Kid Icarus

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Kid Icarus (光神話 パルテナの鏡, Hikari shinwa: Parutena no Kagami, Myth of Light: The Mirror of Palutena) is a platforming video game developed by Nintendo R&D1 and published by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System in 1986 and the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. It is the first game in the Kid Icarus series, the second being Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters. Another sequel for the SNES, Kid Icarus 2, was never released.[2] The game world is loosely based on Greek mythology, with Icarus and Medusa being drawn from myth.

Kid Icarus has been re-released twice: on August 10, 2004, for the Game Boy Advance as part of the Famicom Mini Series in Japan only, and on February 12, 2007, on the Wii's Virtual Console in North America. It was released on the European and Australian Virtual Consoles on February 23, 2007.

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Original NES boxart

Gameplay

Kid Icarus uses the same game engine as Metroid (which was released the same year). It even includes Metroids as enemies in one stage, though it is called "Komayto" in Kid Icarus. The game manual theorizes that Komayto may have come from another planet. In volume 204 of Nintendo Power, an article was written about the game describing it as blending together elements from The Legend of Zelda, [[Super Mario Bros., and Metroid, stating that Pit can "jump like Mario, collect items like Link, and shoot enemies like Samus." The original Famicom Disk System versions feature save slots, unlike the North American version which uses a password system (known in-game as "Sacred Words"). As with Metroid, the FDS version of Kid Icarus also features higher quality music and sound effects that take advantage of the system's additional sound channels. Kid Icarus was produced by Gunpei Yokoi and the music was composed by Hirokazu Tanaka.

Plot

In a time where humans and gods coexisted in harmony, the kingdom of Angel Land was ruled by two goddesses, Palutena the Goddess of Light and Medusa the Goddess of Darkness. While Palutena administered the light and helped the mortals cultivate their crops, Medusa despised the mortals and used the darkness to destroy their crops and turn the mortals into stone. Enraged, Palutena transformed Medusa into a hideous monster and banished her into the dark Underworld. But Medusa would not go quietly. She assembled an army of monsters and evil spirits of the underworld to conquer Palutena's palace, The Palace in the Sky. War erupted and Medusa's minions overwhelmed Palutena's army, eventually imprisoning the Goddess of Light. Medusa then seized the Three Sacred Treasures—the Mirror Shield, the Arrow of Light, and the Wings of Pegasus—and gave them to her most powerful minions. Defeated and imprisoned, Palutena's only hope was to seek the help of Pit, a young angel trapped in the Underworld. Using the last of her strength, she sent Pit a magical bow, known in Brawl as Palutena's Bow. Thus, Pit set out on a quest to escape the Underworld, retrieve the Sacred Treasures that would help him defeat Medusa, and rescue Palutena and restore peace to Angel Land. In the end Pit retrieved these three treasures and battled Medusa. Having won, Pit traveled back to Angel Land to find the newly restored Palutena bestow on him armor (perhaps raising his rank). However, if the secret ending is reached, Pit will mature and receive a kiss of gratitude from Palutena.

Despite being overshadowed by Metroid, Kid Icarus is regularly recognized as a high quality game. It was awarded the 84th slot in IGN's 2003 list of the Top 100 Games of All Time and was also inducted into the GameSpy Hall of Fame.[6] In Volume 199 of Nintendo Power, it was voted number 54 in a list of the top 200 Nintendo games of all time.[7] The protagonist of the game, Pit, was included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii. The game was also mentioned in the 2008 Jason Mraz song entitled "The Dynamo of Volition".

Super Smash Bros. series

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Pit appears as a collectable trophy. The description even says "Will Pit ever fight again?", hinting that Pit might appear in the next game.

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Pit's trophy in Melee

Finally, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Pit is a playable character. His character design within the game is said to be a "huge leap forward in his evolution," designed by the same character designer of Twilight Princess. Kid Icarus also appears as one of the Masterpieces available to demo. Here, the player as one minute and thirty seconds to play through the first level of the game. The game is also embodied in a stage; Angel Land itself appears in Skyworld and is featured prominently in the Subspace Emissary. As all the other fighters, Pit has his own trophy in Brawl, as does his Final Smash, Palutena's Army. Palutena and the Centurions, the warriors Pit must free from stone in the fortress levels of Kid Icarus, make an appearance as part of Pit's Final Smash, and Palutena is given her own trophy. Palutena's Bow also is given it's own trophy. Several stickers from Kid Icarus appear, such as Pit, the Grim Reaper, and the Eggplant Wizard.

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Eggplant Wizard Sticker