Aladdin on the SNES: A Look Back at Hummer Team's Infamous Port

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The early days of video game piracy were a wild and woolly time, with countless knockoffs and ports flooding store shelves in search of a buck. Among them was Aladdin for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), an unlicensed release from Chinese developer Hummer Team that would go down in gaming history as one of the most infamous examples.

Released in 1995, just two years after Disney's animated hit film and SNES platformer of the same name had captured hearts worldwide, Aladdin was nothing more than a lazy rehashing of its big brother. Rather than put any genuine effort into creating an original experience, Hummer Team simply lifted every last asset - graphics, sound effects included - from their source material and slapped them onto a new engine.

The result is laughable in retrospect: grainy, pixelated sprites that look like they were drawn by a five-year-old on valium; hackneyed backgrounds straight out of an early 90s Sonic the Hedgehog rip-off compendium. It's little wonder why this abomination has become something of a cult classic among retro gaming enthusiasts who relish in its sheer, unbridled awfulness.

But while Aladdin may not hold up particularly well against modern standards (and let's face it, very few games from that era do), there's still an undeniable charm to be found here. Maybe it's the nostalgia factor - for those of us who grew up playing this garbage as kids, revisiting these nostalgic memories can transport us back to simpler times when life was less complicated and our expectations weren't quite so high.

Whatever your reasons may be, if you're feeling masochistic enough to subject yourself to some retro gaming pain-and-embarrassment (and trust me, I feel you), then grab a copy of Aladdin for the SNES today! Just don't say I didn't warn you...

References:

* Hummer Team. (1995). Aladdin 'SNES'. China: Hummer Team.

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Aladdin snes sprites