Kid Icarus

Overview

The Kid Icarus franchise is a series of action-adventure games produced by Nintendo with themes and characters taken from Greek mythology. There are currently three games in the series; the original game was released in North America in 1987, and its Game Boy sequel was released in 1991. The third game, Kid Icarus: Uprising, wasn't released until more than two decades later in 2012.

The protagonist of the series is Pit, an angel with a youthful appearance and demeanor that also serves as the captain of the goddess Palutena's army. He fights to defend Palutena, Angel Land (later known as Skyworld), and humans from evil.

Kid Icarus and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters

Both the original Kid Icarus and Of Myths and Monsters are action adventure games with heavy platforming elements. Played from a profile perspective, stages are either vertical or side-scrolling. Both games also feature similar story structures. In the original game, Pit must ascend from the Underworld and collect the Three Sacred Treasures, the Arrow of Light, the Wings of Pegasus, and the Mirror Shield in order to confront and defeat the dark goddess Medusa and rescue Palutena. In Of Myths and Monsters, the format is largely the same, with Pit collecting the treasures as part of a training exercise to prepare him for the demon Orcos, who is bent on invading Angel Land.

Kid Icarus: Uprising

The 3DS entry Kid Icarus: Uprising upends the established gameplay of the series for more modern elements. The game's stages are divided between on-rails flying segments (similar to games such as Space Harrier) and on-foot combat and exploration. Elements such as platforming have been removed, while other elements have either been added or reinterpreted in the context of modern game design. The game is also heavily self-referential, making numerous callbacks to the original NES game to establish a light-hearted, comedic tone.

Kid Icarus Pantheon

Though the universe of Kid Icarus is loosely inspired by Greek myth, a number of the deities that appear in it are either original inventions of the game designers or reinterpreted and have little or nothing to do with their Greek origins.