10 years later, Kid Icarus Uprising is proof that Sakurai should be allowed to do whatever he wants

gamepur.com:

Kid Icarus: Uprising was a divisive game, thanks to its touchscreen controls back when it was released ten years ago. Nevertheless, I think it remains one of the finest handheld titles Nintendo has ever released. Super Smash Bros and Kirby director Masahiro Sakurai, as the story goes, was given free rein by the late Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata to pick an as then dormant Nintendo series to develop a new title. He chose Kid Icarus and gave us a bombastic action game with on-rails shooting, 3rd-person action sections, and a gloriously goofy story with hilarious writing.

Kid Icarus: Uprising was such a raucous good time that it still provides undeniable proof that Sakurai should be allowed to do whatever he wants. Give him the keys to something and he’ll deliver. It’s about time Nintendo let Sakurai off the leash and allow him to create another fun title filled to the brim with unlockable items and game modes.

In the years after its western release on March 23, 2012, Kid Icarus: Uprising has become a fondly remembered title. Complaints around the controls have largely been forgotten. Fans of the frenetic action game remember it for its wild story, hilarious banter, and deep customization options. 

One of the more enduring legacies of the title was its smart approach toward difficulty options. Before each mission, you could wager earned hearts to increase the difficulty from 0.0 all the way up to 9.0. The higher the difficulty, the better your rewards were for completing stages. For example, there were tons of weapons to unlock in Uprising that you could equip for use in the game’s singleplayer and fantastic multiplayer modes. Sakurai used the same difficulty options in Super Smash Bros for 3DS and Super Smash Bros for Wii U.