Kid Icarus

So I moved back in time today, back to the NES, just because I had the urge to play an older game.  I picked up Kid Icarus for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  Developed and published by Nintendo, Kid Icarus was released late 1986 in Japan and mid 1987 in North America.

The story goes as such: Medusa, the Goddess of Darkness, has declared war on Palutena, the Goddess of Light, and become victorious and even captured Palutena.  Using the last of her strength, Palutena sends a magical bow the the angel Pit who has been trapped in the Underworld.  You lead Pit out of the Underworld, across the earth and into the sky into Angel Land to defeat Medusa and free Palutena. As you advance, you defeat Medusa's most powerful minions to regain the Three Sacred Treasures.  You must travel through each of the worlds until you can enter the fortress maze at the end of each to face Medusa's minions and retrieve the Sacred Treasure to defeat Medusa. 

So I started on the first level, rising out of the Underworld.  As you ascend, you face the smallest of enemies (and one of the few to appear in every level) the miniature snakes.  They slither towards you and then kindly eat your arrows happily. The floor slowly starts to diminish and you advance into more of an open air atmosphere with thin platforms that you can move through.  You continue going upwards, facing groups of Monoeyes (floating eyes that come in fours who circle you for a bit before trying to ram you) once getting.  As you continue, you can grab the harp which gives you a bit of peace for a while as all of the enemies are transformed into slowly falling hammers, which you can collect for mini-games later on. 

I continued upwards and encounter the first appearance of the Reaper.  Now in most games the Grim Reaper is terrifying and considered a boss if nothing else.  The Reaper in Kid Icarus is a bit different though, he moves back and forth slowly, not doing very much... until it sees you.  Then the Reaper panics.  Yes, the Grim Reaper panics and starts to run back and forth calling for help.  It is sort of laughable, if it wasn't for the fact that you still almost die from it.  Because the help the Reaper receives is almost as terrifying as the Reaper itself: it's four mini-Reapers that chase after you.  Yes, the Grim Reaper calls its children after you so that they can devour your soul, or at least annoy you until you die.

Obnoxious?  Yup.  Dangerous?  You bet. 

So, I pass the Reaper, after fleeing from its miniature counterparts, and begin to explore the doorways through out the level.  The first level only has three and I skipped the first at the beginning.  The second door is a room with a bunch of enemies that give you a lot of hearts when you defeat them (hearts are currency in the game, you collect them to buy health potions and such).  The third door is the interesting one.  It contains the first mini-game you find, a guessing game.  Using the hammers you could have collected (but I didn't), you can smash different pots to collect more hearts or more hammers, but you must avoid the God of Poverty that takes everything that you have collected so far in the room and sends you away with nothing. 

But the level itself isn't all too long and it wasn't far from there that you are able to finish it.  And with that I take my leave of the game with one thing else to say: I hate Eggplant Wizards. 

Adios for today though.