Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters

About Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (1991) is Nintendo's Game Boy sequel to Kid Icarus, in which the angel Pit trains to wield three sacred treasures against the demon Orcos.

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters in Depth

Palutena, goddess of Angel Land, dreams of an invasion by the demon Orcos and his minions. She orders Pit, leader of her army, to undergo special training so he can use Angel Land's three sacred treasures, which she places under the protection of three fortress guardians. Pit explores the underworld tower, the overworld and the sky world tower, each of three areas and a labyrinthine fortress, armed with a bow and unlimited arrows. Saving is possible after each area, and Pit's health bar grows if he has defeated enough enemies. Beating the guardians earns the Wings of Pegasus, the Silver Armor and the Light Arrows, which give Pit new powers in the final sky palace, where Orcos turns Palutena to stone before Pit defeats him.

Unlike the NES original, levels scroll freely in all four directions, allowing backtracking, and Pit can flap his wings to slow his fall. Hidden doors lead to eight kinds of chamber: shops and black markets selling items such as healing potions for hearts dropped by monsters, information centres with hints, hot springs, bat chambers for earning hearts, treasuries with games of chance, Zeus's sacred chamber, which grants strength based on enemies defeated, and the sacred training centre, whose endurance test awards protective crystals, fire arrows or a long bow. In the ending, like the Icarus of myth, Pit flies too close to the sun and loses his wings.

Making Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters

Nintendo developed it with the external company Tose, releasing it in North America in November 1991 and Europe in May 1992, making it one of few first-party Nintendo games not originally published in Japan. It drew generally favourable reviews for its gameplay, graphics and music. Nintendo Magazine System found it a "fairly jolly adaptation" but "rather long in the tooth", Joystiq said it "advances significantly beyond its predecessor", and IGN's Audrey Drake called it an "awesome sequel" and "a solid title that has undeservedly been all-but-forgotten". Its 2012 Japanese debut kept the English localisation and marked the release of Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Nintendo Life scored the re-release eight out of ten.