From Wikipedia:
Alex Kidd is contacted by one of his friends, who tells him a new arcade has opened in town. Alex has a map to its location, but it has been torn into eight pieces, and is needed to find the arcade before it closes at 5:00 sharp. He solves puzzles, answers questions, runs errands and does housework to find the pieces. After that, he must find another way to leave the house, as the front gate is shut. When Alex finds the map and leaves his house, ninjas appear, who attempt to kill him.
Source: Wikipedia, "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Kidd:_High-Tech_World," available under the CC-BY-SA License.