My initial feeling going into this project of playing through the entire Alex Kidd gameography was excitement. I knew little more than the story of Alex being the failed mascot of Sega during the 8-bit era, and wanted to understand the journey from hero to zero from the games themselves. And let me tell you, it has been a painful journey. Starting out promising with Alex Kidd in Miracle World, each successive instalment has astounded me both in terms of the lack of game quality and brand consistency. Even the Mega Drive-sequel Alex Kidd in the enchanted castle was an embarrassment to experience.

How could the company that within the same timeframe established successful platform series in Wonder Boy and Shinobi so miserably fail with the franchise that was the face of the Sega brand itself? A crucial piece to that puzzle can be found in the 1989 release Alex Kidd: High-Tech World, a game that showcases what Sega really thought of our poor monkey boy.

But first, it is worth noting that this game does not exist in Japan - Not as an Alex Kidd game at least. Instead, this is actually a 1987-adaption of the anime Anmitsu Hime. That's right - In 1989, Sega did a Doki Doki Panic and just swapped the titular princess main character with Alex. This results in many confusing questions. Why is Alex Kidd's father no longer the ruler of a castle in planet Paperock, but living with his wife in a Japanese mansion? When did Alex go from being a monk to a spoiled brat? Honestly, I don't really care for Alex Kidd-lore that much, but it's obvious how this is merely a poor attempt at a cash grab for Sega, rather than the ambition of reselling a genuinley good game (like Doki Doki Panic) to western audiences.

So how is the game then? Imagine a classic point-and click adventure game. Then imagine all imaginable ways to butcher that concept. That is the essence of Hi-Tech World. Alex needs to escape his mansion, run through forests and towns to get to the arcade before 17:00 - so the game is on a timer, and you get a game over if you're not quick enough. Moreover, you have several completely absurd insta-game overs, such as falling down a broken stair, putting on a suit of samurai armour or eating too many hot dogs.

But the most blatantly stupid element is the second town - you first imagine that you have to talk to several of its residents and use objects in a correct order to achieve the goal of passing the border guard. But in reality, the solution is to beg in front of a holy statue - ONE. HUNDRED. TIMES. The obscure puzzle elements are interchanged with two platform stages. Sadly enough, they play horribly, with no checkpoints, poor obstacle design and infuriating difficulty.This game would probably become just as infamous as games like Castlevania II or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde if Angry Video Game Nerd ever made a video on it.

This game is by far the worst instalment in the Alex Kidd-series, not just for what it is but what it represents - it is a showcase of complete disinterest in ensuring quality and polish with Sega's supposed system seller of a franchise. Considering the general creativity and prowess of Sega during the late 80's, there is only one reasonable explanation I can find for why this was the case - Sega did not care at all what happened to Alex Kidd. He was never intended to be Sega's Mario - he was just meant to squeeze some additional bucks from the trademark before leaving it to rot.

Alex Kidd's fate was sealed from the start, the consumers did just not realise it until it was too late.