_____________ __
\_______ \ / /
\_____ \ / / __ __
\____ \ / /____ /_/ / /
\____ / ___/ __ ___ / /
\__/ /\ \ / / / __ /
/ / \ \ / / / /_/ /
/_/ \_\ /_/ /_____/
____
/ _/ ~ ~~ 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 . <X. X . S . |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
~ Fortress 3 ~
Boss: Pandora Statues: 19
Rooms: 64
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| . X . . . . . S . B |
+-^-+---+-V-+---+-V-+-V-+-V-+---+
| 1 | X2. | N v 1 . . . |
+-.-+-V-+-.-+---+-.-+---+---+-V-+
| .1/ . 1 . 1 . | . M | H . |
+-V-+-V-+-.-+---+-.-+---+---+-V-+
| v . | E . 1 . 1 . 1 . 1 |
+-.-+---+-.-+-V-+-.-+---+---+-.-+
| . | | X | 1 . < . < . |
+-.-+-V-+-.-+-V-+---+---+---+-.-+
| | S | | | 1 . . N | |
+-V-+-.-+-.-+-V-+-.-+---+-.-+-.-+
| | 1 . . . . .1| .1\ |
+-V-+---+-.-+-.-+---+---+-.-+---+
| H . . X | 1 | 2 . . . S |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
===============================================================================
][ (SEC12) 12. Strategies ][
===============================================================================
~ Increase Endurance quickly ~
Increasing your Endurance is the key to survival, and will make the game a lot
easier. You don't want to find yourself fighting bosses without plenty of
health.
Near the end of stage 1-1, you'll find some McGoos emerging from the ground.
Kill them, ducking under the fireballs they spit, until you've gathered 20'000
or 50'000 Score, depending on how confident you are. You'll reach Endurance
level 2 or 3 very early this way.
If you find the above strategy too difficult, there's a safe way to kill
Reapettes in stage 1-2, courtesy of GameFAQs user "sp unit 262". There's a
Reaper with a chalice above near the second enemy nest door. First, stand on
the ice platform on the left side of the screen, and jump until the screen
won't scroll any higher. Then walk left so you'll appear in front of the
Reaper, and stand on the second block to the right. The Reapettes will fly
straight down at you, making them easy to pick off by shooting upwards. Jump to
collect their hearts and repeat. When you're done, you can collect the chalice
to refill your health, but don't enter the door as the chalice will disappear
if you do (and if you've gathered 999 hearts the enemy nest is useless anyway).
In the first fortress, there's a room three screens to the right of the hot
spring, where eight red Ganawmedes will attack you. Destroy them, gaining 500
Score per enemy, and you will soon find yourself with enough Score to reach the
maximum Endurance level of 5 (200'000 total needed). If you get too damaged,
head left and take a dip in the hot spring.
The earlier you gain Endurance, the better, as you'll be able to have more
health and handle Weapons earlier.
~ Eggplant Wizard room in the third fortress ~
In the third fortress, there is a room with two Eggplant Wizards. What makes
this room extra difficult is that one of them walks around in a small section
at the bottom, throwing eggplants at about your height. The trick is to make
use of the Shemum jar to the left. Let a Shemum (little blue snake) hit you,
and while you're flashing, walk through the eggplants and kill the first
Wizard. Then get hit by another Shemum (you should be wading in them by now),
and drop down to kill the other. If you're daring, you could instead run right
through the Wizards to the other side while flashing.
~ Shoot faster ~
If you duck briefly after shooting an arrow, you can fire the next one faster.
You can only have two arrows on-screen at once, however. This is mostly only
useful when facing the first boss, Twinbellows.
~ Shemums' jar ~
Shemums are the little snakes that pop out of the upside-down jars. As soon as
you pass under it, 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.
~ What to buy ~
This is what I think is a good list of the order to buy stuff. First of all,
buy a feather, then a bottle, and then another feather. After that, buy a
barrel and stock up on bottles until you've got 8 of them, then buy feathers.
If you use a feather while stocking bottles, buy another one. You should always
have at least two feathers. If you're not confident in your platform jumping
abilities, have three or four.
~ Ice ~
The worst walkable surface in most platform games, and Kid Icarus is no
exception. If you slide on the ice, then jump, you can sometimes not control
Pit when he's in the air. Also, don't make a habit of ducking under the
Snowmens' snowballs. If you duck while on the ice, you'll fall to your doom. If
you hold up while sliding, you'll stop, but note that this doesn't always work,
so use it sparingly. Sometimes Pit's momentum will only be "paused", making him
slide away when you let go of the up arrow.
~ Moving platforms ~
The best advice I can give you is to take it easy, and don't jump quickly from
one platform to the next unless you know what you're doing. If you're not
patient, you may find yourself wasting a lot of feathers. Remember that the
game doesn't have a timer, so there's no rush.
~ Training chamber ~
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.
~ Combat ~
You'll notice that when you shoot an enemy with a non-lethal arrow, it'll flash
for a short period of time. If you shoot a flashing enemy, it'll appear as if
it receives damage, but it doesn't. Practice shooting slow enemies just as they
stop flashing for maximum damage, like Reapers and Eggplant Wizards.
Try not to use the Protective crystal against enemies with a lot of health. As
the crystals seem to rip through the enemy, it receives very little damage and
will follow the screen as it scrolls along, often damaging you. This shouldn't
be a problem however, since most enemies have 2 hit points, and by the time you
reach them you'll possess the equivalent Strength.
~ Hazards ~
In Kid Icarus, there are "damage tiles", pieces of scenery that deal roughly a
little less than 2 hit points of damage per second. The most common is the red
fluid found both in the normal stages and the fortresses. Other damage tiles
are: the plants that grow out of the walls in World 1, the spiked, green bushes
in World 2, and the red blobs with tentacles in World 3. An interesting thing
about damage tiles is that if you jump into one, and then out again very
quickly, there's a chance you won't get hurt. This way, you can skip through
pools of lava, and if you're lucky you'll emerge unharmed. While this is
useful, never try to do it unless you have to.
The metal spikes that emerge from the red blocks in the fortresses deal 1 hit
point of damage.
===============================================================================
][ (SEC13) 13. Miscellaneous fun ][
===============================================================================
~ RAM editing ~
Thanks to Jean-Luc Romano for inspiring me to add this section.
There are lots of changable player stats in Kid Icarus, so I thought I'd share
the addresses I've found. You'll need either an add-on or an emulator that can
find RAM addresses and change values. If a value has more than one address, it
means that when the value of the first address reaches 256, the value of the
next address will gain 1, and the first address resets to zero. This means that
each "unit" in the second address actually represents 256 units in the first
one. For example, if you want 999 hearts, change the first address, 014A, to
231, and the second address, 014B, to 3 (3*256=768). This makes: 231+768=999.
If a value has three addresses, each unit in the third address represents
256*256=65536. Also, note that in some cases, such as your Strength and
Endurance, 0 means 1, 1 means 2, and so on.
Here are the addresses:
Hearts: 014A, 014B
Credit card debt*: 014C, 014D
Score: 0131, 0132, 0133
Total Score: 0144, 0145, 0146
Endurance: 00AA (0=1, 1=2 etc)
Hit points: 00A6 Constant value > 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 (
[email protected]) 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
