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Axel has become mega-rich, due to all the royalties which he received from being named in the Beverly Hills Cop theme tune, and he's as happy as a sand lark because of it. Unfortunately, his girlfriend Lucy isn't what you'd call over the moon, as she's been kidnapped by a big, green dragon whose song was rejected by the film company. Axel, being the charming chappie that he is (and because he wants even more publicity and royalties), braves the terrors of the outside world and sets off to find young Luce...

The dragon is hiding in a far-away castle which Axel must reach to pay the ransom, passing through eight different lands before reaching his woman. A myriad of baddies must be annihilated along the way, which include poisonous snakes, vampire bats and primitive pygmy tribesmen. To add to this confused state of affairs, Axel must collect all of his cash, which is hidden throughout the eight levels (the shy superstar doesn't trust banks), in order to get his girl back safely.

To protect himself from the rigours of the outside world, Axel carries a hammer with which to biff the baddies over the head, as well as to smash the many blocks which contain the loot. Some blocks, though, hide useful objects which our lad can utilise on his journey, articles which include new weapons, extra lives and keys to secret doors.

Axel is working to a strict time limit set by the dragon, but he still has enough time to search the many bonus rooms, hidden across the levels, which may or may not contain money or objects.

Anyone who owns a Sega console will immediately realise where the programmers have taken their inspiration from; the thought of Alex Kidd practically butts you in the fact from the word go. In fact, Axel's Magic Hammer is a clever combination of all those cute Japanese games, with devilish woodland creatures bogging you down wherever you go, lots of goodies to collect and a host of hidden rooms to hunt down and loot. Unfortunately, programmers Core have made one little slip-up while attempting to put across the feel of a trendy Japanese arcade adventure - when was the last time you saw Mario or Alex fighting their way across a black backdrop? Garish colour is all-important in this type of product, something which has been overlooked.

Still, that's hardly a niggle, and Axel's Magic Hammer gets the thumbs-up from this reviewer. It's captured the feel of the consoles, with a host of cuddly graphics which you'd want to snuggle up to, were they not trying to do you in, and music is suitably bouncy, jingly and generally superbly suited to the proceedings. Brilliant!

Alex Kidd on the ST? Not quite, but an impressive game-of-the-genre, which gives ST owners the chance to play console owners at their own game.