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Fire Emblem: The Exclusive Franchise from Japan.
If you’re still reading after the title, you’re probably curious about this game. Fire Emblem is essentially one of the Nintendo mega franchises. If you don’t know about this game, I don’t blame you. I had never heard of it until an influential fighting game came out on the Nintendo GameCube, “Super Smash Brothers: Melee.” After being introduced to Fire Emblem, I was hooked to this game for its difficulty and strategy. Why would I spend so much time talking about the game? I believe, without a doubt in my mind, Fire Emblem is one of the few games in modern video gaming where the difficulty of the game is more important than the graphics, a nostalgic style from the days of the original “Legend of Zelda” or “Super Mario Brothers.”
Fire Emblem is a tactical role-playing game where you maneuver a group of units on a checkerboard layout in order to destroy all your opponent’s units. Fire Emblem’s storyline is centered on characters whose story encompasses many chapters in the game, and every chapter has battle in it. The battle format for the game is a rock-paper-scissors style, where one type of weapon is stronger against one type and weak against the other, amongst other features in the game.
The reason Fire Emblem has been hidden for a long time is because Nintendo kept the series solely in Japan. The reasons for this secrecy are unknown, but the legacy it created is amazing. It was the first tactical role-playing game in video gaming. The series has a strong reputation for keeping to its roots of basic playing and difficulty, and used the same main character, Marth, for the first seven Fire Emblem games. This name should sound familiar to any Nintendo fan — Marth was a guest character in the game “Super Smash Brothers Melee.” Roy, another Fire Emblem character in the game, appeared as a guest character because Intelligent Systems, the company that creates Fire Emblem games, debuted this character for their new game. After Marth and Roy were showcased to the world, Fire Emblem rose in popularity. Due to large interest outside Japan, Intelligent Systems came out two years later with the first worldwide version of Fire Emblem. Since then, five games have been released, and a new character was added to the Super Smash Brothers’ list of playable characters: Ike.
The main reason I buy Fire Emblem games is its concentration on difficulty over graphics. I love a game that makes me think about every move I make because it could be the difference between perfection and frustration. I have spent many days — and I do mean days — formulating a strategy to beat one chapter of a game. If you want to play a Fire Emblem game that has just the right amount of difficulty to make the game seem beatable, try Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon on the Nintendo DS. If you feel comfortable on game play, try Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the hardest Fire Emblem game I have ever played. For added difficulty, try to keep every person in your party alive for the whole game.
Fire Emblem is a nostalgic symbol of the past era of logical gaming and excels at preserving that history while adapting to new innovations in the gaming world. I long for the day when people will have more interest for this game, but until then I will wait for the next Fire Emblem to continue to satisfy my need for strategy.
Bangor Daily News