Jump’n Run At Its Best With Disney’s Aladdin

Aladdin—where do I even begin? From the very first moment the game boots up, you can tell it’s something special. The graphics, the music, the gameplay—everything just clicks. And yes, I’m talking about the superior Amiga version.

Funny thing is, I never actually planned on buying it. I was convinced it would be another mediocre movie tie-in. But thankfully, a friend mailed me a “preview” copy (ah, the good old days of snail mail and floppy disks…), and after just a few hours of playing, I marched straight down to the local game shop and bought it. No regrets—none at all.

And let’s not forget that stunning box art. Honestly, I probably would’ve picked it up based on the packaging alone. Gorgeous, isn’t it?

In The Box…

There wasn’t much inside the Aladdin Amiga box apart from a Disneyland Paris voucher, three floppy disks (wasn’t the cracked version spread across four?), and a thick black-and-white manual—not exactly the most exciting package, but typical for the time.

“Both Aladdin and The Lion King came with a promotional voucher—an incredible deal at the time. It offered a £100 discount and free entry for kids to a theme park. Honestly, if a game with a deal like that launched today and sold millions, it’d probably bankrupt the place!”

A bold marketing move, and one more reason these Disney tie-ins left such a lasting impression.

Had to snag a few screenshots from Hall Of Light as the game require a lot of playtimes (for me anyway) to get “into” the game, looks wonderful and even if it’s a Megadrive port/joint version it still doesn’t matter as the game move damn slick.

Here’s another screenshot set courtesy of Hall of Light. I actually completed Aladdin back in the day, but it took me weeks to master. I’ve been meaning to revisit it, but part of me feels like I need to track down a proper CRT TV first. Like so many retro games, Aladdin just looks and feels better on a classic screen. There’s something about the scanlines, the colour warmth, and that nostalgic glow that modern displays just can’t replicate.

Aladdin is packed with classic and genuinely funny moments, and here’s one of my favourites: there’s a section where you bounce off a camel’s back to reach a higher platform. It sounds simple enough, but in true Disney fashion, the camel reacts by spitting out an apple, its eyes bulging out comically as it lets out a hilarious sound effect. Little touches like this give the game its charm and personality—moments that still make me smile decades later.

A memorable level, but hard and requires lots of precision, retro games tend to be much harder than today’s “kids” games and completing or progressing a game can be very rewarding.

This is the first level, and it kicks off with some hilarious moments. Take the lava bed, for example—wait for the enemies to step on it, and they’ll start hopping around with their feet burning, making a funny “ouch, oh, ouch” sound. Hit them once, and their trousers fall off, leaving them scrambling to pull them up—unless you defeat them before they can manage it. It’s these little comedic touches that make the game so much fun.

A lot of my friends and schoolmates assumed Aladdin on the Amiga was just like the disappointing SNES version from Capcom. They were in for a surprise when they gave it a try. Interestingly, this game was released during a time when ports were generally considered superior on the SNES or Mega Drive, with a few notable exceptions like The Misadventures of Flink, Mr. Nutz, and a handful of others.

If you haven’t played this version yet, do yourself a favour and check it out now. Trust me, it’s worth it.