A Look Back At The Three Kid Icarus Games

A Look Back At The Three Kid Icarus Games
July 7, 2022
By Ryan Porzl

Anybody who knows their video game history (or read any of my recent anniversary articles), you know 1986 was a historic year for video games with franchises such as The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Castlevania making their debuts in the land of the rising sun. However, right before the year was up, another new franchise debuted though sadly, never had the same impact as the others. That franchise was Kid Icarus. The series tells the story of an angel named Pit who wields a bow and arrow and usually must journey through certain lands to enhance himself in order to defeat an evil threat. While the franchise hasn't gotten the same love as other Nintendo counterparts, it still has an interesting legacy and some characters have become playable in the Super Smash Bros. games. This past November/December was the 35th Anniversary of the original Kid Icarus and the 30th Anniversary of Of Myths and Monsters while this year marks the 10th Anniversary of Uprising. As a result, we'll take a look at the three Kid Icarus games

Characters-

Pit (Pitto in Japan)- The protagonist. Pit is an angel boy from Skyworld who wields a bow that shoots light arrows. He's both the servant of Palutena as well as the head of her army. Due to his use of a bow and arrow, Pit prefers to fight from afar with his arrows but he is more than capable of melee combat if he needs to. The Kid Icarus games usually see Pit journey to different areas and gain more strength in order to defeat an evil being who threatens Skyworld.

Palutena (Parutena in Japan)- The wise and kindhearted Goddess of Light who Pit serves. She's the ruler of Skyworld and serves as both a guardian for humans and a deity for Pit and the centurions. In earlier appearances, she's usually someone Pit needs to save but later on becomes a useful ally. Before the events of the series, Palutena previously ruled Skyworld alongside Medusa until banishing her to the underworld due to her cruelty against humanity.

Medusa (Medyusa in Japan)- The antagonist of Kid Icarus and one of the antagonist of Kid Icarus: Uprising. Medusa was once the co-ruler of Skyworld alongside Palutena but a series of evil deeds against humanity. After her banishment, she eventually launches an attack on Skyland including turning the centurion forces into stone, steals the three sacred treasures, and imprisons Pelutena during the events of the first game. In Uprising, she's eventually revived by Hades and seeks revenge against Pit and Pelutena for her previous defeat. 

Orcos- The antagonist of Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters. Orcos is a warmonger, archdemon, and ruler of Evil Land who launches an attack on Angel Land and petrifies Palutena. His attack results in Pit's journey to get stronger and then venture through Sky Palace in order to defeat him. 

Dark Pit (Black Pit or Burakku Pitto in Japan)- Pit's rival and doppelganger who was created after Pit destroyed the mirror of truth during the events of Uprising. To no surprise, Dark Pit has a different personality and beliefs than Pit as he's more serious and is more aggressive during battle. He also believes in being his own person instead of being a servant like Pit is to Palutena. Though a rival and occasional opponent, there are times when Dark Pit will occasional assist Pit when needed.

Magnus (Maguna in Japan)- A tall and powerful human Pit encounters in Uprising. Magnus wields a big and powerful sword as his main weapon and is considered the mightiest of humans. He was part of a group of mercenaries with Gaol before the events of the game but Gaol's weak heart saw her succumb to the Underworld Army. Magnus serves as an ally of Pit during the events of Uprising and at one point fights him to test Pit's strength and skill so he can acquire the Great Sacred Treasure. Magnus is mostly serious but can be sarcastic at times.

Dark Lord Gaol (Demon King Gainas or Maou Gainasu in Japan)- A dark lord dressed as a knight, Pit first encounters Gaol early on in his adventure during Uprising. Initially, it's thought Gaol is a man but she's actually a woman who once was part of a mercenary group that Magnus was apart of only to succumb to the Underworld Army. She's eventually freed from her curse and at one point, fights Pit during his trial to gain the Great Sacred Treasure.

Hades (Hadesu in Japan)- The antagonist of Kid Icarus: Uprising, Hades is responsible for the revival of Medusa and largely operates in the shadows as he uses the revived Medusa to keep Pit and Palutena busy while he gathers souls of human which he is able to store in his realm and he achieves this goal by manipulating the nations against each other, thus starting wars. Like many major villains, Hades is evil and devoid of compassion though he hides this by showcasing a side that shows a sense of humor and a bit of a showman by showing a bombastic side.

Kid Icarus (1986)

Plot-

The game's story begins before the events of the game. It takes place in Angel Land which is inspired by Greek Mythology. Originally, Earth was ruled by Palutena who was the Goddess of Light and Medusa who was the Goddess of Darkness until Medusa went after humans by turning them to stone and drying up their crops which forced Palutena to turn Medusa into a monster and banished her to the Underworld. Seeking revenge, Medusa struck an alliance with monsters from the Underworld and launched an attack on the Palace in the Sky while stealing three sacred treasures. With her power and in a last attempt to stop Medsua, Palutena sends a bow and arrow to Pit, a young angel boy who was imprisoned in the Underworld. Pit then sets out to escape the Underworld and save the Palace in the Sky. Along the way, Pit travels to three worlds and fights his way through them to get stronger and retrieve the three stolen treasures from the Fortress Gatekeepers. After succeeding, Pit ventures to the Palace in the Sky equipped with the treasures, challenges, and defeats Medusa while saving Palutena.

Gameplay-

Kid Icarus mostly plays like a side-scrolling platformer for most of the first three worlds while the last part of the first three worlds change to a labyrinth with various rooms including a boss which, upon defeating, Pit will get one of the three sacred treasures. The fourth and final world has a flying/shooter gameplay. The game features four worlds which are Underworld, Overworld, Skyworld, and Palace in the Sky with the first three levels having four parts. Most of the game sees Pit start at the beginning of a level and must trek to the end be it going from left to right or starting at the bottom and having to climb platforms to make it to the end. Pit is equipped with a bow and arrow as a weapon with a short distance but as he gains levels, he can eventually acquire and use better weapons, some of which can be purchased. Along with shooting arrows, Pit can also duck, jump, and drop down from a high area by ducking. In each of the first three parts, there's rooms that Pit can enter which either features training or a shop to buy weapons or hot springs to replenish his health or a treasure chamber to get items. Pit also starts with one health bar which equals 7 hit points but his health bar will increase by leveling up. Pit can go up to five levels in the game which is done by achieving a high score. The player earns points for defeating enemies and can check their points in the pause menu. At the end of every part, the points the player got throughout that section of the world is counted and if the player gains enough points combined, they gain a level. To get to level 2, the player must reach a combined 20,000 points. For level 3, the player must reach a combined 50,000 points. For level 4, the player must reach a combined 100,000 points. For level 5, the player must reach a combined 200,000 points. The more levels the player gains, the more equipment Pit can use which allow him to be stronger as well as shoot farther and his life bar grows allowing him to take more hits from enemies.

During the first three stages of the first three worlds, Pit can gain hearts by killing enemies but the hearts are currency instead of health items. He can also find a harp which turns enemies into hammers to collect but only for a few seconds. The hammers become important in the fourth stage. Pit can also occasional find chalices for health as well. The fourth stage is a fortress like stage which sees Pit try to navigate it and eventually reach the boss of the level. Along the way, the player can use whatever mallets they collected to free stoned centurions who assist Pit in the boss battle. The more centurions he frees, the more assist him, making the boss battles a bit easier. However, it's during the fortress stages where the most famous enemy in Kid Icarus appears which are Eggplant Wizards. The Eggplant Wizards are enemies who can shoot eggplant projectiles at Pit. If they hit him, he becomes an eggplant with legs and he can't attack enemies. If this happens, the player needs to go to a hospital room to be cured. The fortress stages are usually the same with hospital to cure Pit from the eggplant curse, a hot springs to replenish health, a shop, and stone centurions to free. In the fortress, Pit can acquire three items such as a torch, a pencil, and a check sheet which allows Pit to map out the fortress which makes it easier to navigate.

To help Pit, the player can buy items to assist Pit on his quest which can be purchased with hearts. He can buy at least three items at a time providing he has enough hearts. They include water of life and water barrels with the water of life replenishing Pit's health while barrels allow him to carry eight instead of one. He can also buy regular items like an angel's feather, harp, and mallets. As mentioned, the mallets are used in the fortress stages to free centurions in stone while harps turn enemies into mallets for a few seconds. An angel's feather allows Pit to fly and save him from falling down holes. Pit can also get a credit card in treasure chambers after outsmarting the God of Poverty. With a credit card, Pit can buy an item and it will be put on his debit card. However, his heart count will be reduced to zero and he'll have to collect enough hearts to pay off his debt or will be unable to buy anything else. There's also weapons like the Arrow of Strength, Fire Arrow, Protective Crystal, and Sacred Bow. Pit starts with Arrows of Strength for his bow but as he gains levels, the arrows become bronze (level 2), silver (level 3), gold (level 4), and sacred (level 5). Each arrow is as strong as his level so a regular arrow of strength takes 1 HP while sacred arrows take 5 HP from enemies. Fire Arrows are arrows with a fireball on them and are good at thinning out herds of villains but needs to be activated. Pit can get them in training chambers. A Protective Crystal is two crystals that revolve around Pit and serve as a protective barrier. A Sacred Bow allows Pit to fire arrows farther and faster. However, as mentioned, certain items can't be used until Pit has a high enough level.

Like Metroid, which came out the same year, Kid Icarus only gives the player one life and if they lose it then it's game over. However, like Metroid, the game features a password system which allows the player to continue from the last stage and all their items but only the NES versions while players can save their game on the Famicom in Japan. However, the game has unlimited continues so if the player dies then they start in the beginning of the stage they lost in.

The NES version has at least five different endings depending on how well the player did while the Famicom Disk System doesn't feature the best version from the English versions while also having another bad ending. In the NES version, the worst ending sees Pit only rewarded with a helmet while the best sees him get a kiss from Palutena and becomes an adult while the worst ending in Japanese sees Pit become a specknose (one of the enemies in the game) and becomes an adult in the best ending but doesn't get a kiss.

Behind the Scenes-
Kid Icarus was directed by Satoru Okada who was the creator of the Game Boy and the general manager of Nintendo's Research & Engineering which was the division that worked on Nintendo's portable systems. He was also the chief director of Metroid and director of Super Mario Land. The producer was Gunpei Yokoi who was a video game legend that created the cross pad or d-pad seen in video game controllers as well as the Game n' Watch portable system and came up with the original design of the Game Boy. He was a producer of Metroid and served as a mentor to fellow video game legend Shigeru Miyamoto and helped him get Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. off the ground. The composer was Hirokazu Tanaka who previously composed Metroid and later went on to compose for Super Mario Land, Dr. Mario, Tetris, and the first two Mother/Earthbound games. He also helped design and program the Famicom and Nintendo accessories like the Game Boy Camera, Game Boy Printer, and the NES Zapper. One of the designers was Yoshio Sakamoto who previously served as a graphic designer for both Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. while serving as a designer for Metroid. He later did work for the Metroid and Wario franchises. Another designer was Toru Osawa with Kid Icarus being the first game he designed and was the only one that was apart of the project from the beginning. One of the artists was Makoto Kanoh who previously served as a concept designer for Metroid and later served as a designer for Metroid II: Return of Samus and Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins while serving as a producer for Super Metroid and contributed artwork for Pokemon Stadium.

Original plans for Osawa was for Kid Icarus to be an action game with RPG elements while he was fond of Greek mythology so he wrote a story based off it. Osawa drew the pixel art and the technical specifications used as the basis for the playable prototype. As mentioned above, many of the crew worked on Metroid which came out months before Kid Icarus and eventually began working on Kid Icarus upon the completion of Metroid. Another original plan for the game by Osawa was to make it a serious game but after objections from the team, he agreed to have more humorous stuff added which includes the eggplant wizards, moving nose enemies, and the use of credit cards.

In order for the game to make it's deadline, the team worked long hours and even slept in the office to the point where they used the curtains to stay warm as the building had no heat while they slept in cardboard boxes. The deadline would eventually be met and went into production only three days before release. However, despite meeting the deadline, certain ideas like additional stages had to be dropped. For the NES release in North America and Europe, they updated the graphics for the game's ending while staff credits were added. Meanwhile, a password system was used instead of data for players to save their games like the Japanese Famicom Disk System.

Release-

Kid Icarus was released on December 19, 1986 in Japan for the Famicom Disk System as Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami (Light Mythology: Palutena's Mirror), on February 15, 1987 in Europe on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and on July 1, 1987 in North America on the Nintendo Entertainment System. Gamespot scored it a 5.1 out of 10, IGN scored it a 7 out of 10, and Official Nintendo Magazine (ONM) scored it a 68%. Despite the mixed reviews, the game made many lists. Kid Icarus listed at #20 on IGN's Top 100 NES Games in 2009 and #84 on IGN's Top 100 Games of All Time list in 2003. Electronic Gaming Monthly would list it at #34 in their list of the 100 Best Game of All Time in 1997. Game Informer placed it at #83 in it's list of the best games ever made in 2001. In 2006, Nintendo Power voted it #54 in their list of the Top 200 Nintendo Games. Kid Icarus was also voted into GameSpy's Hall of Fame in 2003. The game received mixed reviews over the decades but has attained a loyal cult following. The critics considered the mixture of different video game genres and music a positive while the difficulty and graphics a negative. 1Up.com's Jeremy Parish thought the game was not bad or terrible but just "lacking". He thought the buggy, annoying, and underwhelming while having "shrill music", "loose controls", and "some weird design decisions". IGN's Lucas M. Thomas liked the theme music and thought it came off "heroic and and memorable". He thought that while it made more sense in the 1980s, it was now "odd" and "not Nintendo's most focused" all the while not having aged well as opposed to other classic first party games on the NES. Gamespot's Frank Provo reviewed the Virtual Console version and thought that the difficulty was "excessive" and certain moments of the game were designed "solely to frustrate players". He liked the music but not the sound effects and overall, didn't think the game aged gracefully. Stuart Hunt of Retro Gamer considered the game an "unsung hero of the NES" while thinking it looks and sounds "pretty". He liked the soundtrack and the enemy designs. His only issue was the high difficulty.

By 2003, the game sold 1.76 million units.

Aftermath-

In the years since Kid Icarus' release, the game has been re-released a few times. The first would be on Game Boy Advance on August 10, 2004 exclusively in Japan. It was then re-released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, on the Wii U's Virtual Console since 2013, and the Nintendo Switch Online in 2019. Meanwhile, a 3D Classics remake was released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2011 in Japan and worldwide in 2012. The 3D Classics features some upgrades including updated graphics such as backgrounds and a save feature from the Famicom version. The game would spawn a small franchise with two sequels having been released since then in Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters in 1991 and Kid Icarus: Uprising in 2012. Outside of Kid Icarus, the characters have appeared in other forms as Pit and Eggplant Wizard were characters in the cartoon Captain N: The Game Master which ran from 1989-1991 though in that series, Pit was referred to as "Kid Icarus" while there was only one Eggplant Wizard. Pit and Palutena have also been playable characters in the Super Smash Bros. video game series beginning with Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008.

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (1991)

Plot-

The story begins when Palutena has a dream that a fortune teller believes is a premonition that Angel Land will be invaded by the demon Orcos and his army. In anticipation of this invasion, Palutena summons Pit to undergo a special training which upon successfully completing, will allow him to use Angel Land's three sacred treasures. Pit undergoes the training and becomes strong enough to use the treasures. However, as he equips the treasures, Orcos invades and turns Palutena into stone. Pit then fights Orcos and with his new found strength plus the treasures, successfully defeats the demon and restores peace to Angel Land while Palutena is cured of her stoned curse.

Gameplay-

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters largely plays the same as the original with some exceptions. Like the original, the game sees the player navigate Pit from the beginning of the level to the end. Hearts are still currency that the player gets by killing enemies and can use them to buy items. Each of the first three stages feature open doors which, once again, either are shops, sacred training chambers, treasure chambers, hot springs, sacred chambers, etc. Once a player exits a room, the door will once again lock and they can't reenter unless they have a key they bought. Once again, the game has four worlds in Underworld, Overworld, Skyworld, and Sky Palace and the first three have four stages while Sky Palace has one. Like the original, the first three stages in the first three worlds are the usual platform/side scroller levels where the player navigates Pit from beginning to end while the fourth stage is the fortress where they must beat a guardian to acquire a treasure. Once again, Pit can gain level by acquiring enough points at the end of every stage. This time, Pit needs 3,000 points to get to level 2, 9,370 points to get to level 3, 18,900 to get to level 4, and 28,680 points to get to level 5.

However, there are differences in the game. For one, the hammers Pit acquires can be used to break certain rock and find secret rooms. Another is unlike in the first game where Pit can use the hammers to free centurions to assist him against the boss, here, the hammers break statues that contain health items or the items like the pencil, pad, and torch that make navigating the fortress easier instead of Pit having to buy them thus saving hearts. Pit can't fall to his death in this game as he can move in any direction. However, there are things like lava he can fall into that take away health. Pit can't move while crouching anymore but he can use his wings to slow his descent should he fall off a platform. Another difference is the player can save their game after completing a stage.

Behind the Scenes-
Gunpei Yokoi returned as producer for Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters. The designer was Masafumi Sakashita who also designed Metroid II: Return of Samus that same year while later contributing to Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, Warioland: Super Mario Land 3, and Super Metroid in different capacities. The programmer was Hideyo Kawaguchi. Along with being developed by Nintendo, it was also developed by a company named Tose which had worked on many games on many Nintendo systems as well as having worked on various Dragon Ball games. Tose are known for being a "behind the scenes" type company that refuses to put their name or their staff's names on the games they help develop which has led to them being considered a "ghost developer".

Release-

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters was released on November 5, 1991 in North America and May 21, 1992 in Europe on the Game Boy. The game was originally not released in Japan making it one of the few first party Nintendo games not to have a Japanese release. The game received positive reviews and was probably more liked then it's predecessor as it was praised for it's gameplay, music, and graphics while some have pointed out that it's not as difficult as the first. The game was later placed 18 on Nintendo Power's "20 Best Game Boy Games" list in 2008. Nintendo Magazine System scored it a 71% out of 100% while GamePro gave it five stars. GamePro said the controls were "precise and accurate" while saying that the music "set the mood" and the graphics were "fine in black and white". IGN would say the game wasn't as "punishing" as the first but also "perhaps, not as memorable" while also saying it was a solid title that has undeservingly been forgotten. Nintendo Magazine System said it was a "jolly adaptation of the first game" but also said while "fun", it was also "long in the tooth". Joystiq said the game "advances significantly beyond it's predecessor but remains unquestionably Kid Icarus". Gamezone thought it captured the magic of the first game while demanding a digital remake.

Aftermath-

Since Of Myths and Monsters release, the Kid Icarus franchise would go dormant for 21 years, until the sequel Kid Icarus: Uprising was released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012. Meanwhile, 2012 would also see the re-release of Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters on the Nintendo 3DS virtual console which actually resulted in the first time the game was officially released in Japan. Prior to all that, the franchise made a small comeback when Pit became a playable character beginning with Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008 with Palutena becoming playable in future sequels.

Kid Icarus: Uprising (2012)

Plot-

The story takes place 25 years after the events of the first game. It begins with the resurrection of Medusa which results in Lady Palutena sending Pit on various missions to stop her and her minions. During his travels, he defeats several servants like Twinbellows and Hewdraw before meeting a human named Magnus who helps in defeating the Dark Lord Gaol. Pit then defeats Pandora and destroys the Mirror of Truth but before Pit can destroy it, it unleashes Dark Pit, a doppelganger of Pit who absorbs Pandora's power and leaves. Pit eventually collects the three sacred treasures, challenges, and defeats Medusa once again. However, it's then revealed that Hades, the God of the Underworld has been behind Medusa's resurrection and was using her as a puppet while he provoked a war among humanity after spreading a rumor that the phoenix was guarding a "wish seed". This results in a chain of events that sees Viridi, the Goddess of Nature to get involved by attacking the humans and underworld army resulting in Pit and Palutena having to deal with her along with Hades. This leads to a base called the Lunar Sanctum getting destroyed which unleashes an unknown creature. As the Gods battle, an alien race called the Aurum to invade the Earth in order to seize it's resources. Finally, the Sun God Pyrrhon sacrifices himself to banish the Aurum to the far side of the Galaxy. 

Later, Pit finds himself stuck in a ring with no memory of what's been happening. He quickly finds out he can take over bodies of people or animals who put the ring on and thus takes the form of a girl and then a dog before heading to a city in ruins that's being attacked by Pit's body. Eventually, he runs into Magnus who puts the ring on and Pit assumes control. While in Magnus' body, Magnus tells him three years have passed and the centurians are enemies now. They face and defeat Pit's body with Magnus putting the ring on Pit. The ring breaks and Pit regains control of his body. Shortly after, Pit strikes an alliance with Viridi who flies Pit to Skyworld and it's there Pit finds out Palutena is possessed but a force field prevents him from confronting her. Viridi then reveals that the Lunar Sanctum was actually a prison to a soul-devouring creature named "Chaos Kin" and when Pit destroyed the Sanctum, he released Chaos Kin who has possessed Palutena. Eventually, Pit acquires a chariot and is able to break through the force field and defeat Palutena. However, Chaos Kin then takes her soul with Pit teaming up with Dark Pit as they venture to Kin's dimension in order to regain Palutena's soul. They defeat it but Pit nearly sacrifices himself to save Dark Pit from a final attack. Dark Pit then takes Pit to the rewind spring to reverse the affects of Pit's body. However, Pandora escapes from Dark Pit and uses the spring to revive herself but Dark Pit beats her. Pit is healed but Dark Pit is no longer able to fly on his own due to losing Pandora's essence. Pit then challenges Hades equipped with the three sacred treasures but Hades easily wins, destroys the treasures, and eats Pit. After Pit escapes, Palutena sends him to Dyntos: the God of Forge who creates a new sacred treasure all the while Pit undergoes three trials in order to prove himself. After succeeding in the trials and armed with the new treasure, Pit once again challenges Hades and succeeds in injuring him but Hades damages the treasure leaving only the cannon left. As Hades plans another attack, he's stopped by a revived Medusa who seeks revenge and injures him more. With that, Palutena uses her energy to charge Pit's cannon which Pit uses to destroy Hades. 

Gameplay-

Kid Icarus: Uprising plays much different than it's two predecessors which is probably no surprise. There's around 25 chapters or levels in the game and most of the levels are fairly the same formula as the player starts with a flying rail shooter as Palutena (or the computer in real life) controls Pit from beginning to end while the player moves Pit to avoid attacks while attacking and targeting enemies. After the flying part, the player then controls Pit in a third person perspective as he has to navigate the level from beginning to end with some levels being more linear while others allow free roaming all the while fighting enemies either by shooting arrows or using melee attacks. Along the way, Pit can earn treasures or hearts or health items either by chests or boxes or enemies dropping them. The final part of the level is usually a boss battle, once again in third person perspective and after beating the boss, the player beats the chapter.

In between playing the chapters, the player can either keep the items they gathered or convert them into hearts. Like previous games, hearts serve as currency with which the player can buy stuff. Meanwhile, the player can also buy or fuse weapons and equip certain powers to help make the game easier but they can only equip a certain number of powers at a time. The player can also gain levels with their power upgrades which make them more useful. Kid Icarus: Uprising has datas so players can not only save their game but can return to previous levels they beat. Prior to starting a level, the game will allow you to alter the difficulty from the easiest which is 0.0 or the hardest which is 9.0. Each level starts with a recommended difficulty the player can alter but there are risks and rewards with doing it. By making a level easier, the player requires the use of hearts which are dumped into the Fiend's cauldron. The easier the player makes the level, the more hearts they require. Another catch is not only are there fewer enemies but fewer treasures to collect. Meanwhile, the more difficult a level is, the more enemies there are but more treasures to collect. If Pit loses, the player gets a game over but can restart in the same level they were before but the difficulty will be dropped which results in the player losing some hearts. If a player completes a level without dying then they get more rewards.

Along with the story mode, Kid Icarus: Uprising also has a multiplayer mode both local and online. In multiplayer mode, up to six players can participate and either do team based cooperative matches or free for all melees where they play as standard fighter characters. In team based battles, the teams are divided by "Light vs. Dark" and with each players defeat, the life bar depletes. The value of a player's weapon is determined how far the meter depletes after death and the player who's death depletes the meter the most, becomes the team's angel which is the most powerful member of the team. The first team to beat the other's angel wins.

Behind the Scenes-
Kid Icarus: Uprising was directed and written by Masahiro Sakurai who previously worked for HAL Laboratory and was the creator of the Kirby and Super Smash Bros. series. The producer was Yoshihiro Matsushima who previously worked on games like the Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker and Mario Kart Double Dash!!. The composers were Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, Masafumi Takada, Noriyuki Iwadare, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Takahiro Nishi. Sakuraba is best known for his work on the Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Star Ocean, and Shining Force franchises. Koshiro previously worked on the Streets of Rage series for Sega as well as the Revenge of Shinobi also for Sega while also co-composed for Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. Takada is best known for his work on the Earth Defense Force and Danganronpa series. Iwadare is best known for his work on the Lunar and Grandia series. Mitsuda is best known for his time in Square (now known as Square Enix), where he composed for Xenogears and the Chrono series. Nishi previously served as an engineer for the game Lunar: Eternal Blue and providing the music for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The programmers with Toshio Noguchi, Akifumi Yamamoto, and Masaki Hirooka. Noguchi originally served as a programmer for the Zone of the Enders series as well as directing and programming for the Earth Defense Force series while also done work on Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Yamamoto worked on several games, most notably was an illustrator for Phantasy Star Online: Episode III C.A.R.D. Revolution. Hirooka also worked on Phantasy Star Online: Episode III C.A.R.D. Revolution as well as for Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Fire Emblem: Heroes.

Kid Icarus: Uprising began in July 2008 when then Nintendo President Satoru Iwata took Masahiro Sakurai to eat and it was there where Iwata wanted Sakurai to develop a launch title for the Nintendo 3DS which was still in early development making Sakurai the first person outside Nintendo to know the system was being planned. Sakurai was just coming off completing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and upon going home had both ideas and problems with the big problem being that Sora LTD, which developed Super Smash Bros. Brawl, saw their staff either outsourced or already working for Nintendo. Sakurai decided against creating an easy-to-developed port and go with a third person shooter game since it seemed to be a good fit for the 3D effects of the 3DS, despite the fact third person shooters weren't popular in Japan. Sakurai then decided to use an existing Nintendo IP for the game and was inspired by feedback from the fans of Brawl in that certain characters hadn't had an original game in a long time. After taking the idea to Iwata, who approved, Sakurai then ran through the IPs. His first thought was Star Fox but quickly dropped it due to the restrictions in implementing the planned gameplay features in a Star Fox environment. Eventually, he decided on Kid Icarus due to both the franchise's popularity, especially in the west, as well as the fact the franchise had been dormant for decades. After choosing Kid Icarus, he then came up with the idea of five minute flight segments then to ground based combat and then battling a boss. After submitting his plan, the game was greenlit. 

When it came to the story and the script, Sakurai would deal would that by himself. When it comes to stories, Sakurai thought that video game developers lacked an ability to balance story-based gameplay hindrances with the prerequisite of victory over enemies. Because of this, he took it upon himself to write the script due to his obsession with striking a balance with the game. One of the things Sakurai wanted was to keep the first game's greek mythic influence but at the same time didn't want it to directly influence Uprising's story nor did he want it go the same direction of the God of War series. The few cutscenes that appear in the game were made as short as possible. Sakurai also didn't want the story to be a basic "good vs. evil" and decided for the factions in the game to clash due to differing views rather than malicious intent. Originally, Pit was to have a mascot in the game to assist him but this was eventually dropped in favor of using Palutena who would be more than a damsel in distress like the previous games while their dialogue was inspired by Japanese double acts. As seen in the game, Dark Pit was created to be a mirror image instead of an evil twin. 

Release-

Kid Icarus: Uprising was released on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan as Shin Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Pagami (New Light Mythology: Palutena's Mirror) on March 22, 2012, in North America and Europe on March 23, 2012, and Australia on March 29, 2012. The game would receive a lot of positive reviews as Metacritic scored it 83%. Edge and GameSpot both scored it 8/10. 1Up.com scored it a B+. Both Nintendo Power and Nintendo World Report scored it 9.5/10. Nintendo Magazine scored it 91%. IGN scored it 8.5/10. Game Informer scored it 7/10. Eurogamer scored it 9/10. Famitsu scored it a perfect 40/40. In it's first week of release in Japan, Uprising sold 132,526 units and was on top of the gaming charts all the while boosting sales for the 3DS from 26,000 to 67,000 sold. By the end of the year, it sold 316,000 units in Japan and 135,000 units in North America. In the UK, it charted seven in the all-format gaming charts. 

The general consensus is that the game's positive stuff was most of the game play, the dialogue, the story, and multiplayers while the negative was the controls of the game with the reviewers saying they were both difficult and could hurt your hands while the linear structure was also criticized by some. Nintendo Power said the game was "worth the wait" while Edge said longtime Kid Icarus fans would love the game. Nintendo Power recommended it but mostly for hardcore gamers than casuals. 1Up.com said the game had "a never-ending litany of things to love". Eurogamer said "Kid Icarus: Uprising is a strong, pretty game turned into an essential one by way of it's surrounding infrastructure". IGN said it was "fantastic" despite it's flaws. GameSpot called it a fun game and a "deep and satisfying shooter" despite the controls. Nintendo World Report called it an "amazing game" despite the complaints over the controls. Game Informer was probably the harshest critic as they thought the control scheme brought down the game at times.

Aftermath-

As of 2022, Kid Icarus: Uprising has not received a re-release nor has a new game come out as the franchise has since gone dormant with Sakurai saying it was difficult to maintain the development team since they were an ad hoc studio. Meanwhile, Project Sora shut down only four months after the release with no explanation which made Uprising the only game they produced. Meanwhile, Sakurai and Sora Ltd. went back to work on the Super Smash Bros. games. Despite this, Pit and Palutena continue to be playable characters in Super Smash Bros. games so maybe there is a little hope for a return down the line someday.