Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Master System) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
245A playthrough of Sega's 1987 platformer for the Sega Master System, Alex Kidd in Miracle World.
While Sonic the Hedgehog has for decades now been the universally recognized icon of the Sega brand, he wasn't always the face of the company. They had already been in the home console market for nearly a decade when the original Sonic the Hedgehog came along, and seemingly overnight, propelled the 16-bit Genesis to the top of the sales charts.
The Master System launched in the US in 1986, and the European and Brazilian markets received the system in 1987 and 1989, respectively. They were poised to take on Nintendo, but Sega realized that the brand needed an exclusive, readily identifiable character that could headline software tailored specifically to the home market.
Nintendo had Mario in their corner, and Sega had a sterling reputation as an arcade developer, but what mascot character drove their console sales in the 8-bit era?
Enter Alex Kidd!
Alex Kidd is a teenager that appears to be half-human, half-monkey, apparently based in part on Sun Wukong of Journey to the West fame, with the fashion sense of a My Buddy doll. He is the long-lost son of the king of Radaxia, and he only finds out about his background once his homeworld is threatened by the Janken empire.
Of course, Alex then decides to become the prince that destiny intended him to be, and he sets off to find his father and to restore peace to the kingdom that one day will be his.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World is simple platformer, but it is an exceptionally well-made one for its time. It doesn't play like Mario, as you might expect from a game meant to compete head-to-head with Nintendo's plumber, and that's probably one of its biggest strengths.
Instead of jumping on everything in sight, Alex specializes in punching things into submission. He punches blocks for power-ups and money, and punches enemies to clear his path forward. But he can also upgrade his abilities with special items most easily found in shops that you'll come across every few stages. He can fly, shoot projectiles, summon an army of mini-Alexs to fight... all sorts of things, in addition to the helicopters and the cars that he can use in certain areas.
And these items are probably what makes Alex Kidd feel so distinct from other popular platformers from the mid 80s. The level design often caters to particular power-ups, giving the gameplay a lot of variety. Very few stages have you simply walking from left-to-right, and this really keep the game fresh throughout.
The graphics are great for the era. There is a lot of detail in each of these characters, and there's much more color on-screen than the NES could've managed, making Alex Kidd a good showpiece title early on in the system's life. The title screen jingle was also super-catchy, though I was never a big fan of the music overall.
The controls can feel overly twitch at times, and something about the arc of Alex's jump feels a bit off (making that last castle level quite a stiff challenge), leaving it feel not quite as polished in some ways as Super Mario Bros., but the better varied and more complex gameplay helps to mitigate some of those frustrations.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World is an impressive game that shows that Sega was very capable of building a good platformer, and it most ways, it still holds up pretty well. I'm not surprised it's being remade. It deserves the attention.
How many of you guys remember the game being built-in on your Master System? :)
You can find my playthrough of the Genesis game Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle here: https://youtu.be/FdcMexKFt3w
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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