Kid Icarus Uprising

Kid Icarus: Uprising (新・光神話　パルテナの鏡 Shin Hikari Shinwa Parutena no Kagami, lit. "New Light Myth: Palutena's Mirror") is a long awaited revival of the Kid Icarus series that was published by Nintendo. It was officially announced at E3 2010 that a new Kid Icarus game would be coming out for the Nintendo 3DS. It has a re-imagined 3D design of Pit and the enemies of the original NES game, although Pit and Palutena have retained their Super Smash Bros. Brawl looks. Their character models are slightly downgraded from Super Smash Bros. Brawl due to the hardware limitation, but even so, the game itself is very advanced graphic-wise for its system, the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo's newest portable.

Project Sora is the developer, with Masahiro Sakurai as the lead designer. The game was released on March 22nd in Japan, March 23rd in the US and Europe, and March 29th in Australia.

Story
Uprising is a direct sequel to the classic NES game, and takes place 25 (24 in the Japanese version) years after the original Kid Icarus. Medusa has been revived, and once again attempts to eradicate the mortals while seeking revenge from Pit and Palutena. In hearing this news, Palutena summons her most loyal servant, Pit, to stop Medusa and her Underworld Army, and restore peace to Angel Land once more. Along the way, Pit will encounter many new characters and enemies in the greatly expanded Kid Icarus universe. The story mode will also be divided into separate chapters that each represent a stage.

Chapter 1: The Return of Palutena

Chapter 2: Magnus and the Dark Lord

Chapter 3: Heads of the Hewdraw

Chapter 4: The Reaper's Line of Sight

Chapter 5: Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit

Chapter 6: Dark Pit

Chapter 7: The Seafloor Palace

Chapter 8: Star Ship of the Heavens 

Chapter 9: Medusa's Final Battle

Chapter 10: The Wish Seed

Chapter 11: Viridi, Goddess of Nature

Chapter 12: Wrath of the Reset Bomb

Chapter 13: The Lunar Sanctum

Chapter 14: Lightning Battle

Chapter 15: Mysterious Invaders

Chapter 16: The Aurum Hive

Chapter 17: The Aurum Brain

Chapter 18: The Ring of Chaos

Chapter 19: The Lightning Chariot

Chapter 20: Palutena's Temple

Chapter 21: The Chaos Vortex

Chapter 22: Scorched Feathers

Chapter 23: Lord of the Underworld

Chapter 24: The Three Trials

Chapter 25: The War's End

Gameplay Modes
Like its predecessors, Uprising is largely shoot'em up based, but now with an upgrade system with numerous weapons to choose from.

Single Player
The single player mode is where the main game and its story will take place. Each chapter of the story is divided into three sections:

Air Battles
In this game, Pit is granted the Power of Flight from Palutena, giving him the ability to fly for a limited amount of time. The areas where this ability is used resemble a free-aiming flight mode as seen in titles such as Panzer Dragoon and Omega Boost, where Pit can fly in one direction and aim in another, reminiscent of the Palace in the Sky in the original Kid Icarus. But as the trailer states, Pit can only maintain flight for five minutes at a time, after that Pits wings will burn out and he will fall. He can also now battle in the air and target enemies.

Land Battles
Pit can alternate easily between melee and ranged combat depending on how close he is to an enemy. In this mode, Pit is also able to perform fast dodges and run very fast while shooting. The land sections will make up the largest parts of the game.

Boss Battles
At the end of every chapter, Pit will face off with a boss character. These range from fighting massive monsters such as Twinbellows, to battling other major characters like Dark Lord Gaol. In some cases, such as with Hewdraw, a portion of the boss fights might take place during the flying sections in addition to the land sections.They may also have mini bosses such as Three-Headed Hewdraw.

Multiplayer
In Multiplayer Mode, players can become Pit, Dark Pit, or the Fighters. There is a team deathmatch mode that pits Light Team and Dark Team against each other in battle. There is also a Free for All mode. These are avaliable over both local and online play.

AR Battles
The game will also feature an expansive AR Battle Mode, allowing players to see all characters, enemies, items, and weapons using AR cards and the Nintendo 3DS's dual cameras. With this mode, battles can be waged with different characters and enemies, each of which have their own stats and health bars.

Fiend's Cauldron
This feature is used to adjust the level of difficulty in each chapter and requires hearts. The amount of hearts wagered is automatically calculated when the intensity level is adjusted. If one does not have enough hearts, then higher intensity levels will be unavailable. The intensity of each chapter ranges from 0.0 (Effortless) to 9.0 (Nothing Harder!). Dying in the chapter will cause some of the hearts to be lost from the cauldron, and the intensity level will subtracted by one whole. Greater intensity levels reward more valuable weapons, and more hearts per enemy.

Items
Multiple Items have been revealed during gameplay videos and in trailers. Hearts will make a return as items dropped by downed monsters. Treasure Boxes have also been seen containing items such as Food, Grenades, and Drinks of the Gods.

Weapons
Pit starts with a weak blade, but, as he progresses, Pit gains a very large arsenal of powerful weapons that can be chosen from before each stage. Each weapon is able to perform melee, ranged, dash and charged attacks. In addition, each weapon has a special power attack that can clear the screen of most enemies and their projectiles. This attack type can only be used during the flight sequences, and when the blue orbs at the bottom touchscreen are full. Twelve different weapons are available for each category, and with 9 categories, Kid Icarus: Uprising boasts 108 weapons. Each with it's own distinctive traits. The weapon categories are as follows:
 * Bow - Weapons that shoot homing arrows. They are split into two blades for melee attacks.
 * Blade - Balanced weapons that are good at any range.
 * Claws - Claws worn on both hands. Fast shot rate, but they are best at short range
 * Orbitars - Two floating orbs that fire two energy shots at multiple foes, or one shot at a single foe.
 * Arm - Bulky giant fisting like devices that Pit wears on his hands. Best at short range
 * Palm - Glowing aura around Pit's hand that shoots energy. Can also be used to slash foe.
 * Cannon - Large gun that Pit wears on his arm and is similar to Samus Aran's arm cannon in the Metroid series. These weapons slow the user down and are best used at a range.
 * Staff - Spear-like staffs that curves at the end. They are like sniper rifles and their shots gain power over distance.
 * Club - Massive weapons that can deflect enemy projectiles, or fire giant projectiles of thier own. They slow down the user and only have a two-hit combo when used as melee weapons.

Weapon Fusion
This feature in the game gives players the option of fusing two weapons in the player's possession, which can be obtained from playing the solo-mode and multiplayer aspects of the game.

Powers
Powers are new weapons and abilities that Pit can use in battle. They can have different effects when used, ranging from unleashing powerful attacks to recovering Pit's health.

Vehicles
In addition to these weapons and abilities, Pit is able to utilize armed vehicles in battle and for transportation, which include a mech-like armor known as the Cherubot and a sphere-shaped vehicle known as the Aether Ring.

Unknown Characters

 * A young girl whose body Pit inhabits after his own is stolen. She plays no significant role outside of being a temporary host for Pit to move around in.
 * An unnamed dog that Pit also inhabits in place of his own body.

Medusa's Army
Medusa's army is unique in that it is primarily an aerial force, with most enemy creatures revealed so far being capable of flight or levitation.

Returning Enemies

 * Daphne
 * Mik
 * Monoeye
 * Shemum
 * Ganewmede
 * Keron
 * Nettler
 * Octos
 * Specknose
 * Syren
 * Komayto
 * Commyloose
 * Monolith
 * Twinbellows
 * Hewdraw
 * Pandora
 * Thanatos
 * Eggplant Wizard
 * Reaper
 * Pandora

New Enemies
Quite a few monsters have been shown that have not appeared in previous games. The names of these enemies have yet to be revealed, but their descriptions are as follows:
 * Tortolunk
 * Shelbo
 * Merenguy
 * Shildeen
 * Tempura Wizard
 * Souflee
 * Handora
 * Orne
 * A creature resembling a hammerhead shark that can shoot energy blades from its head.
 * A squid-like monster that can spin its four arms like a propeller. A crystal underneath it allows this enemy to use a rapid-fire plasma attack while spinning.
 * An orange saucer-like creature with what appears to be a single eye. It has two short legs that hang down beneath its large head.
 * A floating, orange coral-like creature with a blue waffle mouth. When hit with a raged attack, it breaks apart into multiple shards that fly towards Pit. However, using melee attacks on the monster appears to send the shards flying in the opposite direction.
 * A cave-dwelling monster with one eye that wears a rock shell on its back. This shell has spiky crystals jutting out of it that can be shot at Pit and regenerate thereafter.
 * A purple monster wearing a giant, spiked shell that resembles a nautilus.
 * A flying fish-like creature that may also be an unaffiliated character like Cake.
 * A somewhat futuristic, giant squid, or Kraken-like creature that Palutena refers to as a 'Space Kraken.'

Anime
Before the release of the game, Nintendo started creating short 3D animation for the 3DS's Nintendo Video service with the help of three well known Japanese animation studios: Production I. G., Studio 4°C and Shaft, Inc.


 * Production I.G named its Kid Icarus animation, "Kid Icarus 3D Anime - Thanatos Rising" featuring Pit's battle against one of Medusa's minions, this video was separated into three parts.


 * Studio 4°C named its video "Kid Icarus 3D Anime - Medusa's Revenge" showing the rise of Medusa, but ending the video right when Pit faces Medusa, this video was just one part altogether.


 * Shaft. Inc produced "Kid Icarus 3D Anime - Palutena's Revolting Dinner". In this video, Lady Palutena has halted the vegetable's revolt to destroy Skyworld, but she faces many difficulties, this video was separated into two parts.

Trivia

 * The game often breaks the fourth wall, such as stating that it's a game or labeling bosses as bosses.
 * Many references are made of Kid Icarus within the game and implies that the game's events are 25 years after the original.
 * This game appears to take place during the Ancient Roman or Greek period based on the style of clothes and architecture, though the characters oftenly refer to modern apparatuses such as pizza deliverly, video games, email, etc, likely as humor of the breaking-the-fourth-wall genre.