The Making of Aladdin / Cel animation in video games

[@WilliamAndersonGameDesigner]

I was the lead game play designer on Aladdin, Cool Spot and more games at Virgin Games at the time. It's cool they even showed my Aladdin level design work in this video, along with my game levels.

[@SufferDYT]

It would be great to see a youtube video of you talking about your experience as a designer in this era of games. Maybe you have some old design docs laying around you could show?

[@sebastienduffin4959]

congratulations for your work !

[@thehumbleone1983]

👍👍👍👍

[@NadjibBait]

Just wanted to thank you as you made my childhood awesome. I'm now a developer and I know the hard work you put, you and your team, in making this awesome game. God bless you!

[@1D0N]

Must have been cool to work at games back then.

[@SceneComparisons]

the level of this channel is unbelievable

[@2ero2nin3]

almost an understatement, love this channel 😻

[@SRC267]

Next level, brah

[@aprendendocomgames]

"More entertaining than humanly possible"

[@balance-breaker9826]

Yes, bravo

[@michaelsierra9]

Highest level of detail and very entertaining.

[@JonkariP]

Production value in these videos is insane

[@killerb2099]

I loved Aladdin as a kid, but I didn't realize how influential it was. This video has given me a deeper appreciation of a cherished childhood game.

[@MidwinterMinis]

I remember Cool Spot coming out when I was 8. For almost all of 1993, I tried to walk like 3:47 The shame.

[@mr.fearingtoon3549]

Massive respect to you bro.

[@laziestoldman]

Chad stride

[@guidofedeli851]

At least now I know it's a children thing to emulate ways of walking. I personally tried to emulate the walking cycles of Alucard from Castlevania SOTN and Raziel from Soul Reaver. I thought they were super cool.

[@danielbueno8474]

@@guidofedeli851 ...Is it bad that sometimes I do that children thing of emulating ways fictional characters walk when I'm alone in my room?

[@guidofedeli851]

@@danielbueno8474 I think a good part of our personality and way of expressing ourselves, both in character and in motion, is due in part to emulation. I wouldn't say it's unavoidable but I wouldn't just exclude it absolutely. Some motions stick, some others don't. The way, for example, I stop and think about things for a moment has me stroking my beard. It's just such an universal gesture that it comes naturally to me. I'm sure you and many others "work" the same way in other everyday gestures and motions. It could also very well be a way of making mundane things less mundane and entertain ourselves. In short, I don't think it's weird or bad. We do a lot of things that would be considered embarrassing or weird on our own, and that's okay.

[@webinatic216]

The only problem with this video is that I paused it 5 times to give it thumbs up only to see that I already gave it a thumbs up.

[@McCoy-00]

I do wish this sort of channel was more popular, and I don’t care if others have said the same thing

[@jashinslayer]

Too many little kiddies clicking on memes, Fortnite, and idiotic let's players videos who upload crap 3 times a day. Actual quality and talent gets overlooked, because they don't spam videos constantly or make dumb children giggle.

[@yellowblanka6058]

This, it's a travesty that a channel like this, with all the research/careful editing and care that goes into the videos has 1/10th the subscribers of some man-child recording themselves overreacting to video-games or somebody "unboxing" electronics etc. Still, I'm glad channels like this with people putting obvious effort/love into their content exist amongst the sea of "me too" KZbinrs regurgitating the same gaming/general news drama etc.

[@officialjikozy]

This guy has achieved a level of quality that we all can only dream of having.

[@sebastianmandrean]

This explains why some of my favorite 16-bit games from the 1990s have animations that surpass even modern 2D games in the 2020s: They involved the Disney movie animators to do the video game animations as well?! Just wow.

[@BlueAizu_]

The Aladdin game's animations were done by Disney's secondary studio in Florida (which sadly doesn't exist anymore), but still, yeah!! It's incredible they got Disney themselves to help make the game!!

[@astrumespanol]

As a child I couldn't appreciate the level of detail in those games. Thanks for this video

[@FloatingSunfish]

I hope you get to make a video on Metal Slug someday too. That series definitely has some neat stories behind the scenes! And some amazing sprite and animation work too!

[@jasonblalock4429]

Ooh, yes. I'd love to see more BTS stuff on SNK's classic arcade games and the process of making them. As you say, the artwork was frequently among the best of the 2D "pixel art" era.

[@fredan421]

Production value of this caliber is too good for KZbin. Someone pay this man.

[@akpokemon]

i guess that's what his patrons are doing

[@sev2300]

We patrons are doing our best I think. I'd suggest you join the club, if you haven't already:)

[@fredan421]

@@sev2300 oh I would but my income is very tight.

[@UncleMike131]

Sega's Aladdin was such a classic!

[@nesaiamon8727]

The pixel art style holds up so well over time! Still looks incredible

[@PixelGameSquad]

Really cool fact. Some of these animators stopped us at a convention a few years ago and told us that they enjoy our show. My heart stopped and what a compliment! ❤️ Your channel is utterly amazing! The content you make and visuals are nothing short of perfect! Really been enjoying all your videos

[@digitalchewie]

I'm a simple man. I see a new strafefox video and my mood goes from ☹️ to 😊 in an instant 🥰

[@strafefox]

Ha! :) Awesome to hear! and big thanks for your support!

[@burnsy96]

*Disney:* 2D animated games are dead. *Cuphead:* *makes millions* *Disney:* "Are we so out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong."

[@ginogatash4030]

Cuphead also costed a good chunk of money and it took like 6 years to be done, partially because the process of animating stuff with real ink on actual paper to get the most authentic looking result was insanely slow and impractical compared to modern practices where they scan pencil lines and color them digitally or just draw and everything with a tablet. Disney has the money to do that if they wanted, but sadly there's many reasons that could make the gain feel not worth the investment, add to that the fact that 3d in games allows for greater interactivity and the fact that Disney never took gaming seriously enough to actually invest in it save for very few exceptions, and how overprotective of their properties the company in general is and you can see why they're not too great with games.

[@Teltharion]

lol

[@seedofwonder]

Others have already noted the amazing production value, but let me just add that it's so refreshing to find objective content. No editorializing, posturing, etc. Just an amazing journey through the archives. Thank you!

[@shindousan]

2:37 Mentioning Castle of Illusion? Instant like

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Oh. Oh wow. As if this just dropped! Golden stuff as always!

[@ashrafmartin4984]

Hi from twitter, thanks for recomending this chanel

[@pyxelpub8251]

Yo Dan, if you can make a follow up on strafe fox’s Aladdin video here, I think they would be really helpful for anyone trying to study the animation of the game. The making of this game deserve it’s on full length documentary and sadly we never got that, so it would be cool if all the KZbin animation/making of channels kind of covered it in ways that complemented each other.

[@orlanzo2621]

Man this was outstanding. The amount of information, attention to detail, etc is amazing. This channel deserves a million subscribers. As for the game, man I’ll always argue that Aladdin for the Genesis is one of the greatest platformers of all time. The game is great, I played the heck out of it as a kid, and even now as an adult I still go back and play it every now and then. The game is a classic.

[@bumbletastic]

It's honestly crazy to see Tommy Talarico taking credit for the music on Aladdin, when it was actually the well known musician & helicopter pilot; Harris Bomberguy!

[@DavidPerry.]

Wow, great job on making this. So fun to see all the assets you managed to collect up.

[@strafefox]

Awesome to hear you liked it! And thanks for your hard work on Aladdin :)

[@Gema92]

Holy cow! David Perry himself! Yeah!!! A video of one of my favorite Genesis game and programmer and made by my favorite video game channel! Kudos to you

[@redrustgame6646]

Aaaaaaa! Its David Perry! :00

[@DavidPerry.]

@@Gema92 Thanks!!! :) Was such a fun project to work on.

[@BrbZrk]

Last time i heard of you, you were involved in the cloud gaming program of Sony Interactive Entertainment. What are you doing now? Oh and in an interview around the time of N64 reveal you said that it was basically a higher res PlayStation. What are your thought on your comment now? I hated you as a kid back then for saying that as a Nintendo fanboy :p

[@TheConstantOne]

As someone who grew up on the Genesis, your channel is honestly unmatched. The backgrounds, music choices, and ambience add so much to the wealth of research you do on these videos. Thank you so much for all you do to preserve this wonderful era of gaming.

[@TheRogueCobra]

This channel proves that sometimes, good things happen if you wait.

[@FilmmakerJ]

The production level on this video is amazing. So many 3D renders, 3D text, and effects work. Very very appealing.

[@HistoryInHighDefinition]

We need more hand drawn games. Imagine something like Aladdin running in HD resolutions! There's a pretty great example on Steam called Intrepid Izzy, and Cuphead of course!

[@thepumpkingking8339]

I still believe that someone at RARE has all the original Hi-Res Silicon Graphics images that they made the low-res images for Donkey Kong Country series on the SNES. That's what I would like to see.

[@1D0N]

Seeing all the hand-drawn animations...man the tediousness...

[@RyuFalchionX]

Always a good day when a strafefox video is in my subscription box!

[@Styrophoamicus]

I'm so glad that hand-drawn game are making a comeback. Games like Aladdin and Earthworm Jim still look great today, while most 3D polygon games made around the same era look like mush.

[@schwarzenegger_begger8810]

The amount of attention to detail in all of your works is so staggering, it can almost induce tears!

[@YouOpaOpa]

I had NEVER thought of Cold Shadow as a spiritual sequel to Quackshot and now I'm scraping my brain from the ceiling.

[@Guernicaman]

I always wondered if it was, since rumor has it - that back in the day - they always wanted to make & even started to work on, a sequel to QuackShot. Nice to see confirmation/validation that it is! (Even if only "spiritually")

[@bleepintunes]

Yeah, I also wondered about that! I played Maui Mallard to death back in the day and loved it. I think that game deserves a lot more recognition. Those graphics were superb and it had some great music as well! :)

[@Guernicaman]

@@bleepintunes - Would seriously LOVE to see these games get a remaster, perhaps w/redrawn animation & background art in 4K, making the art look as close to the original as intended. Zero pixelation.

[@bleepintunes]

@@Guernicaman That would be really cool! Did you ever beat Maui Mallard back in the day? I could never get past that last level where you have to guard the bottle while you have to go up constantly. That was super hard! I think I made it to the boss only once but then died instantly :)

[@Guernicaman]

@@bleepintunes - Not back in the day, no. Was only able to play it as an adult, later on, since by the time Maui Mallard finally came out, I had moved on to next-level consoles & peripherals. I always felt it was a missed opportunity by publishers to not package the digicell games as a collection onto CD's, since they could've added redbook audio, extra levels, better audio & full screen animated clips. Just imagine!

[@BarrysGalaxy]

3:43 7-UP mascot Cool Spot with expressive SPRITE work, I see what you did there 😀

[@xXBlueSheepXx]

The somewhat modern software they used to make the art and music is really interesting. Great video as always.

[@MegaManNeo]

The golden era of good quality license video games. I remember playing the DOS version of Aladdin a lot as a kid and it was pure fun.

[@MIke2reaper]

This guy is the ultimate quality content creator.

[@nikoredone]

Bro I had to put this up on the tv...it deserved my full attention....I had zero desire to scroll 10/10

[@basky7246]

This Channel Content is Gold..... Surely, You will reach 1 million subscribers in quick time.

[@htg4ever]

I sincerely appreciate the high-quality content featured in your videos, which adheres to top-tier broadcast TV standards. It is genuinely mind boggling why this channel has not yet garnered millions of followers.

[@chowdown]

I've never even heard of Maui Mallard until today.

[@khululyp]

I love that game, I played the PC version back in the day, still have the CD-Rom but it doesn't install on 64-bit systems sadly.

[@nasikan83]

@@khululyp It was released in Steam and GOG in May 2019

[@khululyp]

@@nasikan83 Completely under my radar, such releases sneak up on ppl. It's a fun game, not perfect but zany 90's platform action.

[@yellowblanka6058]

@@khululyp Yeah, I like it but (perhaps as a consequence of the elaborate animation) it feels like it could be more responsive at times.

[@digimaks]

lots of people never heard of that game 1) it was out in 16-bit consoles sunset, and 2) The name Maui Mallard doesn't associate with anything people normally know from Disney characters. If they would of called it "Donald Duck starring in Maui Mallard adventures" - this would of brought far more attention in gamers circles.

[@Ponyj0]

God I learned more and new stuff with this video! How Aladdin's games were different between consoles but Lion King's were similar, how much attention Aladdin grabbed from representatives back at the reveal debut at CES, the amount of help that came from the animation studios for Aladdin to assist them in the game project, how Earthworm Jim actually came to be from some of the same team and how I never saw the similar fluid animations astounds me that I never made the connection between Aladdin and Jim. You've done terrific work once again! Can't wait to see future installments and hopefully one day one on SMRPG!

[@williamjeffery9653]

Every time you release a new video, it is a treat.

[@thehumbleone1983]

Aladdin and Earth Worm Jim are some of my favourite Sega Mega Drive / Genesis game great video 👍👍👍👍

[@saschaberger3212]

Your videos are really worth the wait

[@metfan4l]

Always a treat to watch these. Great job once again!

[@Marc_Araujo]

The Jungle Book for the Genesis is so often overlooked. It was just as great as Aladdin and the Lion King.

[@Caydiem]

If it's anything like The Junglebook for the SNES, no way in hell. This game is forever edged into my brain as the worst one I've ever owned for this console.

[@thewindthatblows]

I'm not fond of Aladdin MD and Lion King. The level design specially in the latter is extremely cheap and the weight on the movements of the former is non-existant (Earthworm Jim has a tighter control barring the jumping, which feels as floaty as in Aladdin MD). When I saw in this video that this could mostly be due to the short development cycle, I thought maybe The Jungle Book was going to be a more uniformed game because it's based on a 1967 film with no pressure to catch up to its release like Aladdin and LK. But if you say it's as "good" as those games, then I won't make it a priority

[@chrisjohnston8792]

Great work, the production quality on this channel continues to impress. Also here's my usual plug about how you should look into a Treasure game like Alien Soldier or Gunstar Heroes.

[@CorneliousRR]

I've said this on prior videos but like your content here is amazing, interesting, and well produced. A critically underrated KZbin channel that deserves far more regard than it gets.

[@infasis]

Man, this is so much more than Aladdin. What an awesome video. These videos give me so much more insight into the games I loved growing up. I can't believe how many people are still sleeping on this channel. We need to get them more subscribers so there's even more incentive to keep up the amazing work. Like and share these. (If anyone knows of any other channels that go in depth to this level please let me know. Splash Wave and DF Retro are the only ones I know of that really satisfy my curiosity and have this level of detail.)

[@ultor7654]

I'm speechless... What a piece of art!

[@GameArts1]

Thanks for shining some light on the Lion King game as well, I was wondering about it at the beginning. Awesome video.

[@elgrau]

I don’t understand how this man does so much work or how any of these scenes are made

[@ReneSpeak]

Another amazing video! Great content! If you allow me to make a suggestion, a Maui Mallard video would be great. That game is so unique in so many ways! Regards from Brazil!

[@TheMastersega]

Man, I'm so in love with this channel, I'm from Argentina and in my country the super nintendo was never a thing. Everyone was playing with the sega genesis, so this types of videos are like a journey through my childhood ♥️

[@thehumbleone1983]

I ❤️ Sega too 👍👍👍👍 TheMastersega

[@GameplayandTalk]

Another amazing video as always! That super detailed, highly animated era of the 16-bit generation was really something. I remember being blown away by stuff like Earthworm Jim and Aladdin. Really glad you were able to touch on some of the lesser talked about ones as well, like Maui Mallard. That one looks pretty wild--I'm going to have to check it out, along with some of the later Disney Interactive ones I haven't tried.

[@strafefox]

Thanks Austin! Maui Mallard looks great but gets mixed reviews, some people absolutely love it but others find it frustrating. It's closer to Mickey Mania than Quackshot in terms of gameplay. Pocahontas is a fun little puzzle game originally geared at a younger audience, I think it does a great job at that. I've only played Gargoyles for a short while but it seems like a solid game.

[@thisisfyne]

The sheer quality of this channel is hard to match! Keep it up :D

[@ShufflerBluey]

I don't know why you only have 170k subs, this channel rocks! your production quality is soooo smooth and nice to watch. I hope you get into the millions of subs soon, you deserve it!

[@magicmagicman]

This in the only channel where i click like on all the videos before i watch them because i know its always good

[@olyna]

Very interesting Indeed, and very well done. It was really nice to have an insight of the hand drawn Animation in video game. The 16 bit era remains my all time favourite.

[@smash461986]

Deluxe Paint. Many days spent on that making pallette animations where you press Tab and the pallette cycles thus creating an animation.

[@vyperii]

I had to watch it again. Somehow, you manage to give us information that I've never heard before in videos on similar subects, all presented with outstanding visual flair! ust superb!

[@combeechan]

One of these days, we're going to be making hologram documentaries of how strafefox made his videos.

[@Tmoproject]

This is one of the best thing ever for everyone, from gamers to developers. It's a godlike job.

[@BingoClamshell]

Another amazing video, thank you!

[@SylverstoneKhandr]

Maui Mallard is a classic and y'all should play it. Top-notch work as always, Strafefox!

[@PmmSoares]

You amaze me always with your content. The production is soooooo good...

[@lynaras.673]

I've rented those games from Blockbuster Video a lot back in the day. Awesome video!

[@mr.fearingtoon3549]

It's funny that this game is partly responsible for the creation of the Donkey Kong Country series

[@kwkfortythree39]

They did the game in 4 months? Incredible... By the way amazing video sir, as always!

[@MegaAedu]

New upload by strafefox = day improved by 100 percent.

[@OniBojan]

Thanks for awesome video Jeroen. You nailed it, as always. I would love to see Global Gladiators video at some point. It's such an awesome game. Showing some stuff here, really brought me back to the teen days, when I played it.

[@uncaaj]

You produce such fascinating and high-quality documentaries. Every one of them is a delight to watch.

[@elgiacomo]

The level of research, production quality, special effects, and presentation on offer here for this video, and for your channel in general, is superb to say the least. Yet, the KZbin algorithm will likely leave this brilliant content largely unwatched by those interested in the history of 16-bit gaming. And it's a damn shame. But those whom are lucky enough to have enjoyed this appreciate it tremendously. Thank you. \m/

[@MegaJessness]

I had always been impressed by the simple animation of the sprites in all the Disney-licensed Genesis games, but wow I had no idea they included actual animators from Disney's studios! And of course it led to the wonderful and wacky Earthworm Jim games xD. Man, the 16-bit era was something else. So glad I got to grow up during it.

[@gothakane]

I seriously felt I was watching a professionally made documentary for TV. Only this is more interesting than 99% of those documentaries. Such high quality and well researched content!

[@MaidenHell1977]

Absolutely stunning episode, thanks for enriching our lives through this amazing content!!

[@TheSektorz]

I love both Aladdin and Earthworm Jim on the SEGA Genesis. What a treat this video was to watch. When I was little I first played this Aladdin game's MS-DOS port though, and now I'm curious was the game first developed for DOS and ported to the Genesis, or vise-versa.

[@murderofcrows9942]

I never played this game, but I'm grateful it was released: Nintendo had to answer with the DKC series, one of my all time favorite game trilogy.

[@skelayo]

Do Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow! Love your stuff!

[@MarMaxGaming]

I’m amazing by so many graphics! How is it possible :0 definitely deserves a full watch 🤘 great job! Disney, Shiny, and everybody involved would be super proud.

[@vyperii]

Superb! A new video! I was worried you’d stopped making them! Thank you as always!

[@BowserZeki]

Why you're not verified yet?! What the hell youtube

[@KingLich451]

who cares about a silly tick

[@mickantra]

sounds about as useless as reddit gold

[@Vespyr_]

@@KingLich451 It helps publicize you when posting in other channels. They deserve more views.

[@GlennDavey]

KZbin Verification requires a series of deadly challenges, each more dangerous and disgusting than the last. It's understandable.

[@XZ-III]

most small channel's I've seen that have it, just have it for recognition but it doesn't mean they have good content just a following. This is what I'm trying to do (is make interesting content) but it's hard to just make interesting content you have to have something. But I could i just upload a bunch of random shit and eventually my channel will grow but i don't like the sound of that approach it doesn't feel genuine when you go that route like the "please like subscribe, hit the bell" kinda channels.

[@anicebitofbreadtomopupthel7144]

This is so amazing. When you mentioned Lion King was released just after the movie, it really brought back a memory for me of being so excited to have the game because I loved the film so much. Both games are amazing.

[@pilouuuu]

I miss handmade animation! These day we still have things like Cuphead, but we need more movies and videogames that use it.

[@thegreatinterpreter8382]

So glad you covered this game. I had it as a kid and remember thinking at the time-- these are the best graphics I've ever seen!

[@pyxelpub8251]

Finally he's back!

[@Ronprower]

I love whenever Splash Wave posts a video, you know it's going to be entertaining and the production value is so amazing great! Steven Kelly is also an amazing narrator; just always a great experience whenever an episode drops.

[@abloogywoogywoo]

Oh great, now I'm humming to the Prince of Persia SNES music, again.

[@NeoTrggrTheGammer]

Aladdin on the Genesis had such a important place in my childhood (along with Lion King and Jungle Book video games), so loved watching this video

[@zipzap8791]

Good morning Strafe, I missed you

[@davebladegun3009]

Your videos are absolutely wonderful, and they keep on getting better with each new upload.

[@Superphilipp]

Hot take: 16-bit animated pixel art was the best that video games have ever looked.

[@olyna]

The quality of the editing and the layout in this documentary is simply overwelmingly good. I honestly learn from the process that you've talked about and incorporate them into my work. Feels like a training session as well, the way you talked about the process really inspire my own custom software workflow. Very inspirational indeed.

[@moath84]

I see you using SNES prince of Persia soundtrack. It's a good one.

[@ShamanNaoYuki]

I love this channel. And I'd like to say thank you to all the patreons supporting his channel. Anyone helping this channel continue to exist is doing the world a great service.

[@kushagra64]

Will you make a video about Mickey mania?

[@strafefox]

I don't have plans for a Mickey Mania video, but I can highly recommend the channel GameHut run by one of the developers of Mickey Mania and the Toy Story games.

[@ProtoSnake]

@@strafefox And Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island... Just saying.

[@MarMaxGaming]

So awesome! Great job putting this together :) Really had fun playing the Super Nintendo and then Genesis version, they’re both really cool with great audiovisual but yeah the Sega has another layer going on there!

[@zerounit87]

* START * AABBAABBAABB (skips level )

[@MindBodyWhole]

Fuck those lava levels

[@lifeonleo1074]

You deserve much more subs. Great video as always.

[@MasterAlbert]

so..... did you just sell your house to afford the animation budget for this video? this is insane

[@Domarius64]

Thank you for this. This was so in depth, I never knew a lot of this footage existed, like the source drawings for the Aladdin game animations... wow. Also Thunder Cats swoosh effect at 22:17

[@strafefox]

Thanks! Yes the Thunder Cats swoosh and the Jem swoosh in the intro :)