Or was he totally outclassed?
Was Alex Kidd a match for Mario in popularity?
Or was he totally outclassed?
fixedOriginally Posted by Chaz From Phantasy Star 2
RIP bargora, you will be greatly missed.That is how we do things on Giedion Prime.
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.
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...
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.
Last edited by 7th lutz; 05-30-2007 at 08:01 PM.
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.
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.
I thought Sonic was supposed to be a decent match for Mario...
And Enchanted Castle was the best Alex Kidd game, no contest.
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.
Alex vs mario
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.
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...
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.
You are startled by a grim snarl. Before you, you see 1 Red dragon. Will your stalwart band choose to (F)ight or (R)un?
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.
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
The moral is, don't **** with Uncle Tim when he's been drinking!
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.
If ya gotta ask.....
Hardcore gamin' since '75
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.
Whats the most common phrase heard when you ask about Alex Kidd?
"Alex who?"
Possibility is infinity! You must be satisfied!
You just can't handle my jawusumness responces. -The Sizz
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).
Posting Permissions
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Similar agreements apply to other advertising or affiliate programs such as those from eBay, Google, etc.
Copyright © 1991 - Present of Digital Press. All rights reserved.
Reply With Quote
