Was Alex Kidd a match for Mario in popularity?

[Chaz From Phantasy Star 2]

Or was he totally outclassed?

[Oobgarm]

totally outclassed

fixed

[bangtango]

I think the elves from Golden Axe stole Alex Kidd's identity when he fell asleep by a campfire one night. If Alex managed to recover it someday, he would be running to get coffee for Mario. On the Sega food chain, Alex Kidd might finish behind those funny looking chicken-like creatures (bizarrians?) from Golden Axe/Altered Beast. There are more people who recognize them than Alex Kidd. Ok, maybe that is a minor exaggeration.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Or was he totally outclassed?
In terms of popularity? Obviously Alex Kidd was never anywhere near as popular as Mario. Even Sonic has always been totally outclassed by Mario as far as recognizability. I think the only video game character that comes anywhere near Mario's recognizability is probably Pac-man.

If you mean potential popularity, then I don't think there's much difference between a toddler with enormous ears and a fat Italian plumber in terms of potential. Mario's just lucky he got in before our society shut the door on anything not either xtreme or ironic.


...word is bondage...

[7th lutz]

He outclassed due to Sega partially. Mario was in other games before Super Mario Bros and he was starting to be well known from the arcades. Super Mario Bros. really started to make Mario as much of an Icon as Pac-man. When Alex Kidd came out, Super Mario was released over 4 or 5 month before at least. Alex Kidd was behind the ball compare to Mario.

Alex Kidd's first game was great, but sega did a bad job of marketing him and the Sega Master system. Sega also had a disadvantage of Nintendo having a monoply by forcing 3rd parties to develop games for the Nes exclusively.

After Alex Kidd was released, they made 4 sequals with the first two sequals being huge dissapoints, and when the 3rd sequal came out, it was a good game. The catch was gamers were no longer into buying his games due to his last two games being lousy and not being on the Sega Genesis. The final game Alex Kidd was in was released for the Genesis, but it was not a great game and was looked at being too kiddy by Sega's new management.

[The Plucky Little Ninja]

I don't think Alex's character design in any of the games was near as bad as the crap way he was portrayed in all his American box art.

[Snapple]

Wasn't even close. Alex Kidd and Wonder Boy were Sega's first real franchises, but as far as popularity and being a system-seller and all that, that never happened.

I mean no ill will towards Alex Kidd when I say that, because his games were really fun, but they weren't even in Mario's shadow as far as popularity.

[Chaz From Phantasy Star 2]

Even Sonic has always been totally outclassed by Mario as far as recognizability.

I thought Sonic was supposed to be a decent match for Mario...

And Enchanted Castle was the best Alex Kidd game, no contest.

[BydoEmpire]

I think the elves from Golden Axe stole Alex Kidd's identity when he fell asleep by a campfire one night. If Alex managed to recover it someday, he would be running to get coffee for Mario. On the Sega food chain, Alex Kidd might finish behind those funny looking chicken-like creatures (bizarrians?) from Golden Axe/Altered Beast.Hah, that was hilarious. Yeah, no comparison in the popularity department. I loved AK in Miracle World, and had fun w/ Shinobi World. But it's not even close.

[retroman]

I had both systems as a kid. So i liked Alex Kid. But he was no match for Mario. Mario just ran away in popularity, and better gameplay.

[Flack]

Was Alex Kidd a match for Mario in popularity? Or was he totally outclassed?

Go ask ten kids in your school who Mario is. Then ask those same kids who Alex Kidd is.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Go ask ten kids in your school who Mario is. Then ask those same kids who Alex Kidd is.
You could even go back in time to 1987 to ask the question, you'd get almost exactly the same result.


...word is bondage...

[calthaer]

That book "Game Over" stated that more children back in the hay-day of the NES could recognize Mario than could recognize Mickey Mouse.

Alex Kidd doesn't hold a candle to that.

[bangtango]

Even Big the Cat (Sonic series) gets more "play" than Alex Kidd. I didn't mean gameplay but I think he edges out Alex Kidd in that area, too.

Yeah, I've already said my piece but I've played the Alex Kidd games and I didn't even think they were that good. I'm not saying they are bad but I'd label them average or slightly above average at best. That is before you consider the dorky mascot. As you can tell from my avatar and many of my posts, I am a certified Sega fan but he just wasn't cutting the mustard to me.

Despite all of this, Sega could have (and should have) gone a long way towards pacifying the 12 people calling for his comeback by putting all of the Alex Kidd games onto a single disc for the Sega CD launch or maybe doing an all new adventure or two on that system (that or farm out Alex Kidd to somebody else). An add-on with a small user base like the Sega CD, at least compared to the number of Genesis owners, would have been the perfect place to keep Alex Kidd's adventures alive. An alternative might have been to put ports of all his games onto a single 32X cart.

[rbudrick]

I love Miracle World...very tough game. That's the AK game that did it for me. However, to be back on topic, AK was not even in the same race as Mario. Every Master System owner knew who he was, but when 95% of gamers had NESes and 2-5% (guess) had SMS, you can bet Mario was WAY more well known and popular.

Plus, the SMB series (sorry, it's true) was FAR better in terms of gameplay. Alex Kidd in Miracle World and the Enchanted Castle games were HARD...damn hard. High Tech World wasn't even a true AK game, and Shinobi World was good, but average and rare. Lost Stars I beat on first try, both quests. Don't even get me started on the BMX game. Compare those to SMB and there's no contest.

-Rob

[Snapple]

That book "Game Over" stated that more children back in the hay-day of the NES could recognize Mario than could recognize Mickey Mouse.

Well, I also heard that 20 years ago, more children recognized Joe Camel than recognized Mickey Mouse, so that puts a little context around any comparison involving Mickey.

[Knoxximus]

If ya gotta ask.....

[Wozza]

Over here in NZ, Alex Kidd enjoyed huge popularity. I guess we would be the only country that was close at all. Mind you, over here the Master System and Megadrive were more popular than the NES and SNES and the PSP is outselling the DS with a heap of stores not even selling DS now.

It's tough being a Nintendo fan here. ;)

[Push Upstairs]

Whats the most common phrase heard when you ask about Alex Kidd?

"Alex who?"

[Gentlegamer]

If you want to find out which was more popular and influential, try playing the original Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Button 1 jumps, button 2 attacks . . . the opposite layout from SMB. You'll find your "gamepad reflexes" defaulting to the SMB style layout and making Alex Kidd very tough to play.

I believe there was a revision that switched the buttons to be like SMB (possibly the version included onboard the SMS II).

[Haoie]

I'm going to have to disagree, back in the 16B era Mario and Sonic were definetly on an equal footing in terms of recognisability.

Nowadays, Mario's probably won.

Alex, nowhere near them both.

[Push Upstairs]

I'd agree that Sonic (in his prime) was *at least* on equal popularity footing with Mario.

Today........ehhhh. Sonic has kinda cooled down as far as popularity.

[starfox316]

here's an experiment you all can try at home. (but first be sure to ask your parent's permission):

Go into any mall in america today, ask 10, 20 oh fuck, make it 100 people who Alex Kidd is. After you write down your single digit number, ask another 100 people who Super Mario is. After conducting this experiment, compare your data. Then ask yourself which advertising icon held onto the cultural fiber of this country more securely, Kidd or Mario?

[nebrazca78]

I'm going to have to disagree, back in the 16B era Mario and Sonic were definetly on an equal footing in terms of recognisability.

Nowadays, Mario's probably won.

Alex, nowhere near them both.


I'd agree that Sonic (in his prime) was *at least* on equal popularity footing with Mario.

Today........ehhhh. Sonic has kinda cooled down as far as popularity.

I believe in 1995 Sonic was more recognizable than Mario in some kind of poll. But since individual Sonic games no longer sell tens of millions of copies, Mario has regained the lead I'm sure.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I seriously doubt that Sonic was ever as recognizable as Mario. Among gamers, sure. Probably ~100% of gamers could recognize either one in the early '90s, so there's no really point in looking at that figure. But if you went to the larger public--parents, grandparents, kids that didn't play video games, adults without kids, etc.--I'd be really really surprised if more of them knew Sonic than Mario even at the very height of Sonic's popularity.


...word is bondage...

[tom]

although the SMS was more popular here in the UK than the NES, Mario was more known than Alex Kidd.

As for Sonic, a survey in the UK put him at number 1 in front of Mario as a favorite gaming character (Mind you, the same survey put Zelda in there as a fourth or fith favorite gaming character, that just shows what the public/kids know)

[Raccoon Lad]

If back in the day, both games were presented side by side to a bunch of kids who had never heard of either game, I think they'd probably rate equally.

Unfortunately, that was never the case.

[50s Brawler]

Super Mario freggin' OWNZ Alex Kidd for free. Always did IMO. Though I think SEGA should've continued on with the Psycho Fox character even over the concept of Sonic The Hedgehog. P.F. was bad ass, had they made him a bit edgier and gone all out I think it would've picked up... on the Mega Drive anyhow but on the SMS/MK III it was too little to late anyhow.
:texaschain:

[Push Upstairs]

I seriously doubt that Sonic was ever as recognizable as Mario. Among gamers, sure. Probably ~100% of gamers could recognize either one in the early '90s, so there's no really point in looking at that figure. But if you went to the larger public--parents, grandparents, kids that didn't play video games, adults without kids, etc.--I'd be really really surprised if more of them knew Sonic than Mario even at the very height of Sonic's popularity.

I'm sure the same people you just mentioned wouldn't know Mario either, so that argument is really kind of moot.

[LimpBizkit]

I know who mario is but whos alex kidd. Im gettting better. I used capital letters this time.

[MarioMania]

Mario by a long shot

I just asked my friend Lois on yahoo voice "Do you know Alex Kidd" She said Who, I ask the her about Super Mario..She said I played him

[idrougge]

I know who mario is but whos alex kidd. Im gettting better. I used capital letters this time.

No you didn't. Not for the proper names.

[Push Upstairs]

Grammar still needs some fixin' too!


I know who Mario is, but who is Alex Kidd? I'm getting better with my posts, I even used capital letters this time!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'!

FIXED

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I'm sure the same people you just mentioned wouldn't know Mario either, so that argument is really kind of moot.
I think plenty of people who don't play video games know who Mario is. Probably even more did back then, too.

It's like not being into sports at all but knowing who Barry Bonds or Shaquille O'Neal are. We live in a society dominated by media, so everyone ends up being exposed to a lot of shit they don't care about and if you get exposed enough, you start to recognize. And Nintendo has always been "better" at that than Sega.


...word is bondage...

[Push Upstairs]

I'm sure if you aren't internet savvy, have some nostalgic interest in Mario and Nintendo, or have a kid who is currently into Nintendo games, you aren't going to know Mario.

Mario was no Michael Jordan.