The thing with Kid Icarus is, it was a very very hardcore platformer that just added in enemies to make platforming harder. It also included no real story. ):
I guess there'd be more Cave Story-esque elements. You know, a story and stuff.
Also, regarding the last blog post and the convos with the heart barriers, I'm sure you already have it all planned, but I'm throwing my suggestion out there anyways. You could create a challenge mode of sorts, you can think of it like Boss Rush in Castlevania games.
The idea is when your in the menu, you can do a No-Hit challenge. You'd select a section of the game you've passed in Story mode, and you would have to pass the area without getting hit, and it would restart if you get hit. Once you succeed, your reward would be given to your character, which could then be used in Story mode.
I don't really think we need that many layers to the game. Especially without the current story-mode of the game being completed. It's going to take a LOT of work even after all the systems are done. (But that's the fun work. d:)
I really like the idea of the heart barriers, I've seen it work very well in platforming games and I'm willing to take a shot at it myself as I think it'd bring a lot to the platforming aspect of receiving benefits in the game.
