Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega Master System)

Tell us about games you are currently playing. "Quick hit" reviews.
Herschie
Posts: 1183
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:44 pm

Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega Master System)

Postby Herschie » July 13th, 2018, 3:19 am

What a stupid, asinine game this is! The first level is all I had the patience to play, and it's mostly guessing games and memorizing what's in each block. Is it a money bag, or is it the Grim Reaper, from whom you cannot get away from. Oh, and I love the game of rock/scissors/paper that decides whether or not you beat the level.

No wonder Sega lost to Nintendo!

Still, I have fond memories. This was one of the first games I ever played, even before that overcast day in August 1988 when my father bought me my NES. I remember going over to my next door neighbor's house after my mom made me a bologna sandwich and Ruffles for lunch. Must have been six or seven years old at the time. Usually only played for a little bit because the Cubs started at 1:20 (No night games at Wrigley Field until 1988). Often times I'd die early, and thus have to relinquish the controller, so I'd end up hanging out with the cat.

It's kind of funny how you remember not so much the game itself, but the things in your life happening when you first played. When I played Ocarina of Time, it was summer time in 1999, and I was mostly stoned. When I played Twilight Princess, my girlfriend, who is now my wife, was watching me play as I drank Miller Lite and Jameson in the winter of 2006/2007. Metroid Prime was played in autumn 2003, and I also remember watching "Animal House", being in denial that the Cubs lost the NLCS, and the assortment of flavored blunts I'd smoke with my buddy.

They always mention the halcyon days of youth, and I think that's what this game stands for in my case; whiffle ball in the front yard with my parents, the Cubs of the 80s, and pleasant summer days.

Just too bad the game sucks!

ESauce
Posts: 449
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:20 pm

Re: Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega Master System)

Postby ESauce » July 13th, 2018, 11:24 am

Your memories of games seem to center on what drug you were doing when you played it :lol:

Herschie
Posts: 1183
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:44 pm

Re: Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega Master System)

Postby Herschie » July 14th, 2018, 8:13 pm

ESauce wrote:Your memories of games seem to center on what drug you were doing when you played it :lol:


Haha, well the other night, it was after a tobacco pipe and a glass of Jameson.

User avatar
txsizzler
Posts: 161
Joined: April 12th, 2015, 8:21 am

Re: Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega Master System)

Postby txsizzler » July 15th, 2018, 9:51 am

I was about 15 years old when I played the Alex Kidd in Miracle World. I made it about half way through the game before saying enough. I didn't own an NES at the time, so I guess I was trying to convince myself that Alex Kidd would triumph over Super Mario Bros. With the SMS, I usually played games like Black Belt, Choplifter (which is excellent), and Great Football with my brother (another game that sucked balls). Then Phantasy Star came out... wow!! One of the best RPG's I have ever played. I have played through that game at least 6-7 times and loved each outing.

User avatar
Matchstick
Posts: 977
Joined: October 26th, 2017, 6:45 am

Re: Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega Master System)

Postby Matchstick » July 16th, 2018, 6:38 am

Herschie wrote:It's kind of funny how you remember not so much the game itself, but the things in your life happening when you first played.


ESauce wrote:Your memories of games seem to center on what drug you were doing when you played it :lol:


I can honestly say that I wouldn't be the man I am today, or be in the place I am in my life, if it weren't for an entire Summer playing Goldeneye 007 with my high school buds, drinking cheap beer and smoking baaaaaaad weed. I don't think I've ever been so happy playing a video game in my entire life!

We would meet up nearly every day after school at my one friend's apartment, which was pretty close to my house and our High School, itself. His Mom worked late, so the four of us would just bomb his place before she got home - and we always made sure to clean up and not leave any "evidence" for her to find. One of the guys had an older brother, which is how we got the beer and smoke, and he'd carry it all in a duffel bag over to the apartment, along with a few extra controllers.

As if that wasn't enough, we were all hugely into 90's hip-hop and gansta rap, and the guy with the apartment had a killer stereo. I loved me some Snoop and Tupac (and still do!) but the other guys were mostly East Coast biased, meaning that the CD deck was dominated by Biggie, Puff Daddy, Lil' Kim, or anybody else on Bad Boy Records. I distinctly remember the day that one of the guys got Harlem World, an album by Ma$e, and we played it non-stop for weeks while we had our daily deathmatch. Mind you, the volume was *never* up on the TV - it was all about the jams.

Of course, I later found out that Goldeneye has a fantastic soundtrack in its own right, but to this day, I *always* hear Harlem World in my head when I play the game. Hell, sometimes I'll even mute the TV, slip my headphones on, and play the whole record while I lay waste to hundreds of faceless digital Russians. It's also about the only way I'll ever get to hear Tupac's All Eyez on Me when I play, like I wished I could way back when.

I consistently came in last when we played, and since I was usually the last one to show up, I got stuck with fourth player. Since you couldn't pick two of the same character, I usually got stuck with Boris, or some other scrub, while the other guys got their pick of Bond, 006, and whoever else. It wasn't until some time later that we realized you could unlock more characters by beating the single player mode, but nobody wanted to do it! We just viewed it was a multiplayer-only game, and to this day, I still have trouble playing it by myself, though I try. It just doesn't feel right.

Thankfully, as much fun as I had back then, and as much as I miss those days, I feel lucky to have gotten all the "shenanigans" out of my system at a young age. I never had a weed habit, and never liked drinking alone, either. Even when we were playing the game, we were going our separate ways, graduating from school and leaving the state to go work or go off to college. Once "the band broke up," as we say it, that was that. I still keep in touch with the guys every now and then, but I can't remember the last time I had any ganja (it's probably been at least a decade) and I haven't had a drink since last Halloween. It was a fun time, but like a lot of things you do when you're young, it was something that I just grew out of, over time.

So, yeah, I love me some Goldeneye... but only for the memories I have of playing multiplayer with my old friends. I've never played Alex Kidd, so I can't speak as to the quality of the game, but in the sense of enjoying a game more because of the things going on in your life while you're playing it, I can relate :-D


Return to “Now Playing”