Aladdin

-5-

Inside Genie's Lamp level was the hardest level, especially more difficult than the dungeon level. Advancing through the levels mostly consisted of Genie's hands as platforms, endless pits everywhere, and Genie's tail acting as paths. His heads also acted as "vines," climbing them like monkey bars and hanging onto his beard. Luckily, it was the only level without enemies by default so you could focus on timing your jumps. This was not the case, however.

Genie was a bright electric blue, but when I had arrived at the level, Genie's "parts" were a bright red. The music was "You've Never had a Friend like Me," Genie's iconic song from the movie. It was hard to describe, but I guess it was slowed down and had a more sinister tone to it, with some low-pitched ambience kicking in at different intervals. I then put two and two together. The parts were red because of Jafar's genie form from the film. That's probably why Randy said he liked him. I also found out how a simple change of tone can change a song's meaning so fast.

I advanced through the level, looking around a bit. I had realized that background was Jafar's palace, which was pretty cool, because in the movie, he changed into a genie inside the palace. Genie's heads were replaced by Jafar's, which made this level even creepier. I progressed further into the level, not expecting anything to pop out at me. Why do I say that?

Because out of nowhere, Iago flew in and attacked me! He cawed, making his entrance even more alarming. The minibosses methodically never made entrances. The Boss music started playing, and I soon found myself in a boss battle with Iago. His strategy was flying offscreen and then zooming in at different levels of the screen at random. Sometimes, he flew so fast; I thought there was more than one of him. With fast thinking, and lots of sword slashing, I managed to beat him.

After Iago, I moved further into the level. Genie's Lamp was clean of enemies in a normal gameplay, but I saw a few guards, and a couple knife throwers. Was it all because of Randy? Later in the level, there usually was a neon sign that read "Lost" and there was a checkpoint there. Upon closer inspection, the neon sign didn't say "Lost."

It said "Stop."

Why did it tell me to stop? Or was it telling Randy to stop? I couldn't figure it out and I got confused. Was this just Genie's Lamp? Or was everything else in the game under Randy's grasp? I was to find out soon, and with that curiosity in mind, I pushed through the level.

Genie's Lamp level ended with Genie at the end, with his mouth open, acting as a door, and his tongue forming stairs. Jafar's genie took his place. As I stood inactive for a few moments, I sighed heavily. I didn't want to enter that mouth. I wanted to say goodbye and hopefully making this all end. I dared not move an inch to that gaping mouth of pure evil. Then, I heard a rumbling noise, and the screen began to shake.

The whole level was falling apart, block by block. The Boss music kicked in at a high speed, just as fast as my heart. It was apparently forcing me to enter the mouth and exit the level, which I promptly did.

A cutscene appeared, and Jafar's genie form, or Randy, was in the frame now.

"HAVING FUN YET? WELL, THIS ISN'T ABOUT FUN ANYMORE.

"THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE."