Kid Icarus second opinion review

Kid Icarus second opinion VC review
Review by: Fire Fox
Current platform: Nintendo Wii
Past platform: NES
Rated: E(everyone)
Number of players: 1
VC realease date: February 12, 2007
NES release date: 1987
Genre: Platform game

Introduction

Set in the world of Angel Land, Kid Icarus, originally released for the Nintendo Entertainmant System, has now graced the Nintendo Wii with one of 1980's greatest platforming games. The world of Angel Land is ruled over by two goddesses, the goddess of light, Palutena, and the goddess of darkness, Medusa. Medusa must of had some grudge against the humans, for she used her powers of evil and darkness to destroy all their crops. Infuriated at what Medusa had done, Palutena transformed Medusa into a disgusting monster. Now, if I were Medusa, I would be pretty ticked, and you can bet your life she was. She created an army of dark monsters to attack Palutenas home world, which is a palace in the sky. Her last hope was the young angel named Pit(who is making an appearance in 2008's Super Smash Bros. Brawl). She used the last bit of her power to grant Pit a magical bow and arrow. Now, you will move on and recapture the three sacred treasures that Medusa stole.

Gameplay

Now, the main style of this particular game is platforming type. The game that first comes to mind when platforming is mentioned is probably Super Mario Bros., and when you think Super Mario Bros., you would probably think a game that you go through left to right trying to make it to the goal. Kid Icarus tackles this winning concept and morphs it into something much different, yet very much the same as well. The main concept of moving through the level as you do in SMB is kept, but instead of the generic left to right formula, this game moves from bottom to top. You start at the bottom of a level and then work your way up. There are some levels in which you move left to right, and some where you can even go in all the directions. The tough part of this level scheme is that, like in Super Mario Bros., you can't go backwards in the level, and sense your going from bottom to top, if you miss a platform your jumping for, you will most likely fall to your untimely death.

Sound

Kid Icarus has a very memorable and influential musical score for its time period and system. The music has a very light and easy going sound to it, which will encourage the gamer to press on the adventure and to want to play more. The music will even be revived for Nintendo's upcoming Super Smash Bros. Brawl game, redone by Hirokazu Tanaka and Shougo Sakai. The song that they are remaking is The Underworld theme, which can be previewed here Kid Icarus: The Underworld Super Smash Bros. Brawl theme. As for the many sound effects, they also compliment the gameplay just as well as the music. The little sound of Pit's magical bow shooting works extremely well.

Controls

The controls for Kid Icarus are relatively easy to use. With the limited button options of the NES, things can't be too hard. The control options are as stated below.

A button -- Jump
B button -- Fire arrows
Directional pad up -- Point bow up
Directional pad left/right -- Walk
Directional pad down -- Duck
Start -- Pause
Select -- Use hammer (only in castle)

The only thing I had trouble using was the hammers, for I rarely think of using the select button as a use for items. Neglecting that little thing, the controls of Kid Icarus are quite easy to use; I think that an elementry school student would be able to understand.

Graphics

The graphics of Kid Icarus are some of the best of its time. The enemies of the game are fairly detailed and the levels look good to boot. At the time this game came out, you would be seeing graphics that are sipmple and that lack color. Kid Icarus had many different types of enemies that would vary and always surprise. They go from floating eyes to little walking frogs. The level designs are unique, but lacking in a certain few areas. One big thing is that the background to most of the levels are just one solid color. It's not that big of a deal, but it would be nice if we got a little bit more detail in it. The graphics for its time though are wondrous, and don't look half bad to this day.

Replay Value

Kid Icarus is a great game in terms of gameplay, and is a fairly difficult game as well. But the sad thing is, it only has 4 worlds in it, each consisting of 3 levels and one castle. You may say thats a lot, but in retrospect, it really isn't too much. If you compare it to games like Mario, which had 8 worlds consisting of 3 levels and a castle, or Zelda, which had far too many dungeons, you will see that the actual amount isn't as much as it may appear to be. The lack of levels may bring it down, but it makes up for that with difficulty. Another down side to replay value is that it doesn't save your data and uses a code system, so if you have the codes, then you can skip all the way to the last level.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Good game play
Great sound
good graphics

Cons

Short
No multiplayer

FINAL SCORES

Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Replay Value: 8/10
Controls: 8.5/10

Final Score: 44/50

Closing Comments

Kid Icarus is a wonderful game from its time period and is still a wonderful game today. I loved it, as did my brothers and even my father, who played it as a kid himself. The game is wonderful in all aspects and would make a great entry to anyone's VC library.

Here is a link to the original review, done by Colten.

Kid Icarus (Virtual Console)