Review of Aladdin (NES)

Aladdin is a plat former action game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994 and was developed by NMS software. 1994, you say? Yes, this game came quite late in the Nintendo's shelf life and it shows. Let's go over why.

Story : The story is based on the famous Aladdin movie, which if you haven't seen you should definitely check out. If you're a fan of the movie then the game will be great for you in this regard, as many elements of the movie safely made it here to the game.

Graphics : This game is just a port of the Super Nintendo version. What does this mean? The graphics in this game are absolutely fantastic and pushed the Nintendo to it's limits. It was released in 1994 so compared to graphics on other systems at the time it wasn't very good but as far as Nintendo goes, it doesn't get much better than this. Everything in this game is exceptionally well drawn and animated. The backgrounds look wonderful, the items look great. There is one major drawback though, after you're hit you flash and sometimes you flash so much you can't really tell where you are. Which leads to you getting hit.

Sound : The sound is good enough. There's nothing to write home about here, but there's nothing to detract from the experience either. The sound effects are good, the music has a nice variety and fits well. My major beef is when a golden beetle is flying around though. If you don't catch this golden beetle, it will make an excruciatingly annoying sound until you do. Major negative points based on this alone, I don't know what they were thinking.

Game play : The controls feel great in this game. The directional pad is very nice and responsive. Your other buttons are equally good. The jumping takes some getting used to, but when you get it down it's very easy to control properly. The stages are very fun, short, and satisfying. The designs on some are very good and there's a big variety of stages to keep you entertained.

This game is challenging where it counts but doesn't overwhelm you, which is good since it's based on a Disney movie anyway. You're allowed to be hit plenty of times and also have plenty of apples which stun enemies. It's very easy to get extra lives in this game as well. Most stages are easily learned and played through.

Re playability : A fun action game, but there's nothing to see that you won't have seen before. If you're a huge Disney or Aladdin fan you will probably enjoy this game multiple times however.

Overall : 7/10. A great game with some major flaws, including excessive blinking and annoying sound effects. If you can get past these, enjoy.