"Someone help me shoot down the guy who made me unable to fly!"
A series of platformer/shooter games made by Nintendo, known by the titleHikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami in Japan (where it's also not a series). They take place in Angel Land, though largely influenced by Greek mythology, in which a Goddess named Palutena (either a mistranslation of "Parthena", or a mistranslation/portmanteau of Pallas-Athena) rules the heavenly Sky World and Medusa rules the Underworld. Medusa invades Sky World and kidnaps Palutena which leaves her Kid Hero bodyguard, the erstwhile angel Pit (artistically based on the putti Cupid), to escape from the Underworld, gather up the three sacred relics, and defeat Medusa and her legions of demons, a few of which were inspired by Greek/Roman mythology, and... Metroids (the game was designed by Metroid creator Gunpei Yokoi and used the same engine).It was followed by a sequel for the Game Boy (Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters) in which Pit had to train himself to use the sacred relics once more to defeat an invading army of demons lead by Orcos. The character also starred as a member of the Five-Man Band of Captain N: The Game Master. After that, the series dropped completely off the radar for over ten years, despite a small but regular desire for a sequel pretty much since the days of the SNES. Then Pit was included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, complete with a radical makeover, and the crowd went wild.A new title, called Kid Icarus Uprising, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in March 2012. Put all tropes about that game on its own page.
This series provides examples of:
Always Chaotic Evil: The Underworld monsters. Only one's been introduced, but presumably those who dwell in the Evil land too.
And I Must Scream: Collin, an enemy in the game, is a soldier of Palutena that had his body taken over by Medusa, and monsters pop out of his body!
Bottomless Pit Rescue Service: The Angel Feather. If you fall down with at least one in your inventory, Pit will slowly fly back up. You have to land him on a platform after the Feather's effect wears off, or else he'll actually die.
Broken Angel: In the ending of Of Myths and Monsters, Pit's wings fall/rip off in front of a overly happy-lookingsun, presumably leaving Pit to plummet to his death. No wonder it's called Kid Icarus.
The Cameo: As a nod to its sister game, one of the enemies that shows up in the first game is the Komayto, short for "Little Metroid."*
In Japanese, it's spelled as "Kometo": short for "ko metoroido."
Cain and Abel: Palutena and Medusa have this type of relationship. It's not hard to guess which one is the 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 finished the job.
Covers Always Lie: Despite the manual artwork of Medusa as an overweight woman, she is actually a Cute Monster Girl version of Medusa cursed into a hideous cyclops head.
Damsel in Distress: Palutena in the original game. Apparently, being a goddess does not make one immune to this trope.
Death Throws: In both Kid Icarus and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters. The latter's one can be considered as a particular case of Uncanny Valley, if only because how Off Model Pit looks while he's facing the player when killed, not to mention his soul separates from his body, which proceeds to fall down the screen while his soul ascends to the heavens.
Dem Bones: The Overworld fortress guardian in Of Myth And Monsters.
Drop the Hammer: Pit can collect hammers to use in the fortress. Hammers deal a good deal of damage to enemies but the main usage is using them to free stone Centurions. Who are mostly useless. Hammers were much more useful in the sequel.
Fallen Angel: The original idea for the sequel was that Pit had been cursed for thousands of years for a crime and becomes a fallen angel. This idea appears to have been scrapped.
Fluffy Cloud Heaven: While it's probably not actually supposed to be heaven, Skyworld certainly looks the part.
Four is Death: Most enemies appear in groups of four, most notably the Reapettes. The centurions come in waves of three and they fight alongside Pit, making four.
Good Is Not Nice: 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.
Gorgeous Gorgon: Medusa was originally as beautiful as Palutena, but Palutena 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 Palulena.◊
Great Escape: The first world is technically Pit escaping from his imprisonment in the Underworld to go kick Medusa's ass. No wonder it was hard.
Happy Ending: The good ending of the first game shows Pit growing in size and getting kissed by Palutena.
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: 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 Myth And Monsters.
Hijacked By Jesus: 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.
Kill the God: Pit killed Medusa in the first game.
Large and in Charge: Medusa is larger then any other enemy in the game. Orcos from the Game Boy sequel seems to be a subversion, but eventually goes to "truly titanic" size!
In truth, the final level runs as long as it takes for you to accumulate enough points in the level to continue on to the battle with Medusa. If you don't have enough points, the stage will loop back from the start. It shouldn't take more than two trips through the level, though, unless you're not killing anything.
For some, the last dungeon (3-4) might be a brain-wreckingly difficult.
Its difficulty is alleviated in the 3D Classics-port, which seems to be mainly based on the Japanese version, and thus has a save-feature (comparable to The Legend of Zelda), meaning you can just reload your savestate on the latest level reached. Additionally, you can choose between two control modes, "CUSTOM" and "ORIGINAL". ORIGINAL has Pit maneuver like in his NES-title; CUSTOM, on the other hand, gives him much smoother run- and jump-physics, a faster shooting-frequency, being able to jump while aiming up, and being able to slow his descent like in Of Myths and Monsters. Believe it or not, this makes the game much more accessible and manageable.
No Arc in Archery: Though it's justified, since Pit's arrows are made of light. (At least as part of the Three Sacred Treasures, and in the newer games he shows up in.)
No Export for You: Inverted. The Game Boy sequel was never released in Japan until its re-release on the 3DS Virtual Console.
Non Indicative Name: The title. There's no one named Icarus, despite what they say onCaptain N. The second game name's Palutena's guard the "Icarus Army" of which Pit is a member, making it a little less jarring.
Lampshaded many years later in Uprising, where in one of the tutorial videos, Pit wonders just who this "Icarus" guy is, and when he'll get to meet him. Palutena tells him not to worry about it.
Surprisingly it has a relation to the Icarus from Mythology, Icarus is a human who attempted to fly with a wing made of Wax, and died because of flying near the sun which melted the Wax. Pit cant fly. Thats... the only relation you can get.
Progressively Prettier: 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, and kinda cute.
Red Shirt Army: The Centurions. Turned into stone by Medusa, you spend half your time in the dungeons saving them with Hammers(?!) only to have them drop like flies when they attempt to fight the bosses, who aren't that tough anyway.
Segmented Serpent: The Fire Serpent in Of Myth And Monsters, the head is different from the other parts and is the only part that can be damaged.
Shout Out: 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 creatures resemblingGoombas (Shulm) and Metroid(Komayto = Ko-meto = baby Metroid). Finally, one monster is called 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, Phil Collins.
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 theThree Sacred Treasures, the naming convention for the set of items was probably intentional.
Smooch of Victory: The American version took out the bad ending where Pit is turned into a specknose and replaced it with a perfect ending where Palutena kisses Pit in addition to turning him into an adult.
Taken for Granite: The Centurions in the first game by Medusa. Palutena in the Game Boy game by Orcos.
This Was Her True Form: Upon the defeat of monster Medusa, Medusa's humanoid form (but still green-skinned) comes out of monster Medusa's eyeball and dies.
Wings Do Nothing: In the first game, this trope is in effect until you get a powerup. In the Game Boy game, they can slow his descent and Pit is again able to obtain a powerup that allows flight.
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