Metroid’s Space Pirates Are In Kid Icarus: Uprising [Update]

The original Kid Icarus on the NES was developed by a team called Nintendo R&D1 (now part of the Nintendo SPD group), the same set of developers that created Metroid. Both Metroid and Kid Icarus were developed using the same engine, and since they shared creative staff, Metroid creatures made their way into the Kid Icarus series as “Komayto” or “Kometo “ — short for “Little Metroid”.

Kid Icarus: Uprising has Kometo as well, seen above. We’ve known about this for a while, so it isn’t really “news” at this point. What is news is that the game also has Space Pirates, which are the other major enemy in the Metroid series.

In Japan, Nintendo have been promoting Uprising through a Twitter feed run by Palutena. Today, this feed gave followers a look at “Star Pirates,” who go about stealing stars from space:

While the Japanese game refers to them as Star Pirates, they’re still called Space Pirates in the English version. They appear to be the game’s third faction, aligned neither with Pit and Palutena, nor with Medusa’s Underworld army. They’re said to be in possession of the Three Sacred Treasures, which Pit needs to find once again in Kid Icarus: Uprising.

There are three kinds of Space Pirates in Kid Icarus: Uprising. Ordinary pirates are yellow. The black-armoured pirates use cannons and excel at mid-range attacks. Finally, the green Pirate Commandos use grenade launchers.

Remember the giant ship in some of the Kid Icarus: Uprising trailers? That belongs to the Space Pirates.

Update: More information added, courtesy of Nintendo of America’s website for the game. Thanks to RaikageV for the heads up!