Vault 1541: Alex Kidd

Monday, June 21, 2021

Alex Kidd

Alex Kidd in Miracle World has been remade with new levels by independent developers known as Jankenteam and will be published by Merge Games on June 22nd digitally for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One/Series X, Switch, and PC. Physical copies for the console versions hit stores on June 29th. Before Sonic the Hedgehog was the face of Sega, Alex Kidd was as close to a mascot as Sega had. In 1986 Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars released in arcades (1988 on SMS) and Alex Kidd in Miracle World landed on the Sega Master System (SMS) and eventually became a pack-in title for the console. I've played The Lost Stars on the YouTube channel and I'm not much of a fan of that one. Being based on an arcade game it is short but it's also quite simple. Another of his SMS games is Alex Kidd: High-Tech World (1987), which starts as an adventure game before it moves to a side-scrolling sequence that is quite difficult. Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (1990) for the SMS was his last starring role and I'm not too familiar with it, though as the title suggests, it features elements of Sega's ninja game Shinobi. There is also the Japan-only Alex Kidd: BMX Trial (1987) on the SMS, or Mark III as it was called overseas.

Ahead of the blue blur's 1991 debut Alex did make an appearance on the Sega Genesis in 1989. Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle is a side-scrolling platform game that also has rock, paper, scissors (aka Janken) matches. For this post I've dug up what I could find on any Alex Kidd game in my magazines and I'll have another post later in the week with an old Miracle World strategy guide.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World