Retro Review: Aladdin on the Sega Genesis

Aladdin for the Sega Genesis was one of the best, and most frustrating, licensed games to come out for the Sega Genesis. The game incorporated scenes and elements from the movie along with a great soundtrack to create a memorable experience. The game, however, suffers from some gameplay issues that hold it back from being a great game.
First off the story is the plot of the movie plus some extra content to make it exciting. The locales will range from the desert, to the genie’s lamp, to the dungeon, and more. The graphics are great for the Genesis and the character models are all spot on. The music is a great 16 bit rendition of the music from the movies with some new tracks added in to avoid redundancy.
The gameplay is simple, the A button throws apples that you can collect throughout the course of the game, the B button swings your sword, and the C button jumps. The jump button was a little tough to get to work but I think that was probably due to the age of the controller and all the use. There is a lot of platforming as you would expect and there is a variety as you climb ropes, hang on to clothes lines, and jump onto platforms.
There are some weird things in the game like the women throwing pots at you in the first level, you only see their arms and Aladdin chops the arms with his sword. They disappear into a puff of smoke but still. Also I never understood why there were guards trying to kill you inside the dungeon, for that matter why are there skeletons with bombs on their heads? Why are there ghosts in the cave of wonders? Why do the snakes in the desert have little red hats on? Well, whatever, the game is a little weird but then again it’s a game based on a children’s animated movie.
The biggest issue that annoys me about this game is the difficulty spike, the game become unbearable while you are trying to escape the cave both on foot and on the magic carpet. I’ve never been able to pass those levels and though I have seen the later levels thanks to a cheat code, it is still annoying that I have never been able to beat the game.
Overall the game is a fun title that offers good gameplay, solid graphics, and a lot of variety. The game suffers from some flaws but at least it is a good adaptation of the Aladdin movie.
Pros
-Good Graphics and Sound
-Good Gameplay Variety
Cons
-Ridiculous Difficulty Spike
7/10