alexkidd is a video game character whose popularity peaked during the late 1980s. Alex Kidd was recognized as Sega’s unofficial mascot and the protagonist of both a series of video games released by Sega and their fictional universe, as well as in numerous spin-offs such as novelisations and comics.

is in several video games, spanning various platforms, and appeared in the arcade and on the Master System and Mega Drive/Genesis home consoles. Alex Kidd’s popularity was at a peak with the release of the first game in the series, Alex Kidd in Miracle World in 1986. Although Sega wished to have a mascot to rival Nintendo‘s flagship character Mario, which Alex Kidd was not considered up to the task, that was rested upon a spaceship called Opa-Opa, until Sonic the Hedgehog took over in 1991 as Sega’s official mascot which made Alex Kidd become the unofficial mascot of Sega until 1990s. After Sonic’s rise, Alex Kidd fell into obscurity as the development of new games in the series stopped. Despite that, he has made cameo appearances in other games. A remake of the first game was released on June 22, 2021, making it the first main appearance of the character since the 1990’s Alex Kidd in Shinobi World.

Character description

appears as a short boy with large ears and slightly monkey-like features, a red and yellow jumpsuit, and oversized hands. Sometimes he appeared as a teenager, with his age stated to be 14 years old in human terms. He is a member of an alien race known as the Arians, a species possessing an incredibly long lifespan, with Alex himself having lived many hundreds of years previously.

The initial appearance of the character would swing between garb loosely resembling a traditional Mandarin tunic or red-striped jumpsuit, sometimes overalls closer to the appearance of Mario depending on the localisation

Series

 was a sequel that was released in 1986, the same year as Miracle World debuted. This game was the only Alex Kidd game to ever have an arcade release. Although Lost Stars has a few changes compared to its predecessor. Lost Stars was a two-player arcade game and it seems to reflect similarities to Super Mario Bros. The Lost Stars has Alex Kidd on a mission to find the 12 Miracle Balls, which were stolen from the Aries constellation by Evil Ziggarat.

This game has 12 levels and once finishing a level Alex receives one of the 12 Miracles Balls. Another change that this sequel made is that Alex loses his ability and the rock, paper, and scissors were also taken out of the game and Alex has projectiles that allow him to attack. The Aracde never made it out of Japan though until 1988 when it was changed to the Master System for Western sales, but it was not as successful as its predecessor.