The game's ending had four variations. Which one the player received depended on how many of Pit's stats the player had maxed out before the end.
The name of the game's title character was changed to "Palutena" for its English-language release. However, the character was officially called "Parthena" in Japan, and "Parthena" is a Greek female first name meaning "holy".
The game's Japanes name "Hikari Shinwa: Parutena no Kagami", translates into English as "Light Myth: Palutena's Mirror".
Kid Icarus was designed by Nintendo Research and Development 1, one of Nintendo's oldest development teams, and the programming was handled by the external company Intelligent Systems.
The original Famicon Disk System version made use of save slots whereas the English version uses passwords, known as "Sacred Words" in the game.