Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX - Switch Review
"What did you expect?"
Before there was Sonic The Hedgehog, Sega's answer to Mario was Alex Kidd and as someone who shares the same name with what could have been, I feel the most qualified to say that Sonic was certainly an improvement. Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is the remaster of Alex's first outing and involves the titular hero defeating Janken the Great and saving the kingdom of Radaxian. It's simplistic but it's a remaster of a 35 year old game, what did you expect? And not to reveal too much of this review too soon but the phrase "what did you expect" will certainly be a running theme.
The Good
If you grew up with a Sega Master System, this game would be wonderfully nostalgic. You can see how far video games have come in the span of 35 years with the press of the ZR trigger and that's a wonderful thing.
Speedrunners rejoice! Alex Kidd in Miracle World contains some truly bite-sized levels and if your helicopter doesn't crash within the first 10 seconds, you could probably beat some of them within a single minute. There are full playthroughs of the original version on YouTube that only go for under 40 minutes and considering how challenging this game is, that's impressive!
Alex Kidd in Miracle World has one of the most unique boss fight structures ever with not-so-randomised versions of Jan-Ken-Pon (rock-paper-scissors). You do end up fighting the bosses the second time you meet them (spoilers for a 35 year old game) but don't fret, you'll still get to play Jan-Ken-Pon.
TL;DR
- Wonderfully nostalgic
- Quick, bite-sized levels
- Jan-Ken-Pon boss fights
The Bad
This game is hard. It's so hard that it scoffs at Dark Souls and eats Super Meat Boy for breakfast. But it's not the good kind of hard, rather it's the kind of hard that comes as a result of being a video game from the 80s. The platforming is floaty, the range of attack is minimal and not playing with the newly added infinite lives mode on will lead to many game overs (but that just makes dying an annoying hindrance).
Towards the end of the game, there was one stupidly ambiguous puzzle with hanging spikes that forced me to look at 15 year old walkthroughs... and they are not written well AT ALL. At the very least, they could have provided descriptions for items in the shop. I mean, how was I supposed to know the ring gives you a ranged attack before I bought it?
TL;DR
- Hard... but not the good kind
- Frustratingly ambiguous puzzles
- No store items descriptions
Final Score: 5/10
As much as I can respect the ambitious scope of a game made in the same year that Ferris Bueller's Day Off hit cinemas (I know, right... cinemas), Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is a 35 year old game with a brand new coat of paint and a shiny $20 price tag. It's way too faithful to the original and we've had three and half decades of improvements in video game development to show the cracks in Sega's first mascot's initial adventure. So to summarise, yep, this is Alex Kidd in Miracle World.
Thank you for checking out our Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX Switch review, thank you to Merge Games (via Evolve PR) for providing the review code and thank you to our $5 and up Patreon Backers for their ongoing support: