Kid Icarus
Introduction
I wonder how many gamers have played this wonderful game before? It�s a Nintendo classic that hardly anyone knows about! Kid Icarus is an action platform game set in a Greek mythological background. Its graphic and gameplay is so beautifully designed that I feel that Kid Icarus even surpasses the Mario Brothers of its time.
Story
In the kingdom called �Angel Land�, the evil goddess Medusa has imprisoned the Goddess of Light, Palutena, and devoid the kingdom of any light. She has also stolen the Three Sacred Treasures to prevent any other gods from using them against her. In this worrying situation, Palutena enrolls the help of Pit, the savior in the story, to find all the Sacred Treasures and defeat Medusa before she loses her strength. With his trusty bow and arrow, Pit goes on a long quest to rescue the Goddess.
Unique Characteristics
Pit has to progress through 3 large Worlds, the Underworld, the Over World and the Sky World in the search for the Three Sacred Treasures. A Fortress awaits him at the end of the worlds, where Pit needs to navigate through the maze and defeat the three Fortress Guardians - Twinbellows, Hydra and Pandora - to obtain each of the Sacred Treasures locked up there. After beating all the worlds, Pit would have collected all treasures and prepare himself for the final confrontation with Medusa. Equipped with the Mirror Shield, the Arrow of Light and the Wings of Pegasus, Pit flies off to the heavens to free the Goddess of Light Palutena, from the evil goddess' grasp. The last stage of the game is surprisingly beautiful and has a gameplay very different from the rest of the 3 Worlds. It will surprise any player who has managed to progress to this last stage.
One of the unique features include several Market Places where Pit can buy his tools needed to progress through the game. Another interesting characteristic is that there are invincible and irritating enemies called the Pluton and the Pluton Fly which will steal valuable items such as his main weapon from Pit if he is not careful. If his weapon is stolen, then Pit cannot attack his enemies and needs to redeem them from the Black Market at very high prices. There is also the comical Treasure Rooms where Pit is offered to break 8 vases to get the numerous treasures within. But hidden within one vase is the God of Poverty. If Pit breaks this vase, the God of Poverty will emerge and mock at him, causing him to lose everything he already uncovered. There is also a room where Zeus will test Pit with his shooting skills. If Pit can pass the test, Zeus will reward him with a special weapon of his choice.
A funny but irritating feature of the game is found in the Fortresses, where there are several evil eggplant wizards that can transform Pit into eggplants. Once being cursed, Pit would lose the ability to fire his bow. He would be at the mercy of the monsters unless he could find a chamber where the nurse resides in to cure him of the curse. Also, before Pit could confront the Fortress Guardian, he would have a chance of freeing several stone Centurions that are trapped in different places of the maze with stone mallets. When fighting the boss, these Centurions will aid him greatly in his fight. A thing worth mentioning is that the Fortress maze is surprisingly complex for a game this young. They are not easy to navigate so not everybody has the patience to solve its puzzles and to complete the game.
Last Word
To sum it all up, Kid Icarus is definitely a classic if you look at how very beautiful the game is and how complex the maze is built upon. This game may not be
famous but I feel it is a much better game than Mario Bros in many ways.
Rating: 8.5 (at it�s time), 7.5 (now) |
