Super Mario Bros. vs. Alex Kidd in Miracle World

[Gentlegamer]

Couldn't have said it better myself. A 3 year old can pick up and play SMB. A 3 year old is going to have a damn hard time getting very far in AK.

Another point in Super Mario Bros. favor as the better game, in my opinion.

[grolt]

So true. If only Sega had evolved the series so a future AK game could have been like SMB 3.AK: The Lost Stars wasn't anything like the first, and not really a good game. However, I did like AK: High Tech World a lot. Never did play AK In Shinobo World though. But, I loved AK: Enchanted Castle on the Genesis. Sega was wrong to have dropped him in favor of that stupid hedgehog. I'll never forgive Sega for this.

It can be frustrating because SEGA never tried to go down the same path as the first AK, always bending the genre for future installments. Still, while I do wish for a straight on AKIMW follow up, I really do appreciate all the inventiveness that went into the other games. THE LOST STARS gets a bad rap because people were expecting another AKIMW, but really, it plays like WONDER BOY on psychedelics. I think the colors, large sprites, and uniqueness of worlds is some of the best on 8-bit. HIGH-TECH WORLD is a real lark - there'll never be another game like it (unless you count the Japanese game it's reprogrammed from). Any game that has an actual multiple choice test in the middle of it is one that earns my respect. SHINOBI WORLD is actually a really polished and addicting platformer. The short length is the only detriment to an otherwise awesome game.

And you haven't played WONDER BOY III? Forget about AKIMW and snap that one up immediately. It gets my vote for best 8-bit game. The thought and design that went into that one still amazes me.

[Rob2600]

I always though part 4, SMW on the SNES was the best 2D Mario, but it appears SMB3 fans are the majority.

I know many people believe Super Mario Bros. 3 is the greatest action/platforming video game of all time, but I have more fun playing Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 (U.S.A.), and Super Mario World.

[Wraith Storm]

If you look at how Nintendo evolved the franchise proper with SMB 3, you can see they definitely amalgamated a lot of the Kidd's pioneering concepts (menu accessible power-ups, flight power-ups, odds matches with all the mini-games, a visual map of the outer world, etc.) to their generic formula. There's no question SMB 3 is a better game than the first, and I'd argue it is largely because of the influence of Alex Kidd.

WOW! Your really on to something there Grolt. I never really thought of it like that but you certainly do have a point.

[Tony Lama]

Uh, what? Wonderboy and Adventure Island are the same game.

True, both games are essentially the same because they have the same levels (more or less). But WONDERBOY on the Sega Master System is worlds better in terms of graphics and superior background music. Hudson had to compose different theme music which pales in comparison to the Wonderboy theme. These differences make WONDERBOY a MUCH better experience for me. Also, c'mon ... Master Higgins is no Wonderboy!

[treismac]

I haven't played Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Let me "fix" this and then return to this thread...

[djshok]

Oh gawd, Super Mario BY FAR. There is no Alex Kid game that comes even close in quality. And I'm saying that as a Sega fanboy (see avatar). Alex Kid is a horrible character, and his games suck. How Sega ever thought he was a good choice for a mascot is beyond me.

[wiggyx]

Puttin our personal biases aside is like a judge telling the jury in a criminal case to "ignore that last statement". It's sort of impossible to do so completely in either instance.

SMB was the first game that I personally owned. Lots of memories. It's an amazing game.

I didn't own AK:MW until I was much older, so I don't have any warm fuzzier for it. I really liked playing it, but by the time I picked it up the PS1 and N64 were sucking up most of my gaming time.

I can't say with 100% certainty which is the "better" game. I really feel that both were great titles worthy of their place in the canon of excellent, iconic and influential games. It's too bad that the Master System didn't receive much love here in the US. It was a powerful machine for its time.

[Zap!]

Puttin our personal biases aside is like a judge telling the jury in a criminal case to "ignore that last statement". It's sort of impossible to do so completely in either instance.

SMB was the first game that I personally owned. Lots of memories. It's an amazing game.

I didn't own AK:MW until I was much older, so I don't have any warm fuzzier for it. I really liked playing it, but by the time I picked it up the PS1 and N64 were sucking up most of my gaming time.

I can't say with 100% certainty which is the "better" game. I really feel that both were great titles worthy of their place in the canon of excellent, iconic and influential games. It's too bad that the Master System didn't receive much love here in the US. It was a powerful machine for its time.

It's all a matter of person taste I guess. I owned SMB first two, but only about 5 months before I got a SMS and Alex Kidd. From the moment I played AK until this very day, I have always liked it far better. I'll lay this one down, I know I'm in the minority here.

[treismac]

True, both games [Adventure Island & Wonderboy] are essentially the same because they have the same levels (more or less). But WONDERBOY on the Sega Master System is worlds better in terms of graphics and superior background music. Hudson had to compose different theme music which pales in comparison to the Wonderboy theme. These differences make WONDERBOY a MUCH better experience for me.

I can understand your preference for Wonderboy over Adventure Island. I can. However, the following comment blows my mind:

Also, c'mon ... Master Higgins is no Wonderboy!

You, sir, could not be more wrong. Master Higgins has a million times (give or take a hundred thousand or so) the character of Wonderboy. Might I ask you which Japanese video game legend Wonderboy was based on? While you're pondering this in vain, let me tell you who he wasn't based on: Takahashi Meijin, that's who! That's because Master Higgins is the video game avatar for the legendary Master of 16 Shots. So, what I am assuming that you meant to write was that, " Wonderboy is no Master Higgins," right?

All Hudson/Master Higgins fanboying aside, wiggyx is right about the impossibility of setting bias or nostalgia aside in judging the merits of a retro video game- especially as pertains to Super Mario. With that said, Alex Kidd wasn't doing much of anything for me when I gave it a spin a few minutes ago. Maybe the game picks up as you play it, but the whole jump n' punch boxes and enemies thing was underwhelming the living daylights outta me. There are times that I don't "get" a game, but I can see how others could. This ain't one of those times.

[Zap!]

Oh gawd, Super Mario BY FAR. There is no Alex Kid game that comes even close in quality. And I'm saying that as a Sega fanboy (see avatar). Alex Kid is a horrible character, and his games suck. How Sega ever thought he was a good choice for a mascot is beyond me.

I feel the same way about Sonic. I'll take Opa-Opa, Wonder Boy, or Alex Kidd any day over him. I don't just not like Sonic, I loath him. I place him at the turning point as to when Sega went commercial and went bad.

[treismac]

I feel the same way about Sonic. I'll take Opa-Opa, Wonder Boy, or Alex Kidd any day over him. I don't just not like Sonic, I loath him. I place him at the turning point as to when Sega went commercial and went bad.

Is it the Sonic games themselves or the image/marketing/spirit that accompanied Sonic's reign as Sega's mascot that you loathe? To be honest, it is hard for me to separate Sonic from Sega, even though I was very aware of pre-Sonic Sega back in the days of the 2600. Like it or not, he has become the embodiment of Sega's rise and fall in video games (at least in North America).

[o.pwuaioc]

Add me to the list of SMB fans. I like AKMW, but I don't have to play rock paper scissors to beat SMB.

[sheath]

I played Super Mario Bros first, my family had a couple of different 2600s up until that point, and I was about as interested in playing those games as Super Mario Bros. I bought a Master System first because of its Arcade adaptations, and bought Wonderboy back in the day as my Mario Bros fix. Wonderboy's somewhat slippery movement controls never quite clicked with me and I moved on to what I consider better games in Quartet, Zillion, Shinobi and others.

I only ever actually played Alex Kidd when emulation took off in the late 90s, and only owned it once I recollected the Master System and started picking up games. I instantly saw it as a much more evolved game than Super Mario Bros, more directly comparable to Mario 3 in gameplay complexity. I like the gameplay diversity better in Alex Kidd, but would rather play a dozen or so other games before it or Super Mario Bros ever comes to mind.

I'm not sure where that places me on the poll, because I haven't finished Alex Kidd, and I'm pretty sure I've only finished Super Mario Bros once way back when I was eleven years old. So I don't know if Alex Kidd hits a stride in later levels or just offers more of the same from what the first few offer (like Super Mario Bros). I guess I'll call them equal.

Also, at the OP, Alex Kidd and the Master System and Super Mario Bros and the NES were released nation wide in the US in 1986. I just don't know how far each penetrated into various chains and electronics shops, journalist histories make it seem like the NES was huge, but that happened later.

[Black_Tiger]

Alex Kidd in Miracle World.

The gameplay is solid, the variety is huge, the aesthetics are fantastic, it's more fun in the long run and the cheap parts aren't much worse than the cheap parts in SMB.

I feel the same way about Sonic. I'll take Opa-Opa, Wonder Boy, or Alex Kidd any day over him. I don't just not like Sonic, I loath him. I place him at the turning point as to when Sega went commercial and went bad.

I also prefer those characters, but don't hate Sonic or Mario. I think that Opa Opa is probably the coolest game character ever imagined.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I'm going with Alex Kidd on this one, if we're just comparing Miracle World vs. SMB 1. It would be a different story if it were Miracle World vs. SMB 3.

Miracle World, for one, has better graphics. SMB 1's graphics look quite blocky, Miracle World's are more natural looking. Miracle World also has better presentation. SMB 1 feels too much like a piece of software in its presentation. Miracle World has more varied gameplay with the buggy and peticopter levels, as well as a currency and item system.

Dare I say that competition with Miracle World was one of the things that made Nintendo further improve on the Mario games. I