Two movies that helped Disney make an unfathomable amount of money this year were live-action remakes of two of their most beloved animated classics: Aladdin and The Lion King. However, if you were creeped out by weird CGI Will Smith Genie or weird CGI… everything in The Lion King, now there’s another way to get your nostalgic fix without just watching the originals again. Disney is remastering some of its classic Aladdin and Lion King video games. And after playing this compilation for ourselves these past few days, this piece of gaming history is as lovingly crafted as the animation behind these classic Disney films.
Disney has always gone through these phases where it really tries to get into the gaming market. The Disney Renaissance was one of those times. By taking assets from the movies themselves, Disney wanted to wow console players by offering them the most beautiful animation they had ever seen.
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King makes those games shine like they never have before with new (optional) visual enhancements and the ability to rewind or skip around games. Developed by Digital Eclipse, the same folks behind the excellent Disney Afternoon Collection, the compilation also features art galleries, sound tests, and never-before-seen demos.
Even the game selection itself is more robust than you might expect. Aladdin and Lion King games released on a plethora of platforms including Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy. All those different versions are bundled here. The only notable omission seems to be Super Nintendo Aladdin, an uglier but arguably superior Capcom game headed by Resident Evil’s Shinj Mikami.
Whether you want to play the colorful and beautiful console versions or weirdly impressive handheld versions, Aladdin and The Lion King are here as you remember them. Between the two, Aladdin is the better game, with its bouncier animation and more flexible combat options. Aladdin also gets the special Director’s Cut, a slightly retouched version of the original that just gives it the slightest bit of extra contemporary pop while still totally being a retro game.
And even if you don’t care to actually play these well-made but dated sidescrollers for that long, the behind-the-scenes documentaries are an absolutely fascinating and worthwhile look at how the developers translated fluid iconic theatrical Disney animation techniques to primitive video game hardware. They got Simba to look recognizable on a Game Boy! Don’t you want to see that process? The total amount of games might be limited in scope, but as a piece of games art history preservation this gives us Rare Replay flashbacks.
Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King are out now for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. For more on retro games check out this emulator that translates Japanese on the fly.
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