Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Sega Master System
Nostalgia Factor:
Growing up in the late 80's, nearly every household had a Nintendo Entertainment System. As kids, we realized that there was another system out there called a "Sega", but no one actually knew anybody that owned one. Except me. I knew a kid that had one.
His name was Patrick. He lived just a block and a half away from my grandparents' house, so when I was being watched by them for the day, I would often go visit Patrick. He'd want to go outside and play and ride bikes, and I'd just be like "no! Let's play Sega!" I remember it being so weird to see and play the Master System. All I knew were the NES and the Atari. It was like this strange, mystical artifact to me.
I don't remember what game it was we actually played (he only had one game). I thought that Alex Kidd in Miracle World was the game, but after playing it just now in 2019, it wasn't bringing back any memories. It must have been something else. But until now, I had never played a Sega Master System game to completion from beginning to end. I had only played those snippets of games with my friend Patrick back about... wow, 30 years ago. Jesus, I am old.
I found this title on the PlayStation Now. As soon as I saw it, I knew I needed to play it. It was so cool to finally be able to play a Master System game after all these years.
Story:
Oh boy. I'll admit that I didn't pay any attention to the game's storyline whatsoever. I don't think it would have made a difference if I did. It seemed pretty.... imaginative. Like a first-grader had to make up a fairytale on the spot, and that is what they decided to use as the game's story. What I got from my experience: You're the chosen one. You have to stop the bad guys from taking over. Add a bunch of zany and nonsensical characters and locations to the mix, and you've got this game.
Gameplay:
I have a love/hate relationship with this game's controls. When I first started playing the game, I didn't think I was going to be able to finish it. I legitimately considered giving up. Your character is small, he has very floaty jumps, and his momentum makes him very hard to control. It doesn't help that one hit kills you. I was dying CONSTANTLY. What should have been a simple, fun and easy game to control was a nightmare. The momentum was always causing me to bump into enemies. I'd be like: "All I have to do is jump over that character? Sounds easy enough!" Then momentum would carry me directly into him as I tried to go over him, and I'd die. Back to the last checkpoint, I'd go! Over and over and over again. Very frustrating.
I could barely make it through the first level. It took me a ridiculous number of tries. If I could barely beat the first stage, how was I going to beat the rest of the game? To top it off, I beat the second level okay, but couldn't get past its boss. You have to beat it in two out of three games of rock/paper/scissors. Sounds easy enough, but then I lost four straight matches against him and lost all my lives and had to start all the way back at the beginning of the game. Really? Not only was the game super hard, but random luck could take all your lives away? I wasn't having it. I turned the game off in a fit of rage.
I wasn't planning to come back to Alex Kidd, but my PlayStation Now subscription was just about to run out, and I didn't feel like starting a new game. I decided to give Alex Kidd another chance. And you know what? The game redeemed itself. Admittedly, I had to start stacking the deck in my favor. I used the PS4's save states to save my progress before any challenging areas, so I could practice them over and over without fear of dying. I memorized the rock/paper/scissors patterns. I got good at the game. It took me a while, but I ended up beating the whole game that night.
Using save states made the game very easy. But it also made me like the game a lot more than I would have if those save states didn't exist. It would have been very frustrating and hard. So I don't know how I would have felt about this game if I had to play it on the Master System. On the PS4 I ended up liking it.
All this blabbering on and on, and I haven't even described the basics of the game yet. This is a 2D side-scroller. You control Alex Kidd. The goal of the game is to progress through linear levels. You walk left and right, you jump, and you punch. One hit kills you, so this game is very challenging. Aside from punching your enemies, you mainly use your punch move to destroy blocks. Most blocks hide hidden prizes, like money. Save up enough money, and you can buy useful items from a vendor in between stages. I don't know what a lot of the items do. I just had to play around with them to find out. My favorite item is the one that gave me a shooting attack. That made the game a lot less stressful for me when I could shoot rather than have to get in close to punch enemies and risk running into them. Alex Kidd can also swim, similar to Mario during his underwater stages. In fact, the underwater segments seemed directly inspired by Nintendo's plumber.
The game mixes things up every once in a while and gives you vehicles to ride. A bike, a boat, and a flying thing. I am very grateful for the PS4's save states, because I was terrible at these levels. I was always hitting stuff and either dying or falling to the ground and having to traverse the whole stage on foot.
As linear as the game is, there are some maze-like levels towards the end of the game where you have to solve puzzles and do things in a certain order. Combine that with the game's item menu, and the fact that you could spend money between stages buying things. Considering this game came out in 1986 or 87, I'd say it was way ahead of its time.
Graphics:
This is not the greatest looking game of all time, but it has its charms. It holds up well to a lot of the classic NES games that I have played. I think it shows that the Sega Master System was more than capable of standing toe-to-toe visually with the NES. It's a shame that the system wasn't more popular.
Again, when you look at the game's age, that makes it look more impressive. This is over 30 years old! Bright colors, clearly defined characters, unique stage design. It's hard to believe this came out when I was four years old.
Sound:
I don't remember the game's music and sound effects standing out too much. I couldn't even hum a tune from the game's soundtrack. It is out of my mind already. Does Alex make a noise when he jumps? I'm sure he does. I don't remember it, though. What noise does he makes when he collects money? I don't remember,
On the plus side, the game's sound must not have been particularly bad, or I would have at least remembered that. I'm just going to say that it was serviceable.
Overall:
I ended up enjoying Alex Kidd. Again, it is hard for me to say if I would have liked this game without being able to save it. I died A LOT. It would have taken me days, maybe even weeks to be able to beat this game if I wasn't able to save and reload when I died. It would have been a hair pulling experience, I'll tell you that much.
Can I recommend this to people who've never played it before? It is really hard to say. If you are like me and are curious about the Sega Master System and have never had the chance to play one of its games, I'd check it out just for the novelty of it. You may even end up liking it as I did. But can I say that this game is up there with Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog as one of the greatest 2D platformers of all time? Absolutely not.
This is a decent game, but a frustrating one at the same time. I played it and satisfied my curiosity. It was worth checking out for nostalgia's sake, but I don't think I'll ever come back to it again.
Final Score:
B-
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