Before Sonic arrived on the scene, Sega's mascot was a monkey boy in a jumpsuit who liked playing Rock, Paper, Scissors. Alex Kidd may have been dumped as soon as the Blue Blur appeared on the Mega Drive and turned Sega into the coolest brand on the planet, but for truly dedicated fans he holds a special place in gaming history - as the latest video from iRetrogamer.com proves.
While it might be a stretch to insist that Alex Kidd's games were of the same standard as Mario's, it's unwise to dismiss them out of hand. Sure, Lost Stars and High-Tech World were forgettable (the latter being a totally unrelated game which was reskinned for western audiences), but Miracle World, Shinobi World and Enchanted Castle are still enjoyable today, and boast some interesting ideas which set them apart from Nintendo's famous line of platformers.
Sega has rather turned its back on Alex since Sonic took over mascot duties. He's had cameos in Sega Superstars Tennis and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, but perhaps his most telling appearance is in the Japan-only Dreamcast release SegaGaGa, where he is relegated to working in one of Sega's retail outlets.
He may have failed to challenge Mario, but he certainly deserves better. Do you have any fond memories of The Kidd? Or do you feel he was a poor second to Mario?
Comments 37
This game was excellent for its time. This was more popular in the uk than Mario at the time. Actually sega master system was more popular and known brand than Nintendo.
I could never finish the game
Mum named me after this she was a hardcore fan!
I always remember him as Alex the Kid for some reason. I suppose sometimes you remember things incorrectly
I just love that he's eating a hamburger instead of a rice cake in the US release.
I have an Alex Kidd t-shirt. Loved the Master System effort.
@ottospooky that was totally common. Given we were reaaaaallly young at the time me and any of my immediate friends would remember it as Alex The Kidd.
Given later EU release dates and not necessarily owning newest hardware, we're talking early 90s (so like 3-6 year olds) and I found it hard to remember anyone that's DIDN'T think it was Alex The Kidd haha.
No fond memories about sega at all. Didnt really like that company
i cant believe they didn't mentioned wonder boy in monster land.
that was a pretty good rival to mario
@CTMike especially as the game's title music - as I remember it - went 'de de de de, de de de de...' which is like his theme tune without vocals 'Alex the Kid, Alex the Kid...' that had something to do with it, im sure!
Really loved AlexKidd, but only Miracle World was really great. Also, nowadays it didn't aged as well as other IPs. In any case, my favourite Master System game.
@ottospooky you are right. All these years, I still call it Alex the kid.
Miracle World and Shinobi World are among my favorite Sega games to this day. Great platformers with lots of neat ideas.
Alex Kidd was a blast. I really hope SEGA can rescue this character from the memories vault. Alex Kidd in Smash bros. with its own amiibo, that would be a dream come true.
I'm glad I can play the master system classic on my Xbox one! Have the original cart too!
Miracle World and Shinobi World were great games. But sonic was the real rival to Mario. When Iw as a kid we had a NES but all the kids at school thought sega was cooler and more adult than nintendo because of mario being a kids game. Then you mentioned Link to them and they never had any come back. Not to mention Faxanadu, omg great game.
@ottospooky YES exactly this ^ Alex the Kid, Alex the kid, doo de do de de de dooooooO!
In the Australian version Alex was eating a hamburger when you passed each level, and there was a hamburger sitting waiting for you not a rice ball.
Alex and Ecco seem to have been forgotten. At least Ecco's first game got a 3ds makeover..There needs to be an Ecco and Alex Kidd compilation. The PSP had a fantastic Sega collection including these two series,.they need to port it to the 3ds.
Miracle World and Shinobi World were great games and I still play them both today. Enchanted Castle was a disappointing 16-bit debut and certainly didn't help keep him relevant once Sonic turned up.
Man I loved my Master System. It was my first console and it blew my mind. Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's trap, Ys, R-Type, Castle of Illusion, Land of Illusion, The Lucky Dime Caper, Asterix, California Games, Shinobi, Gauntlet, Impossible Mission, Ninja Gaiden, Rampage, Rastan, SpellCaster... And then there was Ultima IV. I was way too young to understand that one and failed miserably to get anywhere in the game. Cost a fortune too.
I don't know how many people got the subtitle but nice one @Damo
@Spoony_Tech Only old people will get it
As much as I love playing some of his older titles for the SMS and Genesis, Alex Kidd never really set the world on fire like what Sonic did, heck even Sonic himself was almost replace in the 32-bit era. The thing is Sega's mascots doesn't quite had that gaming evolution and popularity like what Nintendo mascots had. Unlike Nintendo, when Sega create a mascot, they tend to dropped the other one or become forgettable later on.
There are just so many Sega icons that could have had some glimpse of success like Wonder Boy, Ristar, the Golden Axe crew, the Altered Beast guy, the Streets of Rage gang, Toejam and Earl, Dynamite Headdy, Chakan, Ecco, NiGHTS, Vectorman, the Space Harrier dude, the monkeys in Super Monkey Ball, Billy Hatcher, the Skies of Arcadia crew, them Shining Force heroes, them Phantasy Star heroes, Joe Musashi of the Shinobi games, them Gunstar Heroes, Bayonetta, the guy from the Conduit, the guy from Madworld, the Panzer Dragoon crew, Pulseman, them Virtual Fighter, them Eternal Champions, them Fighting Vipers, Landau from Lord of the Sword, Mag Launcher and friends from Evolution World, that gear thing from Elemental Gimmick Gear, them Virtua Cops, Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue, the Bug!, them Guardian Heroes, Kolibri, and many more.
Sure some of them made it for several gens but guys like Ristar, the Streets of Rage crew, and Vectorman certainly needs a good revival.
I had the game for Genesis, but I never really got into it...the rock scissor paper thing was pretty neat, but it was also an easy way for you to die constantly in the game. Never really thought to compare it to a Mario game though, as it doesn't play or even look like something that would, just looked like another platform title to me. Still play the game at times, but no fond memories of it. Maybe Sega should start re-releasing some of their classic game series and see if the fanbase is still there...if it is, try another game in the series. I'd love to see them make some good sequels to the games that were forgotten...
Green dog
Chakan The Forever Man
Bonanza Bros
Kid Chameleon
Ecco The Dolphin (Been since Dreamcast and PS2 era)
Alex Kidd
Ristar
Sega Outrun (where are you)
World Series Baseball (since X-box)
Toe Jam And Earl (Give part 3 another chance)
Streets Of Rage
Comix Zone
Decapattack
Columns
Phantasy Star
Beyond Oasis
Sword Of Vermillion
Time Stalkers
Evolution
Skies Of Arcadia
The Floigan Bros
Stupid Aliens ( don't know if this was sega or not on dreamcast)
@retro_player_22 I agree to some extent. Sonic is still Sega's mascot, which they haven't dumped recently...seems like Microsoft is the company that has no mascot and Sony keeps on changing theres (first it was Crash, then Spyro, then Jak And Daxter, then Ratchet and Clank, then Sackboy...now). Even some of the other companies seem to get rid of mascots fast, including food companies. At least nintendo will always keep Mario as their main mascot.
@Damo Well if we're calling on old people lets get some of the oldest in here. 😉 Btw, you're not that old. You've got a few good years left!
I summon @rjejr lol. He knows who all the old people are.
@Eisenbolan They did make another Ecco game for Dreamcast, which then was re-released for Playstation 2, but yeah...Ecco seemed to be forgotten and it was one game I could see using Motion controls on the Wii, but Sega seemed to let go of many of their great series.
@Spoony_Tech I was around for the Atari and NES era, but I don't call myself old to understand the game. I guess Damo is just too young.
@JLPick Not talking about the game just the subtitle he used. If you don't get that then you're not old enough. 😝
@Spoony_Tech You can't summon damo and I at the same time, you'll explode the internet, or at least damo's head. damo's not old, he's just 1 of those guys who probably turned 30 recently and now spends too much time listening to the Talking Heads.
This look like damo, after contemplating too many NX rumours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98AJUj-qxHI
On topic, I don't know what this game is, might have it on a collection on the Dreamcast or something. Psycho Killer.
JLPick I loved Kid Chameleon on the Genesis forgot about him.Yeah him, Kidd and Ecco all need a return. Or together ala the Vikings game which was on the SNES then ported to GBA.
I love Miracle World, it's my 2nd favourite Master System game after MB: The Dragons Trap. Those Castles get downright hard and cryptic. Great game and i always felt a sequel could have improved on the formula a lot. I hated the "Janken"/RPS matches though.
@CTMike It was still Rice Cake in my version growing up, i think it was changed on a re-release.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World > Super Mario Bros.
There, I said it.
@Spoony_Tech Gotcha. Sorry, thought you were talking about the game...my fault, but yeah, I'm old enough to know what the subtitle means.
People say he monkee's around.
Enchanted Castle was soooo good. Anytime you play janken to beat a boss, good times shall be had.
Loved Miracle World ... Never got anywhere near to completing it back in '89. Way too hard - those bloody "Janken" matches!! Completed it on my 3DS last week (along with tons of others that were too hard) using savestates .... best part is it has a rewind button so you can effectively "load" the dice with Janken!! Shinobi World was good too but only lasts about 30 mins. Hi-Tech World was atrocious.... They show you a snippet of a cool looking Ninja Forest level on the title screen ... which you only get to by finding lost map pieces around some oriental castle. (Its far worse than it sounds!!) ... if you do "accidentally" get to aforementioned cool looking Ninja Forest, you discover that its FAR worse than the sheer awfulness first level!! ... best not even mention Lost Stars or BMX game!!
@samuelvictor Why thank you! Your Psycho comment reminded me that I missed Psycho Fox off my list.
Shinobi World is,for me,superior to all the other Alex Kidd games. Good controls,good music,great graphics for the SMS,overall a great game.
@UK-Nintendo Same thing over here, in fact i didn't know one person/kid that actually owned a Nintendo console
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