up thinking it was just a nightmare, but finds the phrase " you!" written on the mirror and on a cake. Development and release 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 Sharp X68000 conversion was done by SPS, which is near-identical to the original. Reception and legacy Märchen Maze, notably the PC-Engine release, received mostly mixed reviews — while critics praised its graphics and controls, many would criticize its difficulty for drastically spiking up later on and for its unimpressive boss fights. The May 1991 issue of German magazine Play Time praised the PC-Engine version's "well matched" graphics and amount of action, although would criticize the difficulty for being too hard, namely in the first stage. They also disliked the game's sound effects, jokingly stating that the player would likely instead want to turn on their stereo instead of listening to them. In a retrospective review, Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 liked the game's cute visuals and controls, although stated the game "ran out of steam midway through" for its drastic rise in difficulty and mediocre boss fights. Famitsu would dislike the PC-Engine version's difficulty for being too drastic early on, although would praise its aesthetic and tight controls. PC-Engine Fan magazine had a similar response, applauding its controls, visuals and soundtrack while disliking its uninteresting boss fights and high difficulty level, notably on the first stage of the game. Japanese magazine Gamest awarded the arcade version the 7th "Best Graphic" and 8th "Best VGM", as well as the 31st "Annual Hit Game" award in January