While the Fire Emblem series of turn-based strategy games has been popular in North America since arriving on the Game Boy Advance in 2003, Japanese gamers have been enjoying it since its Famicom debut in 1990. Now the Westerners can find out how it all started, as Nintendo is remaking the original for the Nintendo DS. Subtitled "Shadow Dragon," the gameplay is pretty familiar territory but fans will witness the origin story of Super Smash Bros.-favorite Marth.
BLG writes: "The Fire Emblem games are a storied part of Nintendo’s history. Debuting only in Japan in 1990, it gave the first Nintendo consoles an enjoyable fantasy RPG-strategy experience. With 2003’s Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, the series made its debut in North America (Europe and Australia got a 2004 release). Since then, the franchise has been a mainstay on every Nintendo system."
I still own Fire Emblem POF and RD. Those entries are uber pricey now. I wish they would bring back the transforming units from those games. Radiant Dawn was pretty hard too but at least you could save before each turn. Saved me the trouble of having to redo many a map due to unlucky enemy crits. lol
Thracia 776, Heroes and Warriors are all awful. I ignore them when discussing Fire Emblem altogether
Top 5:
1. Awakening
2. Three Houses
3. Blazing Blade
4. Sacred Stones
5. Path of Radiance.
I've played most of the others, but they didn't really hook me.
Stay away from Shadows of Valencia and the DS remakes.
Alex S. from Link-Cable writes: "...as we get ready to embark on the next journey with Fire Emblem: Three Houses we thought it would be a good idea to look back at the games that helped shape the series into what it is today, at least as far as the west is concerned."
There are a lot of animal-people in the Fire Emblem series! These are different races who transform into actual animals in battle, while occasionally maintaining some of these features while in their humanoid forms. Hearing about laguz or taguel can be confusing, especially since these races are not universal and may only be present in a few select entries.
