Random Retro Review: Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters

Cover Art

Time for another retro review.  This time I am going over a game that tends to be overlooked, even by the company that published it.  This time it's Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters developed by Nintendo and Tose Software.  It was released on the Game Boy in North America on November 5th 1991 and in Europe on May 21st 1992.  Surprisingly this game wasn't released in Japan until the Virtual Console in 2012.  I always found this odd because of the Japanese company who helped develop it admits to their work, but they refuse to put their name on it.  This lead to almost no popularity to it which lead to the title not being mentioned in the most recent installment, Kid Icarus Uprising.  This game was intended to be the sequel to the NES classic Kid Icarus (obviously).  Honestly, I first played this game on an emulator (I didn't have any other way to play it at the time and I had just discovered the amazing prequel)  and I instantly bought it off the 3ds eShop Virtual Console.  One of the biggest reasons why I bought it (besides the fact that I had so much fun with it) is because I could never seem to find a functioning ROM.  Every ROM froze at the last boss, so this gave me an excuse to splurge a bit on this game, and enjoy the adventure all over again.  Well, let's get started.

Visuals                                           

Pit jumping to reach a collection of small hearts
as he is chased by a cyclops skull

I'm just going to be completely honest with you (as I always am).  This game wasn't that good looking.  The NES sprites from its predecessor were so much better,  This was one of those games that the developers didn't sacrifice the colors for a better sprite.  Pit looks just as bland if not worse from his previous title and looks oddly blurry.  And without the color, his clothes doesn't stand out from his skin.  These weren't the worst sprites I've ever seen, but they definitely didn't do the character any justice.  As for the environment, I can only say the same thing.  A lot of the floors, walls and ceilings looked very bland, and most of them simply look copy pasted, luckily they were designed nicely so that isn't as apparent as in some other games.  Unfortunately they could've have looked better.  As for the enemies, I was very torn on the decision of talking good or bad about them.  Some enemies, like the Cyclops Skulls, Wormser, and all bosses generally looked pretty good.  Unfortunately almost every other enemy looks awful.  Some iconic enemies even looked awful.  The Komayto, who looked identical to Metroids in the first entry, looked like leaves!  And the Eggplant wizards, although looked similar, had it's body out of proportion.  It was a shame to see how most of the enemies.  The only real reason I was torn were the bosses.  Three of the four bosses actually looked pretty scary!  I admit I'd probably wet myself if I had come face to face with them.  The last boss is so nicely detailed that my own grandmother was about to look for holy water after seeing the beast.  And with them being the end of each level, it truly fit the scary scenarios that Pit is placed in.  

Pit fighting Orcos, the cause of many
of my nightmares

Music                                                            

The music in this game is unique to say the least.  I'm not going to bash on it because it fulfills what it is intended on doing.  It truly makes you feel as though you are ascending to gain the Three Sacred Treasures.  The problem for me is it's simplicity.  The original had music composed with many layers which almost gave it a symphonic sound.  This along with the catchiness made it an instant classic.  In Of Myths and Monsters, the music sounds as though it only has one or two layers.  But it's most redeeming features is that it is still catchy.  While playing through this game, I constantly caught myself humming the fortress tune or the music of any world I was in.  

Gameplay                                                     

Pit using his Fire Arrows against the boss,
Fire Serpent (fire vs. fire = video game logic)

I'm sure you are wondering why I mentioned that I really liked this game even though I haven't praised much in it.  This is mainly because as a Game Boy, the visuals and music always made room for the gameplay and this is where it truly shines.  As in the previous game, you control Pit, an angel armed with nothing but a bow and the wings on his back.  First thing to mention is that the wings FINALLY have a purpose.  Unlike the last game, if you continually press the jump button, Pit will descend slower due to his tiny wings slowing his fall.  This instantly made me enjoy the game.  Next are Pit's weapons.  Pit is equiped with a boy that shoots arrows and very short distance, either to his sides or up.  Unfortunately I was hoping for a diagonal shot, but luckily it wasn't really needed.  Pit, just like in the last game, can venture through the levels and find special rooms which will occasionally have a "harsh training" in which if Pit survives he is granted one of three special weapons.  These are fire arrows, very self explanatory, long bow, which lets Pit shoot across the screen, and protective crystals, which circle Pit and will harm enemies who get too close.  All this also comes from the original which shows how powerful the handheld system was.  

A defeated Pit in a bat chamber

Besides the rooms where Pit finds weapons, there are also rooms containing shops, black markets (shops where your stolen goods and other more valuable and expensive things may appear), treasure chambers (rooms where you play a guessing game to see how many things you can get before finding the God of Poverty), hot springs (which heal Pit), hospitals (which cure you of the eggplant curse), Sacred Chambers (where Zeus will occasionally reward you  u with power upgrades), information centers, or bat chambers (to earn some hearts).  Yeah its pretty impressive on how much they managed to fit into those tiny cartridges.  

Back to the gameplay, just like in the previous game, you start off with no hearts (which are the currency in this franchise), one bar of health, the weakest arrows, and no special weapons.  This actually made the first few levels in the original, extremely difficult for casual gamers.  Luckily, Pit can increase each of these.  Health is increased by reaching a certain score on certain levels.  This can become tiresome due to the need to farm on respawning enemies.  Arrow strength is increased in an unknown way, but is assumed to increase by defeating enemies, collecting hearts, and not being hit or missing shots at the enemies.

General layout of the Underworld, Overworld,
and Skyworld respectively

This game follows the formula set by its predecessor.  You start in the underworld, and climb upwards until you reach the first fortress.  The best improvement in the game sits here.  The hardest part of the original was tricky platforming.  This was because the camera only followed you upwards, and once you go below it, you lose a life.  In Of Myths and Monsters, the camera follows you up and down which removes that nasty hazard and gives the levels more of an open feeling.  This is also due to the screen not having left or right borders due to the camera following Pit.  Back on track, after defeating the first guardian at the fortress (which are mazes in which Pit must navigate through many rooms to find the currect path to the guardian), you move on to the franchise's iconic sidescrolling levels.  This, called the overworld, is a lot more like other platformers, except for the rising and falling enemies and obstacles.  After the overworld you reach the next fortress.  Next is the skyworld which leads to the final fortress.  After defeating all three fortresses, like the previous title, Pit can equip all three Sacred Treasures, which allow Pit to shoot the strongest Light Arrows, fly with the Wings of Pegasus, and take more hits with the Silver Armor.  But unlike its predecessor, this game doesn't turn into a sidescrolling shoot 'em up.  This game has for levels in which you must use his new power of flight to platform across dangerous obstacles, defeat new enemies, and reach the final boss.  Truly great innovation and gameplay.

Story                   

This game doesn't have much in-game story besides a small paragraph that very briefly explains what is happening.  The full story is, like for most games of the time, in the instruction manual.  The story is quite long but let me try to do it more justice than the small paragraph.  

Palutena artwork

Its starts with Palutena, goddess and founder of Angel Land.  As she ruled, the world was at peace, where man and god lived happily among each other.  It was truly a great and peaceful place that Palutena was very proud of.  But one night she had a horrible nightmare.  She called her fortune teller to tell her what her nightmare meant.  The fortune teller, in great pain, started to speak of an attack that will come upon Angel Land.  She states it will be attacked by demons named the Orcos.  Just as she says it, the fortune teller loses her voice (presumably due to the name of the demons).

Pit's new design for
Of Myths and Monsters

Palutena calls forward Pit. the captain of the Icarus Army who were sworn to protect Palutena and Angel Land.  Palutena sits Pit down, a liberty that isn't given out commonly by the goddess.  After thanking him for showing up, Palutena informs him of the fortune teller and her dream.  She soon tells him that he will have to defeat the demons, but alas he isn't powerful enough to defeat them.





Palutena, knowing this, devised a plan to send Pit in search of Angel Lands Three Sacred Treasure, knowing that the journey to find them will give him the power to use them.  With this information, she sends Pit off alone hoping not to scare anyone else of the fear of the future attack from the unknown demons.

The Three Sacred Treasures in Of Myths and Monsters

I personally found this story, although simple, very good.  Unlike most other instruction manual stories, this one goes into great details on small events and uses dialogue so nicely that it was a pleasure to read.

Overview                                                     

I personally loved this game.  The visuals and music in this game were a mess, but the gameplay easily made up for this, and the story was just the icing on the cake.  Personally I am disappointed that not many people have heard of this game because I feel it did a phenomenal job as a Game Boy sequel.  Although the game isn't very long, it has just the right amount of difficulty and variety to have a lot of replay value.  I suggest this game for any fans of the series and for any gamers who are looking for a great Game Boy game.

Eggplant Wizard artwork from
Of Myths and Monsters

I rate this game 8.0 
Eggplant Wizards out of 10

  

 











Notes: First I'd like to thank you all for the view, you are all fantastic.  Now that it is summer time, I have more liberty and hope to have a lot more reviews dished out.  Hopefully I can make the jump to video reviews soon and hope to continue getting this much support.  Thank you all and hope you like the reviews