Kid Icarus: Uprising port ‘sure would be nice to play’ on console, creator says

Smash Bros. and Kirby creator Masahiro Sakurai appears to be hinting that another of his games, 2012’s Kid Icarus: Uprising for Nintendo 3DS, is due for a modern-day port for home consoles.

The latest episode of Sakurai’s YouTube series is largely about Kid Icarus: Uprising, and that game’s risk-reward difficulty mechanic, The Fiend’s Cauldron. In the video, Sakurai explains the design process behind The Fiend’s Cauldron, which let players adjust Uprising’s difficulty using a slider, letting them trade “intensity” for better rewards. Not all games need that kind of difficulty system, he argued, but The Fiend’s Cauldron let players present themselves with a personalized challenge that didn’t make them feel bad for opting for “easy mode.”

At the very end of the video, Sakurai says, “It sure would be nice to play Kid Icarus: Uprising on a home console. I wonder if someone out there will ever port it?”

It certainly would be nice to have that option, given that Kid Icarus: Uprising is a fantastic game that more people should play, thereby exposing more people to Eggplant Wizards, Specknoses, and Komaytos. Plus, the Nintendo Switch has sold 114 million units to date, nearly 40 million units more than the 3DS did, so there’s a much larger audience for it now.

Uprising was also hindered by its control scheme, which required controlling protagonist Pit with the 3DS’ left analog stick and the system’s touchscreen. It was awkward enough that Nintendo included a plastic support stand with physical copies of the game to make play sessions more comfortable. The Nintendo Switch, with its dual analog controls, gyro aiming, and a larger suite of buttons, could make controlling Kid Icarus: Uprising a breeze.

And it’s possible someone out there is doing that right now, based on a trio of job listings unearthed earlier this year. Publisher-developer Bandai Namco, which has co-developed multiple Nintendo games in the Super Smash Bros. and Mario sports series, was hiring for positions on a 3D action game contracted by Nintendo that was described as a remaster/remake. Given Sakurai and Bandai Namco’s past working relationship, a co-developed update to Kid Icarus: Uprising could be in the cards.

Nintendo has made no such announcement, though, and fans of Pit and Palutena will have to see if Sakurai’s mischievous suggestion that Kid Icarus ought to come back is anything more than that.

The original, 8-bit Kid Icarus is playable on Switch as part of the Nintendo Entertainment System for Nintendo Switch Online library.