Everyone associates Sega video games with Sonic the Hedgehog. After all, this is Sega’s most popular intellectual property, and games featuring this character have sold tens of millions of units worldwide.
However, even before Sonic, Sega knew that they needed a character and a game to compete with Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. Their first attempt resulted in the character Alex Kidd.
Alex Kidd is an interesting character. Designed as a short and square bodied boy, complete with monkey ears and a Beatles-like mop hairstyle, Alex was the polar opposite of the game mascots that we know today.
In Sega’s universe, he was an orphan prince from a fictional world. His original backstory had him fighting off against a tyrant who had grasped control of the land.