Disney’s Aladdin (SNES)

Developer: Capcom     Publisher: Capcom     Released: 1993     Genre: Platformer

Disney’s Aladdin was one of the biggest movies of 1992. It is easy to see why; it boasted a star studded voice cast and exquisite animation, bringing to life that fabled tale like never before. Aladdin also became a gaming event, with titles hitting nearly every available platform. The Sega Genesis version garnered the most attention, and with good reason. Living in its shadow would be the Nintendo versions of the game. I don’t envy Capcom; no matter what their work would always be in the shadow of Sega’s game. Despite that they came through with a brilliant platformer, one that is only let down by its brevity and easy difficult.

Comparisons to the Sega version of Aladdin cannot be avoided.  I’ll spare you the suspense and simply say the SNES version does not look as good. That game was the result of a once in a lifetime collaboration between Disney, Virgin, and Sega that produced one of the best looking 16-bit games of all time.  That being said Capcom have done an excellent job of capturing some of that magic.  The animation is some of their best work on the system, fluid and flows from one movement to the next.  The land of Agrabah looks fantastic, full of rich background work and a vibrant color palette.   Most of the movie’s main events have been recreated and form a complete narrative although the game is short.  The soundtrack as well features a few original jingles but mostly faithful renditions of the film’s score.  It’s pretty great overall, all things considered.

Aladdin is a dexterous protagonist, moving at a fast clip and able to navigate the environment with grace. Your primary means of attack is vaulting off enemy heads. Aladdin can actually vault off nearly anything, people, rocks, and even pots.  You can also toss apples to stun enemies or take out weaker creatures like bats or snakes. Its effective, but I have to admit I miss the sword from the Genesis game. Early on you find a blanket that doubles as both a parachute and a zip line. It’s extremely cool although the mechanic is not as prevalent in the game’s latter half.

That is personal preference however.  In truth it isn’t necessary as platforming is the basis of the majority of the game.  Every level is a virtual playground with plenty of poles to swing around and floating platforms aplenty.  The controls are tight, which is important as the game asks a lot of you.  There’s the straight path to the exit but off the beaten path are plenty of hidden items.  The ten red gems hidden in every level will require the kinds of precision platforming that you can only find in the genre’s best.  While they are fun to seek out the reward for collecting all of them isn’t worth it.  It’s about the journey after all.

Sadly that journey is all too brief.  The one critical flaw with Disney’s Aladdin is that it is too short.  The game follows the movie’s plot but could have used a few more scenes to fully flesh the game out.  In fact they did exactly that; one stage is a fun romp inside the genie’s lamp.  A few more like that and Aladdin would have been spectacular.  It has all the makings of a truly great platformer; tight controls, at times challenging level design, and great set pieces.  It just needed more of it.

More content would also have helped with the game’s easy difficulty.  Early on with three or four hearts you have to be extremely careful.  But you’ll earn more very fast, allowing for sloppy mistakes.  The few bosses have easily recognizable patterns that lessen their threat.  The final battle against Jafar is pretty thrilling because it presents an actual challenge.  But those genuine moments of difficulty are few and far.  With its lacking challenge you’ll blow through the game in short order.  By this point I guess you should expect that of Disney titles.

In Closing

It’s rare to see a great movie receive so many good video game adaptations.  Disney’s Aladdin is a great game on every platform it hit with the Super Nintendo version being one of the best.  If it were longer it would have been amazing.