Alex Kidd was a flagship mascot for Sega during the glory days of the Master System, the world was his oyster. Then, along came Sonic who grabbed the media attention Alex Kidd was left by the wayside .

Very few games had me pulling my hair out as much as his particularly colourful romps – the very worst culprit, of my hair pulling, being the Miracle World instalment. Equipped with fists of steel and ears of Spock, Alex must toddle along (or swim in some segments) sixteen levels of platform style tomfoolery – deciphering puzzles, smashing through walls and destroying weird-looking folk along the way. Ah, yes, it’s a traditional fare platformer alright, but Sega know the genre like the back of its hand and a super little game hides underneath it all.

Boss battles are won not by judgement, skill and finely-tuned reflexes, but by sheer luck via the form of a rock/paper/scissors game. Win two out of the three contests and it’s a victorious move onto the next stage, lose and you’re shoved back to the start of the level. Now call me a nit-picker, but isn’t that a little unfair? But, despite this, you keep on coming back for more due to the irresistible charm of it all. Alex may be wearing those dungarees and annoy you with his dinner eating after each successful level (eating rice with chopsticks) but he’s running around a little Miracle World that’s so adorable you can’t help but have another go. And another. And another!

If you have not played this game on the original system, now is a great time to do so.

The first Alex Kidd game is awesome!! But, I prefer the one on the Genesis.

I wonder if what will look like if SEGA will make a new Alex Kidd game.

If Alex Kidd does not exist anymore, is because everyone ignore him. But he appear in Sonic and Sega all-star racing.