I apologise for the lack of a review last week. As some of you know, I have a sh*t-poor memory, and by the time I remembered that I have a "regular" review feature it was Saturday.
Anyway, I was looking forward to writing a review of Final Fantasy IX (though I know it's getting repetitive now) but to my dismay (and probably to Bleeding Angel's frustration) the ROM I downloaded freezes after a while; far too early for me to get more than a fleeting impression. So instead, here's another retro review!
Kid Icarus Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo 1986
Opening Comments
I found this game while trawling the net for retro ROMs a while back and, having heard of it (literally the only basis on which I select ROMs to download) I decided to give it a shot. Besides, the title references Greek mythology, which would have intrigued me anyway. So, here goes.
Story
Like my review of Legend Of Zelda a while back, I had to research this, seeing as storylines were rarely explained in-game back in the 80's, and I don't have a manual. So, from the folks at Wikipedia:
"In a time where humans and gods coexisted in harmony, the kingdom of Angel Land was ruled by two goddesses, Palutena the Goddess of Light and Medusa the Goddess of Darkness. While Palutena administered the light and helped the mortals cultivate their crops, Medusa despised the mortals and used the darkness to destroy their crops and turn the mortals into stone. Enraged, Palutena transformed Medusa into a hideous monster and banished her into the dark Underworld."
...
Which tells us pretty much nothing. Now, like any NES game, Kid Icarus doesn't focus on the plot to begin with, emphasising gameplay above all else, but this is really, really vague. As best as I can gather, Palutena has, for some reason, sent our cute, winged protagonist Pit (who some of you will know from Super Smash Bros. Brawl) into the Underworld to fight Medusa. That's all I got.
Graphics & Soundtrack
I put these two together because there isn't much to say on either of them; the graphics are standard 8-bit fare - cartoony sprites, brightly coloured environments (but a depressingly black background). The sound isn't anything terribly special either - the theme is certainly catchy, but the sounds are tinny, repetitive and, well... 8-bittish. Obviously I can't hold that against an 8-bit game, but it grates on your nerves after a while (especially that high-pitched ditty that plays when certain enemies spot you... it's like the game is saying "na na na na na, I caught you"). After a few minutes I turned the sound off and put on some Bowie instead.
Gameplay
This is the most important part of any game, and it is truly Kid Icarus' saving grace. First off, let me say this: this game is HARD. I know, I know, all NES games were hard, but this is really, very hard.
Kid Icarus uses the exact same engine as it's better-known younger cousin Metroid, and involves jumping, shooting enemies with your bow (occasionally without letting them see you, lest they summon more enemies... and that infuriating theme) and collecting items. I assume there are bosses, but honestly, I never even got to one.
If you've finished this game, you're lying. It's that tough. The first half of the first stage is manageable enough, but from there the difficulty skyrockets and never seems to let up. Don't take that as a bad thing though, because it isn't! Take it instead as a personal challenge.
Closing Comments
This is one of those games that you don't beat. Even if you get to the end, you haven't beaten it - you've survived it. Kid Icarus is a monstrously challenging, often infuriating, but addictive and ultimately fun classic. This is one of those games that tries to beat you. All you can do is try not to let it. And then try again. And again. And again.
ha ha thats why you buy the actuall games :P, i cant be bothered with roms anymore.
I rember playing that game quite awhile ago from smash bros on the wii because you could unlcok some games, but i find it really hard to play games form that era, moslty because of the limitations that they have and the poor grapics and horrible gameplay.
But im glad you enjoyed playing it.
"Its not how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light"
I love all the old games, even though I suck at them. Imagine if games were still as hard today as they were in the 80s? I'm telling you, Kid Icarus, Megaman, Contra and Gradius were nigh-impossible.
Oh I do love the Megadrive, although I've never really played that many games on it... never really played many SNES games either, except Final Fantasy IV, V and VI, Super Mario Kart and F-Zero...
The Megadrive had good stuff though. I still play Sonic The Hedgehog whenever I get the chance.
I liked sonic very much until they decided to make sonic 3D. That just did not work, now i think the brand is rubbish and teaming him up with Mario, just ruined the age old riverly between sega and nintendo, though i suppose with sega failing they had to sell their franchise off.
As for the snes, my favourite game will always be the illusion of time, it was my first taste of rpgs and got me hooked on them.
"Its not how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light"
I totally agree about the whole Sonic and Mario thing, and I feel sorry for young gamers today who won't understand the whole Sega vs. Nintendo thing. "Console wars" used to mean something, back when you could tell the difference between consoles, but you can't do that any more. Sure, the Wii is radically different, but there's no real difference between the Xbox and the PS3. They even share half their libraries.
I miss the old Sonic games... you're right about Sonic 3D... they've tried to recapture the magic but it is long, long dead.
I gave up on sonic 3d, the had a game for the dreamcast and one of the levels was in the sky, cept being 3d and in the sky meant it was so much harder to land, and i kept falling and dying so i gave up on that.
I know me and my friend had a rivery between xbox and ps3, I love my xbox but i hate the ps3 because there isnt much out there game wise i would play, and well he hates the xbox. As for the wii i dont know why i even bought mine, i havent played it for a bit now and all the games are rubbish. We both agree on that fact.
"Its not how long a star shines, what is remembered is the brightness of the light"
I think because the Wii is marketed towards more casual gamers, a lot of the games are very simple... I wouldn't call them bad for that though. Also, Twilight Princess is supposed to be quite good. I probably wouldn't get a Wii though, because I'm not big on casual games. And I agree about the PS3. When I was younger I was very biased towards Sony; I got a Playstation when I was 5 or 6, I refused to get a Nintendo 64 (I've only started playing N64 games recently), I don't think I'd even heard of the Sega Saturn (although it was VERY poorly marketed) and I preferred the PS2 to the Xbox and Gamecube, but there just aren't enough good, PS3-exclusive games to make me want to buy one. I considered getting one when Final Fantasy XIII was PS3-exclusive, but now that it's being released on the Xbox 360 I just don't feel the need to buy a PS3.
