@@SuperXzm At least fan games are made from a place of love. If you love something, you put in the extra effort to make it shine. Bootlegs are usually lazy cash grabs, with as little effort put in as possible.
Considering the late release of Aladdin and Lion King (1994 and 1995) the developers probably just shipped whatever they had when it was time to release them. They probably thought that most people would play the Gameboy/SNES/Genesis versions anyway. Also, for what it's worth, the developers of Aladdin, NMS Software, also did the Ubisoft version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (which was also basically a direct Gameboy port)
@@Dystnine I know. Right after the Hakuna Matata scene, you get a still of the final scene of the movie where Simba is grown up, and he and Nala are parents. Then the credits roll. The ENTIRE adult scenario is cut out. That is just lazy. You would THINK the final licensed game of a console would be a masterpiece. Not too mention, they flat out LIED on the game box about how many levels were in the game.
With Lion King etc., it's pretty easy. At the time, the NES was dead in the water, the only people still buying NES games were folks who probably couldn't afford to pay more than £10 for a game, anyone who could spring the £30 or £40 for a full price game would've likely had a SNES or Mega Drive already. Everything is so bland, things like empty background graphics, no adult Simba stages etc. is because they need to keep the ROM size down so they could sell it for less than £10. They likely would've been made by 1 guy in less than a week, again, in order to keep costs down so they could meet the price point.
I disagree about SNES Lion King being the same experience as the genesis version. The screen is very cramped as the SNES is just 256x224 vs 320x224 on Genesis
There's quite a few official double ports out there, especially on the Genesis, like there's two completely different versions of games like Klax and Marble Madness, and also NES games like Maniac Mansion and Fantasy Zone.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is another game that comes to mind. The Ubisoft version and NES Aladdin also have the same developers, NMS Software.
True. Interesting that they would bother making another port. Either they didn't know about the originals, or they didn't care. I would like to check out the tengen games someday.
I know why the Giraffes have that outline problem, the body is a background graphic while the head is a sprite you can interact with, and it uses the same palette as Simba. Of course it wouldn't have been as noticeable on a lower end blurry CRT back in the day.
Additional Notes: Super Game wasn't the only cokpany trying to port Earthworm Jim 2 to the NES. Both Shin-Shin and Waixing made their own ports too. Waixing's version was the most complete of these, having more levels than the Super Game counterpart. However, it replaced the characters with original ones and even went under a different name (Happy Biqi World Fighter).
There is nice Alladin ported from SNES by Hummer team. Also the jungle book on the NES is also port from GB, but well done. There are 3 versions of Jim 2 for the NES, and one of Jim 1, but called Jim 3.
there was 3 versions of Aladdin for the nes (maybe even 4): - one from Hummer Team (2 of them, first is original and the second is a more common version with somewhat simplified graphics) - one from Super Game (in the video) - one from Chengdu Tai Jing Da Dong (Aladdin 2), complete garbage
Hummer Team Aladdin also secretly shipped with a set of Popeye head sprites to change Aladdin into Popeye, along with a "Popeye II" title screen. They are present in the ROM, but not used unless you change 20 bytes in the graphics bank selection table.
As an Eastern European bootleg NES rather famiclone games were the norm here, I still have many of my bootlegs but sadly I don't have the Super Games Lion King anymore, it was my cousins and we lost a whole bunch of games around 2006. It's not hard to find tho. One of my favorite bootleg games back in the day was the SNES to NES Aladdin port by Hummerteam, I remember buying it in spite of already owning both the SNES and Mega Drive versions, it was just so strange. I still play it from time to time to completion.
I always enjoy reading comments from people in other countries because their experiences growing up with older systems like these are so much different than ours. Thanks for sharing
@@hectorg5809 yeah i plan on making a video on it all one day but I'm stuck on trying to get photos and footage of the huge arcade craze in my country during the 80's and 90's, guess that's just not happening and you guys will just have to take my word for it :)
@@pojr The best part is, when I bought it I didn't even know it was a bootleg yet it felt like something was off because the music would cut off and it did give off very surreal vibes. Even so I just chucked it off to the "Nintendo" as we called it then simply not being able to handle the visuals and music at all times. (there is a version with the music not cutting off tho)
I'm so much in love with your content, POJR. Right now, you are pretty much the only channel which videos I watch immediately when I see them in my feed. You put a spotlight on an obscure, yet very interesting parts of gaming history and with each video, I can see you get better and better at it. It's awesome seeing your channel growing steadily.
I already knew about Super Game's Aladdin but had no idea they made Lion King too. I'd really love to see them get finished by hackers some day, because there's a lot of potential. I'm especially impressed by how smoothly animated Simba is, I mean it's on par with the Genesis original!
A lot of your videos are NES unlicensed and bootleg games. Do you plan to cover NES accessiores? If so, talk about the story of Beeshu. I have lots of opinions about Beeshu, like how they were targeted to be snuffed out by Japanese gaming companies for daring to make ambidextrous controls.
I'll consider this. It may be a harder video to do, because I don't have a lot of NES accessories myself. It also might seem like a copy of the AVGN's NES Accessories video, but I could make it my own.
@@pojr if you want an angle that's unique, based on what I know, Beeshu was trying to get licenses for joysticks. At first Nintendo refused. Later they accepted. Possible theories: 1. Nintendo wanted an NES joystick monopoly. 2. An anti-righty handed controller movement in Japan imposed on the rest of the world. And Beeshu argued they were serving an audience mm of served. Either A. Competition from Turbo Grafx 16 license and a Genesis license changed their mind B. The Federal Trade Federation either intervened or threatened to intervene. There was a similar FTC case with Beeshu and Sega. A theory there is that Sega of America actually wanted ambidextrous controllers, (including making a Maraca-like d-pad and 3 buttons pait with an umbilical cord.). But Sega of Japan was thwarting the US division. A theory is that Sega told Beeshu to take "Kayfabe legal action" just to tell Sega of Japan the issue of ambidexterity is important in American. For more details about the 4J Conspiracy's War on American righthanders, visit SinisterSticks.com. (BTW one of my person URLs)
Hummer Team was full of great programmers. The issue with their games were level design and the music (that was always too high pitched). Had they made some original games instead of ripping off and hired competent level designers and musicians, they could be as beloved as SunSoft.
The only version of Lion King I have is the Game Gear version, and after playing most of the first level I decided that was the only version I would ever have. The Genesis version of Aladdin is indeed the best version of Aladdin. Definitely due to play through that again. I'll have to look for a copy of Jungle Book, as I never played it before.
there's something to be said for unlicensed games; sure, most of them are usually just cheap janky crap, but every now and then you can find some good ones. When I was a kid, my mom picked up a tennis game for NES that was unlicensed, rad racket 2, and it's not a remarkable game but it still plays fine and I had a lot of fun with it. I had a friend that had a couple Camerica games, I remember I was having a lot of fun with ultimate stuntman edit: I realize bootlegs and unlicensed games occupy slightly different spaces, but often times the same third party companies made both :o I don't think I ever crossed paths with actual bootlegs back in the day when I was a kid, but it has been fun checking out some ROMs all these years later
7:44 Memory limitations. They used to do miracles with NES graphics with soooo little space (and they probably used a mapper 1 cartridge because it was the cheapest). Even modern games still do it, look at the making of Micro Mages.
Just want to point out from what I remember, Virgin only published 2 out of the 3 Disney titles you mentioned for the Mega Drive (Jungle Book, Aladdin and The Lion King), initially. SEGA got the license to do Aladdin but passed on the development duties to Virgin Interactive while they handled the publishing.
The SNES version of Aladdin was the version I played and beat as a kid, so it will always have a spot in my heart because of it. Sure, the Genesis version has better graphics since they were made by actual Disney animators, but the SNES version's graphics were still really good considering its competition. And I also liked what they did with the music on the SNES version.
@@KanokYT Yep, i think that is the issue, it has much of the typical western game design to it. Japan just had a better feeling for level design and enemy placement at that time.
I'll admit, I do like Aladdin on the SNES. Some things are handled better in that version. For example, the final boss is better. The Genesis version has a lame final boss.
Yes they were both part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group at one point, although the former eventually got acquired by Titus before they went bankrupt.
Played both Lion King and Aladdin bootlegs as a kid. My version of Aladdin was unpassable after level 3. It just started glitching and teleported me to some strange part of the level, and if I managed to avoid it, it just crashed later. As for the Lion King, I never passed the second ostrich run. I'm not sure if it was even possible, honestly.
pretty sure official aladdin and lion king nes game IS the game boy game obviously with changes made but basically the same programming. other games got this treatment of literally just being the gameboy game. mostly late into the nes' lfiespan. also no, hummmer team did not have their own engine, its technically actually the athenta sound engine altbeit pretty modified, but the similarities are there especially in earlier games i never had any issues going into toilets in boogerman, so, not entirely sure whats wrong with your rom or if its an emulation issue? also lastly, super game most likely made the games with no real knowledge of the virgin games' disasters. These games were sold in areas where the NES wasnt even officially sold and the market was made up of famiclones... good video nonetheless and kudos for doing a lot more research into these bootleg games than most youtubers do atleast.
Don't feel bad for us europeans getting Aladdin and Lion King as the last official NES games, but rather for the inmense delay we got with releases. For context, Ninja Gaiden 2 released here in late 1994 and it's, with Wario's Woods (which we got with minimal delay, and by pure miracle,) Aladdin and Lion King, one of the last games for the NES in Europe. But we got some European exclusive games, so that delay in releases doesn't sting that much.
I think that, had Super Game had decent backing, as well as training, and was in the USA, instead of Hong Kong, or wherever they were, and they got brought to the USA, circa 1984, then they would have been in business today as a decent AAA company that did not sell out to crap.
Eh, this situation is more common than you think. Somari is a port of Sonic 1 for the NES, it is ok but suffers from glitches, controls, and overall lack of polish, but is better than Sonic genesis for the gba which has worse controls, the game is barely playable and the bugs ruin the game. Or Aladdin lll on the nes is a port of Aladdin on the SNES, while not the greatest port out there. Hummer team did a good job with the game. Compared to Aladdin for the NES this is amazing.
Super Game has to be my favorite out of these bootleg company's, some of the stuff they did was actually kind of impressive for the hardware. Their Earthworm Jim 2 port is probably my favorite.
'original' aladdin on NES actually looks pretty fine... its just need a fine rework with animation scripts 'original' lion king is looks like some one work in windows XP paint)))
There were a few bootleg devs who stand out in a big way amongst other bootleg devs, but they still weren't great. They had actual talent, but their games still lacked a lot of polish. If only they had gone that extra mile, they could have been every bit as good as most of the legit devs at the time.
surprised nintendo had crap versions given they supposedly revived the game industry with a strict seal of approval... aladdin on sega md was one of my first games (had atri 2600 prior) and graphically it holds to this day.
I actually played the lion king genesis game on PC once, I think it must have been a rom hack because it only made it a little way in before crashing badly
Not gonna lie hummer trsm did some impressive stuff like Mario world for the NES is a bit broken but they tried to bring a colorful 16-bits game needs some credits but at least modders are fixing stuff like audio sprites colors and physics
4:25 Hummer Games, we meet again And quoting the other video I knew about Hummer Games "a respectable bootleg games company, just check their cool mascot logo" 🙂
Most games have it. For instance, Super Mario Bros. Mario starts out moving upwards quickly, slows down near the peak, and then starts falling faster. (Most games will also have a maximum downward speed, a "terminal velocity". Without it, things can happen like clipping into/through floors or the game failing to load and draw tiles correctly. Look at Super Metroid's "moonfall" glitch, where the fall speed cap is broken, for an example.)
Is it *really* better than the official if it's poorly programmed and near impossible to complete as a result? Super Games's ports might look better in some cases, but a game that plays like garbage and is unwinnable is still a bad game, no matter how good it looks.
All the bootlegs in the world and they're still no Street fighter game on Nintendo 64 take it easy Port these games to the Nintendo 64 1. Super Street fighter 2 turbo 2. Street fighter ex2 3. Darkstalkers 4. Rival schools 5. Tekken 2
What's funny is games like Aladdin and Lion King for NES, the official releases that are extremely pricey. Given they were among the final releases for the NES and the quantities of cartridges, boxes and manuals that has the english title are in low quantities and are sought after by european collectors, specifically in the scandinavian region. Alot of the time I see people get the bootleg and official releases mixed up which is not a surprise given that the official releases look really bad.
