Aladdin CES demo build for Genesis

I'm not sure if it really warrants a new thread, but I thought it might interest some here. I've made an entry on the Hidden Palace wiki for a prototype of Aladdin for Genesis I have that has a lot of interesting differences from the final. Check it out here:

http://hiddenpalace.org/Aladdin_(Chicago_C.E.S_demo)

Edit: ROM now available for download!

 

Such a cool game, I played it before the Snes version so probably find it a little bit better. Thanks for sharing

 

Very interesting! Love those huge dev boards. I "know" of a Lion King SNES prototype that similarly has placeholder graphics for at least two enemies, though one is a simple skeletal armature instead of what looks to be a more fleshed-out sketch for the pot-thrower in the Aladdin prototype. Kinda interesting to get a feel for how the Disney animators interacted with the game development team.

 

I also have an SNES Lion King proto I need to make an entry for soon, too. Wonder if it's the same build. Empty unfinished levels, has skeleton graphics for Timon in his bonus stages.

 

Could certainly be the same one! The one I'm referring to also has a completely different title screen, no sound effects, different life/roar meter graphics (actually much nicer looking than the final game, probably changed to make them more easily readable when playing), somewhat different BG graphics, almost no items (and I think the one or two that are there have different graphics), palette on some Simba sprites is poor resulting in white pixels that clearly shouldn't be white, dieing just makes Simba go through his death animation and freeze without losing a life or restarting, a skeletal armature placeholder for the first hyena boss, and some other things (don't know of any differences beyond level 1, or if there is even anything actually playable beyond level 1 since beating the level doesn't end it or progress the game and the final game level select code doesn't work). There's also a developer message in the nonfunctioning sound test, lol.

 

The Mega Drive version is better. Even Capcom (they did the SNES version) said so.

 

Awesome! Want to see more from the Genie lv...

 

Nice, I always liked this game, the animation was so well done. Unlike the SNES version..

 

Just because they said it doesn't mean it's necessarily true. I thorougly enjoyed the Snes version too. Hell I even played the unnoficial NES port

 

Very cool. One of my favorite MD games ☺

 

x

 

You're right, it's just one guy's opinion. But I agree with him.
http://www.polygon.com/2014/2/20/5431778/aladdin-genesis-vs-super-nintendo-shinji-mikami-dave-perry

 

Oh wow, I do hope the rom gets released at some point, but still thanks for sharing the screen shots! They look very interesting!

I've been wanting a prototype of Aladdin for a while, but all I got was almost final and already dumped.

 

Wow man, even if you don't plan on releasing a dump, thank you very much for documenting the differences. It's nice to know this is out there.

Edit: As for SNES vs Genesis. I prefer the SNES version as it's more fun. It kinda plays more faithfully to the movies than the Genesis did. Aladdin has held swords or knives very rarely in the movies, that probably shouldn't have been one of his main moves.

 

There is also a Sega Master System Aladdin, which is a different game. I think it is good.

 

No it's not. It's ok.

 

I played the MD version a lot when I was a kid and only recently played the SNES version. I was surprised to find out a different company developed it, as I thought it would be the same (or with minor differences). I must say I like Capcom's game more. It's very Mega Man-esque, fast and colourful.

I do like the Game Gear version... is the Master System version the same? It looks to be the same.

 

Bump.

I've uploaded the ROM for everyone to try out now. You can find it for download on the Hidden Palace page for it in the first post. Hope Aladdin fans will enjoy. Be sure to let us know of any other differences you find!

 

For anyone interested in checking this out, there are indeed many clear differences from beginning to end. Some of the most interesting things are already covered in the HP article, but every level differs from the final release and some are clearly unfinished. Apples are also a lot weaker than they are in the final release. Pressing start on controller 1 resets the game to the level select screen.

Interestingly, not only does the title in the header refer to the game as The Jungle Book, the product code in the header references Cool Spot.

 

Oh yeah, speaking of The Jungle Book, the desert level has a clearly non-Aladdin track that in fact is from The Jungle Book on Genesis. But, it's a different mix of that track. They were remaking it to re-use again? Not sure how to explain that one.