Disney’s Aladdin
1993
Sega Genesis
**********
Pros: Fluid Graphics, Good Controls
Cons: A Little Too Straightfoward, Some Repetitive
Levels, Stringent Gameplay in Some Areas
When Disney’s Aladdin was adapted for gaming, the
license ended up going to two companies who produced two completely different
games. Capcom produced a game for the
Super Nintendo, while Virgin Interactive made this one for the Sega Genesis. There seems to be some dispute over which is
better, but I’ve never played the former.
Having owned the Genesis version from my childhood, I can tell you what
I think of it.
The gameplay is pretty straightforward, and
the controls are well-executed and responsive.
The A, B, and C buttons make you throw apples (explosion is the natural
reaction of the human body to having apples thrown at it), slash with a
scimitar (a rather nice one for a homeless person, it also causes people to
explode), and jump (forward or straight up). Holding up while using the sword causes him to
swing it upwards on both sides to fend off enemies, and he stabs it forward
while ducking.
Like most
sidescrollers, Aladdin features many
items. You’ll need to make sure you
collect plenty of apples, as you’ll need them in many areas of the game. The maximum is 99, and it’s funny that a man
who has to steal to eat has no problem hoarding apples to throw at people. Unfortunately, your supply defaults to zero
when you die. This is very detrimental
during the final two boss fights, in which they are essential. A blue heart restores some of your health,
which is measured as smoke coming from a lamp in the corner. Extra lives are represented by Aladdin’s
face. Abu’s face will result in a bonus
level in which you play as Abu and collect more items. A Genie face (which makes a surprised shout
when you collect it) gives you a slot machine bonus level, and more Genie faces
means more tries. A black lamp destroys
all the onscreen enemies. A Genie vase
is the checkpoint. Gems can be collected
to buy extra lives (5 gems) or continues (10 gems, a much better deal) from The Peddler.
The sound
effects are crisp and enjoyable. The soundtrack consists mostly of relatively crude 16-bit versions of the movie’s
musical numbers, with a few original tracks thrown in. It’s been said that the Genesis’ capacity for
music mostly lent itself to cyberpunk/techno scores, and its cover of an Alan
Menken soundtrack demonstrates this (“A Whole New World” sounds a bit goofy). I do, however, like its somber version of “Arabian Nights,” which fits level 4’s dark atmosphere.
Overall, the soundtrack isn’t much to write home about.
The graphics
are excellent. While the occasional
background has a pixelated gradient look, most of the scenery is good. Virgin made this game with the assistance of Disney animation, and it shows. They
took advantage of the Genesis’ faster processing speed to produce fluid
movement and cartoon expressiveness. If
you pause at the right moment, you’ll even see some amusing smears (Aladdin
momentarily grows three extra arms when throwing an apple). When you throw an apple at a knife juggler,
you might be treated to a beautifully animated cutting of the apple complete with
juice. Another neat little thing I noticed
is that the spikes in Level 4 slightly go back when they reach their apex. I haven’t played the SNES version, but if I
were making obnoxious Sega commercials, I would have definitely edited clips from the two games together to sell the Genesis’ “Blast Processing.” The graphics are definitely the best part of
this game, but that usually isn’t a promising thing to say about a video game.
The first level
is Agrabah Street, a fairly straightforward level. Just like in the movie, the entire town has
declared war on one homeless guy. You’ll
encounter the two most common enemies in the game: the generic Agrabah guards
and the fat knife-throwers. The fat guys
are amusing to watch. When they don’t
see you, they endlessly stuff their faces at an alarming rate. When they do see you, the waddle pathetically
toward you and throw swords. Throwing an
apple at them can loosen their pants, and they forget they’re in a fight to the
death and freak out at their own underwear.
Also look out for people rhythmically dumping their chamber pots on
you. For some reason, this level is set
to “Prince Ali” instead of “One Jump,” which is on the third board. This makes no chronological sense. After this, Jafar will accost you disguised
as an old man and task you with finding the two halves of the scarab which will
open the Cave of Wonders.
You will find
the first half in the The Desert. You
will find the typical guards and some face fez-wearing snakes. For some reason, Iago shows up as a minor
adversary even though you’re currently working for Jafar now. You need to touch collect the scarab half
twice for some reason. Because Aladdin
has butterfingers.
Next comes
Agrabah Rooftops. The level looks
remarkably similar to Agrabah streets (which seems a bit repetitive), but has
more rope-climbing and pole-sliding. You
will need to collect flutes that activate flying ropes to make progress in the
level, but this is fairly straightforward. Jafar has tasked you with getting the second
half of the scarab from Gazeem. The
instruction manual states that you must “make him give up something you’re
looking for.” Okay. This is rather easy since Gazeem is one of
those bosses that you just get into the corner and stab repeatedly. After having killed a midget, you face off
against Razoul and you “defeat” him only to be rewarded by his capturing you in
the story and putting you in the Dungeon.
On the plus side, there is never any shame in getting beaten by Jim
Cummings.
In Sultan’s
Dungeon, you will face off against guards, spikes that come out the wall,
wrecking balls (a must have in any prison), and relatively easy appearing blocks. Reanimated skeletons who
accidentally reassemble themselves with bombs will explode sending harmful,
wall-piercing bones flying in every direction.
The level also introduces swarms of bats, which are never a good thing
in video games.
 |
| Above: Case in point. |
In the Cave of Wonders, you’ll face more
bats, some animated Shiva statues that do this and a Shiva Monkey
miniboss. You’ll then be picked up by
Carpet and quickly find out why he’s awful.
When you’re flying on him, you have no control over where you go. He just flies around in a chaotic, circuitous
pattern and dumps you in some random spot to complete the level yourself. Carpet sucks.
F--- Carpet. You then collect the
Lamp and proceed to the next level because Abu’s dumb ass had to try and take a
cursed gem.
During the Escape, you’ll jump over precarious
platforms to avoid lava and run through tunnels from giant rolling
boulders. It’s a pretty stressful board
and it’s by far the most difficult one in the game. It doesn’t give you any time for enjoyment. The scenery is well done, not that you can
enjoy it. There is one extra life midway
through the level. It makes you risk
falling into lava, but it’s fairly easy to get to. Even if you die right afterward, it’s no net
loss. As long as can make it to this 1-up,
you effectively have unlimited tries on this board. There’s no real strategy in this board, just
timing. The level ends with your being
forced into a Leap of Faith by a giant boulder, and carpet catches you.
Next comes
Rug Ride (that’s the actual name of the level).
Because Carpet disappeared when you really needed him, you had to deal with
the previous level. When he finally
remembered to pick you up, it got to the point where a giant high-speed tidal
wave of lava had formed. Good work,
Carpet. Here you have to avoid floating
boulders which are indicated by Genie’s hands pointing you to safety. It’s an on-rails board with no flexibility
and it’s dependent solely on reflexes.
It’s like the Turbo Tunnel from Battletoads,
although much easier. I know everyone
talks about how memorable challenging boards like this are, but does anyone
actually like them? I’m going to take the position that these
boards are bad. The Turbo Tunnel wasn’t
fun; it was frustrating and it prevented you from getting the parts of the game
that were fun. At least this level is
doable and allowed me to collect some much needed items.
You finally get a rest Inside the Lamp. Along with the Dungeon, it’s one of the
better boards. It has clever gimmicks
and the graphics are amusingly surreal.
It’s a relatively fun board, and I remember my older brother saying years
ago it was the only part of the game he liked.
While there are no enemies, there’s always the danger of falling. Whose side are you on, Genie?
The Sultan’ Palace features some delightfully
decadent architecture, but it’s also Carpet at his most annoying. He sends you careening into enemies
throughout the whole board, and you need him to progress to certain areas. He consistently flies you directly into Iago,
who respawns/teleports at an absurd rate.
Iago is spread out on the board that he appears in almost every screen
during the Carpet phase. I’m pretty sure
I saw two Iagos on one screen at one point.
You need to make sure you have plenty of apples, because you’re almost
certainly screwed without them when you reach the boss, which is Iago operating
the lightning machine. His machine
produces lightning bolts as well as Turban-clad ghosts that will follow you throughout
the screen. Climb a flight of stairs to
a platform and pelt Iago with apples until he goes down. If you make the platform with enough apples,
this is fairly easy. Just push Up/B to
fend off ghosts and then throw apples when you can. Unfortunately, the stairway is one of those
that are hard to mount in video games. I
died the first time because of this and somehow miraculously got through the
battle even though you don’t come back to life with any apples. The boss level makes you go back and forth
across the screen to collect four respawned apples bit by bit while everything
tries to kill you.
The final board
is Jafar’s Palace. I can’t help but notice
that this game commits the same sin that the otherwise perfect Batman (NES) does by recycling an
earlier music track for the final level.
The level itself isn’t too hard, and I would like to say I beat this
game, but Jafar turned into a cobra and broke me. This may be the hardest boss battle I’ve ever
played. In the first sequence, carpet
carries you around a bit then dumps you into Jafar’s inner sanctum to fend for
yourself. Jafar will use his wand to
suck you toward him and you take damage if you touch him. It’s hard to avoid his staff long enough the
throw apples at him, and if you die once, you have to rely on the four spare
apples on each side of the room, which I find to be insufficient. Once you defeat him in this phase, he turns
into a cobra and things get really f---ed up.
The platforms in the room now erupt in flames when you land on them. You have to run across them to avoid taking
damage. The floor has waves of fire
emanating from Jafar himself. There is literally no safe place to stand. You know whom I could use right now? MOTHERF---ING CARPET. Anyway, I died and I didn’t have the heart to
continue. Whoever said turning into a snake “never helps?”
Because I’m a
garbage gamer, I’ll say that this is a relatively easy game (with two very disproportionately difficult final
boss levels) simply because actually made it to its last leg. The game is competently executed, but if anything
it’s a little too straightforward,
even during the hard parts. Though I
kinda liked two levels, the game’s layout lacks true creativity and
flexibility. There’s very little of that
happy medium between levels being too difficult and too easy that’s commonly
referred to as “fun.” The hard parts are
more stressful than challenging, relying more on reflexes than cleverness. The easy parts, for all their visual
cleverness and humor, are mostly bland.
Those two boss battles are just plain unfair. This game does have some mild nostalgic value
for me, but as an adult I found it a bit disappointing. I’ve never played the Capcom version, but I
wouldn’t be surprised if it was the better game.
