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SEGA AGES Alex Kidd in Miracle World Interview. In Europe: Alex Kidd was more popular than Sonic
- Thread starter ggx2ac
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Man that image brought chills down my spine. Grew up with this game console even tough I was born in 1993. Probably the reason I like hard platformers nowadays lol. Never been able to beat alex kidd, I remember it being insanely hard. I could beat a lot of difficult platformers but Alex kidd was too much. Should try it again and see how I far I will get it now.Yep i still have this console, every time i boot it up i always play some Alex Kidd.
Mine had Hang On and a Light gun game..and of course GOAT snail game.
I had the Master System 1 which had, in my opinion, superior built-in games. That being said, I used to play the neighbour kid's Master System 2 a hell of a lot for Alex Kidd in Miracle World. I don't know a lot of people here in the UK who would say that Alex was more popular than Sonic, but I can see why Miracle World was so well-received.
(I was also a big fan of Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, too)
Safari Hunt! Fun game.
(I was also a big fan of Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, too)
Safari Hunt! Fun game.
Hey I'm part of the UK master system sonic 1 crew, there were dozens of us!
Yeah I am certain the popularity thing is in discussing the Wii Virtual Console releases if they are discussing all of Europe. In any case I am overjoyed to have more of these interviews. They can sometimes be a treasure trove of information.
I do enjoy Alex Kidd in Miracle World for it's level diversity (especially compared to Super Mario Brothers 1), visuals, music, mechanics (and it's connection to Dragon Ball) and yet... I think the game is greatly outclassed when compared to the loads of quality SEGA platformers that arrived in the 90s. Pretty much everything except Fantasia and I guess Bug is better. Either way, Miracle World is for sure a classic.
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World is fantastic though. Would have been cool to see the series continue on as a way to bridge all of their other franchises. Imagine an Alex Kidd in Golden Axe World, Jet Set Radio World, NiGHTS World or hell something wild like Bayonetta World, Sakura Taisen World or Yakuza World! Endless neat ideas there!
I do enjoy Alex Kidd in Miracle World for it's level diversity (especially compared to Super Mario Brothers 1), visuals, music, mechanics (and it's connection to Dragon Ball) and yet... I think the game is greatly outclassed when compared to the loads of quality SEGA platformers that arrived in the 90s. Pretty much everything except Fantasia and I guess Bug is better. Either way, Miracle World is for sure a classic.
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World is fantastic though. Would have been cool to see the series continue on as a way to bridge all of their other franchises. Imagine an Alex Kidd in Golden Axe World, Jet Set Radio World, NiGHTS World or hell something wild like Bayonetta World, Sakura Taisen World or Yakuza World! Endless neat ideas there!
Nice article. I live in the US and the Genesis and Sonic were huge in the 90s so that is hard to believe that the Master System and Alex Kidd were more popular at the time. But that's crazy if true. Especially that people were buying new Master Systems in such high numbers in the 90s.
I am probably spoiled but once I saw a Genesis at Electronics Boutique I could never go back to 8 bit consoles (though now I love them).
I am probably spoiled but once I saw a Genesis at Electronics Boutique I could never go back to 8 bit consoles (though now I love them).
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I looked again and you're probably right so I added a correction in the OP.
Yep i still have this console, every time i boot it up i always play some Alex Kidd.
This is what I had, spent hours playing Alex Kidd, but Sonic is my favourite, it's not even close.
Opa-Opa is the real OG Sega mascot though.
I was a Master System kid but I never really loved Alex Kidd. I liked how friggin weird The Lost Stars was. Shinobi World was good too. But it never really formed much of a coherent series or gave me a sense of the world in the way Mario or Sonic did.
I was a Master System kid but I never really loved Alex Kidd. I liked how friggin weird The Lost Stars was. Shinobi World was good too. But it never really formed much of a coherent series or gave me a sense of the world in the way Mario or Sonic did.
There simply isn't any justice for Alex Kidd. He should be in Smash instead of Sonic, he's got a giant fist, yet he's not in Smash?!
In my house (UK) we were playing Master System 2 Alex Kidd and Sonic for a long time before we ever saw a Mega Drive.
I remember seeing Mega Drive Sonic the Hedgehog for the first time at a friends house and screaming at my Mum - "IT'S IN 3D!!". What I'd seen were the parallax backgrounds that was unheard of in 8 bit Sonic. Mega Drives were definitely around when we were still playing Master System (Alex Kidd, Sonic, The Ninja, Ghouls and Ghosts etc) but, anecdotally, everyone I knew (basically four or five six year old kids) had Master Systems until a few years into the Mega Drives life.
Yep i never beat it either, even with having the item to see the boss rock–paper–scissors choice it was still tough, and there was no internet back in the day to do research.
Watched right now a little bit on youtube and some of the latter dungeons (never go to them as a kid) still look tough.
Wish i had a classic Sonic game back in the day, but i fucked it up.
My mom gave-me for present a game of my choosing and i choose based on the cover a Sonic game (which i always wanted) too bad it was a shitty Sonic Spinball.
Games were very expensive so that was that for me lol never go the chance to get a real Sonic game.
why is it taking SEGA forever to get these in other markets? where the hell is Gain Ground?!
i really want this. this game, and Enchanted Castle, were huge parts of my childhood.
i really want this. this game, and Enchanted Castle, were huge parts of my childhood.
It was definitely a popular mascot. When you saw a MS running in a mall it had Alex on display most of the time, so kids were playing while waiting for their parents. I think most people never went beyond stage 1 or 2. Game was hard and sometimes even awkward. He could've been big today if they didn't focus everything on Sonic.
I think i only ever completed the game with the M2 port on PS3. It was my duty after all these years. I still have a boxed MSII somewhere. I play everything on MD so i don't really need to hook it up.
I think i only ever completed the game with the M2 port on PS3. It was my duty after all these years. I still have a boxed MSII somewhere. I play everything on MD so i don't really need to hook it up.
Master system was pretty popular. Definitely more so than NES. I remember my mate having one when we all had Speccys and being astounded that you could just switch it on and the game was just "there".
Did the Speccy not have the option to take cartridges like the C64? I always assumed it did. Most of my C64 games were on tape, but I did have a few cartridges too. Cartridges loaded instantly on C64 like console.
i think he's referring to the fact that you could boot on some models of the Master System without a cartridge and Alex Kidd would start. The game was literally built in the system.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World is the first video game I ever played. I recently beat it on an emulator using save states, but am down to pick up the Ages version and do it for real.
It wasn't though. It just that the MS II with Alex Kidd built in was our first console for so many of us, but Sonic still took the crown quickly when it got released, in a way Alex Kidd never did.
Tbh I was going to buy Spinball, but didnt found it, but saw a game with a character that kinda looked like Sonic...Rocket Knight Adventures. That was the best dodged bullet in my whole life.
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I still have my Master System sitting in a cupboard somewhere. Have fond memories playing this.
Might pick this up.
Might pick this up.
Yeah I got it a few months ago on the Wii VC and was amazed at its quality.
Previously I thought that Miracle World was the only good one.
I started with sega during the genesis era but I did get to play AK on a friends Master System before that. I always thought Alex Kidd was such an underused character.
I honestly couldn't think of why sega never continued on the make games with him and tried many other characters over him. Honestly right now in hindsight, Alex Kidd would of translated better into the 3d realm than Sonic when the switch from 2d to 3d happened.
I honestly couldn't think of why sega never continued on the make games with him and tried many other characters over him. Honestly right now in hindsight, Alex Kidd would of translated better into the 3d realm than Sonic when the switch from 2d to 3d happened.
I'm not in Europe but I did play all the Alex Kidd games back in the day (except the Japan exclusive BMX Trial). Alex has to live in the shadow of Mario, Sonic, and Wonder Boy but he had his moments. Miracle World was super charming and doesn't get enough credit for being the most varied platformer on the market at the time. Enchanted Castle is better than it gets credit for. And Shinobi World is excellent; if it were longer and more challenging, it would be one of the genre's best.
My best friend was randomly humming Miracle World's theme a couple weeks ago. I'm pretty sure the only time he played the game was briefly in early high school when I showed it to him, and he has no idea where the music is from today. That's some catchy music.
My best friend was randomly humming Miracle World's theme a couple weeks ago. I'm pretty sure the only time he played the game was briefly in early high school when I showed it to him, and he has no idea where the music is from today. That's some catchy music.
Tbh I was going to buy Spinball, but didnt found it, but saw a game with a character that kinda looked like Sonic...Rocket Knight Adventures. That was the best dodged bullet in my whole life.
That feeling when you get to have 1 game every 1/2 years and choose wrong, it's not good. Yep you did dodged a big bullet.
I guess that's the magic of the old days when looking at the cover was the only option, sometimes it works out sometimes you get screwed.
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Yeah that makes more sense.
One of my best friends had a Master System while the rest of us had the NES so I got to play almost everything cool on the Master System. And there was definitely stuff we loved on the Master System, but for us at least it was not really Alex Kidd. For me the good shit was stuff like Black Belt, Pro Wrestling, Space Harrier (it is probably my memory but those glasses were the coolest thing ever and you felt like a badass wearing them), Hang On, etc. The arcade games on the Master System were way superior (IMO) to what was on the NES and that is what I wanted to play on the Master System.
I just can't imagine it being even half as popular as Sonic, even if maybe more people got to play it because it came on the system.
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I'd hope that if Alex Kidd in Miracle World sells a lot, then Alex Kidd in Shinobi World would follow.
Hopefully. On that note, more people should buy M2's port of GG Shinobi on 3DS while it's still around.
They would unlock something/make blocks appear/disappear in the stage if you hit them I think? You couldn't smash them but if you punched one then something else would happen. There was definitely some in one of the castles that you had to hit to progress.
I THINK.
I own all the 3DS m2 releases... i need to import the japanese box in order to get the exclusive games on it
They made five Alex Kidd games. Five. He didn't catch on anywhere other than parts of Europe and (later) Brazil -- not in the US or Japan, which were the really important markets for game companies in the early 90's. Sega gave it enough chances, then moved on to other properties.
When the 3D era came along, new ideas like Nights showed up, why would they try Alex Kidd again? And I say this as someone who actually enjoys this weird hybrid
I guess that's the power of pack-in games. I wonder why first parties no longer do this outside of special bundles... They might lose money at the moment, but they're a great way to get new fans in the future (e.g. part of how Tetris's popularity blew up).
