Grind points or you'll be very handicapped later down the line. Yes this is real, yes this is dumb.

Pit moves better, and most of the levels aren't too bad, but my main complaint goes to the dungeons and bosses. A lot of the rooms in dungeons are the same 3 or 4 layouts repeating again and again which makes navigation tricky as you can't really make landmarks for yourself. The bosses meanwhile are massive damage sponges that take a gorillion hits to die, even once you figure out their patterns. I'm also not fond of Pit powering down as you take damage, it's very discouraging and would make me choose to lose a life rather than fight with my slow limited range arrows.

It's better than the NES version in some respects, but worse in more obtuse and frustrating ways.

Here are the pros and cons:
+ The game is decently challenging, and even though some complain about having to restart the level from the beginning, it actually makes you learn the game. Having mastered dodging the enemies and learning their attack patterns, learning the secrets and obtaining the upgrades, the game becomes quite fair in terms of difficulty.
+ Music is pretty good, on par with the previous game, and the enemies are pretty similar in terms of the design.
- Due to the limitations of Gameboy, the game suffers from slowdowns and texture shimmering.
- The game requires some grinding to get items in the beginning, while hearts are abundant in the end. Not having barrel in the shop to store bottles is quite a downside compared to the previous game.
Overall the game is quite decent, just fine for a short and challenging play.

Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters is the forgotten sequel of the NES Kid Icarus, and I can pretty much see why. It is a game only made in the West never seen in Japan at all, it is never acknowledged in Uprising, and it is the black sheep of the trilogy.

But what are my thoughts on the game? Well, for one of my favourite underrated series, Myths and Monsters was a decent Game Boy title. It plays exactly like the first game did, only with a bit more screen crunch from the Game Boy screen. Upgrades are back through challenges, the shops are still here, and there's a new mechanic where tapping jump in the air allows Pit to float down with his wings, which is something the first game needed. The dungeons at the end of each world return too, but the bosses are a little more difficult than before.

This game deserves a second chance, maybe on NSO but we'll see.

Pros: It's the Metroid 2 for Kid Icarus, and by that I mean, it's a sequel to Kid Icarus on the NES, but it's on Game Boy instead! And it really is, it improves upon the previous entry in some key ways, controls being one of them, movement generally feels better, and stages, while still vertical, the camera moves with you, so instead of walking to the right of the stage and magically appearing on the left side, as you would on NES, instead the camera wraps around, infinitely looping the stage elements, like the stage is built on the side of a vertical cylindrical column (hey, that kinda works with the ancient greek theme of the games). And the game in general is just a good time, going from stage to stage, it's not as frustrating, and it's pretty satisfying defeating the final boss (thing literally looks like Satan, and he's HUGE, fun stuff).

Cons: The music isn't as memorable as the first game, from what I can remember, and naturally, being on Game Boy, the game is lacking in color, which really helped the first game come to life. But what can y'do.

What it means to me: I beat this game, before I beat the first game, I'm not sure if I played the games out of order as well, as I played them both around the same time, but I do recall getting into this one more, initially. Found it used at a Gamestop in the mid 00s, had to get it, and really enjoyed myself.

Pit's second attempt at being relevant failed miserably again.

This is a sequel to the NES game and it's pretty much the same thing as before... except (inhale), a terrible field of view due to the Gameboy screen forcing us most of the time to do blind jumps and hiding even more enemies than the NES version. Gosh, Nintendo! You can't expect to put an NES game on Gameboy and expect it to work well!
It's not a straight-up copy of the NES game though, it has multiple differences but I'm not crazy enough to list them all as I do not like this game and I don't think anyone cares because nobody likes this game either!

But the idea is still the same, play the underground stages with this stupid doodle jump layout, do the awful castle stages, go to the overworld and play this terrible Super Mario Bros 1 layout stage, castle again, the overworld or however, they call it and blam it's over though it's easier said than done because if you have the patience to go through that without saves states you have my congratulations.

Unlike the NES version, it has no 3D classic remaster which is normal since they only did a few NES games and I don't think it's possible to make a 3D Gameboy game, thinking about it gives me the creeps.

Should you play it? No! But it's still a bit better than the NES version so if you had to pick one this one would do the trick. Or just play the 3D classic version, or just play Kid Icarus Uprising.

The only other attempt at the original games formula, Of Myths and Monsters is very similar to that first game. From the structure being identical, to the power ups being coped over, this is a game that essentially takes the original, and makes some adjustments, mostly for the better.

Pit's control is tighter, the game is a lot more balanced and powerups can be used in dungeons, which are way less painful than last time. The levels are more rewarding to explore and you can go back the way you came without it killing you unlike last time.

In game mechanics are clearer for the most part, and combat is still fun. I appreciate the better level design, but I still used a guide for dungeons, I just don't like this format, especially when the bosses absolutely suck this time. They take way too long to kill, do loads of damage and are just generally not fun fights. You can't even summon angels anymore to help. Powerups are also lost when you drop below a certain amount of health, so when you need them most you can't use them... great.

The final stretch is annoying, as the treasures you spend the game finding may not even be useable if you haven't got enough points. I still managed to survive, but this was very stupid.

Honestly this game is an improvement overall, helping this formula reach its potential. It's just that I don't think this alone makes for that great of a game. It still clashes with itself, not as badly, but it's a tricky recommend - 5.5/10

Despite how it definitely isn’t one of the most fondly remembered of Nintendo’s classics, the original Kid Icarus still holds up well enough to this day in my opinion, and even though it is definitely outshined by other titles on the system, it is still an enjoyable time regardless… for most of the game. That being said, many would rather forget about this title, instead drawing much more attention to Kid Icarus: Uprising, which, again, completely deserves all attention surrounding it, but… aren’t we forgetting something? Let’s see, we have the original game, Uprising… uh… fuck… OH, WAIT, I remember now! Yeah, there was actually a direct sequel to the original Kid Icarus that was made for the Game Boy, which, if you don’t remember it existing, trust me, I don’t blame you at all. But, nonetheless, it does exist, and it is known as Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters.

There is a reason that we as a society have collectively forgotten about this game’s existence, because a followup to the original, it is one of the least impactful sequels to a game not just from this era, but of any game ever made. This wouldn’t be so much of a big deal if it was a followup to a much more well beloved title, like with Mega Man: Dr. Wily’s Revenge or Operation C, but the originally Kid Icarus already isn’t really many peoples’ favorites, or too highly remembered fondly, and just kinda has the status of being the game that led to Uprising, and not too much beyond that.

That being said, despite how it may as well just be Kid Icarus except on the Game Boy, I would still say it is a good enough title, with key emphasis being placed on the “good ENOUGH” portion there. But frankly, if you were to go through your whole life without even trying it out, then I don’t blame you, because although it may still be a good game, it does not warrant any reason for existing other than to be the first handheld game in the series.

The story is that whole “nightmare leads to bad thing” trope we have seen plenty before, but I can excuse it because, really, who cares, the graphics are Game Boy graphics, but the sprites are pretty good, and can be seen as a slight improvement over the original, the music is alright, but not as memorable as the original game’s music, the controls are actually a lot better this time around, and movement feels much better as well, and the gameplay is on the same level as that of the original game… in the most literal way.

Like I mentioned before, practically nothing about the gameplay in this game is changed from the original. The game is still a 2D action platformer, where you move through stages in various directions, getting hearts, defeating enemies, buying stuff from shops, getting upgrades to your arsenal along the way, as well as going through dungeon levels, fighting bosses at the end, and going through one side-scrolling platformer/shooter level right at the end of the game to finish things off. There is little to no change in this formula, and no new additions to Pit’s arsenal, but what the game does change are little things that most wouldn’t notice upon first playing.

First of all, the difficulty this time around is much more forgiving then that of the original. Yeah, it is still hard, but compared to what we had to go through in the original Kid Icarus, it is a lot more manageable, with changes such as enemies now being able to drop health, and you not dying whenever you fall down, which is a solid improvement overall. Not to mention, the bosses this time don’t suck… as much. They actually do provide a challenge this time around, despite their patterns not being too diverse, but they do have a new problem, that being they are now damage sponges. It takes a long time to kill any boss in this game, even with lots of upgrades, so if you are planning on taking on them all, prepare to be at it for a while.

And… that’s really all I can say in terms of the changes. Aside from what I mentioned, Pit’s new little flutter ability, the save feature, and the way levels are laid out, there really is nothing else that makes this entry stand out from the original, which could be seen as a problem for most people. Sure, other games can be pretty repetitive too when it comes to sequels, but at least in those sequels, there are always new powers to try out and new areas to go to in terms of level design and challenge, but this game, despite having those things, just feels like a complete retread of what we have already seen. There’s no wonder as to why nobody talks about this game alongside the other two, because it may as well just be a port of the original NES game.

Now, with that being said, in terms of which game I would say is better, I would say it is this game, but just like with Shinobi and Shadow Dancer, that is by a very SMALL margin. It is mainly the exact same experience as the original game, except this time with more balancing and tweaks to make things more bearable for the player, which isn’t bad, but again, a little more could’ve been done to make this title stand out more in comparison to the original, such as new weapons or new items, or maybe a separate new gameplay style, I dunno. That being said, anyone who enjoyed the original Kid Icarus will easily enjoy this game as well, and as the first handheld title in the series, it does do a great job at taking the gameplay of the original and putting it onto a Game Boy.

Overall, while it certainly isn’t the most creative sequel out there, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters is still a pretty good game, even if it isn’t as noteworthy as many of the other games on the system. Oh well, I guess we will just wait to see how the third game wi- wait, what?... the series is going on hiatus for 21 years?....... well shit.

Game #205