{"id":91250,"date":"2019-04-01T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/sega_ages_alex_kidd_in_miracle_world"},"modified":"2019-04-01T11:30:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T11:30:00","slug":"review-sega-ages-alex-kidd-in-miracle-world-a-cult-platforming-classic-tastefully-reimagined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/04\/01\/review-sega-ages-alex-kidd-in-miracle-world-a-cult-platforming-classic-tastefully-reimagined\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World &#8211; A Cult Platforming Classic, Tastefully Reimagined"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/c685277f8c4b9\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/c685277f8c4b9\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div id>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 1 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95678\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95678\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 1 of 5\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>In an alternate timeline, <strong>Alex Kidd<\/strong> could have remained Sega\u2019s mascot, instead of being unceremoniously dumped by Sega in favour of the much cooler <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/megadrive\/sonic_the_hedgehog\">Sonic the Hedgehog<\/a><\/strong> and forced into early retirement (a retirement that\u2019s now lasted nearly three decades).<\/p>\n<p>Just think: if things had been different and Sonic had <em>never been created<\/em>, we could instead have enjoyed a whole bunch of Alex Kidd games on the Mega Drive, been treated to <strong>Alex Kidd Adventure<\/strong> on the Dreamcast, tolerated a bunch of ropey 3D Alex Kidd platformers and could now be morbidly curious about an upcoming Alex Kidd live-action movie.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 2 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95677\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95677\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 2 of 5\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Actually, in hindsight, that\u2019s probably for the best. One of the reasons Alex Kidd was probably ditched in favour of a cooler, bluer alternative was that the quality of his games decreased with each entry: fans of the Liam Gallagher lookalike generally agree that the first in the series, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mastersystem\/alex_kidd_in_miracle_world\">Alex Kidd In Miracle World<\/a><\/strong>, was the best of the bunch.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s this high point in the series that Sega and the emulation masters at M2 have decided to grant the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/sega_ages_alex_kidd_in_miracle_world\">Sega Ages treatment<\/a>, meaning what we have here is \u2013 like the other Sega Ages titles \u2013 the most <em>definitive<\/em> version of the game by a country mile.<\/p>\n<p>For those too young to remember it (or too American; the Master System was <em>huge<\/em> in Europe and Brazil but was destroyed by the NES in North America), Alex Kidd\u2019s debut adventure has the big-eared lad heading out to defeat the evil Janken the Great, rescue the prince and princess of the city of Radaxian and bring peace to the land. But don\u2019t worry about that; <em>nobody<\/em> remembers the story.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 3 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95679\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95679\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 3 of 5\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>What everyone who played it <em>does<\/em> remember is how difficult it is. Alex Kidd In Miracle World is unrepentant in its trickiness; part of this is down to the game\u2019s slightly loose controls which, even back in the \u201880s, never felt <em>quite<\/em> as tight as those of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/super_mario_bros\">moustachioed brothers across the shopping aisle<\/a>. The other part, though, is clearly deliberate: enemies are placed in awkward locations designed to annoy you, and some apparent power-ups instead trigger the appearance of Death, who mercilessly pursues you until he catches and kills you.<\/p>\n<p>Add to that the numerous Janken (Rock, Paper, Scissors) games you\u2019ll encounter along the way \u2013 adding a seemingly random element to whether you\u2019ll lose lives for the sake of it \u2013 and it\u2019s fair to say that Miracle World doesn\u2019t so much hold the player\u2019s hand as thrust it into a tiger cage.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully for some, the Sega Ages version of the game on Switch introduces a short rewind function, which allows you to undo any errors and pretend they never happened. It only goes back five seconds, though, meaning you\u2019ll need to trigger it <em>almost immediately<\/em> after your mistake or it may be too late to do anything about it.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 4 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95675\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95675\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 4 of 5\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>This rewind function is one of many little tweaks and additions M2 has bestowed upon Miracle World. Most of these are found in the new &#8216;Ages&#8217; version of the game (there\u2019s still the option to play the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/mastersystem\/alex_kidd_in_miracle_world\">untouched classic version<\/a>, for grumpy old purists who don\u2019t like change).<\/p>\n<p>The most notable new feature in the Ages version is a reworked soundtrack that makes use of the Master System\u2019s FM sound unit: this was an add-on that was released exclusively in Japan, and greatly improved the quality of the music in some games. The interesting twist here is that Alex Kidd In Miracle World didn\u2019t actually have FM support back in the day \u2013 the FM unit was released later \u2013 so the FM soundtrack you get in the Sega Ages version is a brand new one, designed to give fans an idea of how one would have sounded back then.<\/p>\n<p>Also new to Ages mode are lovely little illustrations that appear between stages, and \u2013 more importantly \u2013 the ability to continue as often as you like without jumping through hoops. The original game had a little-known Continue feature, where players who died with at least $400 collected could hold Up on the D-Pad, press the second button eight times and sacrifice a goat to trigger the secret \u2018Continue\u2019 option. Well, everything except the goat bit. This time, though, you can continue over and over, regardless of whether you\u2019ve collected enough gold.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 5 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95676\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/95676\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"SEGA AGES Alex Kidd In Miracle World Review - Screenshot 5 of 5\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Attention to detail just permeates every nook and cranny of this re-release, as is the Sega Ages way. In the options screen, you can choose between three versions of the game: the Japanese release (complete with Sega Mark III intro logo), the western re-release and even the \u2018Hamburger\u2019 version. Long story short, when Alex Kidd was built into the Master System II consoles, the game was tweaked slightly: the jump and punch buttons were swapped over to the more widely-accepted standard, and in between each stage Alex was seen eating a hamburger instead of a rice ball. <em>It&#8217;s the little things.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In an even better touch, the game\u2019s default border contains a little secret of its own: along the top of the screen, you\u2019ll see a series of icons from the Rock, Paper, Scissors mini-games. These aren\u2019t just dumped on there for the hell of it: they\u2019re actually the solutions to each of the Janken battles in the game (the bosses don\u2019t actually select a random option, you see). This means you no longer have to memorise a sequence of 14 Janken solutions; you can just refer to your handy border and get on with your life.<\/p>\n<p>All this combines to make the <em>ultimate<\/em> version of an important retro game, one that many gamers \u2013 especially those in Europe and Brazil \u2013 may associate more with their childhoods than the Mario series. Modern players discovering it for the first time may take a while to get used to its slippery controls, which don\u2019t really hold up well these days (hell, they didn\u2019t really hold up back then). Overcome this clunkiness, though, and you\u2019ll happy to see that Alex Kidd\u2019s debut outing remains as charming as it was back when he was still the main man, and sneaker-wearing hedgehogs didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Alex Kidd\u2019s floaty, slippery platforming may not be for everyone, especially those who didn\u2019t get to grips with it the first time around. Long-time fans and newer gamers willing to see past its niggles, though, will be treated to the definitive version of an iconic Sega game, one whose new additions are both genuinely useful (adding a Janken walkthrough to the border is genius) and transformative (you may have played the game hundreds of times, but you\u2019ve never played it with FM sound). A must-have for fans, but merely recommended for newcomers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an alternate timeline, Alex Kidd could have remained Sega\u2019s mascot, instead of being unceremoniously dumped by Sega in favour of the much cooler Sonic the Hedgehog and forced into early retirement (a retirement that\u2019s now lasted nearly three decades). Just think: if things had been different and Sonic had never been created, we could [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}