Uprising is a game that I went in expecting nothing special. However upon playing it I saw that I was wrong. It is special, and the reasons why? Well that’s what this review is for.
Kid Icarus Uprising released in 2012 for the 3DS. It was created by Masahiro Sakurai after he received a request from Satoru Iwata to make a launch title for the 3DS. The reason I love it is because of many reasons. Let’s start with the story. It's my personal favorite story ever for its simplicity and fun. Key moments for me are when you explore Pandora’s labyrinth, Medusa’s final battle, the chaos kin arc, and the final boss/battle against Hades. The narrative isn’t groundbreaking but it perfectly serves the game due to its comedic nature. Kid Icarus has always had a “goofy” tone since the first game. They simply kept that tone for Uprising, and I’m very glad they did. Pit and Palutena are two characters who complement each other very well in the fact both of them are complete losers (affectionately). Palutena may be a goddess but in reality she’s very unserious about her job and most of the time doesn’t even know what’s happening. Pit on the other hand relies on Palutena’s word most of the time and he shows that he really cares about her. It’s like a dysfunctional Mother and son. I bring this up since throughout the game they’re always the main two characters there. The story could be separated into “arcs” which demonstrate a focus towards one villain at a time. I greatly enjoy this because it allows certain characters to have a focus on the while building up towards Hades.
Now onto the main character himself, Pit is my favorite character from the game and one of my favorites of all time. He’s always able to keep a smile and crack jokes even when he’s in the middle of a fight. Sure he can be goofy, but he is serious when he needs to be. Especially when fighting against Hades and saving Palutena. I absolutely adore how devoted and loyal he is. He would literally do anything for Palutena and he fights for her. He never stops until he gets the job done. He’s a comedic character but also a very serious one when he needs to. The chaos kin arc is where in my opinion is the peak of his character but there’s also the final fight with Hades as well.
The villains are on the same level of entertaining as the heroes. Medusa, Virdi, Hades etc. I wouldn’t consider Dark Pit a villain moreso an antihero. Medusa is the perfect first antagonist for the game, with Hades revealing himself after her defeat. Viridi helps serve more variety into the villains and her motivations fit perfectly because of Hades interruption and what he sets out to do. Hades is almost the cause of everything in the game. From reviving Medusa to sending humanity to war, making Viridi take action. And while Palutena gets possessed by the chaos kin and Pit gets trapped in a ring he takes full advantage of that and causes more destruction. It makes his final fight all the more satisfying as you’re finally defeating the one person that ruined everything.
The gameplay of KI:U is an interesting topic. On one hand it’s designed in a way so you can play how you want too. On the other hand its goal to utilize the 3DS’s full power hurts it due to most people having said their hands after long play sessions. For me personally that isn’t an issue at all. I love being able to use different weapons every time I replay a level and setting a different difficulty level. Uprising is designed around the fact that you make your own difficulty and adds so much replayability to it if your hands can handle the pain. Crafting different weapons, choosing the difficulty level for each chapter etc. personally my favorite 3ds game to play.
Finally what I have to say is ever since I played this game I have always thought back to my time with it. I love this game and I’m grateful for the experience it gave me. There’s so little for me to complain about and will forever remain my favorite game of all time. I hope to see this game on the Switch one day but until then I’ll simply enjoy it on the 3DS. Thank you Sakurai and the team behind it for making this game. With all that said My score for Kid Icarus Uprising is a 10/10. I would recommend this game to anyone that’s capable of playing it.