Kid Icarus Review (Nintendo, 1987)

Kid Icarus was one of the more infamous NES releases. It was a game many people owned, but almost none of them ever reached the second area of. I remember trying my hand at it and giving up immediately in frustration. Even now, fresh after completing it, Kid Icarus had me questioning my skills as a gamer. With that out of the way it’s fair to say that the game has amassed a good following throughout the years. For decades gamers begged Nintendo to make a sequel, and we finally got one on the 3DS. We aren’t going to be talking about that one though. Today, it’s all about the original Kid Icarus. The big question is how does this dusty old NES cartridge hold up? Pretty well, in my opinion, as long as you have a high tolerance for frustration. Let’s take a look.

The game stars a flightless angel named Pit. His home world is thrown in to chaos one day when the evil deity Medusa kidnaps the kind hearted goddess Palutena. It’s up to Pit, and Pit alone, to save Angel World and rescue the damsel in distress. Pretty basic set up for a NES game, eh? On the plus side it’s quite unusual for Nintendo to tackle anything involving religion. Sure, it’s Greek mythology in this case, but still. They probably didn’t mind much because there’s very little story exposition. You’d hardly know Pit was an angel at all were it not for the instruction booklet. The game itself is a side scrolling action platformer. In part, at least. Pit doesn’t jump on enemy heads, nor can he spin dash into foes. Instead he relies solely on his trusty bow and arrow to dispatch baddies.

It doesn’t take long for the first issue with Pit’s projectiles to arise. His default arrows have super short range. They travel a few inches and then disappear. This design choice is curious to say the least. You think bow and arrow, and this isn’t what comes to mind. Most enemies also take more than a few hits to dispatch. Upon defeat they leave behind hearts of varying size. It’s natural to expect these to refill Pit’s paultry life bar, but no. This is the currency in Kid Icarus. Throughout the various stages you’ll find shops, and here is where you spend them. You can purchase basic items like health restoration, but there’s also mallets (used to attack or free centurions), angel feathers which allow you to fly temporarily when you fall down a pit, bottles of life that restore his health when it’s completely drained, and more.

The platforming is a little unusual here. Several stages are entirely vertical forcing you to make your way upward instead of left/right. The first level is the perfect example of this. What’s neat is the fact that you can wander off screen and will come out on the other side. The game requires this to progress in many situations, but it’s also handy for dodging enemies. Unfortunately the screen only scrolls one direction. That means it the view won’t shift down if you fall, and instead you lose a life. What’s interesting about Kid Icarus is that it really opens up a few stages in. The level designs are pretty diverse. For example most of the stages here are more traditional side scrolling fare. Here you’ll have to do more intricate platforming, and these levels are well designed.

Things are further mixed up with the final stage of each world being designed like a maze. It’s divided into specific rooms, and each have different exits. It’s somewhat similar to the set up in Zelda II. Your goal in these areas is just to reach a boss. That’s easier said than done though. There’s only one path to actually get there, and the mazes are absolutely huge. I was able to get through the first two of these areas by simply wandering around, but for the third I needed to consult a map (cheating, I know). It doesn’t help that the rooms are filled with enemies and traps. Considering I was struggling with these now I can’t even imagine how kids in the 80s were able to handle it. The only relief you’re given is that you’ll find shops, and areas to heal the eggplant status ailment.

Speaking of eggplants that’s where a big part of the game’s frustration comes from. You see, there are enemies called eggplant wizards. These transform you into the vegetable itself. In this form you have limited abilities, and can only remove the curse by seeking out a specific room in each area. It’s downright annoying. When you’re near the exit in a labyrinth you have to retreat and get cured before you can progress. Pit lacks the ability to attack when in eggplant form, after all. Sometimes you’ll have to retrace your steps to find shops too. There are centurions you can free from stone encasing, but only with magic hammers. These guys fly around and aid you in the battle against the boss characters. They’re super helpful, but unfortunately can only take one hit before they’re dead. You are limited to just five of these little buggers as well.

Another issue I have with the game is that the boss characters are bullet (err… arrow) sponges. Their hit points are displayed on-screen, and deplete as you successfully hit them. Unfortunately it takes far too long. If you don’t have a powered up bow it can take forever to dwindle them down as each arrow takes away only one hp. That wouldn’t be such a big problem but they don’t just sit there and wait for you to kill them. They constantly attack in specific patterns, and often times have other enemies in place to help them. Something really should have been done about this problem because I feel like far too much time in my adventure was spent during these encounters. At least their designs and patterns are inventive.

Kid Icarus offers one more type of gameplay. Unfortunately it appears for just one stage, and it’s the final one. When you reach the last area of the game Pit takes to the skies with his magical bow and a shield and Kid Icarus suddenly becomes more akin to a side scrolling shooter. His arrows reach across the screen, and he can fly in all directions to avoid enemies. Unfortunately the handling here is a little clunky. He bobs slightly up and down as the wings are flapped which can affect your aim. Furthermore your firing rate is abysmal. There’s no rapid fire. You can only shoot one arrow at a time, and there aren’t any power-ups to alleviate this issue. Still, this is more of a side act from the main quest. It’s fun, and despite the aforementioned issues is easier to complete than most of the game.

Unfortunately this isn’t a really pretty game. The backgrounds are plain, and the sprite work is really limited. All characters have very few frames of animation. To make matters worse Kid Icarus is plagued with the classic NES slowdown and flickering. Whenever the screen gets too busy you can expect things to slow down to a crawl. On the plus side I really liked the game’s use of color. There are vibrant purples and blues used here. It gives some of the stages a surreal feel. I suppose it fits the other worldly setting pretty well. The soundtrack is a bit underwhelming to be honest. The music is highly repetitive and there aren’t enough tracks included here. It’s not awful, but I definitely don’t have the urge to download this soundtrack.