Kid Icarus (series)

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Kid Icarus
Logo since 2012
Genre(s)Platform
Developer(s)Nintendo R&D1 (1986–1991)
Tose (1986-1991)
Project Sora (2012)
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Platform(s)Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Nintendo 3DS
First releaseKid Icarus
December 19, 1986
Latest releaseKid Icarus: Uprising
March 22, 2012

Kid Icarus[a] is a series of fantasy video games by Nintendo. The games are set in a Greco-Roman fantasy world called "Angel Land", which is a fictional setting that's loosely based on Greek mythology. The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, adventure and platform elements. The Kid Icarus franchise is known as a cult classic and a sibling series to the Metroid franchise.

The first installment, Kid Icarus, was released in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System and was received to critical acclaim despite poor sales. A sequel, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, was later released for the Game Boy. After a 20-year hiatus, Kid Icarus: Uprising was released in 2012 for the Nintendo 3DS handheld.

Characters[edit]

Main protagonist[edit]

Pit, the protagonist of the Kid Icarus series

Pit initially appeared in Kid Icarus (1986). In the game, Pit plays a role in rescuing the Goddess of Light, Palutena, from the clutches of the wicked Medusa. Pit escapes his Underworld prison and descends the steep cliffs, fending off the armies of Medusa's troops, including snakes and the deadly God of Death. Along the way, Pit overcomes Zeus' challenges and gains stronger weapons to combat the Underworld's hordes. In conclusion, once Pit had completed the stage, he would explore a gigantic stronghold filled with traps and puzzles.[1] In Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (1991). Palutena's nightmare is interpreted by a fate teller as an imminent invasion by the demon Orcos and his goons. The goddess summons Pit, the leader of her army, and tells him to report for specific instructions so that he might use the priceless treasures of Angel Land. While Pit is on his quest, Palutena has these under the watchful eyes of three fortress guards to ensure their safety from Orcos. After Pit defeats the guards and finishes his training, Palutena gives him the priceless wealth.[2] Pit reappears in Kid Icarus: Uprising (2012) following a twenty five years break, collaborating with Palutena to vanquish Medusa and her army.[3]

Pit's design was vastly updated for his inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and has become his standard design since then. According to Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of the Super Smash Bros. series and director of Kid Icarus: Uprising, he initially alternated between using Pit's 2D design, his cartoonish art design, and a 3D redesign for Pit's inclusion before ultimately settling on the latter.[4] Sakurai stated that Pit's redesign was based on the concept of how his appearance would have slowly modernized had the Kid Icarus series remained active, much like how Link's design has done throughout the various subsequent installments within The Legend of Zelda series.[4] In comparison to his previous design, Pit now appears approximately 13 years old in angel years.[5]

GamePro identified Pit's gameplay mechanics as taking elements from three of Nintendo's biggest franchises; Mario's jump, Link's ability-enhancing objects, and Samus Aran's projectiles.[6] Pit takes inspiration from Greek mythology, with IGN's Lucas M. Thomas viewing him as a combination between Eros and Icarus. Thomas identified both his bow and his wings were his most iconic characteristics.[7] He was featured as the front cover in Nintendo Blast's 2012 Portuguese book titled "Nintendo Blast Ano 3 Edições 25 a 36".[8] GameZone's Vito Gesualdi considers Pit a combination of The Legend of Zelda's Link, and American filmmaker Woody Allen saying that "Pit is equal parts Link and Woody Allen, a handsome young warrior with all the self-confidence of our favorite neurotic Jew".[9]

Other characters[edit]

There are a number of regular characters in the Kid Icarus series. Palutena, Viridi, Hades, Magnus, Dark Pit, Medusa, Pyrrhon, Pandora, Arlon, Poseidon, Phosphora, Dyntos, Thanatos, Cragalanche, and the Eggplant Wizard are also a few additional common characters in the series besides Pit.

Development[edit]

Release timeline
1986Kid Icarus
1987–1990
1991Of Myths and Monsters
1992–2011
2012Uprising

After Nintendo's release of commercially successful platforming games in the 1980s, including Donkey Kong, Ice Climber, and Super Mario Bros., as well as the critically acclaimed adventure game The Legend of Zelda, the company was interested in entering a different genre. They began work on an action game. The game was called Metroid. Nintendo released Metroid for the Family Computer Disk System on August 6, 1986, and on the Nintendo Entertainment System one year later.[10] Kid Icarus was developed alongside as its sister game, as it shares elements and programmers with Metroid.[11] The game was produced by the same man who produced Metroid, Gunpei Yokoi, who previously produced Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior (1982) and the original Mario Bros. (1983), and it featured music written by Hirokazu Tanaka, who also composed for Duck Hunt (1984).[10]

After the release of its handheld sequel, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, the series received no new installments for two decades. During 1990s, a different gaming magazine claimed another project named Kid Icarus: Angel Land Story, sometimes called Super Kid Icarus, to exist in-work for Super NES though it is unknown if the source is real or not.[12][13] An installment for the Nintendo 64 was rumored to be in development,[14] but was never released. During early 2000s, Capcom moved their resources to redo Dead Phoenix into new untitled Icarus game, to debut on GameCube.[15] A series revival was planned for Wii, developed by Factor 5, but this appearance eventually led to cancellation.[16] During the E3 event in 2010, Nintendo unveiled Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS, the first game in the series since 1991.[17]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Known in Japan as Light Mythology: Palutena's Mirror (光神話 パルテナの鏡, Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami)

References[edit]

  1. ^ ""Making of a Myth: The Grueling Development of the Original Kid Icarus"". Nintendo World Report. March 19, 2012. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  2. ^ The Tale of Kid Icarus". Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Instruction Booklet. Nintendo. November 1991.
  3. ^ ""Kid Icarus essentials All the facts you should know before Pits return"". GamesRadar+. March 17, 2012. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Sakurai Speaks on Brawl Character Development". Archived from the original on 2024-01-19. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  5. ^ 4Gamer: プロジェクトソラの桜井政博氏が，新しいパルテナを解説！ニンテンドー3DSタイトル「新・光神話 パルテナの鏡」プレゼンテーションレポート Archived 2024-01-19 at the Wayback Machine (Japanese)
  6. ^ "Top 10 games deserving of a remake". GamePro. 2007-10-25. Archived from the original on 2010-09-02. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
  7. ^ Lucas M. Thomas (26 January 2011). "You Don't Know Kid Icarus". IGN. Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  8. ^ Nintendo Blast Ano 3 Edições 25 a 36 [Nintendo Blast Year 3 Editions 25 to 36]. Retrieved June 3, 2024 – via Apple Books.
  9. ^ "Kid Icarus: Uprising review". GameZone. May 4, 2012. Archived from the original on June 8, 2015. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
  10. ^ a b Metroid Retrospective Part 1 (video). GameTrailers. Defy Media. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  11. ^ Thomas, Luca M (2007-03-06). "Kid Icarus VC Review". IGN. Archived from the original on March 9, 2007. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
  12. ^ "Gamefan Volume 4 Issue 03 March 1996". p. 93. Retrieved June 3, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  13. ^ "10 Cancelled Super Nes Games That You May be Unaware of, Though I Don't Care if You Did Know About Them Already". Archived from the original on 2022-09-11. Retrieved 2022-09-11.
  14. ^ "Gaming Gossip". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 92. Ziff Davis. March 1997. p. 28.
  15. ^ "Missing in Action -- the Lost Games of GameCube: Dead Phoenix - IGN". IGN. Archived from the original on 17 December 2010. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  16. ^ "Factor 5's Lost Wii Kid Icarus Boasted a Dark Hero with 60fps Airborne Action". Nintendo Life. 19 September 2015. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  17. ^ ""E3 2010: Masahiro Sakurai Makes Kid Icarus Fly Again on the Nintendo 3DS"". Time. June 28, 2010. Archived from the original on December 1, 2023. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
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