Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters | ||||||||||||||||
NES - Europe - 1st edition. |
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Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters is a platformer action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo R&D1 and Tose and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy on 1991-11-05. Although the game is the second title in the Kid Icarus series, which started in Japan, the game strangely did not see a Japanese release.
The game takes place in Angel Land, where the goddess Palutena has charged the angel Pit to travel to the Underworld and work his way back up to Angel Land as training to become strong enough to find and use three sacred treasures. With these, he might become strong enough to defeat Orcos, the evil demon who is threatening the land. Really, the game is more of a remake than a sequel, but it does have one major change, the elimination of ratchet scrolling.
Contents
Personal
Own? | No. |
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Won? | Yes. |
Finished | 2019-12-14. |
I have always wished that Kid Icarus: Angel Land Story was a better game. I love the idea of it, but it has too many flaws which prevent me from enjoying it fully. After learning that there was a sequel made for Game Boy, I tried it out, but, after finding it very similar to the NES game, I just assumed it was a cheap port and didn't give it a fair shake. However, after learning that Game Boy titles are generally easier than the NES games they're based on, and once again seeing this title high on people's favorite for the platform, I decided to try it again. So, I played the game through and beat it.
Review
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6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
Best Version: Game Boy
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- Rather than be a sequel, the game is more like a refined and simplified version of the original with the majority of the rough edges smoothed out.
- The game isn't nearly as grueling as the original. It offers far more health refreshers (they even drop from enemies occasionally), hearts are more plentiful, and, probably the most important, you can no longer die from falling.
- Player control has been improved quite a bit. You don't have a strange floaty jump, and you can now use your little wings to glide as you fall, slowing your descent and allowing more control over where you land.
- I much prefer the camera panning around the wrap-around stages rather than have the player warp from one side of the screen to the next.
- The key, which allows you to reenter a door, is a very helpful item.
- The manual is very detailed.
Bad
- Although the graphics are passable, their large size only allows a tiny window of the game world to be visible. This makes it very easy to accidentally fall into spikes, monsters, and other hazards.
- The thief monster was brought back. He's not quite as horrible as in the first game because he's a little easier to avoid, and items are cheaper to buy-back, but it's still annoying.
- The mapping system is still underwhelming. By the time you have found the map, pencil, and torch, you've already probably explored half the fortress anyway, and, since they don't even show room types or exits, it's not that useful. However, at least in this game, you don't have to buy all three items, they can be found in centurions.
- I would have appreciated a bit more uniqueness to the game rather than have it follow the original so closely. I love most of the refinements, but all the levels are laid out the same, the items are the same, and the enemies are the same (though renamed).
- The enemy rooms are even more pointless than in the first game. At least in the original, each Specknose yielded a large heart, here, the bats only give half hearts. And, since you can farm hearts very easily in every map, there is no need to ever enter the monster rooms.
- Once again, Pit isn't allowed to use the sacred treasures, making them unimpressive rewards for defeating the fortress bosses. However, the fortresses are so much easier this time around, you shouldn't expect much.
- Shops still lock their doors after you leave, a terrible business tactic, but, at least in this game, they let you buy more than one item!
- The first three bosses are very similar to each other, and I wish the first form of the final boss wasn't the same at the third boss.
- The game's story is ridiculous and contrived.
- For some reason, Toru Osawa was not involved in this game, despite creating the original.
Ugly
- It's very easy to accidentally waste a key on a room you didn't want to re-enter. A simple confirmation prompt would have fixed this, or, better yet, don't lock the door in the first place.
Media
Box Art
All regions use this box art. Although the cartoon is quite childish, it's quite fitting to how the game plays, both from the in-game graphics and overall mood. Also, the Eggplant Wizard looks like he's pleasantly stoned.
Documentation
Maps
Videos
Play Online
Representation
Strong female character? | Fail | There are even fewer women then in the first game. |
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Bechdel test? | Fail | Women never talk to each other. |
Strong person of color character? | Fail | Being set in mythological Rome, everyone is white. |
Queer character? | Fail | There are no clearly queer characters. |
Credits
The game doesn't have credits, but these are the personnel involved who gamers have identified.
Role | Staff |
---|---|
Executive Producer | Hiroshi Yamauchi |
Producer | Gunpei Yokoi |
Design | Masafumi Sakashita |
Programmer | Hideyo Kawaguchi |
Links
- Video Games
- 1991 Video Games
- Video games developed by Nintendo
- Video games developed by Tose
- Video games published by Nintendo
- Game Boy Games
- Video Game Genre - Action-adventure
- Video Game Genre - Metroidvania
- Video Game Genre - Platformer
- Video Game Genre - Platform shooter
- Video Game Genre - Shooter
- Media Theme - Adventure
- Media Theme - Cartoon
- Media Theme - Fantasy
- Media Theme - Mythology
- Software Distribution Model - Commercial
- Video Games I Don't Own
- Video Games I've Beaten
- Video Game Rating - 6
- Video Game Graphics Rating - 4
- Video Game Sound Rating - 5
- Video games which can be played online
- Video games without a strong female character
- Video games that fail the Bechdel test
- Video games without a strong person of color character
- Video games without a queer character
- Video Game Prime Order - Adventure, Action, Strategy
- Game Mechanic - New Game Plus