Collection essentials #607-#608: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS) and Fire Emblem: Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo - Hikari to Kage no Eiyuu (DS)

After the success of Fire Emblem on the Game Boy Advance, it was to be expected that we’d get more Fire Emblem on the popular new DS. But instead of sequels, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems decided to go the route of remakes. They started by remaking the very first game in the series, the one that basically introduced the strategy RPG genre as we know it. One motivation for doing so was that the first game had never been released outside Japan before. And very many gamers around the world were already familiar with the main character, Marth, since he was featured in the extremely popular Super Smash Bros. series.

It was perhaps an interesting choice, because the first Fire Emblem game had already been remade once before. This was well over a decade previously, as part of the package that included the third game, on the Super Nintendo. This DS remake is its own thing and does not really take that remake into consideration at all. It brings back all the characters and stages from the original, but the graphics and sound are entirely new and the gameplay is revamped in various ways.

The first thing that will strike you about the game is its look. It has a completely different style than the GBA Fire Emblems, or two console titles that had been recently released. The character portraits are stylish, and appear to be less anime-inspired than previous games. However…the in-game graphics are not so nice. They look incredibly bland and uninspired, a far cry from the charming battle sprites in the GBA titles. I find myself scratching my head wondering why they thought this was good enough.

One of the series’ signature gameplay features, the weapon triangle, wasn’t introduced until the fourth entry. And so, this release features the only way to experience the original Fire Emblem with this feature intact. There’s something to set it apart right off the bat. They didn’t stop there, though. The game introduces “reclassing”, meaning that in between battles, you can switch a character’s class to something completely different, within certain restrictions. For example, you can change the mage Merric’s into one where he’ll use hand-to-hand weapons rather than magic. Your results with this feature will vary a lot of course, and it’s entirely optional, but kinda neat to have that freedom. The game also introduces mid-battle save points. Normally in Fire Emblem, you can only “suspend” a game when powering down, meaning you’ll only be able to reload it once, and permanent saves only happen between battles. But this game puts a spot on the map that you can use one time to create a permanent save, which perhaps can relieve some frustration for some players who keep floundering near the end of a long and difficult chapter.

There’s some other new content in this game as well, such as a new prologue and optional “gaiden chapters,” plus some multiplayer online functionality. There are some gaiden chapters that are only accessible if you let characters die, which was likely designed as a way to aid struggling players, but this turned out to be controversial because having to let characters die to see all the content the game has to offer feels like an odd choice for many.

Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon reviewed pretty well among critics when it was released, usually in the 8/10 range. However, fan reception was pretty mixed, and it left many feeling disappointed. If you look at the reviews page for the game on gamefaqs.com, you’ll find about half of them give a negative or underwhelming score. Why is that? Well, I think in many ways Shadow Dragon feels too much like a downgrade from what came before. I already mentioned the mediocre graphics. The story and gameplay feel more simplistic and less interesting, which is a direct result of remaking the very first game in the series. Another thing that was a big disappointment for many was the lack of character dialogue. Shadow Dragon doesn’t add any kind of “support conversation” feature that fans grew to love in the previous few entries, so you can’t have your units make friends and have banter with each other. This was a feature that made characters feel more alive and fleshed out before, and here it’s completely absent.

After Shadow Dragon, they decided to continue aboard the remake train. The other Fire Emblem game on DS would be “Heroes of Light & Shadow”, a remake of Fire Emblem 3 (which was the direct sequel to the original) done in a similar style. However, this time they would make more of an effort to modernize things. This was the first game in the series to have an avatar co-main character which players create and name, something that became a norm for the series moving forward. Support conversations were reintroduced even though the original Fire Emblem 3 didn’t have them. It introduced a “casual mode” where players could play without permanent unit deaths, something that had been a signature of the series previously. There’s also the return of the “forge”, letting players craft custom weapons in between battles, something that had been introduced in Path of Radiance for the GameCube. Players can now try to level up their characters mid-battle in the “training grounds”. There’s also bonus content which includes one-off battles that are remakes of obscure “Satellaview” content available to Japanese subscribers in the ‘90s.

Shadow Dragon didn’t sell as well as Nintendo hoped. So after five games in a row with worldwide releases, Heroes of Light & Shadow only saw a release in Japan, which was a shame. However, before very long fans released an English translation patch for it, so most fans were able to properly experience the game anyway.

I was already a big Fire Emblem fan when Shadow Dragon came out. I got it a few months after release. I already had some experience with Fire Emblem 1 and its Super Famicom remake, and I was interested in playing this third interpretation of the third adventure. I found it quite enjoyable and didn’t feel negatively toward it like many other fans, though it was certainly not my favorite in the series. 

Heroes of Light & Shadow was on another level, though. I jumped into that when the fan translation came out, and fell in love. I found it highly addictive, so much so that I wasn’t ready to move on to other games when I beat it. In fact, I proceeded to play through the entire game all over again on hard mode. I thought it was terrific and one of the best Fire Emblem titles so far.

Nowadays, should you play these games? Well, Shadow Dragon is probably not the first Fire Emblem you should play. I’d only really recommend it if you find yourself really into the series. Heroes of Light & Shadow is much better, though, and worth your time for sure. These aren’t really games you play for story, so even though it’s a direct sequel it’s not the biggest deal in the world that you won’t know the characters from the first game that you’re expected to be familiar with.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve played these games now, so I’m not sure if I’d evaluate them differently if I were to play them again. But what I do know is that, as a big Fire Emblem, there’s no doubt that these games are essentials in my collection.