summer vacations games

when it comes to nintendo, theres no shortageof heroes: mario, link, samus aran, kirby and pikachu are just some of the familiarfaces we've grown up with. there are others as well, who while not appearingin as many games, are still held dearly in the hearts of many fans. in this episode we will take a look at a heroby the name of pit, who was the star of his own game in the 8-bit days, only to fade away,then rise up to be reborn for the modern era. we’ll take a look at how the original kidicarus game works, why its so difficult, and how you play to win. also you'll learn about some of the hiddensecrets hiding in the game that once you see

them, you'll never look at it the same wayagain. so sit back, grab an eggplant and celebrate,because kid icarus is 30! the origins of kid icarus begin when a mannamed toru osawa joined nintendo as a programmer. he was young, fresh out of school, and wouldbe the main influence behind kid icarus. within his first year, he was given the greenlight to create a game for the famicom disk system. osawa wanted to create a game with a storybased on greek mythology, which was a topic that he always found interesting. he would develop the story of the game onthe mythical hero perseus, who, using a mirrored

shield, beheaded the gorgon, medusa, who hadthe power of turning men into stone with a single gaze. even after medusa was beheaded, this powerwas retained until her head was placed on the shield of athena, known was the aegis. the character design of pit, as well as theenglish title of his game, are derived from the myth of icarus, who with his father, daedalus,used wings crafted from feathers and wax, to escape from imprisonment on the islandof crete. icarus, in his youthful hubris flew too closeto the sun, which melted the wax, caused his feathers to fall off and he fell from thesky to the ocean below.

the games stages also bear some resemblanceto the three acts in dante’s divine comedy, which was divided in to hades, purgatory andthe paradise. the stages of the kid icarus are divided intounderworld, overworld and skyworld. toru osawa also wanted a game that was actionbased, but still contained some rpg elements. this is where a mixing of game styles comesin. while the running and jumping element is takenfrom super mario bros., a shooting element was also added that comes from metroid, withupgrades for power and distance possible later on in the game. vertical stages are also borrowed from metroid.

then comes an element of collecting items,similar to that in the legend of zelda, as well as navigating large maze like stages. because of this, its been quoted in nintendopower that pit, “can jump like mario, collect items like link, and shoot enemies like samus.” kid icarus, known in japan as hikari shina-waparutena no kagami was planned for release in the fall of 1986 for the famicom disk system. but getting the game done would not be aneasy task. the game was produced alongside metroid, andthey share similar elements as well. with most of nintendo’s r&d1 staff workingon metroid, toru osawa was put under the the

direction of satoru okada for kid icarus. after the completion of metroid, the developmentstaff took a much needed vacation, leaving osawa to develop kid icarus on his own. when okada returned he found that osawa hadno help in developing the game, and could not show the work that he had finished tothat point. he immediately assigned the metroid staffto help osawa, and three and a half months of intensive development began.. moving into fall, the production of the gamewent day and night with osawa even forgoing his honeymoon, and started sleeping at hisdesk and getting back to work as soon as he

woke up. according to an interview given in the japanesemagazine nintendo dream in 2004, which was later translated the website metroid database;as december drew near, osawa was still working on the game. he was offered heated kotatsu tables and futonsto keep warm, but osawa said that he wished he could tell them to prepare more staff forthe game instead. furthermore, osawa was given a hard deadlineof december 16th to finish the game. in a way, thanks to the game being on a disk,it gave osawa some extra time, as disks could be written and distributed much more quicklythan cartridges.

in the same interview, osawa recalled thaton december 16th, the management came for the final game and said “if this game doesn'thave any bugs in it, its finished!” there weren't any bugs and the disks werequickly written and shipped out meeting the planned release date. on december 19th, 1986, hikari shin-wa: palutenano kagami, was released for the famicom disk in english it means “the myth of light:palutena’s mirror” the game sold approximately 550,000 copies on original disks and 520,000more through disk writer in japan. the project was finished and osawa could finallytake a well earned break. the game was then translated to english, andbrought overseas as kid icarus.

the game was released first in european marketsin february 1987. it was held over in america until july, 1987to be released just before the legend of zelda and alongside metroid, games which kid icarustakes strong influences from. though there weren't many gaming publicationsat the time, word of mouth spread, and the game earned a reputation for being very difficultand a little weird, while maintaining a charm that could be admired. though kid icarus was not as popular as thelegend of zelda or metroid, it later grew to become a favorite in many collections. a proper sequel was announced for gameboyin 1991, the game was released only in north

america and europe, and would be, for a longtime, pit’s final fall it seemed that that pit would be lost as afootnote in 8-bit history. but, kid icarus would be re-released in 2004on the gameboy advance in japan as a famicom mini title and on the wii virtual consolein 2007. he would finally become a playable characteragain in 2008, appearing in super smash brothers brawl. now there had been a renewed interest in pitand his game and it allowed nintendo to develop and release the first new game in the kidicarus series in 21 years, kid icarus uprising, there was also a rerelease of the originalgame for the 3ds with updated, detailed 3d

scrolling backgrounds and a save function. this was followed up by pit, palutena anddark pit joining the cast of fighters in super smash bros. for 3ds and wii u in 2014. kid icarus was included on the nes classicedition in 2016 as well. there's no telling what pit will be up tonext, but you can certainly see that much like the original icarus, pits, heroics willbe told for all time. is kid icarus hard to play?! it doesn’t have to be! when we come back, we take a look at learningthe tricks that balance out the gameplay of

the original kid icarus. the original kid icarus has grown a reputationsince the 8 bit days . loved by some and hated by others, it's a tough game with many challengesif you’ve ever played the game with without any instructions, it can be a rough experience. not that the instructions helped too muchanyway. the game’s difficulty is brutally toughin the first 3 stages, where the screen moves up vertically. if you fall off the screen, you’re finished. you do get, essentially, infinite lives, butyou have to complete each stage to the end

on one go, and if you cant make it, you goright back to the start and lose everything you've earned. this can make the first time you play veryfrustrating. especially if you've played super mario bros.which lets you start halfway though a stage, or the legend of zelda, which lets you keepthe things you've found and save the game after each attempt. also some items don’t work until you canfully recharge your health and others have no effect until later in the game, which ifyou don't know that, is confusing. it seems, in a way, a little backwards fromother games because as you progress in the

game, things get easier and the game movesfaster, if you know what to do. so lets take an in depth look at how kid icarusactually works. the play mechanics are close to that of thelegend of zelda and metroid. pit traverses the games stages and shootsenemies to defeat them. the enemies leave hearts which are used asthe game's currency, which can be used to buy items and upgrades later in the game. you can also discover and earn items and upgradesby playing through the game in depth. when navigating the scrolling stages, enemieswill appear in waves of four, and will always gravitate towards pit.

if you are trying to run through a stage likeits super mario bros. the enemies will move in what appears to be erratic patterns andmake navigating the stages much more difficult. this pattern is easiest to detect right atthe beginning as the first snakes appear in groups of 4 and move left or right dependingon where you stand. moving further up the stage there are flyingenemies, also appearing in groups of four . the easiest way to defeat these is justto stand still and shoot them as they come down the screen, then slowly moving up. there are that will jump up from the bottomof the screen its best to shoot these as they land.

beyond that there are enemies that appearunder your feet, so look out! then there are the areas that are single screen,such as the endurance rooms and the maze stages. these enemies appear in groups of (8) andappear to move in a random pattern, but each one moves in its own loop, if you stop totake a look at how they fly, you can see the pattern. other enemies in the single screen maze stagesfollow the same rules as they do in the scrolling stages when you start the game, you only have onelife bar, which allows you to get hit 7 times before you have to start all over again.

you can increase that when you reach a numberof points on your total score. at 20,000, 50,000, 100,000 and 200,000 pointsyou can add one more block to your health meter. each new block gives you 8 hits more and atotal of 39 hits for a full health meter before a game over. these only get added at the end of the stage,and you have to fill it by buying potions or visiting a hot spring on your own. it doesn’t refill after each stage!! building up a strong defense is for pit ispretty straightforward and while those scores

aren't easy to get, its clear what you needto do. to make pit's arrows stronger, and the enemieseasier to defeat, is a very different process. in the instruction booklet, it says, “howmany of the enemy have you killed? how many chambers have you entered? have you got a lot of items? and how little damage has the enemy inflictedon you?”. what it doesn't tell you is that there isa fully functioning scoring system at work in the game, running behind the scenes. this scoring system will determine if youcan upgrade your weapons in certain stages.

the only stages where you can upgrade are1-2, 2-1, 2-2 and 3-1. you can get upgrades by entering the sacredchambers in these stages. sometimes a friendly god appears and sometimesnot. you get one chance in each of the stages andthat's it! if you pass any of these stages without theweapon upgrade, it's gone forever. so how does that work? you need to enter a sacred chamber with ascore of 10,000 points. the hidden score gives you points for defeatingenemies and collecting hearts, but it also takes away points for firing arrows and takingdamage from enemies.

you gain 100 points for each enemy that leavesa small heart, 300 for an enemy that leaves a half heart and 500 for each enemy that leavesa big heart. on top of that you get that same amount ofpoints for each of the hearts you collect, so long as you don't reach 999, then it doesn'tcount. you also get 100 points for each mallet youcollect and each item you buy, except the chalices of the water of life, and each weaponthat you buy gives you 1000 points. so getting 10,000 points and upgrading shouldbe easy right? well not so fast, because you lose 10 pointsfor each arrow you fire, you lose 300 points for each hit taken from an enemy, and youlose 500 points for breaking a pitcher in

a treasure chamber. it's actually a better strategy to avoid thetreasure chambers as you lose 1,480 points at best, if you clear it. and some items, like angel’s wings and barrelscan be bought elsewhere. the rooms full of specknoses should also beavoided, as these give you no points on your hidden score. remember! so in other stages, it doesn't really matter,even though the score is still being counted. for example, starting out doing this

would be bad! but if you move carefully, you could end upwith 190 points for each enemy, maximum and so the first enemy wave can get you a littleover 3000 points. that's almost 1/3 of the way there. of course if you fail the stage and have tostart over, the hidden score goes back to what it was at the start. also you can't have a negative score, so atleast there's that. as long as you have 9700 points by the timeyou make it to the sacred chamber in each of these stages, you'll get 300 points forentering, make it to 10,000 and get the arrow

upgrade. pit's hair will change color and the enemieswill weaken. then there are training rooms which give youa weapon boost as well. this can help your hidden score as you cangain points faster and lose points less often. the best one to take, for leveling up quicklyis the crystal. once your health meter re-charges, any enemywho touches your spinning force field will be defeated, and you won't lose points onyour hidden score, because you won't be using arrows. the next best weapon is the flaming arrowas it gives you a better chance to hit an

enemy at close range. the last upgrade is the sacred bow, whichlets you shoot to the edge of the screen. i recommend this last because, if your tryingto preserve points, you shouldn't be shooting arrows unless it's absolutely necessary, andthe closer the range, the better. you can buy these in some shops as well, ifyou cant endure the harsh training. all of these elements in the game affect theending too, which rewards you based on how strong pit has become by the end of the game. in order to get the best ending, you haveto have maximum arrow strength and endurance, as well as maximum hearts and all three weaponsearned from the training chambers.

if you maximize some of these, but not all,the endings will be different, and with none maximized, you'll get the worst ending. also, the best ending in the english versiondoes not exist in the japanese version. also in the japanese version, you can't dieat all to get the best ending. and it also has a worst ending not in theenglish version. eggplants and hot springs aren't even in greekmythology, so why are they in the game? when we come back, more secrets in kid icarusrevealed! . on the surface, its easy to see that kid icarustakes a strong influence from ancient greek

mythology, but there are several elementsthat come from japanese culture that you might not be aware of. in certain stages you'll come across a hotspring, which will fill your health meter if you sit in it. it's colored yellow, to give the player asubtle hint that it's a safe place. but its a pretty obvious hint if your familiarwith japanese hot springs. in japanese they are called onsen, and occurnaturally all over japan, due to the water trapped underground being heated by volcanicactivity. many springs are high in sulfuric content,which turns the water yellow.

the natural mineral composition, can helppeople recover from a number of conditions, including rheumatism, hypertension and skindiseases. the relaxing nature of sitting in a hot springis also beneficial for mental health. if you grew you with this common knowledge,it's easy to know what to do when you see it. if you enter a treasure room, one of the pitcherscontains the god of poverty, who will send you out of the room, and you won't gain anyhearts found in the room. it's clever in a game filled with mythicalcreatures to have a deity who punishes you. however, for the god of poverty, its no myth!

the god of poverty is real! in japanese he is called bimbogami (貧乏神)and usually appears as a small, skinny old man carrying a folding fan. there's also an actual shrine dedicated tohim in nagano japan, where people can pray for him to not visit their homes and insteadbring in fukugami, the god of good fortune. after defeating one of the three stages bosses,pit receives a treasure chest, with what are called the three sacred treasures, the arrowof light, the mirror shield and the wings of pegasus. in japan the three sacred treasures, calledsanshu no jingi, (三種の神器) are the

imperial regalia of the emperor of japan andthe royal family. the three sacred treasures in japan are asword called kusanagi, which represents valor. a mirror called yata no kagami, which representswisdom. and a jewel called yasakani no magatama, whichrepresents benevolence. they are believed to have been brought toearth by ninigi no motoko, the grandson of the goddess amaterasu and were passed on tohis great grandson, jimmu, the first emperor of japan. the three sacred treasures of japan are usedin the enthronement ceremony of each emperor and were last used in 1990, but are not availablefor public viewing, nor are they allowed to

be photographed. the ones you are looking at here are whatthey are believed to look like from first hand accounts. there's also a version of the three treasuresin modern life: a television, a refrigerator and a washing machine. in the 1950s and 60s many japanese women saidthat they could only marry a husband who could provide them with the modern three sacredtreasures! then there is the eggplant wizard, definitelythe weirdest part of the game as they can curse you and change you into an eggplant.

but why such a weird enemy and effect? part of the answer comes from toru osawa himself. in his 2004 interview, osawa stated that whileworking on kid icarus, he wanted to create a character that cursed pit and turned himinto an eggplant. as he was thinking about his summer bonuswhile making kid icarus, and eggplant being a common japanese summertime food. he recalled that nobody in the developmentstaff thought that was strange. while you may or may not find it strange,theres something a little funny to remove the curse, if you understand japanese.

the word for eggplant in japanese is nasu. the transliteration of the word nurse in japaneseis naasu, the word heal in japanese is naosu, which has 2 of the same characters from eggplantand nurse. it’s a bit of wordplay humor that englishplayers have missed all this time. it's great to see that toru osawa was ableto keep a sense of humor while dealing with the difficult task of creating kid icarus. he was able to get a few more gags in as theenemy known as komayto is similar to a metroid and in the instruction booklet says “itcame from a planet other than earth” and specknose is a loving homage to the game'ssoundtrack composer, hirokazu "hip" tanaka.

30 years! the legend still lives on. it's truly was a wonderful thing to see thework of toru osawa, pit and kid icarus, enshrined in the pantheon of nintendo history wherethey belong, and so rightly deserved.