Alex Kidd



Alex Kidd is a video game character who is a monkey-like boy with big ears in a red jumpsuit. He was Sega's mascot prior to Sonic the Hedgehog.

His games were on the arcade, Sega Master System and the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis systems.

His first game, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, was released in 1986. Many fans of the Master System consider his first game to be a true classic. In 1990, this game was re-released, by having it built into the Master System II model, replacing the Snail Maze/Safari Hunt/Hang On (depending on the version) game(s) of the first model.

Unlike the Sonic the Hedgehog series where changes in game mechanics between games are minimal, most games in the Alex Kidd series differ dramatically from one another, the sole exception being Alex Kidd in Miracle World, and its direct sequel Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle. While most games in the series were still platform-based, the only things tying these games together as a series were the name and the title character. The fact that fans of the first game were completely lost with the rest of the series may have been a contributing factor to the failure of this series.

The Alex Kidd franchise included:
 * Alex Kidd in Miracle World, 1986, Master System
 * Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars, 1986, arcade, and 1989, Master System
 * Alex Kidd BMX Trial, 1987, Master System
 * Alex Kidd in High-Tech World, 1989, Master System. This game is actually a modified version of the Japanese Master System game Anmitsu Hime. Alterations include altered sprites, English text, and a new story line.
 * Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, 1989, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis
 * Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, 1990, Master System

After 1990, Sega decided to leave Alex Kidd in favor of Sonic the Hedgehog as its mascot. Alex Kidd himself made some minor cameos since then. One of his latest major appearances was in the Dreamcast game Segagaga, where he works in a video game store, and at some point also narrates about his competition against a certain company's mascot (it is implied that it was Nintendo's Mario) before being forgotten.