Nowadays, when the word
videogames is mentioned in relation to Disney, the first title to come up might
have to be the massive crossover with Japanese developer Square-Enix, the “Kingdom
Hearts” series which released its latest main installment just this January.
And that knowledge might only be for dedicated fans of the “Eastern” RPG genre
in general and “Final Fantasy” particularly. That was not the case in the last
decades of the 20th Century, which saw Disney licensing developers
to make games based on their TV shows and animated films, from “Ducktales” to
Darkwing Duck,” to “Jungle Book” and, famously, “Aladdin” and “The Lion King.”
Well according to Metro UK, the 1990s videogame
adaptations of Disney’s “Aladdin” and “Lion King” will soon see the light of
day again as re-mastered versions for the “big three” videogame consoles of
this day and age. The revision is being made by Disney and Nighthawk
Interactive, featuring the console and handheld videogames featuring the above
two animated classics as originally developed by Virgin Games. The compilation
will therefore feature the Virgin-developed “Aladdin” games for Sega Genesis
and Nintendo Game Boy, while “The Lion King” is available in Super Nintendo
(SNES), Genesis and Game Boy.
As Nighthawk Interactive only
worked on re-mastering the Virgin Interactive Disney game titles, this modern
compilation lacks the SNES version of “Aladdin,” which was developed by Capcom
(of the “Ducktales” videogame fame). Strangely, this also includes the Nintendo
version of “The Lion King,” despite being a Virgin game itself, and famous for
being the last game title ever released for the venerable Nintendo
Entertainment System (NES) in Europe. Still, the other additions are worth it,
with the Game Boy titles being playable in “Super Game Boy” format (emulating
the SNES peripheral allowing GB games to be played in more colorful form on the
SNES console). “Aladdin” meanwhile also comes with a “Final Edition” Genesis
version and a trade show demo.
But Nighthawk Interactive also
went far beyond just re-presenting some old Disney videogames in more vibrant
1080 format for new-generation consoles. They also added nifty extra features
such as in-game saving (in addition to the original Password option) and “Watch
Mode,” which automatically plays the games to the end and allows the player to
assume control at any point. A Rewind function can also wind back gameplay for
a moment, allowing players to avoid getting their characters killed. Extra
options include a Sound Test for all background music and an art gallery
showing game development.
“Aladdin” and “The Lion King” are
thus compiled into the “Disney Classic Games” collection, available physically
for Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, plus digitally on Steam.
The collection arrives in fall 2019.
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