Aladdin

Sometimes the stars align so perfectly that the result looks as if it had fallen off a movie screen — and that is exactly how Aladdin felt on the Mega Drive in 1993. At a time when most film licenses meant a rushed horror, along came a platformer whose animation involved real artists from the Disney workshop, and players couldn't believe their eyes. The characters moved with a fluidity home consoles had scarcely known until then.

A key difference from the competition lay in the gameplay too: this Aladdin wields a saber. Instead of merely jumping over enemies or landing on them from above, he can slash his way through rows of guards, snakes and desert beasts, while hurling apples as a throwing weapon. This creates a brisk mix of action and jumping that has bite and pace. The levels lead you through the marketplace of Agrabah, a Cave of Wonders full of falling rocks and an escape from lava, and it is all held together by a flawless sense of movement and timing.

It is worth mentioning that there is also a completely different Aladdin for the SNES by Capcom — also excellent, but built on a different philosophy where the hero carries more of a rope and jumps on enemies. Two studios, two versions, two camps of fans who argue to this day over which is better. The Mega Drive one, however, remains an icon precisely thanks to its cinematic sheen and bold action.

Aladdin ranked among the best-selling and most acclaimed titles on its console and remains to this day a textbook example of how to do a film license properly — with respect for the source and for the player. It showed that an animated film and a video game can speak the same visual language, and it foreshadowed an era when games began to be produced with almost studio-level care.

Anyone who fires up the cartridge today will find a platformer that, while demanding on jump precision, rewards with a fairy-tale spectacle and the feeling of controlling a cartoon character who has just run out of the cinema. It is a title that ages more slowly than most of its contemporaries — the colors glow, the animations flow and the magic remains.

Why play it: For the most audiovisually striking film platformer of its time, where a saber, apples and Disney animation form a whole that is still enchanting today.