Märchen Maze

It is the first Japanese video game adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and runs on the Namco System 1 arcade board. Development was handled by N.H. System, a short-lived subsidiary of Namco, with character design by famed anime director Katsuhiko Nishijima. It is Namco's second game to feature a female protagonist, following Wonder Momo. The word Märchen (pron) is the German word for "fairy tale". The PC Engine version was released in 1990, which replaced the isometric view with an overhead one, followed by the 1991 X68000 port. Maze received mixed reviews; although its visuals and controls were praised, critics disliked the sharp rise in difficulty and mediocre boss fights.

• Title — Märchen Maze • Developer — N.H. System • Publisher — Namco • Platforms — Arcade, PC Engine, X68000 • Released — ArcadeJuly 1988 PC EngineDecember 11, 1990 X68000 • Genre — Platform • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Arcade System — Namco System 1

• Illustration — Arcade version screenshot The player must take control of Alice, as she makes her way through nine isometric stages. Alice is able to blow bubbles at enemies to knock them off the platforms and she can collect various powerups along the way. Holding the fire button down generates bigger bubbles, but if it is held down for too long, it will burst and she will start blowing a new one. The enemies retaliate by shooting marbles at her (which can cause her to fall over the edge of the platforms unless they are avoided or jumped over). The seventh, eighth and ninth stages are palette-swapped versions of the second, fourth and first ones respectively, but they feature different enemy types and bosses.

One night, Alice falls asleep while reading a fairy tale picture book and is awaken by a call from within a wall mirror. A rabbit appears in the mirror and tells her that his country and eight other lands has been conquered by an evil witch known as the Queen of Darkness and Alice is the only one who has love and courage to restore peace. The girl is pulled inside the mirror world and given a magic straw to attack with soap bubbles. After the Queen is defeated, Alice wakes up thinking it was just a nightmare, but finds the phrase "Thanks you!" written on the mirror and on a cake.

Märchen Maze was published by Namco in Japan for arcades in July 1988 — development itself was handled by N.H. System, a very short-lived subsidiary of Namco. It was the first Japanese video game adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, predating games such as TwinBee Yahho! and Fushigi no Yume no Alice. The word "märchen" is the German word for fairy tale. Character design was done by Katsuhiko Nishijima, who directed several well-regarded anime series such as Outlanders, Vampire Hunter D and Agent Aika. It is Namco's second video game to have a female protagonist, following Wonder Momo (1987). An English version of the game, titled Alice in Wonderland, is also known to exist. A version for the PC Engine was released in 1990, which replaced the isometric angle with an overhead view due to hardware restraints — character design for this port was done by Gundam artist Kouichi Tokita. A 1991 X68000 conversion was done by SPS, which is near-identical to the original. A digital download of the game was released for the Japanese Wii Virtual Console in 2009. Hamster Corporation re-released the game as part of the Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in February 2025.