048 - KID ICARUS

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KID ICARUS

Episode 048

OUR THOUGHTS

MIKE

KID ICARUS is one of the finest NES games I’ve played to date. I played about 30 hours of the 3DS successor, Kid Icarus Uprising and while it was a fun game filled with hilarious dialogue and unique gameplay I wasn’t really thinking the jump back in time to the original would be something worth exploring. Of course, I was wrong and I’m glad. Kid Icarus on NES is an early game for the system that shows what a long adventure game could be like on the system. In Japan they already had Metroid and Zelda, but in the USA we would have to wait another few months. For those lucky enough to gamble on buying Kid Icarus back in the day it must have really felt great. This game takes some of the best elements from Super Mario Bros. and Castlevania but also adds in vertical scrolling, RPG elements, and even at the very end SHMUP action.

Kid Icarus isn’t perfect by today’s standards and maybe it’s the fact that I was expecting little by a game that gives A LOT, but I really think this one needs to be re-evaluated if you dismissed it back in the day. The core gameplay loop isn’t too exciting, but the upgrades, puzzles, dungeons, enemy variety continue to change and evolve in every level. I highly recommend this one.

THE VERDICT - ESSENTIAL

And that time the game becomes a SHMUP…

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