Released on March 23, 2012, exclusively for the 3DS, this was Masahiro Sakurai’s last directorial role before he focused all his effort on the Super Smash Bros. series. His last role on a non-Smash project before Kid Icarus: Uprising was as a designer on 2005’s Meteos, meaning Uprising is a rare breed. The game has a small, hardcore following due to its quality, but a fair bit of controversy surrounds it. Kid Icarus: Uprising has control issues owing to its hardware, and now that it is celebrating its 10th anniversary, the game needs a console port to shine brighter than before.
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Kid Icarus: Uprising is Among the Best of the 3DS
The passionate community that formed around Uprising was not just the result of it being a Kid Icarus revival. The game stood on its own merits, and while there were plenty of references to the first two titles, Uprising took the franchise in a new direction. The game alternates between rail-shooter sections and hack-and-slash/third-person shooter hybrids in every level, instead of just being a 2D platformer. The angel Pit could be equipped with a huge assortment of weapons that play differently, as well as a set of Miracle powers that turn the tide. Hearts and new weapons could be funneled into buying and fusing stronger weapons, and Sakurai’s signature achievement boards appear. There is even a wager-based difficulty slider that later came to Smash Ultimate, spawning better rewards and unlocking special gates.
Kid Icarus: Uprising had a huge amount of content, and a lot of replay value. There was even a third-person shooter multiplayer mode that supported bots. What made the package truly complete was its presentation, which was some of the best on the 3DS. The art style of both gameplay and menus was top-notch, and the music composers, including Motoi Sakuraba, Yuzu Koshiro, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Masafumi Takada, read like a best-of list of Japanese composers. The story of Uprising is also noteworthy, with a scenario penned by Sakurai himself that’s credited for establishing Kid Icarus’ setting and characters in fans’ minds. Characters are constantly speaking on the bottom screen, and the clever writing is delivered well by a full English dub. There was even Streetpass functionality, an AR mode with associated cards, and several animated shorts advertising the game.
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The Main Reason Why Kid Icarus: Uprising Needs to Leave the 3DS
Kid Icarus: Uprising came bundled with a 3DS stand for ease of play, and to avoid problems that had been identified too late in development to be averted. Uprising’s controls were its most criticized feature, requiring players to hold the 3DS in one hand and the stylus in the other. Players needed to move Pit with the circle pad, control the reticle and camera with the stylus, attack with the L trigger, and, when grounded, quick turn with R as well as cycle through and use Miracle powers with the D-pad. Combined with the need to quickly flick the stick and adjust the camera, players will be placing a lot of strain on both wrists.
The most damning part of Uprising is that even once its controls are adjusted to, it never really becomes comfortable to play. Playing too much can cause wrist problems, which infamously led to Sakurai suffering a permanent injury due to his commitment to game testing. Because Kid Icarus was designed to fully use the 3DS’s processing power, there was no room left to include a left-handed control scheme or compatibility with the Circle Pad Pro. That is a particularly tragic omission, as it would have allowed players to hold their 3DS with both hands and play the game like a twin-stick shooter. It’s not a stretch to call Uprising’s hardware its greatest failing, and something that can only be fixed with a port.
Other Benefits of Kid Icarus: Uprising Coming to Switch
Reducing the risk of injury is an excellent reason for Kid Icarus to get a Switch port, but it isn’t the only one. The 3DS is also holding back the game’s visual and audio quality, and simple remastering would leave the presentation better than ever. Skits and conversations throughout the game could be sequestered in the corners of the now-merged screen to make them more visible, along with the Miracle powers. Some amiibo figures could be used to supplement the AR and Streetpass functionality, and the multiplayer mode could be brought back with upgraded netcode and even Splatoon-like local multiplayer. The Japanese voice track could even be added in. The game’s arcade-y pick-up-and-play nature would be preserved on Switch alongside many other upgrades.
Beyond the quality-of-life upgrades that a port of Uprising could provide, it’d also be huge for the Kid Icarus franchise. This series has spent most of its life with no games in development, but Uprising proves that it has plenty of potential. Were it not for Sakurai’s fondness for the classic titles shining through in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, fans could still be waiting for a new installment. A new release of Kid Icarus: Uprising would drum up hype and attention for that game and the series as a whole, and Nintendo has the talent to create a worthy successor. Sakurai and other developers have stated that porting and following up on Kid Icarus: Uprising would be difficult, but after a decade, now is the right time to let Pit soar through the skies again.
Kid Icarus: Uprising is available now on 3DS.
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