It’s hard to believe that Fire Emblem was once a Japanese exclusive series. In general, it’s hard to imagine Japanese games not being released worldwide and yet it still happens on occasion.
So knowing that this series was missing in the West for over a decade, it should come as no surprise that there are a lot of lesser known secrets floating around out there. In honor of the new game, let’s dig some up for a little history lesson.
10 Humble Beginnings
The first Advance Wars engine, which was called Famicom Wars in Japan, was reused for the first Fire Emblem game. On that same note, Westerners can thank the real Advance Wars for paving the way for tactical RPG popularity on the GBA. It prompted Nintendo to release Fire Emblem as well after thirteen long years of ghosting it. Well, that and the fact that Fire Emblem characters were popular in Super Smash Bros. Melee.
9 The Missing Games
The original Famicom game, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, came over via the DS remake, Shadow Dragon, in 2009. Similarly the other Famicom game, Gaiden, never released, but its 3DS remake, Shadows of Valentia, did. The Super Famicom games including Mystery of the Emblem, Thracia 776, Genealogy of the Holy War, and BS Fire Emblem were never released in any form though. This includes a DS remake of Mystery of the Emblem as well. Finally, there was The Binding Blade on GBA. So including remakes, that means eight games are still missing official English translations.
8 Super Smash Bros. Debut
Super Smash Bros. Melee released in 2001 for the GameCube in North America. With it brought the West’s first taste of Fire Emblem in a game via Marth and Roy. It’s often attributed that Nintendo decided to try the series outside of Japan because of that game starting with the seventh title known as The Blazing Blade in Japan, but simply Fire Emblem in the West. As it was written earlier. Actually, Super Smash Bros. Melee was also the first time Japan was introduced to Roy because his first game, The Binding Blade, would not be out until 2002. On top of that, the GBA Fire Emblem is a prequel to that game. Isn’t that confusing?
7 There Is An Anime
Actually, the first time Westerners got a taste of Fire Emblem was through an anime. The third game, Mystery of the Emblem, received a short anime series. There were only two episodes ever made, but funnily enough, it did get localized into English.
This was in 1997, which was four years before Melee and six years before the first game on GBA. For one final tidbit the voice actor in the Japanese version of the anime, Hikaru Midorikawa, has gone on to play Marth in every appearance of him since like in Melee. That includes all versions too.
6 Fire Emblem Awakening’s Scrapped Ideas
Fire Emblem Awakening was almost Nintendo’s Final Fantasy. That is to say, Nintendo went on record to claim that if the game did not sell at least 250,000 units, this would be the final entry. Thankfully it sold over that in just a week. In terms of other Awakening secrets, there were ideas to set it during the modern day, or even on Mars. That last fact would have been a tribute to Marth in regard to his name. He was named Marth after Mars, the god of war.
5 Casual Mode
Despite Awakening being the first game in the West to have Casual Mode, it was not the first in the series. Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem was the aforementioned remake of the third game, which added content. Content like, yes, the infamous Casual Mode. This was in 2010, three years before Awakening. It did not obviously get translated, but there is a fan version of it out there.
4 Radiant Dawn’s Canceled DLC
Prior to Awakening introducing DLC to the series, it was first planned to enter in the Wii game, Radiant Dawn. Due to developer restrains it was ultimately scrapped. The Wii, in general, didn’t really do DLC despite the system having a great online shop with its ever-popular Virtual Console ports.
3 Tear Ring Saga
Shouzou Kaga was the creator of Fire Emblem and one of the key people at Intelligent Systems. He left the company in 1999 following the release of Thracia 776. In doing so he created a new studio, Tirnanog, and developed Tear Ring Saga for PS1. At a glance, it looks exactly like Fire Emblem from the art to the gameplay.
Because of this, the game got in some hot water, suffering a lawsuit from Nintendo. One of the biggest snafus of the whole ordeal was that Kaga was working on the now-canceled Fire Emblem 64 before it was scrapped. It was believed parts of this project were used for Tear Ring Saga. As is the case with most litigation, it’s very complicated. The game also did not get a Western release.
2 Code Name S.T.E.A.M. Cameos
Code Name S.T.E.A.M. had added functionality with the Amiibo figures of Marth, Ike, Robin, and Lucina. This was because Intelligent Systems developed the game. First of all, they weren’t all out for the game’s launch. Secondly, if they had been released alongside it they still wouldn't have had much impact. Let’s not forget about the great Amiibo shortages of 2014 through 2015. It was a dark time for Amiibo fans...
1 The Mythical Falchion
Like The Legend of Zelda, Fire Emblem also has a mythical sword that has appeared in many of the games. It is called the Falchion, which is the name of a real sword type. However, a real falchion is curved sort of like the swords in Disney’s Aladdin. The Fire Emblem Falchion is straighter like a thinner Longsword. As an added bit of trivia, the YouTube channel, Man at Arms, actually recreated this epic sword. Check it out!