Kid Icarus
REDISCOVER RETRO GAMING - CLASSIC 8-BIT NINTENDO NES
NINTENDO NES
Game Title:Kid Icarus
System:Nintendo NES
Players:1 Player
Genre:Action/Platform
Developer(s):Nintendo
Release Date(s):1987
|
Kid Icarus is an action platform game for the Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe and North America.
The plot of Kid Icarus revolves around protagonist Pit's quest for three sacred treasures, which he must equip to rescue the Grecian fantasy world Angel Land and its ruler, the goddess Palutena. You control Pit through platform areas while fighting monsters and collecting items. Their objective is to reach the end of the levels, and to find and defeat boss monsters that guard the three treasures. Kid Icarus is an action platformer with role-playing elements. You guide Pit through two-dimensional levels, which contain monsters, obstacles and bonus items. Pit's primary weapon is a bow with an unlimited supply of arrows that can be upgraded with three collectable power items, which are: the guard crystal - shields Pit from enemies, the flaming arrows - hit multiple targets, and the holy bow increases the range of the arrows. These upgrades will work only if Pit's health is high enough. The game keeps track of your score on each level, and increases Pit's health bar at the end of that level if enough points were collected.
Throughout the stages, you may enter doors to access seven different types of chambers. Stores and black markets offer items in exchange for hearts, which are left behind by defeated monsters. Treasure chambers contain items, enemy nests give the player an opportunity to earn extra hearts, and hot springs restore Pit's health. The game world is divided into three stages – the underworld, the surface world and the sky world. Each stage encompasses three unidirectional area levels and a fortress. The areas of the underworld and sky world stages have Pit climb to the top, while those of the surface world are side-scrolling levels. The fortresses at the end of the stages are labyrinths with non-scrolling rooms, in which you must find and defeat a gatekeeper boss. The following is the story from the inlet booklet of the game:
'Before the events of the game, Earth was ruled by the goddess, or Queen of light, Palutena, and the goddess, or Queen of darkness, Medusa. Palutena bestowed the people with light to make them happy, but Medusa hated the humans, dried up their crop and turned them to stone. Enraged by this, Palutena transformed Medusa into a monster, and banished her to the underworld. Out of revenge, Medusa conspired with the monsters of the underworld to take over Palutena's residence, the sky temple. She launched a surprise attack, and stole the three sacred treasures — the Mirror Shield, the Light Arrows and the Wings of Pegasus — which deprived Palutena's army of its power. After her soldiers had been turned to stone by Medusa, Palutena was defeated in battle, and imprisoned deep inside the sky temple. With her last power, she sent a bow and arrow to the young angel Pit. He escapes from his prison in the underworld, and sets out to save Palutena and Earth. Throughout the course of the story, Pit retrieves the three sacred treasures from the fortress gatekeepers at the end of the game's stages. Afterward, he equips himself with the treasures, and storms the sky temple, where he defeats Medusa and rescues Palutena. The game has multiple endings: depending on the player's performance, Palutena either presents Pit with headgear, or transforms him into a full-grown angel.' And the Verdict is...
The game is far from polished but overall the game is a fun experience, and the debut of Pit and the Kid Icarus universe, for this reason alone its worth a play. |