kissing Jasmine. No major story elements like Jafar becoming a genie, or Genie getting his freedom. Even for a game from the mid-90’s where this was still commonplace, this feels bad.
The controls of the game work great, but I do find that at times jumping on certain platforms can feel slippery, and you often need pixel perfect accuracy, because if you fall too far, you’re history. Other than that, really there is no other hit detection issues to note. The game is of moderate difficulty, and even with some challenge, you will be able to beat the game without much hassle. You start with four lives and one continue. Though I do have to say, this has one of the scariest (at least it was to me as a kid) game over screens ever. It’s not so much frightening, as it is jump worthy.
CHEAT SHEET
There are no passwords to advance further, nor any save feature. But if you do wish to level select, there is a password to skip stages. Pause at any level, and press A-B-B-A-A-B-B-A (Someone at Virgin likes their Swedish pop group), you will warp to the next stage. If you want a level select along with other neat stuff, at the options menu, press A-C-A-C-A-C-A-C-B-B-B-B. You’ll be greeted by the handsome mug of David Perry, and a screen that shows you neat technical stuff, as well as a level select, screen freeze ability, map view and a cheat mode.
GRAPHICS
This game has fantastic graphics, some of the best on the Genesis. As I mentioned earlier, this game was made by a method known as Digicell, and actually done by Disney animators. And it shows. Sprites look almost like they came straight from the movie, and are all very well animated. Not only that, but the levels themselves are all well designed, and filled with plenty of references to other Disney characters. You’ll see Mickey ears, Goofy’s face on hyroglifics, as well as Sebastian the crab chained up in the dungeon. Just the many great examples of amazing detail on an amazing looking game.
MUSIC
A major plus to this game is that practically every major song from the film has been adapted and handled perfectly, coming off sounding excellent, even with the limitations of the Genesis. Not to mention, several original songs in the game that were all done by video game music legend and former Reviews on the Run host Tommy Tallarico. If you were a fan of the movie, then you’ll definitely find some of these 16-bit renditions to be quite amazing.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Disney’s Aladdin is one of the best video games on the Sega Genesis easily. It handles itself perfectly in the graphics, sound, and fun departments, and despite some minor issues and the game more or less petering out by the end, you will definitely find yourself enjoying this classic of a game. If you can find it, pick it up, because you ain’t never played a game like this.
RATING: Thumbs up