Review - Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX
I really enjoyed my time with Alex Kidd… until I didn’t.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World is an old-school game remade with a beautiful new art style, in the same vein as Monster Boy from a few years back. Like Monster Boy and the Halo Master Chief Collection, you’re able to swap art styles on the fly, giving you a glimpse of just how much love and care went in to faithfully recreating the original game’s true vision. What was held back by technical limitations in the 80’s and 90’s has been given a modern art style coating, putting it up there with the best hand drawn indie platformers you can find. The ability to swap art styles back and forth, however, is also where I feel the game is held back by the limitations of the past.
Developer Jankenteam, who released this alongside publisher Merge Games, stuck to the original game play as closely as they could. This means the controls are floaty and imprecise, the enemies are unforgiving, and the overall feeling of the game is very, very retro. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I think it takes a different approach and mindset going in to the game in order to enjoy it. When I first started this game, which I never played in it’s original form back on the Master System, I expected something similar to Sonic or Mario. It became very readily apparent that this was not the case after realizing you have a single hit of damage before you’re dead, you can’t jump on enemies, and your punch has to be VERY accurate. Prepare to die. A lot. Like…. A LOT! Then prepare to die some more.
Prepare to make the face on the left
This is where taking a different approach is needed. Instead of treating this game like any other 90s platformer, approach it like Super Meat Boy or a Dark Souls game. Mentally prepare yourself to die repeatedly. Turn on infinite lives, and chip away at the stages piece by piece. You’re going to die, but you’ll at least start making some progress and feeling better about your time with the game. It doesn’t make anything easier, but it does help when you’re not being kicked back to the title screen every few minutes. This approach helped me really enjoy the game. I’m not a huge fan of Souls-like games, but I’ve put a crazy amount of time in to Super Meat Boy and other punishing, accurate platformers, so when I looked at Alex Kidd through that lens, I began to really enjoy my time with it. Until I didn’t.
Turn on infinite lives and BURN EVERYTHING TO THE GROUND!
After several hours with this game, I hit a point where I felt like I was progressing at a good pace. I was getting things, finding my groove, and moving to the later stages towards the end. Things were good. The art style continued to impress in later stages. Then I came across a section of a castle I can only describe as NES Ninja Turtles-esque. For those that don’t know, there’s a section in Ninja Turtles for the NES where you have to precisely navigate a sewer filled with seaweed that will kill you.
The literal moment where my should died in this game
It sucks.
This is worse. As you swim, Alex Kidd floats, but the controls are not precise enough to tap down to counter the floating, so you basically constantly get impaled on the spikes. I tried this section for longer than I am proud to admit. I tried this with a Pro Controller, a Switch SNES controller, and Joycon in handheld mode. I also handed the game to my brother, who loves the Souls games and is admittedly better at platforming games than I am. He got a little further down the spike path than I did, using a combination of patience and punching while swimming that never occurred to me, but still eventually had to give up or risk breaking my Switch in frustration. With no Switch Pro announcement yet, I really can’t justify snapping my Switch in two, so I’m going to have to walk away from this game.
I’m in a steel cage of emotions!!!!
Even after the epically frustrating castle experience, I really enjoyed my time with Alex Kidd. It’s nowhere near perfect, but the art is absolutely beautiful, the dialogue and rock, paper, scissors boss battles are entertaining (and there’s a boss rush mode!) and there’s a certain charm to such a tough game that wears it’s retro roots proudly, even with a fresh coat of paint.
Rock, Paper, Scissors!
Alex Kidd isn’t for everyone, but for those that feel like checking it out, as long as you know what you’re getting yourself in to, you won’t be disappointed.
Until you reach this part. This part sucks. It just sucks.
Mark Carabin