Kid Icarus (franchise)

Kid Icarus (光神話　パルテナの鏡 Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami, lit. "Light Myth: Palutena's Mirror") is a small video game franchise, published by Nintendo and possessing a total of three installments in the series.

Overview[]

The series focuses on the main protagonist, Pit, on his various quests to help the goddess Palutena and return peace to Skyworld. The setting of the games is heavily influenced by Greco-Roman culture and borrows many elements from Greek mythology in particular, with several characters bearing names and resemblances to ancient Greek figures and deities.

While the original Kid Icarus was received relatively well, it was overshadowed by the release of Metroid, leaving it to fall into obscurity. Another installment to the series, Of Myths and Monsters, was released 4 years later; although it was also met favorably, it fell into obscurity as well. After second release, plenty the projects left cancelled like rail shooter GameCube^[1] and mature Wii reboot.

The series remained dormant for 17 years until the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which introduced Pit as one of the game's playable characters. His inclusion in the game, as well as the new design he was given, sparked new interest in the series. This would eventually lead to the creator of the Super Smash Bros. series, Masahiro Sakurai, taking the Kid Icarus series in a new direction and releasing Uprising, the long-awaited sequel to the original game.

Games[]

• Kid Icarus: The first game of the series. A flightless angel warrior, Pit, is imprisoned in the Underworld. Equipped with a simple bow and arrow entrusted to him by the goddess Palutena, Pit is tasked with finding the Three Sacred Treasures and taking down Medusa in order to restore peace to Angel Land.
• Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters: Palutena has a nightmare which foretells an invasion of demons called the Orcos. She sends Pit on a mission to retrieve the Three Sacred Treasures, but the angel must train before they can be equipped.
• Kid Icarus: Uprising: Set 25 years after the first game, Medusa has been revived and seeks revenge on Pit and Palutena. Pit must fight the Underworld Army and obtain the Three Sacred Treasures to take down Medusa once again.

Trivia[]

• There is confusion about which game is considered a sequel to the original Kid Icarus, since Of Myths and Monsters was initially released in North America and Europe, and only came out in Japan a month before the release of Uprising. As a result, Uprising makes no references to Of Myths and Monsters, seeming to disregard it entirely as it deems itself the official sequel to the first game.