Alex Kidd in Miracle World

This page is incomplete. Kanzenshuu wiki team members are aware that they must edit this page to add missing information and complete it.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World
"Alex Kidd in Miracle World" Title Screen
アレックスキッドのミラクルワールド Arekkusu Kiddo no Mirakuru Wārudo Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Release Date	01 November 1986 (JP) 1987 (Int'l)
Genre	Platformer
Developer	Sega AM7
Music Composer(s)	Tokuhiko Uwabo

Alex Kidd in Miracle World is a 2D platforming video game developed by Sega and released for the company's Master System (known as the "Sega Mark III" in Japan) home console.

Development

Alex Kidd in Miracle World was initially conceived as a Dragon Ball video game, but was ultimately adapted into an original property when the development team was informed the Dragon Ball license could not be used:

Well... Hmm, I might get this a bit wrong after all this time, but... At first, Sega were planning on making a Dragon Ball game... I guess this happened long enough ago that it's okay for me to talk about this! The project began as a Dragon Ball title, not as a direct competitor to Super Mario Bros.

...

But when we were told we could not use the Dragon Ball license any more, we were forced to come up with our own ideas instead. For example, when it was Dragon Ball, Goku fought with his Power Pole, but we changed that to a punch attack.

It was only after we came up with the plan to restart the project as Alex Kidd in Miracle World that we started thinking about Mario, and looking for ways in which to differentiate the title from it.
— Kotaro Hayashida

Alex's punch originating as Nyoibō is also cited in an earlier interview published on Sega's official Japanese website:

主人公はもともと如意棒を武器にするつもりでしたが、拳法の使い手という、オリジナルキャラになり、パンチ攻撃を主体としたアクションになったんです。そういうこともあって何回も企画書を書き直して、現在の形になりました。

---

We were originally planning on having the main character use the Nyoibō as a weapon, but because he became an original character who used martial arts, it ended up being an action based on a punching attack. Because of things like that, we had to rewrite our game design document over and over, and that is how it ended up the way it did in the end.
— Kotaro Hayashida (as オサール・コウタ Ossale Kohta)

The development team for Alex Kidd in Miracle World includes individuals such as Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima that would move on to working on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise within Sega.

Releases

Alex Kidd in Miracle World was released internationally in 1987, available in certain regions as a cartridge and/or pre-installed on the Master System / Mark III console hardware. The game received various ports and inclusions as parts of game compilations including those on the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Switch.

Possible Leftover References

Rock/scissors/paper gameplay sprites

Alongside general platforming gameplay, Alex Kidd in Miracle World features rock/scissors/paper battles ultimately leading up to a confrontation with Great King Janken (じゃんけん大王 Janken Daiō, or "Janken the Great" in the official localization). These may be leftover elements from early Dragon Ball game development with Son Goku and his own Jan-Ken technique.

Bear. With Sword.

One particular enemy is a bear with a sword, which bears more than a passing resemblance to a similar creature in the Dragon Ball series' third chapter.

Bull

Additional Notes

Hardcore Gaming 101's The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Volume 3, released in 2018, details the game's early development in an interview with Kotaro Hayashida. The book cites a 26 February 2016 YouTube video by "Anthogeek" which had previously investigated and theorized on the possible connection between Dragon Ball and Alex Kidd.

The second episode of the All Systems Goku podcast sees host and games journalist/editor Jeff Gerstmann independently draw connections between Dragon Ball and Alex Kidd:

Goku getting to this master and then having to, like, tell him a joke to get training, getting to this, like, boss-looking character... it reminds me of the boss fights in Alex Kidd where you have to get through, like, get through all these fucking... all this platformy bullshit, then you get to the end, and they're like, now we're gonna play rock/paper/scissors motherfucker.
— Jeff Gerstmann

Game Credits

• TBD