Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Game Boy Manual Details Stage Structure, Controls, and Sacred Treasures

Four Stages of Angel Land

Angel Land is divided into four main stages: the Tower of Hades, the Surface World, the Sky Tower, and the Sky Temple. The Tower of Hades, Surface World, and Sky Tower each contain three areas plus a dungeon. Within these areas, checkpoints allow you to save progress. Defeating the boss inside a dungeon clears that stage and awards one of the Three Sacred Treasures. Pit's journey begins at the Tower of Hades, an underground tower; climbing it leads to the Surface World.

The manual's stage map uses numbered markers to show progression paths. Marker ❶ denotes the start point, ❷ marks checkpoints, and ❸ identifies Stage 1, the Tower of Hades. From this underground tower, Pit ascends to reach the Surface World. This map corresponds to the game's primary objective: collecting all three Sacred Treasures and confronting ORCOS in the Sky Temple.

Running, Jumping, and Shooting Arrows

Jumping is executed by pressing the A button. The manual notes that continuous jumps are possible by rapidly tapping A during mid‑air. In the stage controls section, jumping is listed alongside movement, crouching, climbing ladders up and down, and slowly descending. The same page also documents dropping down from floors and aiming arrows upward. These actions are mapped to specific inputs, though the supplied evidence does not specify which button corresponds to each additional action beyond jumping and the combat controls described separately.

The B button fires arrows. Players can switch between the bow and the hammer using the SELECT button during gameplay. The manual lists arrow shooting and hammer swinging as separate actions, and item switching is performed with SELECT. These documented rules interact so that the B button’s effect depends on the currently equipped weapon, while SELECT changes that equipment. The evidence does not describe additional inputs for aiming or swinging beyond the button assignments and the switch command.

Checkpoint Save Slots and Life System

At the end of each area in stages 1 through 4, a checkpoint waits: moving in the SAVE direction opens the save screen, and choosing YES stores your current progress. Choosing NEXT or NO instead skips saving and sends you to the next area. There is only one save slot, so saving again overwrites the previous file with no way to recover it. To erase data, press the two-button combination on the title screen; erased data likewise cannot be restored. Stages 1 through 3 each split into four areas, three normal and one dungeon, and each cleared area's score is added to the total score.

PIT carries a LIFE meter, and when LIFE reaches 0 it counts as a miss, subtracting one from the remaining CREDIT count. If credits remain after a miss, play resumes without losing items—except in the dungeon and stage 4, where you return to the starting item state. When the credits are at 0 and another miss occurs, the game is over. Accumulating a set total score at checkpoints increases PIT's LIFE, tying the score banks recorded between areas to extra lives for the next stretch.

Boss Fights and the Three Sacred Treasures

Each of the first three stages in Angel Land concludes with a boss encounter that must be cleared to finish the stage and claim one of the three Sacred Treasures. Stage 1, the Tower of the Underworld, is guarded by the Minotaur, a bull-like monster. Stage 2 features Skull Wing, a creature with a hooked beak and bat wings. Stage 3's boss is the Fire Serpent, a giant snake. Defeating any of these bosses immediately awards a Sacred Treasure and advances Pit to the next area.

The manual describes the overall stage map: Angel Land consists of four stages—Tower of the Underworld, Overworld, Tower of the Sky, and Sky Temple. The first three stages each contain three areas and a dungeon. Once a dungeon boss is defeated, the stage is cleared and one of the three Sacred Treasures is obtained. After clearing the first three stages, the final stage, the Sky Temple, is where the last confrontation with Orcos, the mysterious enemy targeting Angel Land, takes place.

Shops, Black Markets, and Treasure Jars

In the SHOP, touching an item exchanges it for the number of HEARTs shown beneath it, and pressing a button changes the displayed item. Available trades include BIG JUICE, KEY, HAMMER, ELIXER, PENCIL, and TORCH. The BLACK MARKET offers rare items such as ELIXER BARREL, but requires more HEARTs. You can use a button combination to haggle down the required HEARTs, though if the BLACK MARKETEER is in a bad mood, the price may increase. Key items available there include KEY and ELIXER.

TREASURE CHAMBERs contain several TREASURE JARs. Shooting an arrow at a jar costs 5 HEARTs and yields the item inside. However, if a DARNIT DOLL appears while you are breaking jars, all TREASURE JARs in the room vanish. If you break every TREASURE JAR without a DARNIT DOLL appearing, you obtain a rare item. This risk contrasts with the SHOP's fixed HEART costs and the BLACK MARKET's variable rates.

Chambers, Curses, and Power-Ups

Chambers along the dungeon route each carry a distinct function. At a HOT SPRING CHAMBER, PIT bathes to recover LIFE. A HOSPITAL returns PIT to normal after an enemy curse; the EGGPLANT WIZARD turns PIT into an eggplant, and in that state arrows cannot be fired, though PIT can pass through gaps he normally cannot, which may sometimes serve as a shortcut. The SACRED CHAMBER is where, depending on how the player has performed, ZEUS grants POWER Arrows, and the SACRED TRAINING CENTER offers special training that, if endured, yields one WEAPONS item from ZEUS. The BADDY BAT CHAMBER simply floods the room with BADDY BATs.

ZEUS's gifts build PIT's numbers. POWER Arrows from the SACRED CHAMBER raise PIT's attack power as the arrow count grows, up to a maximum of eight arrows. LIFE blocks from ZEUS at checkpoints, based on play, cap at five. WEAPONS earned by surviving the SACRED TRAINING CENTER raise PIT's attack and defense. FIRE ARROW attaches a fireball to arrows and raises hit rate, usable while PIT has two blocks of LIFE; LONG BOW extends arrow range at three blocks; GUARD CRYSTALS circle PIT and protect him at four blocks.

First published Oct 16, 2026.