Blog Post 1: Internet Arcade — Aladdin Nostalgia
For my assignment observation, I decided to scroll through the catalog and play something new. However, to my surprise, I ended up finding a game that I use to play on my Gameboy advance as a kid — Aladdin. I decided at that time that this is the game that I would like to play and observe. When the game was booted up, I naturally assumed that the options for the emulator version would be written below in the description but to my dismay, they weren’t. So I decided to do what I did best and started pushing random buttons to see what happens and voila the game began.
As the controls weren’t available or written I decided to try the most logical options that the programmer would’ve binded the game keys with. Arrow keys to walk around, SPACEBAR to throw apples, Left-CTRL to attack, Left-ALT to Jump. The game ran perfectly fine and put a smile on my face as I remembered few details here and there. The funny part about this game was that it was incredibly difficult back when I was a kid, and I noticed that the difficulty still hadn’t changed.
In terms of convenience, I would say that the game would play well in an arcade setting where the user has all the keys to his disposal rather than having to play it on a keyboard and having to figure out what key produces which action. I do also believe that the keys would be much easier to become familiar with in an arcade setting than an emulator. Although I did observe that its nostalgic music choice would’ve been better suited for users to enjoy in the emulator style than an arcade setting.
Some parts of the game felt like it was easier to maneuver using the emulator such as getting that one extra step to jump from one hot pile of coals to a safe spot, however, someone playing with joysticks might have difficulty overcoming this considering that Aladdin is a game where you start off with 2 HP and making one error could cost you to restart the entire level and start over again.
I would say the intention of this game was to be challenging for the players who play it. Having more advantages such as precise movement with the keyboard on an emulator would help the player progress faster but take away the opportunity to have fun overcoming the challenging aspect. Overall, I believe the game ran perfectly fine on the emulator.
