Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
System: Genesis
Release Date: August 14th, 1989
Developer: Sega R&D2
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Platformer
Alex Kidd missed out on being a Master System launch title by a few months, but for the Genesis launch, we get Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle. This is the fourth outing for the monkey headed boy. Alex’s father is missing from his home planet of Aries, and is rumored to have been kidnapped by Ashra on the planet Paperock. All the denizens of the planet vow to keep Alex away from Ashra’s home, the Sky Castle.
This is a platformer, very much like the original Alex Kidd in Miracle World. In fact, unlike the other titles in the series, this plays just like Miracle World. He’s back to collecting money in order to bet in rock, paper, scissor matches to get items. You can exploit these matches with the necklace. Equipping this allows you to see what your opponent is planning to throw. I used a bracelet early on, which gives you the power to throw projectiles. Shooting enemies is satisfying, but if you die, say goodbye to your power.
Alex punches with the B Button and can do it from standing or prone positions. He, however, can not punch while jumping. Instead, Alex throws a kick when you let go of the jump button. It took me most of my playthrough to get a handle on the timing of the jump kick and I still didn’t have it down perfectly. That was annoying, trying to hit a chest or a moveable block with a kick and letting go of the A Button just a split second too soon.
Dealing with hit detection was a big struggle. I don’t know if I was really that bad, or if Alex’s hit box is just a little bigger than his sprite. Needless to say, this led to a lot of deaths. On the upside, if you run out of lives, you can continue from the last checkpoint if you have 1000 coins or more in reserve. So hit every single red chest out there and stockpile as many coins as you can, because you’re going to need them. I promise you that. Gray chests are a gamble. They seem to randomly contain items or, more frequently, bombs.
Alex Kidd’s adventure is pretty time consuming overall. I probably died around 100 times in my playthrough. Most of this happened on stage 9, Rock Mountain 2. Even after I had every enemy that drops on you from off screen memorized, I’d still get killed by the teleporting old man or the rock. After finally beating the level, you find yourself in the pedicopter and you need to get to the other side of the stage, while avoiding blimps and planes. If you get touched, you drop. If you drop, you fall back to the beginning of Rock Mountain 2! Needless to say, I’m glad I wasn’t mic’ed up while playing, because a lot of swearing and yelling occurred. Make sure you have a couple extra pedicopters, because as you’re falling, you can jump into the item screen and equip another one to keep going.
The Sky Castle is the final level and is the amalgamation of everything you’ve experienced up until that point. There are puzzles, jumping challenges, obstacles to avoid, enemies to kill, and switches to throw. There were plenty of spots I threw my hands up in frustration, but I made it to Asura, had to beat him in rock, paper, scissors three times (thanks necklace), then defeat him in combat (thanks cloak of invincibility). The reward? Finding Thor, Alex’s father, who seems to be enjoying himself as the real ruler of Paperock.
Graphics: 3.0
This is a 16-bit version of Miracle World. There isn’t enough advancement to overly praise the look.
Sound: 2.0
The music isn’t very pleasant and the sound effects are fine.
Gameplay: 2.0
Alex is still entirely too floaty, the hitbox doesn’t feel right, and there are waaaay too many cheap deaths.
Difficulty: 2.0
Everything was going fairly until Rock Mountain 2 and To the Sky. Falling back a level was infuriating.
Fun Factor: 1.5
It would have been better if not for the penultimate levels. I watched my fun level plummet there.
Overall Grade: 2.1
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle earns a C. While better than Lost Stars and High-Tech World, it doesn’t live up to the original. It’s fine, but don’t feel obligated to stick with it.