Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars

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Alex Kidd and the Lost Stars
Screenshot of Alex Kidd
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Series	Alex Kidd series
Release date(s)	1986 (Arcade) 1988 (Sega Master System)
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single player, 2 player co-op
Platform(s)	Arcade, Sega Master System
Input	8-way Joystick, 2 Buttons
Arcade system(s)	Sega System 16A hardware
Arcade CPU(s)	68000
Arcade sound system(s)	Sound CPU : Z80, N7751, Sound Chips : YM2151, DAC
Arcade display	Horizontal , Raster, 320 x 224 pixels , 6144 colors

Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars is a platform arcade game released by Sega in 1986, and for the Sega Master System in 1988.

Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars features Alex Kidd searching for the twelve Zodiac signs, located in all stages except 7 and 14. It is notable for having a stage inside a giant's stomach and for the use of recycled stages, by having making the player go through all the stages again in a more difficult versions of them, with the bonuses and the miracle balls (or stars, depending on the version, which are actually the signs) in different positions. The final boss, named Jiggarat (or Ziggurat, once again depending on the version), was notable for being particularly hard and the only 'fool-proof' strategy against him involved moving forward the instant one reached the end of stages 7 and 14, thus avoiding his attacks. Despite this, the game is not considered particularly hard.

The game is also notorious in some circles for featuring a zombie character that defecates skulls.

The 14 rounds are:

Toy World (Rounds 1 and 8)
Machine world (Rounds 2 and 9)
World of Make Believe (Rounds 3 and 10)
Water World (Rounds 4 and 11)
Monster World (Rounds 5 and 12); Giant's Body (Rounds 6 and 13)
The Shrine of Jiggarat (Ziggurat) (Rounds 7 and 14)

[edit] Trivia

This game is the arcade debut of Sega's first mascot, Alex Kidd who mostly appeared in various games for the Sega Master System, first in the title Alex Kidd in Miracle World. In 1991, Alex Kidd was replaced with a 'faster than a speeding bullet'-type character called Sonic The Hedgehog. This was because Sega were looking for a new mascot for the release of the Sega Mega Drive as Alex Kidd was considered too much like Nintendo's own mascot - Mario.