Alex Kidd in Radaxian Rumble
Prince Alex awakes on his favorite resting spot atop of mount Radaxian, surprised to find that something about his surroundings isn't quite the same. The mountain has changed color and shape, and familiar beasts defile the area once more! Off in the distance, his eyes catch sight of a smoke signal. Is the prince finding himself reliving the same dire scenario as just a month or so before? In search of answers, Alex decides to ascend the mountain.
Playthrough Video (YT, played in Kega Fusion)
This is a hack of Alex Kidd in Miracle World made with KiddEd, aiming to provide new challenges for fans of the original, give the game a bit of an audiovisual update, as well as to make parts of the original game flow a bit better. After a few months of working on it I think I've come up with something worth showing to more people.
While it is recommended that you play through the original before trying this hack, I have tried to design the levels in such a way that there's generally an alternate, easier path to take when a difficult segment is encountered. Pay attention to odd changes in the backgrounds, and to the more subtle mechanics mentioned below.
There will probably be new versions of this hack in the near future, straying further from the original game. When depends on how soon the editor tool, KiddEd, is updated with new features.
The hack comes as an .ips patch and should be applied to a ver. 1.1 rom of the original game ("Alex Kidd in Miracle World (USA, Europe) (v1.1)", for example).
A huge thank you goes to Calindro for putting up with my questions and requests, and for making and continuing work on KiddEd. I should also thank Tony Skyrunner, creator of the Hard Mode hack, for some inspiration to this hack.
Download Links
Download (1.04b) - *NEW*
Download (1.04) - See below
Download (1.03d) - See "Features"
Download (1.02e) - More control and level updates (should now work on an Everdrive).
Download (1.02c) - Features control and level updates.
Download (1.01)
Lates updates (1.04b):
-Can now enter the pyramid from the right at the end of lvl 02
-Slight change to lvl 04 layout to make some jumps flow better
-Small changes to lvl 08/the blakwoods layout to make it a bit easier if you have neither the ring nor the bike
-Small changes to lvl 0A/bingoo lowland to make one of the upper paths more rewarding and to avoid a glitch that sometimes happens at the end of the level making the top of the screen become a roof (so you couldn't get the money by taking the upper path there).
-Added an item box with a ring in it to lvl 0B/radaxian castle (blue castle) since the items that were there no longer respawn after re-entering their rooms and the level was balanced around that. Before the item respawning fix you could destroy ?-blocks over and over a few times to get a ring in the room with two ?-blocks, as well as re-enter the ring item room with the monkey to get more rings.
-Changed one room in the last castle to avoid a respawning bug that would kill Alex over and over if you missed a jump in the room below the hidden shop.
Features
- Extended use of triggers (1.03d)
- Longer and more varied levels (1.03d)
- Improved hit detection (1.02e)
- No code needed to continue if you have enough money (1.02e)
- Less slippery movement and somewhat better air control (1.02c)
- Faster crawling (1.02c)
- New level designs - No level is quite the same as before, and two are completely new
- New palettes in every level
- New mechanics and puzzles based on old assets
- New music and sprite designs (every level since v. 1.03d)
- Less Janken/Rock, Paper, Scissors
- Swapped buttons. A/1 is now punch/select
Tips & Tricks
- You can continue after losing all of your lives by holding up and mashing the A/1 button on the controller while on the game over screen. This costs 400 coins.
- You can swim faster by holding down the jump button.
- Skull blocks are often used as a warning in this hack.
- Spawning more than two items from a question mark block, a star block or a ghost block will despawn the first item spawned. The hack is designed around this limitation to create new challenges.
- It is actually possible to grab three items spawned in a row (for example money bags from star blocks) before one of them disappears, but you need to be quick!
- Spawning a ghost while another ghost is currently chasing Alex on screen will make the new one chase you immediately. Beware!
- Ghosts dislike heights.
- There's a set order to how items spawn from question mark blocks. Observe and exploit.
- Alex cannot punch while close to the upper edge of the screen unless you're in a castle.
- Capsules do not save you from spikes or lava/swamps.
- Alex's punch reaches slightly longer than you might think...
- You can move further horizontally while falling by carefully moving off a platform's edge, letting go of the d-pad, then pressing the direction you want to go in.
- Similarly you can sometimes gain more mid-air/fall control by letting go of the jump button right after jumping, then touch a wall.
- While you can only keep one of each item in the inventory, using for example a ring lets you grab another one as a spare.
- Items in use do not carry over to the next level.
- Using an item cancels the effect of the item currently being used.
- It's easier to avoid some hazards than others due to forgiving hit detection. For example the ghost blocks, or the flames.
New level elements (1.03)
Playthrough Video (YT, played in Kega Fusion)
This is a hack of Alex Kidd in Miracle World made with KiddEd, aiming to provide new challenges for fans of the original, give the game a bit of an audiovisual update, as well as to make parts of the original game flow a bit better. After a few months of working on it I think I've come up with something worth showing to more people.
While it is recommended that you play through the original before trying this hack, I have tried to design the levels in such a way that there's generally an alternate, easier path to take when a difficult segment is encountered. Pay attention to odd changes in the backgrounds, and to the more subtle mechanics mentioned below.
There will probably be new versions of this hack in the near future, straying further from the original game. When depends on how soon the editor tool, KiddEd, is updated with new features.
The hack comes as an .ips patch and should be applied to a ver. 1.1 rom of the original game ("Alex Kidd in Miracle World (USA, Europe) (v1.1)", for example).
A huge thank you goes to Calindro for putting up with my questions and requests, and for making and continuing work on KiddEd. I should also thank Tony Skyrunner, creator of the Hard Mode hack, for some inspiration to this hack.
Download Links
Download (1.04b) - *NEW*
Download (1.04) - See below
Download (1.03d) - See "Features"
Download (1.02e) - More control and level updates (should now work on an Everdrive).
Download (1.02c) - Features control and level updates.
Download (1.01)
Lates updates (1.04b):
-Can now enter the pyramid from the right at the end of lvl 02
-Slight change to lvl 04 layout to make some jumps flow better
-Small changes to lvl 08/the blakwoods layout to make it a bit easier if you have neither the ring nor the bike
-Small changes to lvl 0A/bingoo lowland to make one of the upper paths more rewarding and to avoid a glitch that sometimes happens at the end of the level making the top of the screen become a roof (so you couldn't get the money by taking the upper path there).
-Added an item box with a ring in it to lvl 0B/radaxian castle (blue castle) since the items that were there no longer respawn after re-entering their rooms and the level was balanced around that. Before the item respawning fix you could destroy ?-blocks over and over a few times to get a ring in the room with two ?-blocks, as well as re-enter the ring item room with the monkey to get more rings.
-Changed one room in the last castle to avoid a respawning bug that would kill Alex over and over if you missed a jump in the room below the hidden shop.
Features
- Extended use of triggers (1.03d)
- Longer and more varied levels (1.03d)
- Improved hit detection (1.02e)
- No code needed to continue if you have enough money (1.02e)
- Less slippery movement and somewhat better air control (1.02c)
- Faster crawling (1.02c)
- New level designs - No level is quite the same as before, and two are completely new
- New palettes in every level
- New mechanics and puzzles based on old assets
- New music and sprite designs (every level since v. 1.03d)
- Less Janken/Rock, Paper, Scissors
- Swapped buttons. A/1 is now punch/select
Tips & Tricks
- You can continue after losing all of your lives by holding up and mashing the A/1 button on the controller while on the game over screen. This costs 400 coins.
- You can swim faster by holding down the jump button.
- Skull blocks are often used as a warning in this hack.
- Spawning more than two items from a question mark block, a star block or a ghost block will despawn the first item spawned. The hack is designed around this limitation to create new challenges.
- It is actually possible to grab three items spawned in a row (for example money bags from star blocks) before one of them disappears, but you need to be quick!
- Spawning a ghost while another ghost is currently chasing Alex on screen will make the new one chase you immediately. Beware!
- Ghosts dislike heights.
- There's a set order to how items spawn from question mark blocks. Observe and exploit.
- Alex cannot punch while close to the upper edge of the screen unless you're in a castle.
- Capsules do not save you from spikes or lava/swamps.
- Alex's punch reaches slightly longer than you might think...
- You can move further horizontally while falling by carefully moving off a platform's edge, letting go of the d-pad, then pressing the direction you want to go in.
- Similarly you can sometimes gain more mid-air/fall control by letting go of the jump button right after jumping, then touch a wall.
- While you can only keep one of each item in the inventory, using for example a ring lets you grab another one as a spare.
- Items in use do not carry over to the next level.
- Using an item cancels the effect of the item currently being used.
- It's easier to avoid some hazards than others due to forgiving hit detection. For example the ghost blocks, or the flames.
New level elements (1.03)
Good luck!
Updates (1.04):
-Tweaked a few things to make some levels flow better
-Fixed a couple of cheap shot situations (most notably in level 0E/Kingdom of Nibana)
-Money and item blocks in castles no longer respawn when re-entering the rooms they're in
Updates (1.02e):
-Tweaked hit detection on several entities (vines, flames, bear boss, tentacle, crown, etc.)
-Level 3 overhaul with a beach theme and a new trap making use of a bug in the original game (thanks to The Arbiter for the idea)
-No code needed to continue if you have enough money (thanks to Calindro)
-A few level design and graphical tweaks here and there. 0D is now more fair and fun even without the chopper.
-Fixed some respawning issues (lvl 0D, lvl 09)
-Better clues for some hazards (lvl 0C)
-Less easy money early on (as requested by the Arbiter)
Known issues (1.02e):
-One invisible block tile at the top of the last screen of lvl 0A when in the chopper (not sure what causes it)
-Two enemies in lvl 03 can despawn due to sprite limitations if you don't fight the octopuses (can't edit them yet)
-One falling spiked platform in lvl 0B glitching a bit upon landing when you enter the room from the left
-Non-solid screen edges here and there in lvl 0D (easy to avoid)
Alex Kidd in Radaxian Rumble in the Press
http://www.retrocollect.com/News/alex-kidd-in-miracle-world-gets-an-unofficial-sequel-in-radaxian-rumble-for-the-master-system.html
http://www.seganerds.com/2015/04/12/alex-kidd-in-radaxian-rumble-aims-to-improve-on-miracle-world/
http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2015/05/16/alex-kidd-in-miracle-world-modded-to-become-radaxian-rumble-for-sega-master-system/
http://www.vintageisthenewold.com/alex-kidd-in-radaxian-rumble-demo/
http://lafortalezadelechuck.com/retro/alex-kidd-in-radaxian-rumble/
http://www.retrobunny.org/alex-kidd-in-miracle-world-gets-an-unofficial-sequel-in-radaxian-rumble-for-the-master-system/
http://famicomfreak.blogspot.ae/2015/11/retro-gaming-news-alex-kidd-in-radaxian.html
http://gazetteunion.com/2016/01/alex-kidd-in-miracle-world-gets-an-unofficial-sequel-in/
Comparison screenshots (v1.00)