1. Richard Scarry's Huckle and Lowly's Busiest Day Ever (Pico)
2. Countermeasure (Atari 5200)
3. Alex Kidd: High-Tech World (Sega Master System)Sega tried hard to make Alex Kidd happen. They really did. Six games within a five year span; this little elvish dude was supposed to be a company mascot and Mario-killer. So, what happened? Games like this happened. Alex Kidd: High-Tech World was released in 1989, the same year as the equally bad Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle. But while Enchanted Castle graced the fledgling 16-bit Genesis, High-Tech World was relegated to the 8-bit Master System. The box art is garbage, once again depicting Alex as a fat, freckled goofball. He's punching a ninja; humorous considering that this particular entry strips him of his distinct "big fist" attack completely.
High-Tech World is an adventure game and a platformer game. No, not an adventure game slash platformer game -- Sega wasn't able to craft a successful fusion of genres here. What we're left with is a clumsy experience consisting of two adventure game stages and two traditional platforming stages. All four are deficient in many ways. Describing the gameplay itself really isn't possible without outlining a mini-walkthrough of sorts, so let's proceed...
Stage one is the first adventure stage and consumes a good 60% of the game. The "story" is introduced here, and it's essentially just an advertisement for Sega. While relaxing in his eight-floor mansion, Alex is informed that a Sega arcade (the eponymous "High-Tech World") has opened in a nearby city. He thus becomes excited about the idea of playing Sega games that are better than Alex Kidd (which appropriately mirrors the reaction of the player), and wishes to flee the mansion immediately. One problem: the arcade is apparently well-hidden and Alex must first fashion a map out of eight pieces. And so, the "fun" begins. Mechanically speaking, exploring the mansion is a simple affair. Alex cannot attack or jump. He simply moves left, right, and up/down staircases and ladders. Most conversations are initiated automatically. Pressing up causes Alex to turn his face towards the wall and "examine" a given object. There's a surprisingly nice menu available that displays a diagram of the mansion with a glowing location icon, an image of the road-to-arcade map, and a list of additionally obtained items.
Of course, finding these map pieces is a dreadful and obtuse affair. Two pieces are gained after passing some seriously inane quizzes. The first quiz posits questions like "What is the capitol of Japan?" (Tokyo, obviously) and "What is the name of the 15th scene in Space Harrier?" (Vicel, obviously). The second "quiz" has Alex guessing the names of various women (how???). There's a clock continually ticking and the appearance of certain NPCs, including one who hands over a map piece, is time sensitive. At another point, a map piece is granted after fixing a clock (by climbing up to it, which first requires the player find a hidden ladder). There are also cheap deaths that immediately boot Alex back to the title screen. For example, if Alex touches a burnt map piece he loses instantly (why?); it must first be sprayed with a "restorer" solution. To get the restorer Alex must converse with a man named Rockwell, who lives in one of the mansion's rooms. But first Alex must call him... from inside the mansion. It's safe to say that the average 1980s gamer never escaped the confines of the mansion's walls.
But once Alex does, it's time for stage two. And suddenly High-Tech World feels like a completely different game. This is a 2D platforming stage where Alex can jump and throw shurikens at ninjas. The controls are wretched, especially the jumping. Tap the jump button and Alex barely leaves the ground. Hold it and he initiates an obnoxiously floaty moon jump. At least the enemy AI is pretty dumb, and ninjas can often be dispatched before they even "notice" Alex. There's money scattered about, and Alex needs a bit to complete the game. Everything dies in one hit, including Alex himself. Lovely.
Stage three is back to "adventure mode" and is just as foul as the mansion stage. Now Alex finds himself in a town with a myriad of shops, most of which are decidedly worthless and can be safely skipped. There are cheap insta-deaths once again (don't take the pistol) and no direction whatsoever. To proceed Alex needs a travel pass to safely pass a gate. He doesn't find or buy this. He gets it through praying. At a local temple. One hundred times.
ONE HUNDRED TIMES.The final stage is much like the second, but with ninjas and snakes, and no money to collect. It's just as aggravating due to the controls, though a persistent "high route" available via tree branches makes things a tad easier. Complete the game and the player is given the opportunity to view more Sega advertising, as Alex plops himself at an OutRun arcade cabinet.
Graphics are actually pretty nice, and the game takes full of advantage of that delightful SMS color palette. So many of the NPC sprites look squashed and crappy, however. The music is also pleasant. In particular, the tune that plays in the mansion rooms (as opposed to the hallways) is gorgeous and probably one the best overall SMS songs. There is a weird lack of sound effects. In particular, when Alex collects an item there's no audio cue, which is more than a little off-putting. The game, to its credit, does offer continues as well as passwords. Passwords will vary as they record not just location but also elapsed time and item inventory.
On a final semi-insulting note... it turns out this isn't a "real" Alex Kidd game at all! High-Tech World was initially released in Japan in '87 where it was titled Anmitsu Hime and is based on the manga & anime of the same name (the anime aired in 86/87 and stars a castle-dwelling princess, which explains the High-Tech World "mansion"). The Alex Kidd elements were all swapped in for Western audiences. It's a bit like the Doki Doki Panic / Super Mario Bros. 2 situation, but while Nintendo took an excellent game and made it even better Sega opted to take an awful game and leave it awful. Humorously, the final Alex Kidd game places the man in "Shinobi World" so that makes two installments with "outside" influence. Maybe Sega didn't have much faith in this series after all.