Nintendo is Great is a Substack devoted to exploring the world of Nintendo - their games, their consoles, their merchandise - in mostly chronological order, starting with the NES and continuing to the upcoming Switch 2.
Kid Icarus
PUBLISHER/DEVELOPER: Nintendo
RELEASE DATE: Jul. 1987 (US), Feb. 15th, 1988 (EU)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: 3DS, Famicom Disk System, Game Boy Advance
Kid Icarus is Nintendo’s forgotten child, the dreamer in the corner, full of unique ideas and imagination, but without any encouragement from his parents.
You play as Pit, an angel tasked with rescuing the goddess Palutena from the evil Medusa. Medusa has the complete Underworld army to do her bidding. One-eyed creatures, snakes, robbers, dragons, and other weirdos conspire against Pit and the forces of light.
As Kid Icarus begins, Pit climbs out of the gloomy underworld, shooting enemies as he goes. The enemies drop hearts, which act as currency; confusing, perhaps, for those raised on Zelda, but these things weren’t set in gaming stone yet. With hearts, Pit can buy the Water of Life, Angel Feathers, and other curious baubles that assist along his way.
Mysterious doorways throughout beckon Pit into unknown territory. Merchants are found in these chambers, but also enemy gauntlets, endurance trials (that if conquered provide extra strength to Pit’s attacks), stronger arrows, and hot springs that completely fill up your life.
Kid Icarus tries a bit of everything and it all works. Vertical and horizontal platforming, non-linear dungeons, weapon and life upgrades, multiple endings based on how skillfully you play the game, on and on. The environments are beautiful and otherworldly. Pit is a formidable hero, with excellent arrow control (he can shoot up!) and supreme jumping ability. The journey is tough, no question, but your reward is a supremely fulfilling adventure, one of the best the NES has to offer.
Famicom Disk System, GO!
Kid Icarus, or Hikari Shinwa: Palutena no Kagami (Light Myth: Palutena’s Mirror) as it’s known in Japan, debuted on the Famicom Disk System on Dec. 19th, 1986.
The differences between this version and the NES port are as follows.
Better soundtrack! Thanks be to the Famicom Disk System’s expanded sound channels for this.
Higher difficulty! Kid Icarus is hard enough as it is, but Japanese players do love a good challenge.
You can save! Long passwords not required.
Slightly different endings! The NES version has a different “best” ending, while the FDS version has a worse “bad” ending.
Athletic World
PUBLISHER/DEVELOPER: Bandai
RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12th, 1986 (JP), Jul. 1987 (US), Jun. 15th, 1988 (EU)
In July 1987, Bandai released the Family Fun Fitness Pad, a floor mat controller that allows the player to control on-screen actions with their feet. According to Wikipedia, the mat has “twelve pressure sensors embedded between two layers of flexible plastic.”
The goal of the Fitness Pad? Get families to work out together while playing video games (according to the box photo, anyway). It’s a positively warmhearted idea, though I imagine not many families actually used the Pad as Bandai intended. Parents are always tired. Kids just want to play games. Lot easier to turn on the TV and bond with some “Night Court” or something.
Athletic World was the Fitness Pad’s pack-in game, complete with five events that require a surprising amount of stamina. You run, you jump. You run and jump a lot. Seriously, I don’t think your dad’s gonna enjoy playing this game, he hasn’t exercised since college.
Five events, let’s do this.
1. “Hurdles”: run as fast as you can, while jumping right before you hit the hurdles.
2. “Animal Trail”: run on a dirt path in the woods while feral boars chase you down.
3. “Dark Tunnel” will fulfill your cardio regimen or leave you needing an ambulance. Your athlete’s inside a pyramid, complete with steep hills that require massive strides. Only for the young.
4. In “Hop a Log,” you walk swiftly across planks before hopping across a log using the blue side buttons.
5. Finally, “Rafting” has you jumping and crouching over logs while maneuvering around rocks in a raging river.
When Athletic World starts, you’re asked for your name, age, and sex. In theory, this allows the game to adjust the challenge for your current life station, but who knows how much grace it gives if you claim you’re a 78-year-old woman.
Each event tests you for a different attribute: “Hurdles” for Reflexivity, “Animal Trail” for Agility, “Dark Tunnel” for Endurance, and so on. After you’ve played all five events, you’re given scores in each category and inspirational jabber like, “Good Job, Ace Player!” or “Get in the Gym and Make it Count!”
Athletic World is a solid workout, and the Family Fun Fitness Pad can handle a surprising amount of abuse. Unfortunately, neither of these attributes contributed to decent sales for the Pad, and the product languished on store shelves. No amount of feral boars and dad bod workouts could convince people the Pad was a necessity.
Did you ever play Athletic World with any family members? Do you have any experience with the Power Pad? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
That NES ad haunts your dreams. Although the tagline of “you cannot beat us” held true for a large portion of the NES catalog.
Shedding a tear for the NES Night Court game we never got.