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Hikari Shinwa:
Palutena no Kagami |
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LAST UPDATED: 06/25/07 |
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REVIEWED BY:
kite200 |
"This game is a bitch. Period. You fall,
you die. You get hit a few times, you die. Touch the
lava? That's right, you die." |
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[No disk image available]
THE
DATA
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NAME |
Hikari Shinwa: Palutena no Kagami |
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PLATFORM |
Famicom
Disk System |
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DEVELOPER |
Nintendo |
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PUBLISHER |
Nintendo |
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PLAYERS |
1/2 player |
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RELEASE DATE |
1986 |
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GENRE |
Adventure |
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SAVING OPTION |
Yes |
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NES NTSC |
Kid Icarus |
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NES PAL |
Kid Icarus |
THE RATINGS
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STORYLINE |
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5/5
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GRAPHICS |
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4/5 |
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AUDIO |
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5/5 |
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GAMEPLAY |
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5/5 |
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CONTROL |
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4/5 |
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FUN FACTOR |
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5/5 |
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FRUSTRATION |
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4.5/5 |
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OVERALL |
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4/5 |
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Hikari Shinwa (aka Kid Icarus) was
released on December 18, 1986, for the Famicom Disk
System. This Nintendo game is a sister game to
Metroid, as they use the same game engine. This
is a very popular game that has never received a
true sequel, though there's still hope now that
Nintendo is including Pit in Super Smash Brothers
Brawl for the Nintendo Wii. Sadly, the creator
of the game, Gunpei Yokoi, is no longer around.
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Medusa, the goddess of darkness, is assembling an army to conquer
Palutena's home, the castle in the sky. They fought a war, and Palutena
was defeated and imprisoned. Medusa then obtained the three sacred
treasures and gave them to her best minions. Palutena seeks the help of
Pit, an angel trapped in the underworld. Using the last of her strength,
she gave Pit his magical bow, an iconic weapon of this game.
This storyline is heavily influenced by Greek mythology and develops an
interesting theme for the game. This helps create a unique feel that is
important to the game.
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The graphics are actually very good. The sprites are well drawn, Pit
looks awesome, and the enemies all have a certain charm to them. The
animations are smooth and work well, especially Pit's jumping animation.
One of the downsides of the graphics are that the backgrounds of each
level are a solid color, but the Famicom can't really handle anything
more then what the developers have done here.
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The sound is crisp and catchy. You will remember the different tunes
from the game, mainly the one from the first level. The sound effects
are much better on the Famicom than on the NES, thanks to the use of the
Famicom Disk System's extra sound channel. Without the sound, Hikari
Shinwa definitely would not be as good. The sound is an integral
part of the game's appeal due to its high quality. Of course, the sound
was composed by the legendary Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka.
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This game is pretty unique in that it's a vertical-scrolling
platformer. You can only go up, except on the dungeon levels which
allow for more movement. If you fall off the bottom of the screen,
instead of scrolling down to show the character, you simply die.
One of the great features of this game are the different items and
weapons you can optionally obtain, which allow for character
customization, and of course, progress can be saved using your
diskette.
The currency of the game is hearts, and you will need lots of them
if you want to buy things. Purchasing items helps decrease the
insanely large amount of difficulty present in this game.
Hikari Shinwa happens to be one of the few games made for
the Famicom that utilize Controller II's microphone. You use it to
bring down the price of items you buy.
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The controls are responsive and do what they are supposed to do. You can
move, fly, and shoot. Nothing more to say here.
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Hikari Shinwa provides a great storyline, challenge, and
awesome gameplay. You'll have a lot of fun killing enemies and
finding your way through the various dungeons!
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This game is a bitch.
Period. You fall, you die. You get hit a few times, you die. Touch
the lava? That's right, you die. This game is hard. Buying items,
however, decreases the difficulty, so be sure to stock up on those
hearts. And the dungeons sometimes seem to take a lifetime!
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Hikari Shinwa is one Nintendo game not to be missed,
especially for Metroid fans because it's similar in some ways to
Metroid. It definitely deserves a sequel, and I hope Nintendo
will step up to the plate and give fans what they want. This game is
only available on the FDS and can be obtained for $20 to $30.
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