Is Kid Icarus even underrated?  Not sure, probably not, but we’re doing a segment on it anyways!

Kid Icarus was released in 1986  by Nintendo for the NES.  It was later re-released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan during 2004, and for the Wii’s Virtual Console online service in 2007. A sequel to this game was released for the Game Boy in 1991.

The main character, Pit, is also featured in Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii) and the 3DS incarnation of Smash as well.  This helped lend to the popularity of the series and paved the way for Kid Icarus: Uprising (the first sequel in the series since 1991).

Story

The backstory of the game is interesting, but only featured in the instruction booklet:  The game is set in Angel Land, which is a fantasy world with a Greek mythology theme.  Before the events of the game, Earth was ruled by the goddess, or Queen of light, Palutena, and the goddess, or Queen of darkness, Medusa.

Only the Kid Icarus Instruction Booklet had the story

Palutena bestowed the people with light to make them happy, but Medusa hated the humans, dried up their crop and turned them to stone. Enraged by this, Palutena transformed Medusa into a monster, and banished her to the underworld.

Out of revenge, Medusa conspired with the monsters of the underworld to take over Palutena’s residence, the sky temple.  She launched a surprise attack, and stole the three sacred treasures — the Mirror Shield, the Light Arrows and the Wings of Pegasus — which deprived Palutena’s army of its power.  After her soldiers had been turned to stone by Medusa, Palutena was defeated in battle, and imprisoned deep inside the sky temple. With her last power, she sent a bow and arrow to the young angel Pit. He escapes from his prison in the underworld, and sets out to save Palutena and Earth.

There are three main worlds to the game:  The underworld, the surface world, and the sky world.  In two of the worlds, the player climbs upwards, while the sides are unidirectional.  Because you’re allowed to go off the edge of the screen and show up on the other side, this adds a few different strategy considerations to the game.

Fighting in the Kid Icarus Underworld

Throughout the stages, the player may enter doors to access seven different types of chambers. Stores and black markets offer items in exchange for hearts, which are left behind by defeated monsters. Treasure chambers contain items, enemy nests give the player an opportunity to earn extra hearts, and hot springs restore Pit’s health.

Review

The game itself is an action-platformer with RPG elements.  The gameplay is very difficult, and  is one of the main criticisms of the game.  Other criticized elements of the game were the somewhat dated graphics.  Although, in our opinion, it still isn’t terrible for a game made in 1986.  The Legend of Zelda was also released in 1986, and the graphics are about the same to us.

You can be turned into an eggplant if you’re not careful

Other great elements of the game were the variety of popular gameplay mechanics from the time, and a very nice musical score.

Despite the tremendous difficulty of the game, it is still seen as one of the top 20 NES games by IGN.  It’s a surprisingly deep game that holds up well.  If you have the thirst for something that will test your skills and patience, give Kid Icarus a shot!

Currently, you can download Kid Icarus on the Nintendo 3DS eShop as a 3D Classic!

BONUS KID ICARUS LINKS!
.:  Game Genie Codes
.:  Walk-through/Guide
.:  Level Passwords