Line #22 VideoGame/KidIcarus


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11	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_tm_wiiuvc_kidicarus.png]]
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13	->''"Will Pit be able to restore Palutena's light and return it to Angel Land?\
14	Only you can answer that question."''
15	-->-- '''Digital instruction manual''' for ''[[UpdatedRerelease 3D Classics]]: Kid Icarus''
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17	A series of platformer/shooter games made by Creator/{{Nintendo}}, [[CompletelyDifferentTitle known by the title]] ''Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami''[[note]]''Myth of Light: The Mirror of Palutena'')[[/note]] in Japanese. Largely influenced by [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Classical mythology]], the series follow the exploits of the erstwhile angel [[KidHero Pit]], the leader of the light goddess Palutena's army, as he works to protect Skyworld and Angel Land as a whole from dark forces.
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19	[[VideoGame/KidIcarus1986 The original 1986 NES/Famicom game]] was developed by Creator/GunpeiYokoi's Nintendo R&D1 division, using the same game engine as ''VideoGame/{{Metroid\|1}}''. [[note]]In fact, as a shout-out to its sister series, one of the enemies you can encounter are life energy-sucking aliens called Komaytos, which are basically Metroids in all but name.[[/note]] This installment sees Medusa, Goddess of Darkness, invade Skyworld out of revenge for Palutena banishing her to the Underworld. Trapped in her palace, and with most of her army turned to stone and imprisoned in the depths of the Underworld themselves, Palutena uses the last of her power to gift a captured Pit a bow and arrow that he uses to escape from the Underworld, gather up the three sacred relics that Medusa stole in her attack, and defeat the fallen goddess and her legion.
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21	It was followed by ''VideoGame/KidIcarusOfMythsAndMonsters'', a 1991 sequel for the Platform/GameBoy. After a nightmare that Palutena has proves to actually be a premonition of an invading demon army, this time led by Orcos, she commands Pit to train himself to use the sacred relics once more to defeat them. Interestingly, this title [[LateExportForYou wouldn't see release in Japan until 2012]], only being available to North American and European audiences.
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23	Despite Pit being one of the main characters in the 1980s animated series ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'', ''Kid Icarus'' would spend the next seventeen years as little more than a CultClassic within Nintendo's NES library known primarily for [[NintendoHard its high difficulty]]. The character wouldn't make a reappearance until 2008's ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'', where he was a playable fighter and received a radical makeover to match. The renewed popularity of the character, and a request from Nintendo CEO Creator/SatoruIwata to create a Platform/Nintendo3DS launch title, resulted in ''Smash Bros.'' director Creator/MasahiroSakurai using his version of the character as a basis for a brand-new entry in the series: ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', released in 2012, reimagined the series as a ThirdPersonShooter, giving Pit a large and varied arsenal of weapons to use as he aims not only to defeat a revived Medusa, but also her master [[ManBehindTheMan Hades]].
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26
27	!! Tropes that apply to the series as a whole (Please put all tropes specific to the individual games on their appropriate pages):
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29	* TheAnimeOfTheGame: Three shorts based on the series were released to promote ''Uprising''. While two of them mostly served as ''Uprising'' side stories, one of them (''Medusa's Revenge'') is a prequel to the first game, fleshing out Medusa's transformation into a monster at Palutena's hands.
30	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Underworld monsters. Only one's been introduced, but presumably those who dwell in the Evil land too.
31	* AnachronismStew:
32	** The sticky talons wear sunglasses.
33	** You can acquire a ''credit card''.[[note]]And not an early 1900s charge account card either, it clearly has a magnetic strip for an electronic card reader.[[/note]]
34	* AndIMustScream: Collin, an enemy in the games, is a soldier of Palutena that had his body taken over by Medusa, and monsters pop out of his body!
35	* ArtEvolution: The franchise's characters and aesthetics were redesigned in a more realistic, anime-like style when Sakurai brought them back for ''Brawl'' (which continued into ''Uprising''). Unlike ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'', ''Kid Icarus'' was stagnant and largely unknown for almost 20 years; Pit's ''Brawl'' redesign was based on the premise of [[ArtEvolution evolving over the years]] in the same manner as Link, but the contrast is much more noticeable due to Link still having gone through ArtEvolution himself while ''Kid Icarus'' was dormant.
36	* ArtifactOfHope: The Arrow of Light, the Mirror Shield, and the Wings of Pegasus, known collectively as the Three Sacred Treasures, are a set of weapons and armor under the possession of Palutena before they were stolen by Medusa's army and protected by Twinbellows, Hewdraw, and Pandora. After Pit regains them, he then uses it to fight and defeat Medusa.
37	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Mostly played straight. The benevolent Palutena fits this trope like a glove, being a beautiful goddess. While Medusa is just as beautiful at first, Palutena turns her into a monster for her evil deeds, further enforcing this trope.
38	* BigBad: Medusa in the first game and Orcos in the second. [[spoiler:''Uprising'' brings back Medusa as the BigBadWannabe, with Hades as the primary threat.]]
39	* BigGood: Palutena, in all three games. She's the Goddess of Light and ruler of Skyworld; in ''Uprising'', she actually lives up to this trope and assists Pit throughout his quest.
40	* BodyHorror:
41	** Getting turned into an ambulatory eggplant? Oh, that's creepy. Particularly if you can't get to the hospital.
42	** Medusa was turned into a monster by Palutena.
43	* CainAndAbel: Palutena and Medusa have this type of relationship. It's not hard to guess which one is the [[DarkIsEvil evil one.]] It's subverted in that Palutena did not kill her herself, she only turned her into a monster and banished her. The angel Pit [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu finished]] the [[KillTheGod job.]]
44	* TheCameo: Pit has been making cameos for [[VideoGame/{{Tetris}} several]] [[VideoGame/WarioWare games]] in his 8-bit form.
45	* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite the manual artwork of Medusa as an overweight woman, she is actually a GorgeousGorgon version of Medusa cursed into a hideous cyclops head.
46	* DarkIsEvil: The residents of the Underworld [[spoiler: including [[EveryoneHatesHades Hades]]]] are AlwaysChaoticEvil, and Medusa is the Goddess of Darkness.
47	* DeathThrows: In both ''Kid Icarus'' and ''Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters'' will have Pit fall off of the screen when you die.
48	* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Throughout the series, Pit defeats all manner of powerful gods and {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
49	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The pre-Sakurai era can seem rather bizarre to people who got acquainted with Pit through ''Smash'' and ''Uprising''. Character designs were very simplistic and cartoonish (mostly apparent in-game with Pit's sprite), Pit could only fight with his bow (which he couldn't even split into two swords like in ''Brawl''), and he had to go to [[AnachronismStew hospitals]] to be transformed back from an eggplant[[note]]granted, ''Uprising'' would introduce different anachronisms, but not to that extent[[/note]].
50	* EnemySummoner: TheGrimReaper enemies are very hated for it.
51	* EverythingsSparklyWithJewelry: Palutena, which is more apparent with her redesign.
52	* FantasyPantheon: Has a mix between this and Greek/Roman gods.
53	* FictionalDisability: Pit has the classic [[WingsDoNothing "flying being that cannot fly" disability]] for some unexplained reason. All Palutena says is "his wings don't work right". It's quite the sore spot for him. In ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', Palutena can grant Pit the Power of Flight to guide him places as if he were flying, but not for more than five minutes at a time, or else Pit's wings will come aflame. By contrast, his EvilKnockoff Dark Pit gained limitless flight under his own power by slaying Pandora and plundering her powers [[spoiler: until he travelled to the Rewind Spring, where Pandora revived herself from said powers]].
54	* FluffyCloudHeaven: While it's probably not actually supposed to be heaven, Skyworld certainly looks the part.
55	* ForcedTransformation:
56	** Not an animal, but Pit can be [[{{Transflormation}} turned into a eggplant]] in all three of the games (though in ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' it wears off without the need for a hospital). In the [[MultipleEndings bad ending]] he is turned into a Specknose.
57	** In the first game and as seen in ''Medusa's Revenge'', Medusa was turned into a hideous monster by Palutena as punishment for her evil deeds.
58	** There is also the harp item which turns enemies into hammers. They will change back if you don't grab them quickly enough.
59	* GodOfEvil: Medusa. Before humanity appeared she was just the goddess of darkness, after that she dedicated her life to ruining theirs.
60	* GodOfGood: Palutena becomes this specifically because Medusa becomes evil.
61	* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: Palutena, [[RuleOfSymbolism further cementing her status as the Goddess of Light]].
62	* GoodIsNotNice: Palutena seems to like to turn people into monsters as punishment. She also gives the sacred treasures to monsters in the Game Boy game, because she knows they will fight Pit when he tries to reclaim them. This side of her personality would be emphasized more in later games, where she became an outright {{Troll}} despite her status as the radiant Goddess of Light.
63	* TheGoomba: Shemums serve this role throughout the series, being the most common enemy and able to be taken out with a single arrow in the [=2D=] games.
64	* GorgeousGorgon: Medusa was originally as beautiful as Palutena, but Palutena [[ThePunishment turned her]] into a hideous Gorgon. However, it looks like her spell is wearing off somewhat. It's implied the form seen at the end of the original ''Kid Icarus'' was actually her goddess form, as it resembles Palutena's sprite.
65	* HeavenAbove: The [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angelic protagonist]] of the games serves the very literal Skyworld and its benevolent goddess, Palutena. The realm is overflowing with clouds, brave soldiers with [[WingedHumanoid wings]], and [[LightIsGood glowing white]] temples dedicated to Palutena. In case you forget where the good guys work after all that, every level in ''Uprising'' ends with the protagonist being surrounded by RaysFromHeaven and flying straight up towards the realm of Palutena.
66	* HeavenlyConcentricCircles:
67	** Lady Palutena, the BigGood, rules the Skyworld as the Goddess of Light. Her redesign brings a {{downplayed}} example of this trope. From her asymmetrical belt hang several golden accessories, one of them consisting of a small circle surrounded by two increasingly bigger rings. They aren't exactly concentric but skewed to the top. Her white, glowing halo is designed this way too, being a filled circle encased by a ring. In general, Palutena has round figures as her geometric {{motif}}.
68	** ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'': Official {{art}}work of the Skyworld depicts it as a vast mass of clouds. Some of them shape strange structures --i.e., concentric arcs towering over a platform of clouds.
69	* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Averted: Pit wears a helmet in the last level of the first game, even though it wasn't one of the mentioned treasures he collected. The Silver Armor comes with a helmet in ''Of Myths And Monsters''. In ''Uprising'' and for his Final Smash in the fourth ''Smash Bros.'', Pit wears a helmet again (along with a full set of armor) due to his having collected the Three Sacred Treasures.
70	* HijackedByJesus
71	** The games are themed after Greek mythology, but the Underworld, Overworld, and Skyworld that make up the setting are collectively referred to as "Angel Land", and Pit is an angel. Overworld even has graves with crosses on them in the first game.
72	** A putto is not out of place in a Greek Mythology world, and while putti in Greek myth were much different from angels, that did not stop Italian artists from treating them like angels during the renaissance period, meaning the hijack predates ''Kid Icarus''.
73	** That Medusa is a goddess (in the classical tales she was the only Gorgon not to be immortal) may refer to Hellinism highjacking Berber culture. Some historians argue Medusa was an aspect of Athena in Libya before Greek scribes got their hands on her.
74	* InconsistentSpelling: Mick's name is spelled as "Mik" in ''Uprising'', and Tanatos's name becomes a more accurate "Thanatos". The latter gets lampshaded in the English localization, with Thanatos claming that he added the "h" to stand for "HAMAZING!"
75	* InvisibleBowstring: The games feature a curious example: Pit's bows do have strings, but only when he is shooting an arrow. They strangely disappear when not in use. ''Smash'' not only omits the bowstring, but allows him to separate the bow into two swords, which plays even more into this trope.
76	* KillAllHumans: Medusa's goal in both of her appearances.
77	* KillTheGod: Pit kills Medusa, the Goddess of Darkness; T(h)anatos, the God of Death; and Pandora, the Goddess of Calamity. Since DeathIsCheap (especially for Thanatos, who has certain perks from being the God of Death), they're able to be revived in ''Uprising'', only to be soundly defeated again.
78	* Level1MusicRepresents: The Underworld theme is the most iconic music of the series. Though given the time you'll spend there due to its difficulty it's not too surprising.
79	* LightIsGood: Palutena, in direct contrast to Medusa, is the Goddess of Light.
80	* {{Medusa}}: The BigBad of the first game and the third game [[spoiler:[[BigBadWannabe at first]]]].
81	* NeverTrustATitle:
82	** Despite the western name of the series being "Kid Icarus", nobody is actually referred to as an Icarus of ''any'' sort in-universe. Ironically, there are Icarus characters in the Japanese version -- [[LostInTranslation the original name]] for a Centurion is ''Ikaros''.
83	*** The original game used it as a CharacterTitle, calling the main character "Kid Icarus" [[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587380-kid-icarus/images/158833 on the back of the NES game box]] and then referring to him as "Pit" [[AllThereInTheManual in the manual]]. [[WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster Captain N]] called him "Kid Icarus" exclusively, apparently having never read the manual.
84	*** ''Of Myths and Monsters'' tried to reconcile both names, also on the back of the box, by indicating the game title was an epithet: "[[https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gameboy/585772-kid-icarus-of-myths-and-monsters/images/146679 Pit, the original Kid Icarus]]". It also nods to the Centurion's original name by referring to the combined forces of the Centurions as the Icarus Army.
85	*** More modern titles have started distinguishing Pit from the title. ''Uprising'' [[InvokedTrope invokes]] and {{lampshade}}s the title confusion in one of the tutorial videos, where Pit wonders just who this "Icarus" guy is, and when he'll get to meet him. Palutena tells him not to worry about it. It happens again in ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', where the cast mentions the naming confusion in relation to [[Franchise/{{Metroid}} Samus]] [[IAmNotShazam being called "Metroid"]].
86	** The Japanese title, which can translate to "Light Mythology: Palutena's Mirror", also suffers this, in raising the question of what exactly Palutena's Mirror is or has to do with anything. The likeliest candidate would be the Mirror Shield of the Three Sacred Treasures, but this is never made explicit in any case.
87	* NoArcInArchery: Though [[JustifiedTrope it's justified]], since Pit's arrows are made of light when using the Three Sacred Treasures, and several other weapons such as the Palutena bow. His first bow and a few others like the crystal bow are purely AWizardDidIt cases.
88	* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Pit resembles Cupid and the putti of the Renaissance art. His proportions would sometimes be baby-like and sometimes child- or teenager-like, before finally settling on the latter for his redesign.
89	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Hewdraw is little more than a sea serpent. In ''Uprising'' he becomes a flying hydra.
90	* PraetorianGuard: Rare example of this trope ''not'' belonging to the BigBad. Palutena has one in the form of the Icarus Army. Pit, [[UndyingLoyalty the goddess' most loyal servant]], is their leader.
91	* ProductionThrowback: As a nod to its sister game, one of the enemies that shows up in the first and third games is the Komayto, short for "Little VideoGame/{{Metroid\|1}}."[[note]]In Japanese, it's spelled as "Kometo": short for "ko metoroido."[[/note]] The resemblance is stated outright in ''Uprising''. This doubles as a dev team in-joke, since ''Kid Icarus'' was built on the same game engine as ''Metroid'' and shared the same staff.
92	* ProgressivelyPrettier:
93	** In the manual and Japanese advert, and even in the final battle, Medusa is depicted as a giant, overweight cyclops monster, even so big that she takes up a whole wall in the final stage. Once defeated, however, she returns to being the same size as Palutena, [[CuteMonsterGirl and kinda cute.]] This version of Medusa is more prominent in ''Uprising'', where her monstrous form is a last-minute transformation.
94	** Both Pit and Palutena received brand-new, anime-styled redesigns for ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', which were retained and further refined for subsequent games.
95	* RapidAging: Pit grew rapidly from child to adult in the good ending of the first game. Post-series revival, he remains a young teenager, so this ending is widely assumed to be non-canon; however, a younger Pit appears in the anime short ''Medusa's Revenge'' more closely resembling his appearance in the early games, which brings the whole thing into question (whether the ending is truly non-canon or whether he aged naturally for 25 years).
96	* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Medusa, the GodOfEvil BigBad, has snakes growing in her hair. The snake-like Shemum are TheGoomba, while Hewdraw and T(h)anatos both have serpentine forms in the first game.
97	* SacredBowAndArrows: Pit is able to use the holy Light Arrows, once wielded by the goddess Palutena.
98	* SadlyMythcharacterized: The game is filled with obvious draws from Myth/ClassicalMythology, but plays fast and loose with how true it is to the source material. ''Uprising'' expanded on the cast and made a few more draws that were notably closer to the source material, even if not exact.
99	** Mostly due to the [[NeverTrustATitle western title]], Pit is a nod to Cupid[[note]]Which is the [[SadlyMythtaken ROMAN name]] of the Greek god ''Eros''[[/note]] (note that the gameplay includes collecting ''hearts''), possibly the ''putti'' (which were artistic figures rather than mythological), and the more obvious reference to Icarus, who flew too close to the sun using his father's artificial wings, only for the wax to melt in the heat and Icarus to fall to his death. (''Of Myths and Monsters'' faithfully makes the full reference during the credits). In the first game and ''Uprising'' he also takes on the role of Perseus, who battled the original Medusa with a mirror given to him by Athena.
100	** Palutena is widely considered to be at least vaguely derived from Athena[[labelnote:*]]as noted at the top of the page, one theory is that her name (パルテナ, ''Parutena'') is a corruption of/taken from Pallas Athena (パラス・アテナ, ''Parasu Atena'')[[/labelnote]], but very few depictions are as faithful to the source material as Medusa, who is fought as a hideous, cyclopean monster with a head full of snakes (and revealed to have been a beautiful woman prior to being cursed by Athena).
101	** Twinbellows and Hewdraw are monsters based on the Orthrus[[note]]The two-headed brother of the three-headed Cerberus.[[/note]] and Hydra.
102	** Pandora, known in-universe as the goddess of calamity, is inspired by the original Pandora, who did manage to unleash all the evils in the world from their box, but wasn't a goddess in the source material. She gets an upgrade in ''Uprising'' known as Amazon Pandora, but outside of being an ActionGirl, there's no further reference to the mythical all-female society.
103	** Thanatos is an interesting case. In his original appearance, under the name Tanatos, he appeared as a secondary figure during the boss fight with Medusa, a single, if giant, snake that would bounce after Pit, perhaps a nod to the legendary python. ''Uprising'' retcons him to be much closer to the source material, establishing him to be the god of death.
104	** The original game also had "Uranos" and "Holer", minor enemies declared to be gods of the sky and plants, respectively. Holer may be named for the ''Horae'', goddesses of the seasons.
105	** ''Uprising'' introduces Magnus and Viridi, who don't share names with anyone in Greek mythology, but do occupy specific roles directly reminiscent of the source material. Magnus, as the WorldsStrongestMan, would seem to be derived from Hercules, while Viridi the nature goddess is reminiscent of Demeter or even Persephone.
106	** Hades is also introduced in the third game, and while he's properly identified as the god of the underworld, he also happens to have a case of EveryoneHatesHades going for him, too.
107	* ShoutOut:
108	** Several enemies are named after deities and beasts from Greek mythology, though many of these names have been slightly altered (or, more likely, bungled in the translation). Also look out for [[CompanyCrossReferences creatures resembling]] [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Goombas]] (Shulm) and VideoGame/{{Metroid\|1}}s [[BilingualBonus (Komayto = Ko-meto = baby Metroid)]]. Finally, one monster is called [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand Mick]] and takes the form of an oversized mouth with its tongue sticking out, and the worm-like [=EelEye=] which emerges from the Collin soldiers/suits of armour is called Phil in Japan. Thus, Music/PhilCollins.[[note]]The English version of ''Uprising'' drops the pretense and reverts the [=EelEye=]'s name back to "Phil".[[/note]]
109	** The items Pit needs to collect on his quest are called the Three Sacred Treasures (there's four of them; the Light Arrows and Wings of Pegasus are in both games, but the Mirror Shield was replaced by the Silver Armor in ''Of Myths and Monsters'', though it seems some kind of armor was part of the original set anyway) While they're not '''[[Myth/JapaneseMythology the]]''' [[TheImperialRegalia Three Sacred Treasures]], the naming convention for the set of items was probably intentional.
110	* ThirdIs3D: In both the polygonal and pop-out-at-you sense. Though most people tend to forget the second game existed, just counting the first and ''Uprising''.
111	* TookALevelInBadass: The two lead characters underwent this under Sakurai.
112	** In ''Brawl'', Pit got a much more physically able, realistically-proportioned design, and gained the ability to separate his Palutena Bow into dual swords or use it as a double-bladed staff. ''Uprising'' then gave him access to even more weapons and had him take down the universe's version of [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades himself]], and he would bring all these traits back into the fourth ''Smash'' game.
113	** ''Brawl'' also had Palutena actively help Pit during his Final Smash by summoning her army of Centurions. In ''Uprising'', she would take an even more proactive role and aid Pit by granting him various powers and helping him along the way, and [[spoiler: fought him directly when possessed by the Chaos Kin]]. The fourth ''Smash'' game then had her fight on her own, using the powers she granted Pit.
114	* WingedHumanoid:
115	** Pit obviously, as well as Dark Pit, his not-so-EvilCounterpart in ''Uprising''.
116	** The Syren resembles a human female, except with large bird-like wings instead of arms.

Context VideoGame / KidIcarus