Preview: Kid Icarus Uprising

Box Art

After being in development for over a year, Masahiro Sakurai (the creator of the Kirby series and head director of the Super Smash Brothers series) and Hal Laboratories have set a release date for Kid Icarus: Uprising. This game brings Pit -- the angelic protagonist destined to save the Skyworld from Medusa and the Underworld -- back to life.

Based on Pit's design in Brawl (rather than his 16 bit design in his NES and Gameboy games), Kid Icarus Uprising will debut on the Nintendo 3DS March 23, 2012. The game will focus on both combat and flying. Elements seen in games such as Star Fox and The Legend of Zelda seem to have also made their way in here. Most impressive however is a full audio voice acting as what is typically seen in Sonic the Hedgehog 3D platforms.

Not seen since the original Kid Icarus in 1987 and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters in 1991 he spent about 17 years in obscurity until being reawakened in Super Smash Bros. Brawl where he gained a brand new fan base in the current generation of gamers. During development and the success of Brawl, Sakari expressed interest in giving new breath to the series.

Warning: Trailers may contain spoilers

Judging from the trailers, the game promises polished graphics, high paced real time battles and plenty of fun power-ups and weapons to play with. Plus flying looks really really fun. Also to note, it seems that there will be considerable character development and a deep story line.

Also to look forward to in the future is development for the next sequal in the Super Smash Bros. series; Sakurai stated that production wouldn't start until after Uprising is complete, so time will tell.

Further Reading:

Official Site: http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/leoRNk4z_ui0yblzMlCVz6Wy9jGb5qSq

Wikipedia Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_Icarus_Uprising