Sakurai Presents Kid Icarus: Uprising Gameplay

The first day of the "Nintendo World 2011" event played host to a bevy of 3DS information. Of particular interest was the Kid Icarus: Uprising presentation. Masahiro Sakurai provided  some insight about the development process and demonstrated some of the game's features. Sakurai broke the gameplay down into two distinct parts, air combat and ground combat. In the air the game seems to draw a lot of influence from  Sin and Punishment and Space Harrier. Pit flies a predetermined path. The circle pad moves Pit around the screen while the stylus is used to aim. The left shoulder button fires his weapons.

When on the ground the player has full control over Pit's movement, allowing for some (if any) exploration. The controls on the ground are relatively similar to the air controls. The circle pad moves Pit while the stylus/touchscreen is used to control the camera and the aiming reticule. Double tapping a direction with the circle pad allows Pit to dash/dodge. Whether on the ground or in the air Pit's weapons are capable of both ranged and melee attacks. When on the ground these attacks can be combined with the dash ability for a little extra oomph.  The gameplay demonstration ends with a battle against one of the many returning enemies from the first Kid Icarus, the Reaper.

Here's Sakurai's whole presentation (gameplay starts at 18:00):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzf_2J3vxUY

"Nintendo World 2011" goes from 8-10th of January so expect some more 3DS related information soon.