Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore Review Nintendo Switch

Despite its poor sales and reputation, the Wii U had some stellar titles that many Nintendo fans never got to experience. Thankfully, the Switch's massive success has led to many of these games being rescued from obscurity and released on a console that more than a handful of people actually own.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is the latest game to be saved from the abandoned Wii U library. If you fancy yourself some insane, turn-based JRPG action, then there may be nothing better on the Nintendo Switch.

Singing, Dancing, And Fighting Inter-Dimensional Ghost Monsters

The story is pretty wacky and wild. It's not as dark and brooding as your typical JRPG narrative. If anything, it's actually pretty dang goofy. In the world of Tokyo Mirage Sessions, humans have a special energy source known as Performa, which allows them to achieve their dreams. This also attracts inter-dimensional beings known as Mirages, who very much want that Performa for themselves. You play as a group of teenagers who become Mirage Masters, which means they've melded with a Mirage and can now fight using their power. Joining up with a busty older woman named Ms. Maiko (by the way, this game's idea of "old" is anyone over 28), you're essentially drafted into fighting off an invasion of evil Mirages in Tokyo while trying to figure out the reason behind the wave of attacks.

Oh, you're also being trained to become Japanese pop idols, which means a whole lot of singing and dancing. So, if you like J-Pop, boy oh boy, are you in for a treat.

The story is tremendously silly, but also quite fun. It's an Atlus game through and through, so the tone tends to bounce around a lot, but it's mostly a lighthearted story about the Japanese entertainment industry and evil ghost monsters. The characters are all pretty likable, and while I don't speak Japanese, the voice acting seems pretty good. The Mirages who join up with the cast are also a bunch of guest characters from the Fire Emblem series, so you get to hang out with Chrom, Tharja, Caeda, and other FE veterans. If you like anime, honestly, this game should be catnip for you.

I was one of the few who owned a Wii U, but I never got to play this game when it originally released. I can't say for sure if this is a picture-perfect port. However, I thought the game looked fantastic on the Switch's small screen. The colors are vibrant and the character animations are adorable and energetic. It also runs smoothly with little to no frame rate hiccups or graphical issues. The TV mode also looks fine, although things don't look quite as well-defined. This port also adds in all the extra DLC costumes and dungeons, as well as some additional side stories. It was already an overstuffed package, but Atlus apparently decided to shove in even more content.

A Battle System Worth Idolizing

For a JRPG to keep my attention these days, it needs interesting and original gameplay mechanics that offer something different from all of the other JRPGs out there. Luckily, Tokyo Mirage Sessions is one of the most enjoyable turn-based RPGs I've played in recent memory. There are a ton of different gameplay elements and it's constantly rewarding you with new skills and abilities to use.

Each battle is a giant performance, complete with a stage, spotlights, and a cheering crowd. While you can normally attack an enemy, it's better and way more fun to use your skills. Enemies will have certain weaknesses, and if you choose a skill that capitalizes on that weakness, then you begin a Session attack. This means your entire party will unleash a barrage of attacks on that foe, creating a combo that usually rewards you with money or items. Seeing your characters bum-rush an enemy for massive damage never stops being satisfying.

You acquire new skills and weapons by heading to the Bloom Palace where a special Mirage named Tiki helps you craft new Carnage weapons and Unity skills. You gain these by beating enemies and obtaining new Performas by leveling up your Star Ranking. There's also a wide array of special, passive, and supportive skills that can be gained through side stories.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions will be constantly delivering dopamine to that part of your brain that loves leveling up. There are a bunch of different meters that all go up when you win a battle, and I loved experimenting with new skills and party members. I've played a decent amount of JRPGs lately, and this is by far the most fun I've had with the genre in quite some time.

Not Every Track Is A Hit

I do have a few small nitpicks with the game. I wish that the Bloom Palace was easier to access. You'll get notifications on your phone telling you have new skills or weapons to unlock. To craft them, you need to exit whatever level or dungeon you're currently in and go to Tiki. You gain a skill that allows you to teleport there instantaneously, so it's not that big of a hassle, but I feel like it should have just been something you could access from the menu.

The animations for the Session attacks also get a bit excessive as the game goes on. In fact, there's a lot of extraneous animations in this game, even when you're crafting things in the Bloom Palace. Apparently, for this version, they added in the option to speed them up and you can skip through some of them as well. Still, at certain points, it reaches a Final Fantasy VIII Junction summons-level of extensive, pointless animated cut-scenes.

Finally, my biggest gripe is probably the save system. This game lets you save whenever you want from the menu, so that part I like. But there's no auto-save function. This means if, for example, you happen to go a few hours without saving, run into an enemy much stronger than you, and die during that battle, well guess what? All that progress is gone and you have to do everything all over again. This happened to me once and from that point forward I was frantically saving every time I so much as walked into a store I was unfamiliar with. While I like the ability to save-scum to my heart's content some kind of auto-save would have been much appreciated.

A Near Perfect Reincarnation

I never got to experience this game on the Wii U and I'm kind of glad I didn't because having it available to play on commutes is a delight. The story is silly, yet still managed to get me invested and the battle system is fantastic. This pretty much checks all the boxes for me in terms of what I want from a JRPG. There are a few little problems that prevent it from being perfect, but for the most part, I think this is a top contender for the best JRPG you can find on the Nintendo Switch.

If you were looking for a super kawaii J-Pop fueled adventure to play on the go, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore was tailor-made for you.

A Switch copy of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore was provided to TheGamer for this review. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is available for Nintendo Switch.