Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX

Long before Sega found success with a blue-haired hedgehog named Sonic, they flirted with mascot characters like Wonder Boy and Alex Kidd. We talked about the convoluted history of Wonder Boy back in May when I reviewed Asha in Monster World, so it only seems fair to follow that up by looking at the brand-new remake of Alex Kidd in Miracle World. This is a loving tribute to a 35-year-old classic with beautiful new pixel graphics and the welcome ability to switch back to the original game at any time. It's almost everything I wanted Asha in Monster World to be. There's just one problem: I can't stand playing this game. In today's review, we're going to find out if a great remake can make up for a bad game.

First released back in 1986, Alex Kidd in Miracle World marked the world's first taste of Sega's martial arts-loving mascot hero. Over the next four years, Alex Kidd would wind up in a total of six different games, most of which found a home on the 8-bit Master System. This was Sega's answer to Super Mario, and they were so confident that this adventure in Miracle World would drive sales that they ended up using it as a pack-in game and eventually built it into the Master System hardware. For many gamers who bought into Sega's 8-bit vision, Alex Kidd was the first character they saw.

This brand-new version of the game is what I would call a shot-for-shot remake. Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX offers the exact same levels, all of the same power-ups, the same bosses and even the same gameplay. The big difference is the presentation. Instead of using rudimentary 8-bit graphics that can only display a few colors at a time, this remake fills the screen with gorgeous pixel graphics that simultaneously gives it a more modern look and honors the 2D spirit of the original.

Seeing as this is a direct remake, you shouldn't be too surprised when I tell you that the story remains the same. This is a side-scrolling platformer that finds martial arts expert Alex Kidd get his punch on when Janken the Great threatens to take over the Radaxian region and turn everybody in to stone. This is precisely what Alex has been preparing for, so he fights, swims and even pilots a helicopter through seventeen challenging stages filled with snakes, scorpions, wizards and a surprising number of bosses who want to settle their differences playing Rock-Paper-Scissors.

As an action hero, Alex Kidd really only has one move -- punching. In order to take out enemies, he'll need to walk up to them and give them a good smack. He can also use his punching skills to destroy rocks and find money bags and hidden items. As he makes it through the forest, desert, mountains and volcanos, our hero will be able to spend his money on power-ups and vehicles, such as a helicopter or motorbike. There are a lot of interesting ideas here that you didn't see in old school platformers. Some of them work, but a lot of them don't.

Because this review is going to turn negative in a moment, I first want to applaud Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX for getting the remake right. If you were a fan of the game growing up, then the developer has done an excellent job recreating the levels, gameplay and boss fights. This is the best Alex Kidd has ever looked, and I think most people will agree that the lavish presentation is the best part of this remake. I also love that you can switch between the new graphics and original game at the push of a button, no matter where you are or what you're doing. That's a cool feature that I want to see more of in these types of remakes. I had a lot of fun comparing the old school graphics with the shiny new visuals.

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The problem is that Alex Kidd in Miracle World has not held up particularly well in the last 35 years. If you've never played the original, then you will most likely be surprised by how the game controls. Alex is a frustrating combination of being a little too fast and too imprecise, two things you don't want when jumping on tiny platforms is the goal of the game. I never felt in full control over the character, to the point where I would die doing the most basic platforming tasks. It doesn't help that our hero is so fragile. He'll die simply because he's in the area of a bad guy, which is made so much worse when you see how limited his punch range is. You're forced to get up close and personal in every situation, yet penalized for doing that. In fact, the game is so punishingly difficult that every single continue screen suggests turning on the infinite lives option.

Beyond being incredibly difficult to control, Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX also carries over a lot of the more outdated concepts. There are a few that I could rant about, but the most glaring has to be the Rock-Paper-Scissors boss fights, which pop up a handful of times. This is exactly what it sounds like, a one-on-one battle where you play Rock-Paper-Scissors against the computer. This is a novel enough idea, but the problem should be fairly obvious. Because we're playing against a computer opponent, we're left in a situation where the only thing to do is guess. Maybe you'll get lucky, maybe you'll lose or maybe the two of you will pick the exact same gesture. Let me tell you, there are few things in this world that are more frustrating than surviving an insanely tough stage only to lose at Rock-Paper-Scissors to a computer opponent.

On one hand, I can respect that they simply recreated the original game with updated graphics and music. If I were a die-hard fan that memorized every inch of Miracle World, then I might be a bit miffed if some developer made sweeping changes. I can respect the dedication they had, but wish that a lot of these more outdated elements had been improved with the visuals. The game would have been a lot better if Alex Kidd controlled like other 2D platformers, the hit detection had been tweaked and the boss fights were more about skill than luck. I also would have preferred the developer make a new game in the Alex Kidd series or, if they absolutely must remake an old game, slap a new cote of paint onto the far superior Alex Kidd in Shinobi World. What we're left with is a great remake of a bad game. This one is only for the old school fans.