I recently attended Nintendo's "Ultimate Fantasy" event in Redmond, WA, the focus of which was Nintendo's upcoming RPG lineup for the Game Boy Advance. Fire Emblem, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Sword of Mana were publicly demoed and offered in playable units, and copies of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance were provided to take home. We'll have a FF:TA review on the site in the coming days, so it won't be covered in this feature. For all the info made available on the other three high-profile RPGs, though, be sure to keep reading.
Fire Emblem has always been one of Nintendo's most popular franchises in Japan, with seven titles stretching over the Famicom, Super Famicom, and Game Boy Advance systems. Up until now, however, none of these titles have made their way over the Pacific. Nintendo has chosen to premier the series in America with the most recent GBA title, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, referred to only as Fire Emblem for its North American debut.
According to Nintendo, this iteration of the Fire Emblem series was actually designed with intent to be launched worldwide from the start. Developed by Intelligent Systems, the same people responsible for the Advance Wars titles for the GBA, Fire Emblem is actually the second title in the series to be released on the Game Boy Advance. The in-game timeline takes place a generation before the first GBA title, though, so you won't be missing out on any of the storyline if you opt to pick it up this fall.
In fact, for those who wonder about what storyline elements they've missed from the Famicom and Super Famicom games, the Fire Emblem games operate over completely independent game universes. Much like the Final Fantasy series, every game or two completely scraps the storyline from the previous games and starts fresh. One and Two were the same universe, Three was a remake of both One and Two, Four and Five were their own universe (I believe), and Six and Seven on the GBA are yet another universe.
Fire Emblem on the GBA prompts you for your name, birth month, and gender at the start. Based upon these specifications, you actually become recognized as a participant in the game. You come across a young girl early on in the first chapter, and you take on the role of a tactician and guide her against some marauding bandits. This is your job throughout the game — commanding the various units and characters you come upon during your adventure.
According to the folks at Nintendo, the number of characters in the game is truly astonishing. A good chunk of the game's storyline elements take place during the battles you fight, and you can only take several of the many characters available to you into the fray at one time. As such, the storyline elements that unfold can be different depending upon who you choose to bring with you. Also, depending upon who you choose to battle with, certain other characters may become available to you. If you receive a tip in a town that highly suggests you have a specific thief character in your party, for example, you'd be wise to bring them with you. Chances are that that thief will have some history with another character on the field, and will be able to convince them to join your forces.
This is probably a good chance to explain how the game works in general. While there are occasionally some cut-scenes that further the story, the majority of the game takes place on the battlefield. Things are controlled from a top down perspective on a generally gridded terrain. Think Advance Wars, and you'll have a pretty good idea of how things work. Control alternates between you and the enemy, and you have the opportunity to move your units anywhere within their range on their individual turns. After moving into position, they can attack any enemy unit within their attack range. Most battles end after the leader of the enemy troops is defeated, or the enemy base is captured.
There's a rock-paper-scissors mentality to the way attacks are executed. When you sidle up against an enemy and choose to attack, you are given the opportunity to choose the weapon that you want to strike with. What you choose should entirely depend upon what weapon the enemy is brandishing. Swords best axes, axes best lances, and lances best swords. While this is a general rule, there are some specific weapons that break the mold and reverse the pattern. For example, there is a type of sword that excels in overpowering a lance-wielder. Anyways, once you choose your weapon, the perspective changes to a side view of your character battling the enemy.
Let me take a moment to comment on how beautiful your fighter's ensuing animations can be. There are a ridiculous number of frames to each character's attack, and the fluidity can be almost hypnotizing at times. Some of the attacks are simple jabs and thrusts, while others are spectacular anime-influenced snippets of cinematography. I don't quite know how it happened, but the girl you meet at the beginning of the game finishes her last foe by drawing her sword, crouching and holding it horizontally, dashing backwards with incredible speed, vanishing, and enveloping her foe in a whirlwind of strikes. It's truly a sight to behold.
There's more to the battlefield than the enemies you fight, though. Several types of terrain cover the landscape, and each holds a specific advantage for any unit occupying it. For example, moving a unit into the forest will make it harder for him to be hit by enemies, and gives a slight defensive bonus. You get similar results if you place a unit on a mountain or a pillar. Parts of the battlefield are destructible, as well. An enemy leader surrounded by a thick wall can only be attacked after you break through a weak part of the wall. Various towns also dot the battlefield, and visiting them allows you to get advice from the locals, visit shops, and recruit new characters. All this during the normal flow of battle.
The game starts out with an enormous tutorial mode, where you're walked through the main functions of the game. After the tutorial is complete, you proceed through the game chapter by chapter. The storyline is said to get pretty messed up at points, almost to the point where Nintendo was considering giving the game a Teen rating. None of your characters are exempt from dying in the field, and as an added incentive to keep them up and fighting, dead characters never come back. Nintendo employees working on translating the game have been known to play certain battles upwards of 30 times if it means getting through the mission without losing anyone. This is no game for little kids — it will take a very long time to beat, and it gets very hard as you progress.
Nintendo is considering releasing Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi in America, the first Fire Emblem title to be released on the GBA in Japan, if sales of the first American release are strong. And if you've noticed a character strongly resembling Roy from Super Smash Brothers Melee in screens for the American release of Fire Emblem, you should be interested to know that that's actually Eliwood, Roy's father. Roy is featured prominently in Fuuin no Tsurugi, however, so if you ever want to see his story released stateside, let Nintendo know you care and pick up Fire Emblem this fall. While the demo at this showing was very similar to the one shown at the last E3, it remains a very addictive and entertaining game. I can't fathom why it's taken Nintendo this long to bring it to the rest of the world.
Fire Emblem
Fire Emblem has always been one of Nintendo's most popular franchises in Japan, with seven titles stretching over the Famicom, Super Famicom, and Game Boy Advance systems. Up until now, however, none of these titles have made their way over the Pacific. Nintendo has chosen to premier the series in America with the most recent GBA title, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken, referred to only as Fire Emblem for its North American debut.
According to Nintendo, this iteration of the Fire Emblem series was actually designed with intent to be launched worldwide from the start. Developed by Intelligent Systems, the same people responsible for the Advance Wars titles for the GBA, Fire Emblem is actually the second title in the series to be released on the Game Boy Advance. The in-game timeline takes place a generation before the first GBA title, though, so you won't be missing out on any of the storyline if you opt to pick it up this fall.
Fire Emblem on the GBA prompts you for your name, birth month, and gender at the start. Based upon these specifications, you actually become recognized as a participant in the game. You come across a young girl early on in the first chapter, and you take on the role of a tactician and guide her against some marauding bandits. This is your job throughout the game — commanding the various units and characters you come upon during your adventure.
According to the folks at Nintendo, the number of characters in the game is truly astonishing. A good chunk of the game's storyline elements take place during the battles you fight, and you can only take several of the many characters available to you into the fray at one time. As such, the storyline elements that unfold can be different depending upon who you choose to bring with you. Also, depending upon who you choose to battle with, certain other characters may become available to you. If you receive a tip in a town that highly suggests you have a specific thief character in your party, for example, you'd be wise to bring them with you. Chances are that that thief will have some history with another character on the field, and will be able to convince them to join your forces.
There's a rock-paper-scissors mentality to the way attacks are executed. When you sidle up against an enemy and choose to attack, you are given the opportunity to choose the weapon that you want to strike with. What you choose should entirely depend upon what weapon the enemy is brandishing. Swords best axes, axes best lances, and lances best swords. While this is a general rule, there are some specific weapons that break the mold and reverse the pattern. For example, there is a type of sword that excels in overpowering a lance-wielder. Anyways, once you choose your weapon, the perspective changes to a side view of your character battling the enemy.
Let me take a moment to comment on how beautiful your fighter's ensuing animations can be. There are a ridiculous number of frames to each character's attack, and the fluidity can be almost hypnotizing at times. Some of the attacks are simple jabs and thrusts, while others are spectacular anime-influenced snippets of cinematography. I don't quite know how it happened, but the girl you meet at the beginning of the game finishes her last foe by drawing her sword, crouching and holding it horizontally, dashing backwards with incredible speed, vanishing, and enveloping her foe in a whirlwind of strikes. It's truly a sight to behold.
The game starts out with an enormous tutorial mode, where you're walked through the main functions of the game. After the tutorial is complete, you proceed through the game chapter by chapter. The storyline is said to get pretty messed up at points, almost to the point where Nintendo was considering giving the game a Teen rating. None of your characters are exempt from dying in the field, and as an added incentive to keep them up and fighting, dead characters never come back. Nintendo employees working on translating the game have been known to play certain battles upwards of 30 times if it means getting through the mission without losing anyone. This is no game for little kids — it will take a very long time to beat, and it gets very hard as you progress.
Nintendo is considering releasing Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi in America, the first Fire Emblem title to be released on the GBA in Japan, if sales of the first American release are strong. And if you've noticed a character strongly resembling Roy from Super Smash Brothers Melee in screens for the American release of Fire Emblem, you should be interested to know that that's actually Eliwood, Roy's father. Roy is featured prominently in Fuuin no Tsurugi, however, so if you ever want to see his story released stateside, let Nintendo know you care and pick up Fire Emblem this fall. While the demo at this showing was very similar to the one shown at the last E3, it remains a very addictive and entertaining game. I can't fathom why it's taken Nintendo this long to bring it to the rest of the world.