QCF: Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX

here are so many forgotten classics that somehow still get overlooked after all of this time, and are honestly just ripe for the remake treatment. I mean, sure there are a few classic titles that undoubtedly deserve a new coat of paint, but personally, I get all the more excited over the obscure games with sleeper followings that get chosen for an HD resurrection.

SEGA’s abandoned Simian Martial-Artist, Alex Kidd, is one such prime candidate, as the forgotten mascot has only managed the occasional cameo or two over the past thirty years, and has only now been granted the opportunity to be relevant again with a remake of his very first outing, Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX. Now the Master System exclusive wasn’t a mechanical marvel by any means, exuding just enough charm to offset its finicky physics and platforming flaws—making the concept of a remake that could improve upon its issues all the more exciting.

In some unfortunate twist of fate, however, the folks behind the remake, Merge Games and Jankenteam, have somehow produced a version of the game that’s genetically inferior to the 1986 original—and I couldn’t have been more disappointed in my experience with it as a result.

All things considered, the 2021 re-release isn’t completely bad—the developers did do an incredible job with Miracle World DX’s presentation with sounds and sights that accentuate its 1908’s Saturday Morning Cartoon aesthetic. The visual design of Alex Kidd is one of the most defining features of the original as it had this unshakable Early-Generation Tezuka vibe to it with its rounded contours and sensationalized proportions—a look that was masterfully translated onto the screen by SEGA’s 8-bit machine. Taking the importance of its graphics to heart, Jankenteam leaned into embellishing the foundation of Tezuka art style with a “CalArts” inspired revamp that’s reminiscent of other contemporary works like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe, and honestly, the redesign fits the ambiance of Miracle World really well. What makes the new look even more appealing is that it isn’t rendered with hand-drawn design, but with pixelated graphics instead, keeping more in-line with Alex Kidd’s third-generation roots. In addition to the new eye candy, Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX also goes hard with the musical composition, rearranging the familiar chiptunes with a quartet of string instruments that boast the exotic twangs of ukuleles, Lutes, Mandolas, and more. While some tracks admittedly fare better in their classic synthesized version, like the Underwater theme, the modernization of other tracks are flat-out incredible with the new instrumentation, like the City of Radaxian’s theme or any of the Desert level themes. Although I wouldn’t say this is a flaw to the game’s sound work, there’s just one thing that felt a little off about the setup. Because SEGA wasn’t officially involved with this reworking, the HD remaster is missing the inclusion of the reworked FM version of the original soundtrack from the recent SEGA Ages port, which would have been a stellar addition to Miracle World DX’s sensory-driven package.

The Presentation isn’t without its drawbacks though, and unfortunately, compound some of the larger issues with the gameplay that I had alluded to at the start of the review. For starters, as beautiful as the graphical design of the game may be, there are times where the added flourishes to the environments and enemies will actually hamper the already faulty framework of Miracle World’s gameplay. Certain platform hazards for example will be completely obscured from some fauna or set piece in the foreground, forcing players to blindly engage the endeavor. Now, similar to Lizardcube’s remake of Wonderboy III: The Dragon’s Trap, players can switch between the remade art style, or the classic Master System motif, and by downgrading to the classic visuals, players can sidestep some of the misguided obscurities of the enhanced graphics as a workaround.

This maneuver will eliminate most of these issues, which is a plus, but on that same token, it’s also frustrating that a feature meant for fan-service has to be exploited into a game-saving mechanic—one that’s also plagued with a pretty sloppy execution in and of itself. Unlike the aforementioned Westone Remaster, the action on-screen doesn’t freeze in place when transitioning from Modern Graphics to 8-bit, meaning that if you initiate a switch during a vulnerable moment, you will absolutely die mid-wipe, which is honestly ludicrous. Another big flaw is are a few of the deceptive animations to certain enemies where the swagger behind their movement telegraphs a hitbox bigger than what it actually is, making the one-hit failure mechanic an even fussier chore than already is.

Moreover, that’s just the tip of it—one of the biggest sins committed by this remake is that it poorly repurposes the PAL version for its source code. What that means is that the foundation of the game is programmed with the refresh rate of 50HZ in mind instead of the NTSC standard of 60HZ. Instead of using the NTSC version of Miracle World, or even patching the source to optimize it at that standard, it’s being FORCED into running at 60HZ—which means there are missing frames of animation that are skipped over. This crucial flaw renders an already slip-heavy platforming experience into a jittery and disorienting one—like, imagine moving around with the grace of a refrigerator on roller skates, only now with an added skip or two thrown in like you’re some undead spirit straight out of Ju-On: The Grudge.

At its best, Miracle World DX is the same ol’ Alex Kidd in Miracle World, which yeah, is fine I suppose. Aside from some new collectibles and a couple of brand new stages, there’s nothing mind-blowing about this remake, and it’s admittedly a little disappointing knowing that the effort could have done so much more with polishing the core game instead of simply focusing on the cosmetics of the title. At its worst though, the game is an even clumsier mess than its 35-year-old predecessor, with poorly thought-out gimmicks and terrible programming decisions that make for an experience far more infuriating than what it’s worth.

I can’t in good conscience recommend this game, and that’s a big bummer because the sights and sounds are really fun to take in—but not enough to put up with all of the other crap all the same. If you’re jonesing for some Alex Kidd, I honestly can’t recommend the Sega Ages edition of Alex Kidd in Miracle World enough; t’s packed with plenty of quality of life enhancements that don’t get in the way of the base game at all—grab that instead!