3ERMS Alex Miracle

"Journey through the planet Aries to the beautiful City of Radactian---
and save it from the evil Janken the Great."

Welcome to Sega's initial answer to Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. In
place of Mario is Alex. For Bowser there's Janken. For Princess Peach
there's Princess Lora. The first of four Alex Kidd games on the Master
System (a fifth was released on the Genesis), Alex Kidd in Miracle World
is an obvious, yet respectable, attempt by Sega to be a "Mario-killer."
And while it may at first seem like just another Mario clone, Alex Kidd in
Miracle World brings enough innovation to the genre to separate it from
Nintendo's famed franchise and make it one of the better games of the
early 8-bit era.

You play as Alex Kidd, a boy prince and Shellcore master ("an ancient
art that makes one strong enough to break rocks into pieces") who
lives on the planet Aries. You must travel through eleven unique
locations and stop Janken the Great, the evil emperor of the planet
Janbarik, who is invading the City of Radactian.

Gameplay

When you first play Miracle World you will notices many similarities with
Mario. The first is the use of breakable stone blocks. However, instead
of jumping up and vertically smashing them, Alex Kidd is armed with a
powerful horizontal punch that can smash the blocks and kill enemies,
released with the press of button 2. Button 1 is used to jump; however,
unlike Mario you cannot jump on enemies to kill them. Doing so will lead
to your untimely death. Press buttons 1 and 2 simultaneously to jump
up and destroy blocks above you.

I have three problems with the gameplay in Miracle World and I want to
get them out of the way right now so I can concentrate on its otherwise
superior status.

As I mentioned above, landing on any enemy or spike, or getting hit
with any projectile will lead to your instant death. This is my biggest
gripe with the game: cheap deaths. Add that with the possibility of
falling to your death in an open abyss in the level and cheap deaths run
rampant. One of the best things Nintendo did with Super Mario Bros.
was include the ability to collect mushrooms to turn Mario into Super
Mario, and thus, offer the gamer an extra hit by an enemy before death.
Miracle World could have benefited greatly from a similar system, but
unfortunately it does not and it drags the gameplay down.

One of the more important aspects of Miracle World's gameplay is the
"Janken match," otherwise known as rock-paper-scissors. I'm
assuming everyone knows how to play this game, but just in case: rock
is stronger than scissors, but weaker than paper; scissors is stronger
than paper, but weaker than rock; paper is stronger than rock, but
weaker than scissors. Thus, whenever you face Janken or his three
henchmen you must challenge them to a best of three Janken match.
You lose you die; you win you move on. And while this is an interesting
addition to the game and a nice mix-up, until you collect the "telepathy
ball" later on that will tell you what your opponent will pick, the Janken
matches can lead to a lot of cheap deaths.

Another problem I have with the gameplay is the sliding duck move,
where you run and slide into a ducking position to pass through various
crevices below unbreakable blocks. This practice is necessary to
advance the game. Unfortunately it is way too difficult to pull off than it
should be, thus becoming quite a nuisance.

However, other than that, the gameplay in Miracle World shines through
and supercedes Nintendo's Mario Bros. in all other ways. You can
collect powerups throughout the game by collecting bags of money in
the levels and purchasing items in the Shops found between stages.
Here you can buy numerous items that can aid you in your journey, and
that drastically alter the gameplay. Including the aforementioned
telepathy ball, you can get a power bracelet to shoot enemies; an extra
life doll; teleport powder that gives you temporary invincibility; the cane
of flight that allows you to fly for a limited time; magic capsule A, which
releases eight mini-friends that destroy an enemy; magic capsule B,
which provides you with a temporary barrier from enemies; a
motorcycle that can break rocks and kill enemies allowing you to fly
through the stages; and a helicopter that shoots missiles to fly through
the stages. All in all, the ability to buy such items in the Shop is a nice
addition.

In addition the motorcycle and helicopter, you also get to drive a
missile-launching speed boat. These vehicles are an excellent addition
to the gameplay and greatly set Miracle World apart from Mario. But be
sure to collect as much money as you can because after you run out of
lives you can also buy "continues" via a secret code (hold up on the d-
pad and press button 2 eight times). This code will make defeating the
game much easier and you can use it as long as you have $400 in your
possession.

In sum, there are enough additions to the Mario-formula to set Miracle
World apart and add to the overall game. The only thing holding it back
from a perfect score in the gameplay department are the constant
cheap deaths that plague the game. It's not a difficult game to beat;
the cheap deaths just lead to much frustration and needed to be
acknowledged.

87%

Graphics

Being a first-generation Master System title, the visuals in Miracle World
are nothing spectacular. And while it's unfair to compare Master
System games to NES games, being that the Master System is
technologically superior, I'm going to do it anyway and say that the
visuals in Miracle World are still better than Super Mario Bros. The
stages and characters are very vibrant and colorful and character
animations are respectable, but it just can't compete with later Master
System titles.

78%

Sound

I still can't get the Alex Kidd theme sound out of my head, but that's a
good thing. It may not be as popular and well-known as the Super Mario
theme song, but it's just as good---as is the rest of the sound in the
game. All the sound effects do what they are supposed to do and the
music tracks set the mood just right. And while not perfect, for a
system with a supposedly inferior sound card, Miracle World shows that
the Master System can do sound right.

92%

Replay Value

Once mastered, Alex Kidd in Miracle World can be defeated in 1-2
hours. The story is pretty decent for the type of game that it is, but the
unique gameplay features are the only thing that will keep you coming
back. It will be a game you will want to play again, because of its
classic Sega status, but not too often. A two-player mode would have
been nice.

78%

Overall

While Alex Kidd in Miracle World was not the Mario-killer that Sega
hoped (and needed) it to be, it turned out to be a classic Sega title that
everyone should experience. Miracle World was a great start to a new
Sega franchise, one that consequently showed a great deal of
potential, unfortunately Sega failed to develop it into a series with
staying power. Thus, as Nintendo still dishes out Mario titles even
today, Alex Kidd is a dead franchise. Nevertheless, Sega's innovative
additions to the gameplay in this genre were a welcome step, which led
to the creation of one of the best Master System games ever, and only
a few minor (but important) problems kept it from being one of the best
8-bit titles. It is arguably the best of the Alex Kidd games (with Alex
Kidd in Shinobi World as its only competition) and is a Sega classic.

90%