What happened to Alex Kidd? - Sega's forgotten mascot

In the mid-1980s, two video game companies were very popular in Japan, Nintendo and Sega, which launched the Famicom and Master System respectively. Nintendo was having a huge popularity with a certain character, this was Mario, making him their official mascot.

Sega in view of the situation, had to respond quickly, needed to develop a video game that had a charismatic character and in turn be the official mascot of the company. That's how in 1986 the video game Alex Kidd in Miracle World was launched, where it would have Alex Kidd as the main character.

Because games in the platform genre were the most popular Alex Kidd in Miracle World was programmed under this concept, released specifically for the 8 Bit Master System console. It was very well received by the community at that time, so Sega decided to include it in the memory of the Master System II, that is, the console came with the game included.

Then in 1987 they would release another video game of this character called Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars for the same console. It was a port of the game that was developed for the arcade machines, with the difference that in the Master System we could only play with Alex Kidd, while in the arcade version it had a cooperative mode, where the second player was his girlfriend called Stella.

In the same year and exclusively for Japan, Alex Kidd BMX Trial was launched. This game was very different from the two previous ones, it was not a platform game anymore, but a sport themed one. It required a different control called paddle that allowed us to ride the bike.

Then in 1989 the sequel to the first video game of this character called Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle would be released. This delivery respected all the elements regarding the gameplay of Miracle World, the difference was its argument which consisted in the search of the lost father of Alex.

As a curious fact there were two Alex's video games that were modifications of others, among them are Alex Kidd in High-Tech World and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, which were based on Anmitsu Hime and Shinobi Kid respectively.

The difference between Alex Kidd and Mario was very evident due to its gameplay, while the plumber killed his enemies with the classic head jumps, Alex did it with punches and powers, besides being able to choose certain objects that allowed him to pass certain difficulties in some of his levels.

If Alex Kidd was a fun game that was getting a good reception from the gamer community of old, why did it disappear? The answer is Sonic. The plumber over the years was getting more popular, so they decided to opt for another character to represent them, so the legendary blue hedgehog named Sonic replaced him when the Sega Genesis / Mega drive was released.

Any future projects by Alex Kidd were cancelled, leaving him totally out of the video game world. Many consider that this was an unfair treatment for this character, but the reality is that Sega buried him and a delivery of him was never seen again.

Over the years it has been seen in some video games, among the most relevant we have Sonic Riders Zero Gravity that appears on a poster in one of its levels, in Shenmue as a collectible, Sega Superstars Tennis and Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing, the only games where we can select it and play with it.

It's sad to see how a company completely discarded a character that at a certain point in history helped them gain popularity in video games, despite this, many people remember him and continue to keep Alex Kidd alive, making accessories, fan art, among other things.

Did you know Alex Kidd? Tell me your opinion of this character in the comments section.

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