Kid Icarus

"A great, yet sadly forgotten game........"

INTRO: Okay, here is my review of a great and obscure NES/FC game called ''Kid Icarus''.

THE GAMING CROWD: Hey, Mitora, what is ''Kid Icarus'' again?

MITORA: I'll get to that soon here! Starting........NOW!

STORYLINE: You are Pitt, an angel child (or midget) that must save his home land ''Tenshi Senki'' (Land of Angels) and the queen goddess of that land from Medusa, an evil Gorgon that wants the world all to herself and her monsters.

Along the way, Pitt will meet some Gods that will give advice or give him items or helping hands on his rough journey to save his ailing land.

Even though the ''Save the helpless Princess/Queen'' overtones are there, but what made the story unique is it's references to Greek Mythology.

CHARACTERS: Like usual with most Nintendo Productions, there are many interesting and crazy characters in the game, such as wizards that are really antropomorphic Egg-Plants(!), Grim Reapers that can summon little versions of themselves, Metroid clones, Salamanders with wings and semi-nekkid Harpies (and you guys thought Jenova was revealing?).

And I was always confused if Pitt himself was either a kid or a midget.But either way, he is rather cute and loveable.

Nintendo always seem to be creative with their cast of characters.

GRAPHICS: Like Metroid's, the graphics may not be as detailed as later NES/Famicom games, but they were good at the time, plus, there is alot of colours as well!

SOUND: Good music for an old game, however, the dungeon themes tend to get repetitive and annoying after a while though, but the Grim Reaper theme is a real riot!

GAMEPLAY: Very awkward at first, but after gathering all the stuff that you need (or using a password), everything will be just fine.

FUN: Some stages are fun, but be prepaired to use some maps and brainpower when it comes to the labyrinth-like dungeons, because they aren't as easy as the traditional stages.

CHALLENGE: VARIES, IMO anyways. If you want challenge, you can just start from scratch and not use a password (but you have to write them out though!), but if you want easy, use a later game password and everything will be fine. Personally, I myself like to start from scratch and copy some passwords.

OVERALL: Kid Icarus is a very fun, yet one of the most under-rated Nintendo games of long ago. Check it out.

WHOULD MITORA PURCHASE THIS GAME: I have it in the oldies collection, but GOOD LUCK finding it un-used. Or better yet, download it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/01, Updated 06/30/01