Alex Kidd · Protagonist / Former Sega Mascot · Debut: 1986 · Sega Master System · Created by Sega
Sega's big-eared, rock-paper-scissors-playing hero was its mascot before Sonic — so central to the Master System that his first game was built into later consoles.
Alex Kidd first appeared in Alex Kidd in Miracle World, released for the Sega Master System in 1986. The game was a colourful platformer in which Alex punched blocks and enemies, rode vehicles such as a motorcycle and a helicopter, and settled several boss encounters with games of rock-paper-scissors. It became one of the Master System's best-known games, and Sega later built it into the console itself: later versions of the Master System and the Master System II included Miracle World in place of earlier built-in games such as Snail Maze, Safari Hunt and Hang-On. Alex served as Sega's mascot in the years before Sonic the Hedgehog. His series was unusually varied — most entries played very differently from one another — and included Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (1989) on the Mega Drive and Alex Kidd in Shinobi World (1990), a parody of Sega's own Shinobi. After Shinobi World, Sega shifted its focus to Sonic, who debuted in 1991 and gave the company the faster, more attitude-driven mascot it wanted for its 16-bit campaign. Alex returned decades later in Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, a remake released on 22 June 2021 for modern platforms.
Alex Kidd is often remembered as the character Sonic replaced, but on the Master System — especially in Europe and Brazil, where the console thrived — he was the face of Sega for a generation of players, many of whom first met him because his game was already inside their console.