Fire Emblem, one of the oldest tactical role-playing series, debuted in Japan in the spring of 1990. The series didn't come to the U.S. until 2003. Five years ago, Nintendo belatedly translated into English the first Famicom game, subtitled Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, and released it on the Switch to celebrate its 30th anniversary (though it was soon removed from the eShop). Now it celebrates its 35th anniversary!
A tactical RPG is defined as an RPG that uses either grid- or hex-based combat after the style of tabletop wargames like Warhammer, Stratego, or chess. Instead of controlling a party of adventurers exploring dungeons and fighting monsters (a la Dungeons & Dragons), in tactical RPGs you control an army confronting other armies on a battlefield. You array your units strategically based on the terrain and enemy positions. You can't just select "fight" from a menu and then pick a target. Many factors must be accounted for, such as bottlenecks on bridges or mountain paths, difficult terrain such as forests that slow troop movement and/or provide cover, bodies of water, and flying units (in this case, pegasi). Ranged units like archers or cannons can attack from two spaces away, whereas melee units engage from orthogonally adjacent tiles. You can move your units in any order; they turn brown after they have moved and taken an action (such as attacking) to show they are done. When you're ready, you end the turn through the menu. The computer moves and attacks with its units, typically leaving some for defense, then you begin a new turn. There is no turn limit to complete a scenario. You can save the game at any time.
Fire Emblem has a basic plot, spread across 25 episodes, each with a unique battlefield map. Your army is headed by the exiled Prince Marth, who must fight pirates and other soldiers to reclaim his kingdom of Altea. He begins with a small group of companions, including the pegasus-riding Princess Caeda. Unlike standard RPGs, however, the characters in Fire Emblem die permanently if they run out of HP! Fortunately, there are opportunities to recruit new units. During most scenarios, NPCs alert you to sympathetic enemy units. If you position Marth or Caeda next to them, the extra option to talk appears. Potential recruits have personal names (instead of just "Pirate" or whatever). Sometimes they speak when they move, declaring, for instance, that they don't want to fight but are just in it for the money.
Each map has locations to visit. Only Marth can enter villages, which contain bonuses, such as money. If an enemy thief enters a village first, it is destroyed. Any unit can visit houses. These contain NPCs, who provide information. Any unit can enter an armory to buy and sell weapons. The shopkeeper states only whether that unit can equip the weapon and nothing else. Stronger weapons cost more, but no statistics are shown. There is a convoy system (a tent), where items can be stored and picked up later for a small fee. A scenario ends when Marth visits the castle (after defeating its boss), so you can visit locations and transfer weapons freely after victory before entering the castle. Unfortunately, you must manually move units one by one using the same turn-based system as while the enemy were present! There's no party management menu system between scenarios, as in later tactical RPGs.
The game displays weapon-stats in an unhelpful way. Just one number is shown when you examine a unit's weapons, and it's not strength (as I originally thought) but how many uses remain before the weapon breaks! Most weapons have around 20-40 uses, enough to last through many scenarios. Only during combat at the bottom of the screen three meters appear. "Hit" indicates how often the weapon hits, like, say, 80% of the time (some terrain types provide cover, decreasing this). A sword indicates the weapon's strength, and a shield indicates your character's defense, based on class and level (there is no armor). Because they are meters, it's hard to tell the difference between a power of, say, 6 versus 8 or an accuracy of 70% versus 80%. Weapons have hidden stats as well, such as the chance to have a critical hit (increasing damage) and weight: who hits first is determined by the character's speed minus the weapon's weight. NPCs give hints about which weapons gain advantages against certain units. For example, hammers are good against armored units and bows against flying units. You must remember these hints or take notes. You can judge visually whether a unit is armored from its sprite!
Combat is resolved with each unit automatically attacking once or sometimes twice. No decisions are made. Combat ends, and XP is awarded, shown on a meter. When the meter is full, the unit levels up and its stats increase. Once its level is high enough, if it has obtained its class's special promotion item, it can be promoted to a superior class. For example, a curate or mage can use the bishop's ring to become a bishop.
Fire Emblem simplifies a lot compared to Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. There is no armor, few items, and minimal magic. Curates and bishops cast spells by using their wands. Mages and bishops cast spells like thunder, blizzard, and elfire—these function like ranged weapons. Other than inventory management and reading dialogue boxes, the game mostly consists in moving and positioning troops and engaging the enemy so as to minimize losses. If a unit is low on HP, you should probably retreat it rather than risk permanent death. By moving a unit into a fortress (most maps contain several), it recovers some HP each round. Mismanaging your army or making reckless assaults could lead you to an impossible situation, if your surviving army is too small to defeat the next scenario. (The Switch port adds a rewind feature for this reason.) Some scenarios begin with reinforcements, but there's no guarantee that will be enough.
Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is fun if you enjoy tabletop strategy games (which I do), but it would benefit from a better menu system. The armory ought to display which units can equip each weapon and its power, accuracy, and range. Between scenarios, you should be able to access your convoy and move weapons between units freely. These two changes would remove a lot of tedium and frustration.
The sprites have that nostalgic 8-bit look I love. The music is all right, not as good as Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior. I like playing Famicom games because they are old yet new to me. I don't plan to finish Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, but it has renewed my interest in playing the GBA Fire Emblem games recently added to the Switch Online Expansion Pack! I expect them to be far superior.
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| Grade: B- |
"Most of the issues are simply nitpicks and relics of the time this game was released. In isolation they might be manageable, but there are a lot of them and they all add up to make for a distinctively subpar experience."
— Mitch Vogel, Nintendo Life, 5/10
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