Unseen 64 staffer and occasional Nintendo Life contributor Liam Robertson has published an in-depth video which looks at the history of Factor 5's unreleased Kid Icarus pitch. The studio became involved with the project off the back of its work on the aforementioned Nintendo exclusive Rogue Squadron franchise, and early concept art reveals a much darker and more mature tone than previous titles in the series.
        
              As if to reflect this new direction, the project was referred to internally as "Icarus", and one of the possible storylines involved Pit's banishment from Sky World for some unspecified crime. The resultant game would ultimately be a quest of redemption, with different concept drawings showing Pit with black wings, a sinister tattoo and a blackened, infected arm.
 
             The prototype was pitched to NCL, which rejected it as too extreme a deviation from the core ideals of the franchise. Former Factor 5 staffer Joe Spataro feels that this could have been the straw that broke the camel's back:

             "With Icarus, I feel like we were missing the point. Nintendo sent us the model of Kid Icarus, very much like the one that appears in Smash Bros., but we didn't use it. We made our own version. It was more mature, maybe even a little dark. It felt more like Devil May Cry. I knew Nintendo would never go for the adult version of Pit. In fact, I'd wager they took it as an insult that we didn't use their version."

            I don't know how to feel about this. Some things sound very weird, but I would still have liked to see the final product! We still got Uprising so I can't say I'm sad or anything.

            Article: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/09/factor_5s_lost_wii_kid_icarus_boasted_a_dark_hero_with_60fps_airborne_action
            Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=73&v=GF3cqKxfxaw

So instead of Star Icarus, we could have gotten Icarus May Cry? Darn it!

I think they did the right thing giving it to Sakurai. A dark and gritty Kid Icarus would seem out of place for the franchise I feel.

Between this and the Rogue Squadron Wii remake, it amazes me how much Nintendo took Factor 5 for granted

They should have turned it into a new IP.

I prefer what Sakurai gave us honestly. The mix of action and humor make for a far more unique experience and one I REALLY wish Nintendo would revisit soon.

A shame about Factor 5, they made some really good games, probably could have done more if things were different. Hell, Nintendo should have just had them do a Pilotwings game for the Wii, that could have been reasonably done and looked superb without a lot of fuss.

To me, that's where a console kid Icarus should probably head. A Nintendofied god of war.

It dissapoints me that factor 5 don't exist anymore. They really were a solid contributer to the n64 and gamecube both tech, and gamewise. Always felt nintendo should have snatched up their corpse

I suppose the Pit of the original two Kid Icarus games never had much of an identity past the box art, so this wouldn't necessarily be contradicting older titles. There was the incarnation in Brawl, but it's not like he was ever characterized.

For me personally though, I'm glad Sakurai was given the IP. I enjoyed Uprising's quirky comedy style a lot more than what was pitched here. If the aesthetics really were closer to Devil May Cry, I likely would have ignored it, as I don't really care for that style personally.

What I really want to know is when is Nintendo going to green-light a dark and gritty version of Animal Crossing.

At first I was really sad, but after reading this, I'm more than fine with it.

At first I was really sad, but after reading this, I'm more than fine with it.