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Who is "Kid Icarus" and other similar video game titles

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
So this isn't something like Metroid where the title of the game refers to the alien parasite rather than the player character (though Samus did eventually become part-Metroid... though I think Fusion ends it with her clearing it up? Which is lame. I wish she was permanent part-Metroid).

I'm talking about game titles that is very non indicative of the content, characters, etc. Pit isn't even referred as a "kid icarus" and the supposed "icaruses" are grunt angels.

I know the Japanese name is a bit different. I think it's Mythology of Light: Mirror of Palutena? I wonder how they came up with Kid Icarus. I know the story of Icarus, but somehow that feels stretchy and technically is more relevant in Uprising than anywhere else.
 
Pit is an angel who can't fly and Icarus is someone who lost the ability to fly. But it probably also just sounded cooler than "Kid Cupid" (which is where Pit's name is derived from).
 
In mythology, Icarus was a man who flew too close to the sun and got his wings of wax burned. Pit is a kid with wings. It's not that out-of-left-field to put these two together.
 

blakep267

Member
In mythology, Icarus was a man who flew too close to the sun and got his wings of wax burned. Pit is a kid with wings. It's not that out-of-left-field to put these two together.
It kinda is. Icarus and angels/cupids have nothing close to do with each other. If wings is the only correlation then somebody is lazy
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
In mythology, Icarus was a man who flew too close to the sun and got his wings of wax burned. Pit is a kid with wings. It's not that out-of-left-field to put these two together.

I get the mythology, but it wasn't as relevant to the character as I said. Which is why I even brought up that it only really fits with Uprising.

Pit is an angel who can't fly and Icarus is someone who lost the ability to fly. But it probably also just sounded cooler than "Kid Cupid" (which is where Pit's name is derived from).

It was only a big deal in Uprising iirc.
 
Yeah, its just that its Greek myth themed, and he can fly kind of. Also his sprite and art looked like a kid, so Kid Icarus. Though that is ignoring that Icarus was a kid himself in the myth.
 
It kinda is. Icarus and angels/cupids have nothing close to do with each other. If wings is the only correlation then somebody is lazy

Really? I mean the whole game is based on greek mythology, and not just in aesthetics; key characters like Hades and Medusa are straight from greek mythology. I only see the title as an extension of that.
 
Just a cute sounding name from a simpler time. Remember that in the late 80s games were not taken as seriously. It was probably just something that the small noa staff came up with based on the key art from Japan.

Games at that time werent seen as generation spanning intillectual properties but little curiosities that kept kids attention.
 

mdtauk

Member
I think the original Shenmue could count, as it wasn't until Shenmue 2 until we learn that Shenmue is the name for a tree, and that the female character Shenhua was named after it.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I just realized how fitting Resident Evil is to 1 and sorta to 4 (because you do get to enter an evil resident)... but 2 and 3 kinda isn't since technically resident only applies to a single housing right?
 
It's called Kid Icarus because at the end of the game Palutena tells you "You know Pit, you really are a Kid Icarus".

1472.gif


Caught me off guard.
 

bjork

Member
Pit is an angel who can't fly and Icarus is someone who lost the ability to fly. But it probably also just sounded cooler than "Kid Cupid" (which is where Pit's name is derived from).

Yeah, they didn't want it getting mixed up with Chubby Cherub
 
Alright I can believe that there's probably better guys with wings in greek mythology to allude to. Maybe they decided that "Son of Hermes" would give rise to a bunch of jokes in bad taste
 

Iolo

Member
"K.C. Munchkin," a Pac-man clone for the Magnavox Odyssey², was a play on Kenneth C. Menkin, president of Philips Consumer Electronics.
 
In the end credits for the Game Boy title Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, Pit flies up through the clouds with his newly-granted flight ability. He fliers higher and higher, past all the enemies he's slain, until he get to the smiling sun, who promptly burns his wings off. So even if the title didn't make sense in the first game, it kind of does after the second game.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Been wondering why the name of Earthbound in Japan is Mother. Is it because of "Mother Earth"?
 
It's pretty funny how Palutena really is the Kid Icarus equivalent to Princess Zelda. Both deuteragonist female goddesses/mages who are also the titular characters of their respective series.

Well, in Japan in Palutena's case. Which is another thing that makes the name change to "Kid Icarus" kinda odd. It'd be like if The Legend of Zelda was localized as "Young Robin Hood" or something like that.
 
So this isn't something like Metroid where the title of the game refers to the alien parasite rather than the player character (though Samus did eventually become part-Metroid... though I think Fusion ends it with her clearing it up? Which is lame. I wish she was permanent part-Metroid).

Fusion is where she gets infused with Metroid DNA OP, the exact opposite :p and as there is no game after Fusion, she still remains infused. But to say she's "part Metroid" is like saying I'm 1/64 Cherokee and calling myself Native American.
 

tsab

Member
I always thought Pit was really Icarus and the game took place in Ancient Greece.


Also what is "Fahreineit"
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
Pokémon in the western release as it is never implied that Pokémon is short for Pocket Monster nor does the series ever mention it.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Fusion is where she gets infused with Metroid DNA OP, the exact opposite :p and as there is no game after Fusion, she still remains infused. But to say she's "part Metroid" is like saying I'm 1/64 Cherokee and calling myself Native American.

No, some material/interview said she gets cured after absorbing SA-X or something.

Pokémon in the western release as it is never implied that Pokémon is short for Pocket Monster nor does the series ever mention it.

Didn't they always say "also known as pocket monsters" or maybe I'm forgetting something?
 
King of Fighters is actually the title given to the team who wins the tournament.

I think Street Fighter is the name of the tournament too.

Now that I think about it, King of Fighters technically doesn't make sense then if it refers to a team of several people. (But I know the tournament wasn't originally team-based, in Fatal Fury)
 

13ruce

Banned
Metroid why can't he crawl!? It's a question i am living with for years! But what a strange name why do they call that dude metroid?
/s
 
I always wondered if "Super Mario Bros." was named as such because they always intended for their last names to be Mario or if that latter fact was created just so the title of the game made sense.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
Didn't they always say "also known as pocket monsters" or maybe I'm forgetting something?

Nope, all official sources have always called it Pokémon.

The only time I saw Pocket Monster being mentioned was in a Nintendo gaming magazine and maybe one of those children's book that they released back in day.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Nope, all official sources have always called it Pokémon.

The only time I saw Pocket Monster being mentioned was in a Nintendo gaming magazine and maybe one of those children's book that they released back in day.

Not true at all.


It was dropped at the same time as "Gotta catch 'em all!" (when they shifted to third gen).
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
Not true at all.



It was dropped at the same time as "Gotta catch 'em all!" (when they shifted to third gen).

That's Japan, I am talking about in the west where the title Pocket Monster has never been mention despite the fact that Pokémon is short for Pocket Monster.
 
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