Pit / Dark Pit

If you assume that angels exist, what do you think they do in their Angel Land? According to the Kid Icarus games, these mythological creatures are pretty busy fighting evil monsters. The Goddess of Light, Palutena, helps people to live happily, with no worries. Her opposite, the Goddess of Darkness, Medusa, creates all sorts of troubles for humans — even turns them into stone. The army of angels keeps the dark powers in their underworld realm and protects the rest of the Universe.

The balance of light and darkness becomes broken time after time, so one of the bravest heroes must take a weapon and start fighting. He is an angelic warrior named Pit — and he is the main hero of the Kid Icarus franchise, loosely based on Greek mythology.

The first game of the series was released in 1986 for the NES consoles. Palutena has been locked in her castle, and the angelic army lost its powers. Pit must return three sacred treasures and rescue the Angel Land. It’s a platformer that uses elements from the Mario franchise (Pit can jump in the same way), from Zelda games (objects give access to new abilities), and Metroid (the hero shoots enemies from a distance). The original Kid Icarus has a high difficulty level. It’s available now through the Nintendo Online service.

The second game, Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (1991), follows the same pattern in the story and gameplay. The only big difference is the device it was made for — it’s a Game Boy game, so it has black-and-white visuals.

Only in 2012, Nintendo returned to this IP and released a significantly updated version, Kid Icarus: Uprising. Pit still fights evil minions of Medusa, but the gameplay style has changed drastically — it’s a shooting game now.

Uprising was released for the Nintendo 3DS systems at the personal request of Satoru Iwata — he wanted to have a decent library for this handheld console. The director was Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Smash.

In Uprising, players meet the embodiments of the darkness inside Pit, a copy of the hero named Dark Pit. This character is kind of a concentration of Pit’s many suppressed feelings. 

Dark Pit is not an evil hero, though. After initial misunderstandings, both Pits unite their effort in the battle against Medusa. 

Pit and Dark Pit in the Super Smash Bros. games

The first Smash game with a glimpse of Pit is Melee — he is a trophy there.

As a playable character, Pit is available in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. There are rumors that the game Kid Icarus: Uprising became possible only because Pit was added to Brawl.

In SSB4 (for 3DS and Wii U), Pit returns to the roster alongside his copy Dark Pit. Initially, it was planned to make Dark Pit a costume, but that would be weird for him to use the same Three Sacred Treasures. 

Pit and Dark Pit in SSBU

Smash Ultimate has both Pits again. The characters were significantly buffed after SSB4, but stillб they remain mostly in the mid-low tier. These are beginner-friendly characters, easy-to-learn, and pretty enjoyable even in the early stages.

Pit and Dark Pit are middleweight fighters with rather average mobility. Their jumps are low, but those wings on their backs are not jokes. Pits can jump three times, having very decent recovery options thanks to this. The aerial game is also very good.

Most attacks of these characters have quick frame data, making them effective in so many situations. These fighters are suitable for different fighting styles. Down Tilt is a nice combo starter. Forward and Down Throws are used in combos as well.

However balanced Pits are, they lack some outstanding advantages, which would make them exceptional for specific situations (almost like Mario). The KO options for Pits could be better.

Pit and Dark Pit are unlockable characters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. To get them:

• Play the VS. Matches; Pit is 4th, and Dark Pit is 54th;
• Finish the Classic Mode as Samus or someone she unlocks. Pit appears 3rd, and Dark Pit is the last one;
• Play the story mode World of Light.