Writing
Retro Revivial: Kid Icarus- Published by N-Philes, Nov 27, 2005
The Scoop
Long, long ago the two goddesses Palutena, administrator of light, and Medusa, ruler of darkness, presided over a kingdom named Angel Land. While Palutena helped man flourish, Medusa went out of her way to make them suffer. This, of course, led to conflict between the two and so Palutena banished Medusa to the Underworld. Angered by this, Medusa teamed up with all sorts of evil spirits and annexed the palace in the sky, taking the three Sacred Treasures and Palutena prisoner.
Pit, commander of Palutena's personal security force, was locked away in the depths of the Underworld. Armed with a bow and arrows, he managed to escape to Angel Land, now inhabited by monsters. Pit must collect the three Sacred Treasures: the Mirror Shield, the Arrow of Light (sound familiar?), and the Wings of Pegasus. He must use these items to destroy Medusa, free Palutena, and restore order to Angel Land.
Pit begins his adventure
Iterations
Kid Icarus, NES, 1987
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, GB, 1991
Hikari shinwa parutena no kagami (Famicom mini series), GBA, 2004 (Japan only)
Pit for your pocket
Notable Appearances
Captain N: The Game Master (TV): Pit was a regular on this cartoon.
Tetris (NES): Beating the B-type mode on level nine reveals Pit playing a violin!
F-1 Race (GB): Pit greeted you before starting the eighth course.
Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN): Unlockable trophy of Pit sporting the Wings of Pegasus
Wario Ware Twisted (GBA): Microgame devoted to Kid Icarus, as well as an unlockable record stating, "This is the closest you'll ever get to a Kid Icarus sequel. Har har!"
The Angel Land hero was sidelined in SSB: Melee
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It's a long-standing myth that Kid Icarus and Metroid were released on the same day; Metroid was released first by a few months in Japan, and by nearly a year in North America (I actually contacted Nintendo about this matter). However, the two games are considered sister, or companion games. Both games run on the same engine and share similar visual, audio, and gameplay styles, in that you are dropped into a vast, sectioned world and must upgrade yourself to make progress. Both games were created by the late Gunpei Yokoi and were worked on by the same team. Kid Icarus even has a Komayto, an enemy described by the game manual as a nasty floating jellyfish creature that may have originated on another planet.
Can you say metroid?
Kid Icarus' sales were nothing to brag about, but Pit, with his cameo appearances in other Nintendo titles as and starring role in a television cartoon, seemed locked into a path for Nintendo stardom. While both Samus and Pit appeared in Game Boy sequels, the Metroid series made the transition to the Super NES, leaving a 16-bit Pit adventure as nothing more than a dream. One person went so far as to attempt reprogramming the game with SNES quality visuals. After a while, it seemed that Kid Icarus was on a road to video game obscurity with Metroid not too far behind. Fortunately, Metroid was lucky enough to be reborn in both 2D and 3D in 2002 with the respective releases of Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime. Pit, however, is still on the sidelines.
Like Metroid, Kid Icarus had multiple endings
Revival Potential
Will Pit ever fight again? Chances are good.
Fans familiar with the game have been clamoring for another Kid Icarus title for quite a while. Throughout the lifespan of the Super NES, the N64, and the GameCube, Pit has been notably absent, aside from his unlockable trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and the Kid Icarus-themed minigame in Wario Ware Twisted for Game Boy Advance.
That doesn't mean, however, that rumors haven't taken flight. Remember the good ol' days when we all believed the "Capcom 5" were exclusive to GameCube? Well, one of those titles was Dead Phoenix. Unfortunately, it was cancelled shortly after the announcement. However, speculation grew about the title's real fate. Nintendo was at the height of their collaborative phase, and some began to suspect that Dead Phoenix would become a venture between Nintendo and Capcom to produce a new Kid Icarus. This rumor, fueled by an IGN feature, was dismissed by Viewtiful Joe producer Atushi Inaba.
Dennis Dyack of Silicon Knights also set Kid Icarus hope ablaze. After saying that SK's project after Eternal Darkness would go in the direction of the Metal Gear Solid series, Silicon Knights churned out what was to be a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid. This caused many to keep a close eye on everything that man said. Naturally, when he said that he would remake Kid Icarus if given the chance, many believed that a mature take on Metroid's sister game was in the bag. However, we can now safely deduce that Silicon Knights won't be offering a Kid Icarus title any time soon, as they will likely devote the next fifteen years creating the Too Human trilogy for Microsoft's platforms.
Despite it all, things look bright for our angelic hero. At this year's E3 event, Shigeru Miyamoto let it slip that he is working closely with Kid Icarus' original director and that the possibility exists for a new game in the series. "Okay, we'll get the Eggplant Wizard coming back," Miyamoto said in an IGN interview. Reviving this game and giving it a modern gloss, much like the one Metroid has received, would be just one more reason for gamers to pick up a Revolution. Even if Nintendo doesn't have any plans to resurrect Pit, Kid Icarus will potentially be available for all to play via the Revolution's downloading service. If it receives enough attention this way, then Pit may truly fight again.
The Eggplant Wizard was also a regular on Captain N
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