Kid Icarus (series)

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Kid Icarus is a franchise of video games first published in 1986 by Nintendo. In Japan it is known as Hikari Shinwa (光神話, Hikari Shinwa^? "Myth of Light"). The games are set in a fantasy world, based on classical antiquity and Greek mythology, called "Angel Land". The gameplay consists of a mixture of action, adventure, and platform elements. The Kid Icarus franchise is known as a cult classic and sibling series to the Metroid franchise.

1 Gameplay
2 Games
3 History
4 In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
5 References

[edit] Gameplay

In the Kid Icarus games, the player controls a young angel named Pit (often erroneously referred to as "Kid Icarus"), the central hero and protagonist. Pit is called upon to rescue Palutena, the Goddess of Light. The main antagonist of the first game in the series is the Goddess of Darkness, Medusa, while in the sequel Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters is the demon, Orcos. The characters live in the mythical kingdom of Angel Land, which consists of three distinct areas: the Underworld (Medusa's realm), Overworld (mortal realm), and Skyworld (Palutena's realm, including the Palace in the Sky).

The series features several magic artifacts that play an important role in the story. Primary among them are the Three Sacred Treasures: the Mirror Shield, Arrow of Light, and Wings of Pegasus. These ancient relics, rightfully Palutena's, are deeply desired by forces wishing to tip the balance of power in their favor. Pit must recover these treasures to overcome the dark forces that have seized control of the kingdom. As his primary weapon, Pit wields another relic, the Sacred Bow of Palutena.

Many of the enemies are based upon mythological creatures. For example the boss of the first dungeon, Twinbellos, is apparently based upon Cerberus or Orthus. The second boss Hewdraw is a large snake-like dragon similar to the Hydra. A Siren also appears as an enemy late in the game. The most frequently seen enemies are the Eggplant Wizard, Shemum, and the Reaper. The Eggplant Wizard would later appear on the cartoon series Captain N: The Game Master as a prominent villain character. One of the enemy creatures in the game is based on Metroids. Known as Komayto (Kometo in Japanese, short for Little Metroid), they swooped down and attacked. According to the manual, they are supposed to have come from another planet. The Shulm is another enemy based from another series.

[edit] Games

The following is a list of the main installments of the series, with the original date of release and the platforms on which they appeared.

Game title	Release dates
Kid Icarus (Hikari Shinwa: Palutena no Kagamiin Japan)	Famicom Disk System/NES 18 December 1986 (Japan) July 1987 (North America) July 1987 (Europe) Game Boy Advance 10 August 2004 (Japan) Wii Virtual Console 23 January 2007 (Japan) 12 February 2007 (North America) 23 February 2007 (Europe, Oceania)
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters	Game Boy November 1991 (North America) 21 May 1992 (Europe)

[edit] History

Kid Icarus debuted during the golden era of the NES. A Game Boy sequel, Of Myths and Monsters, was released in 1991. The NES version of Kid Icarus was released for the Wii's Virtual Console on 2007-02-12 for 500 Wii Points.

Since Pit's return in Super Smash Bros. Brawl there have been numerous calls to revive the Kid Icarus series, particularly by hardcore Nintendo fans. There have been rumors that one of Nintendo's previous second-party developers Factor 5, who designed games on the Wii's predecessor, the GameCube, and assisted Nintendo in helping develop the Gamecube are creating a Kid Icarus game for the Wii.

Whilst the Wii was then code named the Nintendo Revolution, Factor 5 announced a Pilotwings sequel.^[1] However its unknown if the game has been shelved or canceled altogether. In January 2008 Factor 5 announced that they are creating an entirely new game for the Wii with an entirely new game engine. Gaming site IGN reported that Factor 5's new title is an "altogether different beast" than Pilotwings.^[2] Rumors then spread that Factor 5 are currently developing a new Kid Icarus Wii game from the ground up after a "credible source" at Factor 5 leaked the information about the game.^[3]^[4] Further rumours were ignited in May 2008 after character designs for a Kid Icarus game developed by Factor 5 were leaked.^[5] Nintendo did not confirm or deny the rumours of a Kid Icarus game developed by Factor 5 and simply said "no comment". A possibility is that a Kid Icarus game could be revealed at E3 in July 2008. ^[6]

In a 2005 interview with IGN, game designer Shigeru Miyamoto hinted that a new Kid Icarus game could be released for the Wii console. "Well who knows? [...] Okay, we'll get the Eggplant Wizard coming back" Miyamoto stated.^[7] At E³ 2006, after introducing Super Smash Bros. Brawl (in which Pit is a playable character), Miyamoto suggested that Kid Icarus could very possibly appear on the Wii at a later date.^[8]

[edit] In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

At the E3 in 2001, developer HAL that was making Super Smash Bros. Melee, showed a screen with Pit, causing IGN to speculate that he may be a playable character.^[9]

Pit is a playable character in the Nintendo fighting game Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He was revealed as a playable character at the 2006 E³. As with all Smash Bros. characters Pit's move set and features reference the Kid Icarus series. His main weapon is the Bow of Palutena. He once again uses Arrows of Light (now called Palutena Arrows) as he did in Kid Icarus. For melee attacks, he can disassemble his bow and uses it as a pair of blades. He can use the Wings of Icarus to fly for short distances and is able to jump multiple times with his wings. This may be a reference to Pit's flying in the final stage of Kid Icarus or his ability to slow his descent in Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters. Palutena herself plays a role in Pit's Final Smash attack, "Palutena's Army," in which Pit calls to the goddess for aid. Palutena appears, towering over the battlefield, and sends Centurions to attack the other fighters. This attack is similar to the original game where Pit could use a hammer to release Centurions from stone and assist him in the boss battles.

The Kid Icarus stage is titled Skyworld the same as the third level of the original Kid Icarus. It features a palace floating within the clouds, similar to the large bricks and platforms that hovered in the original series. The architecture is similar to ancient Greek architecture in keeping with the series tradition. A temple with a statue of Palutena can be seen floating in the background. The platforms of the stage can be broken, leaving only clouds which the player can fall through. This has not been seen in previous Kid Icarus games but could be related to Pit's ability to jump through cloud platforms.