Kid Icarus (universe): Difference between revisions

{{Title|''Kid Icarus'' (universe)}}

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 early 2000s, Capcom moved their resources to redo their ''Dead Phoenix'' project into a new, untitled ''Kid Icarus'' game for the GameCube, and 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.

Desiring a balance between story-based gameplay hindrances and the plot-required triumph of good over evil, Sakurai wrote the story and script for the game, entitled ''Kid Icarus: Uprising'', by himself. As a result, characters' roles and personalities were shaped by their role in the game's structure, dialogue was able to be perfectly meshed with the story and music, and while the game retained influence from Greek mythology, Sakurai did not base the story on anything specific and avoided portraying a simple "good versus evil" storyline. Several outside illustrators were hired to help design characters and locations in a manga-inspired art style, and in 2009, the development studio Project Sora was established for the game's development. The first game developed for the 3DS, ''Uprising'' was intended to be distinct from the previous ''Kid Icarus'' games, being a 3D shooter divided between airborne rail shooter segments and ground-based third-person shooter segments as opposed to the previous games' side-scrolling 2D platforming gameplay, and contrasting the original game's notorious difficulty with adjustable difficulty settings and a relatively simple control scheme, including more responsive touchscreen controls than previous first-person shooter games on the DS. Music was composed by a team consisting of Japanese composers who had prominently contributed to ''Brawl''; the team was directed by Takahiro Nishi and orchestration was handled by Yasunori Mitsuda. The game was officially announced at Nintendo's E3 2010 conference, immediately following the announcement of the Nintendo 3DS. To promote the game, Nintendo collaborated with three Japanese animation studios to produce a series of animated shorts based on the ''Kid Icarus'' characters and setting, consisting of Studio 4°C's ''Medusa's Revenge'', Shaft's two-part ''Palutena's Revolting Dinner'', and Production I.G's three-part ''Thanatos Rising'', all supervised by Sakurai and streamed in Japan, Europe, and North America through the 3DS's Nintendo Video service one week before the game's respective release in each region. ''Kid Icarus: Uprising'' was released in March 2012, featuring similar character designs to the ones introduced in ''Brawl'', a fully voiced cast, story-driven cutscenes, and a more whimsical tone to the story and dialogue. It was met with critical acclaim, as critics praised the attention to detail, mechanical flexibility, general gameplay balance, and voiced dialogue, but criticized its difficult control scheme and linear structure. The game was also a financial success, selling over 200,000 units in the first month alone and boosting the sales of the 3DS by the thousands; Nintendo even cited ''Uprising'' among other games like ''Fire Emblem: Awakening'' for suddenly increased profits. By April 2013, ''Uprising'' had sold 1.18 million units, making it the tenth best-selling 3DS title at the time.

 

The ''Kid Icarus'' games are set in a multi-plane Grecian fantasy world called Angel Land, where a plane hanging above the mortal Overworld is the light realm of [[Skyworld]], ruled by the Goddess of Light, Palutena. In the original game, Medusa, the Goddess of Darkness banished to the hellish plane of the Underworld, conquers Angel Land and imprisons Palutena. Captured by Medusa's army, the young angel Pit — who is comedically described by the game's title as a child equivalent of the Greek myth of the winged man Icarus — escapes from the Underworld and sets out on a quest to defeat Medusa by gathering Palutena's [[Three Sacred Treasures]]. In ''Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters'', Pit battles the demon Orcos, who has invaded Angel Land, to prove that he is worthy of wielding the Three Sacred Treasures. Many years later in ''Kid Icarus: Uprising'', Pit must battle the resurrected Medusa and her minions but ends up thrust into a much stranger, multi-sided conflict involving an expanded cast of allies and enemies, several of which are drawn from other figures and monsters in Greek mythology. New characters introduced in ''Uprising'' include [[Magnus]], a human mercenary who teams up with Pit on multiple occasions; Dark Pit, a brooding copy of Pit created from Pandora's Mirror of Truth; Hades, the true ruler of the Underworld and the main villain behind Medusa's resurrection; and [[Viridi]], the Goddess of Nature who commands the Forces of Nature and attempts to wipe out humanity with her Reset Bombs. Pit's fights take him through human cities under siege, temples and caverns in the Underworld, Palutena's residence in the Skyworld, and even outer space.

*[[File:Icon-skyworld.gif|right|link=Skyworld]]'''[[Skyworld]]''' ([[Starter stage|Starter]]): This stage, set in the eponymous realm of the franchise's world, features several platforms that can actually be shattered by characters attacks, but they become replaced by clouds that substitute as platforms right after, although the clouds are pass-through.{{clr}}

While there were no ''Kid Icarus'' items in ''Brawl'', five are introduced in ''SSB4''. Additionally, a new item called the [[Drill]] bears a strong resemblances to the {{s|icaruspedia|Drill Arm}} from ''Kid Icarus: Uprising''. However, it is considered part of the {{uv|Super Smash Bros.}} universe in-game. Two Assist Trophies have also been added.

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} Several Centurions from this game make up [[Palutena’s Army]], which is Pit's [[Final Smash]] in ''Brawl''.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} The [[Three Sacred Treasures]] debuts in this game and appears as Pit's Final Smash in ''Smash 4''.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} [[Reaper]] appears as an enemy.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-3DS}} [[Monoeye]], [[Daphne]], and [[Zuree]] appear in [[Smash Run]].

**{{GameIcon|SSBM}} Pit appears as a trophy using his classic design.

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} The Centurions appears as trophies in ''Brawl'' as part of the Palutena's Army trophy, as well as in ''Smash For 3DS''.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-3DS}} Monoeye, Daphne, Zuree, Twinbellows, Thanatos, Mik, Specknose, and Pit (Eggplant) appear as trophies.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-WiiU}} Palutena's Temple appears as a trophy.

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} Pit, Eggplant Wizard, and Reaper & Reapette appear as stickers.

**{{GameIcon|SSBU}} Three Sacred Treasures, Medusa, Hewdraw, Pandora, Thanatos, Specknose, Centurion, Twinbellows, Reaper & Reapette and Eggplant Wizard appear as spirits.

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Title Theme - Kid Icarus}}'''": A remix of the original game's title screen theme. This track is also played during Pit's Classic Mode credits.

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Underworld}}'''": A small medley consisting of a remixed version of the Underworld level theme and the Grim Reaper's theme.

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Overworld}}'''": This is a redone version of the Overworld level theme from the game. It is not the Skyworld level theme as the name would suggest--the track is mislabeled in ''Brawl''.

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Kid Icarus Original Medley}}'''": A medley made up of numerous parts of several tracks taken directly from the game, including the title theme, the fortress theme, and the Skyworld level theme, among many others.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-3DS}} "'''Death God Theme'''": Sourced from this game, it's the theme that plays exclusively when being spotted by a Reaper in Smash Run.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-WIIU}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Other|Famicom Medley}}'''"  (''for 3DS / Wii U''): Contains a section of "Underworld".

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} "'''[[Victory theme#Kid Icarus Victory Theme|Victory! Kid Icarus Series]]'''": Derived from the original game's title screen theme, this fanfare was not actually heard in this form in the first two Kid Icarus titles, but an orchestrated remix of it was included as the victory fanfare for the multiplayer portion of ''Kid Icarus Uprising''.

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} Certain elements of Pit's modern design come from this game, such as his laurel crown.

**{{GameIcon|SSBB}} Pit's artwork from this game appears as a sticker.

**{{GameIcon|SSBU}} [[Lightning Chariot]] debut in this game and appears as Pit's Final Smash in ''Ultimate''.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} A costume based on [[Viridi]] appears for the {{SSB4|Mii Swordfighter}} in ''Smash 4'' and ''Ultimate''.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-3DS}} [[Skuttler]], [[Skuttler Cannoneer]], [[Skuttler Mage]], [[Orne]], [[Nutski]], [[Lurchthorn]], [[Lethinium]], [[Boom Stomper]], [[Mahva]], [[Bumpety Bomb]], [[Megonta]], [[Flage]], and [[Mimicutie]] appear in Smash Run.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} [[Magnus]] and [[Phosphora]] appear as Assist Trophies.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-3DS}} Palutena Bow, Guardian Orbitars, Upper Dash Arm, Viridi, Fiends Cauldron, Great Reaper, Galactic Fiend Kraken, Hades, Reset Bomb, Cragalanche, Arlon, Pyrrhon, Chariot Master, Chaos Kin, Pseudo-Palutena, and Space Pirate Ship appear as trophies.

**{{GameIcon|SSBU}} Hades, Hades (Final Form), Medusa (Kid Icarus: Uprising), Amazon Pandora, Lurchthorn, Magnus, Daybreak, Pseudo-Palutena, Viridi, Phosphora, Mimicutie, and Dyntos appear as spirits.

**{{GameIcon|SSBU}} The spirits of the Three Sacred Treasures, Medusa, Hewdraw, Pandora, Thanatos, Centurion, Twinbellows, Reaper & Reapette, and Eggplant Wizard use artwork from this game.

**{{GameIcon|SSBU}} Pit and Palutena appear as fighter spirits using their artwork from this game.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|In the Space-Pirate Ship}}'''": An arrangement of "Space-Pirate Ship" and "In the Space-Pirate Ship".

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Wrath of the Reset Bomb}}'''": An arrangement of "Viridi, Goddess of Nature", "Reset Bomb Forest", and "Wrath of the Reset Bomb". It is included on Disc 1 of ''[[A Smashing Soundtrack]]''.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-WiiU}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Destroyed Skyworld}}'''": An arrangement of "Destroyed Skyworld". It is included on Disc 2 of ''A Smashing Soundtrack'' and is featured in the trailer "Goddess of Light".

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-WiiU}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Lightning Chariot Base}}'''": An arrangement of "Lightning Chariot Base".

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Boss Fight 1 - Kid Icarus: Uprising}}'''": Sourced from the game.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Magnus's Theme}}'''": Sourced from the game.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-3DS}} "'''{{SSB4MusicLink|Kid Icarus|Dark Pit}}'''": Sourced from the game, it plays exclusively in Smash Run.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Dark Pit's Theme}}'''": Sourced from the game, it is included on Disc 1 of ''A Smashing Soundtrack''.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Hades's Infernal Theme}}'''": Sourced from the game.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-3DS}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Wrath of the Reset Bomb}}'''": Sourced from the game, it plays exclusively in Smash Run.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} "'''{{SSBUMusicLink|Kid Icarus|Thunder Cloud Temple}}'''": Sourced from the game.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4-3DS}} "'''Orne Theme'''": Sourced from this game, it's the theme that plays exclusively when within close proximity of an Orne in Smash Run.

**{{GameIcon|SSB4}} "'''[[Victory theme#Dark Pit Victory Theme|Victory! Dark Pit]]'''": The first few bars of the "Dark Pit's Theme".

*''Kid Icarus'', {{uv|Fire Emblem}}, and {{uv|Xenoblade Chronicles}} are the only universes to feature weapons as their series symbols.