PrinceWatercress plays Alex Kidd in Miracle World - Part 3 of 5

We've made it to the castle, but there is more to be done.

Stage 9

This stage begins with you on a jet ski. Much like the pedocopter stage from two stages ago, if you run any red balls, you're losing your ride and swimming the rest of the way. It controls much like the motorcycle, but you can shoot things like you're on the pedocopter.

Stage 10

There's a shop at the beginning of this stage. You can buy the pedocopter and the teleport/invincibility powder again, but there is also a B Globe, which gives you a barrier. The powder and the B Globe are strongly recommended, but if you get the pedocopter, you can make getting through this stage much easier.

There are plenty of green swamp pits and vines that move up and down, but there are also thunder clouds. Wait for them to move towards you before moving past them. You can also run past them as soon as they appear to avoid them completely if you're on foot.

The question mark block contains the ring that shoots projectiles.

There are plenty of flames near the end, but the pedocopter can fly over them all.

At the end of the stage, you'll meet Paper Head. (If you reach this point with the pedocopter, run into the ceiling in the upper-right corner of the screen to start the boss battle.) For the first round, choose Rock. For the second round, choose Scissors.

Stage 11

You'll finally enter Castle Radaxia.

On the first screen, run to the right to avoid all the spikes, then jump over the skull block and climb up the ladder. From here, carefully destroy the blocks to reach the next ladder, then stand next to the block the frog is jumping on to destroy it as well as the frog when the frog is not in the air.

Go right. If you take the high road, you'll find a 1-Up. The low road is where you really want to go; avoid the spikes as you make your way down, then punch the blocks to open up a path to the ladder.

Go down the ladder, punch the scorpion, then break the blocks to the right and continue in that direction. (If you grab the big money bag in this room, you will more than likely fall through the floor there and land on the flame below, losing a life.) From here, avoid the question mark block and go up the ladder. Hit the fish button and the wave button, and you'll free your brother, who tells you that the moonlight stone is in the Nibana Kingdom. He will tell you that there is a signed letter addressed to the kingdom, and that you must find it and take it with you to Nibana.

Head back down the ladder and to the left (watch out for the re-spawned enemies), then go down. Avoid the flames, head to the left and use the cane to fly to the ladder. Go up, jump over the spikes and jump your way to the scroll, then go back down and avoid the scroll as you go down the ladder to the left. Go right at the bottom, then run all the way to the right and break the first set of blocks so you can get away from the spikes.

Go up while avoiding the flames, and you'll face Stone Head again. Choose Paper on bothr ounds. After the re-match, you'll have to fight him. To beat him, punch him when he reaches his lower point, then back away. For best results, always punch when he moves towards you.

Stage 12

There is yet another shop at the beginning. There is an A Globe, a B Globe and a 1-Up. Grab the A Globe and the 1-Up, just in case.

You'll face Scissors Head after the shop. Choose Rock for both rounds. On the fight, jump over the projectiles while punching the head three times whenever it dives to the center of the screen, as it will be at your level there.

PrinceWatercress plays Alex Kidd in Miracle World - Part 2 of 5

It's time to go through four more stages, and this time, we get introduced to some new things such as the pedocopter and the flame enemies.

Stage 5

In the pedocopter, pressing 1 lets you ascend and pressing 2 lets you shoot. If you hit the copter blades on any red balls, you'll fall into the water and you'll have to swim the rest of the way. Regardless of what happens, this is still an easy stage.

Stage 6

The shop in the village allows you to buy the pedocopter, but you can also get an A Globe and a 1-Up. The pedocopter allows you to not only breeze through the stage, but also get a ton of money. If you touch the very top of the screen, you will not lose your pedocopter.

Gray rocks are indestructible. Also, the question mark block guarded by the first flame contains a 1-Up. The flames are indestructible, so don't even bother. The bouncing guys are easy to defeat, especially if you're behind them.

The boss here is a bull. Stand in front of it and punch the head when the bull is next to you, and keep doing it until it dies. You can also get behind it and mash the punch button until it dies, but if the bull moves forward while you're inside of it, you're going to die. When you beat the bull, you'll meet an old man who will tell you that your older brother is imprisoned in the castle and that you are the only person who can rescue him.

Stage 7

The rocks can all be destroyed.

The rock enemies and bats just move forward and can be beaten with a single punch.

The light blue ball with the star is the telepathy ball. To get it, punch the nearby yellow skull block. You'll be stunned, but you'll open up a tile in the ceiling. From there, walk off the edge and keep holding Right. You'll be able to get the telepathy ball, which lets you read the enemy's mind during rock-paper-scissors battles. Beware when using it however, as the enemy can change their mind at the last minute.

When you see the two question mark blocks near each other and the purple block with the yellow star, stand on the purple block to open up the path to the right question mark block, then punch the question mark block on the left. This unleashes a Grim Reaper. Off-screen him, then head to the other question mark block to get a 1-Up.

At the end, you'll have Scissors Head. For the first round, select scissors, as Scissors Head switches to paper (the open hand) at the last second. For the second round, pick paper.

Stage 8

You're now in the forest.

The shop at the beginning allows you to get a motorcycle, an A Globe and a gray cane. The gray cane allows you to fly when using it.

From here, you'll be jumping from one platform into another while trying not to jump or fall into spikes. Take your time above the spike pits when you need to. When you see guys throwing things at you from the trees, move past them and get them off the screen.

The blue platforms are indestructible.

Near the end are two question mark blocks. Be ready to punch the first one and quickly off-screen the Grim Reaper so you can get a 1-Up out of the other one.

The boss here is a blue bear with a sword. Stand in front of him, then pause the game, select the A Globe with Button 2, and let the eight miniature Alex Kidd clones kill him. Just watch out for the guy throwing stuff from above. That will clear the stage.

PrinceWatercress plays Alex Kidd in Miracle World - Part 1 of 5

Many centuries ago, on the planet Aries, there lived a boy called Alex Kidd. For seven years, he lived on Mt. Eternal studying Shellcore, an ancient art that makes one strong enough to break rocks into pieces. As he was leaving the mountain one day to travel to his spiritual homeland, a dying man told him that the peaceful city of Radaxian was in grave danger. Before taking his last breath, the man gave Alex a piece of a map and a medallion made of Sun Stone. And so starts the game that was Sega's initial answer to Super Mario Bros....

The Control Pad lets you move around and duck, while 1 lets you jump and 2 lets you punch (though there are versions of the game where the functions for Buttons 1 and 2 are reversed).

Stage 1

At the start of the game, you'll be dropping downwards. Rocks usually don't contain anything, but can be punched out of the way regardless. Star blocks contain money (with the big bags containing more money than the small ones; with small ones being 10 Baums while big ones are worth 20 Baums). Question mark blocks wil contain power-ups, while skull blocks will stun you for a brief moment. Beware: some question mark blocks will contain a Grim Reaper who will kill you instantly - much like anything else in the game - as this game is full of one-hit kills. If you manage to off-screen the Grim Reaper or find another power-up while the Grim Reaper is on screen, the Grim Reaper will disappear.

There will be pterodactyl-like enemies that you'll also have to punch in the face to defeat.

If you stand on or otherwise touch a pink block with a skull on it, a Grim Reaper will show up, so stay away from one when you see it.

If you lose all your lives, hold Up - not Down like I say in the video - and press Button 2 eight times on the Game Over screen before the music stops. This costs 400 Baums to use.

When you drop into the water, you can use the Control Pad to move in any direction in the water. Not holding any direction causes Alex Kidd to slowly float to the surface. Button 1 will also allow you to swim faster. This is useful when trying to avoid enemies such as the kappa that swims up and down and spits bubbles that will hurt you.

Light green blocks can be punched, and you can also break power-up blocks while in the water. Fish enemies can also be attacked with the punch.

The question mark block at the end will contain an Alex Kidd doll that acts as a 1-Up if you revealed the first Grim Reaper in the vertical segment at the beginning of the stage.

The rice cake - or onigiri (I'm stopping myself from making a joke about Brock calling it a jelly donut in the English dub of Pokemon) - is the end of the stage. Grab it, and you'll move on to the next one.

Stage 2

At the beginning, there is a shop. Below the door, you'll be able to see how much currency you have. There are three items you can buy: a motorcycle that serves as an extra hit but cannot be stopped unless you run into a red ball, a ring that lets you shoot projectiles, and a question mark canister that lets you become invisible. Press Button 1 or 2 to get through messages, and jump to what you want to grab it, assuming you have enough money.

When on the motorcycle, you can still jump, but you can hold Left on the Control Pad to slow down and Right on the Control Pad to speed up. Even if you don't get the motorcycle, you can still plow through the frogs that leap up and down and the scorpions that move towards you with ease.

At the end, you'll meet Stone Head, who you'll have to beat in a best-two-out-of-three rock-paper-scissors battle in order to move to Stage 3. You'll have to make a choice before the music stops, then . For the first round, choose Rock (the closed fist). For the second round, choose Scissors (the two fingers extended). You'll then get the onigiri and continue on.

Stage 3

You're underwater again.

The question mark block at the very start contains an extra life.

By pausing the game, you can see the map, how much money you have, the items you have in your inventory, your current score and you current lives count. If you have the teleport powder, you can use it when you meet the red octopus shortly after the beginning, then punch it in the face until it dies so you can press Down twice on the center of the pot to find a hidden area full of money. Remember that you can only have two bags on money on the screen at any given time if you uncover them from star blocks. Watch out for scorpions hiding in the grass. Also, the light blue balls can be punched out of existence.

If you die, you come back at the same part where you died.

Stage 4

Here, there are a lot of blue balls and power-up blocks to destroy. You may have to destroy a whole bunch of blocks and balls to make a path.

Also, this is where your running and jumping is put to the test, as jumping in this game is also momentum-based and you'll have to run at full speed hold the jump button for longer, higher jumps.

Watch out for the lava as well as the vines that move up and down out of them, as they both hurt.

At the end of the stage, you'll meet an old man who will tell you that you are a prince of Radaxian who was kidnapped by evil men when you were a small boy. He will also tell you that Radaxian is now under the dictatorship of the evil Janken the Great, and that you'll have to save the country from him. He will give you a pedocopter that you will ride for the next stage.

PrinceWatercress plays McDonald's Treasureland Adventure - The Longplay...and more!

Enjoy!

Also, here's every musical track from the game.

PrinceWatercress plays McDonald's Treasureland Adventure - Part 4 of 4

This game has saved the best for last. Let's see if we can not only find the treasure, but also find a way back home.

Stage 4: Magical Moon

Good grief, the music still reminds me of The System, but after listening to other similar-sounding '80s bands from the same time period as The System, I have reason to believe that somebody was listening to "Boom! There She Was" by Scritti Politti (and maybe "Don't Work So Hard," also by Scritti Politti) while composing the music for this.

Fight off the bug on the column and the purple ball enemy that spits projectiles. The bugs shoot projectiles backwards, and the purple ball enemies can push you back, so get rid of them . To the right are asteroids that move around in circles and can be used as platforms.

In the next section, there will be orange spiked worms that act as spikes, white mushroom guys that leap towards you, and asteroids that open up in an attempt to eat you. The red guys with the flat platform heads will launch you into the air if you either run into them or jump onto them.

The next section is auto-scrolling, and the music is faster. This time, you're avoiding this green laser beam cannon that moves around and shoots at the ground to cause parts of it to fall down. Stay close to the right edge, but not too close. That way, you can jump over pits and see what is slightly ahead of you, so you can act accordingly. When you see the goal sign, run right.

You'll then be grabbed by the giant hands of a UFO. Once inside the UFO, you'll be able to explore. There is a shop to the left of the store; be sure to take advantage of it. Watch out for pushing machines, and make sure they don't push you into walls of red grabby hands. One of the pushing machines can lead to power-ups if you ride on top of it, and you'll also find the goal this way.

In the next section, take out ay robots, then grab onto the hooks of the fat flying cats to make your way up. Be careful, as some of them will fly into ceilings that are covered in red grabby hands, but at least they produce flowers when they blow up. There is a door at the beginning, but it leads to the Columns game. Since the cats that fly into the red grabby hands will send you into said hands when you let go of the A button, you'll want to be careful.

The gray robots on the ropes will hurt you if they run into you. Watch out for the spherical robot heads with the lips, as they will spit out heart projectiles that can damage you. 

In the next section, there will be a flying robot bottle that drops blue liquid. When its bottle-like bottle is empty, you can kill it with your magic attack. From here, you'll have to hold onto hooks to get around. Other hazards here include Chemical Plant Zone-style blocks that move around in a clockwise fashion that you can use like steps, which you'll have to be patient to move around. You'll also find a shop in this section, but if you can't get to it, you'll find another soon enough.

You'll then see pairs of blocks in red and blue. When blocks light up, you can stand on them, but not for long. The beginning of the blocks section has the easiest continue to get in the game.

In the next section, you'll be holding onto hooks while extending and contracting the scarf with Up and Down on the Control Pad to avoid the shaky gloves.. You'll also be shooting at enemies by pressing B while holding A to stay on the hooks, too. This is where your ability to stay on hooks is put to the test, and I love it. The glowing green arrows will show the way. The blue sphere platforms will have your jumping when necessary to stay on them, even if some of them are perfectly straight. There will be a store at the end. Thankfully, having plenty of Balloons ready in case you fall into pits will win the day.

In the next section, be ready to jump when beach balls hit the side of the blue sphere platform so you don't get knocked off. Thankfully, you won't be knocked into a bottomless pit, and any beach balls you dealt with once won't return when you et back on the platform.

You'll see some green guy holding the Fry Kids hostage at the end of the blue sphere platform path. If you don't have enough Magic Jewels, drop down, then go to the right Avoid the green balls that block your path by jumping over (and between) them carefully, and you'll find a store where you can refill your health. That's nice.

Once you give the guard holding the Fry Kids hostage the Magic Jewels, the Magic Jewels will cause him to fall asleep, and the Fry Kids will create a bridge to the next section.

In the next section, attack the tree to knock all the balls off of it, then keep attacking it to finish it off for good. You'll find some power-ups, including a continue that is even easier than the one from the blocks section. Enter the mouth at the end and you'll face the final boss. 

When he shoots out his pink laser, then enter a door that matches on his level with Up on the Control pad to hit him as he eats the Jewel. Hit him once, then immediately get away. There are always four matching pairs of doors every time, and the three walls that house these doors will rotate as the boss moves back and forth. When you enter a door, you'll come out through the one that looks just like it. 

Be very careful of your surroundings, and make sure that the boss is never on the same level as you. Otherwise, the boss will eat away at your health. He will charge at you as well as shoot fireballs at you with a wand. The boss can also block a door you're trying to get into as well, which can make this boss battle longer than you'll want it to be. If the boss comes into contact with you, it's (almost) instant death.

There are six icons in the room, and there is an extra life in the middle row. Always try to get the extra life if you can. Thankfully, all the icons re-spawn when you die, and you can get maximum magic in case you are defeated. There are also yellow slugs that pop up every so often, and they can give you power-ups if you defeat them. This battle can be long, and it is possible to be forced into a corner by the boss if you're not fortunate enough.

Eventually, you'll soon be attentive enough to what you are doing as well as what the boss is doing, and you'll be able to stay away from him, get your hits in, and eventually beat this guy.

When you beat the final boss, he will surrender the treasure. Ronald refuses initially, as a way home is more important, but the treasure is exactly that: a way home in the form of a rainbow that teleports everybody back to Earth. The credits roll, then the game thanks you for playing. You've not only beaten the game, but probably one of the best games to ever use the McDonalds trademark! Congratulations!

PrinceWatercress plays McDonald's Treasureland Adventure - Part 3 of 4

We now cross the sea in order to get the last treasure map piece. Next stop: space!

Stage 3: Magical Sea

At the start of this stage, you'll be jumping on a lot of platforms. There are cloud platforms with black and yellow stripes that sink a bit under your weight, there are cloud platforms that are blown up and down by mini-volcanoes in the sea and cloud platforms that disappear almost as soon as you stand on them. There are also red flying things with hooks on the undersides that you can hang on with the scarf, but don't hang on or else you'll sink into the sea.

You'll eventually find a boat. Don't jump into it; instead, stay on the sides so the saw doesn't hit you. After a while, you'll land on a boat that gets carried by a wave all the way to the left into the next section.

On the green ship, use the hooks to avoid the waves. When the penguins on clouds show up, do not attack them unless you want to be headbutted. Instead, leap from one cloud to the next to the right to enter the next section. You can go left to get a continue, and you can go right to get a 1-Up as well as reach the exit to the next section . If you stand on a cloud with a penguin on it, it won't disappear when you stand on it.

You'll be on an island. The umbrella men will block your magic attacks with their umbrellas, and can also attack you with their hats. The island warrior carry shields that spit fireballs, and you'll want to attack the shields before attacking the warriors. The coconuts have hooks that take up into the trees where you can find power-ups. If the hook is gold, that coconut is safe; if the hook is golden brown like the coconut itself, the coconut will fall down as soon as you latch on. Midway through this area, there will be a shop in case you need power-ups.

You'll then get on a ship. The captain will make the rest of his ship rise up, then he runs away. From there, you'll be climbing up tot he top of the ship with your scarf. There is a door near the beginning, but it leads to a Columns game.

If a hook runs into a spinning gray mechanism, you will look go of the hook if you're hanging onto it.

The yellow mouths that spit the cannonballs cannot be destroyed.

When you reach the crow's nest in this section, another ship shoots multiple cannonballs at the ship, causing it to sink. You'll be underwater, and you'll enter the bow. You'll be in a maze.

Enter the door to the left, then go up and to the left. Press and hold Up and Down to avoid the hands coming out of the wall below the door that you find. Avoid the blue spining guys, then make your way upwards as slopes jut in and out. If you enter the first door you see on your way up, you'll be able to quickly exit the first section. (There are other doors that lead to other things, but this is the quickest way to get out of here.)

The guys in armor with the spears cannot be killed, so don't even bother.

For the second section, the water rises in and out. Jump oon the life rafts to stay out of the water (which doesn't hurt you) and stay away from the grabby hands (which do). At the end, you'll meet Grimace, and if you give him three Magic Jewels, he will be able to get out of the ship after telling you that the ship captain you met has a map.

There will be a store past Grimace. Take advantage of it before you enter the next area. The water will push you to the left, so be ready to jump to the right when the land is dry and attack the green ghosts that come at you. Enter the second door, then use the scarf on the hooks on your way down to avoid the grabby hands. When you see a green ghost, go left and enter the door. A guy in armor and a cape will block your path. If you keep walking towards him, he will fall into the pit below and you'll be able ot enter the next door.

Drop down, grabbing as many things as you can, and use the store to the left before you face the captain. Take out the pink guys, then catch up with him and let his laser hit you. Hit him while his mouth is moving. When he is not jumping around, pay attention to where he is looking, for that is the direction he will jump. Keep this in mind so you can get him in a circle. He jumps around and throws his hat, and all the while, he will pull switches that cause the floor to move. When the floor stops moving, watch which segments of the floor flash, because enemies will pop out of those floor segments. If it's the red ones, the pink enemies will show up; if it's the blue ones, blue mushrooms will show up. They are both easy to destroy and get power-ups out of if you need them. The captain will also throw his hat, which you will want to watch out for.

After enough hits, you'll beat the captain, who gives you the last map piece. You'll learn that the treasure is on the moon, and with The Professor's help, you'll get a rocket ship that will take you to the fourth and final stage of the game. Unfortunately, the rocket crashes, and you'll have to find the treasure as well as fix the rocketship.

CGR Undertow reviews McDonald's Treasureland Adventure

Another game, another CGR Undertow review to pull out of the vaults.