Kid Icarus. This was one of my favorite games as a kid simply because of the music. The game provides a great challenge and large variety of enemies. The graphics are colorful but most of the levels have a boring black background which really serves as a downer to the game's mostly upbeat music.

At first it's easy to compare this game to Metroid because of the level layout but that is truly where the similarities end. For one thing, the game is fairly linear and you can't go back to different areas in a level like you could in Metroid, that is until you make it to a fortress in the fourth part of the three stages in the game. Then you'll have to search room by room through a maze for the boss of the stage.

The goal of the game is to save the Goddess Palutena and Angel Land from Medusa. Your character's name is Pit and for a guy with wings he sure sucks at flying. You can't fly unless you buy a feather or equip the three magic treasures at the fourth and final stage of the game.

Try this game out if you like a challenge.

Here is a patch that converts Kid Icarus's mapper from MMC1 to MMC3. Documentation is included.

Kid Icarus (USA, Europe).nes - NOINTRO
CRC32: 0B30E036
MD5: D464E3E3877A759B8053210BAAEBC890
SHA-1: 11713A9514934B60724960DB9FD1F367ABCC8D07
SHA-256: 1BE1BBD77AF58B8C7FAC16655CF8568827D73885147FC502EFAA333F8A29FE22