Gen Z and Millennial readers will readily recognize the names Aladdin and The Lion King, two animated classics that defined children’s movies in the ‘90s. Disney released video games based on Aladdin and The Lion King in 1993 and 1994, respectively, and the titles are held in high regard in the retro community. Now those games are available on the Nintendo Switch with a slew of enhancements and new features.
Released yesterday, the two titles (sold together in a Disney Classic Games package) are a cornucopia of delight for retro gamers. Both titles support upscaling to Full HD (1920x1080) and include multiple versions of each game. For example, gamers can play the Genesis, Game Gear, or Game Boy version of Aladdin. (Interestingly, the SNES versions of both games are missing, likely due to licensing issues with Capcom. The other versions were developed by Virgin Interactive, and these are the versions available on the Switch.)
The games also have new features for modern convenience, such as a “Watch Mode” that allows players to start playing from any point in the game. This is likely to help compensate for the difficulty of the older titles. To that end, both games also allow players to rewind gameplay if they make a mistake.
There are a ton of bonus features as well, such as a museum that gives a “behind the scenes” look at the development, a playable version of the trade show demo for Aladdin, a myriad of screen filter and display options (e.g., added scanlines), and a full soundtrack for all titles.
The Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King package is available now from the Nintendo eShop for US $29.99.