_____________ __ \_______ \ / / \_____ \ / / __ __ \____ \ / /____ /_/ / / \____ / ___/ __ ___ / / \__/ /\ \ / / / __ / / / \ \ / / / /_/ / /_/ \_\ /_/ /_____/ ____ / _/ ~ ~~ Angel land story ~~ ~ / / / / ____ ___ ____ __ __ _____ / / / __/ / | / __/ / / / / / ___/ _/ /_ / /_ / / \_ / / / /_/ / /__ / /____/ /___/ /___/\_/ /_/ /_____/ /____/ By Daniel Remar Last updated: May 1 2016 =============================== ][ ~ Table of contents ~ ][ =============================== (SEC01) 1. Introduction and story (SEC02) 2. Worlds and stages (SEC03) 3. Score, Endurance and Strength (SEC04) 4. Weapons (SEC05) 5. Special items (SEC06) 6. Hearts and shopping (SEC07) 7. The Holy chambers (SEC08) 8. The endings and how to get them (SEC09) 9. Enemy list (SEC10) 10. In-depth enemy descriptions (SEC11) 11. Fortress maps (SEC12) 12. Strategies (SEC13) 13. Miscellaneous fun (SEC14) 14. Important game notes (SEC15) 15. Wii Virtual Console differences (SEC16) 16. Japanese version (Famicom) differences (SEC17) 17. Copyright and contact (SEC18) 18. Epilogue and contributors =============================================================================== ][ (SEC01) 1. Introduction and story ][ =============================================================================== ~ Introduction ~ Hello, and welcome to my Kid Icarus FAQ/Guide. Let's begin with the most common questions people have about the game. It's rather obscure how things like Score, Endurance and Strength work in this game. See "3. Score, Endurance and Strength" for some detailed information, and how to quickly increase your Endurance. The top-left room with the Eggplant Wizards in the third fortress is a common sticking point. It's easiest to intentionally get hit by the enemies and pass through the room while flashing to avoid getting hit by the eggplants. See "12. Strategies" for more tips. Additionally, since the game was re-released on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console system, people have been wondering why none of their old passwords or the famous "cheat codes" work. See "15. Wii Virtual Console differences" for some insight on this subject. ~ Story ~ Long ago, in an age where gods and humans lived in harmony, there was a kingdom called Angel Land. It was ruled by Palutena, who administered the light, and Medusa, ruler of darkness. Palutena lived in the Palace in the Sky, and with her light, the humans grew their crops and lived in happiness. Medusa, however, hated mankind. She dried up the lands and turned people into stone statues. Enraged, Palutena turned Medusa into a horrible monster and banished her to the Underworld. Medusa vowed to come back and take over the Palace in the Sky. She enlisted the monsters and evil spirits of the Underworld to her cause, and in time her army became greater than Palutena's. A war began, and in the end, Medusa was victorious. But she wasn't satisfied. She took the three Sacred Treasures - the Mirror Shield, the Arrow of Light, and the Wings of Pegasus - and gave them to her most powerful underlings. She turned almost every one of Palutena's warriors into stone, and imprisoned Palutena in the Palace in the Sky. Angel Land became a dark realm of monsters, ruled by the wicked Medusa. Palutena's last hope was to seek the help of the young angel Pit, who'd been imprisoned in the Underworld. With her last bit of magical strength, she sent Pit a bow and arrow. Pit set out on a quest to break out of the Underworld and get the three sacred treasures, defeat Medusa, and bring peace to Angel Land. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC02) 2. Worlds and stages ][ =============================================================================== Kid Icarus is divided into 4 Worlds. The first three are divided into 4 stages: three normal ones, and a fortress. The fourth World only consists of one stage. Like so: |_|_|_| ________ | |_______________| | | 3-4 | 4-1 Medusa | |_____|________________________| | | 4.THE PALACE IN THE SKY |3-3| |___| | | Fortress |3-2| 3.SKYWORLD | |___| | | | | |3-1| V |___| |_|_|_| |_|_|_| | |___________| | | 1-4 |2-1|2-2|2-3| 2-4 | |_____|___|___|___|_____| | | 2.OVERWORLD |1-3| |___| | | (This image can be found in |1-2| the instruction booklet) |___| 1.UNDERWORLD | | |1-1| <-- Normal stages |___| Between each stage there's a checkpoint. When you pass it, your Score will be added to the Total Score, which in turn determines your Endurance and health, see "3. Score, Endurance and Strength". If you die, you will restart in the stage where you died with all the items you had when you first entered it, and with only two bars of health filled up. If this is your first time through the game, don't worry about all the referrings to other parts in the FAQ unless you want to find out more, or if you are stuck somewhere. ~ World 1 - The Underworld ~ The beginning of this game is notoriously difficult - if you fall off the bottom of the screen even once, you lose. If you can, buy some feathers to help you out; each one will save you from a fall. You should increase your Endurance as soon as possible by killing a lot of enemies. See "12. Strategies" for some tips that'll help. When you beat the fortress of this World, you should have gotten a Strength upgrade and reached the maximum Endurance of 5. ~ World 2 - The Overworld ~ Almost as difficult as the Underworld, mostly because of the more powerful enemies and some tricky jumping on icy platforms. If you have at least two feathers in stock though, it's not so bad. Note that if you duck while on the ice, you'll pass through it, so be careful. When you exit this World, you should have reached a Strength of 4. Make sure you have less than 920 hearts when entering stage 2-2, or getting that upgrade will be incredibly hard. See "3. Score, Endurance and Strength" for more information. But if you're not a perfectionist, don't worry - you could always get it later after beating the game. ~ World 3 - The Skyworld ~ A lot easier than the previous Worlds, thankfully. If you duck while on the clouds, you'll fall through them. Gather lots of hearts to fill your barrel with 8 bottles if you haven't already. There's a store just outside the boss room in the fortress here, so buy some bottles with the water of life if you need it - but don't spend too much money if you're hoping to get the best ending (more info on this can be found in "8. The endings and how to get them". At the end of stage 3-1, you'll get your final Strength upgrade. The fortress here also has a lot of Eggplant Wizards - try to get hit by enemies and pass through these rooms while flashing to avoid getting hit by the eggplants. ~ World 4 - The Palace in the Sky ~ This final World is just one long side-scrolling shooter, with Medusa waiting at the end. Stay around the middle left of the screen, and you should be fine. Note that you can't fall of the bottom of the screen; you'll bounce back up again. Something that makes this stage somewhat difficult is that you have to defeat at least 50 enemies before reaching the end, or the whole stage will loop back to the start (but with the kill count intact). The higher your Strength, the easier it will be to defeat that many enemies. Don't worry about confronting Medusa, she's possibly the easiest boss in the game. For a trick on how to beat her quickly, see "10. In-depth enemy descriptions". =============================================================================== ][ (SEC03) 3. Score, Endurance and Strength ][ =============================================================================== ~ Score ~ In Kid Icarus, your Endurance (maximum health) is increased by earning Score. Each time you defeat an enemy, you'll get some Score. At the end of each stage, the Score you earned will be added to the total. Total Score required for increasing your Endurance: 2 bars: 20'000 3 bars: 50'000 4 bars: 100'000 5 bars: 200'000 ~ Endurance and health ~ Each increase in Endurance adds one bar of health to your total. Each bar contains 8 hit points with the exception of the left-most bar, which contains only 7. When you get hit by an enemy, your hit points decrease. Collect chalices with the water of life, or bathe in yellow hot springs to restore your health. Barrels and bottles will also help you stay alive, detailed in "5. Special items". If you find that are often defeated by the enemies, check out "12. Strategies" for some useful advice on quickly increasing your Endurance at the beginning of the game. ~ Strength ~ The amount of arrows next to the word Strength on the pause screen determine the amount of damage dealt to enemies per shot. If you have a Strength of 3, and shoot at a Keron which has 3 hit points, it'll be destroyed in one shot. The maximum Strength is 5. Strength upgrades are given to you by a friendly god in the Strength upgrade chambers if you fulfill certain requirements, which are detailed below. The instruction booklet names the upgrades Bronze arrows, Silver arrows, Gold arrows and Sacred arrows. ~ How to get the Strength upgrades ~ NOTE: the following section is not necessary to read, unless you're interested in the technical details of the exact requirements for getting the Strength upgrades. There is a "Quick guide" below this section which casual players can read instead! A huge thanks to Disch Wersher for studying the game and finding that what actually determines if you get a Strength upgrade or not is a hidden value which keeps track of your "Skill", as Disch calls it. In short, how many enemies you destroy, how many hearts you collect, how much damage you take and how many arrows you fire, all in the same stage as the Strength upgrade chamber. Whenever you finish a stage (where you can see your Score being tallied) your Skill is reset to zero. To get a Strength upgrade in a given stage, you must have at least 10000 Skill. Thankfully you cannot have a negative Skill value. These things affect your Skill: -300 for taking damage, except for damage tiles like lava -10 for firing an arrow -500 for breaking a pitcher in the Treasure chamber +300 for entering a Holy chamber +100 for defeating an enemy that drops a small heart +300 for defeating an enemy that drops a half heart +500 for defeating an enemy that drops a big heart +100 for collecting a small heart (if you have less than 998) +300 for collecting a half heart (if you have less than 994) +500 for collecting a big heart (if you have less than 989) +100 for collecting a mallet +1000 for collecting or buying back a Weapon +100 for buying anything in a shop except a chalice or Weapon +300 for entering the Score tally screen (redundant) +8000 for killing a boss (redundant) Note that some enemies are special - if they don't give you any Score, they don't give you any Skill either. Damaging Medusa also doesn't affect your Skill, eventhough it gives you Score. If you successfully raid a Treasure chamber, you'll lose 1480 Skill. However, at the start of stage 2-2 you start out with 0 Skill, so you actually gain 2300 there. Also note that you only need 9700 Skill prior to entering the upgrade chamber, as entering it gives you 300. Cyn sent me an e-mail describing the fact that you can walk past the fourth chamber on stage 2-2 (the upgrade chamber) to find a group of 16 Rokmen falling from the sky. If you fight these without scrolling the screen too far to the right, you can gain a whole ton of Skill before entering the upgrade chamber. The 16 Rokmen can in theory give you up to 15840 Skill (16 Rokmen x 500) + (16 big hearts x 500) - (16 arrows x 10). If you enter stage 2-2 with 999 hearts, you have to kill 15 Rokmen out of 16 to get the total of 10000 Skill, but this is very hard to do. The less hearts you have when you enter the stage, the less Rokmen you have to shoot because then you get more Skill from collecting hearts. If you have 10 less hearts, you have to kill one less Rokman. Since it's relatively easy to kill half of them, which equals 80 hearts, you are pretty safe if you enter stage 2-2 with 920 hearts, and have the skills to fight the Specknoses and Rokmen well. Any more than that, however, and things start getting terribly hard. The very first room in the game is always empty. This is because it's a Strength upgrade room! No matter how hard you try though, you can't gain 10000 Skill before entering it. The enemies only spawn a set number of times until you scroll the screen further up. Jean-Luc Romano informed me that sometimes, you do get the upgrade after finishing the game and coming back to stage 1-1. My guess is that this is because of a glitch, since the Skill is reset both at the exact point where your Score has been added to your total when you finish a stage, and when you enter Palutena's chamber after defeating Medusa. ~ Quick Strength upgrade guide ~ Stage 1-2 A pretty long stage, so just kill the enemies you encounter and you'll get the upgrade in the chamber. Stage 2-1 Often stop and kill the Rokmen (falling rocks) and Kerons (horned frogs) until they run out to gather the most amount of Score and hearts. There are two places to get the upgrade - if you missed the first, you can visit the other. Stage 2-2 Make sure you have less than 920 hearts when entering this stage. The more hearts above about 850 you have, the harder it will be to get the upgrade, while if you have 999 hearts it will be incredibly hard, as explained in "How to get the Strength upgrades" above. First get as much treasure as possible from the treasure chamber, using the trick mentioned in "7. The Holy chambers". Then collect as many hearts as possible in the enemy nests. The upgrade is in the fourth chamber, but don't enter it yet. Instead walk past it a little, and Rokmen will start falling from the sky. 16 of them will appear in total, so shoot them and gather their hearts. Now go into the upgrade chamber, and the upgrade should be yours. If you fail, jump into the water and try again. Don't worry, any spent feathers will return when the stage restarts. Stage 3-1 Just slay some Holers until you've got at least 10'000-20'000 Score and the final upgrade is definitely yours. You should now have gotten all Strength upgrades on the first trip through the game. If you missed one, don't worry - you can get it from any Strength upgrade chamber when you replay the game, as most of your status will remain intact. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC04) 4. Weapons ][ =============================================================================== These are the three objects that appear on the pause screen under "Weapons". They're gained by completing the training chamber (see "7. The Holy chambers"). The Weapons are Protective crystal, Sacred bow, and Fire arrows. Each time you complete a training chamber, you can pick one of your choice and add it to your arsenal. However, the first Weapon picked requires two full bars of health to be activated. The other two require one more bar respectively. After they've been activated, they will remain so for the rest of the game. The Weapons can't be used in the fortresses. They'll be re-activated once you beat the fortress. ~ Protective crystal ~ Two protective crystals will revolve around Pit, doing damage to enemies equal to your Strength. Just don't think of it as your primary weapon; weak enemies can still slip past it. The first Weapon you should get, in my opinion. ~ Sacred bow ~ Makes your arrows travel further and faster, attacking enemies from a whole screen away. The second Weapon to pick. Take care not to shoot enemies so their hearts will be hard to reach. ~ Fire arrows ~ A fireball will rotate around every arrow fired, dealing damage equal to your Strength. If the fireball hits an enemy, the arrow will continue in its path. If the arrow hits the enemy first, though, the fireball will disappear. A devastating weapon against groups of enemies if your Strength is high enough. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC05) 5. Special items ][ =============================================================================== These are items you can collect or buy in stores. ~ Small heart ~ Left behind by defeated enemies, it's worth 1 heart. This is the currency used in Kid Icarus, and it doesn't affect your health. ~ Half big heart ~ A big heart broken in half. It's worth 5 hearts. ~ Big heart ~ Left behind by tougher enemies. Worth 10 hearts. ~ Harp ~ Turns all enemies into mallets for a limited period of time when collected. In the Overworld, you'll find a harp next to a Shemums' jar. Take the harp, then jump at the jar to grab a lot of mallets. ~ Mallet ~ Used in the fortresses. Select it with the select button, then press the B button to smash statues or enemies (deals 5 hit points of damage). When you destroy a statue, a Centurian will come out. These are Palutenas' soldiers who were turned into stone by Medusa. When you fight the boss of the fortress, the Centurians you've rescued will join the fight in groups of three. Their arrows have a Strength of 5, but they're easily swatted like flies by the bosses. Note that the Centurains you've freed in one fortress won't follow you to the next. ~ Credit card ~ This rare item can only be obtained by completing the treasure chamber, see "7. The Holy chambers". It only works at the black market, and allows you to purchase items even when your number of hearts will go into the negative. Your hearts will then read 0, and you'll have to keep collecting hearts until you've paid it all back. You cannot buy another item until your heart counter starts increasing again. Certain passwords like DANGER !!!!!! TERROR HORROR will make it appear as if you cannot gather hearts at all. This is because the debt on the credit card - whether you have one or not - can be anything up to 4096, and you'll have to pay it all back first. ~ Angel's feather ~ If you have this in your inventory when you fall down the bottom of the screen in the normal stages, you'll start flying. Press the A button to fly higher. Each time you fall down, a feather will be spent. Buy them as soon as you can. If you hold up and A as the feather runs out, you will get a speed boost upwards. ~ Water of life (chalice) ~ A chalice containing the water of life. It'll recover 7 hit points, which is nearly one full bar of life. If you see one of these on screen, and you enter a door and come out again, the chalice will be gone. Always collect it as soon as you see it. ~ Water of life (bottle) ~ When your health reaches zero, this item will take effect and recover your first bar of health, or 7 hit points. ~ Barrel ~ With this, you can store 8 bottles, pushing your maximum hit points to an incredible 95. You can only own 1 barrel, though. ~ Map ~ Found in the fortresses. It'll appear on the pause screen. ~ Torch ~ Bought in the fortress stores. With it, you can see your position on the map. Its magical glow runs out when you leave the fortress. ~ Pencil ~ Bought in the fortress stores. With this, all the rooms you have visited will turn green on your map. It's fairly useless since you can draw your own maps (or use the ones in this FAQ). It stops working when you leave the fortress. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC06) 6. Hearts and shopping ][ =============================================================================== The currency in Angel land is hearts. You can have up too 999 of them, and the goods in the stores are very expensive, so gather a lot. Hearts are earned by defeating enemies. There are three kinds of places to spend the cash: stores, fortress stores and the black market. Here's a list of what they sell: ~ STORE ~ Either: Bottle Mallet Feather 350 20 390 Or: Chalice Bottle Feather 210 350 390 Or: Chalice Mallet Feather 210 20 390 If you buy an item, new goods will soon appear, so you can buy as much as you want. ~ FORTRESS STORE ~ Either: Pencil Chalice Torch 180 210 120 Or: Chalice Mallet Bottle 210 20 350 If you press A+B on the second controller at the stores and fortress stores, the owner will either raise or lower the prices, depending on your Strength. To haggle succesfully your Strength must be one level above the number of the World, which means that in World 2 (the Overworld), you must have a Strength of 3 to haggle. You're apparently not haggling so much as you are threatening to beat him up... If he lowers the prices, he says "I guess I can't win!". The new prices will be: Chalice Bottle Mallet Feather Pencil Torch 100 270 10 150 180 120 However, if he raises them, saying "Go on! Who do you think I am?" The prices will be: Chalice Bottle Mallet Feather Pencil Torch 400 760 50 630 250 200 While he's talking, the prices are still the same. If you notice that he is going to raise them, quickly buy something; you'll get it for the usual price. This way you've got nothing to lose when haggling. ~ THE BLACK MARKET ~ Bottle Barrel Feather 480 500 450 The black market is the only store that sells the barrel. You cannot haggle here, nor can you buy more than one item. Also, if one of your Weapons has been stolen by a Pluton or Pluton fly, it'll be sold at the black market. The prices on the Weapons when bought back are: Fire Bow Shield 600 500 700 Alternatively, complete a Training chamber to earn the Weapons again for free. See "7. The Holy chambers". =============================================================================== ][ (SEC07) 7. The Holy chambers ][ =============================================================================== These are accessed via the doors found in the normal stages. Once you enter one of them and leave, you can never go back. Also note that when you enter a chamber, all objects including enemies and chalices with the water of life will be gone when you exit. Here's a description of the different chambers: ~ Store ~ See "6. Hearts and shopping". ~ Black market ~ See "6. Hearts and shopping". ~ Enemies' nest ~ A room with 8 Specknoses. Each one will give you 10 hearts when defeated, but no Score. You can leave this room whenever you want. Be careful in here near the beginning of the game, or just avoid these chambers completely until you're confident enough. ~ Strength upgrade chamber ~ A friendly god will give you a Strength upgrade. See "3. Score, Endurance and Strength" for info on the requirements to get the upgrades, and a quick guide to all the upgrades. ~ Training chamber ~ A god will let you pass a test to see if you're worthy of a Weapon. Pass the test, and you can pick a Weapon (see "4. Weapons"). You can exit this chamber whenever you like, but the god will call you a weakling. To survive the test, stay in one spot and attack the falling Monoliths. There is no safe spot in most rooms (try standing on top of the entrance door when possible), but don't move around too much, and don't collect the hearts as this will allow more Monoliths to appear. The later training chambers will host Monoliths with more hit points, but since you've got Strength upgrades by then, it's no real problem. The Protective crystal is ineffective against the Monoliths, but Fire arrows are very helpful. ~ Hot spring chamber ~ These contain a pool of yellow recovery water. Sit back and relax as your health is replenished. Hot springs are also found in the fortresses. ~ Treasure chamber ~ A room with 8 pitchers containing either big hearts or mallets. You need 5 hearts to break a pitcher and reveal the treasure. After collecting your first treasure, all remaining pitchers disappear. But there's a catch. If you shoot the pitcher containing the god of poverty, all the treasures you've uncovered will be lost. However, if you manage to break 7 pitchers without uncovering the god of poverty, he will be replaced by either a feather, a bottle, a barrel or the credit card! This bonus treasure is yours when you shoot the final jar. Since mallets and hearts are so easy to come by, it's always worth trying to break them all. If you feel like cheating, there is a way to always get all the treasures. This is because there only are four places where the god of poverty can hide, depending on what World you're in (thanks to Disch Wersher for this information), and depending on where he hides the hearts and mallets will appear in set places. First, let's give the pitchers some numbers: ............... .1 2. .. .. .3 4. ... ... .5 6 . .... ... .... .7 8. ............... In the rooms in World 2 and 3 (Overworld and Skyworld), shoot the pitchers numbered 2, 3 and 4. In World 1 (Underworld), shoot the pitchers 1, 3 and 8. Count how many mallets you've uncovered, then look up the god's position in the chart below. World 2 and 3 Mallets: 0 1 2 3 Position: 8 5 6 1 World 1 Mallets: 0 1 2 3 Position: 7 2 4 6 Here's a printable version of the above trick. Just mark it, copy it into a monospace text-editing program, then print it. ............... Kid Icarus .1 2. Treasure chamber .. .. .3 4. World 2 and 3: break 2, 3, 4 ... ... World 1: break 1, 3, 8 .5 6 . .... ... .... Mallets: 0 1 2 3 .7 8. Position (2 and 3): 8 5 6 1 ............... Position (1): 7 2 4 6 =============================================================================== ][ (SEC08) 8. The endings and how to get them ][ =============================================================================== There are five endings to watch when you complete the game. The ending requirements are based on raising certains stats to the maximum. You can have any combination, as long as you have a certain number of them. The four stat max-outs are: a. Hearts: 999 b. Strength: 5 c. Endurance: 5 d. All three Weapons acquired A giant thanks to Jean-Luc Romano for his password cracking skills. If you type these passwords in, you'll watch the ending, though without the music. When the endings are done the game will reset/crash. +------------------------------------------------------------+ | ORIGINAL NES VERSION | | | | The first letter on the second row in all passwords except | | the "Worst" one is a capital "o". | +========+======+============================+===============+ | | Max- | | Password to | | Ending | outs | Description | watch ending | +========+======+============================+===============+ | Worst | 0 | Pit gets a hat and a | 000000 000000 | | | | sickle. | M30000 G50CfV | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ | Poor | 1 | Pit gets a helmet and a | 000000 000000 | | | | short stick (spear?). | O10000 K50C9G | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ | Medium | 2 | Pit gets a helmet with a | 000000 000000 | | | | red tuft, and a spear. | O1000G K50C9H | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ | Good | 3 | Pit becomes a big warrior | 000000 00dF00 | | | | and smiles. | O3000G K50Cfh | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ | | | Pit becomes a big warrior, | | | | | gets a kiss from Palutena, | 6eW300 00dF00 | | Best | 4 | and angels fly around the | O3000G K50i9r | | | | screen as the background | | | | | changes. | | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ +------------------------------------------------------------+ | WII VIRTUAL CONSOLE VERSION | | | | The first letter on the second row in the "Good" password | | is a capital "o". | +========+======+============================+===============+ | | Max- | | Password to | | Ending | outs | Description | watch ending | +========+======+============================+===============+ | Worst | 0 | Pit gets a hat and a | 000000 000000 | | | | sickle. | 600000 G50Cfh | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ | Poor | 1 | Pit gets a helmet and a | 000000 000000 | | | | short stick (spear?). | 800000 K50C9y | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ | Medium | 2 | Pit gets a helmet with a | 000000 000000 | | | | red tuft, and a spear. | 80000G K50C9z | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ | Good | 3 | Pit becomes a big warrior | 000000 00dF00 | | | | and smiles. | O0000G K50Cft | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ | | | Pit becomes a big warrior, | | | | | gets a kiss from Palutena, | IeW600 00dF00 | | Best | 4 | and angels fly around the | e0000G K50i97 | | | | screen as the background | | | | | changes. | | +--------+------+----------------------------+---------------+ With this in mind, don't spend too many hearts in the shop just before the boss of the third fortress. If you buy alot of stuff there and kill the boss, you'll have trouble gathering enough hearts in the last stage to get the best ending! =============================================================================== ][ (SEC09) 9. Enemy list ][ =============================================================================== This list contains all the information about all the enemies and bosses in the game. The names of the enemies were found in the instruction booklet. WLD = World HP = hit points DMG = Amount of damage the enemy can deal to pit H = Amount of Hearts dropped when defeated Score = Amount of Score earned when defeated X = All Worlds F = Fortress FX = All fortresses Enemy WLD HP DMG H Score Shemum X 1 1 1 100 Specknose X 1 2 10 0 Reaper X 10 2 10 500 Reapette X 1 2 1 100 Monolith X 1or2 1 1 0 Eggplant Wizard FX 10 2 10 500 Monoeye 1 1 1 5 300 McGoo 1 1 1or2 5 300 Nettler 1 2 1 5 300 Commyloose 1 2 1 5 300 Ganawmede F1 1 1 5 300 Ganawmede red F1 2 2 10 500 Kobil F1 2 1 1 100 Kobil red F1 6 2 5 300 Twinbellows F1 100 2 0 8000 Rokman 2 2 3 10 500 Girin 2 1 1 5 300 Minos 2 2 1 5 300 Mick 2 2 1 5 300 Keron 2 3 1 5 300 Pluton 2 - 0 - - Snowman 2 10 1or3 10 500 Tamambo F2 2 1 5 300 Tamambo red F2 3 2 10 500 Shulm F2 3 1 1 100 Shulm red F2 8 2 5 300 Hewdraw F2 200 3 0 8000 Collin 3 1 3 10 500 Eeleye 3 1 2 1 0 Holer 3 1 1or2 5 300 Octos 3 4 3 10 500 Pluton fly 3 - 0 - - Keepah 3 1 3 10 0 Komayto 3 3 2 5 300 Tros F3 3 2 5 300 Tros red F3 4 3 10 500 Uranos F3 4 2 1 100 Uranos red F3 10 3 5 300 Pandora F3 200 5 0 8000 Totem 4 4 3 5 300 Moila 4 2 3 5 300 Syren 4 2 3 5 300 Erinus 4 4*1 1or4 3*1 4*500 Daphne 4 2 2 5 300 Zuree 4 1 2 1 100 Tanatos 4 1 3 0 100 Medusa 4 150 5 0 Hits*100 =============================================================================== ][ (SEC10) 10. In-depth enemy descriptions ][ =============================================================================== Since you may not know which enemies I'm talking about in the above section, here are the descriptions, complete with hints and strategies. WLD = World HP = hit points DMG = Amount of damage the enemy can deal to pit H = Amount of Hearts dropped when defeated Score = Amount of Score earned when defeated X = All Worlds F = Fortress FX = All fortresses ~ All Worlds ~ Shemum WLD: X HP: 1 DMG: 1 H: 1 Score: 100 Looks like: A small, blue snake. The most common enemy in the game, it's easily defeated. They usually pop out of upside-down jars. As soon as you pass under a Shemum's jar, four of them will emerge. When they're all killed and their hearts are gone, a new wave is ready to jump out. These can be annoying in the fortresses, but if you keep one of them alive, more can't emerge. Also, be careful when walking on top of the jars; the Shemums may appear slightly above the jar, damaging you. Specknose WLD: X HP: 1 DMG: 2 H: 10 Score: 0 Looks like: A nose with two big eyes on top. These inhabit the Enemies' lair chambers. Note that they give you no Score when defeated, and that the Protective crystal is ineffective against them. They are pretty dangerous at the start of the game, so don't try to fight them unless you know what you're doing. Reaper WLD: X HP: 10 DMG: 2 H: 10 Score: 500 Looks like: An old witch with a scythe. If it sees you, it'll summon four Reapettes telepathically. Avoid its gaze and shoot it in the back. Every now and then, it'll turn around to see if anyone's there. Reapette WLD: X HP: 1 DMG: 2 H: 1 Score: 100 Looks like: Small, blue flying reapers. Pretty easy to defeat, but they can deal some damage if you're not careful. 2 hit points is quite a lot in the early stages of the game. Monolith WLD: X HP: 1or2 DMG: 1 H: 1 Score: 0 Looks like: A spinning steel plate. Used to train Pit in the training chambers. They appear out of thin air and fall down. There is no safe spot in most rooms (try standing on top of the entrance door when possible), but don't move around too much, and don't collect the hearts as this will allow more Monoliths to appear. The later training chambers will host Monoliths with more hit points, but since you've got Strength upgrades by then, it's no real problem. The Protective crystal is ineffective against the Monoliths, but Fire arrows are very helpful. Eggplant Wizard WLD: FX HP: 10 DMG: 2 H: 10 Score: 500 Looks like: A tall monster with a white robe and one eye. The most annoying and difficult enemy in the game. If you get hit by his spell, you'll be turned into an eggplant and will be unable to shoot. If that happens, you'll have to find the hospital in the fortress to remove the spell. Keep your distance and never stand above an Eggplant Wizard. Be aware that they can either throw a low eggplant or a high one. It's better to suffer damage than being turned into an eggplant - while you're flashing, the eggplants can't hit you, which is very useful for the top-left room in the third fortress. ~ World 1: The Underworld ~ Monoeye WLD: 1 HP: 1 DMG: 1 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A red, flying enemy with one big eye. Simple enough. They fly in a pattern, and after a while they'll get bored and head for you instead. Sometimes a few of them head for you immediately. McGoo WLD: 1 HP: 1 DMG: 1or2 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A small red plant with a face that comes out of the ground. Strangely, their fireballs travel faster to the left than they do to the right. If you get hit by the fireball you'll receive 2 hit points of damage, but the McGoo itself deals only 1. They respawn infinitely as long as you stay in the same area, such as towards the end of stage 1-1 where you can defeat large amounts of them to earn a ton of Score. Nettler WLD: 1 HP: 2 DMG: 1 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A red slug with one eye that ducks under your arrows. If you try to shoot it at close range, your arrows will fly over it, so shoot it from a distance. Commyloose WLD: 1 HP: 2 DMG: 1 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A red jumping octopus. They appear from below in groups of four, and keep jumping towards Pit if they manage to land on solid ground. Watch out below, that's all there is to it. Don't fight them before you've got the first Strength upgrade. Ganawmede WLD: F1 HP: 1 DMG: 1 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A floating skull with tentacles. Flying around inside the fortress in groups of eight, it's better to fight them than to try to avoid them. Ganawmede red WLD: F1 HP: 2 DMG: 2 H: 10 Score: 500 Looks like: A red floating skull with tentacles. The stronger version of the Ganawmede. Note that they leave a lot of hearts and Score behind, so exit and enter the room again to earn some more. Note that you can shoot them as they are still appearing. Kobil WLD: F1 HP: 2 DMG: 1 H: 1 Score: 100 Looks like: A small, slow devil with one eye. Very slow and easy to defeat, since you should have the first Strength upgrade by the time you face them. Kobil2 WLD: F1 HP: 6 DMG: 2 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A red, slow devil with one eye. Like the Kobil, but stronger. It's still not much of a threat. Twinbellows WLD: F1 HP: 100 DMG: 2 H: 0 Score: 8000 Looks like: A red dog with two heads. The boss of the first fortress. Jump over the fireballs, and shoot him rapidly when he recharges. He's pretty slow, and shouldn't be tricky if you're high on health, in which case you just have to fire away; most of the time his fireballs will pass over you, since he's pushed into the air when you hit him. He can be defeated faster by ducking briefly after each arrow you fire, which lets you shoot faster, and if you bring alot of Centurians and mash the fire button he goes down in no time. ~ World 2: The Overworld ~ Rokman WLD: 2 HP: 2 DMG: 3 H: 10 Score: 500 Looks like: A falling rock. Shoot as many as you can to reel in the hearts, but beware; it's the first enemy that deals 3 damage if you touch it. A new wave will drop down when the hearts of the previous group of Rokmen are gone. Girin WLD: 2 HP: 1 DMG: 1 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A giant ant, emerging from the ground. Much like McGoo, but slower to appear, and with faster fireballs. Minos WLD: 2 HP: 2 DMG: 1 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A round, spiked enemy that jumps up from below. Jumps out when you least expect it. Watch them carefully; they appear in patterns. If you walk forward to make the screen scroll, their jumping pattern will be shifted to the right. Mick WLD: 2 HP: 2 DMG: 1 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A flying enemy with a big mouth. These aren't too dangerous. They come flying at you in packs of four. Keron WLD: 2 HP: 3 DMG: 1 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A jumping frog with horns. These roam the plains of the overworld, attacking Pit when he closes in. They're not very dangerous, but have fairly high health. Pluton WLD: 2 HP: - DMG: 0 H: - Score: - Looks like: A small ogre with a beard and a sack. Watch out, he's invincible. If he touches you, he'll steal one of your Weapons! They can be bought back at the black market, or aquired again in the training chambers. He can jump either fast or slow, and high or low. The best way to get past them is to scroll the screen very slowly, so that only one of them emerges at a time. This way, you'll usually face a smaller total number of them as well. Snowman WLD: 2 HP: 10 DMG: 1or3 H: 10 Score: 500 Looks like: A snowman. Throws snowballs and causes general annoyance. The snowballs deal 1 damage, while touching the Snowman himself deals 3. Tamambo WLD: F2 HP: 2 DMG: 1 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A round, flying enemy with one eye. The second fortress' equivalent of the Ganawmede. Piece of cake. Tamambo red WLD: F2 HP: 3 DMG: 2 H: 10 Score: 500 Looks like: A red Tamambo. The tougher version of Tamambo. Shulm WLD: F2 HP: 3 DMG: 1 H: 1 Score: 100 Looks like: A mushroom. Goombas, anyone? They are pretty slow and go down easily. Shulm red WLD: F2 HP: 8 DMG: 2 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A red Shulm. Much stronger than an ordinary Shulm, but no big deal. Hewdraw WLD: F2 HP: 200 DMG: 3 H: 0 Score: 8000 Looks like: A long blue snake. Boss of the second fortress. Possibly the easiest of them all, just avoid him and fire. Centurians can be somewhat useful, but die very easily unless you manipulate their position by jumping and turning around strategically. When you defeat Hewdraw, the lava turns yellow, but it doesn't work as a hot spring just because it's yellow... ~ World 3: The Skyworld ~ Collin WLD: 3 HP: 1 DMG: 3 H: 10 Score: 500 Looks like: A flying armored warrior. Not much of a threat, since it won't attack you. It'll just hover in place. Eeleye WLD: 3 HP: 1 DMG: 2 H: 1 Score: 0 Looks like: A small worm with an eye and a pair of wings. These spin around Collin's body, protecting him. If you defeat the Collin and collect his heart, or the heart disappears, the Eeleyes will also disappear. Note that they give you no Score when defeated. Holer WLD: 3 HP: 1 DMG: 1or2 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A yellow plant that pops out of the ground. The McGoo of the third World, appearing just about anywhere to cause you trouble. Try not to duck under the fireballs it spits, since most of the time you'll be standing on clouds. It's got the slowest fireball attack of this kind of enemy, dealing 1 hit point of damage. If you tough the holer, it'll deal 2 hit points of damage. Octos WLD: 3 HP: 4 DMG: 3 H: 10 Score: 500 Looks like: A yellow jumping octopus. Just like the Commyloose in World 1, these jump from the bottom of the screen and continue upwards, aiming their jumps at Pit. Pluton fly WLD: 3 HP: - DMG: 0 H: - Score: - Looks like: A small ogre with a beard and wings. Very easy to avoid. Just jump up to the same vertical level as the Pluton fly, then fall down again, and it'll fly away. He'll still steal your Weapons if you touch him, so be careful. Keepah WLD: 3 HP: 1 DMG: 3 H: 10 Score: 0 Looks like: A blue, flying Kobil. Strangely enough, it doesn't make a sound when you defeat it, and it gives you no Score. Also, they may sometimes self-destruct. On rare occasions they'll also shoot fireballs. Komayto WLD: 3 HP: 3 DMG: 2 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A floating jellyfish. Behaves just like the Monoeye in World 1. The instruction booklet says that they may come from a planet other than Earth. If you're a Metroid fan, you'll know the planet as SR-388. Metroid is another great NES game, but back to Kid Icarus. Tros WLD: F3 HP: 3 DMG: 2 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A spiked, armored ball. Another floating enemy appearing in groups of eight. It's no big deal. Tros red WLD: F3 HP: 4 DMG: 3 H: 10 Score: 500 Looks like: A red Tros. These can be quite dangerous because of the damage they deal. Shoot them quickly, gather the hearts and always keep an eye on their movements. Uranos WLD: F3 HP: 4 DMG: 2 H: 1 Score: 100 Looks like: A small, slow ogre. Where is the "terrible fighting power" that the instruction booklet speaks of? This enemy is easy to defeat and shouldn't cause you any trouble. Uranos red WLD: F3 HP: 10 DMG: 3 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A red, slow ogre. Much stronger, but just as slow. Pandora WLD: F3 HP: 200 DMG: 5 H: 0 Score: 8000 Looks like: A bubble-like monster. Boss of the third fortress, and "the source of all evil" according to the instruction booklet. It's not difficult if you are patient. It moves very slowly, but sometimes it turns black, making it hard to see. Watch out for the bubbles, as they will deal 5 damage upon contact, just like Pandora itself. Ouch! Don't worry though, your health will be replenished when you defeat this boss. On a side note, the Centurians are next to worthless here - they rarely hit Pandora and are usually swatted down by the bouncing bubbles. ~ World 4: The Palace in the Sky ~ Totem WLD: 4 HP: 4 DMG: 3 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A green slab of stone. They fall down from the sky and form little pillars. Don't get too close to the top of the screen near the start of the stage. Moila WLD: 4 HP: 2 DMG: 3 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A flying starfish. They attack from behind in groups of four. Keep to the right side of the screen at the start of the stage to avoid them. Syren WLD: 4 HP: 2 DMG: 3 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A flying bird-human hybrid. Basically, it's a woman with wings, attacking Pit with claws of steel. They generally come at you four at a time. Erinus WLD: 4 HP: 4*1 DMG: 1or4 H: 3*1 Score: 4*500 Looks like: A robed man with one eye and lots of teeth. The first shot will shatter him into three pieces. His fireballs, shot either straight forward or diagonally, only deal 1 hit point of damage, but touching him deals 4. If you don't shoot him, he'll reappear on the right side of the screen until you do so. Daphne WLD: 4 HP: 2 DMG: 2 H: 5 Score: 300 Looks like: A green flower. They jump up from below and slowly float down again. Like Minos, they appear in patterns, so watch them closely. Zuree WLD: 4 HP: 1 DMG: 2 H: 1 Score: 100 Looks like: A white ghost. Simple to avoid and defeat. They just fly up and down, looking silly. See how many you can destroy in a row with one shot. Tanatos WLD: 4 HP: 1 DMG: 3 H: 0 Score: 100 Looks like: A green snake. Tanatos is greek for "death", but this serpent, emerging from Medusa's hair, doesn't put up much of a fight. They'll usually get caught in your line of fire when you're pummeling Medusa. Medusa WLD: 4 HP: 150 DMG: 5 H: 0 Score: Hits*100 Looks like: A giant green face with one eye. Very easy, really. If you position yourself slightly under the center of the left-most part of the screen, her attacks will miss you. Just fire away! For every hit, you'll earn 100 Score. When she is no more, you've completed the game, and will earn yourself an ending. See "8. The endings and how to get them" for info on the endings. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC11) 11. Fortress maps ][ =============================================================================== Feel free to copy the maps to Notepad or another text-editing program and print them out. It's best to copy and print one map at a time, so they don't get chopped up. The total number of statues is 79, and the total number of rooms is 144. If you get lost, buy a torch in a store to see your position on the map. E = Entrance B = boss M = Map S = Store X = Eggplant H = Hot spring N = Nurse (hospital) number = Amount of statues V A ladder you can't reach from the room below; if you climb it, you can't get back up again. ^ You can't reach this ladder from above unless you just climbed it. > You can't cross this room from the right. < You can't cross this room from the left. / or \ This room is split in half. v This door can only be reached from the right if you entered the right-hand room from above. | The left door is sealed off from the rest of the room. % You can only enter this door from the left if you just emerged from it (by entering it from the room on the right). ~ Fortress 1 ~ Boss: Twinbellows Statues: 28 Rooms: 30 +---+ | S | +---+---+-.-+---+ | 1 . X2. X2. 2 | +-.-+---+---+-.-+---+ | |#######| 1 | N | +---+-V-+---+---+-.-+-.-+---+ | 1 v 2 | E . . M2. 1 . S | +-.-+-.-+---+---+-.-+-.-+---+ | 1 | 2 . 1 .1 1. | 2 | +---+-.-+---+---+-^-+---+-.-+ | H . . . . X1. 1 .1\1| +---+---+---+---+---+---+-.-+---+ | 2 . B | +---+---+ ~ Fortress 2 ~ Boss: Hewdraw Statues: 32 Rooms: 50 +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | X2. H . . S . . X . 3 | +-^-+---+-V-+-.-+---+---+-.-+ | 2 |###| | . . 1 | | +-.-+---+-V-+-.-+---+-V-+-V-+---+ | | S . / % 2 . | 2 | 1 . N | +-.-+-V-+-^-+---+-.-+-.-+-.-+-.-+ | 1 | 2 | X | E | . 1 .1\1. | +-.-+-.-+-.-+-V-+---+---+-.-+-.-+ | X . \3. . . . S . .1|1| +---+-.-+---+-.-+---+---+---+-.-+ | 1 |###| M2|###| 1 . B | | +---+-.-+---+-V-+---+-.-+---+-.-+ | N . 2 . 1 . 1 . 5 means invincibility Strength *: 0152 (0=1, 1=2 etc) Skill: 0134, 0135 Mallets *: 014F Feathers *: 0150 Bottles *: 0151 Credit card: 014E 0=no, 1=yes Weapon 1: 0141 (0, 1, 2 or 3) Weapon 2: 0142 (0, 1, 2 or 3) Weapon 3: 0143 (0, 1, 2 or 3) Kill count in 4-1: 00C9 You need 50 kills to get to Medusa Eggplanted: 006F 0=no, 1=yes (only in fortresses) Invulnerability*: 0728 Set to > 2 to move through enemies Activated Weapons*: 00A5 Pit's X position: 0723 Pit's Y position: 0720 Ending* 004B (0, 1, 2, 3 or 4) *Debt: the debt decreases as you collect hearts. When debt reaches zero, you can collect hearts as normal again. *Strength: this wraps around at every step of 8. It can't go any higher than 5 against regular enemies, but against bosses (except Medusa), it will deal as much as you type in (up to 254), plus 1. *All values greater than 128 actually ,eam 0 for feathers and 1 for mallets. *Bottles: add 64 to get a barrel. If you want a barrel with 8 bottles, enter 72. *Invulnerability: you're not invulnerable against "damage tiles", such as lava pools. *Activated Weapons: try different combinations up to 7, which activates all Weapons at once. Add 8 to whatever number you type in to make Pit fly (same as using a Feather). When flying, you can't enter doors or pass through the left side of the screen in vertically scrolling stages. *Ending: This determines what ending you receive upon entering Palutena's chamber. It overrides the regular ending requirements. If you set it to 5 or higher, very strange things may happen. Most high values will glitch out the graphics and sound for a few seconds, then play the fortress song during the credits. A value of 255 will explode the entire screen into glitched graphics and crash the game. ~ The myth of Perseus ~ This section is based on some research I did back in 10th grade, and may not be very accurate. Kid Icarus is very loosely based on an ancient myth about Perseus, son of Zeus, and the one who killed Medusa. Here are some similarities with the game: Perseus received (among several things) a pair of winged sandals from Hermes, Zeus' messenger. He also got a shield of mirrors, which would reflect the image of Medusa, since her look turned you to stone. Also mentioned in the story is Athena, whose title is sometimes given as Pallas. In the game, the kidnapped goddess' name is Palutena. On the island where Medusa lived, there were statues of stone in the shape of humans. It turned out that they once had been warriors, who had been turned to stone when they saw Medusa. Since she had once been a human, she was the only Gorgon who was mortal; the two others weren't. Towards the end of the story, Perseus cut of Medusa's head with a scythe, and put her head in a bag. Perseus appeared in many other myths. In one of them, he felt sorry for Atlas when he saw him holding up the world, so Perseus showed him the head of Medusa and turned him to stone, so he wouldn't feel the weight of the burden. In the game, Pit destroys Twinbellows who is probably based upon Cerburus, the watchdog of the underworld. I cannot recall that Perseus ever did the same, and it's pretty obvious Kid Icarus is a mix of several myths (like Pandora's box). Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters for the Gameboy was a bit more closely based on Icarus, the one who made wings out of wax that melted when he flew too close to the sun. ~ Where no-one has gone before ~ So, you've finished the game and explored every nook and cranny? Well, there are some places you may not have visited, namely the roof at the end of most normal stages. Sure, there's no point in heading up there, but somehow I find it rewarding, as if I've been somewhere I've never been before. To reach the very top of a stage, simply use a feather. Be careful at the end of stage 3-3, though. If you enter the next-to-last door (the shop) and then fly to the top of the screen, the screen will continue scrolling, which means that you'll get trapped up there until your feathers run out, at which point you'll die. If the screen starts scrolling, quickly get back down again. ~ Extra difficult ~ Have you ever tried to get the worst ending? This means that you must finish the game with 4 or less bars of health, without all three of the Weapons, a Strength of 4 or lower, and less than 999 hearts all at once. ~ Very extra crispy difficult ~ So you like a challenge, such as completing Zelda 2 with one or more of your stats kept at 1? Then try beating Kid Icarus the pacifist way - don't shoot anything except the bosses, and don't pick up any mallets. You'll run through most of the game with an Endurance and Strength of one, completely unarmed. I've done it once, so it's not impossible - although honestly it's more tedious than fun. ~ Instruction booklet and game box errors ~ Thanks to Shaughn Maguire for helping me with the following information. In the instruction booklets other than the Japanese, some mistakes were made. You can find this sentence in the booklet: "If you get a high score, your name might be registered in the best 5 in the select display." While the American and European games lack such a feature, it existed in the Japanese Famicom version, along with three save slots, just like the NES Zelda games. Apparently the writers of the booklet weren't informed that these features were removed. The box claims that this is a "two player alternating game". Either this was a removed feature from an early version of the game, or it refers to the fact that you can haggle at the shops with the second controller. Since you can use the second controller for various stuff in other single-player games too, like getting your password in Metroid or controlling the ducks in Duck Hunt, it's possibly referring to that. Alternatively, it simply suggests that players can take turns playing the game, such as switching player when one of them gets Game Over. The screenshots on the European game box are also from an earlier version, given that the health bar is blue. The "stage" and "boss" text is also written in Japanese. One screenshot shows four Nettlers on-screen at once - at first I thought that it was a removed feature, but it's actually happened to me a few times. I still don't know what triggers it though. ~ Bugs and minor glitches ~ Falling Reapers Sometimes when Reapers appear, they'll do so slightly under the ground the are supposed to appear on. This makes them fall through the platform, often landing right on your head. Reincarnate Medusa Just when you've beaten Medusa and she disappears from the screen, pause the game, then unpause. A part of her will reappear on the screen. Disappearing stuff Pause and unpause the game at a shop, holy chamber or training chamber. Sometimes the shopkeeper/god will disappear. When haggling at the shops, buy something while the shopkeeper is talking. What he'd said so far will disappear, but the remaining text will continue to be printed. Also when defeating a boss and the treasure chest appears, pause and unpause. The chest will disappear. Finally, pause the game the moment you enter a door in a fortress, and all objects will disappear. Chest glitch Just when you've defeated Pandora (the third boss), hold down to make Pit duck, or up to aim upwards. The treasure chest will turn into a copy of Pit's sprite when it appears. Break through If you jump at the top corner of a block, you'll fall slightly into it. If used with skill at the top right corner of a block, you can pass through it entirely. When you do, you'll start sliding to the left, passing through walls. If you leave the left side on the screen, you'll pop out on the right (this seems to be the default behavior for all objects in NES games). Note that this only works in certain stages. There's a good use for this bug, but it's very hard to pull off. In the first fortress, go two screens right, one down and one left. In this room, "break through" the upper left edge of the right-most mass of blocks. With perfect timing, you can jump while halfway inside the block - if you crouch-jump to the left at just the right angle, you will end up in the one-way route leading to the room below. Go down and head right, and you've just taken a massive shortcut to the boss. This is useful for (and has been used in) speedruns. Catch me if you can In World 4, you can go through the top of the screen if you hold up and left/right. When you're about to enter Medusa's chamber, hold up and right. When Medusa's fully scrolled into the screen, you'll be sitting in the top right corner. If you let go of the controller, you'll slide back out again. Kill the mallets When you pick up a harp and turn the enemies to mallets, shoot a mallet. It will be destroyed and leave a heart behind, as if it still were the original enemy. Ghost Tamambo In the third fortress (stage 3-4), there is a room with red Tamambos and two statues. First kill all the enemies, then smash one of the statues. Another red Tamambo will appear, but if you shoot it, it'll only leave one heart and give you 100 Score. If you destroy the second statue, it'll happen again. Note that you can't reach the top ladder when the statues are gone, but if you exit the room and re-enter it, a platform will be there instead, since the statues "overwrite" the platforms - the statues belong to the background layer, and can't share the tile with the platform tile. No lava damage Sometimes, when you duck and hold left or right against the wall when in the lava, you won't take any damage. This also applies to other "damage tiles" and the hot spring, but don't rely on it to keep you from taking damage. Strange pause sound Simply hit the Start button rapidly. The pause sound will be interrupted and distorted. *Bling* If you don't collect a harp or a chalice with water of life, it'll make a sound as if you collected it when it leaves the screen. My hair's on fire! Simply use a feather to start flying, have the fire arrows activated, and press up. There is no animation for Pit flying and aiming upwards, so the fireball appears on top of his head. Disappearing enemies Sometimes you'll see enemies disappearing in stages with moving platforms in them. I suspect this is because the platforms use the same pointers as the enemies, and if the enemies would not be destroyed, the platforms would not appear. So it's not a glitch, but more of an intentional bugfix. ~ Ultimate password ~ Need a little help beating the game? Here's a password I got together by RAM editing a bit. It has the maximum number of all equipment in the game possible to fit into a password. Stage: 1-2 (starting on stage 1-1 overrides all other stats) Weapons: All Activated Weapons: All Stolen Weapons: None Score: 16777215 (displayed as 9999999) Endurance: 5 Strength: 13 (can only do 5 against regular enemies, but you'll slay the bosses - no higher Strength is possible to achieve with a password, only with RAM editing) Hearts: 4095 (displayed as 095 in-game and 999 when paused (as with Strength, no higher is possible with a password)) Mallets: 128 (displayed as 99) Feathers: 128 (displayed as 99) Bottles: 63 (displayed as 8) Credit card: Yes Barrel: Yes Original NES version All "0" are zeros: 6eW3!! !!!!00 F38W!H C0042N Wii Virtual Console version On the second row, the first character is a small "L" and the second character is the number "1": IeW6!! !!!!00 l18W!H C0042j ~ Technical notes on passwords ~ There is no such thing as an unlimited ammount of any item, nor is there any password-activated invincibility. If a password makes you unable to gather hearts, it's because your credit card debt is anything up to 4095. Technically, with RAM editing your debt could be 65535, but the actual password can only save a number up to 4095. When the number of mallets or feathers go beyond 99 (actually unallowed), the game will only display 99. Be warned that while you think you could technically have 255 feathers or mallets, more than 128 feathers means 0 feathers, and more than 128 mallets means 1 mallet. The only thing the game looks for when you enter a password is if the checksum (the two last characters) are correct. Think of it as a small ID tag that is calculated depending on the rest of the password. This means that you can make the game set several values to anything up to either 255 or 4095, if you know what you are doing, and it will still accept them. This is the case with passwords such as the famous "8uuuuu uuuuuu uuuuuu uuuuuu". It simply sets the values to things that are usually not allowed in the game, but accepted anyway since the checksum is correct. Thus you do not have infinite bottles, and you do not have an infite debt on your credit card - the numbers are just really, really high. Additionally, if you give the game an erroneous stage number (which is very common if you just type something random), it will crash. What the "ending passwords" I and Jean-Luc created do is to skip to the ending seqence, which is actually stage 5-1. No passwords that spell something out are intentional. Kid Icarus accepts 64^22 out of 64^24 posssible passwords - that's a LOT. Just punch in whatever text you want, and as long as the last two characters are correct, the password is accepted. There are no hardcoded passwords either, unlike the only hardcoded one in Metroid (NARPASSWORD). For some reason or another, the Wii Virtual Console version messed around with the checksum generation, which is why most old passwords no longer work. People have blamed the checksum failure on everything from hardware chips that could not be emulated to Nintendo intentionally removing the "cheat" passwords, but none of it is true. See "15. Wii Virtual Console differences" for more information. ~ Into the unknown ~ Have you ever wondered what's inside all the "rooms" you cannot reach in the fortresses (outside the game world), or what would happen if you could keep scrolling the screen at the end of the stages? I wondered, so I found out with an emulator. Unfortunately the results were pretty boring. Every single potential fortress room you cannot normally reach is defined as an empty default room - it's the same one you see when you beat the fortress, where Pit runs through it while your Score is tallied. As for scrolling the screen past the game world borders, I've only managed to do it in stage 3-3. First you see the "end stage" corridor, but when passing it and scrolling it off the screen, the game crashes. So unlike Metroid, there doesn't seem to be any glitched rooms, leftover rooms or "hidden worlds" to speak of. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC14) 14. Important game notes ][ =============================================================================== I decided to make this a little section of its own. After the ending, the game will start over, but with these things intact: Total Score, Weapons, hearts, Endurance, Strength and credit card debt. After completing the game, when you go back to stage 1-1, don't die and write down the password! You'll find that when you type it in, you'll begin at 1-1, but with none of the things you had when you got the password. This is because any password that starts you in 1-1 overrides absolutely everything else and starts you with nothing. Counter this by completing 1-1, then writing down the password you get when dying in 1-2. This is the reason my "ultimate password" starts you in 1-2 instead of 1-1. This is possibly an artifact from the Famicom game, where save slots were used rather than passwords, and the game did not save your status after beating the final stage. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC15) 15. Wii Virtual Console differences ][ =============================================================================== The Wii version of the game is subtly different from the original, but in a way that has major consequences. For some reason the Weapon bits and the checksum calculation have changed, making most old passwords unusable. I think the staff responsible should've taken care to keep the password system intact for the sake of those who may still have their old passwords written down, or those who want to try the famous "cheat" codes (although as explained in "Technical notes on passwords" in "13. Miscellaneous fun", they were not created intentionally). When I first wrote this section, Jean-Luc Romano was working on a program to translate passwords between the NES and Wii versions. In the meantime we generated Wii versions of the instant ending and ultimate passwords in this FAQ, detailed in "8. The endings and how to get them" and "13. Miscellaneous fun". The only in-game difference in the Wii version, however, seems to be that the screen pulses red at the end instead of flashing rapidly. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC16) 16. Japanese version (Famicom) differences ][ =============================================================================== Kid Icarus was released in Japan for the Famicom Disk System as "Hikari Shinwa: Palutena no Kagami", roughly "Myth of Light: The Mirror of Palutena". It has some major differences from the game we know as Kid Icarus on the NES. As the game was stored on a rewritable disk, it had three save slots to record your progress instead of passwords. It also had a highscore list. When you beat the game and restarted on the same file, nothing carried over. Other notable differences include better sound effects. You also had to eject the disk and swap sides a few times - the save menu, the final stage and the ending were on side A, while the rest of the game was on side B. In the final stage, you had to scroll the screen forward manually, just like in World 2. You also had to hold the jump button to fly, making Medusa more difficult, and you collided with the blocks and obstacles on the screen rather than passing through them. Some enemy patterns were different in this stage as well. The Famicom version was later re-released on the Gameboy Advance on a yellow cartridge, as part of the Nintendo Classic Series. As far as I can tell, it even includes the complete original manual. However, this release was Japanese only. I received my copy from someone visiting Japan. ~ Japanese version endings ~ It's worth noting that the endings were determined in a completely different way in the Japanese FDS version. Here's a quick guide. Simply add your Endurance level together with your Strength, and you'll get a number from 3-10 (it's impossible finishing the game with a Endurance of 1, meaning only 1 health bar, because of how much Score the bosses give you). But watch out - every time you die this number is reduced by 1! Then check the list below to see what ending you get: +--------+----------+----------------------------+ | | Endurance| | | Ending |+Strength | Description | | |-Deaths | | +========+==========+============================+ | Worst | 0 to 5 | Pit's upper body is turned | | | | into a Specknose. | +--------+----------+----------------------------+ | Poor | 6 to 7 | Pit gets a hat and a | | | | sickle. | +--------+----------+----------------------------+ | Medium | 8 | Pit gets a helmet and a | | | | short stick (spear?). | +--------+----------+----------------------------+ | Good | 9 | Pit gets a helmet with a | | | | red tuft, and a spear. | +--------+----------+----------------------------+ | Best | 10 | Pit becomes a big warrior. | +--------+----------+----------------------------+ So the best NES ending does not exist, instead there's a different "worst" ending. I previously thought it was harder to get the worst ending, but it turns out that dying affects the ending too. Dying a lot guarantees the worst ending, while death has no effect in the NES version of the game. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC17) 17. Copyright and contact ][ =============================================================================== ~ Copyright ~ You may copy this file to your computer and spread it as much as you want. You may not sell this file for money, and you may not upload it on any site or similarly publish it without my permission. Only Gamefaqs.com, Neoseeker.com and my personal homepage have the right to host it. ~ Contact ~ Homepage: http://www.remar.se/daniel GameFAQs forum nick: Ultimortal Please contact me if you have found any errors in this FAQ, or suggestions for improvements, and I'll include your name in the next update. Please write in English or Swedish. =============================================================================== ][ (SEC18) 18. Epilogue and contributors ][ =============================================================================== This FAQ was originally written after a whole lot of intense Kid Icarus playing. Then Disch popped in and told me about the Skill value, making me eager to take the game apart myself, so I started RAM editing until I found all the last pieces of information I could squeeze out. Since then, several more people have contributed, as listed below. I hope you enjoyed the guide! Thanks to GameFAQs user sp unit 262 for the quick Score grinding strategy on the Reapettes in stage 1-2. Thanks to Cyn (cynthiarose@gmail.com) for a better strategy to get the Strength upgrade in stage 2-2. Thanks to Disch Wersher for the Skill stat, and the truth about the treasure chamber rooms. I can't thank you enough! Thanks to Jean-Luc Romano for info on the first upgrade chamber, the section RAM editing under "Miscellaneous fun", and his password cracking that enabled me to create the passwords to view the different endings. Thanks to Björn De Meyer for reading this document and commenting on the spelling. I always miss those little things... Thanks to Michael Sarich on the GameFAQs board for helping me improve the layout and some small things of this FAQ. Thanks to loyalNESgamer on the GameFAQs board for pointing various things out. Thanks to Shaughn Maguire for the initial information on the Japanese Kid Icarus. Seems like the instruction booklet was right after all... well, sort of. :) Thanks to Nintendo for this wonderful but short game series (well, until Uprising was released). And some big thanks to Gamefaqs.com and Neoseeker.com, who happily update my FAQ and host it for me. _______________________________________________________________________________ End of document - Copyright Daniel Remar 2002-2016