Release Date: July, 1987
Platform: NES
Developer: Nintendo

Kid Icarus has an odd place in the history of the NES.  It seems to be one of those rare games that has a massive following but remains underrated. Part of the problem is that it was developed by the same people who made Metroid and was released not too long after.  The game have similarities and it's hard not to compare them.  However, when this guy compares them, Kid Icarus comes out on top.

You control Pit, a little dude with useless wings and a bow and arrow.  Traversing both vertical and horizontal scrolling areas, Pit must upgrade his skills and collect the three treasures stolen by Medusa and her minions.  Since I already brought up Metroid (and since many who would consider playing Kid Icarus have already played it), let's compare the two games.

Controls
While Pit has some difficult jumps to make, the control is absolutely fluid.  He responds quickly to every command, so getting past difficult parts is left completely to the player's hand-eye coordination.  In Metroid, Samus responds fine to player input but RAM issues cause some serious slowdown issues in delicate areas.  Also, when Samus gets hit she bounces back a good half-mile, often into a lava pit.  Pit just stays where he is.

Level Design
Metroid essentially has one level with different sections that you can move in and out of.  In other words, it is mostly a non-linear game.  Kid Icarus is linear and has defined levels, so it's hard to directly compare them.  Each have their faults, however.  Some of the areas of Metroid begin to look samey, and the insane amounts of backtracking one has to do can get irritating.  However, when one learns the game, planning can be done to avoid this.  While this problem is avoided with Kid Icarus, it's ridiculous in that on vertical levels, you cannot fall below the bottom of the screen even a centimeter, otherwise you die.  Otherwise, I found both games to be quite creative.

Enemies
Both games have many sets of enemies that act similarly to one another.  Metroid has basically a few categories.  Enemies that crawl along walls, ones that come out of pits, and ones that fly down from the ceiling.  Kid Icarus has enemies that crawl, fall out of the sky, or come at you with a zig-zag pattern.  However, where Kid Icarus shines are the three dungeons.  The highlight is the eggplant wizards, who throw eggplants at you that turn you into a whale, making you backtrack through several rooms to find a nurse.

Bosses
Kid Icarus has the cerberus, the dragon, the floating bubble, and Medusa.  Metroid has Kraid, Ridley, and Mother Brain.  While there is a bit more variety in the Kid Icarus bosses, all of them are insanely easy to beat.  Medusa is insultingly easy, possibly the easiest final boss in all of video game history.  Kraid and Ridley are a bit similar for my tastes, but at least they are hard.  And Mother Brain is appropriately difficult as well.

Graphics
Metroid is dark, dark, and more dark.  Kid Icarus is more colorful, but has some truly awful backgrounds.

Sound
Metroid has beautiful, haunting music appropriate to the game's setting.  Kid Icarus has an annoying, looping tune that is just a bit too chirpy.  And the sound effects when Pit hits an enemy with an arrow are shrill to put it mildly.  The dungeon music is good.

Weapons/Items
Pit mostly uses his bow and arrow, which he upgrades by getting more points.  He also can win many a helpful item by winning games of chance, enduring skills trainings, or buying them in stores (or the black market).  Perhaps my favorite part is that in the dungeons, he can use hammers to break free centurions (turned to stone) who can then help them in boss battles. Metroid also has many awesome upgrades, my favorite being the screw attack.  All things said, I just like the variety with Kid Icarus a bit more.

Story
While this only a minor concern for both games, it is always nice for the player to be rewarded at the end of the game for a job well done.  With Metroid, you find out you're a girl.  Pit rescues some princess, and the more points he has, the beefier his muscles get (and presumably, the greater the chance of him scoring further).  There are several endings, at least.

Challenge
Kid Icarus is quite difficult, for about four stages.  However, as Pit upgrades, the enemies don't get harder.  Thus, the game gets progressively easy until the final stage, which is the easiest yet.  Meanwhile, Metroid has above average difficulty that is consistent throughout, becoming even harder in the final room.   Unfortunately, part of Metroid's challenge is with the control.  At least both games provide great fun with unnecessarily long passwords you can copy, take ten minutes to input, and then pray you get your game back.

Summary
While Metroid is technically more proficient in a lot of areas, the game requires immense patience as the player must slowly learn a map that is difficult to traverse while at the same time struggling with some pretty mediocre controls.  Many of the problems with this game were fixed in Super Metroid and further releases.  Kid Icarus still holds up well over time and it's disappointing that it wasn't popular enough to spawn numerous sequels, settling for one mere Gameboy release twenty years ago.  It certainly had the makings of a storied franchise right from the beginning.

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