This Aladdin game, in which Aladdin wields a scimitar, was released for the Sega Genesis, PC, Amiga, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy (with Super Game Boy enhancements on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System), and Game Boy Color. Capcom created a different Aladdin platformer for the SNES, while Sega released a still different Aladdin game for its 8-bit systems. While its Super Nintendo counterpart was no slouch either, the Virgin Games title boasted fluid animation straight from Disney's own animators,note a soundtrack by Tommy Tallarico, and was put together by the same team, helmed by designer David Perry, that would eventually form Shiny Interactive and create titles such as Earthworm Jim.
Overall, it was a smash hit—the Genesis version in particular sold 4 million copies total, making it the third best selling Genesis game behind Sonic the Hedgehog (20 million) and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (6 million). To put this in perspective, the fourth best selling Genesis game, NBA Jam, only sold a little under 2 million units. Nintendo was particularly envious at the sales of this version; its massive success and novel use of pre-rendered animation as sprites led them to form a partnership with Rare that would ultimately result in Donkey Kong Country.
On October 29, 2019, Nighthawk Interactive and Digital Eclipse re-released the Genesis, Game Boy, and Super Game Boy (for the Super Nintendo) versions of Aladdin alongside The Lion King (in its various versions for the same platforms and the Super Nintendo) as part of an HD compilation called Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and the Lion King. It was released for Microsoft Windows (via Steam), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The compilation also features the 1993 trade show release and a "Final Cut" version of this game (featuring a number of bug fixes and a smoother camera), but it does not include any version of Capcom's Aladdin game. Notably, this was released the same year as two widely successful live-action remakes of both films. Later, on September 23, 2021, Nighthawk Interactive announced that they would be releasing another compilation called Disney Classic Games Collection: Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Jungle Book, which includes all the aforementioned games, as well as Capcom's Aladdin game, and both the SNES and Sega Genesis versions of the The Jungle Book video game. (The initial compilation release will also have DLC adding The Jungle Book and Capcom's Aladdin.) This compilation was released on the PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and Windows on November 23, 2021.
Tropes appearing in this game:
- A Winner Is You: Unlike the Capcom version, which includes Jafar's defeat and the movie's ending presented as still frames, this one gives you the standard "Stage Cleared" screen, a very brief cutscene of Aladdin and Jasmine riding on the Magic Carpet, and then it's roll credits while they kiss. In the PC version, there isn't even ending music — the rather unfitting tune from Jafar's Palace still keeps playing over the final cutscene. In other versions, the cutscene and credits are set to A Whole New World, which is more fitting but also happens to be the same music used for the title screen. The credits also end with the words "Gotta fly".
- Adaptational Villainy: The snake charmer from the scene where he gets rammed by the guards is one of the enemies in the first level.
- Agony of the Feet: If a scimitar guard is provoked into crossing a bed of hot coals, he will slowly hop across and scream in pain, just like the scene from the movie.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: The American and European cover art features an angry Aladdin and Abu battling against Jafar, surrounded by flames and lightning. The Japanese Mega Drive cover art by contrast however, features a smiling Aladdin and Abu flying over an oasis.
◊ - Ambidextrous Sprite: Aladdin's patched pants is spotted on the right knee area in forward position, so will he move opposite, his patched pants spot is flipped.
- Bottomless Pits: Present starting from "Inside the Lamp", though it's possible to fall in water/lava in the earlier Cave of Wonders stages and then in the Palace stages afterwards, which more or less count as bottomless pits as well.
- Bring It: The scimitar guards will taunt Aladdin with an audible "Come on!" if he is out of their reach.
- Classic Cheat Code:
- On the Genesis, skip levels by pausing and pressing ABBAABBA.
- Pressing a particular key sequence in the Options menu nets you a picture of David Perry's disembodied head for a few seconds followed by a cheat menu. A,C,A,C,A,C,A,C,B,B,B,B
- Console Cameo: Sega Genesis systems are visible in the background within Genie's lamp.
- The Cameo:
- Several Disney characters appear in the backgrounds, but Sir Hiss appears as an actual enemy in the desert stage.
- Sebastian from The Little Mermaid can be seen on the wall in the Sultan's Dungeon. In the background of the same level, the prison scene for Pirates of the Caribbean is recreated, complete with keyholding dog.
- In the last two stages, amongst the animal toys the Beast can be seen.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: On normal and hard, hitting the stout guards with your sword, or throwing an apple on any difficulty, will make them drop their trousers before a second hit finishes them off.
- Disney Acid Sequence: The "Inside the Lamp" level is a loosely-connected area of genie smoke trails, whoopie cushions, Genie heads and hands, and the occasional rest spot.
- Easter Egg: In the desert level, standing in just the right position in front of the Mickey ears hat on the clothesline — namely, so that Aladdin's Idle Animation makes him look like he's wearing them — will make a 1-up appear in the Offscreen Start Bonus area.
- Edible Ammunition: Apples. Al apparently steals them not only to eat them but also to use them as projectiles. These are actually required to beat the Final Boss, as well as the first boss.
- Epileptic Flashing Lights: When Aladdin and a guard fight with swords, the screen flashes white when the blades connect.
- Evil Laugh: You'll hear Jafar's maniacal laughter if you land on his "Lose!" face in the post-level bonus round or get a Game Over with no continues to hand.
- Expressive Health Bar: The health bar in the Amiga and PC versions of the game is the face of the genie, which is accompanied by a hourglass that indicates Aladdin's health by the amount of sand in the upper bulb. When Aladdin's health is at max, the genie is smiling, but the more damage Aladdin takes, the more nervous the genie starts to look, until near the bottom he is biting his nails in anxiety.
- Final Boss: Jafar, naturally. You only fight him in his human and snake forms, though - his genie form doesn't even make an appearance.
- Flunky Boss: Iago, who can actually be encountered as the boss of the Sultan's Palace stage, is in Jafar's magic chamber and is on the contraption conjuring up ghosts that come down on you. Plus, barrels are rolling along the floor.
- Foot Popping: Jasmine does this while kissing Aladdin during the ending credits.
- Game-Over Man: Jafar. "Give up, street rat!"
- Goofy Print Underwear: Dropping the stout guards' trousers reveals they're wearing boxers with hearts on them.
- Indy Escape: The cave escape level has boulders rolling down tunnels trying to One-Hit Kill Aladdin.
- Instantly Defeathered Bird: Besides being a boss in the second last stage, Iago is also encountered as a regular enemy in several other stages. Here, one hit from Aladdin's sword or apples is enough to render him bald, and defeated.
- Juggling Dangerously: Some enemies are juggling knives, and throwing some at you. Throwing apples at them can lead to the apples getting sliced in midair.
- Kaizo Trap: Aladdin can get hit by the last boulder in Cave Escape after landing on the magic carpet which flies you away to the next level.
- Lethal Lava Land: The two levels in which Aladdin has to escape the Cave of Wonders are filled with lava.
- Logo Joke: The Genie, clad in referee garb, fires a starting pistol and accidentally shoots Iago. This was removed in the "remastered" collection because it involved the SEGA logo, however all other Sega references remained in the game, such as the Genesis consoles in the Lamp, and Sega being mentioned by name in the end credits.
- Luck-Based Mission: The level Rug Ride where Aladdin is escaping the Cave of Wonders collapse on Carpet. You have to avoid oncoming rocks that appear faster and faster and hitting any of them is a One-Hit Kill. The luck factor comes into play as eventually you'll get a "?" instead of an actual warning to an oncoming rock, meaning you'll have no idea which direction to move in order to dodge the rock. Pick a direction, close your eyes and pray.
- Mercy Mode: In the Sega Genesis version, the Rug Ride level will be skipped if you fail it too many times.
- Mini-Boss: You get two of these in the game; they come up before the end of the level they appear in.
- Gazeem, a.k.a., the "humble thief" who was devoured by the Cave of Wonders guardian at the beginning of the film, appears as a "boss" towards the end of the Agrabah Rooftops. The boss music will start up when you approach his position, and you have to kill him both to get the second half of the scarab and then to get the stage's final flute, which takes you to the main boss above Gazeem. You may have to walk away and then return to find the flute.
- About two-thirds to three-fourths of the way into the Cave of Wonders, the boss tune will start up again when approaching a pair of gold platforms, which are inside a pit. You're forced to confront the multi-sword wielding golden Shiva Monkey statue here that you will have to slash repeatedly until he explodes, the boss music stops and the stage music returns, and the Carpet makes its first appearance in the game to take you to the last checkpoint and the final stretch of the level.
- Mook Promotion: Iago already shows up as a regular mook in the early stages of the game, before becoming a boss in the second last stage. Then he goes back to being a mook again in the final stage.
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Nintendo Hard: Between annoying enemies (particularly the ones with throwing attacks), sections requiring precise platforming, and the infamous Rug Ride, the challenge in the game is very high. - Offscreen Start Bonus: In the desert and prison levels.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Abu in his Brutal Bonus Levels.
- One-Winged Angel: Jafar himself does this to you after you defeat his human form; he transforms into the giant cobra and sends waves of fire out at the player. This is Jafar's sole One-Winged Angel form in this and the SNES game; after destroying it, the game is over.
- Pinball Zone: "Inside the Lamp".
- Player Death Is Dramatic: Averted. The scene that plays any time Aladdin loses a life consists of him swaying while Abu fans him with the flying carpet, collapsing onto a stool as the Genie pops up in boxing coach garb, complete with boxing bell sound.
- Playing with Fire: Jafar as a snake sends out flames as his attacks.
- Prison Level: The fourth level takes place in the Sultan's Dungeon. In this level, Aladdin has to escape from the dungeon while dodging bats, retracting spikes, swinging weights, the Palace Guards, and exploding skeletons.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The entrance theme for the Abu bonus level is the last half melody of "Pop Goes The Weasel".
- Scaled Up: The second form of Jafar... this is to be expected given his movie manifestation.
- Sequential Boss: When you meet Jafar at the end of the final stage, you first have to attack his human form, which is trying to pull you to him with magic, and then his snake form, which sends out flame walls (you encounter said flame walls at the start of the stage) and will light the platforms in the room to ignite under you if you stand on them too long. No genie form; the Capcom version has him as a Cutscene Boss and fighting his genie form won't come until Kingdom Hearts at least, so once the snake form is dead, the stage and game are over.
- Shifting Sand Land: Stage 2 takes place in the desert. In this stage, Aladdin must collect the three pieces of the Scarab, while dodging the palace guards, snakes, and Iago.
- Slasher Smile: Jafar on the "Give up, street rat!" screen. He also has one on his "Lose!" image if you accidentally land on him in the Genie's roulette bonus at the end of the first 9 levels, complete with maniacal laugh.
- Smart Bomb: Jafar's lamp becomes this here.
- Snake Charmer: Snake charmers are a type of enemy, who have their snake leap out and bite you if you're near.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Zig-zagged by Gazeem. He is seen being devoured by the cave in the opening cutscene, just like in the movie. But then he shows up as a mini-boss in the third level, alive and well, guarding the scarab piece - and you have to kill him anyway.
- Spikes of Doom: One of the nastier traps you can run into. They'll repeatedly damage you while you remain in the spike pit.
- Stationary Boss: Three of the bosses in the game (Razoul in Agrabah Rooftops, Iago in Sultan's Palace, and Jafar at the end of the game) do not ever move from the positions you see them in when you find them. In fact, the only bosses that are not stationary are the two mini-bosses.
- Super Drowning Skills: Aladdin will die instantly upon ending up in water. As water is generally at the bottom of levels, this effectively doubles as another kind of Bottomless Pit.
- Sword Fight: If Aladdin and a scimitar-armed guard attack at the same time, their blades will clash. This will continue until something breaks the pattern, as Aladdin and the guard tend to attack at the same rate if the player just mashes B.
- Trampoline Tummy: Aladdin can bounce on camels' humps in early levels, which also causes them to spit, which can also damage enemies. Abu can also be seen doing backflips on a knocked out fat guard's belly, each bounce accompanied by a honking horn.
- The Twelve Principles of Animation: Due to the game's hand-drawn sprites being drawn by actual Disney animators, they naturally use these principles, resulting in silky smooth spritework.
- Updated Re-release: The "Final Cut" version.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: The boss at the end of "Agrabah Rooftops" can be this for players who blew all their apples on the guards and face having to go all the way to the bottom of the arena to collect apples, dodging barrels all the way up and down, to do some measly damage to the boss.
- Whammy: Jafar in Genie's bonus roulette. Hit him and you'll forfeit all your remaining Genie tokens.
