Portal: Fire Emblem
| |
| Fire Emblem | |
| Developer | Intelligent Systems |
| Games | List of all games |
| Debut | Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi (1990) |
| Gallery | GH Gallery |
Fire Emblem is a series of strategy games made by Intelligent Systems. Gameplay-wise, the series is similar to Intelligent Systems' older strategy series, Famicom Wars. Unlike Famicom Wars, which uses contemporary vehicles and weapons, the Fire Emblem series takes place in a medieval setting with characters like swordsmen, knights, mages and dragons. Like Famicom Wars, the Fire Emblem series was initially released only in Japan, until the games finally started being released in America and other countries starting in 2003. One notable difference that the series bears from most turn-based RPGs is that characters who fall in battle will usually die permanently, with a few exceptions throughout the series.
History[edit]
The series began in 1990 with the release of Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was created as a result of Shouzou Kaga's desire to combine the strategic gameplay of the Famicom Wars series with elements of a roleplaying game. It was followed in 1992 by Fire Emblem Gaiden, which featured some gameplay changes that were not used in most later games. On the Super NES, the first Fire Emblem release was Fire Emblem: Monshou no Nazo in 1994, which featured a storyline divided into two 'books'. The first book was a remake of the first Fire Emblem game, while the second book was a new follow-up storyline again starring Marth.
Afterwards, the series moved away from the cast of the first three games in favor of a title starring a new cast with the release of Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu in 1996. This title introduced a relationship system for the characters, and the second half of the game notably featured the children of the characters from the first half, elements which some later games would reflect. The final Fire Emblem game for the Super NES was Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 in 1999. At this point, Intelligent Systems did not feel ready to work on 3-D Fire Emblem games yet, so the series continued on the Game Boy Advance rather then the Nintendo 64 or Nintendo Gamecube.
In 2001, the characters Marth and Roy appeared as unlockable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee to promote the then-upcoming release of Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi for the Game Boy Advance. Although Nintendo considered removing them from the American version due to their not being familiar with American players, it was ultimately decided to let them remain in the game. The appearance of these characters ultimately served to pique interest in the Fire Emblem series outside of Japan. In the same year, Advance Wars was released outside Japan and sold well.
Those events led to the Fire Emblem series starting to receive international releases. This started with the seventh Fire Emblem game, which was simply dubbed Fire Emblem outside of Japan. The game, which acted as a prequel to the previous game, was designed to drawn in new gamers, with tutorials a lack of permanent character death within the game's first ten chapters. However, the previous six Fire Emblem games (including the games featuring the popular Marth and Roy) have yet to be released outside of Japan, outside of some remakes that would later be made for later systems. The next Game Boy Advance release would be Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, which incorporated some elements from Gaiden such as branching promotion paths and a world map which could be used to access other areas. Sacred Stones would go on to be the only standalone game of the series in terms of continuity, with no other games connected to it.
In 2005, the first Fire Emblem game for a 3-D console, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance was released for the Gamecube. It was followed by Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn for the Nintendo Wii. An expanded remake of the original game was also released for the Nintendo DS as Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, which marked the first game starring Marth to be released outside of Japan. Intelligent Systems followed this up in 2010 with a remake of the second book from Fire Emblem 3, Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo: Hikari to Kage no Eiyuu. This game including a new secondary storyline with new characters as well as the characters that had been created for the previous remakes. It also added downloadable content which had original stages well as the BS Fire Emblem stages. However, likely due to a combination of Shadow Dragon's poor reception and the DS dying down in favor of the Nintendo 3DS, an international release was passed over for the first time since Fire Emblem.
In 2012, the next game was Fire Emblem Awakening for the Nintendo 3DS, set far into the future of the Arcahneia continuity. This game used a new art style and combined elements from various past games with new ones. Though it had initially been planned as the last game of the series, it became unexpectedly popular, reviving interest in the series and returning it to having international releases. This was followed by Fire Emblem Fates in 2015/2016 for the 3DS. This installment retained many features from Awakening while adding some new features such as My Castle and modifications to the weapons triangle. It was divided into three different games: Birthright and Conquest were released as two separate physical games, each following a different side of a conflict and featuring contrasting difficulty levels. The third version, Revelation, was released as downloadable content and followed the true storyline.
Afterwards, the Fire Emblem series returned to remaking classic games with the release of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia for the 3DS in 2017. This game acted as a remake of the second Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem Gaiden, and it heavily expanded upon the gameplay and storyline of the original.
The next Fire Emblem game to be made was Fire Emblem: The Three Houses in 2019. This game will feature three main characters and add changes to gameplay such as bringing formation of troops onto the battlefield and including segments where the player can move around freely to talk to characters.
Spin-Offs/Crossovers[edit]
Fire Emblem characters have been featured throughout the Super Smash Bros. series starting in Super Smash Bros. Melee. As noted above, Melee featured both Marth and Roy as unlockable characters, and their popularity was a factor in the Fire Emblem series being localized. Marth has appeared in all of the installments since, while Roy went several games without appearances. Over the course of later Super Smash Bros. games, Ike, Lucina, Robin, Corrin and Chrom were added to the roster of playable fighters from the Fire Emblem series. Lyn, Tiki and The Black Knight also appeared as Assist Trophies. Later games also included stages from the series, as well as trophies, stickers and Spirits of different characters from the series.
A crossover game known as Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2015. This game featured characters from the Archanea-set Fire Emblem titles entering the relatively contemporary setting of the Shin Megami Tensei series. The 2015/2016 game Project X-Zone 2 also featured guest appearances by several Fire Emblem characters. Lucina and Chrom were playable characters, and one mission took place in the world of Awakening, with Tiki making a guest appearance.
In 2017, Fire Emblem Warriors was released for the Nintendo Switch and New Nintendo 3DS. Based on the gameplay of Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors series, this game featured original characters as well as characters from recent Fire Emblem games fighting enemies in an action game, but with some tactical elements from the Fire Emblem games still present in the gameplay.
A free-to-play mobile game called Fire Emblem Heroes has been running since February 2017. Players can assemble teams of units to take on various challenges with gameplay similar to the main games. Players collect orbs which can be used to acquire more units or items, with characters from every Fire Emblem game being represented
Continuity[edit]
The games in the series do not always appear to share the same continuity, and the series is instead divided into several separate continuities. The continuities are usually identified by the continents they take place on. The following is a list of the continuities, with the games contained in each continuity, listed in the order that they take place chronologically. Discoveries by the fandom of obscure Japanese interviews have indicated that the Jugdral games take place in the same world as Archanea, 1000 years prior to the War of Darkness. [1]
| # | JP Name | US Translation | US Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archanea / Valentia / Jugdral / Ylisse | |||
| IV | Seisen no Keifu | Genealogy of the Holy War | |
| V | Thracia 776 | Thracia 776 | |
| BS Fire Emblem: Akaneia Senki | BS Fire Emblem: Record of Akaneian Wars | ||
| I | Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Tsurugi | Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light | |
| XI | Shin Ankoku Ryuu to Hikari no Ken | New Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light | Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon |
| II | Fire Emblem Gaiden | Fire Emblem Gaiden | |
| XV | Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu-ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Another Hero-King | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia |
| III | Monshou no Nazo | Mystery of the Emblem | |
| XII | Shin Monshou no Nazo: Hikari to Kage no Eiyuu | New Mystery of the Emblem: Heroes of Light and Shadow | |
| XIII | Kakusei | Awakening | Fire Emblem Awakening |
| XIV | Fire Emblem if | Fire Emblem if | Fire Emblem Fates |
| Elibe | |||
| VII | Rekka no Ken | Blazing Sword | Fire Emblem |
| VI | Fuuin no Tsurugi | The Binding Blade | |
| Magvel | |||
| VIII | Seima no Kouseki | Shining Stones of Holiness and Evil | Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones |
| Tellius | |||
| IX | Souen no Kiseki | Trail of the Blue Flame | Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance |
| X | Akatsuki no Megami | The Goddess of Dawn | Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn |
Other Media[edit]
There have been several adaptations of Fire Emblem in other media, primarily in manga form. There have been three adaptations of Ankoku no Ryuu, starting with one by Masaki Sano and Kyo Watanabe (published in five volumes from 1992-1997), then one by Hirokazu Shimada (published in 1993) and one by Maki Hakoda (published in twelve volumes from 1994-1999). A manga of Fire Emblem Gaiden was published in 1993 by Masaki Sano and Kyo Watanabe.
An anime adaptation of Mystery of the Emblem was produced in 1996. It was canceled after just two episodes (which adapted the first two chapters of the game's first book), although a dubbed version was released in America on VHS. That makes this the first Fire Emblem media to be released in America.
There were also two manga series published for Seisen no Keifu: one by Nattsu Fujimori (published in six volumes from 1997-2001) and one by Mitsuki Oosawa (published in sixteen volumes from 1999-2001), and two for Thracia 776: one by Shinnosuke Hino (released in 2000) and one by Yuuna Takanagi (published in three volumes from 2000-2001). The last manga publication to date was Hasha no Tsurugi, written by Hiroshi Izawa with Koutarou Yamada doing art. It was an alternate take on the story of The Binding Blade based around new lead character Al. However, Roy and most of the actual game's cast still appear with important roles, and the manga also includes several references to FE7. The manga-created characters of Al, Gant and Tiena were honored by having special weapons in The Binding Blade named after them.