Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (Game Boy) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Nintendo's 1991 platformer for the Nintendo Game Boy, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters.

Funnily enough, the story behind the development of the second Kid Icarus largely mirrors the first (Hahaha, get it? Sorry, wicked corny, I know). Also headed up by Gunpei Yokoi and developed by both Nintendo and TOSE, the GB Kid Icarus was developed about the same time as Metroid II was, and again they both share the same engine. In a weird turn, and unlike The Return of Samus, Of Myths and Monsters saw a US/Europe release only, which is pretty rare given that it's a Japanese developed game. It was only just released in Japan on the VC when Nintendo used it to promote Kid Icarus Uprising (the third game in the series) for the 3DS.

Just like in Metroid II, rather than mimic the full-screen real estate of the console games, things are now much more zoomed in, allowing for way better detail in the graphics, and the "screen" just now requires the play field to scroll more (it's similar to SMB DX on the GBC in this regard). To compensate for the more limited view, enemy patterns aren't quite as erratic, and you can pause at anytime and pan the view around your character. Very useful for not blindly jumping into a pit or missing a door.

The core structure of the original is completely intact for the sequel, but there have been quite a few tweaks and refinements, and it plays with a faithfully adapted yet modernized feel. If you plunked it on the SNES, the controls would feel like any other good, solid 16-bit platformer. The animation and controls are far less stiff this time, but it's still extremely responsive.

It's definitely not a pushover, but it is substantially easier than the first game. Many people would probably say that that is an improvement, and for the platform, it was definitely the right choice. I remember trying just about every angle to see that stupid green/orange GB screen, and the games that were really well-catered to the Game Boy were designed in ways to minimize frustration caused by the super-blurry movement on the LCD screen. If this had been a console game, I could only imagine how much harder it probably would've been.

And finally, the soundtrack here is beyond great, especially for Game Boy. As much as I love the NES game's music, the tunes here are just as catchy, but much better use of the hardware make them sound much fuller, even with one less sound channel. It's a pretty startling difference. The GB's wave channel is put to excellent use here in ways that you don't typically hear outside of Nintendo, Konami, and Capcom games.

If you're interested, you can find my playthrough of the original NES game here:    • Kid Icarus (NES) Playthrough - Ninten...  

*Recorded using the DMG shader in Retroarch to mimic the look of the original hardware.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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