Arabian Themed Games

Considering most video games are developed in Japan, North America and Europe, it's understandable that most games take place within these cultures. Yet, sometimes developers look to other cultures for inspiration. Arabian folklore has inspired a number of games, many of which are high quality. These games contain things typically associated with that culture's myths: scimitar sword fights, flying carpets, magic lamps, etc. Here's a history of the use of Arabian themes in video games.

Ali Baba and 40 Thieves(Sega, arcade, 1982)
Is that Pac-Man wearing a turbin? This maze-chase game was mostly likely the first game with an Arabian theme.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...40_Thieves.png

Sindbad Mystery(Sega, arcade/SC-3000, 1983)
Like with most maze-chase games, you collected items and avoided enemies. It was nothing groundbreaking but still I liked it. You can also find it on Sega Ages: Memorial Selection 2 for Saturn.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...ad_Mystery.png

Arabian(Sun Electronics/Atari, arcade, 1983)
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...A/wArabian.png

Atari planned on making a 5200 version but it never surfaced although it might exist in prototype form.

I'm most familiar with its 1985 Famicom version Super Arabian.
This game is very nostalgic for me since it was the first import game I played. It was a charming little platformer where you had collect the money bags in each level while avoiding enemies. After four different levels, you save the princess.
http://www.romshand.com/games/images/arab003.jpg

Tales of the Arabian Nights(Interceptor Micros, C64, 1984)
This game stood out because of its extensive use of voice, which was very uncommon at the time. The voices weren't very clear though. The game itself was decent, starting off similar to Sunsoft's platformer but with added variety like riding a flying carpet in a side-scrolling level.
http://www.ozkan.co.uk/c64/arab2.png

Master of the Lamps(Activision, various computers, 1985)
This was a 3d on-rails flying game. The software scaling was surprisingly smooth.
http://www.tld-crew.de/games/m/masterofthelamps.gif

Legend of Sinbad(Superior Software, Commodore 64, 1985)
http://www.xp64.emuita.it/games/l/Legend_of_sinbad.gif

Yume Koujou: Doki Doki Panic(Nintendo, Famicom Disk, 1987)
DDP was the Japanese original of what became our Super Mario Bros. 2. The only major difference between DDP and SMB2 is that it has different sprites. Minor differences are that DDP has some vocal sounds for the characters that SMB2 does not and some of the music is different. With or without Mario characters, this is my favorite 8-bit Nintendo game.
http://www.poprocksandcoke.com/img/24/aniddp.gif

Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon(Cinemaware, various computers, 1988)
As one would expect from a Cinemaware game, Throne had very detailed and impressive cinemas. The game itself is a hybrid of action, adventure and strategy. I don't remember much else about the game except for some first person sword duels and some side-scrolling levels.
http://www.cinemaware.com/images/scr...t_sinbad_1.gif

Magic of Sheherazade(Culture Brain, NES, 1989)
RPGs were a rare find on the domestic NES at the time, which made this game stand out even more. This game mixed in action and turn-based RPG gameplay.
http://prones.virtualave.net/favscreen/snap028.gif

Prince of Persia(Broderbund, various formats, 1989)
Persia is close enough to Arabia so I'll include it. Mechner's classic series created a new breed of platform/adventure games.

Khalaan(Rainbow Arts/Chip, various computers, 1990)
A turn-based strategy game.
http://uvlftp.arteh.com/teran/atarist/khalaan_st.gif

Sinbad Chitei no Dai Makyu(IGS, PC Engine, 1990)
Some RPG. More info wanted.

Exile(Telenet, Genesis/Duo, 1991)
I'm not sure if this counts as Arabian themed but I enjoyed this Action/RPG on Genesis back in the day even though it was extremely easy. The adventure elements used an overhead view and the action was like a regular platformer.

http://www.vgmuseum.com/images/genesis02/xzr.html

I never did play the Turbo version or its sequel, which was brought here by Working Designs.
http://videoc.free.fr/ExileII/expica01.JPG

Arabian Fight(Sega, arcade, 1992)
This System 32 game used a lot of fancy scaling and detailed graphics but ultimately was one of Sega's weakest beat 'em ups.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...1053795121.jpg

Arabian Magic(Taito, arcade, 1992)
This beat 'em up, on the other hand, was pretty good.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/...bian_Magic.png

Defenders of Oasis(Sega, Game Gear, 1992)
I have heard much praise for this game but I still haven't picked it up. It's often compared with classic Phantasy Star games.
http://www3.joher.com/maxoegames/ret...ofoasis_29.gif

Arabian Nights(Krisalis, Amiga/CD32, 1993)
A decent platformer.
http://home.wanadoo.nl/tpl.janssen/p...annights-b.png

Aladdin(Virgin Games, Genesis/Amiga/PC, 1993)
This is one of the best Disney games ever made and brought Dave Perry and company into the limelight. The animation was smoother than any Genesis game before it.
http://www.emulazone.com/Reviews/Gen...n/Aladdin1.GIF

Capcom made an Aladdin game for SNES.
http://uvl.supereva.it/pics/aladdin-snes.jpg

Equinox(Sony Imagesoft/Software Creations, SNES, 1994)
This was the sequel to the NES game Solstice. Equinox was an isometric adventure/puzzle game similar to those popular on the Spectrum computer.
http://turemu.kolayweb.com/snes/equinox.gif

Monster World IV(Sega/Westone, Mega Drive, 1994)
MW4 was the best Genesis game never to leave Japan. Unlike the previous games in this excellent Action/RPG series, this one has an Arabian-inspired setting and had a character named Asha as the player instead of Wonder Boy.
http://www.gironet.nl/home/awbekker/mw4/scr3.gif

Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse(Stormfront/SSI, PC, 1994)
This is supposed to be a pretty good Action/RPG. I have yet to play it.
http://www.ibiblio.org/GameBytes/iss...ews/qadim.html

Magic Carpet(EA/Bullfrog, PC, 1994)
A lot of people seem to hate this game but I really liked it. Maybe they were playing one of the shitty console ports. Magic Carpet was a fully 3d flight action game that where you explored and gathered mana to build settlements. I loved the dream-like atmosphere. It wasn't long before a sequel was made.
http://www.csoon.com/issue8/shots/I_MCP22.JPG

Beyond Oasis(Sega/Ancient, Genesis, 1995)
This was one of the better Action/RPGs on the Genesis. I bought its Saturn sequel Legend of Oasis a few months ago but I only briefly played it; it doesn't seem as good as the Genesis game so far.

Arabian Nights: Sabaku no Seirei Ou(Takara, Super Famicom, 1996)
This RPG but it looks nice. I wonder if it has been translated.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/pics7/arabian.html

Arabian Otome(NEC, PC-FX, 1997)
Some Strategy/RPG, I think.
http://www.ncsx.com/arabiano.htm

Jewel of Arabia: Dreamers(Quarter Note Software, Mac, 1999)
I don't have Mac access so I can't comment on this shareware RPG but many seem to like it.
http://www.applelinks.com/reviews/gi...lofarabia3.jpg

Please add any I missed. What are your favorite ones?

Excellent write-up. Again.

I really need to give Magic Carpet another whirl.

The console ports of Magic Carpet sucked? Well that was a waste of 5 bucks.

I'm not actually even arab, but since this is the closest reflection of myself I would find in a game so I always tried to play them even though they sucked most of the time. When eternal darkness came out and there was the arab kid with the swords I got all happy and what not.

As for the content of these games, they all have flying carpets or scimitars- a very played out stereotype. It would be along the same lines as having a game where black people eat watermelon or one with chinese people swimming in a pool of rice.

My personal favorite is the GLA in Command and Conquer Generals. I commend them on their originality by not including flying carpets and instead substituting them with suicide bombers. BOOM!

Also, the Disney's Aladdin is a white boy and so he doesn't count.

I loved Magic Carpet. Glad to see it made an appearence.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time looks good...even if they're ganking the chincy "time control" bit from Blinx, and the main character, who is Persian, looks nothing like a Persian... :\

There was a great adventure game called Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves that came out on the C64, Atari 800 and Apple II. I can't find any screenshots of it at the moment, but it was an interesting game, sort of a primitive Action RPG.

Anybody remember it?

There are a lot of nice games listed here, but for me Monster World IV easily takes the cake. :)

Speaking of which, there is no specific "Wonder Boy". The main character in all of the WB/MW games was different (Tom-Tom, Leo, Book Shonen, Shion, Asha, etc).

There's also a Game Boy game called Titus the Fox which took place in Marrakech.

Quote:

The game itself was decent, starting off similar to Sunsoft's platformer but with added variety like riding a flying carpet in a side-scrolling level.

Do them next?

Defenders of Oasis is my favorite Arab-themed game, by far.

Every RPG fan needs to try this game...