When it came to video games that were based off licensed IPs in the early 90s, Disney was up near the top of the list. The top two games that everyone remembers most are The Lion King and Aladdin as both games were fun but also quite difficult. Well, it’s time to get ready for a return to a classic era of gaming!
Publisher Disney Games, distributor Nighthawk Interactive, and developer Digital Eclipse have announced Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. It will launch on October 29th for $29.99 (USD).
So, is it just Aladdin and The Lion King games from the Genesis days or the SNES day? Well, no … It’s more than that actually. Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King includes the Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and Super Game Boy versions of Virgin Games’ Aladdin and The Lion King, as well as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System version of The Lion King.
Here’s an overview of the collection from Nighthawk Interactive:
“Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King will include the fan-favorite versions of each original title, featuring upscaled graphics to support high definition displays and additional upgrades to enhance playability on current consoles. The collection also includes a brand-new ‘final cut’ of Aladdin and an original Aladdin ‘tradeshow demo’ that has not been publicly available since 1993.”
“Fans will be able to revisit these beloved games and take advantage of a variety of modern support options, including instant save states, a ‘Rewind’ button to jump back up to 15 seconds, level select, invulnerability, infinite lives, and an ‘Interactive Game Viewer.’ The Interactive Game Viewer enables players to view full game playthroughs with the ability to skip forward, jump in, and start playing at any point.”
In addition, Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King features:
Authentic Game Content with Modern Improvements – Fans old and new can enjoy the original game builds, upscaled graphics, customizable controls, special filters for visual enhancement, and more.
Variety of Game Versions – The collection includes multiple playable platform versions of the games including their Sega Genesis, Game Boy, and Super Game Boy releases as well as The Lion King Super Nintendo Entertainment System version.
A Helping Hand – Players who want to experience the Disney magic in true “Hakuna Matata” fashion can use the Interactive Game Viewer, Rewind feature, and cheat codes to aid gameplay progression.
Curated, Explorable Museum – A treasure trove of behind-the-scenes development assets including interviews, an art gallery, and a music player shares the rich history behind the Aladdin and The Lion King 16-bit games.
Out of all of the things announced in this collection, it has been confirmed that this collection will include the trade show demo of Aladdin, making it playable for the first time to the public. On top of that, there will be an inclusion of a “Final Cut” version of Aladdin. According to Developer, Stephen Frost:
“The inclusion of a ‘Final Cut’ version of Aladdin is a pretty big achievement for this collection. As the original development time for Aladdin was relatively short, there were quite a few things that the team just weren’t able to include or get to. So, we stepped into their shoes and challenged ourselves with the idea of ‘What would the development team change in the game if they had a bit more time?’”
“Using information obtained from the original source code, documentation and team members we went in and fixed aspects of the camera, smoothed out the difficulty, added additional areas, tweaked the combat and a host of other adjustments. None of the changes were made without a lot of thought and consideration, so we’re excited for fans to see them.”
“None of this would have been possible, though, without the help of the original Aladdin development team members and the amazing skills of Dick Whitehouse, who masterfully went into the original game and implemented these improvements”
So, if you are a fan of either franchise, relive your childhood or pass on what you grew up with, as this is the collection you’ve been waiting for!
