Kid Icarus (Or Kiddy Cris as my naïve self used to call it) was the kind of game that could hold me to the screen for hours at a time, without any kind of care as to what was going on around me. The game is short, by today’s standards or even in 1987 when it was released, but that didn’t worry me at all as a six year old. Although the plot in the game differs from the Greek mythology of Icarus, I can relate.

The lore of Icarus says his father, Daedalus made wings out of feathers and wax to escape Crete. He warns Icarus not to fly too close to the sun; however Icarus gets caught up, lost in the moment, and flies closer than he should have. Wax melts, Icarus falls. Although I never fell, (maybe of the sofa once or twice,) this game would get me lost in the moment too. I play it today, and sadly it’s not the same hypnotizing, time stopping, black hole of win, but it is still just as fun, maybe more. Some of you may only know of Pit from Brawl, or the whispers of an Icarus Wii game.

Fun Fact: Kid Icarus uses the same engine as Metroid.

But Pit and I go way back. Sitting in front of the TV on the floor taking down penguins and smashing centurions free from stone, Pit and I were a great team. Rising from the underworld, kicking ass in the overworld, and then taking down Medusa herself. I always thought it was strange that Medusa’s weak point was her eye. The very eye that if you look into, your supposed to turn to stone.
The dungeons were great too. The maze of different rooms, and different creatures, the yellow/orange baths that restore your health and even stores to buy things. Also, still to this very day, I have never EVER tried to eat eggplant and probably never will. I thank Pit for that. I still look at them in the store and cringe.

Kid Icarus was a life changing game for me.
Hence the gesture.



By far the largest of my tattoos, this one took two sittings and clocked up around 3-4 hours if memory serves. Again I found the image on DeviantArt.

Much like the Link tattoo, it was the inside that hurt the most. Pit’s wings wrap around slightly but not all the way through. I had the outline done for months before I had time to get back and get the rest filled in. Anyone who has done this knows that it’s pretty frustrating to walk around with a half finished tattoo. I just never found the time to get back.



Obviously not as child-like, as the original game, slightly older, but still young enough that any fans would recognize him. This one really does mean a lot to me, purely for the love I had for the game when I was young. It’s an amazing platformer, short, but challenging. If Nintendo did HD remakes, like Microsoft get done on retro games, my vote is on “The Kid.”




The inside still has enough room for the other piece I have planned and I may have enough room on the inside of my elbow for a sixth tattoo. Either way you look at it, I’m halfway done or just over that towards the end. I still have not decided on the 6th piece, if it will fit, and welcome your ideas. Maybe a D’toid robot head!



And for those of you following along at home, this is an idea of where its upto: