Before Sega became a powerhouse and a force to be reckoned with in the 90s, they were just a humble company with their own console in the 80s, the Sega Master System. And of course, if they had their own console, they needed their own mascot, and for a while, this mascot would be Alex Kidd, a weird monkey-like boy thing who got his own series of games from the mid 80s till the early 90s, where he would then swiftly be replaced by Sonic, and maybe brought back like 30 years later for a remake.
I myself am not as familiar with Alex Kidd as I am with Sonic, so I decided to give his first game, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, a shot, and after playing through it again, I thought it was... ok. It doesn't really do too much to stand out, aside from being weird in numerous ways, but it still manages to be ok enough for me.
The story is what you would expect for a video game around that time, with the little pictures in between levels being pretty nice to look at, the graphics are pretty nice looking, especially compared to what else was out in 1986 on something like the NES, the music (and by that, I mean like the three songs in the game) are ok, nothing really too special, the control is fine, although movement and jumping can be pretty weird, and the gameplay is serviceable, being your typical platformer where you punch things, get money, buy items, and conquer levels.
Of course, I wouldn't say that my time with the game was that noteworthy or memorable, with several issues I have to point out, such as the boss fights. Most of the time, you are forced to play rock paper scissors with these hand guardians or whatever, and while there is nothing wrong with it, it's still rock paper scissors, and there is nothing really exciting about it. The other times there actually are boss fights, they are WAY too easy, where most of the time you can just stand there and continuously keep punching towards the enemy until they die.
Alongside that, and this just may be my own personal feelings, but this game feels really weird to play. Something about the way you punch around through blocks, how the stages are built, how traps are used to stop you in your tracks, and again, the weird as hell jumping, doesn't really make it all too desirable to me. Maybe I would've liked it better if I played this much earlier in my life, but as it stands, it just didn't leave too much impact on me.
Overall, while I appreciate it for being a solid jumping point for Sega back in the day, the original Alex Kidd isn't really all that special in my eyes. Yes, it can be enjoyable, and the variety with different vehicles and fights is nice to see, but none of that helped keep my attention for too long.
Game #54
I myself am not as familiar with Alex Kidd as I am with Sonic, so I decided to give his first game, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, a shot, and after playing through it again, I thought it was... ok. It doesn't really do too much to stand out, aside from being weird in numerous ways, but it still manages to be ok enough for me.
The story is what you would expect for a video game around that time, with the little pictures in between levels being pretty nice to look at, the graphics are pretty nice looking, especially compared to what else was out in 1986 on something like the NES, the music (and by that, I mean like the three songs in the game) are ok, nothing really too special, the control is fine, although movement and jumping can be pretty weird, and the gameplay is serviceable, being your typical platformer where you punch things, get money, buy items, and conquer levels.
Of course, I wouldn't say that my time with the game was that noteworthy or memorable, with several issues I have to point out, such as the boss fights. Most of the time, you are forced to play rock paper scissors with these hand guardians or whatever, and while there is nothing wrong with it, it's still rock paper scissors, and there is nothing really exciting about it. The other times there actually are boss fights, they are WAY too easy, where most of the time you can just stand there and continuously keep punching towards the enemy until they die.
Alongside that, and this just may be my own personal feelings, but this game feels really weird to play. Something about the way you punch around through blocks, how the stages are built, how traps are used to stop you in your tracks, and again, the weird as hell jumping, doesn't really make it all too desirable to me. Maybe I would've liked it better if I played this much earlier in my life, but as it stands, it just didn't leave too much impact on me.
Overall, while I appreciate it for being a solid jumping point for Sega back in the day, the original Alex Kidd isn't really all that special in my eyes. Yes, it can be enjoyable, and the variety with different vehicles and fights is nice to see, but none of that helped keep my attention for too long.
Game #54