Play Alex Kidd - The Lost Stars Online

Summary

Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars first appeared as an arcade title in Japan before Sega brought it home on the Master System in 1988, eventually surfacing on the Wii Virtual Console in 2009 for both North America and Europe. The Master System version lets you pick up Alex or his companion Stella and dash through side‑scrolling stages, racing against a timer that ticks down faster whenever you take a hit or tumble into a pit, sending you back to the last checkpoint. One quirky twist is the infinite‑lives system – you never run out of chances, but every mistake costs precious seconds, keeping the pressure on. Visually, the port stays true to its arcade roots, swapping only the graphics and sound for the console’s hardware, which reviewers at the time praised as “jolly and colourful” with an addictive feel, earning it an 80% score in a 1990 issue of Computer and Video Games.

Storyline

Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars follows Alex and his companion Stella as they hunt down the twelve Zodiac signs. Their quest leads them through a series of themed worlds where Alex must dash, punch, and knock down enemies. The goal in each stage is to locate one of six miracle balls hidden in odd places such as a Christmas present, a broken Fantasy Zone ship, a pumpkin, a clamshell, a golden egg, and a desk bell.

The levels are named Toy World, Machine World, World of Make Believe, Water World, Monster World, and Giant's Body. After collecting all six miracle balls, the pair blast off into outer space and head for the holy land of Ziggurat, culminating in the Shrine of Jiggarat.

Once the final shrine is cleared, the game forces a second run through all the worlds, this time populated by new enemy patterns, adding a fresh challenge to the already quirky adventure.