ALEX KIDD in miracle world

Information

Developer(s): Sega
Publisher(s) : Sega
Designer(s) :
"Ossale Kohta" (Kotaro Hayashida)
Release date : 1986


Controls

pad = left - right / Z = Start, jump / X = hit

History

Alex Kidd in Miracle World is a platform game for the 8-bit Sega Master System video game console. It was first released in Japan on Saturday, November 1, 1986, and then was distributed to Europe, Australia and the United States in 1987. It was arguably the most widely known game in the Alex Kidd series, due to it being built into most Master System II consoles.

It is the first game in the Alex Kidd series created for this character, and the most popular of all Alex Kidd games

Alex Kidd in Miracle World is primarily a platform game, which also incorporates strategy and roleplaying. The player must finish levels and overcome obstacles and scenarios in a 2D environment. Throughout the eleven stages of Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Alex Kidd faces many monsters,[2] plus the three henchmen of Janken the Great, before facing Janken himself.

Alex Kidd is the only playable character in the game. His primary skill is punching, which he can use to attack enemies, break certain types of rocks to open blocks, and access new areas and collect money. Breaking or stepping on certain blocks releases an evil spirit that will try to kill Alex. The game requires more than the player's ability to accomplish specific phases. Any money Alex collects can be used to purchase items such as motorbikes and "peticopters" (small pedal-powered helicopters). At the end of certain levels, Alex must face one of Janken's henchmen in a game of jan-ken-pon (rock, paper, scissors).

The game consists of 17 stages, some of them with a strong atmosphere that differs from the rest. At the end of some stages, Alex Kidd has to face a Big Boss, whom he has to defeat by winning the best of three games of rock-paper-scissors (Jan-ken-pon in Japanese). To finish a stage, Alex Kidd has to grab a food object at the end of each stage. Alex can take only one hit before he dies. Alex Kidd in Miracle World does not have a battery save option or password system, meaning that when all of Alex's lives are gone the game is over. However, the game did have an undocumented "continue" feature, where the player could continue the game with three lives from the beginning of the level where Alex had died, by holding the up button and pressing the 2 button eight times during the GAME OVER screen. This feature would cost the player 400 Baums (the in-game currency).

The game was built directly into the Sega Master System II, enabling play right out of the box without the need to plug in any cartridge.