Kid Icarus shit

35 years

Kid Icarus is 35.

My comfort character, my boy, my son is 35.

Since Nintendo is definitely not celebrating this anniversary, I will. Here is the development history of Kid Icarus for the NES (Famicom Disk System if you're from Japan)

(I've attached the soundtrack to the game up above so listen while you read because the music from this franchise is criminally underrated)

This is Tōru Ōsawa

He had an idea for a game based on his love for Greek mythology.

Nowadays this game is described as being able to jump like Mario, collect items like Link and shoot like Samus.

So Ōsawa went up to Nintendo and was like "Hey, I've got this idea for a game."

And Nintendo was like "Yeah, I like that idea. Get to work on it."

And Ōsawa was like "Well, aren't you going to give me a team of developers?"

And then Nintendo was like ".........no. Also it's due in like 9 months..... maybe less."

So Ōsawa got to work on his game.
But this was difficult. You couldn't make a game all on your own in 9 months back in the 80s.

Then in August of 1986, Metroid released. (It released on my birthday, August 6th so that's a fun flex)

Ōsawa asked the Metroid team for help on his game, but the Metroid team said that they were going on holiday!

So Ōsawa was left alone again. But one of the Metroid members had to come home early. So they got back to Nintendo, and keep in mind that Ōsawa's game is due in about 4 months, and they saw him practically slaving away to try and finish his game.

So they picked up the phone and called the rest of the team back home. The Metroid team was now the Kid Icarus team.

Now because this was Japan in the 80s, Nintendo would turn the heating off at night to save on electricity bills. So the team were sleeping on flattened cardboard boxes and wrapping themselves up with curtains to stay warm.

Ōsawa even got married at this time and requested 3 days off for his honeymoon but because they were so behind schedule, he only got 2 days off.

But finally, finally, the game was finished. A round of applause for Ōsawa and the team! 👏👏👏👏👏

But were 5 levels cut?
Yes.

Were there any credits?
No.

Did the game sell over 1.76 million copies worldwide up until 2003?
Yes. It. Did.

Pit even starred in a cartoon from the 80s, Captain N and the Game Master. But we don't talk about that.
I'm sure-acus.... I'm so sorry.

Kid Icarus even got a sequel 5 years later in 1991 for the GameBoy,
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters. But nobody remembers this game, or even gets the title right because it was only released in North America and Europe.

In 2008, Pit was an official fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. We don't talk about the Melee trophy.

Then, in 2012, from the heavens, from Skyworld or Angel Land, depending on which version of the game your playing because I'm not getting into localisation right now, came the gem of a game that is Kid Icarus: Uprising.
A direct sequel, to the game that began my comfort franchise.

To promote the release of Uprising, Nintendo made 3D Classics, the first game to be featured in this was obviously Kid Icarus. It was given a few extra levels, a credits sequence and even coloured the backgrounds really nicely. And in my opinion, utilised the 3D feature really well.

So, where's the series at now?
Dead.

Now, you might be expecting me of all people, who's obsessed with this franchise and loves Pit more than I love myself to say something like "Oh we'll get a new game someday!" But, unless I'm making it and I've got a folder of this new game like Nintendo call me. But unless I'm making it, we're not getting Kid Icarus for the Switch. I'm sorry, it's a tough pill for me to swallow too, I'm honestly crying just typing this right now but Reddit, Tumblr and Smash Bros are the only things keeping this series alive.

At the time of writing this, Nintendo hasn't even put anything up on Twitter. Not even r/KiDIcaruS has posted anything.

But I, as well as the next person does still have that small bit of hope for a new game.

But yeah, happy birthday Pit, you mean a lot to me. 🏹