Introductory to speedrunning Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle

Welcome to Lashazior's guide to running Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle. This game is a platformer with slippery controls, awkward battles, annoying enemies and levels, and a janky story. However, for a speed game, AK:EC is very interesting to watch and not too difficult to run but decently hard to optimize. This guide will hopefully alleviate some issues for those starting out.


Since there are only TAS videos and small tidbits of information out there, this will be intended to provide a better understanding of how to run AK:EC. I routed this game myself using Jaakko Järviniemi's aka. Aqfaq TAS video run of 5:27 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkQBYuTQZbY). This game is comprised of 11 levels which require the rice ball at the end to be collected. Collectibles are not tracked in any significant manner, with coins respawning as you progress forward and go back. Item collection is also not stable to the Janken fights. For this reason, the game and this guide are only considering any% status. (Note, there is a difficulty system but it only changes starting life total so for the any% run we are neglecting this option since deathless is on par with it).


Movement in this run is similar to every other platformer out there - simply move and jump when needed. Alex Kidd has two attack abilities with punch and a jump kick. The punch is simple by pressing B where the jump kicks are done with A or C. The kicks are analog in nature (they depend on how long you hold the button down) and upon release the kick happens. Timing of these kicks is paramount for success in this run as it can cost a lot of time otherwise. 


RNG in this run is manipulated from the beginning when we grab the circlet powerup (more information on this in Rookietown). The game utilizes Janken (rock-scissors-paper) battles instead of traditional boss battles where you try to eliminate their health (save for the final boss). The RNG for Janken is on a set rotation for every battle in the game. For instance, the first battle with the circlet will always WIN with a Rock, it will never change. However, because we do this first, it forces every other Janken battle for the rest of the game to rotate one away. So for instance, the second Janken battle in the run (the one to get the Bike in level 2 - more information on this in Prairie) is always going to be WIN for Scissors if we get the circlet. If you skip the circlet, the win on the bike is actually a rock. Now rotations only happen when you successfully win or lose a Janken fight. Entering the hut to start the Janken but not having coin will not change it. Similarly, there is a frame specific glitch allowing you to skip boss battles. By pressing the Start button after the text box disappears for every boss battle but before the transition to the Janken screen occurs, one can simply skip the need to battle, saving approximately 12-15 seconds per boss. Skipping does not change the rotations at all and so far has not been routed for all scenarios where one may get one skip but not another. 

For this particular run, the rotations are as follows:


Circlet -> Bike -> Boss 1 -> Boss 2 -> Boss 3 -> Final Boss
Rock -> Scissors -> Scissors -> Rock -> Paper -> Scissors/Paper (Final boss has two actions to perform)


Listed below is a small excerpt for every level in the WR attempts and information on how to be successful.


Timing starts after pressing start. (Press A to skip transitions between levels and at the beginning to go faster)


1. Rookietown

We kickoff the game by immediately punching the first block and grabbing the 100 coin bag, doing a small jump kick to blow the car up, and pressing up to initiate the Janken fight for the circlet powerup (ROCK). The circlet will be used later in the run on Rock Mountain 2 and Sky Castle to help save time and make it safe. After the fight, just continue with small/medium jump kicks and get the rice ball at the end.

2. Prairie

Use the hut at the beginning to grab the Bike (SCISSORS) which allows us to go fast! Equip the bike and hold right. Jump to avoid the red blocks and ground terrain as the bike is extremely fragile and breaks apart from the most minor of crashes (Paper mache anyone?). The final jump of the level is easier to deaccelerate some of the bike's momentum as to not hit the high red blocks. Rice ball at the end (betcha didn't see this one coming :P)

3. Splashy Sea

Okay there's two ways to do this level - If you are just starting out, literally hold right. Just. Hold. Right. No seriously, you don't believe me? HOLD RIGHT! It just lets you swim over every mob on the entire level and grab the rice ball at the end. Safe but slow.


The other method will require a bit of practice but it is the faster way. This require equipping the bike and performing some intense aerial Evil Knievel shit. Just watch the run if you want to learn this, it's harder to explain in words. I will say that one thing, we pause and unequip the bike to maintain momentum but not have it get damaged by the red block. This is a bit more consistent than going down on the red block in the TAS (again just watch and compare). Small visual queues and maximize the jumping ability of the bike makes it simple to finish the level (DON'T FORGET TO UNEQUIP THE BIKE!).

4. Scorpion Desert 

This level has some optimization at the beginning by jumping specific moments to maximize forward momentum. We don't want to have to stop on some of the blocks so you see some backwards looking at times. Simply equip the bike at the beginning and go fast, making the jumps as needed. There's some tricky spots that will require practice at first and sometimes you lose momentum from blocks breaking when you don't want them to. Overall, easier to watch the run and emulate the movements yourself. RICE BALLS ARE YUMMY.

5. Pyramid

Same as before, intense optimization of jumps. These are somewhat difficult but doable. You don't have to equip the bike on this level in your first tries but it will save upwards of 5-6 seconds on the end. Speaking of the end, hooray you made it to your first boss battle. This lady thinks she can stop you but you're a flying monkey kid trying to find your dad! Simply use SCISSORS and make sure to press NO to continue for a rematch, she'll get slammed flat by an anvil and let you grab the rice ball. (Did you know - in the Japanese version instead of an anvil they lose their clothes and have a leaf protecting their privates?)

6. HiHo Forest

HiHo, HiHo, you wish this was the Disney movie instead of this level! No seriously, this level is fucking stupid. There's Jason Vorhees looking woodcutters walking around, annoying bees with stupid hitboxes, and baboons that you don't see until it's too late. I really can't explain how the bike routing works here in words other than it's a pain in the ass. There's a lot of slow downs required and specific jumps that will take much time to work out. If you wish, a previous run of mine has a no-bike route (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=S57U5pRZNJY#t=153) if you want to learn that instead. The boss at the end is some wombat looking character in shorts and a tank top (we must be in a tropical rainforest or something) and is easily beaten with ROCK if you follow the route perfectly. Rice Rice Baby!

7. Tropicstown

In a regular run, there's a lot of goodies here in terms of items. In a speedrun, this is a joke. Ride the bike, do a small jump (avoid the bees, they will break the paper mache Bike!) over the rocks and literally just drive straight. I like to imagine Alex listening to Radar Love by Golden Earring here just to keep my mind active because it's the most boring level in the game. Oh what's that, a rice ball?

8. Rock Mountain 1

So you made it this far and you want to continue? Good luck, this is where the run starts to get inteeeeeeeeeeeense. The bike route utilizes some long jumps and a few small ones at the end. Pretty simple once you know that you need to jump at the far end of each ledge. Watch out for the wizards if you plan to do no bike. These Gandalf creatures are advanced specimens that detect your kicks and disappear when you want to get close, only to reappear in an annoying spot. The easy way to kill them is to ignore them and run past, but if you must try to kick them on the last possible second of your jumps. The end boss is a larger version of these Gandalfs and easily dispatched with PAPER if you follow the route exactly. Ball of wool or a ball of rice? Who cares, grab the damn thing and continue.

9. Rock Mountain 2

Go ahead and cry (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxtPRF6NG7I). This level will break you like Ivan Drago. The slippery controls are really noticeable here as having the best small and large jumps become important to traverse this annoying level. This is better watched and emulated than explained. It's difficult, it's annoying, it's a fucking mountain of dispair! 

10. In The Sky

Yea this is totally an accurate level name for once. You'll notice you're in a new vehicle called a Pedicopter. Simple for this one, just cycle your ass through the Hindenburgh balloons (no seriously they release bombs when blown up) and toy airplanes. Some optimization can be done here by using the bike on the red blocks but it's very dangerous and only saves ~2-3 seconds on the entire run. Floating rice balls are a thing.

11. Sky Castle

HOLY CRAP YOU MADE IT! This level is the reason this game is a thing. This level is so huge it loads between screens. To summarize the beginning of this level, simply equip the Pedicopter and fly up to use the secret location. This saves a lot of time doing useless rooms. The circlet is very good here to kill enemies and destroy blocks that are not near you, which gets utilized a lot. Having a good movement pattern is important on this level, as it can get very annoying. If you are unsure your first time, unequip the circlet in places you think you might die, or just practice this level as much as you can. Some of the optimization you can find in my WR run compared to the previous run I listed back up in the HiHo section (like using the Pedicopter more than once). Once you slog your way to the last boss known as Ashra, you'll have to win a two round Janken battle (OH MAN TWO GUESSES) and kill him. The guesses are SCISSORS/PAPER if you follow the route as listed and he merely needs to be punched with the circlet or hit with pedicopter or kicked by you. The RNG for his punches flying through the air are seemingly random every time, sometimes they're high sometimes they're low, just be sure to watch for it. Once he dies, the door will open after he scuttles away. Timer stops on the frame right before the transition point to the end scene. 


And that's the game folks. Literally this douchebag of a father was hiding behind a castle up in the sky away from his son. Didn't even bother to call and leave a message for him. What kind of King are you Thor? Oh well, who cares this is a speedrun not a Maury episode. Just want to give a few thanks out to the Alex Kidd developers for making this game even if it is terrible and the speedrun community for putting up with my desires to get people to run this game. If you're really looking for a game to run, no matter how awful it is, Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle is the perfect amalgamation of shoddy level design, terrible controls, and an end game that is hard as balls.

TempoTom's relearning stream 

TempoTom learned AK:EC on a random wheel spin some months ago, and then derusted for a 50-in-1 marathon. Here is his stream highlight where he watches his pb back and comments, which he kindly pulled for me as the game is in Mega16. New runners may find his play very helpful and his insights useful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Vw1dXihPI

Name	Autor
Introductory to speedrunning Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle	lashazior 10 years ago
TempoTom's relearning stream	petaQ 2 months ago