SEGA AGES Alex Kidd in Miracle World review for Nintendo Switch

So here?s Alex Kidd in Miracle World from the SEGA AGES Switch collection. If you?re not familiar with the series then a quick history lesson is to say that back in the day when Sega released its Master System console that it needed a mascot. Something opposite of Mario but with lots of platforming and action. Well their answer was Alex Kidd and as we all know this character was replaced later by Sonic on the Genesis. But for the time it was what most of us knew as an entry point to Sega platformers and now it?s returned to modern consoles for your enjoyment!

So the gameplay is pretty straightforward but also different from what you might expect from a 2D platformer coming from recent or even 16-bit games. I say this because Alex will run and jump but he also uses his massive fist to punch enemies and blocks next to him. When you do this he will come to a complete stop on the ground and even I forgot about this catch despite playing the game back in the day. So once you adjust to this then you?re off to enjoy Miracle World jumping and punching with ease.

Alex is also very slippery to control so I guess Sega went overboard when copying the looseness of Mario Bros. and it adds some difficulty to the games platforming. Maybe some people liked this but I don?t. There are power-ups which you can use through the game?s menu and will allow for things such as firing a shot when you punch or being able to read the minds of your enemies in a rock, paper, scissors battle. You can also check out the map and admire the sights if you want.

But you can tell a lot about what you?re getting into just by looking at pictures or video of this game. What?s important is that M2 has done their usual great work in representing the different regional versions of the game and also including some perks like a rewind mode which you will love now that your time is more precious than when you were 10 and had all day to be stuck on a hard jump or enemy placement within a screen. You can also choose Hamburger mode and have a delicious beef patty waiting for you at the end of each level instead of the rice ball!

The usual screen filters and options are also here for your enjoyment. But this time the custom border actually shows the patterns of the boss rock paper scissors fights and I found that very helpful. There is also a challenge mode which will allow you to play through a helicopter sequence or the battle against Janken the Great to challenge yourself against the clock. Can you do it in under 15 minutes? Or 10? I still need practice before I can brag to all my friends.

As with the current offerings of SEGA AGES games on the Switch you will be getting a very faithful version of Alex Kidd in Miracle World with a couple extra features and very good emulation. It?s a classic title which is definitely outdated in some ways but also worth checking out for a kind of history lesson. I do think it would be nice if the AGES mode had a tweak to how Alex controls or maybe hints to get through some of the stupidly secret puzzles in the game. Regardless of what might interest you in trying it out you will be getting what seems like the best version available on recent platforms.

Sega provided us with a SEGA AGES Alex Kidd in Miracle World Switch code for review purposes.