Yesterday, Nintendo released a video on one of its biggest franchise, Fire Emblem. Since Marth and Roy first showed up in Super Smash Bros. Melee in 2001, the West has seen Fire Emblem games come over from Japan. Now, Nintendo has announced three new releases in the next year.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
First up is Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. As the video (narrated by popular video game and anime voice actor Yuri Lowenthal) describes, this is a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden from the ground up. Gaiden was the second game in the Fire Emblem series and tells the story of two warring kingdoms. One kingdom, ruled by the goddess Mila, was a place of luxury and prosperity, but her people soon fell into depravity and indolence. The other kingdom, ruled by the god Duma, was a wasteland with stern, militant people. You can tell where this is going.
Echoes has anime cutscenes animated by Studio Khara, best known for working on the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. It will feature an overhauled strategic map and unique gameplay that separates it from previous Fire Emblem titles. The game’s launch date worldwide is May 19, 2017 for the Nintendo 3DS, along with Amiibos for the game’s two protagonists.
Fire Emblem for Nintendo Switch
In addition to Echoes, an unnamed title has been announced for release in 2018 for the Nintendo Switch. This is the most cryptic of all of the announcements, but it does certify one thing: a Nintendo home console has been wanting a Fire Emblem game for some time. To put it in perspective, the last home console Fire Emblem was 2008’s Radiant Dawn.
Fire Emblem Warriors
Next up, there is Fire Emblem Warriors. If you are a fan of the Warriors franchise from Koei-Tecmo, you know what you’re in for with this. Unsurprisingly, the team behind Hyrule Warriors has worked on this game. Footage shows Chrom from Fire Emblem Awakening doing his thing, owning fools in typical Warriors fashion. This game will come out for the New Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch in the autumn of 2017.
Fire Emblem Heroes
You may have heard that Nintendo has decided to go mobile and finally join the rest of us in the Twenty-First Century. In concordance with that, a new mobile Fire Emblem game was announced in this video. Featuring imagery highly reminiscent of both Fire Emblem Awakening and Fire Emblem Fates, the game Fire Emblem Heroes promises to be an interesting take on the franchise. Wait, did I say “reminiscent” of Awakening and Fates? I meant to say, “taken directly from” Awakening and Fates. The spin on Heroes is that you will recruit famous characters from previous games, while other characters will fight against you. You use orbs obtained in battle to summon these famous characters. Additional orbs are available through microtransactions. Hey, they had to pay those artists and voice actors for all new work somehow!
On top of the basic campaign, there is also a training tower for running through a gauntlet of enemies for fat loots, arena duels, and seasonal events. Heroes also level up in true RPG fashion. Nintendo has opened up a website so you can vote on which heroes you want to be in the game to be special heroes. The game goes live on February 2 on the Google Play Store and will be coming out soon for iOS.
Still interested in learning more? Check out the full video below.
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