Rewind Arcade | The History of Kid Icarus - Full Series Retrospective | Rewind Arcade @RewindArcade | Uploaded May 2023 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Learn the history behind one of Nintendo's most niche and neglected franchises from its humble beginnings in 1986, to its drought throughout the 90s, and its revival in 2012. This is the story of how Pit and his Greek mythology-inspired cohorts struggled for relevance over the past three and a half decades.

NOTE/CORRECTIONS:

1. The Legend of Zelda's Japanese title is "Zelda no Densetsu", not "Densetsu no Zelda". This got flipped around in the script at some point. Thanks to Omega579 for catching this.

2. I later noticed that SNK's arcade game Athena (or "Atena" in Japanese) released near when Hikari Shinwa began production in 1986 which may also have influenced Osawa's naming of Palutena.

0:00 - Chapter 1: A New Hero on the Famicom Disk System
18:46 - Chapter 2: Portable Pit and the Long Drought
28:58 - Chapter 3: Kid Icarus Regains Its Wings
47:29 - Credits & Outro

A HUGE thanks to MrMatthews ( @AuthorativeMrM ) for helping video edit a good chunk of this documentary with me. Please check out his amazing channel on YouTube here:

youtube.com/@AuthorativeMrM

Credits:

Research & Writing:
Chris Baines

Video Editing:
Robert "MrMatthews" Bycroft
Chris Baines

Script Editor:
Jonathan McNamara ( Check him out on Twitch!: twitch.tv/lifebeginsat8bit )

Special Thanks:
Azita "KittyMecha" Marie
Stacey B aka "MrsMatthews"
Nick Des Barres
Omega Ace Gaming
Divipedia

Gameplay:
MrMatthews - youtube.com/@AuthorativeMrM
Chris Baines
Nenriki Gaming Channel - youtube.com/@NenrikiGaming
CattaShin2749 - youtube.com/@CattaShin2749
RetroGame.Stream - youtube.com/@RetroGameStream
SaikyoMog - youtube.com/@SaikyoMog
Ragey0 - youtube.com/@Ragey0
RetroGameUp - TAS Videos - youtube.com/@RetroGameUp
MJ - youtube.com/@retrogamer.mj48
Angry Force FPS - youtube.com/@angryforcefps
Nintendo World Report - youtube.com/@NintendoWorldReport
Dominic Tarason - youtube.com/@DominicWhite

Sprite Rips:
Mister Mike
Superjustinbros
Moku
Ploaj
Chris Baines
Peardian
Perseus

Graphics & Video:

Unseen64
The Cover Project
Retromags
Gheedo
Divinipedia
Altar of Gaming
Nintendo


All graphics, video, gameplay, and audio are property of their respective copyright holders. All Kid Icarus media is property of Nintendo.


For inquiries on sources, please feel free to email me or reach out on social media outlets.

Games covered:

Hikari Shinwa: Palutena no Kagami ( 光神話 パルテナの鏡 )
Kid Icarus ( NES )
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters ( Game Boy)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl ( Wii )
Kid Icarus: Uprising ( 3DS )

(Music list coming soon!)

#kidicarus #kidicarusuprising #nintendo