Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX (2021) [Switch]

“Like, we’re huge in Europe right now…”

-Cliff Poncier, Singles

Alex Kidd lives in the hearts of more than a few kids of the 80s. Yes, most of them probably live in Brazil or Denmark, but still. Alright, I’ll admit it, I never owned an NES as a child. This American boy raised on little league, mall arcades, and Saturday morning cartoons actually had a Sega Master System.

How? Why? It was spring 1987. The neighbor kid was selling his SMS and a handful of games. And one of those games was a colorful little platformer named Alex Kidd in Miracle World.

Fun title, isn’t it? I thought so. And the game was fun too, in spite of the fact that I could not consistently get beyond the second boss. Still, Alex Kidd managed to carve out a soft spot in my now nostalgic heart. But why? Was it the cheerful colorful sprites?  Alex’s satisfying ‘monkey punch’? The catchy chiptune theme? Yes, yes, and yes.

And what was niche in North America, was apparently quite popular in Europe and South America (the multiverses where Nintendo didn’t execute complete market domination). A mere 35 years later, and publisher Merge Games (of Streets of Rage 4 fame) tasked developer Jankenteam to recreate this 8-bit classic. So the game that captivated my grade school mind is back to enjoy again as a modern remake. In returning to a refreshed Miracle World, what ends up being Alex Kidd’s signature hook? Intriguing and improved gameplay? Compelling mini puzzles? Exciting and inventive boss fights? No, no, and no.

The question remaining is ‘does Alex Kidd in Miracle World deserve the remake treatment’ all these years later?

The 8-bit Review

Visuals: 7/10

The new coat of paint this game receives looks pretty darn good. The foreground sprites are terrific, adding detail and personality to the simian Alex Kidd and the variety of enemies in his way. The backgrounds are rendered to convey the Kingdom of Radaxian’s environments and an improved sense of depth.

This is made evident by tapping the ZR button on your Switch, toggling between the retro graphics and the updated ones. This feature also highlights how the remade game has toned down the cheery color palette of the original. This lends to a slightly more realistic and subdued look. The care and work put in on the new graphics is very well done. It’s exactly what you want out of an 8-bit remake. Everything is recognizable from the original, but looks warmer and cartoony, significantly improving immersion.

Audio: 8/10

As nice as the upgraded graphics look, the improved music stands out more. The original Alex Kidd theme is very catchy and has stuck with me all these years. There is something to be said about an intro melody that really identifies a game in the first bar or two. The remake has taken significant efforts to upgrade the soundtrack.

Many of the tunes have added Latin and Calypso seasoned strings and percussion. It’s really quite good and gives many of the levels in the game sort of a light, breezy feel. Play deeper into the game’s castles and swamp levels, and the music takes on a more fittingly somber or ominous tone. Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX rocking metal tracks mixed, too, reserved for the boss fights. Sound effects are also upgraded nicely but don’t stand out in the same way the music does.

The added depth and emotion the remixed/expanded tunes bring to each level is a welcome improvement. And just like the graphics, the audio can be toggled between original and remake with a tap of the ZR button.

Gameplay: 4/10

As a kid playing an 8-bit platformer, I could typically forgive and sometimes even master games with frustrating gameplay. I say ‘frustrating’ as an adult in the nicest way possible. I acknowledge some games are just plagued with awkward physics and unfair level design. The original Alex Kidd in Miracle World, while having basic enough controls (run, jump, punch), has issues with a floaty jump and touchy inertia. It’s always felt like there was a relatively unforgiving hit detection when it comes to being near enemies or projectiles.

The remake does nothing to improve on these, and while the controls feel consistent with the source material, everything seems like a cut-rate Super Mario Bros. Alex’s martial punch, highlighted in the original with a big old monkey fist, is scaled back a bit in the remake. It may be psychological on my part, but it feels like the punch’s area of effect is reduced.

All this leads to a game that frustrates in many areas where precision jumps are needed, and a perfectly timed punch is required. Perhaps this game just played better on the original SMS controller pad than the Switch allows with its modern d-pad and analog stick.

Levels themselves vary between scrolling horizontal and vertical. In the castle areas, there are single-screen puzzle rooms to be cleared. I always felt it was an interesting choice that the very first level in Miracle World finds Alex going vertically down. As you traverse these areas, there are plenty of punchable items. Breakable bricks, boxes with money and power-ups, and enemies abound. Some areas are navigable without breaking out your monkey punch. Other spots require specific blocks to be broken to advance. Some levels allow for multiple approaches.

Level design is such that most of the time a cautious, slow approach is the most pragmatic way to progress. Although there’s no time limit, impatience and the occasional vehicular power-up pushes you to try and speed through the level, often to your death. I’m sure there are speedrunners out there who could blow through this game, having mapped out all possible efficiencies. But for me, early playthroughs had me stumbling. This remake does add a few levels that blend in with the originals pretty seamlessly, but they also don’t seem to stand out in any special way.

The infamous Jan-Ken-Pon matches (rock-paper-scissors) matches are still here. This warrants a mention to any newcomer to this game. Each boss fight in the original game forced you into a best-of-three round of rock-paper-scissors before you could proceed (and later actually fight the boss). This can be maddening. Each match loss costs you a life and can completely halt your progress. As a kid, this was what always threw me for a loop and kept me from getting consistently deep into the game. It wasn’t until much later in life that I learned that you can predictably use the same plays to win each match. Your opponent does not throw down random plays (oh, NOW you tell me!).

So much for random chance, eh? All this holds for the remake. They even bump up the drama of the Jan-Ken-Pon matches with some flashy, colorful graphics trying to really make them stand out. If I’m honest, I was more annoyed than charmed.

Later in Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, winning the Jan-Ken-Pon forces actual legit boss fights. These are amped up a bit from the original. Each boss has some expanded attacks and difficulty. When I started my first playthrough of the game, I was playing with limited lives, trying to hang that hardcore label on myself.  By the time I got past Radaxian Castle (a bit over halfway through the game) to my first expanded boss fight, I decided I didn’t have the patience anymore to carry on that way. Re-running the entire level over and over was losing its appeal.

Mercifully, the infinite lives mode can be activated at any time, which lets you pick up where you died at frequent checkpoints. This is almost a necessary feature for all but the most patient of gamers, as you’ll be advancing into areas where trial-and-error are going to kill you. Precision jumping can be very rough in some spots, too, so be prepared to struggle with countering the wonky momentum of a running jump. For me, the d-pad on my Switch Lite made managing Alex’s jumps a bit easier than the analog stick.

In the end, I was hoping for some tightened controls, and perhaps a revision to the areas where cheap deaths were all but assured in the original. I got neither, and so the frustration level the original generated is still right here in the remake. True to the source material to a fault.

Uniqueness: 7/10

In the era of the burgeoning platformer genre, Alex Kidd certainly stands out from his prime competitor (Mario). In addition to his punching ability, Alex can also access vehicles and stash powerups for later use, years before Mario was riding on Yoshi or swapping out mushrooms for fire flowers. The vertical and horizontal scrolling also came before Super Mario Bros. 2.

The story, while a bit convoluted, is more compelling than ‘The Princess is in another castle’ (invading force repelled, usurper defeated, and questions about your father leaves opening for sequels). Points awarded for beating the genre standard-bearer to the (monkey) punch in a number of ways. And of course, love it or hate it, featuring Jan-Ken-Pon as part of a boss fights is undeniably unique.

Accessibility: 4/10

While Alex Kidd in Miracle World is rather easy to jump into, as a function of its basic controls, the platforming difficulties ramp up quickly and the Jan-Ken-Pon matches may be the initial obstacle that frustrates. And if you figure out the trick to the rock-paper-scissors nonsense, you’ll probably be on to the sections of the game where unavoidable trial-and-error deaths start happening.

Then you’ve got the interesting items to pick up or buy from shops, but no mention of what they do and no sense of where best to use them, so more trial-and-error to deal with here. Mercifully, the unlimited lives mode helps to overcome some of these more obnoxious issues. For a game that on the surface seems like a simple platformer, there sure are a bunch of little details that could complicate and hinder your ability to enjoy the game.

Replayability: 3/10

Unless you’re a masochist or a speedrunner (and those things are hardly mutually exclusive), you may have had your fill of this game once you’ve pushed through it to the end. This is especially true if you haven’t used the unlimited lives mode. If you’re truly into self-abuse, you can always dive back into the classic mode (essentially the original version of the game). There’s also a boss rush mode, complete with more Jan-Ken-Pon. Beyond that, there are some other collectible items in the game you can grab.

Challenge: 5/10

It’s fair to say Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is not easy. But the bulk of the difficulty you face doesn’t really come from well-crafted, fair challenges. Rather it’s full of cheap deaths and trying to overcome the controls. Many of the hard moments don’t feel fun, and become tedious. That said, there’s still some enjoyable platforming moments sprinkled throughout. And figuring out the remade boss fight strategies are a nice manageable challenge.

Personal: 5/10

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is a remake that looks good and sounds great, but that’s where it ends for me. It’s easy to peer through the prism of nostalgia and remember the original game more fondly than it probably deserves. This modern update doesn’t take enough steps to build on the original and make it more playable or fun. We seem to have a situation where the developer treats the original with an undeserved reverence. I still like Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, if mostly for the neo-nostalgia it provides. I will say I was happy to have finally worked through the entire game. But perhaps the original only deserved to be fondly remembered, and not remade.

We would like to thank Jankenteam and Merge Games for supplying us with a copy of this game for this critique.

Aggregated Score: 5.4

J-Torto has been a gamer since 1982, when got his start begging for quarters from his parents at a hotel pool game room. Racing games are in his blood and shmups are etched on his soul. Find him @JTorto40 on Twitter.