Kid Icarus: Uprising

Kid Icarus: Uprising

新・光神話 パルテナの鏡

Shin Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami

Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Project Sora Console: Nintendo 3DS Genre: Third-person shooter Release: JP: March 22, 2012 NA: March 23, 2012 EU: March 23, 2012 AUS: March 29, 2012 Ratings: CERO: B ESRB: E10+ PEGI: 12 Predecessor: Of Myths and Monsters Successor: N/A

Kid Icarus: Uprising (新・光神話　パルテナの鏡 Shin Hikari Shinwa Parutena no Kagami, lit. "New Light Myth: Palutena's Mirror") is a long awaited revival of the Kid Icarus series to be published by Nintendo. It was officially announced at E3 2010 that a new Kid Icarus game would be coming out for the new Nintendo 3DS. It has taken a re-imagined 3D design of Pit and the enemies of the original NES game, though Pit and Palutena themselves are based off their Super Smash Bros. Brawl looks. Their character models are slightly downgraded from Super Smash Bros. Brawl due to the hardware limitation, but even so, the game's appearance is considered above-average for the 3DS.

Project Sora is the developer, with Masahiro Sakurai as the lead designer. The game was released on March 23, 2012 in North America and Europe.

Story

Uprising is a direct sequel to the classic NES game, and takes place 25 years after the original Kid Icarus. The overall plot is actually split into two story arcs, the first of which features the battle against Medusa and her returning minions, while the second chronicles the threat of the gods, Hades and Viridi against the human race. In the first story arc, Medusa has been revived, and once again attempts to eradicate the mortals while seeking revenge from Pit and Palutena. In hearing this news, Palutena summons her most loyal servant, Pit, to stop Medusa and her Underworld Army, and restore peace to Angel Land once more. Along the way, Pit must battle all of the classic enemies and bosses that have returned from the original game. During the latter half of the story, Pit will encounter many new characters and enemies in the greatly expanded Kid Icarus universe, including the true main antagonist, Hades. The story mode is also divided into 25 separate chapters that each represent a stage:

Chapter 1: The Return of Palutena

Chapter 2: Magnus and the Dark Lord

Chapter 3: Heads of the Hewdraw

Chapter 4: The Reaper's Line of Sight

Chapter 5: Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit

Chapter 6: Dark Pit

Chapter 7: The Seafloor Palace

Chapter 8: The Space-Pirate Ship

Chapter 9: Medusa's Final Battle

Chapter 10: The Wish Seed

Chapter 11: Viridi, Goddess of Nature

Chapter 12: Wrath of the Reset Bomb

Chapter 13: The Lunar Sanctum

Chapter 14: Lightning Battle

Chapter 15: Mysterious Invaders

Chapter 16: The Aurum Hive

Chapter 17: The Aurum Brain

Chapter 18: The Ring of Chaos

Chapter 19: The Lightning Chariot

Chapter 20: Palutena's Temple

Chapter 21: The Chaos Vortex

Chapter 22: Scorched Feathers

Chapter 23: Lord of the Underworld

Chapter 24: The Three Trials

Chapter 25: The War's End

Bonus Chapter: Boss Battles

Gameplay Modes

The game appears to be shoot'em up based, with an upgrade system for Pit's weapons. Pit retains the twin blade from Brawl, but his selection of weaponry has expanded greatly this time around. Uprising has three primary modes of play:

Single Player

The single player mode is where the main game and its story will take place. Each chapter of the story is divided into three sections:

Air Battle

In this game, Pit is granted the Power of Flight from Palutena, giving him the ability to fly for a limited amount of time. The areas where this ability is used resemble a free-aiming flight mode as seen in titles such as Panzer Dragoon and Omega Boost, where Pit can fly in one direction and aim in another, reminiscent of the Palace in the Sky in the original Kid Icarus. But as the trailer states, Pit can only maintain flight for 5 minutes at a time, after that Pits wings will burn out and he will fall. He can also now battle in the air and target enemies.

Land Battle

Land Battles allow Pit to roam freely, and he can alternate easily between melee and ranged combat depending on how close he is to an enemy. In this mode, Pit is also able to perform fast dodges and run very fast while shooting. He can also utilize various Powers to defend himself or combat foes more effectively. The land sections will make up the largest parts of the game.

Boss Battles

At the end of every chapter, Pit will face off with a boss character. These range from fighting massive monsters such as Twinbellows, to battling other major characters like Dark Lord Gaol, to encountering recurring villains such as Dark Pit. In some cases, such as with Hewdraw, a portion of the boss fights might take place during the flying sections in addition to the land sections.

Multiplayer

A Multiplayer Mode has been confirmed for the game, featuring Pit, Dark Pit, and the Fighters as playable characters. It will be a team death-match type of game, pitting Light Team and Dark Team against each other in battle. There is also a Free-for-All mode. This will be available over both local and online play.

Idol Toss

Idol Toss is a feature similar to the Trophies in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl. "Idols" are 3D models of characters, weapons, and items that can be viewed by the player. Each Idol also comes with a fun and informative, little description. During the Idol Toss, the player can launch an egg and shoot it, causing an Idol to hatch. Eggs can be obtained by playing the main story, or purchasing them by using the 3DS's Play Coins. Users can also gain more Idols by playing the AR Battle Mode.

AR Battles

The game will also feature an expansive AR Battle Mode, allowing players to see all characters, enemies, items, and weapons using AR cards and the Nintendo 3DS's dual cameras. With this mode, battles can be waged with different characters and enemies, each of which have their own stats and health bars.

Fiend's Cauldron

The Fiend's Cauldron is the game's unique and innovative difficulty setter. This particular item can be filled with Hearts, allowing players to increase the difficulty of the game by adding more enemies to attack as well as making them stronger. The Cauldron uses a scale of 0.0-9.0, with 2.0 considered as the standard. Players can increase or decrease the difficulty by 0.1 increments, making it a total of ninety difficulty levels. Increased levels also reward players with more hearts, weapons, and items. However, if a player were to die many times, the Cauldron will lower the settings, but it will also increase the difficulty if the player does exceptionally well. There are also special areas during Land Battles that can be accessed through an Intensity Gate, but these only open to those that have their difficulty set on a particular level. These Gates contain more powerful enemies and rarer treasures.

• 0.0- Effortless
• 1.0- Easy
• 2.0- Standard
• 3.0- Tougher
• 4.0- Challenging
• 5.0- Heatin' Up
• 6.0- Extra Spicy
• 7.0- Infernal
• 8.0- White Hot
• 9.0- Nothing Harder!

Spotpass and Streetpass

For the Streetpass feature, players will be able to send "seeds" of weapons to other Kid Icarus: Uprising owners. These seeds contain information about a specific weapon that other players can purchase for themselves at the Arm's Altar. In addition, users can create gems of weapons and pass these to other players as well. For the Spotpass feature, individuals can download a new weapon gem that is distributed daily online for a limited amount of time.

Items

Multiple Items have been revealed during gameplay videos and in trailers. Hearts will make a return as items dropped by downed monsters. Treasure Boxes have also been seen containing items such as Food, Grenades, and Drinks of the Gods.

Weapons

Pit is seen using the same bow as he was in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, in both twin-blade and bow mode. In addition to the bow, Pit seems to gain a very large arsenal of powerful weapons that can be chosen from before each stage. It seems as if every weapon has close and long range attacks and charged and rapid fire attacks. It has also been confirmed the weapons listed are more like categories, with many different Bows and Blades. Individual weapons also have different values and bonuses. Players can find more powerful weapons by playing the single player mode on higher difficulties using the Fiend's Cauldron. In addition, each weapon has a special power attack that can clear the screen of most enemies, although they can only be used during flight. These attacks are represented by a number of blue orbs at the bottom left of the touchscreen. The weapon categories that have been revealed are as follows:

• Bow - Pit's original weapon that can split into two blades.
• Blade - A plasma gun with a sword that extends from the front.
• Claws - A pair of claws that work best at close range.
• Orbitars - Two floating satellite weapons that excel at long range combat.
• Arm - A bulky claw-like device that fits over the user's arm.
• Palm - A glowing rune that harnesses powerful energy.
• Cannon - A bulky bazooka that slows the user down.
• Staff - A powerful rod that can utilize magic attacks.
• Club - A massive weapon that can deflect enemy projectiles.

Weapon Fusing

Players can also fuse two different weapons to bring over specific characteristics to another weapon. Gems can also be fused for the same purpose.

Powers

Powers are new weapons and abilities that Pit can use in battle. They can have different effects when used, ranging from unleashing powerful attacks to recovering Pit's health.

Vehicles

In addition to these weapons and abilities, Pit will also be able to utilize armed vehicles in battle and for transportation. It is currently unknown how many vehicles will be in the game. Currently, three vehicles have been revealed, including the speedy Exo Tank, a futuristic robo-suit called the Cherubot, and a vehicle resembling a gyro-sphere called the Aether Ring.

Confirmed Appearances

Major Characters and Voice Cast

So far, these are the major characters with voice acting roles that have been confirmed:

Characters	English Voice	Japanese Voice
Pit Dark Pit	Antony Del Rio	Minami Takayama
Palutena	Ali Hillis	Aya Hisakawa
Medusa	Cree Summer	Naomi Shindo
Magnus	Fred Tatasciore	???
Dark Lord Gaol	Kari Wahlgren	???
Thanatos	Danny Mann	Eiji Itou
Pandora	Nika Futterman	???
Poseidon	Fred Tatasciore	???
Blue Hewdraw	Danny Mann	???
Purple Hewdraw	Danny Mann	???
Violet Hewdraw	Danny Mann	???
Hades	Scott Bullock	Yoshitada Otsuka
Viridi	Hynden Walch	???
Phosphora	Kari Wahlgren	???
Arlon	Troy Baker	???
Pyrrhon	Troy Baker	???
Chariot Master	Alan Oppenheimer	???
Dyntos	Alan Oppenheimer	???

Unknown Characters

• What appears to be a young girl was revealed on an official AR Card. Like Magnus, she is classified as unaffiliated with either the Underworld Army or Palutena's Army, but it is currently unknown what role she will play in the story.
• A large green, avian-like creature. It is also listed as unaffiliated. It is currently unknown if this creature is a single character or a group of characters.

Medusa's Army

Medusa's army is unique in that it is primarily an aerial force, with most enemy creatures revealed so far being capable of flight or levitation. Trailers and screenshots have revealed many enemies that will appear in the game.

Enemies

A number of familiar monsters have been seen in the trailers, including, but not limited to:

Anime

A mini-series of Kid Icarus Anime shorts has been confirmed to be in production by three different animation studios. Whether this will lead to a full series remains to be seen.

Trivia

• The box art for Kid Icarus: Uprising was changed for its English release so that it features Pit with an angry expression, while the Japanese version has him smiling. This type of change has similarly been made for various games in the Kirby series, which was also created by Masahiro Sakurai.
• Despite the title of the franchise and the Power of Flight seeming to be linked to the myth of Icarus, it is said this game is not inspired by the original myth whatsoever.
• Interestingly, the 3DS home screen jingle for Kid Icarus Uprising is the same as 3D Classics: Kid Icarus.

External Links

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Official Website (North America)
• Official Website (UK)
• Official Website (Australia)
• The trailer