Perhaps the correlation is rather loose, but knowing that Athena was the one who turned Medusa into a hideous monster in the first place, and the Japanese title of the game is Myth of Light: Palutena’s Mirror, referencing the myth’s ending. He finds Medusa and the other gorgones asleep, and to avoid their petrifying gaze, he keeps his eyes on the reflection in his shield with Athena guiding him and strikes when he sees Medusa. According to the Bibliotheca, on his journey, he is guided by Hermes and Athena, and he is given the tools he needs to kill Medusa by nymphs and gods, namely winged sandals, the kibisis and the helmet of Hades. When summarized in this manner, the story of Kid Icarus begins to loosely resemble that of Perseus, the hero who was instructed by Polydectes to bring him the head of Medusa. Based on how well the player did throughout the game, Palutena will reward Pit differently, as she could give him a farmer’s hat or turn him into a muscular hero as seen here. The three Sacred Treasures are the Mirror Shield, the Arrows of Light and the Wings of Pegasus, which Pit uses to defeat Medusa in the finale, shattering her eye and rescuing Palutena. Only once all three are collected can the seal on the Treasure’s caskets be undone and used to traverse the Sky Palace. Palutena uses the last of her strength to send Pit a magical bow and arrow, and Pit escapes and begins his quest to free Palutena, spanning through the Underworld, Overworld, Skyworld, and finally the Sky Palace, beating Medusa’s commanders and gaining a Sacred Treasure at the end of each world. Pit, a flightless angel and a member of Palutena’s personal guard, is imprisoned in the Underworld. They take her prisoner, turn her army to stone, and hide the Three Sacred Treasures with the three strongest generals. She turns Medusa into a hideous monster and banishes her to the Underworld, where Medusa begins to create an army that is strong enough to best Palutena’s. Palutena loves the humans while Medusa hates them, turning them to stone, which angers Palutena. The story of the Kid Icarus goes that Palutena, the goddess of Light, and Medusa, the goddess of Darkness, rule together over ‘Angel Land’. The game isn’t story-driven at all, it is largely focused and built around its gameplay, but let’s examine the story as revealed in the game’s manual and the game itself. Osawa would take inspiration from Greek Mythology, but it was his game at heart, as he added his own sense of humor with eggplant witches and specknoses. He was given the green light and told that the game would have to be done by December, but he didn’t quite realize that that meant he was expected to make it all by himself, leaving him to work on it alone until help arrived in August. Toru Osawa came up with a concept that would combine all these elements, and pitched it to his higher-ups, since the atmosphere in the company at the time was that anyone could make their very own game. In 1986, the most popular games at the time were Metroid, a platformer like Mario Brothers where you shoot enemies and make your way through a linear dungeon, and role-playing games (RPGs) like The Legend of Zelda, where you collect tools to change up your experience and level up as you progress. It’s important to have a close look at the creation of Kid Icarus, as it largely affects the scope with which we examine it as a myth. However, intentional or not, the game actually portrays the story of Perseus rather accurately, but in a way that truly connects with a contemporary audience. Kid Icarus was built from the ground up around its gameplay, not its plot, and the story was never meant to be a retelling of a specific Greek myth at its core. Set in a world inspired by Greek myth, the game follows the story of a flightless angel named Pit as he gathers three sacred treasures for his goddess Palutena, who is being held prisoner by her evil sister Medusa. In 1986, a developer at Nintendo with a love for Greek mythology pitched the concept for his game to his higher-ups: one that would combine the key traits of popular titles at the time.
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