''Disney's Aladdin'' is a 1993

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

developed and published by

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Eur ...

, based on the 1992 animated Disney film of the same name. ''Disney's Aladdin'' is a 2D

side-scrolling video game '' A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller), is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphic ...

in which the player controls

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...

and his monkey Abu. It was designed by

Shinji Mikami is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer. Starting his career at Capcom in 1990, he has worked on many of the company's most successful games. He directed the first installment of the ''Resident Evil'' series in 1996 and the f ...

. The game was released in November 1993, the same month that another game with the same title was released by

Virgin Games Virgin Interactive Entertainment (later renamed Avalon Interactive) was the video game publishing division of British conglomerate the Virgin Group. It developed and published games for major platforms and employed developers, including Westwoo ...

for

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

. The two games vary in some respects; in the Virgin game, Aladdin wields a scimitar, which is not the case in the Capcom game. The Capcom game was

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

(GBA) in Japan on August 1, 2003, in Europe on March 19, 2004, and in North America on September 28, 2004.

Gameplay

''Disney's Aladdin'' is a side-scrolling

in which the player controls the eponymous main character through several stages taking place throughout the city of

Agrabah ''Aladdin'' is a Disney media franchise comprising a film series and additional media. It began with the 1992 American animated feature of the same name, which was based on the tale of the same name, and was directed by Ron Clements and John Mu ...

. Within each stage, Aladdin defeats foes by jumping on them or disorienting them by throwing apples while avoiding dangerous obstacles. Gems can be collected to gain extra lives and points, and 10 red gems located within each stage will substantially increase the player's score. Most stages contain a treasure chest holding a scarab that flies about for a few seconds, if the player collects it before it disappears they will access a bonus stage in which they spin a wheel that allows

Genie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...

to grant them extra lives and other special bonuses. Aladdin has a health meter of hearts, starting with 3, which will deplete each time he is hit. These can be increased through pickups or through the bonus stages as well. The escape from the Cave of Wonders and the carpet ride with

Princess Jasmine Princess Jasmine is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' 31st animated feature film '' Aladdin'' (1992). Voiced by American actress Linda Larkin with a singing voice provided by Filipina singer Lea Salonga Jasmine is the ...

are both stages in which the player rides the Magic Carpet through self-scrolling stages. While in the Cave of Wonders the player must traverse up and down to avoid dangerous obstacles while outrunning waves of lava, the ride with Jasmine is a free-flying bonus stage (between stages 5 and 6) in which the player can collect gems; the bonus stage ends when the melody to "

A Whole New World "A Whole New World" is the signature song from Disney's 1992 animated feature film ''Aladdin'', with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice. A duet originally recorded by singers Brad Kane and Lea Salonga in their respective roles as t ...

" ends. Stages 1, 6 and 7 have a boss to defeat, stage 7 being the final stage; stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 require reaching the end to complete.

Reception

In the United Kingdom, ''Aladdin'' was the top-selling SNES game in December 1993. ''

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...

'' four reviewers scored the Super NES version 8, 8, 9 and 8 out of 10, adding up to 33 out of 40 (average 8.25 out of 10). They commented that the graphics, animation, music and gameplay are all outstanding. ''

GameFan ''GameFan'' (originally known as ''Diehard GameFan'') was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising. and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its ex ...

''s four reviewers scored it 90%, 89%, 87% and 90%.''GameFan'', volume 1, issue 11 (October 1993), page 11 Pedro Hernandez of Nintendo World Report gave the game a positive review, saying that "Capcom truly did something great with this Super NES game". A

ScrewAttack Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC is an American digital media company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth is a subsidiary of Warner ...

reviewer also gave the game a positive review, saying that it was one of the best SNES games. ''Aladdin'' proved to be a commercial success, selling approximately 1.8 million copies worldwide, becoming Capcom's highest-selling game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System after ''

Street Fighter II is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Syst ...

'' and its various versions.

, the game's designer, said that if he had not made the SNES game, he "would probably buy" the Virgin game because it has a sword and better animation. The GBA port received mixed reviews. Avi Fryman of

GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...

called the port of ''Disney's Aladdin'' "the most monumentally disappointing" of all the ports from SNES to GBA.

Accolades

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

placed the SNES version 60th on their Top 100 SNES Games of All Time commenting that the game "faithfully ranslatesthe film's over-the-top magic into magical 16-bit form". In 2018,

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

rated the game 42nd in its "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time". In 1995,

Total! ''Total!'' was a video game magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future plc. It was published monthly for 58 issues, beginning in December 1991 (cover-dated January 1992), with the last issue bearing the cover-date October 1996. A "1993 A ...

ranked Aladdin 47th on its Top 100 SNES Games. They praised the game's animation and gameplay.

Re-release

The SNES version of the game was included alongside ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...

'', ''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance, it ...

'', and the Virgin Games version of ''Aladdin'' as part of ''Disney Classic Games Collection: Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Jungle Book'', an updated release of ''Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King'', which was set for release for the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

, and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

on November 9, 2021 before being delayed until November 23. Those who purchased the original ''Disney Classic Games'' release are also able to purchase the game and ''The Jungle Book'' as downloadable content.

References

{{Aladdin and the Magic Lamp 1993 video games Disney games by Capcom Disney video games Aladdin (franchise) video games Game Boy Advance games Side-scrolling platform games Single-player video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games designed by Shinji Mikami Video games developed in Japan Video games set in the Middle East Capcom games