Alex Kidd in Miracle World

"Classic! But there's something missing here..."

Second on my list of classic games to review is this one, Alex the Kidd in Miracle World. Anyone who's ever owned a Sega Master System II will know this game - it came built-in to most of them, which was quite a nifty feature. And Sega sure did pick a good game to build in to their systems.

Okay, so you're Alex, a little dude with an abnormally large head and a cute little red suit. Alex travels through levels signifying different areas of the Miracle World... but for what? This has to be the one bad point of the game. There is a storyline, and that is one of a rescue mission (typical), but you’re not informed of this until partway through the game. So, for the first few levels, what are you travelling for? What are you even PLAYING for? It’s a mystery...

Gameplay is tied in closely with the storyline. Like I said, Alex travels through levels around the world. As he travels left and right, up and down, he gets through by punching things (1 button) and jumping (2 button). Really, that's all there is to it. Punch blocks to get through, punch bad guys that get in your way. Punch money boxes to collect money bags, punch ? boxes for a surprise (nice or nasty, depends on the box.) Try to avoid spikes, holes filled with goo, little evil-looking flames, bad guys, and things of the type. When you get to the end of the level, Alex will find and eat a hamburger, magically transporting him to the start of the next level.

It’s simple in theory. Learning the basics of what’s what is easy. That game itself even starts off at the verrry beginner’s level. But it gets harder quickly. Trust me, this game is not actually easy to beat. Over the course of the game you will gradually get introduced to new things that make the game more difficult, such as methods of transport, more (and more difficult) enemies, and the like. Tricky stuff, but all it takes is patience.

Some of the levels can get monotonous. Luckily, there's the little side game of Janken, or Rock-Scissors-Paper, to play every so often, against big bad guys with funny-shaped heads. I love that game ^_^

In terms of graphics, Alex is a cute lil' thing, even if he does have a big head and big ears. (And it's always sad to watch his ghost drift up to the heavens if you accidentally or on purpose kill him.) Level graphics are good, nothing to write home about, but nothing too poor either. Most are unique, you’ll play through everything from a lake to a desert to a castle to a forest. There’s a good variety of bad guys to beat up, unfortunately with graphic glitches abound. (Tis always nice catching one of those pesky fish in the middle of a block as you swim too fast for the game to keep up with.) Overall, they're great for a game of this age.

Sound... ehh.... *sings along with the theme song be-bop* Unfortunately, the sound is another not-so-good point. The same few boppy tracks are reused throughout the whole game, to really grate on your nerves. While they're cutesy, and fun, they do get mighty irritating mighty fast. Lucky the game designers did throw some extra tracks in there, for special occasions like Janken games and castles.

Replayability is basically zero. Once you know how to do it, know all the codes, the game is no difficulty at all, and the game grows kinda boring. Me and my older sister used to have contests, over the space of a day, to see who could beat the game the fastest. (My sister held the record, of about 35 minutes.) If you grew up with the game like I did, you'll want to play it for nostalgic purposes, but if you didn't... get it, play it a few times, enjoy it, master it, then give it back.

Tis hard to give a game like this a numeric score. So I shall pluck a number out of a hat that sums up how I feel about this game.... 8/10.

Yeah, I updated my review to change it from a 7 to an 8. Sue me.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/02/03, Updated 09/16/03