Alex Kidd in high tech world... I've played that game all the way through.
In order to get to the 2nd action stage & to the ending you have to get a pass for a guard to allow you through. How do you get this?
You go into the temple, that triggers a dialog box of Alex praying. You walk onto the same spot & it triggers the same box with the same text of Alex praying. You have to step on that spot a HUNDRED times in a row & close that dialog box a HUNDRED times in a row & a "god" will give you the pass for your persistent prayers. How would anyone know to do this back then!? This task has got to be the worst thing in gaming history. Regardless of if this had anything to do with religion the idea that you should have to repeat an identical dialog box ONE HUNDRED times to complete the game is despicable.
Actually, there is another way. You can buy the backscratcher (or something like that, can´t remember correctly right now) and sell it at the pawn shop (or antiques shops, really can´t remember) to get a lot of money and buy a real passport. If you don´t have money, you get into the burger shop at exactly 14:00 and you will be awarded a ton of money.
That way, praying is not required.
Also, about this topic, it´s pretty interesting to see other opinions about the SMS. Here in Brazil we are very emotionally attached to it since he was way more popular than the NES in the 90´s (because Nintendo took too long to come to Brazil officially) and some of its games are highly considered (as Alex Kidd in Miracle World, Shinobi, R-Type and Phantasy Star).
Here are a few personal notes about some of SMS´s games.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World - very good and colorful, challenging in a way for kids. It has a few secrets (including how to get the stone with the code to get the crown at the ending) but also a very bugged game (i´ve died tons of times on the small flame enemies, falling from places i shouldnt fall). But the game is long, has a cheerful (but repetitve) soundtrack and is somewhat creative, stages vary a lot. It came bundled on a few SMS brazilian versions and they inverted the buttons order (to be more "marioish") on later versions. As a kid, that game gave me a lot of work to beat. But hard to control some moves with that controller´s d-pad.
Alex Kidd in High-Tech World - It may be the AK game Soera enjoyed most, but here it´s the most hated AK game. It was very badly accepted here (not by me, i really liked adventure games where you have to find stuff to progress!). I remember the first time i saw this game... it was an imported version (US) on a rental game shop i used to go. It amazed me how well made the plastic box and the white-and-blue manuals were (early brazilian SMS games had paperboard boxes and black-and-white manuals) and also introduced me to a new AK game that still were not released here. Even after our version came out, it had poor sales and it´s hard to find good complete copies today.
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World - very fun and colorful, but very, very easy. Its an ok game, you get the mechanics easily. Has a lot of secrets too. Very low replay value... but very loved here too! The music is a parody of the original Shinobi and it´s very funny.
Castle of Illusion - this game had a very strong marketing strategy here. It was very sought by SMS owners and rare to find (copies used to run out quickly). It´s a good platformer, considering the SMS´ capabilites, and in my personal opinion i think it´s even better than the Genesis version in some ways (stage structure design, secrets, mechanics - you could carry barrels instead of shooting apples like the genesis version, making the game more interesting strategically speaking. And you could also carry keys to open doors, what gives the game a bit more depth on the gameplay). Don´t get me wrong: the Genesis version is beautiful, head to toes, but the SMS had those particular mechanics and challenges i couldn´t find on the Genesis version (which i consider to be more "straight-on action" than "use you wits and think how to reach that place") .
Phantasy Star - A monster. Not only it was translated for portuguese for its brazilian release, but also made use of 100% processor capacity on the screen-moving-in-1st-person-view in dungeons. Very hardcore root-based rpg, you have to go thru hell before finishing it. Requires tons of griding, exploration, and homemade map charting (otherwise you would be stuck forever on Medusa Tower´s and Baya Malay Tower´s traps). It has big and colorful enemies and great boss fights. A must-play for RPG lovers. Even the music is good on that limited sound chip.
And there are some other good games too... even though most of SMS´s games were C games, there are some high quality games into those. Of course, not as much as the NES, but there are. Whoops, i guess i typed a lot already.
HarvestDude™
