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.

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QCF: Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap

ew games get the chance to leave behind the legacy they truly deserve to. In a lot of cases, we see games that’re just regulated as a notable footnote for its time, or a diamond in the rough, or even getting the status of being a cult-favorite among a loyal niche of fans who do what they can to share their reverence of the software—it’s the duality of this in game culture that makes it so exciting, and disheartening all at the same time.

Thankfully, we live in an age where old media is getting hip again, and the trend has not only resurfaced some hits from way back, it’s also opened up the door to some of the more obscure choices of the past to get their own second chance in a modern reimagining.

However, none of these choices could be stranger than Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap developed by Westone for the Sega Master System, a platform that struggled to be anything more than 8-bit nuance to the NES, and leaving little to no chance that the gem was played because of its exclusivity to the Master System. Surprisingly enough however, a new studio by the name of LizardCube has teamed up with Dot Emu to deliver a remastering of The Dragon’s Trap, and do so with a degree that could humble Capcom’s efforts with DuckTales into being a simple throwback by comparison.

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