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Kid Icarus (universe): Difference between revisions
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After Nintendo's commercially successful releases of platforming games such as ''Super Mario Bros.'' and adventure games such as ''The Legend of Zelda'' during the "golden age" of the [[nwiki:NES|Famicom/NES]] in the late 1980s, the company was interested in entering a different genre. This resulted in the development of the action game ''Metroid'' for the Family Computer Disk System and Nintendo Entertainment System. ''Kid Icarus'' was developed alongside ''Metroid'' as its sister game, as both were co-developed by Nintendo's Research and Development 1 (R&D1) division and Intelligent Systems, and both games shared various programmers and elements. ''Kid Icarus'' was developed for the Famicom Disk System because its Disk Card format had more storage capacity than the Famicom's cartridges, allowing the developers to create a longer game with a larger setting and the ability to store players' progress. The game was also the debut of Nintendo video game designer Toru Osawa; originally the project's only staff member, Osawa wanted to make an action game with role-playing elements based on Greek mythology and drew the game's pixel art. After ''Metroid''{{'}}s development was complete, more staff members were allotted to the development of ''Kid Icarus'', such as director Satoru Okada, producer Gunpei Yokoi, musical composer Hirokazu Tanaka, and co-designer Yoshio Sakamoto. Osawa originally wanted to make the game completely serious, but opted for something more humorous after objections from the rest of the development team. Development was stressed by time constraints, as staff had to work overtime and stay in an unheated development office at night to meet the game's projected release date, and several stages had to be dropped because of scheduling conflicts; ultimately, however, the game was finished and entered production only three days before its Famicom release date of December 19, 1986. A cartridge-based version was released on the NES in February and July 1987 in Europe and North America, respectively; among other minor changes, this version used the rare password-based system of restoring player progress. Upon release, ''Kid Icarus'' was met with mixed reception, with criticism focused on its frustratingly high difficulty and some odd design choices, but the game has nonetheless been regarded as a cult classic for the console. Various characters, including the protagonist [[Pit]] and antagonists Medusa and Eggplant Wizard, were featured in the American animated television series ''Captain N: The Game Master'', which aired from 1989 to 1991 and featured many video game characters popularized by the NES. Meanwhile, a sequel for the Game Boy, ''Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters'', was co-developed between Nintendo and Tose Co., Ltd. and released in North America in November 1991 and in Europe in May 1992. Reception for the sequel was decidedly more favorable than that of the original, as critics cited significant gameplay improvements, but the game never reached the original's level of public attention. Additionally, despite being developed in Japan, ''Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters'' was not released there until 2012, originally making it one of the few first-party Nintendo games not published in Japan. | After Nintendo's commercially successful releases of platforming games such as ''Super Mario Bros.'' and adventure games such as ''The Legend of Zelda'' during the "golden age" of the [[nwiki:NES|Famicom/NES]] in the late 1980s, the company was interested in entering a different genre. This resulted in the development of the action game ''Metroid'' for the Family Computer Disk System and Nintendo Entertainment System. ''Kid Icarus'' was developed alongside ''Metroid'' as its sister game, as both were co-developed by Nintendo's Research and Development 1 (R&D1) division and Intelligent Systems, and both games shared various programmers and elements. ''Kid Icarus'' was developed for the Famicom Disk System because its Disk Card format had more storage capacity than the Famicom's cartridges, allowing the developers to create a longer game with a larger setting and the ability to store players' progress. The game was also the debut of Nintendo video game designer Toru Osawa; originally the project's only staff member, Osawa wanted to make an action game with role-playing elements based on Greek mythology and drew the game's pixel art. After ''Metroid''{{'}}s development was complete, more staff members were allotted to the development of ''Kid Icarus'', such as director Satoru Okada, producer Gunpei Yokoi, musical composer Hirokazu Tanaka, and co-designer Yoshio Sakamoto. Osawa originally wanted to make the game completely serious, but opted for something more humorous after objections from the rest of the development team. Development was stressed by time constraints, as staff had to work overtime and stay in an unheated development office at night to meet the game's projected release date, and several stages had to be dropped because of scheduling conflicts; ultimately, however, the game was finished and entered production only three days before its Famicom release date of December 19, 1986. A cartridge-based version was released on the NES in February and July 1987 in Europe and North America, respectively; among other minor changes, this version used the rare password-based system of restoring player progress. Upon release, ''Kid Icarus'' was met with mixed reception, with criticism focused on its frustratingly high difficulty and some odd design choices, but the game has nonetheless been regarded as a cult classic for the console. Various characters, including the protagonist [[Pit]] and antagonists Medusa and Eggplant Wizard, were featured in the American animated television series ''Captain N: The Game Master'', which aired from 1989 to 1991 and featured many video game characters popularized by the NES. Meanwhile, a sequel for the Game Boy, ''Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters'', was co-developed between Nintendo and Tose Co., Ltd. and released in North America in November 1991 and in Europe in May 1992. Reception for the sequel was decidedly more favorable than that of the original, as critics cited significant gameplay improvements, but the game never reached the original's level of public attention. Additionally, despite being developed in Japan, ''Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters'' was not released there until 2012, originally making it one of the few first-party Nintendo games not published in Japan. | ||
Following the release of ''Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters'', the series received no new installments for twenty years and little in the way of return appearances outside of a [[trophy]] of Pit in 2001's ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' and the first game's 2004 re-release in the ''Famicom Mini Disk System Selection'' for the Game Boy Advance and 2007 release on the Wii's Virtual Console. During this hiatus were unconfirmed, rumored projects for a third installment, including possible entries on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64. In the | Following the release of ''Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters'', the series received no new installments for twenty years and little in the way of return appearances outside of a [[trophy]] of Pit in 2001's ''[[Super Smash Bros. Melee]]'' and the first game's 2004 re-release in the ''Famicom Mini Disk System Selection'' for the Game Boy Advance and 2007 release on the Wii's Virtual Console. During this hiatus were unconfirmed, rumored projects for a third installment, including possible entries on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64. In the 2000s, a series revival developed by Factor 5 was planned for the Wii; however, both projects were ultimately canceled. In 2006, ''{{b|Super Smash Bros.|series}}'' series director [[Masahiro Sakurai]] indirectly started an ambitious series revival of the ''Kid Icarus'' franchise, first by announcing through a trailer the inclusion of {{SSBB|Pit}} as a new playable fighter in his highly-anticipated fighting game ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' for the Wii. Sakurai, who had previously brought another obscure NES title from the same era, {{uv|Ice Climber}}, back into the public eye through [[Ice Climbers|its player-characters]]' inclusions as playable fighters in ''Melee'', debuted a new, anime-inspired design for Pit and a detailed reimagining of the ''Kid Icarus'' setting, inspired by changes in the art styles of games like ''The Legend of Zelda'' and based on what the franchise might have stylistically looked like by then if it had not gone dormant. Following ''Brawl''{{'}}s release in 2008, Sakurai was asked by then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata to direct a new game for the then-unknown Nintendo 3DS to show off its capabilities, giving him the choice to revitalize a dormant property for the title. Deciding to use an existing Nintendo IP for the project, Sakurai was inspired by ''Brawl'' players' feedback that many fighters on its roster had not been featured in an original game for some time and ultimately chose ''Kid Icarus'' for this series reboot. Sakurai's choice of ''Kid Icarus'' was both due to its long absence from the gaming market, its continued Western popularity, and his own involvement with the characters and setting's reimagining in ''Brawl''. Sakurai also decided to make this new game a third-person shooter, a genre unpopular in Japan but seemingly suited to the 3DS's 3D effects. | ||
[[File:Brawl Kid Icarus revival.png|thumb|The modern, ''Uprising''-era designs for [[Pit]] and [[Palutena]] are based on their appearances in ''Brawl'', seen here in [[Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary|The Subspace Emissary]].]] | [[File:Brawl Kid Icarus revival.png|thumb|The modern, ''Uprising''-era designs for [[Pit]] and [[Palutena]] are based on their appearances in ''Brawl'', seen here in [[Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary|The Subspace Emissary]].]] | ||