Game Review: Aladdin (1993)

Did you know that, about halfway the so-called “Disney Renaissance” of 1989-199, Walt Disney Feature Animation collaborated with Disney Interactive Studios, inc., to create nine video games based upon their successful films? And did you know that one of these games, Aladdin, is the third best-selling Sega Genesis game, outselling titles like Mortal Kombat and Sonic the Hedgehog 3?

Though one of many games based on the 1992 film of the same name, Aladdin, developed by Virgin Games USA, accomplishes what many video games in history have tried: successfully adapting film material into a digital game setting without trivializing the original plotline or forgoing user experience. In 16-bit platformer levels through vivid recreations of scenes and settings in the beloved film, Aladdin has an arsenal of tools and movements at his fingertips: literally, in some cases, as he throws apples and climbs buildings. The gamer follows him as he moves through the markets of Agrabah, the forbidden cave in which he receives the lamp, and even Jafar’s palace, ending with princess Jasmine’s rescue and their reunification. 

What makes Aladdin special is not its mechanics, however, but rather the rich character design and 2D movement that expands upon what Disney does best. Each level introduces new obstacles and settings, most of which take direct inspiration from the film, and in many cases, original animation cells are used in sprite animation. All it takes is looking at Aladdin’s idle animations– such as him tossing an apple to himself– or the billowing of his vest in the wind as he rides his magic carpet to feel like one is no longer watching the movie, but rather playing through it, with their choices and abilities directly impacting the storyline. Everything is adapted into the new medium, from the genie’s mysticism and penchant for mischief, to the music, now in a charming 16-bit style. 

Aladdin’s success ushered in an era of many more Disney-produced video games to come, though few, if any, replicated its success– the game to follow, a 1994 platformer where the user controls the Beast of Beauty and the Beast, received largely negative reviews, for example, and of the others released before 1999, none managed to even come close to Aladdin’s 4 million copies sold. But why is that, when modern reviewers cite games like the Genesis’s 1995 Pocahontas as comparable in graphical accomplishment?

The answer lies clear even in the two games’ names: Aladdin is a boy, and Pocahontas is a girl. Though sometimes a gamer might find themselves controlling various animal sprites in the latter, at the end of the day, the avatar is a female. This is never true for Aladdin– by playing as the “street rat,” it is often easy to forget completely that your goal is to rescue Jasmine. It feels like any other platformer game of the era, successful and entirely marketed for boys: with his open shirt, scimtar, and hand-to-hand combat mechanics, Aladdin immerses the gamer into the movie’s environment while allowing them to forget about the “girlier” plotline of romance. Occasional cutscenes may try to bring gamers back into the plot, but their flat, unanimated sprites and complete silence juxtapose with the previously mentioned vibrant scene and soundscapes of the levels.

During the time of Aladdin’s release, video games were not for girls. Considering the way that the classical prince-rescuing-princess trope is generally regarded as girly and childish in movies, it’s almost surprising that the films were adapted into games at all– until one remembers that the trope is equally present in video games. The game has its merits, and some decades later, remains as one of the best-selling SEGA Genesis games of all time, which is quite an achievement– but it couldn’t have done that without selling out completely to a male gaze.

But how did Disney come about this decision? I hypothesize that they based it upon the relative failure of the game to precede Aladdin: 1991’s The Little Mermaid for NES and Game Boy. Like Pocahontas, the gamer takes on the titular heroine as she navigates through the plot of her previously created movie, albeit with more of an emphasis on exploration and collection of undersea items. Unlike other popular games of the year– such as Street Fighter— the combat is reduced to bubbles that simply trap foes rather than ‘kill’ them.

The Little Mermaid sold 500,000 copies to a majority female audience, paling in comparison to the success of the same year’s Sonic the Hedgehog game. Disney execs were probably left wondering why, when their media was so popular in theaters, they were left in the dust by a blue rodent– and the answer is found in both the response that is Aladdin and any Game Boy commercial: the video game space first and foremost must cater to a male audience.