The GHZ Forum

A tragic case of just not getting it:

Good news: Nintendo wants to do Kid Icarus Wii

Bad News: They're farming it out to Factor 5 who wants to do a story about Pit as a badass fallen angel cursed for 1000 years and sent to the underworld and covered in tattoos of various sins and then forced to fight his way out to slay gods. Basically, they want to do God of War but with Kid Icarus.



http://www.joystiq.com/2008/05/08/kid-i ... ed-by-ign/

http://wii.kombo.com/article.php?artid=11895

This guy says it best:

Thank god they're making Kid Icarus more hardcore. Not a day goes by when I don't think "You know, they need bring back Kid Icarus, but like, give him some tats and badass armor. And, like, he shouldn't be a kid, neither! and he'd be all headshottin' people with the arrows! "

I also hope they opt for drab brown color palette. That'd be bitchin'.

It should be a platforming Zelda title with a large emphasis on shooting. A bit like Metroid Prime but without the constant backtracking and in the third person. I think.

I really have a hard time imagining what kind of gameplay he'd have without straying too far from the formula set in the original NES games. Of course then again I haven't played beyond the first level of the demo in Brawl anyway, so what do I know.

Shadow the Hedgehog, is that you?
Also nothing against fallen angels, but if you have a character who was a rather unique, cute, white angel who only had two games ages ago, resurrecting him as the polar opposite of what he was in the first place seems even more drastic than for example gradually corrupting Sonic over the years.
Also all the concept art looks pretty lame, they should stick to his Brawl appearance.

But then again I haven't played any of the Kid Icarus games or Brawl yet. I should sometime though.

Actually the truth is I didn't particularly care for the way he looked in Brawl; it looked like he was catering to the shota lovers who are into that kind of thing. I kind of wish his face had more of an 80s quality to it. Then again it's not like I particularly cared how he looked like before that, SO...

In b4 Godsmack.
Or Crush 40.

Though, in all fairness, the Prince turning into a complete badass is not as perfectly stupid as this.

Factor 5? Aren't they the same team that made the supposedly abysmal Lair?

Ngangbius wrote:Factor 5? Aren't they the same team that made the supposedly abysmal Lair?

Yes, however they're also the team that was responsible for the high quality "Rogue Squadron" series on the N64 and Gamecube and also the "Turrican" franchise.

Lair is essentially their one shitty blemish so far and from what I recall hearing it was mainly the fault of the Sixaxis anyway, though admittedly I've never heard anything about the game design being that inspired either.

IGN interviewed them on their "Wii project" a while back on a podcast and they said they were aiming for the experience to be as "casual as possible", with the possibility of it only using the wii remote. They also talked up their graphics engine quite a lot claiming it was extremely solid and could do practically all of the same effects they could with their Lair engine (though of course that'd mean with much lower res and less complex textures, far lower polycounts, fewer effects going on at once, etc, etc).

Anyway don't get the wrong impression on this "news" just now. The RUMOUR is that Factor 5 proposed the idea to Nintendo of the fallen angel concept but there's no confirmation of whether that's even true or if Nintendo liked the idea if it is real, which is very doubtful considering the reborn image of Pit Nintendo created with Smash Brothers Brawl. A cutesy design and still a kid.

Part of this recent rumour is that the art style has "evolved" since those early concepts and I think if so that's the case of Nintendo saying "No we don't want this, work closer to the Smash Brothers design" and Factor 5 having to comply.

I see this design decision as being a way to appeal to the emo crowd. Next thing you know, we will get a Mafia-esque Mario game that would be created to win over the GTA loving 50 Cent wannabes who think a real videogame should be violent and gangsta.

The tagline for this game should be "Pit's been in jail for over 15 years. Now he's really pitzed off!"

This is completely ridiculous. The reason there hasn't been a new Kid Icarus is because the name is pretty much worthless, the people who are familiar with it represent a small fraction of gamers and the ones who actually liked it are an even smaller fraction who are also masochists. Smash Bros Brawl is the most anyone has seen of Pit in over 15 years, so throwing that out seems to me like a really bad idea. Is "thrown in jail" some sort of ideal beginning for all western game developers?

On the other hand, this is exactly the development for Bionic Commando (obscure tough-as-nails title with a Gameboy sequel gets thrown in jail and comes out all muscly and sporting dreadlocks), so I guess there's precendent.

Needs more attitude and angst. Seriously though, this is really half cooked and stupid.

Alternately, why not approach Capcom (with Bionic COmmando and SF4 they are in revival mode anyway) and do the Red Arimer/Demon's Crest games, so long as we're winged antiheroes fighting our way out of hell?

G.Silver wrote:Is "thrown in jail" some sort of ideal beginning for all western game developers?

Do note that the first Kid Icarus game starts off by telling how Pit escaped from his imprisonment in the Underworld by Medusa's guards, so it wouldn't be THAT far of a stretch.

That being said, everything else about this idea smacks of WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. I actually agree with Cuckooguy's idea, a Zelda-esque or platformer game with emphasis on shooting (almost like Mario with the FLUDD in Sunshine, but not-so-gimmicky) seems like it'd be the way to go to me.

i might play it if palutena wears a gstring

Didn't the original Kid Icarus pretty much suck and only involve flying at the very end?

It didn't suck. It was more like Metroid + Ice Climbers.

This is bull shit, but then again Pit isn't really an Angel but a Greek wazit.

James McGeachie wrote:and also the "Turrican" franchise.

Which is one close to my heart, and reason for dread. Factor 5 managed to systematically identify all of the greatest aspects of the Turrican series and remove them sequel by sequel. Turrican 1 was a phenomenal platformer with gigantic explorable levels and music that even today outranks most action games. Super Turrican 2, the last game Factor 5 churned out (being the fifth or sixth instalment of the series), was a linear mess of play styles with next to no exploration, frustratingly unfair obstacles, and dull repetitive music.

On that note, download Hurrican. It's a free fan-made game far, FAR superior to anything Turrican-related Factor 5 ever produced.

I assumed this thread was going to be about that new-fangled Hellboy movie.

Wow! That concept stuff looks like awful fanart. I'm sure if any of this turns out to be true Nintendo has made them stick to the Brawl stuff.

I haven't played Kid Icarus much but it's easy to see they missed the mark on one thing: Pit's appeal is that he's a little kid on a big adventure. Everything in the old game kind of plays off of that. One could make the argument for Link in the Zelda series getting an adult form a couple times but even with that they still establish Link's youth in the beginning of every game.

Cuckooguy wrote:It should be a platforming Zelda title with a large emphasis on shooting. A bit like Metroid Prime but without the constant backtracking and in the third person. I think.

This is about what I'd say, but I'd throw in Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition as an influence as well. Seriously! In the end, RE4 is a very simple formula. It's mostly "run forward and shoot stuff". But it did this simple thing so well! Just point at where you want to shoot, hit aim button, and fire. The system itself was so satisfying to me that I've played through the game about 3 times. I can see the shooting being applied to a platforming game and being loads of fun without any other weapons(especially if you make it so enemies react to different points on the body being shot=D ...in a G-rated comical fashion of course). Maybe some upgraded powers and such but with some good level design in place it wouldn't take a lot to keep it fun.

Anywho, I don't know... I played Rouge Squadron for GC and it felt like a flight sim. It was good but not very exciting or fanciful beyond the classic Star Wars designs. I have some doubt that Factor 5 would have interest or be able to work on something like Kid Icarus that has freaking Eggplant Wizards. But who knows... they might have a solid platformer in them.

This is all rumor anyway so I may as well say that Double Fine is hard at work on a new Ice Climbers!

Yes, however they're also the team that was responsible for the high quality "Rogue Squadron" series on the N64 and Gamecube and also the "Turrican" franchise.

Lair is essentially their one shitty blemish so far and from what I recall hearing it was mainly the fault of the Sixaxis anyway, though admittedly I've never heard anything about the game design being that inspired either.

Never played Rebel Strike I take it?

Sega is not doing it? Good...

Erm...why WOULD they be doing it?

Hulkshmash wrote:I assumed this thread was going to be about that new-fangled Hellboy movie.

Seriously, no one else noticed?

No-one else cares.

I don't think Nintendo would publish a Factor 5 Kid Icarus, but then again they have made some odd decisions lately such as deciding to publish the Suda 51 directed Fatal Frame 4 for Wii.