The NES had Super Mario Bros. The Sega Master System answered back with Alex Kidd in Miracle World.
That’s how history tends to remember it, but that scenario is not completely accurate. See, Alex Kidd began its life as a licensed Dragon Ball game in 1984, before Super Mario Bros. was ever out. In fact, the Famicom hadn’t even come Stateside at that point (never heard of the Famicom? Perhaps you’ve heard of the North American version, then, the NES?) So Alex Kidd was less an answer to the success of Mario and more an answer to, “Crap, we lost the Dragon Ball license, so now what do we do with this game we’ve been working on?”
In any case, Alex Kidd in Miracle World came out in 1986, and it ended up being one of those games that’s highly rated in its time and beloved by enthusiasts for decades, yet it’s sort of forgotten by the general public. Sega didn’t really need Alex Kidd anymore once Sonic came around, now did they?
I’ve played a couple of the six titles that Alex Kidd starred in between 1986 and 1990 (I was a Genesis kid after all), but I was never really a fan. I mean, the cover art for the first game looked like this:
That box art tells me that not even Sega was confident in the potential of this platformer. Then again, you can’t really judge a game from the 1980s by its cover…
Anyway, here we are in 2021, and Alex Kidd in Miracle World is getting a remake (titled Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX). And, believe it or not, it looks kind of amazing. I mean, check out the trailer:
What I think is exciting about this is that they’ve left in a little bit of the pixel art aesthetic, though they’ve stylized it and made use of modern tech to make everything hyper-detailed and smooth. The original game was kind of clunky and slow; this version looks incredibly fluid and fast. What I’ve heard of the soundtrack thus far is killer, and just look at this overworld map:
That’s a thing of beauty, ain’t it?
In fact, this is the most excited I’ve been about an Alex Kidd game ever (though that might just be because a new Alex Kidd game hasn’t come out in more than 30 years).
If you’re looking to get yourself some retro platforming action, you won’t have to wait much longer. Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch on June 24, 2021. It’s also getting a physical release.
I’ve already got a lot to play this year, but I’m definitely looking forward to this one.
