Sakurai Talks Kid Icarus: Uprising, Including Story Details

One of the most eagerly-anticipated titles to be announced at E3 was the return of Angel Land’s heroic guardian, Pit, in Kid Icarus: Uprising. Featuring the man who reinvented the character for Super Smash Bros. Brawl at the helm, Masahiro Sakurai, many have had questions for the Project Sora founder about what we can expect from the series’ return as the flagship title for Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS handheld platform.

Following are some excerpts from an interview conducted by Techland (via GoNintendo):

Sakurai-san, they kept your presence a big secret but I’m glad that we can get some time together. So let’s start with how long have you been waiting to bring Pit back.

So, the revival of Kid Icarus actually began in Smash Brothers. We brought him back for Smash Brothers and I personally did all that design work. We made a decision to upgrade and re-envision what the character was like with some more current trappings. From that time I certainly had an interest in the franchise. Now this time around, the project actually began with an original game idea, and the match seem to be a good one for the mythology and the character Kid Icarus. So it just so happened that the game idea and the franchise matched in the project then start it from there.

How is Uprising going to incorporate the fiction and the continuity from previous games?

In the last game, the story revolved around setting Palutena free after she had been captured and imprisoned by Medusa. This time around, Pit is actually working as team with Palutena. They have a very close type of communication and they’re working together to defeat Medusa, who has been revived after 25 years and is leading the so-called Uprising.

Did you think of any other Nintendo characters besides Pit when you’re thinking about who you would like to make a game of?

Yes, there actually was one other and that was Star Fox. But the problem with Star Fox was that—and you’ll see this when you see the trailer for Kid Icarus––is that the game design incorporates a lot of different views. For example, flying and shooting sideways or turning around and shooting behind and I felt that there were some restrictions with Star Fox in this regard. With Pit, there is a certain amount of flexibility that is allowed and makes a better fit for this gameplay.

There’s an interesting kind of a parallel between Kid Icarus: Uprising and the new Legend of Zelda where Link is only going from sky to the ground and the same thing with Pit. Was there any concern about the games being too similar?

Actually, it’s just quite vy [sic] coincidence that they’re so similar! During the development of both of these titles, Mr. Miyamoto most likely knew the direction of both of these titles. But however, I can take no responsibility [laughter] because I knew nothing of Zelda until just two days ago. So as far as the coincidence I’m not too worried about it but perhaps Mr. Miyamoto should have told me! [more laughter] But, that being said, flight in the sky should really stand on it on its own as an individual and strong type of game mechanic. Regardless of whether or not there’s any coincidence, it’s very well suited and designed for this experience.

For the full Techland interview, click here.

In addition to that, another interview was conducted by E3 Coverage (via GoNintendo, this time by video:

Some notes, for those who can’t view the video:

• Focusing on creating a game fans of the old games as well as new players can enjoy
• Evolution of Pit is something old players can look forward to, and which other players will enjoy
• Palutena communicates with Pit to help him navigate towards the ultimate goal of the game
• Air battles are “essentially an on-rails shooter,” stylus moves and lines up the targeting reticule
• In land battles, stylus is used to move Pit 360 degrees; player controls the camera and targeting reticule together
• Stylus is used as in some other DS games for “mouse-like” control
• Added “flicks” of the stylus or slide pad for quickly reorienting yourself in 3D space or dashing through the environment, versus repeatedly moving stylus in one direction
• Controls “boiled down” to three basic elements: L button shoots, slide pad for movement of the character, and stylus on the touchscreen for aiming and camera movement
• Multiplayer functionality has been looked into, but they don’t know the full details of those capabilities of the 3DS, so they will be experimenting with that
• Asked what happens when Pit’s five-minute flight time limit expires, by way of taking too long in a section or some other reason, Sakurai says that it follows an on-rails shooter style, and so the available decisions of the player won’t be a factor in that
• He apologizes for the return of Pit taking so long, but is pleased with the reaction it’s gained thus far, and is confident that those who have been waiting will be pleased by the final product.