Kid Icarus: Uprising
Pit battles Medusa and Hades in a Greek-mythology shooter.
Kid Icarus: Uprising is a 2012 third-person shooter developed by Project Sora and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the third installment in the Kid Icarus franchise, the first since 1991, and the only video game Project Sora produced before shutting down in mid-2012. The game was created by Masahiro Sakurai after a request from Satoru Iwata to develop a launch title for the then-in-development 3DS.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Project Sora
- Publisher
- Nintendo
- Series
- Kid Icarus
- Platforms
- Nintendo 3DS
- Released
- 22 March 2012 (JP)
- NA/EU
- 23 March 2012
- 29 March 2012 (AU)
- Genre
- Third-person shooter, rail shooter
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
- Director
- Masahiro Sakurai
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Kid Icarus: Uprising is a third-person shooter where players control the angel Pit during missions for Palutena, the Goddess of Light. Gameplay is divided into aerial rail shooter segments and ground-based segments that include both linear paths and free-roaming areas. The difficulty, or Intensity, is set by betting hearts in the Fiend's Cauldron before each mission, ranging from 0.0 (very easy) to 9.0 (highly difficult). Pit's combat abilities include long-range attacks using gun-like weapons and close-quarters melee attacks. Defeating enemies grants hearts, the game's currency, used to increase difficulty by betting against the player's performance. Higher intensity makes enemies stronger but yields more hearts and better weapons if hearts are not lost upon death. Pit gains access to nine weapon types: bows, claws, blades, clubs, orbitars, staffs, arms, palms, and cannons, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Every weapon has distinct stats for range, melee damage, ranged damage, fire speed, movement speed, and charge time, plus stars indicating melee and ranged power. Weapons can be tested in the Practice Range. Through StreetPass, players share weapons as Weapon Gems; others can convert them with hearts. Hearts can also upgrade weapons, fuse gems, or be gained by dismantling weapons.
Synopsis
Twenty-five years after his first adventure, the angel Pit serves the Goddess of Light Palutena and battles the Goddess of Darkness Medusa, who wants to wipe out humanity. Pit takes on Medusa’s servant Twinbellows, then teams up with a human mercenary named Magnus to defeat the commander Dark Lord Gaol. He later destroys the Mirror of Truth by confronting the Goddess of Calamity Pandora, but the mirror creates a dark copy of Pit called Dark Pit, who absorbs Pandora’s powers and leaves. With help from the God of Oceans Poseidon, Pit beats Medusa’s last commander Thanatos, collects the Three Sacred Treasures, and finally defeats Medusa. But Medusa was just a puppet; the real villain is Hades, Lord of the Underworld. Hades starts a war among humans by spreading a rumor about a wish seed guarded by a Phoenix, which makes the Nature Goddess Viridi attack both humans and Hades’ army. While Pit and Palutena fight Viridi and Hades, a place called the Lunar Sanctum gets destroyed, releasing a mysterious creature. The constant fighting draws an alien race called the Aurum to invade Earth for its resources. The gods unite against them, and the Sun God Pyrrhon sacrifices himself to send the Aurum far away. Three years later, Pit is stuck inside a ring with no memory of what happened. He uses other people’s bodies to reach a ruined city and meets Magnus again, who tells him that Palutena’s army has turned on humans and that Pit’s own body is attacking people. Pit takes over Magnus’s body, defeats his own body, and gets it back. Viridi flies him to the ruined Skyworld and explains that the Lunar Sanctum was a prison for the Chaos Kin, a soul-eating creature that escaped and possessed Palutena. Pit gets the Lightning Chariot, breaks through Skyworld’s barrier, and defeats Palutena, but the Chaos Kin steals her soul. Pit and Dark Pit chase it into the Chaos Vortex. To save Dark Pit from the dying Chaos Kin, Pit uses his flight powers too much, burns his wings, and nearly dies.
Development
After completing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Masahiro Sakurai was taken out by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata in July 2008 and asked to develop a launch title for the Nintendo 3DS, then in early development. Sakurai was the first outsider to learn of the platform. The Brawl development team had dissolved, so Sakurai chose to create a third-person shooter, a genre unpopular in Japan but suited to the 3DS's planned 3D effects. The project began as an original game, but after conversations with Iwata, Sakurai decided to use an existing Nintendo IP, inspired by feedback that many Brawl characters had not appeared in a game for some time. He considered Star Fox but felt restrictions in implementing planned gameplay; he ultimately chose Kid Icarus due to its long absence and continued Western popularity, as well as his involvement with the character through Brawl. He conceived the sequence of five-minute aerial segments, ground combat, and chapter bosses. Development began in 2009 but faced difficulties: lack of early hardware access, balancing elements, and control scheme issues. Sakurai wrote the story, retaining the lighthearted tone of the first game with uninterrupted gameplay. The music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, and Yasunori Mitsuda. Uprising was the first Kid Icarus game since the 1991 Game Boy title and the first planned for Japan since the original in 1986.
Reception
Kid Icarus: Uprising received largely positive reviews. On Metacritic, it scored 83/100 based on 75 critic reviews. Famitsu gave a perfect 40 points, praising attention to detail, flexibility, and gameplay balance, as well as the dialogue. 1Up.com's Marty Sliva said there was a never-ending litany of things to love. IGN's Richard George called it a fantastic game despite flaws. Eurogamer's Simon Parkin said it was a strong, pretty game made essential by its surrounding infrastructure. GameSpot's Ashton Raze called it a deep and satisfying shooter despite control and movement issues. Nintendo World Report's Neal Ronaghan called it an amazing game packed with content. Nintendo Power gave a positive review. Game Informer's Jeff Cork was more critical, saying the control scheme let down other aspects. Edge Magazine was positive overall, praising the combination of genres. Official Nintendo Magazine's Steve Hogarty recommended it for hardcore gamers. Critics generally praised the lighthearted story, dialogue, graphics, gameplay aspects, and multiplayer, but unanimously criticized the control scheme as difficult or potentially damaging to hands, and noted issues with moving Pit and the game's linear structure.
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