A magical movie makes for a magical movie adaptation.

User Rating: 8.5 | Aladdin SNES
Aladdin was one of the biggest animated films that came out when I was a kid I didn't really remember the film as a kid but it wasn't till recently I went back to the film, and all I can say is the film is amazing if you haven't seen it you have too. Now what am I doing talking about the movie and not the game, well after I saw the movie again I figured it would be a perfect time to play the game for the first time. Most of my friends that I hung out with at school had this game at the time but I never got to play this game for myself, until now. So what a great time to do so, Aladdin was made for the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo, The Sega Genesis copy is known to be a very terrible game while the Super Nintendo version is known as the opposite, an amazing game praised by many. Why is this? Well because they were made by two different companies. The Sega Genesis version was made by Virgin Interactive, and the Super Nintendo Version was made by Capcom, yeah can't go wrong with Capcom (well at least at that time).

So let's begin with the Story basically it's based on the movie so if you have seen the movie you will see many scenes in the game from it. To make a long story short its about a guy named Aladdin that is a street rat in the city of Agrabah he meets the princess Jasmine, one day and they both find a fondness for each other, but they cannot be together due to a rule made by the Sultan stating that only a Princess can marry a Prince. In a later part of the story Aladdin finds a magical lamp with a genie in it that will grant Aladdin three wishes, Aladdin wishes to be a prince, but because Aladdin is putting off to be something he is not, both himself and Jasmine don't find the spark that they did when they first. While this is happening Jafar the villain in the story is trying to get Jasmine to marry him so he can become the new Sultan of Agrabah and rule it all for himself. He ends up getting the magical lamp in the end and wishes that he was a strong powerful genie himself and it backfires on him, sending him into a lamp until someone rubs it again. After this Aladdin talks to the Princess telling her that he doesn't want to be something he's not so he uses his final wish to free Genie instead of becoming a prince again, seeing this happen Jasmine accepts Aladdin for who he is and the Sultan seeing Jasmines love for him makes a new law stating that Jasmine may marry whoever she wants. This is basically the main plot I'm sure I skipped many important facts but you must watch the movie or play some of the game so you can truly experience a magical story, that's one of the best out there.

Next we have the Presentation of the game. This is where this game shines, in fact it shine so much in this area it might just burn your retinas out. This game looks absolutely beautiful for sixteen bit graphics, maybe one of the best for its time. The music is also amazing most are original songs by Capcom and others are sixteen bit renditions of the soundtrack from the movie and both original and from the movie sound absolutely outstanding. One thing that made me love this game so much is a bonus level, which I will talk about in just a minute. Remember that iconic scene in Aladdin where Jasmine and Aladdin are flying over Agrabah on the magic carpet. Well that scene is back and I have to be honest this is one of the most magical scenes in this generation of gaming let alone throughout gaming's history, I have never seen such a beautiful adaption to any movie based level ever and this isn't even a level it's a bonus level. This is one huge reason that made me love the game and I am amazed at how Capcom could recreate this scene so well on a sixteen bit console.

Now let's talk about the Gameplay. Is it as good as the presentation? Well it's hard to compare both; however, both stand well in their own right. It's your standard platformer. You have about five long levels to complete. The levels had a lot of thought put into them they look absolutely like the movie and even some stand on their own and they just look really nice. The platforming is really good for the most part in the game my only problem I really have with this game though is the controls they are really slippery, when Aladdin gains speed once you try to stop him he will slip and slide all over the place and this can be a problem on certain levels but you do get a sheet that will help you get that jump just right, but the first time I played this I got it and had no idea what it was or how to use, it, I understand that they probably had this in the instruction manual, but I wish they could of given you some sort of information on it, I know this isn't really as bad as I am making it out to be. Another thing that got me a bit irritated with this game was the password system. The reason for this is because there aren't unlimited continues and that's fine I have no problem with that, but the problem I want to address is that once you beat a level it will give you a password for the next level fair enough right, well let's say you lose all your lives in the next level, in most games you go back to the password system to see that the password is saved their and you can easily go back to the same level, well in this one they don't save the password, was there any reason for this c'mon! But I guess it's not that big of a deal just a bit of a piss off sometimes. Aladdin is only about 5 levels or so, but each one looks so good and that's what made me love this game so much, the platforming part in the game isn't the only part that makes this game so good, but the levels that immerse yourself into them are. The boss battles can be pretty good too as they are in most Capcom game's the final boss is Jafar and it's not too easy but not too hard, and after you beat him as himself you must beat him as a giant cobra, sure it's not too hard but it's a memorable boss fight and I found it to be a lot of fun

Overall Aladdin on the Snes is a must buy for the Snes if it wasn't for some sloppy controls and if it would have been a little longer this would be an absolute masterpiece, but Aladdin is a fun experience that should be enjoyed by everyone. This game does more than justice to the movie and all I can say is get this game for the Snes.