Play Alex Kidd - The Lost Stars Online

Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars came out in 1986 as an arcade game by Sega, and these days you usually find it running on MAME. It was part of that wave of side-scrolling platformers before mascots like Sonic really took over, and it has a certain straightforward charm that feels very much of its time.

You control Alex Kidd, moving screen by screen through levels filled with platforms and enemies. Your main goal is to collect a set number of stars in each stage before moving on. You can punch enemies to defeat them, and some stages feature vehicles like a pedicopteryx that changes up the movement. The pacing is quick, and the difficulty can be unforgiving, with precise jumps often required. It feels like a brisk, sometimes frustrating, but always earnest challenge from the 80s arcade scene.