Together Retro: Licensed to Thrill (Licensed 2D Platformers)

[Sload Soap]

Beat what I refer to as the Aladdin trilogy, that being the MD, SNES and SMS versions of the game back to back. And I would rank them in that order too, though the SMS version is a country mile away in quality from the others. Since we all seem quite familiar with the MD and SNES versions I'll talk a bit about the SMS port which arrived in 1994 from SIMS.

The SMS version plays more like a cinematic platformer a la Prince of Persia with some really amazing graphics and parallax scrolling going on. The animation on Aladdin is great as well. Possibly the best looking SMS game I own. Gameplay is fine, it can be a bit stodgy when getting Aladdin to do some more precise jump. It's nothing gamebreaking but by the same token it's nothing amazing either. Efficiency is the name of the game.

And of all the ports of Aladdin I've played, this one sticks closest to the film with lots of lovely cutscenes littered with lines of dialogue straight from the script. As a fan of the movie this is quite charming but also means that the game doesn't take the quirky turns the 16-bit versions do when coming up with their levels. It also means that the music is comprised of plinky Master System versions of the film's score, so no rocking Tommy Tallarico tunes here.

The main issue with the game though is it's just too damn short and easy. Three main levels, two sections on the carpet, one final battle with Jafar and infinite continues. You can beat it in a sitting. There are hardly any enemies and the few that are here are more obstacle than aggressor.

I do still kind of dig it though. This version was obviously made for kids and for a console that even over here in Europe was entering its twilight years but it stands as a different take on the source material and a lesson in how much could be squeezed from the SMS by a talented developer.

I also beat Ducktales 2 (NES) and Darkwing Duck (NES) via the afternoon collection.

Ducktales 2 really impressed me, I don't think it's quite as good as the original but the level design and new additions to Scrooge's cane/pogo made it feel more like a slow-paced collectathon than a traditional NES platformer. Not saying one is necessarily preferable to the other but as a logical progression of the what set the first game aside from the other platformers of the time, it works rather well.

Darkwing Duck however, not so much. It's basically Mega Man with a duck but not as good. The level design is pretty good even if the locales are pretty blah and it has that classic Capcom 8-bit aesthetic. Problem is it just feels off. Darkwing isn't as sprightly as Mega Man and lots of enemies take way too long to die. It really slows the pace. Add that to some dodgy hitboxes here and there, and yeah, it just feels a bit off.

[Xeogred]

That's kind of how I felt about Darkwing Duck too and my main complaint... just didn't control as tightly as Mega Man.

That SMS Aladdin actually looks pretty rad. The others are kind of short one sitting games too, I'll have to check that one out for a quick romp. Aladdin rules!

Thor: God of Thunder does look really good visually!

[racketboy]

Hmm! I'll have to keep the SMS Aladdin game in mind for my son if he ever gets into the movie. We bought it on iTunes, but Jon just didn't really get into it. He thought it "was for grown-ups"

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yeah I tried to get my daughter to watch The Lion King and Aladdin. She had a disappointed look on her face and said "this isn't anime."

[racketboy]

Yeah I tried to get my daughter to watch The Lion King and Aladdin. She had a disappointed look on her face and said "this isn't anime."

After watching some of the older (yes even 80s and 90s ) Disney does feel like a very different animal than what my kids have become used to (they love Pixar + the new Disney Animation Studio stuff)

[nullPointer]

Yeah I tried to get my daughter to watch The Lion King and Aladdin. She had a disappointed look on her face and said "this isn't anime."

After watching some of the older (yes even 80s and 90s ) Disney does feel like a very different animal than what my kids have become used to (they love Pixar + the new Disney Animation Studio stuff)

My kiddos (8 yo twins) went through a definite Lion King phase, and one daughter in particular fell in love with Mulan (solid movie!), but yeah neither one of them has ever fell in love with the 'Disney Princess' movies (with the possible exception of Frozen, though I'd argue that one isn't really formatted as a traditional princess movie anyway). Anything older than 1990, forget about it.

Yesterday afternoon I beat The Addams Family on SNES, and recorded some final thoughts over in the Games Beaten thread. It's a challenging Mario clone, and though I had fun with it, it's not without some frustrating design elements. Still one could do a lot worse when exploring the considerable depths of the SNES platforming library. I enjoyed my time with The Addams Family, though I could certainly understand where some might not.

After beating the Addams Family I started into The Adventures of Batman and Robin for SNES, and I won't even beat around the bush, I really love this game. To this day I think it might be my favorite Batman game (though I should note that I've never played any of the Arkham games). Having said all of that, I'll admit that much of my fondness for this one is nostalgia driven. It's one of those games that I played a lot during a pivotal time in my life, a time which still resonates so clearly in my mind. Playing it now, I can see some of the game's flaws for what they are, but ultimately I just don't care, lol. It's one of those games that I played so frequently at the time that I could go several levels before even taking damage. I haven't played it for several years though, and while I can see some of the game's issues more clearly now, I'd still contend that it holds up reasonably well.

[Xeogred]

After beating the Addams Family I started into The Adventures of Batman and Robin for SNES, and I won't even beat around the bush, I really love this game. To this day I think it might be my favorite Batman game (though I should note that I've never played any of the Arkham games). Having said all of that, I'll admit that much of my fondness for this one is nostalgia driven. It's one of those games that I played a lot during a pivotal time in my life, a time which still resonates so clearly in my mind. Playing it now, I can see some of the game's flaws for what they are, but ultimately I just don't care, lol. It's one of those games that I played so frequently at the time that I could go several levels before even taking damage. I haven't played it for several years though, and while I can see some of the game's issues more clearly now, I'd still contend that it holds up reasonably well.

This is one I only played once or twice as a kid, but man I never ever forgot how awesome the visuals were. Matching up perfectly with TAS back then!

[nullPointer]

I started into The Adventures of Batman and Robin for SNES, and I won't even beat around the bush, I really love this game. To this day I think it might be my favorite Batman game (though I should note that I've never played any of the Arkham games).

This is one I only played once or twice as a kid, but man I never ever forgot how awesome the visuals were. Matching up perfectly with TAS back then!

Oh man totally! Definitely one of the big draws to this game. Another aspect that I really like about this game is how it handles the classic Batman theme of 'World's Greatest Detective'. Modern interpretations of Batman tend to focus on, "He's a gonna kick all y'all asses!", but I feel like this is a bit disingenuous to the spirit of the character (looking at you post-2000 cinematic DCU). Batman is a badass, yes, but the only reason he can hang with earth mightiest heroes is because of his big ol' beautiful bat-brain. So while the SNES title places light emphasis on this aspect, it's still present much more so than Batman games that had come before (as great as some of them were) and most Batman games that came after.

Plus I mean, TAS Batman is the unquestionably the best version of Batman outside of the comics, so there's that.

[laurenhiya21]

Went back to a few games and tried a new one! Unfortunately it didn't go very well... (again all of these are on the SNES)

I first went back to Go Go Ackman. I like it for the most part and I got all the way up to the final boss, but it's MEGA hard. I tried over and over and over, and I can't seem to beat him even with using save states at the beginning of his two phases (since if you die at the final boss, you have to do the whole level again) and having nearly fully life. Maybe if there was health bar for the boss, I could then at least have an idea if I'm doing better or not, but as is it just doesn't feel like I was getting anywhere close to beating him. It's too bad since I was so close

The other one I went back to was Magical Taruruuto-kun: Magical Adventure. I got to World 3, and while I'm still fine with the platforming stages, I can't continue because of a weird mini-game. I have no clue how it works (since it's in Japanese) and I couldn't find any sort of explanation on how to beat it. It's super long and I can't figure out how to do anything so it would be painful to just try doing it over and over until I finally got it. So this one is a no go for me.

The new one I tried was Aladdin and uh... I know pretty much everyone has been saying how easy this game is, but I'm super garbage at it. I got through the first level alright, but the second level I'm super bad at. In the log section alone (with the dumb boulders later), I lost 3 continues! (not lives, continues!) I don't know why, but Aladdin's jumps just feel really odd to me, so I keep on jumping into the water or other insta-death pits. I also often get knocked into those insta-death pits by bats or boulders or whatever wants to kill me. Maybe I'll give this another try later, but it was super surprising for me to have so much trouble with it. I know I'm bad at platformers, but I didn't think I was THAT bad ha

[BoneSnapDeez]

Are you floating using the R button? Gotta make sure you pick up the cloth item -- I think it's in the second part of the desert. Certainly one of the initial levels.