Kid Icarus

1986 · Action / Platform · NES / Famicom Disk System

Overview

Kid Icarus (1986) is Nintendo's mythological platformer: the angel Pit climbs from the Underworld to the sky palace to rescue the goddess Palutena.

Deep Dive

Pit escapes the Underworld and fights his way up through vertically scrolling stages, across the Overworld and into the Sky World, before a final side-scrolling shoot-'em-up assault on Medusa. Fortresses between areas are mazes to map, and hearts collected from enemies buy items and strength upgrades. Pit starts very weak, making the early stages punishing. Developed by R&D1 alongside Metroid, it was revived in 2012 with Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Developer Story

Kid Icarus was developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1 simultaneously with Metroid, sharing engine components. Designer Satoru Okada and producer Gunpei Yokoi wanted two contrasting games — Metroid's dark horizontal exploration and Kid Icarus's vertical ascending structure. Pit's journey from the underworld upward to Olympus provided the visual variety of three distinct environments.

Did You Know?

Kid Icarus and Metroid were developed simultaneously by the same team, sharing engine code — the games launched within months of each other.
Pit began the game extremely weak — the starting areas were intentionally brutal, designed to be replayed after earning upgrades.
The three environmental phases — underworld (bottom-scrolling), overworld (side-scrolling), sky world (horizontal shooting) — kept the game visually fresh.
Pit appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008, reviving interest in the character and leading to Kid Icarus: Uprising in 2012.