Kid Icarus: Uprising
Kid Icarus: Uprising is a 2012 third-person shooter video game developed by Project Sora and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It is the third installment in the Kid Icarus franchise, the first to be released since Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters in 1991, and the first worldwide release since the original NES game in 1986. It is also the only video game Project Sora made before shutting down in mid-2012.
Kid Icarus: Uprising takes place in a setting based loosely around Greek mythology. The main protagonist is the angel Pit, servant to the Goddess of Light, Palutena. When the Goddess of Darkness Medusa returns to destroy humanity, Pit goes on missions first against her, then against the forces of Hades, the Lord of the Underworld and the source behind Medusa's return. During gameplay, the player controls Pit during airborne rail shooter segments and ground-based third-person shooter segments. In addition to the single-player campaign, various collectable and unlockable items can be obtained, and several multiplayer modes are available for up to six players.
Masahiro Sakurai created Uprising after receiving a request from Satoru Iwata to create a launch title for the then in-development Nintendo 3DS. Development began in 2009, but faced multiple difficulties, such as lack of access to the hardware in its early stages, balancing its many elements, and issues with its control scheme. Sakurai was responsible for writing the story, which retained the lighthearted tone of the first Kid Icarus game while having uninterrupted gameplay. A team of composers worked on the music, including Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzo Koshiro, and Yasunori Mitsuda.
Since release, Uprising has sold over a million copies worldwide and received mainly positive reviews; praise was given to the story, characters, dialogue, graphics, music, and gameplay, although the control scheme was frequently criticized. Elements from the game are prominently featured in the Super Smash Bros. series from its fourth installment onwards.
Gameplay
Kid Icarus: Uprising is a third-person shooter where players take control of the angel Pit during his missions for Palutena, the Goddess of Light. Gameplay is divided into aerial-based rail shooter segments and ground-based segments that feature both linear paths and free-roaming areas. The game's difficulty, or Intensity, is determined by betting hearts in the Fiend's Cauldron before beginning each mission. The difficulty ranges from the very easy "0.0" to the highly difficult "9.0". Pit's combat abilities are divided between long-range attacks using gun-like weapons, and close-quarters melee attacks. During missions, defeating enemies grants the player hearts, the game's currency, which is used to increase difficulty by laying bets against the player's own performance. With higher intensity levels, enemies become more durable and stronger, but more hearts can be obtained, and if a lot of hearts are in the Fiend's Cauldron without them spilling after a death, weapons obtained become stronger depending on how many hearts are used. As the game progresses, Pit gains access to weapons separated into nine types, each with unique advantages and disadvantages: bows, bracer-like claws, blades, clubs, orbitars, staffs, arms, palms, and cannons. Each weapon type has strength and weaknesses, and every weapon has its own distinct stats, including range, melee damage, ranged damage depending on distance, continuous fire speed, movement speed and charging time for charged shots. Weapons also have stars that mark the power of their melee and ranged attacks. Once equipped, weapons can be tested in the game's Practice Range. Using the 3DS' StreetPass network, players can share weapons with other players in the form of Weapon Gems. Other players can pay hearts to convert the gem into a weapon. Hearts can be spent to upgrade weapons or fuse Weapon Gems, and gained by dismantling unwanted weapons or converting Weapon Gems.Each chapter begins with an aerial battle, consisting of an on-rails shooter segment, with Pit being guided along a predetermined path. During these stages, the player moves Pit with the Circle Pad, aims with either the 3DS' stylus or face buttons, and fires with the L button. Not firing for a time allows the player to fire a powerful Charge Shot, which kills several enemies at once. Once on the ground, players control Pit as he traverses through the level, which features more open spaces and hidden areas unlocked when playing on certain difficulties. Pit can either shoot enemies from a distance or attack them up close with melee attacks, while also performing various moves to dodge enemy attacks. The main controls are carried over from aerial segments, but their assigned actions alter slightly. When an enemy strikes Pit, his health bar is depleted, and can be replenished with items scattered throughout levels. If sufficiently damaged, the health bar vanishes and Crisis Mode is activated: this will either end naturally or ended by fully replenishing health with a "Drink of the Gods" item. During Crisis Mode, healing items don't take effect until it ends and Pit will die if he gets hit again, but he can withstand at least one hit before entering Crisis Mode. If Pit is defeated, the player is given the option to continue, but some Hearts are lost from the Fiend's Cauldron and the difficulty is lowered. Completing a level without dying grants additional rewards. In ground-based levels, Pit can take control of various vehicles for short stretches, gaining special attacks unique to each vehicle type. Each stage ends in a ground-based boss battle. Pit has the ability to sprint during ground-based gameplay, but sprinting for too long uses up his stamina and leaves him vulnerable to attack.
Uprising supports both local and online multiplayer. Along with the game's single-player story mode, the game also features multiplayer for up to six players locally or via Wi-Fi. Players can compete in team-based cooperative matches or free-for-all melees using standard fighter characters. In the team-based mode, named Light vs. Dark, each team has a health meter that depletes when a player is defeated. The value of the player's weapon determines how far the meter depletes after death, and the player whose death depletes the meter completely will become their team's angel, a more powerful character who represents the team. The match ends when the other team's angel is defeated. In addition to normal ways of playing, Uprising comes bundled with a 3DS stand for the platform for ease of play. Augmented Reality Cards are collectible and can be used as part of a card contest. Using the 3DS' outer camera, the AR Cards produce "Idols" : by lining up the back edges of two AR Cards and selecting the "Fight" option, Idols appear from the cards and battle each other, with the winner being determined by its statistics.
Synopsis
Kid Icarus: Uprising takes place in a world loosely based on Greek mythology, and is set twenty-five years after the events of the first game. Pit, an angel serving the Goddess of Light Palutena, is sent on missions against the Goddess of Darkness Medusa, who threatens to destroy humanity. During his missions, Pit fights Medusa's servant Twinbellows, defeats her commander Dark Lord Gaol with the help of a human mercenary named Magnus, then confronts the Goddess of Calamity Pandora so as to destroy the Mirror of Truth. In the process, the Mirror spawns a doppelgänger called Dark Pit, who absorbs the defeated Pandora's powers and departs. With help from the God of Oceans Poseidon, Pit defeats Medusas's final commander Thanatos. He then retrieves powerful weapons known as the Three Sacred Treasures and uses them to defeat Medusa. When defeated, it is revealed that Medusa was merely a resurrected puppet ruler hiding the true antagonist: Hades, Lord of the Underworld. Hades, by spreading a rumor about a "wish seed" guarded by the Phoenix, provokes war among humanity so as to claim their souls. This war prompts the Nature Goddess Viridi to attack them and Hades' army. Pit and Palutena work against both Viridi and Hades, during the course of which a military base called the Lunar Sanctum is destroyed, releasing an unknown creature.The deities' ongoing battles prompt an alien race called the Aurum to invade Earth for its resources. The warring deities unite against the threat, and the Sun God Pyrrhon sacrifices himself to banish the Aurum to the far side of the galaxy. Events then move forward three years, when Pit is trapped inside a ring with no clear memory of what happened. Using hosts to make his way to a ruined city, he meets up with Magnus, who reveals that Palutena's army has turned against humanity and that Pit's body is attacking humans. Using Magnus' body, Pit defeats his body and repossesses it. Viridi then flies him to Palutena's capital of Skyworld, which has been reduced to ruins. Viridi reveals that the Lunar Sanctum was a prison holding the Chaos Kin, a soul-devouring creature that escaped when Pit destroyed the base. The Chaos Kin has possessed Palutena and caused her to become deranged. After obtaining the Lightning Chariot, Pit breaks through the defensive barrier around Skyworld's capital and defeats Palutena. The Chaos Kin then steals her soul, and both Pit and Dark Pit follow the Chaos Kin into its dimension to retrieve it. To save Dark Pit from a final attack by the defeated Chaos Kin, Pit overuses his flight powers, burning his wings and nearly killing himself.
Dark Pit takes Pit to the Rewind Spring so time can be reversed for Pit's body. Upon arrival, Pandora's essence escapes from Dark Pit and uses the Spring to restore her body before being defeated by Dark Pit. Pit is restored by the Spring, while the loss of Pandora's powers leaves Dark Pit unable to fly on his own. Now restored, Pit attempts to destroy Hades with the Three Sacred Treasures, but Hades easily destroys them and attempts to eat Pit. After escaping from Hades' insides, Pit is guided by Palutena to the home of the Forge God Dyntos, who fashions a new Great Sacred Treasure after Pit proves himself in multiple trials. Launching a fresh assault, Pit succeeds in injuring Hades, but the Great Sacred Treasure is badly damaged, leaving only its cannon intact. Hades attempts to launch a final attack, but a revived Medusa injures him further before being killed by Hades for defying him. This enables Palutena to supercharge the cannon, and Pit uses it to destroy Hades' body, saving the world. In a post-credits scene, the disembodied Hades states he will likely return in another twenty-five years.