One major thing about Kid Icarus is that it’s hard to play, although it's a very good game. More difficult than any game on this platform, as far as I know. Stages 1-2 and 1-3 are a real bitch. The fact that you go from down to up during world 1 (and 3), resulting in many falls down just missing a platform because the screen moves a platform from under you, will result in many people throwing the cartridge out the window before Kid Icarus has really started. Because the second world does go from left to right, you’ll have the choice to run through a level, although that tactic won’t make you rich. The much greater number of doors also gives you to possibility to flee, which is a lot harder in the up-down stages. But then you arrive in the third world, and you’ll be going from down to up again. And the strangest thing is that the final world called the Sky Palace, is pretty easy, due to the fact that your can pretty much ignore the whole level by staying low (right end or center depending on the type of enemies that are close). And even if you don’t, your endurance is enormous by this time. Scratching your nose while playing the first world isn’t possible, while playing the last it is. That’s weird.
Graphics
Kid Icarus came out when the NES wasn’t that old yet. You can see this in the graphics, parts of the game look like Donkey Kong with some extra's. There’s no background, the background color remains fully black (or blue). Kid Icarus himself is displayed very simple. Some of the enemies are too. There is a lot of variation in the way the worlds are made, in the coloring, and so on.
Sound
The main theme of Kid Icarus is a NES Classic, but the sounds and themes in this game are pretty thin. They do not yet use the full potential of the system. Every world has another theme music, so the variation is big.
Playability
This game can be quite a challenge. Simply because you only have one life. You stumble across a elixir once in a while, but still you can’t screw around in this game. Even stage 1-1 might take you way more than one try. There is also one big flaw, that can become quite annoying: when you duck you fall true a platform. So when you want to duck down to avoid a creature, you might fall through the platform under you.
Instant Fun Factor
The difficulty level is too high for Kid Icarus to be considered Arcade. You’ll have to play parts over more than once, and slacking are speeding is not very wise. You’ll need a lot of hearts (coins) to buy the right items. You could just download the codes somewhere, but what’s the fun in that?
There is a password-system that allows you to go back to the start of a level. The password system can be quite annoying, because the passwords are 24 characters long (and you might mix up letters and numbers). The fact that the difficulty level is high and the fact that there is a kind of “coin system” gives you the choice how well or quick you finish levels. This fact increases the long term fun factor. Kid Icarus has a shop system, in which the items are actually pretty expensive. So you can’t play the game very quickly, you have to play it right. Because the codes earned when finishing a stage actually remember your coin level, it might be a good choice to start over completely or partly when finding a shop. You can’t just run through levels, like with most true platformers. You need to apply long term tactics, comparable to The Legend of Zelda. Also, there are a lot of secrets in this game, as well as five (!) different endings. So, you might want to play it more than once.
Graphics: 16/20
Sound: 13/20
Playability: 13/20
Instant Fun Factor: 12/20
Long Term Fun Factor: 20/20
Total score: 84/100
