Man, this has made my day! Disney has released new updated versions of three classic 16-bit platformers based on their creative licences in the 1990's for today's modern PC operating systems! That's right, they've ported the console versions of these games to be compatible for your modern PC but still with the engines and gameplay of them intact!
According to this Polygon article Aladdin seems to be ported from the superior Genesis version. The Lion King's PC port probably came from the Genesis version too. The Jungle Book's port seems to come from the Genesis version. Its SNES port probably looks better than Genesis' while Genesis' is a bit more brighter but I think I prefer the SNES version. It looks a bit closer to the new movie (which I thought was meh) while the Genesis version' colourful flair feels inspired by Disney's animation. HOWEVER, the environments in the Genesis version have got a lot more verticality to it, which may make its gameplay the better bet. I've read that the old Win 95 or PC DOS versions of many of Disney's games just couldn't work on later Windows systems anyway.
http://www.polygon.com/2016/8/4/1237337 ... ook-pc-gogThis is AWESOME news!!!
I can only imagine as Disney brings more of those platforming classics that they (Disney Software) and Virgin Interactive & sometimes other developers (Capcom & Eurocom) have made in their heydays of the 1990's! Hopefully more games like the Donald Duck games, Mickey Mouse games and Toy Story 1 will be ported to the PC soon after. That would be ace!
I have read parts of this
retrospective (Start from page 3) on mainly Donald Duck games at least twice this year, I think, in the lead up to these huge surprises of PC re-releases! What brilliant timing! HG101 also did a
Mickey Mania retrospective.
Comparisons (Just have a brief look at each. Make sure not to see the whole playthroughs as they're short!):Mega Drive Longplay [106] AladdinSNES Longplay [351] Aladdin (a)Aladdin (Sega Genesis vs Snes) Side by Side Comparison (Not a full playthrough)
Console Wars - Aladdin (Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis) (Old review divided into categories)
* ADDED on 11/09/2016:
Aladdin: SNES vs. Genesis - Which Is Better? (Oct 16, 2015. Avoid seeing it as it contains the full gameplay walkthrough.)
Game vs Game Episode 6 - Aladdin (Genesis vs SNES vs SMS) (May 24, 2016. See this if you want.)
* ADDED on 03/10/2016:
Disney Aladdin Gameplay Full Movie Game - Walt Disney Episode 1 HD (The Kids Club - My Superheroes in Real Life. Nov 29, 2013. For the SNES game. Badly chopping framerate. But read the description about the tie-in animation movies.)
The Lion King | Mega Drive & SNES | Comparison - Dual Longplay (The MD version's screen is bigger & its visuals seem better & more saturated)
* ADDED on 11/09/2016:
Console Wars - The Lion King - Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis (Nov 27, 2015. Genesis' version got the best GRAPHICS award. However the SNES version got the best PRESENTATION & SOUND awards. But both versions were tied for the best GAMEPLAY award because visually and level-design wise it just looks so similar. But the best version goes to the SNES version, which is a bit weird as I think many users commenting on many other retrospective videos for this game perhaps preferred the Genesis version like all other Disney games.)
Game vs Game Episode 9 - The Lion King (SNES vs Genesis) (Dec 31, 2014. See this if you want.)
* ADDED on 03/10/2016:
Lion King | Mega Drive, SNES & Amiga | Comparison - Triple Longplay (silenig. Feb 19, 2016. "This is an update of a previous video..." 3 years ago above. Check the level structures & timecodes in description.)
The Jungle Book (Sega Genesis vs Snes) Side by Side Comparison (Not a full playthrough)
* EDIT (06/08/2016): Uh oh, some users in their reviews indicated that at least the new PC re-release version of Aladdin is based on the inferior DOS PC port of the arguably superior Genesis version. So it's a DOS-emulated software running on your latest computer operating system with many technical deficiencies that marked the DOS port. Aw, well, too bad then... You can notice the massive dithering on the pixels in those PC (DOS-based) releases, not sure if the Genesis version had so much dithering too.
* EDIT (23/08/2016): RPS wrote out a 'Have You Played...?" article on the Aladdin game a few days before GOG released these three platformers. There are balanced thoughts to the DOS release of this game.
Have You Played… Disney’s Aladdin?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* EDIT (11/09/2016): These Genesis and Super Nintendo comparison videos of several other Disney games could prove to be quite useful should Disney ever decide to attempt ports of either side of the remaining 1990's platformer games onto modern PC systems!
Console Wars - Mickey Mouse - Magical Quest vs World of Illusion (SNES vs SEGA) (Mar 29, 2014. Best PRESENTATION and SOUND awards go to the Genesis version. HOWEVER the SNES version was recognized for best GRAPHICS award at the start and then in the end BEST GAMEPLAY award!)
Console Wars - Toy Story - Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis (May 20, 2015. The SNES version got the best GRAPHICS award, while the Genesis version got awarded for PRESENTATION, SOUND and victoriously for GAMEPLAY too.)
Console Wars - Mickey Mania - Super Nintendo vs Sega Genesis (Sep 4, 2016. Full sweep-over win to the Sega Genesis version.)
* EDIT (03/10/2016): Found by accident from user silenig - he also has several cool playlists of dual and even triple longplay videos of many games!
Toy Story | Mega Drive/Genesis & SNES - Comparison, Dual Longplay (Jul 27, 2015. Check the nice description with level structures and timecodes.)
Mickey Mania | Mega Drive & SNES | Comparison - Dual Longplay (Jun 22, 2014. Check timecodes in description.)
Mickey Mania | Sega Mega CD & PlayStation | Comparison - Dual Longplay (Jun 23, 2014. Mega CD's character animations are a bit more fluid. But the enhanced PSX version have vastly more detailed parallax backgrounds behind the fore background.)
Pinocchio | Mega Drive/Genesis & SNES - Comparison/ Dual Longplay (Nov 22, 2015. The SNES version's backgrounds seem to have better, more pleasant colouring & contrast while the MD version suffers from bad dithering. Even one theatrical stage has more spot-lighting in the SNES version! Character animations and level designs for both are virtually the same.)
The Great Circus Mystery | Comparison - Dual Longplay (Apr 25, 2016. "Magical Quest 2: The Great Circus Mystery Starring Mickey and Minnie | Mega Drive/ Genesis & SNES | Comparison - Dual Longplay". The MD version is a little bit blurry - the fonts and visuals in the SNES version are a lot clearer & sharper, thus bringing out more shininess & colour. The level backgrounds have a little bit more detail. The MD game appears a bit too overly bright in some places.)
* ADDED (06/10/2016): Came across this another video by accident while researching an user, SmiteSA, who makes his '
Rom Pit' videos, which usually showcase gameplay of several or one SNES (And also Jaguar) console games, which are often Japanese only. It's to accompany the other Pinocchio gameplay video just above here, which is of great luck! But he says that it's a very bad game!
Rom Pit - Pinocchio (SNES) (Sep 29, 2016. "Another Disney game on the SNES, which typically means it's a well-animated disaster. This one came really late in the console's life, but it has some seriously bad gameplay decisions. It's hard to figure out what to do and the levels are long and ridiculous. Probably the worst mine cart stage ever made can be found in this game. Thanks to stage select, we can check out most of the art, at least!")
SNES Rom Pit #52 - Mickey, Waldo and Anime (Mar 10, 2015. 3 games covered here including '
Great Circus Mystery', which can be seen in another video above this user's lot. He says they're all awful. I agreed when I saw another video of this game.)
* ADDED (08/10/2016):
Disney Games - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. JonTron (DidYouKnowGaming? Jun 13, 2016. A basic overview of the 90's 2D Disney platformers.)
* ADDED (11/10/2016):
TOP 5 DISNEY SUPER NINTENDO GAMES (RetroLiberty. Sep 26, 2016. Oh man. This is grand! About time someone did a video like this one and this was put out two weeks ago before I first saw it! It's got an OK presentation. The games covered are 5: "The Lion King", 4: "Goof Troop" [Never heard of this], 3: The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, 2: Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow, 1: Aladdin.
"Disney video games in the 8 bit days were amazing...but how were the 16 bit Disney games for the Super Nintendo? What game will take home the top spot as the best Disney SNES game of all time?")