About the Game
The game is widely known. Disney used to license its films to game developers with minimal involvement, but this changed after the poor quality and legal issues of Fantasia on the Sega Mega Drive. Disney then took a more active role in funding new projects, ensuring its animators contributed to development. The first game under this approach was Aladdin, developed by Virgin Interactive for the Mega Drive and later other platforms—except for the Sega Master System (licensed to Sega) and the Super Nintendo (licensed to Capcom), which received entirely different versions. Developers generally agree that the other versions are superior, so players can enjoy any version they prefer.

Lead programmer David Perry later left Virgin, founded Eurocom (later Funcom), and continued working on Disney-licensed games and original titles like Earthworm Jim. The animation and engine from Aladdin influenced many later games across the Mega Drive, SNES, and PlayStation 1 (e.g., Hercules). Even Nintendo acknowledged Aladdin‘s impressive visuals, inspiring them to push Donkey Kong Country’s graphics.

Despite being short, Aladdin remains a retro gaming highlight. However, numerous unofficial pirated versions, particularly by Chinese bootleggers, exist for non-original platforms. Some official ports, like the NES and PC versions, were of such poor quality that bootlegs were arguably better. Due to missing text and levels, we do not recommend these versions.

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Localization Team
This game holds personal significance—it was one of the first I played after Super Mario Bros. and left a lasting impression. Many also have fond memories of Disney’s Arabic-dubbed films, despite some differences in cultural representation. While Aladdin doesn’t require language proficiency to play, we believed it deserved a proper Arabic localization.

Contributors:

• R-K – Hacking, Graphics, UI adjustments, text insertion, assembly edits.
• Mansour – Text translation, font design.

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Localization Features
This project primarily aimed to tackle technical challenges. We designed a readable Arabic font, though compromises were necessary—such as forgoing inner shadows and using the Japanese version, which limited some Genie animations in the into. We ensured high-quality Arabic text rendering despite the Mega Drive’s limitations.

R-K translated as many in-game UI elements as possible, overcoming compression hurdles and even implementing effects like golden highlights and neon glows—rare for the Mega Drive, which typically struggles with detailed visuals.

We also integrated Arabic designs based on official materials, including the classic Arabic Sega logo from 1989 and Aladdin logos from official posters and VHS covers. Some assets required recoloring due to hardware restrictions. While we considered using Arabic dub scripts, Aladdin on the Mega Drive deviated significantly from the film, making direct adaptation impractical. Instead, we selectively incorporated recognizable phrases while maintaining formal Arabic consistency.

Another Mega Drive localization—who could say no to that?