I know that at least a few of you can remember this game. Alex Kidd in Miracle World. I was playing this game with a friend this afternoon and let me tell you it can be pretty hard. Punching Pterodactils (a good spelling attempt there) in the face, jumping lava pits, running from ghosts and challenging bosses to rock, paper, scizzors can actually be pretty tough. It occured to me that games just aren't like this anymore. They've softened up. Become easier. Partly, I feel, due to better design, but more so due to the fact that video games are becoming a very popular form of entertainment. But in an attempt to please everyone games have started to lose their edge in some respects. This is probably why we're seeing such a strong return of the "oldschool" gaming era (particularly with the Super Nintendo). Don't get me wrong, I think that there are alot of fantastic games in the modern era (Portal, Braid, Zelda and Metroid just to name a few) and I think more are soon to come. But I don't remember the last time I felt as on edge as I felt this afternoon as I sat up, ridged as fuck, taping the jump and punch buttons, trying to time everything PER-FECT-LY! It was simple, punishing and addictive. The game wailed on us furiously but we always came back for more, just to see if we could push ourselves that little bit further into the next level. There are no saved games in Alex Kidd; game over sends you all the way back with nothing at all. All you can do is hope you've learned from your previous mistakes. Alex Kidd was never a perfect game and soon the ex-mascot would be tossed aside in favour of Sega's more well-known Sonic the Hedgehog. But Alex Kidd is a reminder of just how far we've come in the past couple of decades in terms of gaming and just how much as changed. For better and for worse.
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