Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Virtual Console) Review

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle

When King Thor was kidnapped, his son, Alex Kidd, held out hope that his father would return to their kingdom on Planet Aries. Finally, it was revealed that he was being held captive on Planet Paperock.

As Alex, players race to his rescue through 11 levels, battling enemies and avoiding obstacles while winning coins that will buy special items and vehicles.

At the end of each level, players encounter a boss and enter into a match of "Rock, Paper, Scissors." Throwing the right symbols puts players ever closer to bringing King Thor home; throwing the wrong symbols squashes them beneath a heavy weight.

By Dazza

Before Sonic the Hedgehog our friends Sega had Alex Kidd as their mascot. I grew up with the quirky humour of the original games on the Sega Master System (the 8-bit rival of the NES) - at the time these were some of the best games around. However by the time the Sega Genesis / Megadrive was in full force player's tastes had changed somewhat - poor old Alex had to make way to the blue speedy spikeball that was Sonic.

The gameplay is very much the standard platform hopping type of thing. You can jump, kick and punch. Simple huh? To spice things up you can save up and buy a helicopter, motorbike or even a pogo stick to get across the levels quicker. The one twist here is when you get to the end of level bad guy you don't fight him in the traditional way, rather challenge them to a game of rock, paper, scissors! It's all rather random but yet it still works (in a kind of strange way).

Alex Kidd controls a little awkwardly and the level design isn't anywhere near as cleverly designed as a Mario platformer. The one hit and die mechanics seem a little harsh at times too. Still all the elements come together to make a charming and fun game, just not a classic. Graphically, it's not really a massive leap up from the Master System titles and although the music is annoyingly catchy, only a fool would suggest that it makes full use of the hardware. This is a first-generation Megadrive / Genesis title and it shows.

Our advice is to try this if you are curious; it is a slice of Sega history after all so for that reason alone it's well worth a look - just don't go expecting a Mario-style platforming epic!

2/5

Average reader rating: 2.13 (8 ratings)

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Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle Screenshot

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle Screenshot

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle Screenshot

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle Screenshot

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle Screenshot

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1. RetroGuy 25 Feb 2007, 18:12 GMT

This is really poor, the master system one was alot more fun

2. Juice 24 Mar 2007, 06:29 GMT

Yeah, Master System Version kicked this 10 times over. Still a great game. Hope to see Master system on virtual Console. The classic Wonder boy series and Alex Kidd Series would be A+

3. adzix 24 Mar 2007, 09:30 GMT

hell yea, master system version was 10 times better, i loved the miracle world.
why is there no master system in the VC? it would be easy and with wonder boy3, phantasy star, alex kidd, golvellius, golden axe warrior, zillion and so on there are tons of timeless games, that easily surpass the nes stuff in terms of graphic and sound.
so....

4. STEADY MOBBIN 22 09 Apr 2007, 15:24 GMT

I'm not sure if I played this or not it's been so long ago. I also agree that the Master System Alex Kidd games were fun.

I also agree that the Master System was a far better system and had superior graphics then the NES. The NES got the love from the 3rd party game developers. Both were great, but there are more games I would rather play on the SMS then the NES. (Well, besides Tecmo Super Bowl!)

5. ircoops 09 Apr 2007, 18:20 GMT

Alex Kidd was ace on the master system, I never did complete it tho. If they bring Sega MS games to virtual console they should defo bring back gangster town & operation wolf with wii-mote light gun style play and mickey mouse's castle of illusion was a good platform game too, oh and don't forget the original prince of Persia.

6. Steve 09 Apr 2007, 19:32 GMT

To adzix:
Dragon's Curse on TurboGrafx (available in the USA since last Monday and in Europe since Friday before last) is the spitting image of Wonder Boy III on Master System.

7. Manaman 10 Apr 2007, 00:14 GMT

This game just doesn't do it for me at all. Maybe it's the somewhat floaty controls that's off-putting, but those horrid Rock-Paper-Scissor games are just ugh. Making you lose a life because you were unlucky at the game (which is all about luck) just plain sucks. I can't imagine spending 800 points on this.

8. PresidentLeever 21 Apr 2007, 23:58 GMT

My respect for this somewhat disappointing sequel was renewed when I saw someone get through almost the entire game on the motorbike.
I just don't get why they added Janken into the shops, it almost ruins the gameplay.

Btw, in the japanese version, the loser of a janken game gets stripped of his/her clothes

9. beefy 02 Oct 2007, 22:31 GMT

is he naked on the cover...?

10. Jazzem 30 Oct 2007, 00:26 GMT

...Err, he's wearing a shirt

11. Xander 04 Jan 2008, 22:37 GMT

A very tough game, to be sure. I can honestly say I beat this game, but it is a very frustrating game. The last level has some very good level design, but it is balls to the wall hard. The one-hit death is brutality, and makes playing this game really tense.

12. Ho11oWxxMaN 28 Jan 2008, 00:01 GMT

This is yet another game I own on the Sega Genesis collection(PSP), and I am very happy I did not spend 800 points on this game. My biggest gripes with the game are that you die pretty much after one hit, so instead of having fun you are just worrying about getting hit by the tons of enemies coming your way. Another big deal is the "Rock-Paper-Scissors" mini-game...its complete crap. Aside from the lame mini-games and tough difficulty(not that its SUPER-hard, but you won't stay interested long enough to finish in most cases), I do enjoy the look of the game and some of the power-ups(things like motorcycles you can drive, etc.)

2/5 stars. Thats being generous...its alright for what it is...but I do not recommend blowing 800 pts. on this game.

13. President_Leever 30 Jan 2008, 14:13 GMT

DKC also had a 1-hit-KO system, it's no big deal. Especially when you have items like the fire armlet.

I wish Sega and others would come back to these games and offer patches that fix the most obvious problems with them.

14. yeeat 14 Feb 2008, 02:59 GMT

I'll give 3 stars to this one, just because it's such an old and famous game in the past. In addition these attributes, it has a nice sound and a nice gameplay however, it just doesn't fit right? I don't know it's me or it was the sega but SEGA showed this game way better maybe i played the different version who know. However, if you are an adventure person and looking for something almost like mario, i say go for it. It's only 8 bucks anyway...

15. rkolegends 13 Apr 2008, 22:16 GMT

I don't really like this Alex Kidd game it could never beat the first one on the Master System. I found this game hard and it does get boring after some time after playing it again on the Mega Drive Collection i got stuck during a level flying a helicopter the controls just would not work. This game is not worth the money.

16. Knuckles-san 16 Apr 2008, 23:46 GMT

On the megadrive i really hated this game

17. Adamant 22 Apr 2008, 17:03 GMT

"Super hard"? Seriously, people? A major flaw of the game is that it's far too EASY. I had beaten it two hours after downloading it, and had never even played it before. Seriously, this isn't a hard game in any way.

18. Hyper-Shan 09 May 2008, 17:43 GMT

I can't really tell which game of the series were the best since I only played on this one, but this is a gem to me

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